The nightstand clock between their beds reads 5:35am when Beomgyu wakes up.

He groans as he realises that he was asleep for more than 12 hours, the extra sleep making him lethargic before his eyes landed on the empty bed five feet away from his bed. Taehyun wasn't here. The thought alarmed him for a second and he sat up, looking around the room.

There was no one there. And the bathroom door was open and the lights were out. Taehyun wasn't in the room at all. The older prince got out of the bed, checking Taehyun's nightstand for a note. He checked his phone for a message too before remembering that he actually doesn't have Taehyun's number so it wasn't possible for the younger to leave him a message that way.

A little bit of worry seeped into his thoughts and he forgot the fight they had had the day before as he wondered if Taehyun had just stepped out or if something had happened. The wilder part of his imagination trickled in ideas of the brown haired prince being kidnapped and Beomgyu not realizing because he's a heavy sleeper and before he could dwell on the horror of missing the kidnapping of his fiancé, he heard the sound of keys opening the door to their room.

Taehyun stepped inside, a small towel on his left shoulder, dressed in sweatpants and a tank top. His right hand held a bottle of what was probably water while the left were fiddling with the keys. The younger stilled for a second at seeing Beomgyu awake.

There was an awkward silence wherein Beomgyu wondered if he should ask Taehyun where he had been but the outfit and objects were pretty obvious so he didn't say anything. The younger just looked at Beomgyu's table that was right in front of his bed and the older almost missed it in the darkness but there was no mistaking the outline of something placed there.

Taehyun made his way to the bathroom just as Beomgyu crossed him to pick up what was on the table. It was a yellow carnation, cut from the stem and from the dew that Beomgyu could feel under the pads of his fingertips, he realized it was a freshly bloomed one.

Taehyun got him a flower.

A smile broke onto his face and he turned to face Taehyun, who was now paused in the doorway of their bathroom, the lights he had turned on illuminating the sharp features of his face. He was waiting for Beomgyu's reaction. Beomgyu gave him a close-eyed smile, accepting the flower as an apology.

For some reason, instead of smiling back, Taehyun just raised an eyebrow and Beomgyu was too puzzled by that to notice the faint flush on his cheeks before he shut the bathroom door behind him.

Beomgyu spent the rest of the morning extra energetically and happily, the thought of having received a flower, a really pretty one at that, making him giddy. This was his way of apologising, wasn't it? Taehyun wanted them to make amends too. That was all Beomgyu really wanted.

He made sure to even drop a kiss on Taehyun's cheek before skipping away to his seat, not noticing the younger gawking at his back at the sudden unexpected action. Kai stifled his laughter, his shoulders shaking.

Midway through their third lecture, Beomgyu had the idea to give Taehyun a flower back to show that he had accepted his apology. Wouldn't that be cute? And he can even do it in the courtyard so others will see it and think of it as a flower from one lover to another and all that jazz. Satisfied with the idea, Beomgyu smiled at the back of Taehyun's head before paying attention to the class again.

When classes ended, he dashed for the gardens immediately, making his way through the greenery to find the flower that would be pretty. A bush of roses caught his eye and he crouched to examine them. Most of them were red but a few other colours were also around and Beomgyu decided that a yellow rose would look next to his own yellow carnation and carefully broke it off the stem, not wanting to hurt himself with the thorns.

He spent the next five minutes searching for Taehyun. Just when he was almost on the verge of giving up, he saw Taehyun walking with Kai, the two engaged in what seemed to be a really animated talk. The sight made Beomgyu smile again and he stepped in their path to make them stop. Taehyun abruptly stopped speaking and looked at him in question.

"For you," Beomgyu said softly, holding out the yellow rose to the younger. Taehyun stared at him for a second before his eyes fell to the flower. Something flashed in his eyes before Taehyun knocked it out of Beomgyu's hands with a harsh swipe.

"Seriously?"

Beomgyu's heart plummeted at Taehyun's glare, confusion taking over him when Taehyun angrily pushed past him to leave. He watched the younger disappear from his sight, mouth open in disbelief. Beomgyu turned around to face Kai again, who was now staring at the yellow rose like it was on fire.

"Kai?" Beomgyu's voice made him look up and Kai stared at Beomgyu for a few seconds before realization struck him.

"Oh my god," he whispered to himself, only confusing Beomgyu more. "You don't know."

"Does Taehyun have some history with yellow roses or…?" Beomgyu wasn't sure what had happened. All he wanted to do was give Taehyun a flower back and instead, the younger had got angry at him. Again.

"No, that's not it," Kai sighed to himself, hand flying to his face in exhaustion. "You probably don't know this Beomgyu-ssi but flowers have meanings in the Kingdom of Earth. Well, those meanings are accepted in quite a few kingdoms, not just Earth but the citizens of the Earth know flower language since they are children. They communicate messages and feelings through them."

"Oh."

Beomgyu paused to stare at his yellow rose before hesitantly asking Kai, "What does a rose mean then? I thought roses are good. People give roses to their lovers all the time, right?"

"Yes, but those are generally red or pink ones," Kai explained patiently. "I am not as well versed with flower meanings either, I usually ask Taehyun or check the book from the library. Do you want to go there and find out?"

"That would be… enlightening," Beomgyu sighed.

Kai accompanied him to the large building that was behind the main building where classes were generally held. Once inside, he took Beomgyu straight to the section that had books on flower meanings and the two started searching for yellow roses.

"Found it," Kai winced at the page before handing the book to Beomgyu so he could read. The older prince stared at the words written in bold beneath a big picture of a yellow rose. Yellow roses generally symbolise friendship but also mean cheating.

"Oh, that's fantastic," Beomgyu groaned, dropping his head on the table with a thud. Memories of the whole fiasco with Soobin flooded into his mind. "I messed that up. Alright. I can explain that to him, right? He will understand that I didn't know flowers had meanings outside of just being really pretty to the eyes?"

"He probably will," Kai said in a reassuring tone.

"Now I'm curious what the meaning of his flower is," Beomgyu rifled through the index for yellow carnations, not noticing Kai flinching at his words. "Let's see… it says here that–"

The words made Beomgyu freeze, his tongue suddenly feeling heavier. Yellow carnations meant rejection or disappointment. The flower wasn't an apology… It was a rejection. It wasn't– Taehyun rejected him. Rejected this marriage? Rejected whatever they could be.

Anger bubbled inside him and Beomgyu shut the book harshly. The action made Kai flinch who looked at him in concern and with one look, the older knew that Kai knew. Kai knew what yellow carnations meant.

"I am sorry," Kai bowed to him, something that shocked Beomgyu because princes never bowed to anyone. Not a full 90° bow that Kai was doing anyway. "I apologize on his behalf. I really don't know how to talk to him when it comes to you but I swear, Taehyun doesn't really mean it. I am sure he just wanted to make you mad. Which isn't really any better but please don't hate him. I hate to ask you this when I should be saying it to Taehyun but, please be the bigger person just this one last time. Please. I will, I will talk to him and get him to apologize, but please don't get mad–"

"Kai." The younger paused, not daring to straighten up from his bow or even look at Beomgyu. "It's okay. Look at me. You don't need to bow to me."

Kai straightened up, shame visible on his face. Beomgyu sighed, staring at the faded leather cover of the book he was still clutching onto tightly.

"You're right," he says slowly, voice low enough that only Kai would hear. The library was thankfully empty since the classes had just started a day ago. "If I get angry, nothing will be solved ultimately. We will fight and everything will fall apart again. Which is funny because nothing is together to fall apart but, my point is that you don't need to worry. I won't get angry at him. I intend to actually talk to him civilly this time. Because I let him act like a child and didn't act like a mature adult myself either. We need to have a serious talk about ourselves. So Kai, can you please just… make sure he comes to our room by the evening?"

"Yeah, yeah I'll do that," Kai looked so relieved that it made Beomgyu smile. "Thank you for being so understanding, Beomgyu-ssi."

"Just call me hyung," Beomgyu grinned, standing up to place the books back into their places. Kai helped him to keep the rest and they stepped out of the building together. They had to go on separate paths so Kai murmured a goodbye and was about to leave when Beomgyu called out after him.

"You're really a great friend, Kai."

✿

A few hours later, Beomgyu scrolled through his phone while sitting on the chair as he waited for Taehyun to come back. The sound of the key pressing into the slot made him immediately lock his phone and put it aside to stare at the brown haired boy walking in. Taehyun's lips were set in a curl that showcased his displeasure. He shot a glare at Beomgyu, who wondered if the younger's eyes were red rimmed or if he was seeing things.

"I didn't cheat on you," Beomgyu sighed, gesturing his head towards Taehyun's bed as a suggestion for him to sit down.

"Then why give me a yellow rose?" Taehyun retorted, crossing his arms over his chest in a challenge.

"Because!" Beomgyu cried exasperatedly. "I didn't know it had a meaning. Hell, I didn't even know flowers had meanings, much less that the flower I gave you basically announced that I was cheating on you or that the one you gave me was just you telling me I'm a fucking disappointment– which was very sweet of you, by the way."

Taehyun looked away to ignore the glare Beomgyu was sending him now, clearing his throat in embarrassment at his own childishness.

"I just wanted to give it to you because it was pretty," Beomgyu said quietly, looking down at his lap. The room felt a little lighter the moment he said it, but maybe that was all just in his head. "I thought… you gave me a pretty flower so you will like one back."

Taehyun looked up at him in surprise, eyes looking away once again in shame before they fell on the carnation that Beomgyu had placed in a glass of water on his table. The older caught him staring and turned to look at it too before sighing.

"Why?" Beomgyu's tone was defeated but still every bit desperate as he was feeling. "Why do you keep treating me like this? I know I am not the prime example of maturity or kindness or whatever but I tried so hard to forgive and forget and try again. I thought, I thought you gave me the flower as an apology. As a way to say you wanted to start over. Me giving you the rose was my way of saying that I want to start over too. But, instead of that, you gave me a flower to tell me how much you don't want to be with me?"

Taehyun gaped at his words and he looked like he wanted to say something in response but Beomgyu cut him off before he could even start. The older prince had too many things he had wanted to say to Taehyun and now, it was like the dam had burst open.

"Do you hate me? Do you not want to be married to me at all?" Taehyun was shaking his head before his question was even over so Beomgyu trudged on. "I know that it's not going to be easy. And I know I will have to be the bigger person sometimes and forgive you for some things and apologize for others but I also need you to do the same. I need you to tell me that you will reciprocate and apologize when you do something wrong. I need you to be honest but kind when you tell me if I have done something you don't want me to do. I need you to give me a chance before you truly hate me. Or think that I was a mistake."

"I," Taehyun looked guilty as he let the words wash over him. "I have been a bit harsh to you–" Beomgyu raised an eyebrow at that. "Ok, maybe more than a bit. I didn't really mean it. I mean, when I said it - which I didn't by the way, I never called you a mistake - I was just shaken that you weren't like I had thought you would be. You judged me so quickly and I thought that you would treat me judgmentally all the time. I got defensive and started being harsh even when you tried to be nice."

"I admit I was in the wrong then," Beomgyu confessed, getting up and walking over to his own bed so that they could sit in front of each other while they talked. "I am sorry for that. It was weird for me because I have spent my whole life putting my kingdom first. I thought you were being irresponsible but as I have come to realize now, it was just that caring for your family first and foremost is just how you have grown up. There's nothing wrong with that. I hope you can forgive me for judging you so quickly and then arguing instead of being mature."

"There's a lot more that you need to forgive me for then," Taehyun's smile was small but it felt hopeful. "I was a jerk to you this whole time. I was snapping at you for things that weren't even worth getting angry over. I guess, I was just too stressed by this whole marriage prospect. I was afraid to disappoint and then, I was afraid that you would reject me. I thought it would be better if I rejected you first, which in hindsight, was quite stupid of me. Can you forgive me too?"

"Of course," Beomgyu's eyes softened at the genuine words spilling out of Taehyun's mouth. "I had hoped that we could learn to love each other as we are to be married. But, if you don't want that, I would like to at least be good friends with you. This marriage… I will bear it if it doesn't have romantic love but I won't be able to handle it if there's no love at all. I would rather have you as my friend, if you would like that."

"I would love that," Taehyun relaxed at the words, feeling at ease with what Beomgyu had suggested. "I promise to be better from now on. I promise to communicate if something bothers me."

"Me too," Beomgyu grinned widely, the first time he had given such a genuine reaction to Taehyun. If the younger's heart skipped a beat at the beautiful sight, he ignored it in favour of returning his own smile to seal the truce they had stumbled upon.

His shark-like teeth poked out and it took all of Beomgyu to not gasp at the sight of them– they were adorable. It made him feel a bit dizzy just from the shock of seeing it pointed towards himself. He had made Taehyun smile. Like that.

Beomgyu decided that he really, really, really liked seeing Taehyun smile.

✿

When Beomgyu woke up at dawn the next day, he sat up to find a different flower in his glass instead of the carnation he had placed there the day before. Taehyun, who had just come out of the shower, caught him staring at the daffodil in curiosity and smiled.

"Daffodils represent forgiveness," he explained, watching the pleasant surprise take over the older prince's face. "And new beginnings."

°•❀•°