3RD PERSONS VIEW。

.   .    .   .a few hours earlier.   .   .   .

"please don't create a ruckus when we talk to mrs kang." minseok pleaded towards the princes as they entered the dining hall, where the king and queen were already present.

the boys nodded at their tutor and took their seats. jaemin sighed and rested his chin on the palm of his hands, "is she gonna be here?" he whispered to himself as he looked down at the table.

"na jaemin, fix your posture." the king instantly scolded him making him flinch and bow.

"i'm sorry." jaemin apologized and regretted doing that.

renjun snickered, "that's what you get for dozing off."

"shut up, injun."

most of the princes were nervous upon meeting the cooks. some had high hopes that they'll face the girl they've been dying to see for days now, but those hopes got crushed when the cooks were finally sent in.

"she's not here?" donghyuck utters as he eyed each cook.

mrs kang stood upon them and bowed towards the royalty, her workers following her. "it's a pleasure to get invited once again to cater for your grand ball, your majesty."

lady misun smiled, "we're glad to have you cater for our grand ball again, mrs kang. the princes requested for your dishes, actually."

some of them snapped their heads towards lady misun but the queen just shrugged them off.

"is this the pamphlet of recipes you've prepared?" the king questioned as they were all given each a pamphlet.

"yes, your highness. there are sets included."

"oh?" lady misun hummed and stared at a certain cook that was written down in the pamphlet. she smiles upon seeing her recipes. "is this cook present here?" she looks up at mrs kang.

"which cook, your majesty?"

"min jaeyoung."

hearing the familiar name, majority of the princes couldn't help but shot their heads up in confusion and shock. others froze upon hearing the name and pondered why lady misun asked such question.

mrs kang let out a small chuckle, covering her mouth, "i'm sorry, but jaeyoung's at school at the moment."

chenle frowned at this and nudged jisung's hand under the table. jisung craned his head slowly towards the older, giving a confused look, "what?" he mouthed.

chenle widens his eyes, "does mother know about her?" he mouths back.

jisung shrugs and was about to say something when kun, who was in front of the two, cleared his throat, eyeing both of them to stop.

the two youngest princes pouted and sat back. renjun, on the other hand, irked as he flipped through the pamphlet, seeing the girl's name written down, along with her recipes.

jaemin pursed his lips in amusement as he stared at doyoung with a wide grin. the older stared back, his eyes squinted, annoyed by jaemin's actions.

mark and sicheng did everything they could to stop lucas from creating a loud commotion. after hearing the familiar name, lucas wanted to say something about it, but seeing sicheng and mark's dark gaze, he didn't even bother to move.

both youngho and ten were clueless upon the given name. they thought that the girl was some great cook the queen found out about. however, it didn't stop youngho from over-analyzing the situation.

the twins looked at each other with the same playful grin plastered on their faces. both of them had a hunch that something fun would happen today and they were sure that it was related to this whole taste testing thing.

jungwoo's breath hitched as he stared at doyoung. he was nervous upon what's going to happen today. he had a good yet bad feeling and he didn't even know why. jungwoo was quite glad that the taste testing were done in groups, maybe it would help them not create a huge mess for once.

as yuta scanned the pamphlet, he was now eager to find the lady's name on it after hearing the queen question it. he grinned in success as he found the name. instantly, he thought about the delicious food the girl could cook, he couldn't be more excited to taste her recipes.

jaehyun gulped nervously, glancing at taeyong from time to time. he wasn't quite sure how the older would react, but he thought that taeyong would disapprove and have a disappointed look plastered on his face. what surprised him was the complete opposite of what he thought.

taeyong was calm, a small smirk tugged up on the corner of his lips as his ears perked at the name. taeil, who sat next to him, also flinched a bit upon hearing the lady's name.

taeil was sure that the name was no different to the girl's name he talked about with his brothers. his eyes landed on jaemin, seeing the playful look on the younger's face made him worried. he knew something like this would happen, but he didn't know that it would happen so soon.

taeyong hummed and settled the pamphlet on the dining table. he looked up at mrs kang, "her recipes look interesting."

the rest of his brothers averted their gaze on taeyong with a bewildered expression. taeyong laughed, "i would like to taste test them."

jaemin raised a brow at taeyong's action, setting his pamphlet down as well, "i, too, want to taste test them."

lady misun squinted her eyes at them and stifled a laugh, "doesn't her recipe look interesting?"

the king hummed and flipped through the pamphlet. "they do look delicious, i must say. then it's settled then." he said and looked at minseok.

minseok nodded curtly and took a deep breath, "the royal family requests to taste test lady jaeyoung's recipes."

mrs kang faced them with a smile, "understood."

lady misun looked at the cook, "we also understand that lady jaeyoung is still at school, so we'll wait for her arrival. for now, you can go to the kitchen and prepare appetizers."

mrs kang nodded and bowed, "as you wish, your majesty."

once they left the dining hall, the royal family, including minseok, were the only ones occupying the whole room.

the king cleared his throat and glanced at his wife, "do you know this certain lady?"

lady misun shrugged and eyed the name on the pamphlet, "her name just... caught my attention, i suppose."

"we'll do our taste testing in groups, i'm guessing minseok already gave you your groups?" the king questioned and the princes all replied with a "yes."

"very well." the king smiled before standing up and leaving the dining hall. lady misun smiled at the princes as well before following the king.

"what the hell? jaemin! taeyong!" taeil called out.

jaemin raised a brow, "i was just stating what i want." he shrugs and looks at the older boringly. "even i can't do that?"

taeil bites the inside of his cheeks and squinted his eyes at the younger, "stop it."

a sigh was heard beside taeil, catching his attention, he looked down to see taeyong waving it off, "let him be, taeil-hyung."

"t-taeyong!"

"there's nothing wrong with it." taeyong stated.

jaemin furrows his brows and looked at taeyong, confused on why the older was defending him. he should've said something bad by now.

a laugh emitted from the twins as they smirked at their brothers, "this is going to be fun, won't it?" they both questioned at the same time.

kun sighed, "i don't even understand what's happening anymore."

doyoung puffed his cheeks, "this isn't suppose to happen." he muttered.

"it is going to be fun!" lucas bursted loudly, not being able to hold his words back anymore. "i'd like to you all to meet my—"

mark slapped his hand over his mouth, "will you please stop talking?"

lucas squirmed, prying mark's hand off his mouth. "let me go!" he yelled in a muffled voice.

sicheng sighed and poked yuta's arm, "do you know why taeyong-hyung said that?"

yuta shrugged, "i'm not even sure."

sicheng frowned and looked at his other brothers.

youngho stood up from his seat, glaring down at his brothers, "okay, what's going on? and taeyong? what the hell was that statement?"

"what?" taeyong raised a brow, taking a sip from his yogurt, "her recipes look yummy."

youngho narrows his eyes on the latter and couldn't help but sigh, "do you know her?"

taeyong hummed, "depends."

youngho flinched, "what do you even mean by–"

taeyong grunted and stood up, "let's all be nice and not fight, okay?" he began walking towards the door, "i may be acting weird, but let's face it, i know i'm not the only one who's hiding something." he utters before leaving the dining hall.

taeil stood up quick, along with ten, "taeyong! wait!" they were about to run for him when doyoung stopped them.

"let him be alone, for now." doyoung said and closed his eyes.

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