3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"you look tense." taeil bursted out laughing making jaeyoung perplex as she froze in her spot.

taeil passed through her, "let's talk later." he whispered before entering the dining hall. as he did, the others followed right behind him.

as youngho passed the girl, he squints his eyes at her and just plainly scoffed, walking away quickly. ten, on the other hand, stared at her for a few seconds before raised a brow and walking away as well.

jaeyoung looked away and now faced the remaining princes in the second group. kun, who had a distressed expression, and sicheng, who openly stared at her.

mark cleared his throat, "this is not the time for a staring contest."

sicheng flinched and nodded, passing through the girl with kun following him. mark placed a hand on her shoulder, "you should go back now, i don't think the others will be comfortable with you being there."

jaeyoung nodded and was escorted back to the kitchen.

as soon as mark sat down, youngho started bombarding him with a series of questions.

"do you know her?"

"who is she?"

"is she the cook?"

"she's lady jaeyoung, isn't she?"

"why do you know her?"

"one at a time, please." mark mumbled as he sighed, rubbing his temples. "one at a time..."

youngho gritted his teeth, "i can't–"

"just calm down and you can." kun advised and youngho slumped his shoulders in defeat.

once he had calmed down, mark started answering his questions one by one.

"yes, i kinda know her. i met her at the bakery."

"yes, she's min jaeyoung."

"yes, she's the cook."

"yes, she is."

"i met her."

youngho wasn't satisfied with mark's answers at all.

with crossed arms, youngho held a cold demeanor, a threatening look plastered on his face.

mark huffed, "i don't even care if you get mad at me right now."

ten clasped his hands together, "let's not create a fight, shall we?"

kun hummed and picked up the spoon, "ten's right."

"please don't fight over my—"

sicheng gripped tightly onto lucas' hand making the boy turn to look at him in confusion. sicheng shook his head, signaling lucas not to say anything. lucas sighed in defeat, "okay fine."

once their taste testing was done, youngho had no choice but to go with a yes for the cook since literally all of his brothers said yes. they head out of the mini dining hall as the third group prepared for their time.

taeil walked up to minseok, "where's lady jaeyoung?"

minseok raised both of his brows, "your highness! lady jaeyoung's at the kitchen right now."

"bring her to me. right now."

minseok nodded and went off to fetch the girl. taeil watched as the third group enter the mini dining hall.

before the last person, doyoung, could even enter the dining hall, taeil had stop him.

"h-hyung?" doyoung's uttered, voice laced with confusion.

"are you going to ask for jaeyoung?"

doyoung flinched, "i-i... i- i don't know."

taeil sighed, "well if you happen to be, i'll be borrowing her for a bit."

doyoung scoffed and looked away, "why are you even telling me this."

taeil shrugged, "just."

doyoung sneered and entered the dining hall, causing the door to close.

"prince taeil!"

the said prince craned his head towards the direction of the voice, only to find minseok walking up to him, escorting the lady next to him.

taeil smiled, "great. we need to talk."

jaeyoung nodded slowly, "okay... talk."

"what do you want from us?"

jaeyoung furrowed her brows, "what do you mean?"

"don't question my question."

"i don't want anything–"

"lying or not?" taeil raised a brow, coming close to the girl making her freeze in her position.

"definitely not!" she said in defense, backing up a bit.

"i don't trust you."

jaeyoung chuckled sadly, "i know."

"oh, now you're sad?"

jaeyoung shook her head, "i just thought you'd act the same."

"act the same?"

"as some of your brothers–"

"so you did meet almost all of them."

jaeyoung frowned, "kinda? i didn't know they were princes at all."

taeil crossed his arms, "i know. it seemed like it. you acted so... freely with them. you do know you're supposed to treat them–"

"like royalty? yeah, no."

taeil was taken aback, "no? and never cut a prince off." he said through gritted teeth.

jaeyoung didn't know what was going on, honestly, she didn't even want to know what was going on. despite the curiosity lingering in her, she didn't want to get tangled up with them, though she kinda already did.

"i'm sorry." jaeyoung pressed her lips together, "i can't– treat you as a prince."

taeil stared at her wide eyed, "what are you even–"

"i don't like royalty."

taeil's mouth went agape, his eye twitched as he stared down at her. a scoff leaves his lips, "who do you think you are?"

"i'm a normal girl, a cook, who happened to become friends with a few normal people who lived in the palace."

"normal people?" taeil raised a brow, amused by her attitude.

taeil took a deep breath, "whatever you plan on doing, leave us out of it." he spat before leaving her there in the hallway alone.

jaeyoung clenched her fists, i don't like royalty. i don't like status at all.

a slow clap was heard and jaeyoung turned around. "the prince." she muttered lowly.

"don't like royalty, huh?" taeyong tilts his head, "same."

jaeyoung sneered, "what do you want?"

"i want to be treated normal, that's all." taeyong chuckled and jabbed his thumb towards the door, "i requested for you to be present while we taste test."

jaeyoung thought for a bit, want to be treated normal...?

"we'll be waiting." taeyong stated before walking in the mini dining hall.

jaeyoung blinked and looked around, i can't believe this.

"miss, the princes are waiting." the maid snaps her out of her trance and she smiled sheepishly. "r-right..."

the nerves she had awhile ago began kicking in again as she walked in the room. minseok bowed, "as requested, lady jaeyoung." he utters loudly.

jungwoo gave her a soft smile, gesturing towards the seat in the middle, "have a seat, jaeyoung-ah."

taeyong raised a brow, jaeyoung-ah?

the girl nods as jungwoo guided her to sit down. now, they all sat in silence, no one even dared to break the tension.

doyoung cleared his throat, tapping the table lightly, "let's start the taste test, shall we?" he muttered and picked up his own chopsticks.

the others followed after him and began digging in as jaeyoung watched them.

yuta's eyes brightened as he tasted the food, "this is so good!" he said, flashing the girl a smile, in which jaeyoung gladly returned.

jaehyun hummed, "the cook did not disappoint at all."

taeyong smiled a bit as he ate his food silently. he enjoyed the food alright and watching his brothers compliment the dishes made him enjoy it more.

the silenced atmosphere was gone before they knew it. they kept talking and talking to each other, sometimes even asking and including jaeyoung in.

jungwoo was having a little chatter with jaeyoung when taeyong suddenly spoke out loud. "lady jaeyoung?"

jaeyoung flinched in her seat, "i told you not to call me that." she murmured, earning a few glances, specifically from jungwoo, yuta, and jaehyun.

taeyong gave her an innocent look, literally ignoring her statement as he said, "have you learned my name, yet?"

jaeyoung frowned and shook her head making taeyong drop his shoulders in disappointment. "too bad."

jaehyun forced a smile, looking back and forth from jaeyoung then his brother. "i'm sorry, but, do you two know each other?" he questioned.

taeyong hummed, a wide grin creeping up his face, "i know her, she doesn't know me."

doyoung rolled his eyes, "literally what you said to me when i asked that."

yuta bit his bottom lip, eyeing taeyong, "you're not sick, aren't you?"

"i'm not. she just has a debt from me."

"d-debt!?" jaeyoung's eyes went wide, her face twisting in horror.

taeyong nodded, lacing his fingers together, staring at her, "yes, jaeyoung. debt."

"i don't even remember–"

"you have a debt for not knowing about the royal family, and me."

jaeyoung stifled a laugh, a ridiculed expression plastered on her face, "a-are you serious?"

jungwoo laughed, "that's just mean, hyung."

yuta grinned, "i like that debt."

jaeyoung felt her heart beat quicken its pace in panic, since when did my low knowledge about the royal family became a debt!?

"and what hurts more is that you clearly know them and their names while you know nothing about me." taeyong frowned and crossed his arms.

"you're being ridiculous. i met them, not knowing they were princes!"

"you're just gonna learn about us, nothing would hurt you." taeyong pointed out.

jaeyoung scrunched her nose, "i don't really like–"

"you have no choice."

jaeyoung deadpanned, "fine. i'll do it."

doyoung sighed, "you guys are being too mean."

jungwoo pursed his lips, "says the meanie."

doyoung huffed and eyed his brother, "shut up."

"you don't have to do this, jaey—"

"you're ruining the fun, doyoung!" yuta whined.

"can we please keep this between us?" doyoung questioned and they all nodded.

"are you fine with this?" he then questioned jaeyoung.

jaeyoung shrugged, "it's not like i could avoid topics about the royal family in history class anyways."

this is a bad idea. her mind says her yet she couldn't even say no.

"how'd you meet her?" jaehyun asked taeyong.

taeyong tilts his head, "i practically saved her from a bully."

yuta frowned, glancing at the girl, "you get bullied?"

"not anymore..." jaeyoung trailed off, "thanks to him." she pointed at taeyong.

"i guess the old taeyong is still alive." jungwoo smiled and patted jaeyoung's head.

"we'll accept your recipes for the grand ball, so i guess you'll be back tomorrow." taeyong said, clasping his hands together.

"what would we say if the others question us what happened to our taste test?"

"jaehyun, that's easy." yuta smirked, "let's trick them, like we got into a fight or something."

"meanies." jaeyoung muttered making them raise a brow at her.

"excuse you?"

"you're tricking your brothers, such meanies." jaeyoung mumbled and started fixing up the plates as they were done eating.

doyoung stopped her from doing so, "the maids will do that for you." he said, placing his hand on top of hers.

jaeyoung flinched and retracted her hand, "it's okay, i don't mind."

"you want to trick them too?" yuta grinned, asking her.

jaeyoung shook her head, "no thanks."

soon, jaeyoung had to leave with the maids as she was needed back at the kitchen and the boys have to leave as well since it was time for the king and queen to taste test the food.

at the five princes walked to their study, eyes were already on them.

"how'd it go...?" mark questioned.

"taeyong ended up shouting at her–"

"are you serious?!" most of them shot up from their seats.

"i thought you wanted everyone to be nice." jaemin spat and crosses his arms, falling back onto his seat.

renjun sighed and rested his head on his desk, "this isn't even worth it to listen to."

taeyong kept silent, "don't even ask me anything."

lucas frowned at this and nudged mark. "what?" mark raised a brow.

"he hurt my lady..." lucas whispered.

mark sighed, "what do you expect from taeyong-hyung and a girl?"

lucas huffed, "meanie."

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