Prince's Gamble | HAOBIN

1. Last First Day

Awoken by the loud thunder, Zhanghao sat up, rubbing his eyes. Looking at the clock across the room on his wall, he glanced to see that it was very early—four am to be exact. Sighing as he lay back down, he turned onto his side and closed his eyes hoping sleep would come back to him amidst the loud weather. 

Through the heavy woodland he ran, the sound of a loud voice calling out as they chased him. Looking out for a low enough branch to hoist himself up on, his eyes finally fell on one in the near distance, arms reaching out, ready to grab it. He ran until the branch was almost in front of his face, grabbing with two hands to pull his weight up onto the branch. 

Heart beating fast and breath heavy, he began to climb higher into the tree—into safety. The voice neared as it kept calling out his name, teasing his death. He was still climbing when he saw the owner of the voice finally catch up to him, stopping to look up at where he was holding onto the trunk for dear life. 

"You think a tall tree's gonna save you?" The voice mocked, as they moved towards the base of the tree, only to start shaking it violently as if to make him fall out. He held on tight, and did not budge. With an annoyed look, the owner of the voice huffed, still staring at him. 

He had lived another day. 

However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the other pulled out an axe which had been concealed within their clothes and he watched as they swung it towards the trunk of the tree and landed it. He should've picked a stronger tree but there had been no time for that. His only hope now was that the axe wasn't sharpened enough, or that somehow the tree held its ground. 

He was wrong. As the tree began to shake suddenly, hanging on it's last thread, the other swung one final swing before the tree began to fall down. Knowing his only survival would be to jump off before he was crushed along with the tree, he jumped, feeling his stomach drop as he fell. 

He would need to stick his landing perfectly in order to begin his run away once again, but the other was one step quicker than him, and as he hit the ground with forceful impact, the adrenaline rushed to his brain. 

Because running right towards him, axe held above their head, was the other. A smile in their eyes as they pelted, ready to feel the blood of him on their hands. 

Zhanghao woke with a start, hand over his heart as he attempted to slow his breathing, sweat running down his temples. It had just been a dream. Yet, the reality of the dream had felt so real and he knew it would hard to try to forget about it for the rest of the day. 

Pushing thoughts of the dream aside, Zhanghao pushed himself out of bed and stood up to get changed. Ruffling through his closet, he changed into his school uniform before finding a suitable coat to fight the cold weather outside. He was happy to finally be in his last year of school, after a very long thirteen years. Stepping out of his room, he greeted his mother before walking out the front door.

Although it was undeniably chilly, Zhanghao much preferred this to the overwhelmingly hot summers they experienced within the kingdom. Walking would warm him up, which he was doing right now as he made his way to his friend's house. 

Walking past the many houses, markets and shops, he finally found himself in front of a familiar faded yellow house which he had been to all too many times. He let himself through the little black fencing which run along the front yard before stepping up onto the porch of the house. Grabbing the rusty knocker, he knocked three times before letting it go and taking a small step back.

He wasn't surprised when it wasn't his friend but their mother who opened the door for him. 

"Ah Zhanghao, come in come in." She said with a smile on her face. Opening the door, Zhanghao stepped in, looking around the unusually quiet house, save the little grey whippet dog who ran up to greet Zhanghao as he entered. 

"Still sleeping, I assume?" He looked back at her. 

"Yes," She rolled her eyes, "Scold them for me, will you?" She said, to which he gave a light laugh in response.  

Walking further into the house, Zhanghao made his way to the staircase which led him up to the bedrooms. Opening the nearest door, he found his two friends asleep on separate beds which were placed on either side of the bedroom. They had roomed together for a while now, but the difference in the two's personalities was humorous. 

It was as if someone had drawn a line through the middle of the room, one side depicting brighter shades of blue while the other darker shades of grey and a hint of black. 

Zhanghao chuckled before walking over to the nearest bed, sitting down on the feet of the person asleep. They groaned, turning their head to see Zhanghao at the foot of the bed. 

"What time is it?" Gyuvin mumbled, turning his face back down into the pillow. 

"Something like 8am?" Zhanghao questioned, unsure of the time himself. 

"Is Ricky awake yet?" Gyuvin continued to mumble. 

"Nope, you get the pleasure of being woken up first." Zhanghao smiled. 

After a moment of silence, Zhanghao was almost sure Gyuvin had fallen asleep again so he moved to pull his feet up on the bed before lying down, back sprawled across Gyuvin.   

"Arghs!" Gyuvin groaned as Zhanghao lay on him. "You're not as light as you used to be Hao." He said. 

"Oh shut up." Zhanghao hit the covers of his bed from which he was sleeping under. 

"Go wake up Ricky and I'll be up by the time you do that. He'll take forever." Gyuvin said, exaggerating 'forever'. 

"Fine." 

Zhanghao sat up and moved to the other side of the room where Ricky was, his white-dyed hair peeking out from under his covers. He put a hand onto Ricky's shoulder before nudging him gently. 

"Rickyyy.." Zhanghao said. 

Ricky groaned as his eyes appeared beneath the blanket, figuring out who had just woken him up. 

"Oh, Zhanghao." He sighed as he rubbed his eyes,  "What time is it?"

 "I don't know, maybe 8.10 right now." Zhanghao shrugged. 

Ricky pulled the covers back over his head and turned to face his back to Zhanghao. 

"Ricky!" Zhanghao nudged him. "Don't go back to sleep, we need to go soon."

"But what if I just didn't go to school today?" Ricky said, sarcastically. 

"Haha, very funny." Zhanghao rolled his eyes before moving to wake Gyuvin again. 

It was at least 8.30am when the three finally got themselves out the yellow house after bidding Gyuvin's mother goodbye. Starting the walk to the academy, they chatted contently, changing topics from time to time. 

As they reached the large castle-like stone building which was their school, all three of them could undoubtedly feel a change in the atmosphere of their classmates. Whispering occurred all around them as they walked into the academy, unsure of what could have happened. 

Entering the classroom, the whispers lessened but their curiosity didn't. However, their answers were about to answered as they sat down and the teacher walked into the classroom. 

"Good morning students. Today, we have a new student joining us." She told the class, before gesturing to something outside the door. "Come in." She motioned with her hand. 

A tall boy made his way in—he couldn't have been any older than Zhanghao. Zhanghao watched as he politely walked, stopping next to the teacher before facing the class. His fair skin brought out his dark brown eyes and dark hair which tousled neatly over his forehead, just reaching the tip of his eyes. 

His beauty was mesmerizing, but what Zhanghao seemed to notice most was his attire. He was dressed in the uniform, but at the same time he wasn't. What would be the normal blazer that they all wore had the addition of shiny thread and expensive looking buttons. 

Zhanghao knew he was all too familiar for him to not remember who he was. Judging by the adamant whispers from his classmates and the shocked look on Gyuvin and Ricky's face, he looked for the name to match with the boy's face. 

Then it hit him. 

"You can all close your mouths now, for it is impolite to appear so unmannerly in front of the crown prince." The teacher said.