If tomorrow never comes || Haobin

004: A song written for you

"Protect Hanbin no matter what. Even if it costs your life."

Zhanghao couldn't stop thinking about what Dongbin said to him a week ago. He knew it was his job to protect the prince, so he didn't understand why he was saying it as if he didn't understand what it meant to be a guard for a royal family member.

It was night and he was sure everyone was asleep. The only thing that he could hear was the wind hitting harshly against the windows and the rain falling on the rooftops. It might sound annoying to a lot of people, but to Zhanghao it was like music to his ears.

So it wasn't the reason why he couldn't sleep. The guard knew he needed to rest enough because he had to practice again with Hanbin the next day, but every time he closed his eyes, he couldn't stop imagining himself in the music room while playing the violin. It wasn't just an imagination, it almost felt real, too real to be just a dream he saw when he was about to fall asleep.

Zhanghao wasn't sure why he kept seeing the same thing for the past few days, so he silently got out of bed. It was almost impossible for him to go around and walk without a lantern in the castle when it was covered with complete darkness, yet Zhanghao knew he had no choice if he didn't want to be seen.

He closed the door behind him with no sound and took a deep breath.

He hesitatingly took the first few steps. Barely being able to hear his own footsteps due to the noise that was coming from outside, he took small steps towards the music room. Zhanghao knew it wasn't the smartest thing to walk around at night, but he didn't want to be seen when he was entering the music room when he wanted to find out why he kept seeing himself in there when he was about to fall asleep.

The sudden loud sound made him startled. It was thundering. When his eyes started to get used to his dark surroundings, he finally quickened his walking and tried to find the music room. When he finally reached it, Zhanghao slowly pulled the doorknob down and opened it.

Immediately looking around, his eyes landed on a flower that was right in the strings of the guitar. He remembered Hanbin specifically requesting him not to touch the guitar, but he wanted to grab the flower.

When his fingers slightly touched the flower, he noticed a weird feeling entering his body, as if he was pulled away into a fantasy, but it didn't stop him from grabbing it out of the strings and closed his eyes for a second.

Like he was taken away by a dream, his whole surroundings started to change when he opened them again. Zhanghao was sure this was still the music room, just the whole energy of the place felt completely different.

Rather than a heavy and burdening feeling, it felt livelier and comforting. When he turned around to see who it was when he heard the footsteps coming closer from behind, he saw Hanbin and someone else. The other boy was much shorter and his hair looked fluffy. He swore he had never seen this person in his entire life, so why was he seeing him right now?

"Hanbin..." The shorter boy spoke softly, his voice barely above a whisper. He reached out for his hand, but the prince pulled away. "I'm so sorry... we shouldn't... we shouldn't do this anymore." Hanbin looked slightly younger, he looked 17 or 18. Sadness washed over both of them. "We can't be together Matthew."

Zhanghao just stood there and watched. The two didn't see him so he assumed this was a dream.

A very weird one.

"I can protect you. I can make sure no one suspects a thing. Especially not during the ball." The boy, who he assumed was Matthew, took a step closer and looked deeply into the eyes of Hanbin. "We cannot keep hiding it, Matt... someone will find out eventually and I- I don't want you to go away because of this."