uM a little shameless self promotion here but– if y'all want an nct dream future thing au (idek what to call it) i have this book named 'tomorrow land' which was actually kept as coming soon for two years and since i'm back... i've also decided to publish chapters :>

anyWays lets get it!!

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3RD PERSONS VIEW。

"right... the pendant." taeyong bit his bottom lip, looking down at the carpeted floor, "and the picture! it's all– it's all... possibly linked with her."

"we're going to talk to jung miyeon... later." jungwoo informed him which quite surprised him.

"what for?"

"we believe that miyeon knows something," jungwoo stated, "jaeyoung told us that miyeon's helping her, but she feels like miyeon's hiding something."

taeyong tilts his head, "but, isn't the jung family in charge of the biggest detective corporation?"

jungwoo nodded sadly, "then miyeon's detectives would've found something by now, right?"

"right... but why would jung miyeon hide that important thing from her?" taeyong frowned, a bit saddened that miyeon was hiding such thing from her friend, especially if she knew how much it meant for jaeyoung to find her true family.

"that's what we're going to find out later." jungwoo pointed out.

"alright, just don't go overboard with the questioning okay? jung miyeon is jaeyoung's friend, so she's someone we shouldn't be rude to." taeyong told the younger before they went back into the room. upon entering, smiled quickly replaced their troubled faces as they saw their younger brothers, plus taeil, sparking a conversation with jaeyoung.

"what would you be doing after your exams, jaeyoung?" jisung questioned as he munch onto the baked brownies, a fresh home goods from mrs kang's bakery.

jaeyoung hummed before shrugging, "i don't really know... i'll probably rest my mind." she chuckled.

taeil pinched the bridge of his nose and covered jisung's mouth, "jisung, please, mind your manners. you're still a prince."

jisung pouted as he finished munching onto the piece of brownie, "but hyung!"

"don't hyung me." taeil said, "manners first."

jisung huffed, "yes, i apologize for my lack of table manners."

"should we start again?" taeyong asked and sat down in front of jaeyoung while jungwoo chose to sit on a different table, focusing on his own separate work.

"i'll throw you some questions and you better answer them correctly, okay?"

jaeyoung nods, chuckling, "i'll try."

"when was princess haera born?"

"december twenty, two thousand!"

"correct!" taeyong grins and flips a page.

"who is the crown prince of the xiao family?"

"...prince dejun?" she tilts her head, a bit unsure.

"is that your final answer?" taeyong raises a brow as she nodded curtly, "yes..."

"correct!" taeyong bobs his head, happy that she got another one correct.

"wow, you call him prince but us not." taeil sniggered while jaeyoung just playfully rolled her eyes, "you boys are my friends!"

taeil chuckled lightly, "i know, kiddo."

"hmm... when did the carriage crash?"

"uhh... december twenty, two thousand one."

"correct."

"oh, princess haera got lost on her birthday?" jisung tilts his head while taeil nods at him, replying with a soft, "yes."

a frown curved onto the young one's lips, "that's just sad."

"they were on their way to our castle when the storm worsened and it just happened, they are lucky to have survived." taeil told them, "however, the rightful descendant to the thrown wasn't that lucky..." he sighed, talking about princess haera all of a sudden.

taeyong cleared his throat, not wanting to go deeper into the conversation about princess haera right now. he was still recovering from what he had figured out with renjun awhile ago.

"jaeyoung, read this page for a bit so that you could understand more about the min dynasty." taeyong uttered, pushing the book towards her and pointing at the specific page.

the girl nodded and turned the book over so that it faced her, "okay." she replies and started reading.

as the read each paragraph, an urge to hum was unable to fight over. with her lips pressed together, she softly began humming to the familiar tone.

jisung flinched in his seat, a bit surprised to hear the lullaby that he often heard when he was young. his mother would always sing the song to him.

taeil looked up from the book he had eyes on, turning to look at jaeyoung with a shocked expression. taeyong stiffened in his spot while jungwoo hummed along with her.

jaeyoung blinked, realizing someone was humming along and stopped, turning back to peep over her shoulder, "jungwoo?"

jungwoo stopped humming, "yes?"

"were you..."

"humming with you? yes."

"do you know that lullaby?"

jungwoo chuckled, "of course. it's the sacred lullaby, jaeyoung."

jaeyoung felt her twist as a wave of shock ran through her whole body. "so kun was right..." she whispered, inaudible for the others to hear.

"is everything okay?" taeil worriedly asked, noticing how tensed she now looked.

jaeyoung shook her head, "no. it's fine." she assured him before going back to reading, this time she had no intent on humming the lullaby again.

why do i know that lullaby? her voice yelled in her mind as she couldn't focus on reading the paragraphs.

she shakes her head, clearing those thoughts away and fixated back onto the page.

after awhile, they had finished their tutoring session and decided to take jaeyoung for a stroll in the courtyard, since it was still early enough to enjoy outside.

jaeyoung gawked at the huge flower fields, her eyes beaming up at the sight of the colorful plants. "they're so pretty!" she squealed, her hands reaching to touch them.

"like you..."

jaeyoung froze in her spot, looking back to see jisung with bight red cheeks.

"i-i... i– i need to go!" he said quickly before running off.

taeyong guffawed and held onto his stomach, "jisung's such a cutie, isn't he?"

a smile tugged up on her lips, she nodded, "definitely."

"this is where we usually hangout before." taeyong mutters as they walked into the pavilion.

jaeyoung was startled to see some of the princes in the pavilion. "oh, they are here." taeyong realized and chuckled, "jaeyoung, i guess you know them already, but... my brothers," he gestures to the boys, "well... some of them, i guess." he sheepishly said, noticing that they weren't even complete.

he began counting them, "wait, where are the others?"

donghyuck and jeno sniggered, "they're on their way here!" the twins stated in unison.

shooting each other electrifying glares, "stop copying me!" they ended up saying in unison again.

a groan emitted from afar, it was renjun, seated on one of the white chairs, a book on his lap, "will you two shut up?"

the twins looked at him, sticking out their tongues, "never!" they taunted making renjun glare back at them.

"how was history, daisy?" doyoung cocked a brow, his fingers wrapped around the wine glass.

"is that–"

"that's apple juice, jaeyoung." taeyong cuts the girl off, squinting his eyes at doyoung.

a loud laugh left lucas' lips, "right! apple juice!" he cackles, "did you hear that, woo? apple juice!"

jungwoo stifled a laugh, nodding slowly, "indeed."

"good luck on your test on monday, my lady!" lucas told her with a big smile before continuing his mission to annoy sicheng.

the said boy grunted and tried to hide behind kun as lucas kept tailing him. "i also wanted to say... lucas stop it! i mean– i wanted to say– yah! get off me!" sicheng whined, trying to pry off the energetic lucas off his shoulders.

kun facepalmed, "yukhei–"

"hyung! taste this apple juice–"

"okay, enough apple juice for you." doyoung uttered and snatched the glass away from lucas' hands.

the tall boy pouted, his arms around sicheng loosening. "finally!" sicheng exclaimed, "as i was saying, i also wanted to say good luck on your exams!" sicheng smiled before running off to chase lucas.

kun scratched his head, "i'm sorry for such behavior, lady jaeyoung. everyone is just..."

"happy." taeyong finishes with a proud smile. he looks down at jaeyoung, thanks to you.

"they sure do." the girl chuckled and watched how the brothers enjoyed each others company.

"oh, hello taeyong, jaeyoung." another prince steps into the pavilion, which was jaehyun. he was in a different attire, seemed like it was some sort of fencing suit to jaeyoung.

"how was training?" jeno questioned the older.

"jaemin can officially kill me." jaehyun said, jabbing his thumb back at the other prince who had just stepped in.

"hello~" jaemin uttered sweetly, smiling upon the girl. "nice to see you again."

"hello!" jaeyoung waved at him and jaehyun.

"where's mark?" taeyong questioned as he looked around, "as well as yuta, chittaphon, and youngho?"

taeil looked at his wristwatch, "the three would be here soon, chenle must be with jisung, while mark... i don't really know..."

donghyuck laughed, "mark's at the pet garden!"

"ahh, he's with his tiger... prince." taeyong mumbled before looking at donghyuck and jeno, "do you guys want to bring jaeyoung to mark for a bit?"

the twins looked at each other again before facing the older with bright eyes, "of course!"

"jaemin? renjun?" taeil calls out and the two shot their heads up at his voice. "go with them."

jaemin nodded while renjun scrunched his nose, he was about to act all salty about it but he remembered his apology. "i guess it won't hurt." he mumbled and placed the book down.

and with that, they ventured off to the pet garden where mark was.

"did mark name his tiger prince?"

renjun nodded, "yeah... i don't really know why."

jaeyoung chuckled, "it's cute though."

"it would've been if prince was a dog! but no, mark just had to pick a tiger." renjun retorted.

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