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For some odd reason the sun seemed to shine exceptionally bright that early afternoon in late autumn and I didn't feel all too drowsy considering the time I went to bed last night.

There was a slight twinge of excitement in my chest when the maids came in to dress me and told me I was to go horseback riding with Hoseok today. As they tucked up my loose curls and slipped on my riding breeches along with my high leather boots and formal black coat, I wondered for the first time in a while what the day had in store for me.

I was lead outside by a servant who then directed me towards the stables. Of course I knew where they were, having ridden since I was a young girl. Sometimes I wondered whether the maids and servants accompanied me around the palace because they thought I was at flight risk.

The servant left however as soon as I got closer to our spacious stables, so I stepped into the well-kept place tentatively, unsure if Hoseok had gotten there already. My question was quickly answered when I glanced towards the back of the stables where the sun shone brightly through the small openings in each stall.

There he stood, his back towards me as he groomed a large and majestic looking white horse. The suns rays illuminated his figure in a warm glow, the blonde highlights now visible in his fluffy light brown hair. Similar to myself, he was wearing black breeches with leather boots, but his riding coat was what stood out. Glistening a deep emerald velvet, it hugged at his strong arms that stroked a brush over the horse's side. Standing in the sunlight like that, this was truly a scene to admire for a few moments.

"Good morning, Milou", he then turned towards me, showing off his perfect smile and making my insides feel all warm.

What was it with these Princes and always sensing my presence?

"Good morning, Hoseok", I curtsied and barely noticed his soft eyes taking in my figure. I had to remind myself this was the first time he was seeing me wearing pants, or rather anything other than my usual poofy dresses.

"You look lovely", his smile grew wider if that was even possible.

"Thank you", I blushed and hesitantly moved closer towards the stall he was standing in, "Is this your horse?"

"She is", he nodded and patted the silken side of his horse as it stood dutifully in its place.

"She's quite majestic", I neared the beautiful animal in awe, "And large for a female horse."

"She's one of a kind. Her kind of breed is not one you find often and she's been trained from the day she could run", he explained pridefully, "And she's been by my side for as long as I can remember."

"What's her name?", I almost whispered, cautiously holding my hand out in front of her muzzle.

"Mickey."

I retracted my hand as my breath caught in my throat from surprise and the need to laugh.

"M-mickey?", I wheezed out, "Your horse is named Mickey?"

"Yes", he simply nodded and smiled, slightly cocking his head, "Is something the matter?

"Well, I'm just surprised is all", I tried my best to suppress my giggles, "You have this large, muscular and noble female horse and you named her... Mickey."

"I don't see the issue", he shrugged, but a small chuckle escaped his lips, "I think it's a great name."

I let out some giggles and he didn't seem offended in the slightest. Instead, he asked, "What did you name your horse then? Most likely something super fancy if you're laughing at the name Mickey."

"Well...", I bit my bottom lip and glanced over to the stall that my mare was kept in.

"Yes?", he looked at me with amused eyes as I hesitated.

"Serendipity", I mumbled out.

Now it was his turn to burst out laughing, causing me to cover my cheeks with my hands as I became embarrassed. He was lucky his laugh was contagious and heart-warming otherwise I might have snapped at him.

"It's a meaningful name, alright?", I tried saying through my giggles.

"Mickey is as well", he countered while chuckling.

After regaining ourselves, he spoke again, "Regardless, let's head out for the day, shall we?"

"I'd love to", I agreed excitedly and the two of us moved to saddle up our horses and lead them from the stables.

I waved Hoseok off when he stood by to help me mount my horse and he grinned as I flung myself over the mare with ease. It felt good to move around without the constraints of a dress. Pants really might have been my favorite thing to wear.

I watched Hoseok then mount his large horse, while I stroked the soft golden-brown mane of mine. His arm covered in that gorgeous emerald velvet motioned for me to follow him, so I held the reigns and came to a light trot behind him. He led us along the stone path that lead out of the palace grounds and the servants surveyed us at the gates.

"Should we take it up a notch?", he turned to me with a cunning smile once we reached the edge of the forrest.

"Agreed", I smirked back, but was surprised at what a speed he started off with after flinging his reigns.

I was forced to recover quickly and get my horse to gallop after him to follow this adventurous young man deeper and deeper into the woods. When I thought I had caught up for good, Hoseok glanced over his shoulder at me with a small grin before speeding up once again. Serendipity was the best of her breed, fast and beautiful, but it was nothing compared to the muscular and strong breed he was riding. Flinging my reigns repeatedly I struggled to keep up, but the feeling of the wind brushing through my curls and the adrenaline pumping through my veins as the trees whizzed past me, made me feel alive.

We continued riding at that rapid pace for quite a while before Hoseok gradually started slowing down when we came to a fork in the road. He led us along the left path and that's when I realized I knew where we were headed. When Hoseok had said he found some beautiful riding paths in Coeus I figured he must have discovered something new, but I now realized exactly where we were going.

The dirt path soon came to a clearing and that's when we slowed down to a mere trot. The trail led along a cliff overlooking the largest body of water in all of Coeus. It was a coastline riding path to take to the nearest city, one I had been along many times. To the left one could look out over the lake that never seemed to find an ending and to the right were large oak trees and soft wheat shrubs that swayed in the wind.

"Isn't it beautiful?", Hoseok came to ride along by my side as he gazed out at the water with a content smile.

"I've been here before", I said quietly, taking in the same scenery as I always did with slight disappointment.

His head turned towards me to study my demeanor and his horse nearly came to a stop.

"You don't love this place?", he cocked his head a little in confusion.

"It's Coeus", is all I mumbled in response as I avoided his gaze.

"Milou", he called for my attention and I glanced to see him dismount Mickey, "Come here."

I furrowed my brow, but indulged in his request, sliding off Serendipity and moving to stand next to him while clutching the reigns tightly. His eyes were trained on the water's sparkling surface below and he took a deep breath as he stood in the tall grass.

"It's not even the ocean, Hoseok", I looked at him with a small frown.

"You don't have access to the ocean in Coeus", he said calmly.

"Exactly", I responded, not needing to be reminded that Coeus was the nation stuck in the middle of all other nations.

"Instead... You have this", he stretched out his hand to gesture at all of our surroundings.

"Yes, we have a lake", I pouted in disconcertion, "And trees. And grass. And dirt."

"No", he shook his head and chuckled when he turned to face my expression, "And to think Yoongi said you weren't naive."

"H-huh?", I stuttered at the mention of his words, but had no further time to think about it as Hoseok pulled the reigns from my hand and replaced it with his, guiding me down closer towards the cliff.

"The horses-", I protested, having always being taught to never let go of the reigns when in the wild.

"Trust them", Hoseok told me in a low voice that I couldn't defy.

His hand entwined with mine, he almost pulled me to the edge of the cliff. He didn't let go once we stood still with the tall grass engulfing us along with the breeze and I was confused to say the least.

"Hos-", I started again, but he hushed me with his calm voice.

"Milou, close your eyes", he told me, gazing at me from the side with meaningful eyes.

Although I felt silly, I followed his direction and let my eyelids flutter shut. All I could hear was the faint wind swooshing over the hills and the lake below and all I could feel was Hoseok's hand steadily holding onto my own.

"What do you feel?", he asked as soon as I wanted to open my mouth to complain.

The question caught me off guard. It reminded me of something Namjoon would ask me. A question that had no right or wrong, but just existed for me to express myself. I was tempted to answer "Nothing" and reopen my eyes, but willed myself to concentrate and find whatever Hoseok so desperately wanted me to.

"What do you hear, Milou?", he started off again with a more simple question.

"Um...", I spoke hesitantly, "The wind. I hear the wind and the way the water runs by."

"Describe the water for me", he said next.

"But I can't see it", I knitted my eyebrows together.

"You don't need to. You have other senses to rely on."

"I guess... The water is rippling at the surface because of the wind", I conveyed thoughtfully, "It's moving quickly today."

"Milou", he sighed in almost a disappointed way, "You're thinking too much. I asked you what you feel, not why the water is moving and what that means."

It dawned on me then that his question was in fact nothing like what Namjoon usually asked me. He wasn't interested in hearing my explanation of why I felt a certain way. All he wanted was the bare emotions. The bare descriptions of what I was experiencing at that very moment.

So I took a deep breath and let my senses overcome my thoughts.

"Describe the water for me", he repeated now in that same serene tone.

"The water is moving with force", I start again, this time with a new type of feeling overcoming me, "I-I guess you can almost feel the strength with which the water pulls through the ground we're standing on..."

And it was true. It was almost as if I could feel a faint rumbling in the tips of my toes, despite being high above the stream of the lake. It was something I had never noticed before.

"Good", I could sense the smile on his lips, "What about the air?"

"The air is...", I had to catch myself from thinking too much about it, "It's cool in the way it breezes through my hair and sways the grass up against my legs... And yet... It's warm. I can feel the warmth on my cheeks, on my eyelids, on my face."

He gave a small hum of approval for me to continue, "The way it engulfs me in tenderness... When I take a breath it feels so fresh and..."

"How does that make you feel?", his low voice was close to my ear.

"It... it makes me feel free", I let it roll off my tongue, having previously held back from saying so.

"And what about the warmth?", he whispered sensually.

"The warmth...", I echoed quietly, "I can feel the sun's rays against my face. Even though my eyes are closed there's no darkness that surrounds me... I feel warmth all around me. Warmth that heats up my chest and makes me... happy."

It was silent for a moment and I could only hear my own shallow breaths of anticipation before Hoseok's direction, "Now open your eyes."

My eyes needed some time to adjust to the brightness again, but as I took in the scenery surrounding me everything seemed to be tinted in a different glow than before.

"How do you feel?", Hoseok's hand gave mine a small squeeze of assurance as he watched my expression.

"I feel... happy and free", the words came out of me on their own accord and I said them almost in disbelief. I never thought I could truly feel that way while still having both my feet standing on land that belongs to Coeus.

"Hoseok...", my voice came out in a daze as I gazed around at the sparkling lake that reflected the noon's sun back up to us. Large oak trees swayed in the autumn wind on the horizon across the water and I thought I'd never see the day that Coeus looked so peaceful. "It's so... breathtaking."

"I know. This place- this piece of nature- has no ties to anything. It doesn't matter where we are or what lies beyond, everything you see right in front of you is all it is. The serene grace that nature creates all on its own, completely untouched by man...", his hand tightened around mine in satisfaction and he asked the same question he did when we first got here, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yes", I whispered out as my gaze was still focused on the scenery, mesmerized by all the beauty nature had to offer that I never took the time to look at. I wondered if this was how the whole world looked like through Hoseok's eyes.

My gaze then slowly wandered over to Hoseok who was watching me in contentment with a small smile playing around his lips. His deep caramel eyes twinkled in the sunlight and my lips parted in awe at the sight of him. He made me see everything in a different light... even him.

"Thank you", is all I could say at that point, my mind blank as my senses still tingled.

"I still have another place to show you, Milou", he spoke with a new glimmer in his expression.

"A-another?", I repeated, but then forced myself to snap out of my trance, "Okay, let's go."

He broke out into a heart-shaped smile before pulling me back towards our horses which still stood dutifully in the places we had left them. This time I let him help me mount Serendipity and he mounted Mickey right after and motioned for me to follow him along the dirt path leading us back into the woods.

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