Into The Mirror

Chapter 17

*1 month later*

To say that Subin and Sejun had gotten closer over the month the older had been staying in the palace was an understatement. They were both unbelievably close, well compared to how they were to begin with, and everything who saw the two together almost instantly assumed something was going on between the two of them, but they brushed it off. They were both content with how everything was currently, and that was all that mattered.

There had been barely any more mishaps involving people trying to get to Subin, which he was glad about, and Sejun had cooperated with the questioning led by Seungsik about who it was sending the people and what they wanted. Yet, for some reason Subin was saddened by all of that. Possibly because he knew that if there was no longer a threat, that Sejun would have to leave and he would be lonely again - something that felt so foreign to him now, even though he spent nearly all of his life somewhat isolated.

During the time Sejun had been at the palace, he had left to meet with his boss a few times, each time telling Subin he just needed to let him know he was still alive. Subin seemingly believed the lie, although it made the assassin feel bad for lying, especially because of how close they had gotten.

Seungsik had somewhat come around to 'liking' Sejun, well, he tolerated him because he could see how much his youngest brother liked having him around. But he never let go of a small feeling that there was something else going on that was much bigger than all of them.

"Hyung! Have you seen Sejun? I can't find him." A pouting Subin practically barged into Seungsik's room, interrupting his thoughts.

Seungsik turned from facing out the window to look at his brother. "Oh, yes. He left early this morning. He said he had business and he didn't want to wake you."

A faint blush spread across the younger's cheeks, acknowledging the gesture, as he looked away briefly. The older stood expectantly, thinking he had something else to say, which he only realised after looking back at him.

"Was there anything else?"

"No?" Subin's tone made it seem like a question.

"Oh, okay." Seungsik paused, like he was considering whether to say what he wanted to or not. "I wanted to say that I'm glad you found a friend in Sejun. I know I wasn't fond of the idea at first, but I'm happy seeing you happy." He smiled at Subin in the kind of way that a mother smiles at her child.

The blush dusting his cheeks grew into a brighter shade of pink, making the younger prince more flustered than he was before. He smiled back, wishing he was anywhere else than in that room at that precise moment. He really didn't want to be having that kind of conversation with his eldest brother, especially after some of the things he had said about Sejun before.

"I'm also more than aware of how you feel towards him." Subin's eyes widened as his head shot up to look at Seungsik's face, checking for- he didn't even know what.

"What?"

"I think you've made it fairly obvious, well, enough for me to notice."

"I-" Subin didn't know what to say. His mind went blank. How was he supposed to answer that? Sejun was a very close friend as far as he was concerned, was he missing something? He felt so overwhelmed in that moment.