Royal Temptations

Bonus Chapter 17

It's been an idea I've been tossing around for awhile. The question had always been which one of them would fall first. And honestly this seemed like such a natural thing. Like, duh, of course DaeHyun would fall in love.

Speaking of love I see everyone likes this idea.

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DaeHyun's POV

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"Knock knock kiddo." I sat up in bed, sliding to the edge, tilting my head to the side. A very familiar face cracked the door open. "Can I come in bub?" Hyeja asked.

"Auntie Hyeja?" I asked as she shoved the door open and made her way inside. She sat beside me on the bed. "What are you doing here?" I asked after a particularly long stretch of silence. She seemed to contemplate the question, picking at a thread on my bedspread. I was suddenly aware I hadn't cleaned in a couple days, and embarrassment tinted my cheeks pink. But she didn't seem to even notice.

"You know your dad and pa are worried about you, right?" she finally asked me, turning to face me. "They called me to talk to you. Figured maybe you would be comfortable talking to someone who isn't your parent." I dipped my head and gazed at the floor, nudging a pair of pants away with my socked foot. Maybe... But I still loathed the idea of sharing my secret with anyone who wasn't my little sister. I knew I could trust the adults in my life. That was never the problem.

My relationship with Hyeja was...strange. Dad never made it any secret that he and Hyeja were the reason I was around. I'd known since I was small that I'd been in her belly at one point. As I got older she told me she did it because she and dad dated before dad and pa got together, and she was willing to help however she could. She was always around when I was growing up, watching over us just like dad and pa did. She loved me and ChaoXing both. She was also an outlier for a lot of my bottled up feelings, because while she did care about me, she wasn't my parent. She was a motherly figure in my life, sure. So sometimes she would get the big dump of feelings, especially if it was a subject that I didn't want to bring up with dad.

"A woman's touch," dad would often say to me after conversations like this. "Sometimes it's necessary. Your Papa and I aren't mind readers." Which was definitely a good thing because some of my thoughts... Well, let's just say I wouldn't be leaving the palace any time soon.

"Auntie Hyeja?" I began hesitantly. She hummed in response, her hand covering mine on the bed. "What if I...like someone in China? Someone who I shouldn't be with in the long run because they aren't royalty?" She seemed a bit taken aback by the question, but I forged on, knowing if I stopped I'd crumble. "But I really, really like this person. So much. But I know that I shouldn't, because when I eventually take over from dad, I need to have a partner that's at least somewhat royalty so we can continue on the bloodline. Even Pa was royalty when dad was growing up. But I don't like someone like that. I like..." Now I did stop, but the damage had already been done. Hyeja sat there in silence, pondering it, frowning thoughtfully. "Stupid feelings," I mumbled, more to myself than anything. "Why can't they go away."

"Aww kiddo, don't say that," she scolded gently. "Your dad was eaten alive with that kind of mentality." I closed my eyes and flopped backwards onto the bed, letting out an exasperated sigh. "I can't tell you how you should feel," she started, massaging my stomach. "Or even how you think you should feel. But I can tell you without a doubt that your dad and pa... they aren't going to care who this person is. Your happiness has always been the most important thing to them. I don't think it's going to matter if you end up with someone who is of royal blood or not. And it's not like Korea is any stranger to gay kings." I finally looked up to her and her knowing smirk. "I assume that's part of the problem?"