THE FIRST DINNER

My mind is becoming a mess. I bit my lips unconsciously.

"Don't do that. You'll eat your lipstick." She grabbed my arm and hauled me up.

"Enough, we have wasted good 5 minutes. We should go now"

"It was your fault for wasting those five minutes. If only you didn't busy yourself with applying makeup on me then we could have gotten there earlier." I grumbled.

"Stupid other world, stupid makeup, stupid castle, and stupid dresses."

"Well, if only you'd cooperate, then we could have gotten there earlier, but no you didn't". 

"Whatever." I let it slide since I was hungry. Seriously, do princesses need to look like this every day? What a pain.

As we were going down the stairs, I saw that the princes were also dressed nicely. The twins were wearing blue long-sleeved shirts and pants. There are some kinds of gold patches on their shoulders. Prince Park Jimin was well suited with his maroon-coloured tuxedo with a white shirt underneath. At the back, his red tux formed a 'W' shape. 

 The prince whose title always starts with capital letters ( PRINCE Jungkook) was dressed in all black, which made me wonder if he had heeded my advice. It was fastened with gold lines running down vertically. Prince Jin was clothed in the opposite colour scheme as Jungkook. He looked great in white. It lightened his hair even further. His long- sleeved button-down shirt was likewise decorated with gold lines. He's in good shape. There, I saw Mr deep dimple, trying to gentle his hair by combining his hands through them. He also wore the same attire as Prince Jin but his colour was peach. My Hope also came into my point of view, Prince J-hope wore a Long- sleeved button upwards with a touch of gold hems on each of the side with black pants. His hair was neatly combed. 

 Once we were halfway down the steps, their gaze was fixed on us. Six of them grinned, but Prince Jungkook simply gazed at me blankly.

 Once we reached the end of the stairs, Prince Jimin approached and nodded at the queen. "Wow!" He exclaimed while looking at me.

 "This is not good for my heart."

"Why?" I wondered. A little worried that he may have heart problems.

"You're too cute." He winked at me.

"I feel like my hand might slip, and I'll punch someone". I said sweetly.  The twins got in between us and glared at Jimin.

 "You've been taking advantage of our princess now, Jimin."

I gapped at them. Our princess!?

Yoongi, on the other hand, faces me. A soft smile on his lips. 

"You look beautiful today, Princess. I was glad that we handed you over to the servants." He winked just like Jimin. Are they all flirting?

I snapped my fingers. "Which reminds me," I said and pulled Yoongi's ear. 

"This is your punishment for handing me to the enemy earlier!"

"Ow! Why am I the only one being punished?!" Yoongi whined.

"Cause you're the one who reminded me," I said with a deadpan expression.

"Sorry. Remind me never to remind you again. Okay?"

"If I do that, then I am basically reminding myself."

Prince Jin, J-hope and Namjoon approached me next. 

"You look more beautiful than this morning. The dress suits you well." Jin complimented me.

Am I seeing things? Or is he beginning to sparkle? Very lightly, I waved at the air around us to shoo the pesky sparkles away. Nope, it is still there.

"Aw, come on, Jin. Stop using your charms on her." Tae pouted.

"Enough with the chit-chat. Let's eat." The queen walked to the table and sat on the seat beside the King. Prince Namjoon pulled my chair for me, which was sweet.

I sat between Prince J-hope and Prince Namjoon while the beast (Jungkook) sat in front of me. So it was a glaring contest between us. Prince Jimin sat beside Prince Yoongi, while Prince Jin sat beside Tae. The food was served. It seemed that our menu for today is mash potato and chicken with tons of gravy and ribs.

After saying a silent prayer, I was about to dig in when I had a little problem. A pile of spoons of all sizes were lined up beside me. Great, which utensil should I use now?

I peeked at Prince J-hope and saw him using the fork in the middle of the set of eating utensils.

Just as I was about to reach it. Yoongi stopped me, took a table napkin that I overlooked right beside my plate, and placed it on my lap. 

  "You should always place it there in case you drop something and ruin your dress." He said politely.

"Thank you,"   I said and started to cut the meat but it was too hard. When I tried to force it to tear, a piece of it went flying onto Jungkook's plate. He was surprised by the magical meat and searched for the culprit. Oops!

I gently placed the knife and fork down and pretended to be interested in my surroundings. Beside me, I heard Prince Namjoon chuckle softly. Glad to see him amused.

"Here, let me help." He grabbed my knife and fork, and cut the meat into smaller pieces.

After finishing cutting the meat, he proceeded to eat his dinner. "Thanks," I whispered to him. It was embarrassing how I seemed to be the only one with poor table manners.

Yoongi decided to tease me by getting my spoon and feeding me a spoonful of mashed potatoes. "Here, baby, say ahhh."

"Knock it off." Even though I was offended by that gesture, I chuckled. "I'm not a child."

"She's right, Yoongi," Jimin added.

"She's not a baby. She's a BABE".  Jimin said with a wink. Hang on, my dear sweet fist. Please do not punch him.

"Jade dear," the queen called. I snap my attention to her. She was beaming when she gestured to the King. "This here is your 'uncle' Lee." The king smiled at me. "Well, it's so nice to meet you, my dear, finally." He said and dabbed the napkin through his stubble.

"Sup, 'uncle." 

    That was all I said. So the King is also part of this...

"My, you need a lot of work, Jade." The queen clicked her tongue and eyed my messy plate. I frowned and formed a protective circle around my plate.

"Tae could help you with the proper table etiquette, but I prefer Jimin to help you with that." She looked at Jimin for his approval.

Jimin nodded his head. "I'd be happy to."

"As for your dance lessons, I would like to ask this favour of you, Prince J-hope."

"Of course, your Grace."

"Say what?!" I exclaimed. 

    "Why do I need dance lessons for?!" I asked and shoved another slice of meat into my mouth. This is delicious!

"Every princess must know how to dance," she said.

"Nu-uh!" I said stubbornly.

She talked again. 

     "Oh we better do something about that language of yours. Prince Yoongi and Tae, I would like you to teach her how to behave like one, okay?"

"Yes, your highness," The twins said at the same time. I was uncertain by the queen's choice. I mean, the twins? Teaching me about behaviour??

Even though my mouth was full of meat, I still laughed. Really? The twins? If I know better, we're like the three stooges.

The queen must have noticed my uneasiness.

"Don't worry, Jade. Even though they don't behave well in front of us, they are well mannered when it comes to guessing." She assured me.

   "As for the history and the background of this kingdom, I would like to ask this of you, Prince Jungkook."

No...no way!!!

"Yes, your grace." From the way he said it, he wasn't happy about it as me

"And for dressing and colour, I will like Prince Jin to do that for me". She gestured to Prince Jin and he nodded his head.

  "As you wish your highness". 

"I will like to ask this favor from you Prince Namjoon to teach her how to use the correct pronunciation of the English language". She said to Mr deep dimple and he smiled before saying.

  "I will be glad to do that".  He said. Of course I will like him to be my English teacher. After all I will catch some glimpse of his deep dimple. 

"Well, now that it's settled," the queen grabbed her fork and knife. "Let's eat"

After dinner, we all went in our separate ways.

The servants guided me to my room. The princes could have escorted me, but the queen told..I mean (ORDERED) them to rest.

I was so happy for the day to be over that I didn't even think about changing. I yawned loudly before I lay down on the bed. As I fell asleep, I dreamed of another castle that was smaller and different from this one. 

The one where the people were walking alongside animals.