Man in the Moon • Jisoo

20

"How many nights does it take to count the stars?"

☆☆☆

A sudden knock on his door woke the man in the moon from his slumber. Jisoo had woken up to a certain melody of trumpets that he knew well of, just like when that person had first visited him.

"Announcing the grand arrival of your royal highness, Prince Junhui!"

When Jisoo steps out of his house, some sort of red fabric started to roll and stopped, right in front of the tip of his toes. Jisoo looked down to his feet, then looked up, seeing a bunch of other humans with ridiculously colorful costumes standing along the carpet in two lines, playing a melody of trumpets.

"Who on moon would even…" Jisoo trailed off, his eyes gazing at a figure dressed in clothing he knew well off, his escort by his side. Prince Junhui walked down the carpet, his royal butler Seungcheol scuttling behind him.

"Your Highness…?" Jisoo greets the prince in a questioning tone. Who wouldn't, to be honest. This was a surprise. The Crown Prince had never, ever visited him before, not even once. Okay, maybe once, and that was long ago; long when he first became the man in the moon.

Prince Junhui scanned Jisoo from his half frozen hair to his twiddling toes, then looking back at him in the eye.

"May I know your name?"

"Jisoo, Your Highness." Jisoo answers almost immediately, bowing his head and averting eye contact from the prince. Junhui had motioned Seungcheol to place a cloak over himself to protect him from the cold.

Junhui brushes a few specks of moondust off his shoulder before breaking into a sentence, "I heard from Jester that you broke the Oath. Is it true?"

The words that came out of the Prince's mouth wasn't a surprise, to Jisoo. He was expecting this question all this time. It shocked him that the Prince would actually get to the extent of visiting him on the moon. Was the Oath this serious to them? It wasn't Junhui who created the Oath, yet he chose to stay abide by the rules that his previous ancestors had made. What bullcrap.

What should Jisoo do? Should he be honest, admit his fault and say yes? Should he lie just so he could see Gaeul again? What was he supposed to do then? Why did the Oath even had to exist?

"I…well-" Jisoo took his time fidgeting, searching for the right words.

"The Prince demands an answer." Seungcheol cuts off. Junhui had raised a hand towards the butler to go easy on the boy.

Jisoo inhaled a breath.

"Yes, yes I did."

"I see." The Prince replied, nodding. Jisoo couldn't tell whether the royalty was plain impressed or purely disappointed. His face showed no expression whatsoever; only observing Jisoo's appearance and the surface of the moon.