Sleeping With The Enemy

Fated

Summer, 2020.

"Sir. Sir. Are you alright? Can you open your eyes?"

Min Hyeon's head made an odd jerking movement as he regained consciousness. He was naked in his hotel in Barcelona. Someone had draped a towel over him in respect. The woman who stood in front of him was presumably the hotel concierge. There was no hiding what he had been doing in this hotel room. It reeked of alcohol and a good romp in the sheets, or out of the sheets. Min Hyeon's brain felt fuzzy.

"What happened?" He asked, dreading the answer.

"You were locked in your bathroom. The cleaners seemed to have heard someone shouting yesterday. Your secretary asked our help to locate you."

Min Hyeon tried standing on his feet, but his world swayed around him. He sat on the floor instead. A paramedic arrived wasting no time to hook him up to an IV drip. Memories of the last few days in Barcelona seeped through his consciousness featuring Seo Ryeong.

Of course, Min Hyeon had known that Seo Ryeong was attending the Young Leaders' Conference in Barcelona. Naturally, he had rearranged his schedule and booked his hotel room to be directly next to hers. Min Hyeon had taken a different flight, of course. He wrapped up his business meeting in London where KU Group was currently bidding for an electrical supply contract in Bristol. There was a Japanese, Danish and Chinese company bidding for the contract as well. Min Hyeon was not sure whether KU Group would be awarded the contract – things were done differently than in Corea.

As the Young Leaders' Conference wrapped up, Min Hyeon had hired a local guide to bring Seo Ryeong and himself sightseeing. Wine-tasting and photographing Seo Ryeong amongst Gaudi's works had been a highlight of Min Hyeon's entire year. Something bothered him about their rendezvous this time. It was their eighth, ever since they broke up back in university. Seo Ryeong had seemed on edge and overly ambitious. Min Hyeon knew that she was ambitious and adored her supreme self-confidence. Something about this last rendezvous was a little jarring. He had the same feeling whenever he bit through an ice cream.

More words of their conversation about 18 hours ago flooded back into his buzzed brain. Seo Ryeong had talked about putting out lures to snag the King. She had taken up horse-riding just to gain entry into the social circles that hung out with Pyeha. Min Hyeon had no doubt that she could weasel her way into the Palace. She already attended the once-a-year pre-opening of Parliament at Busan Palace this year. Min Hyeon had seen on television and social media how the King listened to her even as she leaned in to whisper into his ear. Coreans commented that they looked good together. Min Hyeon gnashed his teeth in silent mutiny. He was going to put a stop to this. Seo Ryeong was his. He would never bow down to her as Queen, if he could help it.

October, 2020.

"Pyeha," the voice of Jo Yeong could be heard just outside the door.

"Oh, Yeong ah. Come on in."

"How's the twins?"

"They are driving me up the wall with their questions. How could my parents get back together and..."

"And what?" Gon replied with crinkled eyes, knowing what his best friend was implying.

"Nevermind."

"I've never asked, but what do you call them here, in this timeline?" Gon looked at Yeong.

It had been three long months of recovery for Jo Yeong. There had been speculation when they arrived back in the Palace in 2020 that they had been involved in a hunting accident. The Bureau of Royal Public Affairs had acted swiftly to quell rumours. They released old pictures of Captain Jo Yeong vacationing with his family throughout his multiple surgeries and recuperation. Myeong Seung Ah helped with the photo selections and wrote captions that Yeong was embarrassed to read when he regained consciousness. Nevertheless, her skill in spinning tales out of thin air served them all well. Yeong gained fourteen million new followers on SNS thanks to Seung Ah's weekly posts.