halcyon || seungjin

03: Talking to a Prince

Seungmin wakes up from his nap when the moon is up. He's not sure how long he's been sleeping, but he feels rested enough that he doubts he'll be able to fall back asleep anytime soon. The smell of brownies still emanates around the room, but judging on how tangled Seungmin is in his blanket, he deduces that, one: he had a very good nap, and two: it's been well over a few hours since his arrival that he's been asleep. He's definitely missed dinner at this point, so Seungmin grabs a brownie from the plate on his desk before slipping on a pair of shoes and heading out the door.

At first, Seungmin just plans to knock on Felix's door and see if he's up. Unfortunately, no light shines out from the crack under Felix's door, so Seungmin moves on. He sees two guards stationed at the end of the hallway that leads to the lobby, but upon reaching them, Seungmin finds that neither of them are Jisung. The guards don't question Seungmin, don't even spare him a glance, so Seungmin continues into the lobby. At this point, he doesn't know what to do or who to find, so he mindlessly walks through the palace, passing the occasional guard, until he reaches the large dual glass doors that open to the courtyard.

Seungmin hasn't seen the garden up close since he finished it, and back then, it was mostly a bunch of seedlings. But now, in its fully grown glory, Seungmin is able to appreciate his work on a whole new level. And he has to say, he outdid himself.

He walks through the rows of flower beds, passing lilies and peonies and dahlias as he moves across the garden. He eventually reaches his favourite part of the garden: a series of arches laced with morning glories that lead to a central fountain. It was Seungmin's own creative choice to have morning glories surround the centrepiece of the garden, since they're his favourite flower after all. Seungmin also made sure to include the sister flower of morning glories- moonflowers- in beds around the arches. That way, in the day, the pale purple morning glories bud and bloom in the warm rays of sun, but under the cover of night, the moonflowers unfurl and reveal their own pearl-coloured petals in the light of the moon.

A warm wind rakes through his hair and the moonlight reflects off various glass decorations that are scattered across the area. It's humid but not sticky, and it's refreshing but not cold outside.

Perfect.

Seungmin thinks he could spend forever out here if he wanted to, it's just so peaceful. Except for one thing- Seungmin can't help but feel like there's someone else around. He knows it's probably just paranoia. The courtyard is pretty big after all. His eyes scan the area, and he doesn't see anyone, so he tries to shrug off the feeling, and takes a seat at the edge of the fountain. To ease his mind, Seungmin sings to himself while he sits. It's a habit picked up from a  silly myth of his childhood that his parents would tell him- if he'd sing to the plants, then they would grow faster. In retrospect, he figures his parents told him this so that he'd be distracted and not wreak havoc in the shop, but it's also become a passion of his over the years. Seungmin continued singing in the shop until the moment he left it, and Jisung would poke fun at him because of it. "Maybe you should work a side gig as a bard!", he'd joke, but in all honesty, that's not something Seungmin would be completely opposed to.

Not even singing, however, can help Seungmin to shake the feeling that there's a set of eyes on him. He doesn't know how or why, but he instinctively looks behind him, up at the castle. And that's when he sees him.

There's a boy on one of the balconies that's right in the middle of the castle, directly in line with the fountain, where Seungmin is standing. Their eyes meet, and Seungmin raises a brow. "Are you watching me?" He yells up to the boy, standing a few steps in the direction of the castle.

Upon closer inspection, the boy is dressed in what seems to be a loose white blouse and black trousers, jewellery decorating his hands and ears. He looks royal and rich enough, maybe a relative of the royal family or the child of some noble. His black hair is almost shoulder length, blowing majestically in the breeze, his expression is one of surprise, as if he didn't expect to get caught by Seungmin.