The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

五十五

Fifty Five
Updated: December 25, 2021

"Thank you for coming! Please come again!" He stood in front of his restaurant, waving away his last group of customers. It was midnight, and these people stayed past closing, so Shotaro was exhausted from having to work longer than he usually did. He had dismissed the staff, allowing them to go home while he sent off these last few people. He shouldn't have done that. These people wouldn't stop eating, so he, by himself, had to cook, clean, and deliver everything to their table.

The restaurants and stores around him had already closed hours ago. There were no lights in any of the buildings. The only lights were the lanterns strung up between the buildings, even then, it was still dark. Little to no people wandered the streets, just the drunks and the homeless.

Shotaro sighed a breath of relief. Finally, he could finally rest and go to sleep.

He turned around to head back into his restaurant, only to find himself jolting in surprise. "Heavens!"

"Hello!" Greeted the familiar face. The scholar was not dressed in his usual attire. He wore quite elegant clothing, a simple yet beautifully made turquoise hanfu. It looked quite light. Attached to his belt was a jade pendant, and he carried a fan painted with a small bamboo forest.

"W-what are you doing here?" Shotaro asked with the clutch of his chest. "Don't you have to study for that exam?"

Sungchan smiled, "I do, but I've decided to take a few days off to rest a little."

Shotaro returned back into his restaurant, the younger one following him. "When's the exam?"

"Early August."

He tensed, visibly freezing when he closed the door behind them. "I-I see."

Sungchan tilted his head towards him. "What's the matter?"

"N-nothing."

The younger frowned, "does it have something to do with the crown prince?"

"No," said Shotaro, turning away from the door. "It has nothing to do with him."

"Really?"

"Mhm." He was lying. It had everything to do with the crown prince. It's just he didn't want to drag Sungchan into his own matters. The last time he did- well, it didn't end badly, he just felt a bit awkward. It was strange talking to Sungchan; he didn't react to anything, didn't say anything. He didn't know if the younger was judging him or if he was planning something to turn him in.

"You... aren't still mad about the crown prince, right?" Sungchan asked cautiously, watching as Shotaro disappeared through the kitchen doors and reappeared with a wet towel.

"Why would I not be mad?" He took the wet towel and began to rub circles on the top of the tables, wiping off the sauce and crumbs that might've not been cleaned off earlier.

The scholar sighed. "Shotaro-ssi, have you ever wondered if the crown prince you saw wasn't Hwang?"

Shotaro paused mid-cleaning, his gaze tilting upward and then towards Sungchan. "What?" His face wrote 'disbelief' all over it. "Of course, I have. I've thought of every possibility that maybe Hwang wasn't the one who killed my brother." He returned to cleaning, only the rubbing seemed to be more violent. "That-"

A hand halted his, grabbing it gently. Shotaro glanced up, and his breath hitched. His entire thought process froze, and he forgot what he was going to say. He stared speechlessly for a moment, just silently admiring the starry look in the younger's eyes. Just centimeters away, he could see every detail in his eyes. The dark pupils and the dark iris. Among them were the stars. Shotaro swore he could see all of the younger's past and all of his future.