What is Love? (Bang Chan x Reader)

Chapter 4 - A Joyful Afternoon

A/N: I'm gonna refer to the Royal Home as both a Castle and a Palace. A mix of both.

Y/n's pov:

We set off on our journey back up to the Palace and we ended up walking in pairs. Those consisted of myself and Chris, Felix and Changbin, Minho and Jisung and last but not least, Jeongin and Seungmin.
Chris and I walked behind everyone. I decided I was going to be brave and try to get to know him better.

"So Chris, How long have you been one of our Guards?" I asked curiously.
"I came here when I was 15 years old to start training." he replied. "I've been an official Guard since I turned 18."
"Do you mind me asking of your age?" I questioned. "No not at all Princess, I am 22." He said with a smile. "Oh you're only a year older than me then." I said smiling brightly towards him.
I could've sworn I saw a subtle redness of his ears.
"I noticed you have an accent." I pointed out. "Yes, I moved from Australia." he said with a hint of sadness in his voice. I chose not to comment on that. "Oh my, Australia is a great distance away." I said, slightly shocked he'd traveled all that distance at 15 years old.
We continued to walk in the beautiful snow. "How about you Princess? If you don't mind me asking, What's your life been like?" Chris asked kindly. "You can call me y/n, we're friends now." I said with a smile. This time I definitely saw his ears go red. "I went to The Royal Schools in the area that offer education to the most prestigious families in the country." I said. "Towards the end of High School I admit, I struggled a lot with leaving the castle due to anxiety." I stated. Chris smiled knowingly, encouraging me to continue. "Now I study Art and Nature in College, but do my work from the Castle." I said with a smile. "That sounds lovely." Chris told me. "Must be why I see you in the gardens all summer." He said trying to tease me. I blushed deeply, looking the other way.

By the time we arrived, it was 1:26pm.
We were definitely all hungry.
"Lets all go to the dining room for some food." I announced. "Are you sure Princess??" Questioned Chris. "We're merely just Guards." Minho added. "Oh don't be silly." Jeongin said. "Mother and Father always allow us to dine with friends, no matter their status." He added, finger quoting the word 'status'.
The Guards agreed on dining with us, so we made our way towards the castle door.
The men looked in awe, as they'd only ever seen certain parts of the Castle before.
We made our way down the hallway towards the dining room.
"Florence?" I called after one of the maids. "Could you take my cloak and muff to my bedroom please?" I requested. "And send some other maids to collect the other's outdoor cloaks."
We then entered the dining room and sat down. A few minutes later, 3 maids came in to collect the other's cloaks.
We were all talking when the door opened and Hyunjin walked in. "Hi y/n! I see a few new faces here." He said, excited to meet new people. "Boys this is Hyunjin, he is a childhood friend of ours and a butler for the Castle." I announced, the Guards nodding. "Hyunjin, these are four of the Royal Guards our Jeongin has introduced us to." I explained. "There's Chris, Minho, Jisung and Changbin." I said, each of them raising their hand slightly when I called their names. "Lovely to meet you." Hyunjin said to the men with a beautiful smile.
"Would you like to request any dishes for your lunch?" Hyunjin asked. "How about a little afternoon tea inspired buffet?" I asked the boys, they agreed with me. "Okay that's what we'll have, Thank You Hyunjin!" I said as he smiled and left to the kitchen.
We continued to talk about random things until Hyunjin reentered the room with a few servants pushing some catering trolleys along. They began to place the platters of food in-front of us and gave is individual plates, cutlery and cups. Two pots of tea were placed on the table.

"Hyunjin!!" I called as he was about to leave. "Are you free for a bit?" I asked. "Yes y/n, I am free until 6 o'clock for when Dinner is served."
"Ah that's good, come and join us for while." I said. He accepted and took the seat next to me. The boys were staring at the food in awe. "This looks so cute!" Jisung squealed. "Well what are we waiting for?" Felix piped up. "Dig in!" He said excitedly, going straight for a Cherry Bakewell.
"Mmmm this is so good." Changbin said whilst digging into his small pile of neatly cut sandwiches. "I agree." Said Chris from next to me. "I love these macaroons." He said shaking his fists side to side whilst taking a bite. How cute.
Without thinking I immediately said "Same!! They are soooo good, especially the caramel ones." Turns out I spoke a bit too loud out of excitement. Everyone looked at me! I felt myself turn bright red, so I looked into my lap. I heard Hyunjin let out a soft laugh from next to me. He patted me on the shoulder, "someone got a bit excited about her favourite sweet treat." He said, he knows my favourite everything. Drink, meal, snack, colour, flower. We are truly best friends.

"OH MY GOD THERE IS A CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE."
We all laughed as Jisung got extremely excited over what I assume was his favourite dessert. Hyunjin grabbed a knife and asked who would like a slice of the cheesecake. Everyone immediately raised their hands eagerly, Jisung raising both.
As I was giggling at Jisung's excitable behaviour, I felt someone nudge my arm. I turned to see Chris smiling and trying to say something, his large smile made that difficult for him. "Sorry about him, he gets very excited over cheesecake, especially if it's chocolate." He said. "Oh don't apologise!" I told him. "He's cute anyways." I couldn't help but notice a hint of slight disappointment in Chris' face when I complimented Jisung. "Oh well" I thought whilst digging in to my slice of cheesecake.

After we had all finished our food, it was 2:46pm. We had been there for a while due to our chattering.
"Felix." I called my brother's name. "Yes y/n? what's the matter?" He asked. "Can we all go and sit by the fire in the living area?" I requested.
"I suppose we could. Do you guys want to?" He asked the men. "Don't feel obliged, if you want to rest you can." The guards looked at each other for an answer and decided upon joining us around the fireplace.

Word Count: 1170.