When the king of Levanter tries to teach his oldest son a lesson, he ends up assuming something far from the truth. Minho wishes he could correct his father's wild imagination but doing so would mean seeing Jisung's head removed from his body. Neith...
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When Minho finally had Jisung alone in his chambers again, he didn't rush into the conversation he really wanted them to have but instead tried to slowly get into it.
Jisung's fingers fumbled to work the buttons of Minho's shirt open. Jisung was normally clumsy, but when it came to dressing and undressing Minho every day it had become an effortless routine already. Minho also noted how quiet Jisung was tonight, which only made him painfully aware that Jisung was uncomfortable in some way.
Minho didn't like that one bit. Since Jisung started service at his side he never once kept quiet or hesitated about anything. This wasn't like him at all and it made Minho uneasy.
He dropped his gaze from looking straight ahead to instead study Jisung's face. His cheeks were puffed out and his bottom lip was trapped between his teeth as he concentrated hard on untying the knot of Minho's tie. Minho averted his gaze when Jisung looked up at him.
"Finished?" Minho asked.
Jisung nodded, stepping back and holding out a clean set of black nightclothes. Minho dropped his dirty clothes to the floor as Jisung helped put the shirt over his head.
"Jisungie, we need to talk," Minho said as he straightened his clothes.
"Yes, my lord," Jisung said, smoothing out the shoulders of Minho's shirt. It was a pointless thing to do seeing as how he was about to get into bed and wrinkle the efforts anyway, but he didn't stop Jisung. The feel of Jisung's hands dragging across his skin was calming and he didn't want the action to stop.
Minho suppressed a sigh at Jisung's sudden formal attitude. "Don't do that. Don't call me that. You never call me that unless you're being sarcastic."
"I don't know who might hear, my lord," Jisung said, glancing around like he expected someone to jump out from behind the big velvet curtains. "Your father asked me to be discreet and show respect."
"No one will be listening to us in here," Minho reassured. "I even sent the guards away for the evening because you're here and I locked the door too."
"Oh," Jisung uttered, his eyes falling onto his own hands which had paused on Minho's shoulders. After he processed what he was doing, he dropped them back to his sides and took another step back. The small distance between them felt like instant rejection.
"Did Jeongin-ssi talk to you? After you left this morning?" Minho asked, hiding the hurt.
"A bit," Jisung admitted.
"What did he say?"
"That you only agreed to an arranged marriage to save me."
"Only," Minho muttered the word. "I gave up my future freedom to marry someone I love so I could keep you alive, Jisungie. I don't think only is a good enough description."
