Maybe

At New Dawn International Highschool;

Classes were over for the day and Astrol thought of leaving early with Nari, but then she realized that Nari would be busy having her private lessons with Auston since it was a Wednesday. 

She packed up her things and stopped by Bora's class to see if they could go together, but one of Bora's class mates ended up informing her that Bora had left moments ago.

'How come she left so suddenly without telling anyone?', then again, who was she to judge Bora when she had done something similar lots of times before?. 'I guess I'll go alone then', and with that, she stalked pass the classroom .

As she was walking down the hallway, she was surprised to see Xander by his locker. She'd thought that Bora had probably left with him, but she was glad she'd been wrong.

Her mood instantly brightened as she approached him. It'd been a while since they last hung out with each other and she really missed talking with him.

"Xander!", Astrol called out, quickening her pace. Xander paused momentarily and was surprised to turn and see Astrol now running towards him. "H-Hi", Astrol stuttered through shallow pants on reaching him. "Hey", Xander replied simply before turning back to his locker.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're not happy to see me, are you upset with me?", Astrol asked downcasted. "No, it's not like that. Really. It's just, well, I feel like you've forgotten about me these days is all", he replied rubbing at his nape. "So you are upset with me", Astrol concluded, "You know what, let me make it up to you. The catering club will be hosting a mini cooking competition for the fundraising event in a few minutes time. I know how much you like cooking so let's go together... that's if you don't already have a partner of course", Astrol added slightly disappointed at the possibility.

"I don't have a partner". "Really, how come?"

"I don't know, I just didn't feel like I guess", he answered and Astrol lowered her gaze to the floor. "So, are you going to turn me down too?"

"No, of course not. It's just... didn't you have something else to do today?", he asked, but Astrol only smiled, "I did, but you're more important", she replied before grabbing onto his arm and pulling Xander towards the catering venue. Xander on the other hand, couldn't stop his smile as he replayed her last words. If only she knew the kind of chaos she caused in him with those words.

...

"Damn it Minjun, why did I let you talk me into this again?", Minho complained. "Gosh quit whining already, you know you can't back out now. Besides, it's a fundraiser, I thought you liked helping people. It's also just cooking and you're pretty good at it too, so what's the problem"

"It's not the cooking, it's the fact that I get paired up with you". "Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!", Minjun blared and Minho fought not to smile. Minjun was being childish again.

"Why'd you ask me to come with you anyway?", Minho asked. "Duh, isn't the answer obvious?. You know I can't ask that frozen log, he'll just ignore me again, and I can't possibly ask Zane either. You know how scary he can be sometimes", Minjun finished, faking a shiver.

"So, you're not scared of me then?", Minho innocently asked. "Of course not! Why would I be?", Minjun said with a laugh as he elbowed Minho in the side. Minho suddenly stopped walking, and Minjun turned to him in confusion, but instantly choked down on his laugh on seeing the cold expression on Minho's face.

"You're really not scared of me huh", Kim Minho muttered coolly in a low tone, his eyes hard as steel, making Minjun gulp as he found himself straightening his spine. "Um... actually, y-you see it's j-just that you're nicer is all", Minjun explained quickly trying to redeem himself.

"Pffftt! Haha", Minho burst out laughing and Minjun only stared at him with his mouth agape. He knew just how good Minho was with his facial expressions and how easily he switched moods when he wanted to as well. Royals were schooled especially on that when it came to court. But his switch this time around was too spot on that Minjun ended up blinking multiple times at him.

It was like the dark clouds hovering over his features turned to rainbows in an instant. "Bro what the hell?! That was not cool. You legit gave me goosebumps", Minjun complained. "Come on, don't look at me like that, I was only kidding. You should've seen your face though, you looked petrified", Minho replied with a light chuckle, and Minjun only frowned as they continued on their way until they reached the catering venue.

They entered into the catering room packed with a little audience, judges and other participants. Minjun went ahead to register their names, so Minho just walked around the big room for some time admiring the simple yet nice decor. He however stopped in his tracks as he spotted a familiar figure he never failed to recognize.

'Is she here for the competition too?', he thought, when an idea popped into his head. 'Sorry Minjun', Minho inwardly apologized as he turned around and made his way to the organizers. He whispered something to them which they thought on for a bit before nodding in agreement.

Xander returned to Astrol's side after he was done with registering their names. The two had only begun to talk again when they were interrupted by the loud voice of the host.

"Okay everyone, because this is our third birthday as a club and because of the love mad support from everyone, we've decided to change our normal way of pairing and switch things up. So, we're going to pair you highschoolers randomly". Excited whispers broke out at the MC's words but Xander didn't like the sound of this at all. How was he supposed to spend time with Astrol now.

"Please listen carefully to the new pairs", The MC instructed as he started to call out the names. Xander became even more annoyed when he heard the name of Astrol's new partner. Astrol however was both confused and surprised on hearing his name.

Her confusion was still clearly written on her face when Minho approached her. "How did you __". "I came here to support my friend Minjun", he cut her off and explained, and Astrol hesitantly nodded. "But", he continued. 

"But?", Astrol repeated. "I kind of changed things up a bit so that I could get paired up with you instead", he straightforwardly answered. He hadn't planned on telling her that part, but he always ended up being so honest around her.

"Y-You!", Astrol fumed. She couldn't believe that he just did that, and to get paired up with her?, seriously?. He even shamelessly admitted to it too. "You know, maybe you were right after all. Maybe I might just be stalking you", he said with a playful wink and a mischievous smile. 'This prince!'

The competition soon began and everyone got to work at their various stations. The task was relatively easy. They were asked to prepare a dish that they knew well, and were allowed to show off their skills with additional work like side dishes, pastries or drinks.

Time quickly flew by, and they only had few minutes left before they would have to present what they'd made. Kim Minho decided to make a refreshing cocktail since it would go nicely with what they prepared. He put the necessary items inside a small mixing container and shook it to mix everything up properly. 

Everything was going well until Minho accidentally loosened his hold on the cover of the container, and the entire thing slammed right into his face. Even his apron got drenched. A gasp went up from the little crowd, and although Astrol had gotten a bit of the drink on herself, she really couldn't care less as she burst out laughing. 

Minho's reaction had been priceless. He behaved like someone who just got revived after being close to drowning as he gasped and shook his head violently with shocked eyes.

The crowd eventually joined in with small chuckles of their own and clapped as well to encourage them. Kim Minho didn't even get the chance to feel embarrassed because his attention had been immediately drawn to Astrol the moment he heard her laugh.

He'd never heard her laugh before and her laughter sounded so pleasant to his ears. He stared at her beautiful laughing face and a sweet smile carved on his lips. He felt happy knowing that he could make her laugh like that. 'Maybe I should be more silly around her'.

"That's karma for laughing at me back in the hospital", Astrol managed to say, trying to calm herself down. But the moment she saw him smile, she looked away from him. 'How come he's smiling like that?. This prince really must be crazy after all', she thought as she handed him a towel to wipe his face.

Xander couldn't help getting even more upset now. Astrol hardly ever laughed that hard and now he was able to make her laugh so much?!

The competition soon came to an end with Xander and one of his male friends emerging as the winner, and soon, everyone bid their partners goodbye. 

"Dude I can't believe you messed up so much at making cocktail", Minjun said amused. 

"And can you imagine them shuffling partners last minute? Gosh. you're so lucky landing such a pretty partner. Too bad she was one of Zane's victims though th__". "One of Zane's victims?", Minho asked cutting him off.

"Yeah you don't know? Oh wait, you weren't around then". Minjun then started to explain everything that had happened. Kim Minho had a deep frown on his face after Minjun finished. Now that he thought about it, he understood why Zane had been in that video. He was fond of lashing out at others when he got really upset, but it'd been a while since Zane had done something like that.

"I know, I felt bad for her too, but we can't save everyone from Zane's wrath", Minjun shrugged. "Hey now why the frown? Don't tell me you suddenly like that pretty face now", Minjun joked but Minho just walked ahead.

"Wait a minute, you also whispered something to the organizers shortly before the random grouping. You did that so you could get paired up with her right?, right?", Minjun continued, catching up to Minho.

"You talk too much you know. Your mouth is going to fall off at this rate", Minho replied and Minjun's face only crumpled seeing that he wasn't going to answer him.

Xander and Astrol were having a drink at the juice shop near the school to celebrate Xander's win, when she heard Xander suddenly ask, "So, Kim Minho, are you two that close now?". "I wouldn't say that". 

"So friends then?", he asked again. 

"It's complicated. Why?", she asked back.

"It's nothing, just that with everything that's happened to you when it comes to royalty, I'm just worried", Xander explained.

"Hey don't be. I've learnt enough lessons for a lifetime from associating with royalty, and I'm not going to make that mistake again", she reassured and Xander smiled.