stosuh for the soul

eight: petrichor

A/N: I'M SORRY THIS MIGHT BE FACTUALLY INCORRECT I TRIED MY BEST 😔

Stephen's exhausted. It's his birthday, sure, but he doesn't feel happy. In fact, he just feels a little annoyed.

Despite how many times he asked his mother if he could just have a quiet celebration, his mother had ignored him and basically threw the biggest birthday possible.

And everything had to be perfect.

You could say she did do a good job at it, considering the decor and all, but it was physically tiring to be around her.

Plus, the most annoying thing was she had taken him to meet over twenty young maidens not over the age of twenty five years, age fluctuating between nineteen and twenty four, no older than twenty five.

Stephen had no interest in girls.

Mrs Ng clucked in disapproval as Stephen disappeared into the crowd.

When his mother's attention was off him, (finally) he took the opportunity to take a detour to the garden.

He catches sight of the tall hedge of roses once he descended from the numerous flights of stairs, his favorite plant out of the whole garden, it's sweet scent filling the air and pale pink blossoms the only thing he can see, as he makes a beeline for the blooms.

Hosuh, prince of the neighboring country, whose parents had somehow been roped in for Stephen's birthday and were inside the hall, chatting with all the other royalty.

Hosuh just observes. Observes Stephen picking a few of the roses, and carefully placing them together, careful not to stab himself.

He hides himself in the adjacent hedge of camellias, the floor littered in their dark pink petals.

Then Stephen turns and catches sight of him, the pretty boy hiding behind the sea of camellia, silver mixing with dark pink.

The prettiest gentle blue meet violet.

At this moment, Stephen doesn't see him as royalty. He sees this boy as a normal person.

"What's a beauty like you doing here? What's your name?" he remarks, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"W-what? Oh, Hosuh. I won't tell your mom, by the way, if that's what you're so worried about," he says, awkwardly smiling.

"Thanks. I don't think I would appreciate my mom's way too overprotective side." he says grimly.

Hosuh laughs lightly, replies with "Same, tell me about it."

But before Stephen can tell him about her, he hears a shout from clearly, his mother.

"Stephen, what are you doing in the garden? Come back in, your clothes are going to get dirty and you're going to fall sick!"

An annoyed groan escapes his throat, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

"Ugh, I'd better go, my mom's calling. See you back here tomorrow when you can?"

"Sure, I will."

Stephen picks the largest camellia with the least thorns and pins it in Hosuh's hair, stepping back a bit to admire him.

"You look good."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah.

Then another bark.

" Stephen Ng, you better get back to your room now!"

"Oh well, see you, I guess."