diadem | hyunho

5. possessive

JISUNG:

"You're such a messy eater, Minho," Hyunjin says, wiping frosting off Minho's lips with his thumb and licking it clean. I look at the both of them with my eyes wide open. Did I miss a chapter or two here? I was seriously third wheeling again at the cake tasting.

"Woah," I accidentally let out, but I realize that they didn't even notice I said anything because they were too busy intensely staring at each other. I snap my fingers in front of them.

"My dear Princes, you can eye fuck each other when no one else is watching. We're at a public place and the baker is waiting for your opinion," I whisper to them, pointing at the guy who was waiting for them to speak up with utmost patience. They blush and look away. It was too weird.

HYUNJIN:

"Did you wake up on the wrong side the bed?" I ask Minho, seeing him scowling at someone. My eyes follow the direction of his and they land on a short but muscular guy walking towards us. The palace was filled with Princes from different lands to spectate and take part in the quarterly fencing tournament.

"Seo fucking Changbin," Minho seethes.

"Be prepared to lose this year too," the Changbin guy remarks with a snigger.

"Oh please, we both know that you cheated last year to win."

"Whatever floats your boat, Minnie boy. Who's this beauty, anyways?" He asks, shifting his gaze to me. Minho instinctively takes my hand in his.

"Don't you dare try anything. That's my fiancé," Minho replies, and something about the word gives me butterflies.

"Don't we have something to finish, babe? Let's go," I say, effectively helping us to ditch the situation. I never thought pretending to be in love would make me call him sweet nicknames, but as long as it helped us out it didn't matter. This guy had a bit too much attitude, even for me.

"Thank you. He's such a pain in the ass," Minho tells me as we reach a secluded corner of the palace.

"All favors come at a price. What do I get?" I say cockily, knowing damn well that I didn't do shit. Without warning, Minho kisses my cheek.

"There you go."

"Th-that's not what I meant," I say, a stammering mess.

"But this is better, right?"

*

"Hyunjin! Long time no see!" Jeno walks up to me, flashing me his famous eye smile. We go in for a big hug.

"How's the married life?" I ask, knowing that he had recently gotten married in an arrangement similar to mine.

"I mean, it's alright so far. Jaemin's a lot more high maintenance than I thought but I'll give it to you, he's pretty cute. What about you? I heard you're getting married too. Same situation?" He asks and I nod.

"Who's this?" Minho suddenly comes up from behind me, throwing an arm over my shoulder protectively.

"This is King Jeno from the neighboring kingdom. Jeno, this is Minho, my fiancé," I say, introducing them. Minho offers his hand to shake, but his eyes held an iciness that said he wasn't really pleased to make the acquaintance.

"He's acting quite...territorial today. I don't know why," I whisper apologetically to Jeno, who probably had no idea why he was greeted so coldly.

"That's alright. I can see he has a thing for you," he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Please, as if."

The entire evening was spent in thrilling matches, all down to the two finalists : Minho and Changbin. Their stares were so intense that you could see the fire behind their eyes even with their masks on.