❛ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ❜ | jsc

5

it had been a week since the shocking news of the arranged marriage was told to sungchan. his parents had invited jeon bom to meet him, giving them the chance to meet each other. sungchan didn't want to get married to the girl at all, but remembered haechans words: i think you should give the princess a chance. maybe she is your soulmate, who knows.

he looked at his reflections in the mirror. he wore a neat dark blue suit with a white shirt under it. his hair was done nicely with a side part.

the door was slowly opened, revealing his father in the opening. as sungchan looked at him, he made his way over to the boy. he held his shoulders and smiled at him. "you look very handsome. i'm proud of you"

he gave him a sad smile. "do i really need to do this?" he asked his father, already knowing his answer.

"she's a really sweet girl, and besides, it's your duty to show your loyalty." the king told him. the older man took a small box from his pocket. he looked sungchan in the eyes as he handed it over to him. "i know it is a bit early, but this was your grandma's engagement ring. she'd be very proud of you"

sungchan nodded before opening the box. inside sat a silver ring with a small diamond on the top. he had to admit that it was a beautiful thing, but he couldn't imagine himself giving it to a girl he didn't love.

"jeon bom and her parents will be here in about 30 minutes" his father said as he made his way out of sungchans room. the boy followed his father with his eyes until he wasn't seen anymore. giving the ring one last look, he closed the box and put it in a drawer.

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as the gates were opened of the palace, a carriage drove through them towards the entrance. the king stood infront of the big doors with his queen next to him. sungchan stood slightly behind his father, not wanting to be the spot light just yet.

the doors of the carriage were opened as an older pair stepped out of it, followed by a girl sungchans age. the royal family bowed to the other. "junghee, my friend! welcome to the jung kingdom" sungchans father welcomed the other king.

"thank you leeho" king junghee thanked him. "please come inside" sungchans mother offered them politely. "thank you nayoon" queen narae thanked her as they all got inside.

"sungchan dear, why don't you show bom the garden." his mother said. he nodded and turned towards bom. "please follow me" he said nicely. she nodded with a sweet smile. they made their way over to the garden in silence. once they arrived he heard bom let out a gasp.

"it's so beautiful." she said as she walked through all the flowers. sungchan would lie if he said she wasn't pretty. he thought she was stunning, but he didn't want to marry someone just because she was pretty.

he noticed her sitting down on his favourite spot. he slowly made his way over to her, sitting down next to her. "so.." she started. "i'm jeon bom, nice to meet you" she said with a sweet smile.

"uh yes, nice to meet you. i'm jung sungchan, but you probably already knew that" he said, giving an awkward chuckle as that's how he felt: awkward.

"thank you for inviting me, it means a lot" she thanked the awkward boy. "i know how import this is for our kingdoms. so again, thank you."

sungchan nodded. "do you-" he paused, thinking if this was a smart thing to ask. "do you want this? i mean the marriage."

he saw bom thinking about her answer. "does it matter what i think of this? it was going to happen one day, maybe with another prince if it wasn't for this deal, but it would still be an arranged marriage."

sungchans eyes softened. he noticed the mark on her arm. "have you met your soulmate?" he bluntly brought out. the girl was slightly startled by the question but answered it nonetheless.

"i have" she said, the smile she had worn all day growing even more. "he was an ordinary boy, lived as a farmer. i only met him once but it felt so magical." sungchan noticed the sparks in her eyes as she talked about her soulmate.

he sighed, knowing that his chance to meet his soulmate was now really gone.

"and you? have you met your soulmate?" the girl asked her future fiancé. sungchan slowly shook his head. "i don't think i ever will." he told her. there was a moment of silence as she felt pity for the boy.

"but i don't believe in soulmates, so i guess it's fine" he mumbled. she took his hand, making him took at her in surprise.

"i know i'm not your soulmate, but we'll make this work" she said with a sweet smile.

he felt bad. she tried her best to make this work. however, sungchan couldn't bring up any positive feelings around this. but duty was duty, it didn't matter if he liked this or not.

"yeah, we'll make this work" he said with hesitation.

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king leeho waved his friend goodbye as the jeon family left the palace. he turned towards his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. "i'm glad you're both coming along nicely." he brought out before going back inside, leaving sungchan standing there.

the young boy sighed, staring at the gate that was now closed. he felt trapped, maybe even more than ever.

his mind wandered back to haechan and his friends on the day that he had met them. they all seemed so happy and carefree, especially the girl, aera.

he wanted to be set free too.

when will i be set free