raven ღ na jaemin

15

your mouth fell open. jaemin is the prince. of course he is. no, how can he be? that doesn't make any sense. but it does. no, there is no way that he is the prince. unless...

"um, hello?"

you snapped out of your daze. mark, taeyong, and haechan were looking at you strangely. you snapped your mouth shut.

"jieun," haechan said, leaning closer to you. "where are you really from? you acted like you've never heard of the prince before."

"n-no, i have. i just forgot." you chuckled awkwardly, conveniently avoiding his first question. "my parents didn't really talk about the royal family often. they think they're a bunch of snobby, stuck-up, spoiled brats."

the last part was probably true if jaemin was any indication.

haechan snorted. "you got that right."

his reaction shocked you. "is the royal family..." you hesitated, "unpopular?"

"no, most people love them," replied taeyong. "haechan just... has a history with them." he gave haechan a meaningful look which you couldn't quite decipher.

you gasped. "with the royal family?"

haechan fidgeted beside you. "it's a long story."

"oh."

he didn't elaborate, and you didn't pry. the tense set of his jaw told you that this 'story' wasn't a happy one.

"well, um, i'd love to stay and chat but i think i should get going. it's getting pretty late and—"

taeyong stood. "stay for dinner at least. you're probably starving aren't you? and you don't have any money either..."

your stomach growled, as if on cue. you blushed. "i really shouldn't," you protested half-heartedly.

"please, we insist."

you looked from taeyong, to mark, then to haechan. "i mean, i guess."

haechan's face broke into the grin. "great! you'll get to meet the other guys, too."

you forced a smile and said unenthusiastically, "yay."

"you don't have to worry, they're great."

"yeah, i'm sure they're great, i just don't want to have to awkwardly explain to them what i'm doing here all over again."

"actually," said taeyong, focusing on haechan. "you never explained to me why you brought her here. and none of that 'i'm so kind' bullcrap."

haechan glanced at you warily before looking back at taeyong. "i think she might be able to join our... cause."

taeyong looked at you, and you could see him considering it. "are you thinking she can—"

"yes, you said that we needed a source of information. she could be our source! she can sneak into the palace and report back to us on what she finds." haechan's leg was bouncing up and down excitedly as he talked.

you drew your eyebrows together. not this again. "hold on, this is ridiculous. i'm not sneaking into the palace."

haechan looked at you, disappointed. "you're not?"

"are you crazy? no! i just got here and you want me to go off on some crazy mission where i could possibly die?" you felt anger surge through you, maybe because your words were also directed toward a certain prince.

"she's right," said taeyong. "we can't ask her to do something like that."

"hyung, she's our only chance. if we just explain to her, maybe she'll consider it."

you really doubted any explanation would make you consider, but you decided to humor him. you beckoned for him to explain.

"okay, so, we have this friend who went missing a while ago. we've been looking everywhere for him, but he just left without a trace. and for some reason, those guys we talked about earlier are also looking for him. at least, that's what we think."

"i don't understand how this has anything to do with me needing to sneak into the palace."

"i'm getting there. so this friend of ours, we don't actually know much about him. he saved mark from a group of thieves a while back and we just sort of adopted him. he was super secretive about his life, but he did tell us one thing: he was a soldier who used to work at the royal palace. and that was pretty much all we got out of him. he didn't stay for very long. disappeared two months after we brought him in. and he didn't even tell us his real name, we just know him by the name 'winwin'."

"why are you trying so hard to find him even though you were only with him for two months?"

haechan smiled wistfully. "two months isn't that short of a time, princess. plus, he became one of us. nct 127."

[a/n]:

here's another update before i disappear for like a month 🤪