merry go round || nomin ✔

- fourteen -

"we are here to see butler kim." renjun said with his strict voice towards the guard at the front gate.

"sir huang, you are not allowed to bring outsiders into the gates of the palace unless said otherwise. is this an urgent or a special occassion?"

"it is, sir. it is an urgent occassion and needs to be discussed with butler kim as soon as possible."

"and in what case must i let you and your friend inside the palace to meet butler kim?" the guard stood strong and stern with his resting face that annoyed the hell out of renjun. if he hadn't been made into a cook in this era, he would've done at least something to get him out of the way.

"it is about work, sir lim. we need to get through." at renjun's words, the guard squinted his eyes in suspicion but finally sighed and signalled them to pass through the gates. with a small thank you, the two passed through the halls of the palace and to the entrance of the king's room to meet doyoung.

"i've been waiting for hours, where have you been?"

"if that one guard hadn't been so hard-headed, we would've been here on time." the smaller male rolled his eyes and held onto jaemin's hands to push him forward into the spotlight.

"w-why are you..."

"you're going to talk to the king, jaemin."

"what?! i-i thought we agreed on... talking together." jaemin looked down and played with his fingers as both renjun and doyoung massaged their temples.

"jaemin, you know in this palace, there are lots and lots of guards, hm? so, i suggest that you talk to the king alone because not many people recognize you yet." renjun spoke softly while giving the younger a reassuring smile to cheer him up a little, knowing it would take some nerve to ask for the amulet when jeno himself also has to return to present time one day so as to not get stuck there. doyoung too then placed a hand on jaemin's shoulder and smiled.

"i can distract if someone dares to question about you or your whereabouts. besides, i've never seen someone this close to the king."

"we need to get back as soon as possible, okay jaem?" once again, renjun tapped jaemin's shoulder and finally let go of him to enter the king's room. but instead of continuing his steps, jaemin stopped to turn around and smiled sheepishly.

"i uh... i usually don't go through here."

"huh?"

and that's how they ended up at the entrance of the secret garden jaemin ended up in not long ago. he sighed and entered the garden, gathering up courage.

as soon as he entered, butterflies were surround him, making him giggle and let one land on his finger. it was as pretty as he remembered.

"jaemin? what are you doing here?"

"jeno." the called boy put down his hands and placed it behind his back to fiddle with it. the king smiled widely at the boy's presence and approached him.

"i thought you said renjun had been complaining about you disappearing all the time."

"right, haha. he kinda did? but! he said, since i'm getting used to the surroundings already, he allowed me to so..." jeno giggled at jaemin's nervousness and just smiled away with that pretty ones of his. the brunette had always gone lost in that eye smile that became very special in his eyes.

god, how could i take it from him. jaemin mumbled inside as he kept stealing glances at the accessory around the king's neck.

"oh anyways, did you have something to talk to me? i figured, since you came here all of a sudden."

jaemin looked up again but this time, he wanted to hate himself for it. he can't take it.

"no! no no i just want to uh, admired these pretty butterflies of yours." goddamit jaemin. a nervous giggle escaped his lips as he kept his fingers moving.

"ah yes i know, these pretty angels always make my day. they're always very pretty." after jeno spoke, an awkward silence between them happened before jaemin snapped back into reality and smiled.

"mark might be searching for me right now, so i'll have to go."

"oh yeah, yeah yeah sure uhm. take care!" without replying, jaemin dashed out of the garden, immediately greeted by renjun and doyoung who looked at him, full of questions and anticiaption.

"i can't do this."

-

oh boy