My Prince 《Completed 》

Chapter 23: Fighter

I'm so sorry we didn't get to say goodbye. The king wanted all the families to leave as soon as possible. I tried to get to you before we left but those guards were on my ass and I couldn't. But I wanted to tell you something. Maybe this isn't a good time to talk to you about this but I want you to know that when you ran towards that stage, I've never been so proud of you. I've always known you were beautiful and talented. But after what you did I finally understood your true morals. You clearly saw the wrong things that happened and you did your best to stop it. As a father, I can't ask for more. My little girl has become a strong and wonderful lady. After seeing that I now know that you can take care of yourself and I true that you can change the fucked up things in our world. I'm so so proud of you.

Appa loves you so much!

I kept re-reading Appa's text.How was it that Appa always knew what to say? I kind of wanted someone to rearrange the stars so they spelled out his words. I needed them big and bright, and somewhere I could see them when things felt dark.

It's been 6 days since what happened to Sohyun and I finally was a bit more put together and decided to go to the Ladies room for a while. When I walked in the girls seemed surprised. Yoojung came up to me, she knew how close I was to Sohyun and she had been trying her best to make sure I was okay.

"Miss Jae-Hwa?" I turned and saw the queen.

I bowed and she waved me over. I was kind of scared as I thought about my behavior last week. I'd never intended to offend her and was suddenly afraid I'd done just that. I felt the eyes of the other girls on me. The queen usually spoke to us as a group, rarely one on one.

"Yes, Your Majesty." I bowed as I approached her.

"Please sit," She kindly pushed an empty chair closer to me.

"You put up quite a fight last week," she commented.

I swallowed. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"You were very close to her?"

"Yes, she was my best friend." Queen Jeon sighed.

"A lady should not behave in such a way. You are very lucky that most of the cameras and people were focused on the action that they missed your action. But still, you should never lash out like that."

It wasn't the order of a queen. It was a reminder of a mother. That made it a thousand times worse. It was like she felt responsible for me, and I'd let her down. I bowed my head. For the first time, I truly felt bad about how I reacted. She reached over and rested her hand on my hand. I looked up to her face, shocked by the casual touch.

"But I'm glad you did it. In fact, I'm proud of you." She smiled at me. "The way you behaved was not okay, for a princess. But since you are just Kim Jae-Hwa, a 2. You did the right thing." She patted my hand lightly.

This was exactly what I needed.

Motherly affection.

"I don't know what to do. I can't handle this." I felt how tears were trying to fall but I didn't let them.

"There's not much I can do to help you unsee the things that had happened. But I do want you to know that I will help you with whatever I can."

She lightly touched my cheeks.

"As for Jungkook, go easy on him." I looked at her shocked, she was smiling. "I know my son didn't want to do that. It's hurting him just as much as it's hurting you. But one thing that is hurting him more, is you."

Did she know?

"Your Majesty," She held my hand again.

"Go, you should talk with the other girls." I nodded and stood up.