Prince's Choice - Zhong Chenle

Twelve

"The royal family?" Youngie ask, stepping forward look down the street as well. "Oh wow, it is!"

"Aren't you friends with the young prince? You should go say hi." Her mom says.

"I wouldn't say we're friends. We've only spoken once, and even then, Jeno was there." Youngie rebuttals.

"Well you better decide if you're friends or not soon, because they're getting closer." Ms. Choi warns.

Youngie peeks down the street, only to see the royal family walking a few feet from where she stood. They would approach her any second.

Youngie rushes to hide behind the food stand, but her mom grabs arms to stop her from moving.

"Mooom!"

"Youngie, respect our higher powers."

As the two argue, the Zhong family greets themselves.

"Hello Ms." Queen Howin speaks.

"Oh, hello!" Ms. Choi exclaims, turning away from Youngie.

Chenle looks up from his feet and notices Youngie. He gives her a small wave.

Youngie's eyes grow wide and she tenses up.

She forces her self to give a small wave back and flashes a smile, right before going back to a straight face.

"What is this?" Guang ask, picking up a cup of ramen and examining the ingredients.

"Oh, this is ramen. It's a really popular noodle brand through out the vill-" Ms. Choi starts but is abruptly cut off.

"Poor people noodles?" King Peng snickers. He takes the snack from Guang's hands and tosses them onto the ground.

"Zhong Peng!" Howin gasp, but he just continues laughing.

Chenle glares at his father while Guang picks up the food and places it back on the stand.

"I'm so sorry about that... " Queen Howin whispers to Mrs. Choi and her daughter.

"Well, we must get going now." King Peng announces and starts marching forward.

Guang walks behind his dad, followed by Howin, but Chenle on the other hand just stands in place, watching his family leave.

Guang turns back and waves his hand signaling Chenle to join, but Chenle stands his ground and shakes his head no.

Guang rolls his eye but decide it's not worth the fight, it's not like their father would notice anyways.

Just then, the King halts his march. He had a felling something was off and slowly turned his head. Before he could fully spin it around, Guang jumps into action and points in the opposite direction from Chenle.

"Dad look! That villager wants you to sign his hand!"

"Oh, anything for my adoring fans!" The King replies, running up to the next family.

Chenle smiles at his brother then faces Mrs. Choi.

"I'm really sorry about my dad, he's such a jerk... "

"It's alright Prince Chenle, I suppose he is right-"

"Mom," Youngie begins to scold, Chenle adding on.

"Don't think off it like that. This stuff is the best!" Chenle exclaims whiles holding a ramen cup towards the sky, causing Youngie to giggle a little bit.

"Wait. Prince, uh, Chenle... sir, a-aren't you supposed to catch up with your family?" Youngie questions through stutters.

"Nah, marching in a straight formation around the village is boooring. Plus, being with them is so tiring. I'd much rather be... " Chenle takes a step toward the object of his focus which happens to be a stack of ramen sitting in the grass. "Right here."

"Sorry Chenle, but we don't open for another 30 minutes." Ms. Choi tells him.

"But I'm the Prince." Chenle whines and continues to try and get a cup.

"30 more minutes, even for you." Ms. Choi restates, bopping the top of Chenle's hand with a pair of chopsticks. "I'm running a business here! How about you and Youngie hang around for a bit and then come back?"

Chenle glances to his left to see Youngie. She turns to face him, but the second their gazes meet, she darts her eyes toward the ground.

Chenle clears his throat. "I heard there's a park somewhere... "

"Oh, yeah. It's uh, little south from here. Would you like to go?" Youngie offers.

"Sure!" The Prince agrees with a smile.