The Dutiful Heart

stranger

"Jisoo hyung,"

Lee Chan shouted loudly as he ran from his seat to hug Jisoo tightly.

"Good morning, Chan"

Jisoo said, hugging the younger boy back.

"Hyung have you been crying?"

Chan whispered quietly directly to Jisoo's ears and the latter immediately stiffened.

Jisoo thought that Seungkwan did a pretty good job in applying makeup to cover up his puffy eyes but it seemed that nothing could escape Chan's keen eyes.

"Not only you, did Jeonghan hyung cried too? Did the two of you fight?"

Chan continued, voice thick with curiousity.

"Later ok Chan, later,"

Jisoo whispered back, the latter immediately understood with a nod, let go of his hyung to go back to his seat.

Jisoo took this as a cue to take his own seat at the breakfast table.

Unlike lunch and dinner which was more of a formal ocassion, breakfast seemed to be the time when everybody was relaxing.

Punctuality wasn't a big deal during breakfast as those who wake up earlier could have their breakfast at earlier time and the late comers like Jisoo could have
their breakfast at later time to make sure that the table were not over crowded since the staffs didn't have that much time to set up extra tables in the morning.

Jisoo took the empty seat next to Mingyu.

"What did Chan say to you?"

Mingyu asked as soon as he sat down with a worried look on his face . Chan had hugged Jisoo for quite some time and having been living with said person for few years, Mingyu must be aware that his cousin did that to secretly whisper something to someone.

And the uncomfortable expression Jisoo showed for a split second while Chan hugged him must have worried the younger.

"It was nothing Mingyu-ah"

"If you say so hyung. You know you can always come to me any time right."

Mingyu was younger than Jisoo but it was clear that the younger boy was really mature.

'Being crown prince really changes people huh?'

Jisoo thought as he recalled back his previous memories with Seokmin.

Seokmin used to be a very sweet and bright kid, total opposite of the current Seokmin who acted like a complete asshole.

Jisoo really wished that he was engaged to the sweet, innocent Lee Seokmin not the current Seokmin.

Thinking about Seokmin was enough to give him a headache.

Jisoo glanced around the room lazily. Most of the people currently in the room were youngsters who were most likely too lazy to wake up in the morning like their parents.

On Mingyu's right was Wonwoo who was listening to Mingyu chatting and nodding along his words.

In front of Jisoo were Hoshi seated next to his fiancé Jihoon.

Next to them sat a few young boys and girls that Jisoo didn't know. They were probably cousin's or siblings of Hoshi and Jihoon who were also here to attend the engagement ceremony.

It was a custom to invite all the neighbouring kingdoms for events like engagement parties and fifth birthdays (one of the most important age to have a birthday party for a reason Jisoo never knew).