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the prince's escape | yeonbin

Description: Soobin is a prince, the heir to the throne; Yeonjun is one of the gardener's that works for his family. They've been together for a while, forbidden friends ever since they met when they were young. They have a plan to run away together, but will they be able to accomplish it?

. . . . .

Soobin's POV:

"Soobin..." Yeonjun whispered, holding his hand out to me. He had a look of fear in his eyes, hurrying to say, "We have to go now."

I heard the metal clanking, the guards slowly walking away because they hadn't seen us. I didn't think about it, reaching out to grab his hand to get away from here...

Now, you might be wondering how we got into this situation in the first place, and that's kind of a long story. You see, Yeonjun and I met when I was curious about the gardens as a kid. I would spend most of my time out there, learning the different types of plants and what they do. I was really meant to be inside with the rest of the royals, but I never took much of an interest in my family history. Plants were fascinating to me, how something so different from us could be so resilient. It can come in so many different forms, can be food, medicine, shelter, and can make the air we breathe. They're just absolutely incredible.

Another person who was just as curious as me, was Yeonjun. He was the son of the head gardener, who took care of the greenhouse and the massive gardens outside the palace. He was only a year older than me, and we met when he was playing outside in the gardens when neither of us were supposed to. He got distracted while his father was watching him, sharing the same curiousness as me about all the nature around here and having the need to follow the flight path of a small butterfly. Nobody was watching me – nobody ever does. I was by myself; it was just a normal day for me looking at the different plants. He didn't know who I was, not that I knew the details of my status at that point in my life either.

When I called out to him, asking where he had come from, he almost burst into tears since his father was nowhere in sight. I had never seen another kid around here before, not having the luxury of having a sibling or family member my age to play with. I was so nervous to speak to him, and obviously, I had no idea what to do when he was crying. The only thing I was thinking about was how I could finally have a friend, so I moved closer to him and told him that I would help in the search for his father.

We fortunately didn't have to go that far through the gardens since his father was looking for him as well. He was scolded once I brought him back, but he still managed to give me a hug and thank me before he was dragged away. That was the first time we ever met when we were only five years old, and after that, I started seeing him much more often.

Yeonjun's twenty-three now, and I turned twenty-two only a few months ago. Spring is upon us, and we decided to sneak away for a moment in order to stroll through the forest near the castle. We've done it hundreds of times before, making a path with our feet and mapping out every inch of these woods together until the edge reaches the city. Our relationship turned romantic about four years ago, and we've been hiding it ever since then. Looking back, I don't really know when everything turned romantic between us. All I remember is that we were too touchy with each other in the first place. I guess it's always been a bit romantic, but we were too naïve to realize it.

My parents would never approve of this, and his parents wouldn't either. I'm expected to marry someone in royalty, a woman none the wiser. Homosexuality is made illegal by my parents – the King and Queen – and if they ever found out, they would jail Yeonjun and force me to marry a woman in the same day. I'm the heir to the throne, and if it ever were to get out that I was a homosexual, the entire bloodline of our family would be in question. We're supposed to be the divine rulers, and if our bloodline is questioned by citizens, I don't even want to think about how many revolts or protests there would be in the village. It's already questioned when we marry in a lower social class, so I cannot even begin to imagine what something like this would do.