The next morning, everyone was groaning. The house had woken up to the sound of Wooyoung's shrill screams. He had discovered an unknown man sleeping shirtless in bed with him. The silver head had no memory of last night, the last thing he remembered was drinking till he blacked out after he left the table. So obviously, seeing a big, handsome, ridiculously hot stranger sleeping next to him on his bed sent him into a panic. The said big, handsome, ridiculously hot stranger was San, the crown prince of Nashira, who had passed out and crashed at their house for the night. The same guy who he had been grinding on just a few hours ago. Mingi had a bad headache and Yunho was off with Guava on a walk, not wanting to act awkward around the boy after his little confession from last night. The only two comparatively functioning people left in the house were Seonghwa and Pearl who were trying to figure out how to make a breakfast that didn't instantly poison their friends.

'Okay, the oil is hot, let me put the chillies in.' Seonghwa chucked the chopped-up chillies into the oil, covering himself and Pearl with the pan's lid when the seeds started flying around. 'Abort mission!' He retreated back to the safety of the living room.

'God, Seonghwa!' Pearl was finally done with the spy's antics. 'Give me that!' she snatched the wooden spatula, adding the rest of the ingredients into the pan. Seonghwa sighed, giving up and taking a seat on the couch right in front of the kitchen and watched as the princess worked, making quite an impressive spread of veggies, some soup to soothe everyone's blaring headaches and churning stomachs, some meat, and eggs. Now that Seonghwa has come to terms with his feeling for the princess and acknowledged them as being more than mere admiration, everything she does seems so endearing. Pearl might just be eating a sandwich, shoving an entire half in one bite into her mouth but to Seonghwa, she seemed like someone straight out of the romance novels he oh so despised before coming here. What's so special about them anyways? How could one find someone who borderline kidnapped you and kept you hostage attractive? That right there was a disaster waiting to happen. Seonghwa didn't understand what was wrong with people these days.

He watched as Pearl continued to set up the table, humming to herself a soft melody. Her dress twisted and flowed around as she moved about in the kitchen. Seonghwa watched enchanted by the princess, a hint of a smile almost spreading on his face. But he must've been looking too intently because the next moment he knew, Wooyoung threw himself at the lovesick guy, scaring the living daylights out of him. He almost brought out his hidden dagger.

'Ew.' He shoved the bodyguard back, disgusted by the smell of alcohol that still lingered on his body.

'Good morning to you too.' Wooyoung pouted, shimmying down to the kitchen to steal some pieces of meat only to be hit on the hand by a wooden spatula before Pearl redirected him to the bathroom. The rest of the team slowly joined, much to Seonghwa's disappointment as it cut short her time with his princess. His princess. Seonghwa blushed at the thought, coughing to cover up his flustered mind. Yunho was the last one to arrive, shuffling to the table after serving Guava his breakfast which he chowed down as if he didn't eat the same dog food every single day. Everyone ate to their heart's content in comfortable silence, complementing Pearl's cooking here and there.

'Pass me the bread.' Seonghwa muttered to no one in particular. Yunho nodded and mindlessly reached for the bowl, not even looking up from his soup, to be met with someone else's hand touching his. He looked up, seeing a blushing Mingi drawing his hand back and averting his eyes. The blond shyly reached for the bowl, passing it to his fellow Nashiran comrade with flushed ears: the only telltale sign that he was just as flustered as his counterpart. Seonghwa's eyes darted back to Pearl, silently questioning if she saw what happened and yes, she did. The two snickered, struggling to hide their chuckles. Pearl mouthed a 'cute' pointing at the two before going back to absolutely guzzling down the breakfast. Seonghwa watched with adoration as the princess stuffed her cheeks full like some squirrel. It was one of her most endearing habits in his humble opinion but he oftentimes worried she'd choke on all that food one day. He was about to scoop the last of his soup before a knock interrupted them.

'I'll get it.' San volunteered since he was already done with his meal. He grabbed his discarded shirt from the night before, putting it on as he reached the door. He pulled it open, peeking his head out to see who it is.

'You.' His eyes widened. He scrambled to close the door but to his displeasure, a hand stopped the door before he could fully shut it and forced it back open. Pearl saw from her seat what seemed like three men, two of almost the same height and one shorter, almost as tall as Wooyoung, glaring down at the prince. 'Prince San,' The shortest one sauntered in followed by the other two. Pearl noticed his hair was two-toned. One half of it was black and the other half was white as snow. 'Pretty' she couldn't help thinking to herself, shamelessly checking out the guy who was currently terrorizing poor San. 'You've been missing since yesterday night.' He glared at the sweating prince who weakly grinned at the three, nerves clearly showing. Nashiran guards were surely something.

'Do you know how worried we were?' he reached out for the prince's ear, pulling it down and earning a cry of pain from the Royal who was trying to break free as the guard went on about safety precautions and how this was no time to play around.

'Uh, guys?' Yunho's voice finally interrupted the banter and the three looked up to see the whole table staring at them. The shortest, who seemed to be the leader, straightened himself bowing at the amazed Alhenans who seemed too stunned to even move. 'Princess Pearl, Prince Mingi.' they curtsied at the two before introducing themselves as Hongjoong, Yeosang, and Jongho. 'Our apologies for interrupting your meal.' Hongjoong, the leader spoke up.

'Wow, why can't you be like that?' Mingi whispered to Wooyoung, who in turn threw a piece of broccoli at him.

'There's no need for such formalities.' Pearl finally spoke up, 'Please rise.' The three guards rose, Hongjoong's eyes widening once they finally landed on a familiar face. 'Seonghwa!' he exclaimed. 'Hongjoong!' He was met back with equal excitement as the spy waved at him from his seat. Pearl observed the ongoing exchange with wonder, didn't the spy say he had no friends? Who was he then? Father Christmas? Her questions didn't go unanswered for too long as a smiling Seonghwa turned to them, introducing the guy as his former batchmate along with Prince San. 'He's the only one I can tolerate.' He stated quite seriously. 'I thought I was the only one you tolerate.' Thought Pearl, not amused but still sending the guy a polite smile.

'New rookies?' Seonghwa pointed at the two faces he's never seen standing at the back. They seemed to shy away from the spy's gaze now that they learned who he was. 'Fresh out of training.' Hongjoong confirmed, smirking in the anticipation of what was coming. 'Let's test you two after you eat.' the redhead rose from his seat, beckoning the two towards the table and seating them down where he and San were once sitting.

'I must warn you, they're stronger than they look,' Hongjoong challenged, massaging the shoulder of the boys when he sat down. 'Especially this one.' He patted the said boy's back who silently stuffed his face with soup to avoid eye contact.

'We'll see what you could do when we get to the grounds.' Seonghwa said, an eyebrow raised in intrigue at the way his colleague boasted about his new junior. 'Eat up.'

The said test went on till the afternoon when the six Nashirans finally returned all battered and worn out. They didn't even bother coming to the patio, choosing to sit on the cool garden grass under the trees instead. 'You two,' Seonghwa pointed at the rookies, 'what potion have you been drinking to be so strong?' he poked the two in the arms, earning a shy chuckle from both. 'Maybe you're the one who is a bit rusty.' Yeosang spoke from his seat, still out of breath.

'Hey! It isn't my fault you two are unreasonably strong!' Seonghwa argued. 'Besides, I went easy on you two.'

'Excuses, excuses' The other half of the duo teased in a sing-song voice.

'Admit it, Seonghwa. You're growing old and rusty now.' Hongjoong commented, ruffling Jongho's silky chocolate-brown hair. The boy whined and then shuffled away from the captain to fix them back to presentable condition.

'Like hell I am!' The red-haired spy jumped back up, challenging Hongjoong to a duel to see who was rustier which the captain shamelessly denied saying he was too lazy. 'You've changed.' Seonghwa plopped back down on the soft grass, plucking them one by one from the ground.

'True,' Hongjoong nodded. 'Having kids truly changes you.'

'Wait, you have kids now?' The captain nodded, pointing at the two rookies who groaned out of frustration.

'For the love of God, Captain. We're not your kids!' Yeosang sighed, seeming tired of this conversation.

'Is that how you talk to your dad, Yeosang?' Hongjoong jokingly reprimanded the younger one, pulling his ears for added dramatics.

'Yeah, Yeosang! Show your father some respect!' San joined in, clearly enjoying the poor guy's misery.

'Jongho, do something!' Yeosang looked at his partner for help only to be left disappointed.

'What do you want me to do, It's your fault!' The chocolate-haired boy responded, clearly not wanting to get involved in the fiasco.

'Oh really now?' Suddenly Yeosang was out of Hongjoong's grip, towering over his partner with hands resting on his hips. 'If I remember correctly, it was you who addressed him as "dad" first. It's all your fault that I have to suffer like this, Choi Jongho. Don't ever think I'll let you ever live that down.' He grabbed the youngest's collar and shoved him towards the awaiting Captain. 'If I have to suffer, you'll suffer too.'

'What is happening right now?' Seonghwa watched his batchmate proceed to tease both of them now, calling himself their father. The way he reprimanded them, though jokingly, seemed very convincing. Hongjoong had really committed himself to the role, Seonghwa had to appreciate the dedication.

'But what about you, Seonghwa? what happened to you?' Hongjoong turned his attention back to his comrade.

'What happened to me?' Seonghwa looked at the guard in confusion.

'Ever since we came here you seem, well, different.'

'You mean finally seeming like an actual real human and not coming off as if he has two-week-old shit stuck in his ass?' Yunho commented from where he lay, eyes trained on the little garden where Mingi was frolicking about, carefully watering the little shrubs and flowers in a cute yellow apron.

'Well, yes.' Hongjoong admitted.

'It's because he's in love.' Yunho made sure to put extra emphasis on the 'O' when he said 'Love'. The three guards and the prince's heads turned to stare at Seonghwa with wide eyes. If looks could kill, Yunho would be grilled meat by now.

'What's this?' San started and Seonghwa prepared himself for the oncoming teasing. 'The best spy of Nashira, the cold and unapproachable Seonghwa is finally in love?'

'Yeah, I couldn't believe this was real at first either.' Yunho was still staring at Mingi who finally noticed his gaze and sent him a shy wave.

'Who's the lucky person?' Yeosang asked.

'Wait don't answer!' San jumped from where he was lying down before Seonghwa could even open his mouth to answer. 'Let's make it a challenge!'

'Huh?' Everyone looked at the prince in confusion.

'Let's see who can guess who's Seonghwa's crush first.' He sat up on his knees, hands on his hips.

'Nah, I'd rather he just tell me.' Jongho earned a whine from the prince.

'Come on! It'll be fun!' He pouted, eyebrows furrowed in distress. 'Fist one to guess gets Seven hundred gold coins.' He looked around hopefully but to his disappointment, no one seemed interested. 'And free food.'

'I'm in!' chimed the three guards. 

These guys would reject the Nobel prize. But if food is involved, you bet there would be a bloodbath.

Anyways how do y'all like the new chapter? *wiggles eyebrows*