Cursed - Enhypen FF

Sketches

Jungwon and Jay had managed to gather all the princes after breakfast. They only had a short window of time to speak, so they needed to explain their plan as fast and clear as possible.
Easier said than done, because the couple hadn't been the only ones coming up with a plan.

"What if we wait for her to arrive and explain everything to her?" asked Sunoo. "Maybe she'd understand... I'm sure she isn't looking forward to marrying seven guys she has never met before."
"We don't know anything about her... maybe she's looking forward to it" replied Jake.
"And who wouldn't fall in love with us?" said Sunghoon with a smile.
"Anyone who knows how big your ego is" laughed Niki.
"Come on" replied Sunghoon. "It was a joke."
"Yeah right, a joke" said Sunoo, just to tease Sunghoon.

"Guys, please" said Heeseung. "This is serious. We are in trouble."

The younger princes got calm again.

"What if we married her but poisoned her soon after?" said Niki.
"What?" replied Sunoo. "That's out of question!"
"Yeah, well, it is an option" slowly said Sunghoon. "Let's keep it in mind if we can't come up with anything else."

Sunoo rolled his eyes.

"We aren't killing anyone" replied Heeseung.

That seemed to end it.
Niki was extremely imaginative and creative. Not only was he spontaneous but also a little crazy sometimes (but good crazy). Heeseung on the other hand had the charisma of the older prince.
He was the only one that really had an influence on Niki, guiding the younger the best he could.

"Jay and I were thinking" started Jungwon, ignoring how Jake and Sunoo glanced at each other. "What if we just left?"
"Left?" repeated Sunghoon. "You mean... run away?"

Silence filled the room as the princes realized what Jay and Jungwon were suggesting.

"Let's be honest... our parents are using us as pawns for this war that we have nothing to do with" explained Jay. "Isn't that unfair?"
"If they had asked us if we would consider marriage to help with the situation, it would have been different" continued Jungwon. "But they clearly informed us we were getting married. No say in it, no consent. They didn't even ask how we felt about it!"

His tone had become angry as he spoke more.

"It's true" confirmed Jake.
"Yeah.. I'm not sure we would have agreed to marry though" added Heeseung.
"I know we wouldn't have. But the thing is they didn't ask. They decided for us" said Jay.

The princes nodded, everything was factually true.

"So, you're thinking about leaving the castle?" asked Niki. "Where would we go?"

Jungwon and Jay shared a look.

"To be honest, we would have to live undercover for a while. It seems only logical that as soon as someone notices our absence, they're going to look for us" said Jungwon.
"We'd need to go far" added Jay.
"We can't leave Hyube though... there's a war going on around the borders" said Sunghoon.

The first bell rang, inviting the princes to start their day.

"We don't have much time right now" said Sunoo.
"We can figure out the details later, but are we all on board with the running away thing?" asked Jay. "Hou have to be aware that we would have to survive on our own. We wouldn't have all the luxuries we enjoy here. It's going to be tiring, horrible and demanding. But if we do it, we will be free. Not only from this marriage, but from all the expectation, pressure and stress from our current lives."

Jungwon and Jay looked at Heeseung. Even though Jungwon was kind of their leader, Heeseung was the oldest, so his opinion did matter a lot. His eyes were quickly going left and right, as they always did when he had to think deeply. As if he literally measured to pros and cons with his eyes.

"I'm in" he said after a few seconds. "But only if we have a solid plan. I'm not risking it otherwise"

A sigh of relief escaped from Jungwon's lips as he felt a tiny drop of sweat roll down his forehead.

"I'm in" said Sunoo.
"Alright" added Sunghoon.

Niki and Jake looked at each other before nodding.

As the bell rang for the second time, the seven princes all nodded, getting mentally ready to leave everything and everyone behind.

~

Jay's day passed slowly.
Thoughts about the escape plan ran wild in his mind the whole time, thus distracting him.

As they left Sunoo's bedroom, he had "accidentally" brushed against Jungwon, excusing himself out loud. If he could, he would have hugged Jungwon tight on the spot, maybe kissed him as well. Unfortunately that wasn't an option.

Yet.

He had been thinking about it and if they really did escape together, his relationship with Jungwon wouldn't stay secret for very long. At least, he didn't want it to remain secret.
It was already hard faking it all day long in the castle.
If they were free from the royal life, Jay would want to be free to date Jungwon openly as well.

I just hope Jungwon feels the same about this...

"Jay, focus!" said the archery teacher.
"Sorry" mumbled Jay, realizing his arrow was pointed at the teacher.

Let's just focus for now and I'll think about the escape tonight.

~

Jay had never wanted to be a prince.
That meant a lot of pain and frustration growing up, but that also meant that he had thought about escaping the castle a hundred times.
He had spent years exploring his home, discovering several forgotten rooms, hallways and even... secret passageways.
He had made a lot of sketches describing everything, all concealed in his notebook.

How could have he imagined that someday they would be used to escape as a group?

Jungwon was by Jay's side, in his room. The notes and sketches were scattered around, as Jay was looking for a specific escape plan.

"I know I've written it down somewhere" he mumbled, looking through the notebook once more.

Jungwon on the other hand was silent. His eyes kept jumping from one sketch to another. He had never realized how serious this was.
How much Jay hated this life?
If he had spent all of this time exploring the castle looking for a breach to escape, it meant that Jay really wanted out.

That also left a burning question that Jungwon couldn't seem to shake off.

"Jay?" he whispered, walking towards his boyfriend.
"Have you found it?" asked the latter, still focused.
"Well I have no idea what we're loo-" he started, soon to be interrupted.

"There!!!" shouted Jay, lifting a piece of paper triumphantly.
"Yes!!" screamed Jungwon as well, question forgotten.

The two princes did a little joy dance before focusing again. Jay walked Jungwon through the plan, using the sketch as visual help.
Jungwon nodded along, more and more convinced that this could work.

~

Jungwon was laying on bed, incapable of sleeping for some reason. He kept changing positions, never finding one comfortable enough. After the twentieth time, Jay turned around.

"What is it?" he asked, voice half asleep.
"Can't sleep" replied Jungwon in a whisper.
"Just relax, we have a plan, it's going to work" said Jay.

Jungwon nodded but couldn't relax. Something was bothering him. He had to find out what before being able to fall asleep.
So the prince closed his eyes and though about his day, remembering the most he could.
It lasted a while until finally he saw Jay and himself in Jay's room. Jungwon was going through all of Jay's notes when something hit him.

"Jay" he called.
"Hum?" asked the latter, turning around to face Jungwon.
"You wanted to escape so bad that you spend years coming up with ideas" started Jungwon.
"Yep" confirmed Jay.
"But.. why haven't you actually tried to escape?" asked Jungwon.

Jay's eyes opened wider. He was no longer half asleep.

"Cause I couldn't leave you behind" he finally whispered.