"Channie hyung! Channie hyung!" Felix and Hyunjin burst into the dining hall, running ahead of me. "Protect Minho hyung!"

Chan looked up from the table in confusion. "What's wrong kids?"

Felix ran up to Chan and grabbed his arm. Looking up at him with large imploring eyes, he recounted "It's really bad hyung. When Esther got to the class, Céleste saw that she had cried. She got angry and now she said that she," he dropped his voice in a dramatic whisper, "was going to kill Minho hyung.

Hyunjin nodded vigorously behind Felix. "I asked Mingi and Wooyoung hyung to stall her but you know what they're like! We don't have much time!"

Chan glanced at Minho before bending down in front of them both. "Lixie, Jinnie, what I'm about to teach you is really important, okay? You always need to remember this."

They nodded eagerly, ready for whatever wise words Chan was ready to impart.

"You don't mess with a girl and her best friend. If Minho was stupid enough to do that, then he needs to face the consequences."

Minho's jaw dropped when he heard those words. "Chan hyung! You're supposed to have my back!"

"And I would, if you hadn't caught yourself up in a stupid situation. Those girls may be cute and sweet, but you know that they can be vicious."

Felix pouted. "Essie and Ciel aren't vicious! They're nice because they play with me!"

Ruffling Felix's hair Chan laughed. "True, but you never played with them when they were younger. There's a reason why Minho is terrified of going inside their rooms."

Minho shivered at the thought. "Hey, can we not talk about that? It was a very traumatic experience for me." He whined.

I smirked. "And yet you still haven't learnt your lesson." I teased him, catching his attention.

"Esther! You know I didn't make you cry! If anything, I helped you feel better!"

I nodded slowly, taking my seat. "True, I do know that, and I did try to tell Céleste. But she went into protective best friend mode immediately, and frankly it's so funny to watch that I can't find it in myself to stop her."

Minho sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "On a scale of one to ten, how screwed am I?"

"I think infinity, hyung." Hyunjin replied solemnly, Chan and I bursting into laughter as Minho stared at him aghast.

"Minho!" Céleste rushed into the dining hall, Mingi trying with no success to stop her. "You are dead."

Minho stood up and backed away in panic, his arms outstretched as if to keep her away. "Now Céleste, calm down and take a deep breath-"

"Don't tell me to calm down! Et fermer ta bouche!"

"Language!" Chan butted in. Turning to the boys again, he continued, "Another important lesson to learn today; don't tell a girl to calm down if she's already angry. You'll just make things worse."

Céleste huffed. "Goodness, sometimes I hate that you take French as well. And you know very well that I could have told him worse!"

"Um guys?" Wooyoung interrupted, nervosity creeping into his voice as he eyed the doors. "As much as I'd love to see Céleste cuss out Minho, maybe this isn't the best time-"

"Shh," I waved him off, "just sit back and enjoy the show."

"Thank you Esther! Goodness, all you boys keep disturbing me! We need more girls around. Now, where was I?" She snapped her fingers. "Ah, yes!" She turned back towards Minho, a seemingly innocent smile adorning her face. "So, dearest Minho, I warned you-"

"Céleste, you need to stop right now." Mingi spoke up, his eyes focused on the door.

"Really Mingi? Can you boys just stop interrupting me-" catching view of what Mingi was looking at, she quickly stopped in alarm. "Oh goodness."

"What's going on here?" A booming voice rang across the hall, catching our attention.

"Abeoji," Chan started, "we were just-"

"Really Junwon?" Queen Jihyo sighed, stepping out from behind him. "Is it necessary to scare the children like that? Chan even called you abeoji!"

"Apologises, my love," King Junwon grinned impishly, watching with a soft gaze as she kissed each of us on our cheeks, "I could not stop myself. Their reactions were hilarious."

She looked at him cooly. "I think we can both agree that a joke is funny when both parties can laugh about it, am I right?"

"You always are, my queen." He continued grinning, taking her hand to kiss it.

"Can you please stop flirting?" Uncle Hongjoong rolled his eyes unimpressed. "There are children present and some of us are still single."

"All the more reason to do so." King Junwon teased him, wincing when Uncle Hongjoong walked past and flicked him on the forehead.

"Anyways, shouldn't we settle down for lunch?" Uncle Seonghwa spoke up, taking Mingi and Céleste by the hand to their seats, his actions spurring everyone to sit down.

"By the way, I have asked Andrew to make sure he joins us this week, since he is not usually here for lunch. He should be here in a minute." King Junwon informed us. I flinched at his announcement, oblivious to several eyes watching me to gauge my reaction.

"Everyone."  My father stood in the doorway, bowing slightly.

"Ah Andrew, you are here!" The king called. Gesturing towards Mother and I, he continued, "Come, sit with your family." Father nodded his head, drawing out his seat next to Mother. "Well now that we are all here, let us commence eating!"

For a while the hall was silent as everyone indulged themselves in the food. "So children," Uncle Yunho grinned mischievously, breaking the silence, "what was the cause of all the ruckus we walked into?"

"Children will be children." Uncle Seonghwa replied, helping Céleste to cut up her meat. "You should know that better than anyone considering you act like a child half the time." He laughed wholeheartedly as Uncle Yunho stuck out his tongue at him. "All you're doing is proving my point."

"Céleste was going to beat up Minho hyung." Wooyoung replied to Uncle Yunho's question with a glint of mischief in his eye.

"I was not!" Céleste stated indignantly. "I was simply going to teach him a lesson. Besides," her eyes flitted nervously from adult to adult, "just how much did you hear?"

"Enough to know you were repeating language you shouldn't have young lady." Uncle Yeosang replied with a raised eyebrow, causing Céleste to giggle nervously and pout.

"I merely told him to shut up Uncle Sangie!"

"Such language," Father cut in, "is inappropriate for a lady, especially one of your status." He glared at Céleste, making her shrink under his look.

Stepping up in her defence, Uncle Hongjoong responded, "Yeosang was simply telling her off for her language at her age. It has nothing to do with her gender or status."

"Like I said,'' Father rebutted, "a lady should not use such language." He regarded Uncle Hongjoong with fake sympathy. "You would hardly know as the child you are raising," he paused, looking at Wooyoung in disdain, "is a boy who is not your own and you have no woman in your life."

"You would do well," Uncle Hongjoong growled, placing a protective arm around Wooyoung, "to remember to never disrespect my son in that way. Remember who it was who took you in when you had no place to turn to. We accepted you into this family Andrew. That can easily change."

"You'd also do well to remember," Queen Jihyo interjected, playing with her knife and pointing it towards Father, "to never disrespect women like that ever again. Your mother, a woman, gave you life. I, a woman, can easily take that life away. You are fortunate I like this hall, otherwise..." She mimed throwing the knife at him.

"Very well, my queen." He bowed his head stiffly, his body tense with anger. The Queen laughed lightly, blowing me a kiss when she saw my awe filled gaze.

"Now that we've cleared that up," the Queen started again, glancing at my father in disdain, "how was your lesson with your uncle boys?"

"Good Eomma, even though it would have been nice to know in advance." Minho responded snarkily, a teasing smile on his face.

The Queen merely lifted an eyebrow. "Don't think you can bait me, young man. You inherited your sassiness from me." The king laughed as Minho's face beamed. "And judging by your answer, I'd assume you're not interested in what I'd planned to make up for the abruptness..."

Hyunjin jumped up. "No Eomma! If Minho isn't interested, I am!"

"I never said I wasn't interested!" Minho retorted.

"Calm down, boys." Queen Jihyo told them, chuckling at their reactions. "You all have the afternoon off from your lessons for the rest of the week, I'll be taking you out so that we can spend some time together before Chan and Minho leave. Tonight we'll be going to the cinema, and then I'll take you to McDonald's."

"McDonald's?" Father questioned. "Don't you think that it might be too common for these children?"

"Yet they are all clearly overjoyed, are they not?" Queen Jihyo responded coldly, watching us rejoice. Meeting Father's eye with a deadly glare of her own, she continued, "Like Seonghwa said earlier, children will be children, and children happen to love McDonald's. Status doesn't change that."

Mother quickly interrupted before an argument could start. "If you wish my queen, I could take the children to get ready to leave."

"That would be much appreciated. In fact, I think I'll join you. I think the toxic masculinity in this room rather...suffocating." Gracefully, she rose from her chair. "Come along children, say your goodbyes and we can leave."

A chorus of byes and love yous echoed around the hall. Nervously, I curtsied to my father and bid him farewell. Believing that everything was fine, I gathered myself up to join the others until he grabbed my wrist tightly.

"As soon as you get back, come to my office to let me know and then you go to your room. Understood?" I nodded fervently, desperately wishing he would let go of my wrist.

"Essie?" Queen Jihyo called from the door. "What's taking you so long love?" Caught by surprise, Father let go of my wrist.

Quickly, I ran over to the queen and hugged her. Laughing lightly, she warmly embraced me as I looked up at her. "Ready whenever you are, my queen!" I chirped.

She stroked my face fondly. "Come along then you sweet child, or I'll eat all of your chicken nuggets."

I gasped and started running to get. "Never!"

We had a beautiful afternoon out but it all came to end too soon. Standing in front of Father's office door, hand ready to knock, all I could do was offer up a silent prayer.

»»————-　♔　————-««
hello everyone, it's your girl elle ~

phew this is the longest chapter I've written so far-

it turns out I also write better/more when I have google docs on dark mode
so what do we think about the adults so far?

also, just to let you guys know that all the members of skz will be included , some will come in this book and others later in the series