Chapter Two

After throwing together whatever he could find left in the fridge and the cupboard, Hak decided it was about time to head back up stairs and finish working on his song so that he could call it a night. Surprisingly enough, he found doing nothing all day actually made him more tired than the days he was most busy.

"I should get Gramps to help kick me back into shape on Saturday" he muttered as he finished cleaning up the mess he had made. He knew Gramps would do more than just 'get him back in shape' and was more likely to work him to the bone as soon as he got back home either way. Love him as he did, Gramps was a hard teacher and did not tolerate laziness. This is what had lead to Hak's daily excursions over to Yona's when they were kids so that he could sneak in a midday nap in one of the trees in her backyard.

Yes, he would regret this decision, but screw it, hard training is what he was used to and by now he was damn good at taking the punishing workouts in stride. And he knew they paid off.

He often pretended not to notice, but he was pretty popular among the female population on campus. He found it amusing when they would try and whisper to each other and sneak glances at him, hoping he didn't notice, but other than that, he paid them no mind.

He had already given his heart away a long time ago without ever expecting anything to come of it, and so he left it at that, convincing himself that this was how things were and that he was content for it to stay that way.

Done with the task at hand, he rinsed his hands and started to make his way back to his room when he passed the front door and noticed an extra pair of shoes that hadn't been there before. Looking more closely he recognised them to be Yona's.

'She must have snuck in while I was busy getting something to eat' he thought to himself as he started to make his way upstairs.

'Wonder why she's home already?' He had thought, she wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow afternoon.

As he reached the top floor, he made his way over to Yona's room and gently knocked on the door. He planned to ask her why she was home already and make sure she at least took off her makeup and brushed her teeth before she crashed out.

It wouldn't be the first time he had found her passed out somewhere odd, waking up with eyes blurry from makeup having been smushed into them until she practically looked like a racoon. And while he did find it amusing, by now it was also just a habit of his to check up on her before he went to sleep.

He had spent so many years by her side, always looking after her, and after her father had passed away, many nights holding her close as she cried herself to sleep. Before he knew it, he found himself checking up on her every night.

Making sure she was alright, before he could rest easy.

He sighed as he gently knocked on the door again.

When no answer came, he quietly cracked open the door and took a step inside.

Her stuff was strewn about her bed and floor but Yona herself was no where in sight. Slightly worried for a moment, he took a few more steps inside to look around before he heard the sound of her voice coming from the balcony.

Mentally, he kicked himself for being so overly paranoid for her well being. Of course she was fine, she was always fine.

As he began to make his way over to the balcony to ask her what she was doing home so early, he stopped suddenly in his tracks upon hearing what exactly it was she was saying to herself outside this late.

Or rather, what she was singing.

He recognised the tune almost instantly.

As he should, he supposed considering he himself had been singing it not too long ago.

Nevertheless, he was frozen stiff at the realization that she was singing the song he had written. She must have come home earlier than he thought and heard him through the wall that separated their rooms.

'Idiot!' he mentally cursed at himself.

He couldn't tell if he hoped to god that she didn't recognise it was about her, or if he hoped she did just for the sake that she wouldn't think that he was in love with someone else.

That was the last thing he needed right before going home with her for the holidays.

Just as he was considering breaking his guitar for all the trouble it seemed to have just caused him, he was brought out of his morbid thoughts when he noticed something different about the song she was singing.

It was different.

She had changed the lyrics he had written at certain points, replacing the pronouns so that she sang of a man rather than a woman. Not only that, but other parts were changed as well, as she sang of never writing any letters of love but wishing that 'He' was hers all the same.

He almost blushed at the vain hope that she had changed the lyrics to be about him, as she sang that "Black" was the colour of her loves hair. Black. Not red.

Despite none of their male acquaintances having black hair. Dark brown maybe, but not black oddly enough, seeing how common the hair colour usually was.

But he stamps the thought away. There were plenty of people she could have met on campus over the last few months who could have black hair that none of them even knew. It was stupid to think that it could be about himself. After all, they'd been childhood friends for so long and she'd never shown any sign of sharing the same feelings he had for her. Right now, the main focus was to at least figure out if she realised his version had been about her, as that was his real concern at this point.

Thinking on his feet, he decided that the best way to figure this out would be his old tried and true fallback; tease her until she tells him what's on her mind out of sheer annoyance.

Hey what worked, worked, in his mind.

As she finished up singing the last few notes, he began making his way over to the sliding doors that lead to the small balcony, leaning against the open doorway before saying in a mild but slightly mocking tone,

"It's a bit cold out to be singing to the stars don't you think?"

{*****}

Startled at the sound of Hak's voice suddenly coming from the doorway, Yona spun around so violently in her chair that she managed to overbalance herself and flip the stupid thing onto its side.

Grabbing hold of her blanket, which had managed to smother her face as she toppled over, she chucked the thing into his face as Hak laughed at her bewildered appearance.

"Easy there Princess, otherwise we'll have to raise the height of the railings just to make sure you don't go falling off them" he chuckled, his laughter finally dying down.

"I told you to stop calling me Princess already, its embarrassing! And I'm fine by the way, thanks for asking" she grumbled in response.

"Oh come on, you fell barely one foot onto a blanket. You're fine. But onto more important questions, what are you doing back here already? I thought you were staying over at Lili's" he asked as he helped her back onto her chair.

"Lili had to cancel because she's sick, so I stayed at the coffee shop studying until it closed then came back here".

"So what does singing have to do with studying for law?" he said with an eyebrow raised.

Blushing at the reminder that he had caught her singing, she quickly stammer out, "I-I was having a hard time sleeping because my mind is still spinning from studying for hours on end. I'm not going to be productive at this point anyway, so I figured I'd come out here for some fresh air to try and clear my head before trying to sleep again. . ."

"That still doesn't answer my question, so let me try asking another one; when did you become so musically inclined? Because funnily enough that tune sounded oddly familiar" he said, with a rather sarcastic tone and a pointed look in her direction.

"Ok, ok stop with the round-a-bout questions, yes I overheard you singing when I came in and I just really liked it, ok? You don't often let me hear you sing – ".

He looked away at that.

"—So, I stayed quiet and listened because I knew you'd stop if you thought I was listening. It's really good though. I think it's beautiful" she said, trying on a sweet smile in an attempt to distract him from the fact that she had just admitted to eavesdropping.

Lucky for her, she could have sworn she saw a slight blush spread across his cheeks for a moment and mentally cheered for her little victory.

"Well, before one of my fingers freezes off, why don't we make some hot cocoa before going to sleep? Yun's not here, but I know where he hides the cocoa powder" he said, a small conspiratorial smile coming to his face.

That smile, the same smile she couldn't sleep without.

Giving him a small, grateful expression in return and extending her hands for him to pull her up out of her chair, they both headed back down to the kitchen to make their late-night treat.

True to his word, Hak knew where Yun hid the cocoa. In hindsight you would think a genius like Yun would think of a better hiding place than the top shelf behind the extra cans of food they kept up there.

Especially considering at least four out of the seven of them were rather tall.

Then again, they all knew the real reason Yun probably hid it was to keep it away from Zeno. That boy had a sweet enough tooth for all of them and could have a sugar rush strong enough to give you nightmares and cleaning the house out for a week after just to take care of the aftermath.

Grabbing them two mugs and the milk out of the fridge while Hak grabbed the cocoa, Yona quickly filled their mugs and started to heat them up before propping herself up on the kitchen counter while Hak leaned against the sink as they waited for the microwave to beep.

Once it did and they had heaped as much chocolatey goodness as they could conceivable get away with without Yun noticing too much was gone, they headed back up to Yona's little balcony, stopping along the way to grab a spare camp chair for Hak.

Once they had set up their chairs and wrapped the large blanket around themselves with their hot mugs in hand, Yona finally felt her mind starting to unwind.

Friday would be tough, but as long as she studied as hard as she did today and got a good night's sleep, she'd be fine.

"Feeling sleepy yet?" Hak asked, into the comfortable silence.

"Not quite yet, it's too nice a night to fall asleep just yet" she replied. It was a clear night and she loved to hear the sound of the wind, but as she stifled a yawn he chuckled softly again.

"Whatever you say Princess".

"I told you, I'm not a Princess so stop calling me that" she said in the most serious voice she could muster, yet it still came out more playful than she intended.

Truthfully, it didn't bother her as much now as it did when they were kids. If anything it made her feel that much closer to him, but she wasn't about to let him know that.

"Too late, you'll always be a little Princess to me. But you're my Princess so its ok" he said without missing a beat.

She took a last sip from her mug to try and hide her blush. He truly had no idea what he could do to her with just a few words did he?

"Well if I'm your Princess then what does that make you? My knight?" she launched back, once she was sure her face was no longer bright red.

"Nah, that sounds too wimpy, knights are always getting eaten by dragons and that just won't do. I'm just your bodyguard, because it's my job to make sure little Princesses don't get themselves into too much trouble" he said grinning as he poked her on the forehead.

She swatted his hand away with an exasperated expression as he laughed at her expense once again, yet she found herself giggling along with him too not long after.

Once they were both done laughing and had finished their drinks, Yona felt her head begin to droop as the long day finally began to catch up with her.

Just as she began to slide down in her chair though, she felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulders and tug her back up towards a warm shoulder. Resting her head against him, Yona sighed contentedly before half-heartedly trying to tell him she was fine and that she wasn't that tired.

Ignoring her, Hak simply wrapped her up in the blanket before hoisting her up and carrying her back inside to her bed.

She hadn't even realised how cold it had been outside until they stepped through the sliding doors and were hit with a blast of warm air to their frozen cheeks.

As Hak gently lay her down on the bed, still wrapped up in the blanket, he quietly went about closing and locking the door before he began to turn off the lights as she snuggled down deeper into her pillows.

When he had finished, he softly padded over and stroked her hair before wishing her goodnight and quietly closing the door behind him as he made his way back to his own bed next door.

With hot chocolate still warm in her belly, and with the lingering feeling of Hak's fingers still stroking her hair it wasn't long before she was fast asleep.

{*****}

As he padded his way sleepily down the hall back towards his own room, Hak thought about everything that had just happened.

Based on how she reacted to his questions it didn't seem like she realised the song was about her and for the sake of his own heart he didn't have it in him to ask about the lyrics she had changed.

After that, well. . . after that had been just what he'd needed really. After being bored home alone all day and after the near heart attack he had when he first heard her singing the song he had written, a quiet late-night camp out on the balcony really did help set things back to normal.

There was no awkwardness when they did stuff like that, just the two of them. They had known each other so long it was like second nature, and the last thing he wanted was to ruin that kind of comfortable companionship they found in each other by pushing things with her too hard.

He was happy with the way things were, he told himself, and at the very least, was just happy that Yona was happy.

She meant the world to him so as long as she was ok, he would be just fine too.

Yet he couldn't help the way his heart had thudded in his chest when he caught the small blush on her face after he'd called her his little Princess. She had tried to hide it, but he was too observant for that.

Couldn't help the way his heart had strained at the sound of her sigh of contentment and the small smile on her face when he'd stoked her hair and wished her goodnight.

Yes, she was his Princess, and he would do anything for her, as long as it meant he could stay by her side. And with these thoughts and images filling his mind, he too quickly found himself passing out as soon as his head hit his pillow.

Tomorrow, he'd help her study for her last exam and pack for their trip back home.

{*****}

To be Continued

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Hey there, thanks for reading this far. I do plan on trying to write and continue this fairly consistently, so we'll see how it goes. Thank you to those who left lovely comments and/or favourited this story. Any kind of review is always appreciated and motivating, as I love to hear what I can do to improve.

The plan is from here, that I'll continue to write but some updates may just be me going back and changing/improving a few things in previous chapters before I move on in the story.

Hope you guys enjoy this!