SPOILT ROYALS | JAEYONG NCT

8: Unsolicited Arrivals

Despite totally not believing Jaehyun when he asked to meet him in the garden, Taeyong found himself exactly there ten minutes to the time the Prince had even asked to meet. It wasn't that he wanted to meet with him or anything, he just couldn't sleep and coming out for some fresh air seemed nice. It was totally not because he missed how Jaehyun's hands felt on his when they were practicing and wished to do it again, nope. Totally not.

So when it started to rain an hour into his waiting, he only sulked back into the palace because his hair got wet and he hated the cold, not because of anything other than that. He wasn't sad about being ditched or lied to, a part of him expected it since Jaehyun had suddenly switched up to his dubiously nice behaviour. Taeyong shouldn't have trusted him anyways, it had been foolish for him to do so.

"Taeyong!" a loud voice startled him as he exiting his shared room. He looked across to see Donghyuck bounding towards him - almost skipping really - with happiness, a smile so wide Taeyong was sure it must've hurt. "I was just coming to get you!"

"Aren't you supposed to be on duty?" Taeyong creased his brows, to which Donghyuck snorted.

"Why do you always ask such silly questions Tae?" He laughed and grabbed unto Taeyong's hands, shaking them up and down with unmatched excitement. "Guess who just arrived?"

Taeyong looked at him in confusion, there were no early announcements of any arrivals or else the entire would've been in chaos from preparing and Jaehyun never mentioned anything to him about guests. When Taeyong didn't answer, Donghyuck let out an exaggerated groan.

"The Seos! Crown Prince and Princess Seo! They just arrived, unannounced!" Donghyuck wagged Taeyong's noodle arms, body visibly buzzing like it couldn't physically contain his excitement. Taeyong, on the other hand, was bewildered by the news (and kinda numb from his arms being pulled so hard).

Oh, so Jaehyun did have a reason for skipping out. He hadn't seen the man all day, not even when he went to go serve the breakfast, he must've gone to greet the guests.

"Yes, their carriage just came in and oh God, you should see them. The princess is cute and all but the prince-"

"Princess and Crown Prince Seo?" Taeyong interrupted him. He'd heard of the twins before, Naeun Seo and Johnny Seo. They had even visited the Lee kingdom on numerous occasions but he'd never got a chance to look at them since the crowd was always so large and he was always too busy at his family's shop to stay.

"Yes," Donghyuck said slowly. "That's literally what I just said." He watched with a puzzled expression as Taeyong blanched before turning to leave without warning. Donghyuck grabbed his arm, "What are you doing?"

Taeyong, admittedly, didn't know what he was doing, it was one of those times where it was body over mind, rationality gone somewhere far out of the window of his mind. "You can't just barge in there," Donghyuck said exasperatedly.

"Why not?" Tayeong replied, unthinking. Donghyuck dragged a hand down his face in exasperation.

"You can't just- listen, you've got to look busy. If Prince Jaehyun didn't call you then you're not supposed to be there." And before Taeyong could ask what he was supposed to do then, Donghyuck added in, "I'll give you one of my jobs. I was supposed to be cleaning the floors in C hall now but I suppose I'll be nice and give you the job."

Taeyong pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. This was just another one of the younger's tricks to get himself out of working again. Still, Donghyuck had a point, he couldn't just stroll in if he wasn't supposed to be there. Taeyong nodded warily and Donghyuck let go of his arm, face shining.