Early Preparations

In the midst of the busy expensive ballroom, a sight of a young prince was seen helping the maids arranging the gold-plated cutleries on the decent-sized round dining tables. They were covered with silver tablecloths decorated with shimmering gold floral embroidery on the rim. The distance between each various type of forks, spoons and knives were accurately being measured by using a ruler. The plates that had already been placed in front of every seats must be aligned accordingly with their respective cutleries. The clear and tall wine glasses were the last ones to be put just a few inches away from the plates as they could easily be shattered. There were 100 tables altogether and the young prince nodded in satisfaction seeing all the meticulous hard work being paid off. Droplets of sweats were trickling down his temple as he hummed silently. The side of his lips twitched into a sweet smile and his natural puffy eyes disappeared into little moon-like crescents.

"I think we're done for now, you guys did a really great job," the young prince said. His honeyed voice was layered with delicate softness. All the maids and butlers returned his smile and nodded enthusiastically. Everyone felt very contented when they were being praised by the young prince like that.

"You helped us a lot, Prince Jimin. You didn't have to, but you did anyway. We thank you, Your Highness," a butler said before he bowed down slightly as a gesture of respect and grateful for Prince Jimin. Everyone else followed suit.

"It's nothing! You guys know how much I love it when we're hosting the annual grand ball so of course I will help," the prince was grinning from ear to ear, showing off his pearly white row of teeth. Every year, the capital of Alania would host their grand ball on a blooming day of spring season. It was initially an event for the royalties but the King decided to open the gates for the Alanian citizens. That was the main reason why Prince Jimin was always very fanatical when it came to this particular occasion. He loved seeing the lively expressions plastered across people's faces when they stepped inside the grand ballroom. The pleasured hums being heard when they took the first spoonful of caviar were an invariably joyful circumstance for Prince Jimin. He was always like that; always liked to put people's happiness first instead of his. It didn't matter whether that person was royalty or not. But above all, he particularly loved to take care of his dearest hyung, Prince Hoseok.

Prince Jimin nodded appreciatively and turned on his heels to walk away while the maids and butlers dispersed out to continue making final touches to the decorations. They were eager to make sure the ball would be as grandeur as it possibly could. It had to be better than last year, and next year had to be better than this year. Prince Jimin left the grand ballroom with a giddy feeling bubbled up inside him. The annual ball was only 2 days away so he couldn't help but anticipate his meeting with the Alanian citizens. He was also overjoyed for getting to meet his childhood friend inside the castle without ever having to look back over his shoulder.

The vast area of the hallway leading to Prince Hoseok's bedroom had always been the place where Prince Jimin and his hyung would play hide and seek when they were younger. The sky-scraping cylindrical marble pillars that went parallel with the hallway was his favourite spot to hide. He never liked being away from his hyung for too long so he would hide in places that were so easy for himself to be found. Prince Hoseok took a lot pride in that because he thought he was so good at that game; he was happy, always happy when he was able to put his mind off the problems that were surrounding him. Prince Jimin smiled at that thought and continued to skip along the never-ending hallway, eager to go see his hyung and tell him the preparations for the grand ball went really well today.

He knocked on the double-door. It was gigantic and stood high enough to almost reach the ceiling. It looked really antique but also very 21st century at the same time. A faint 'Come in!' was heard from inside so he gently turned the gold-plated knob to push the door open. Prince Hoseok quickly settled down the book that he was holding on his lap as soon as he saw his dongsaeng entered his bedroom. Prince Jimin beamed brightly as he ran over to the bed and Prince Hoseok couldn't stop his facial expression from copying. He loved and cherished his dongsaeng too much.

"Hyung!" Prince Jimin jumped and plopped onto the king-sized bed and it bounced a little from the sudden weight, which made him giggled seeing his hyung bounced along slightly. Prince Hoseok laughed as well. "Hyung, you need to come and see the ballroom! We did a really great job today!"

"I haven't seen it yet but I can tell everything is beautiful. I know you always make sure of that," Prince Hoseok ruffled his dongsaeng's hair to mess around with him a bit. Prince Jimin sat upright over the back of his heels with his knees and calves fully bent under his weight. He clasped his small hands together in front of his chest and started to gradually bounce on the springy bed.

"I'm so excited! Are you excited, hyung?" he asked ecstatically. He couldn't stop bouncing. Prince Hoseok was feeling delighted every time he saw his dongsaeng acting like this; giddy and bubbly. He placed his hands on both of his dongsaeng's shoulder to calm him down or else the bed would break.

"Of course, I am!" The sentence was utterly a lie. Both of them knew that, they just didn't want to acknowledge the fact and say it out loud. Prince Hoseok was not born with anxiety and paranoia being the main part of himself. He was once a normal kid, a very matured one for his age. He used to love meeting new people and strike up interesting conversations. Every now and then the King would let him go visit downtown with his personal bodyguard to check up on his people. That was his job as a prince anyway. The Alanian citizens respected him so much even though he was only 10 years old at that time. He was the sunshine of Alania. But it was different now. He wished he was that person again.

"I can't wait to see Taehyung. Will you meet him?" Prince Jimin's eyes were gleaming with hope. He wanted his hyung to meet Taehyung since forever. They almost did, during last year's grand ball, but some unforeseen circumstances happened. It was a hurtful and confusing experience for Taehyung, but he understood the situation after Prince Jimin gave him the explanation he deserved.

"You know I will! He's your childhood friend after all. Why didn't you introduce him to me last year?" Prince Hoseok had heard a lot about Taehyung. His cute peculiarity, his boxy smile and his pure heart. Prince Jimin was very detailed in his stories. There were times where he had to tell those same stories about Taehyung all over again for his hyung to hear, but it never came across to become a burden for him.

"He couldn't come," he lied. He never liked to lie, especially to his hyung. But there were times where he had no other choice than to do so. "His whole family didn't show up last year. His mother was ill during that time," he lied again.

"That's too bad. I hope you paid him a visit after."

"I always pay him a visit, hyung," he reminded. It was true. The princes received a privilege of getting to go visit the people of Alania once a month and Prince Jimin's first ever destination had always been Taehyung's house. It was located quite far away from the castle so he would wake up in the middle of the night on every first day of every month to prepare his visit to Taehyung's house. Then, he would only take a quick nap until his departure first thing tomorrow morning. His personal bodyguard, Seokjin, would always be the one to accompany him wherever he went.

"Ah, yes. I forgot about our privilege. I wish I could go with you…" Prince Hoseok brought his voice on a descend. The aura of sadness was found laced within the words he spoke. He hung his head low and his sight was piercing through the book on his lap. He already kept in mind to never mention about this in front of Prince Jimin again because it would make his dongsaeng worry too much about him, but he couldn't help it. He tried to suppress the ugly thoughts inside his head with all the internal strength that he could muster, but he kept on failing. He was slowly slipping into his other self while Prince Jimin watched him with sorrow, unable to utter a single word at the sudden change of atmosphere. The shining in Prince Hoseok's eyes was suddenly nowhere to be found. He brought both of his knees towards his chest and wrapped his arms around them tightly, burying his face and trapping the book in between.

"Hyung…?" Prince Jimin spoke softly. "Are you still there, hyung? I want to show you what I did today in the ballroom…" He tried to change the topic as an effort to keep his hyung's mind on the ground, but he was already a tad bit late. He tugged on his hyung's sleeve to try make him look up. Prince Hoseok remained frozen for a few seconds before he lifted his head up. His lifeless gaze shot through Prince Jimin's eyes.

"Your hyung is not here. Go away, Jimin," Prince Hoseok— no, Hobi said.