𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲•𝐣𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

one

UNTIL NOW, at the rightful age of 25, jisoo is still having trouble paying his taxes and such. plus, the death of bellezia's heir is also confusing him—is paying taxes postponed since the scion is dead?

jisoo is a confused kid. a confused teenager. and now, he's evolved into a confused adult whose parents left him all alone in this world to figure out on his own. well, jisoo would prefer figuring everything out on his own too, but he'd like some mentoring.

jisoo doesn't even remember how much his rent is. he always brought less or more amount of money when it's rent-paying-day, and he always had to fiddle with bills of money every time. dirty money.

(not that he's a germophobe, but money is still dirty.)

"yah! hong jisoo," a drunk junhui barges in jisoo's room uninvited. jisoo purposely went inside his room and provided his living room for his drunk friends to hangout in, junhui should really realize that. "you should loosen up, y'know? it's a saturday, you shoul—"

"don't throw up!"

jisoo left the comfort of his bed to push junhui outside, successfully making it in time despite jisoo's hard time dragging the taller and heavier man outside his bedroom and into the bathroom. he just had to interrupt my inner monologue.

while junhui puked his guts out on the toilet seat, jisoo kindly rubbed the drunk man's back to soothe him a little while he thinks of taxes.
something along the lines of, do i even have enough money left in my bank account for a meal in a fastfood restaurant? and such.

luckily, jisoo did not spend a single penny for this 'little' drinking session with(really? with? jisoo never gulped one shot down for him to be comsidered an active participant of the drinking session) his friends. if jisoo spends money for liquor instead of something good like banana milk, he'd lose his cool and get arrested for not paying taxes.

jisoo was, sadly, broke. there were no offers or projects for him at the moment, or anything. hopefully, jisoo gets a job before he sells all his cameras, lighting equipment and before he unsubscribes to the pro version of his photo and video editing apps. if he does get a job but after he sells all his equipment and editing apps, he'd end up not being able to do the job.

what is a freelance photographer/videographer without their camera and editing apps? a normal, broke, jobless human being who will soon get arrested for not paying taxes and who also will get evicted from his apartment.

"jisoo, can you like... drive us home?" soonyoung enters the stinky bathroom, retching when he smells vomit. "we're...yeah, haha, far too drunk, y'know...."

"i'm still pretty sober," says hansol, who was playing the ps4 with his game console upside down.

jisoo shrugged, tapping junhui's shoulder a little harshly. the taller's head shot up immidiately with an offended face. dubiously cute, jisoo thought—although his good friend right here helped his other friends turn his living room into a drinking pub and almost threw up in his bedroom.

"okay, sure." jisoo shrugged once again, finding his habit of doing such a non-commital gesture most of the time annoying. "but you guys carry junhui down to the parking lot."

1:54 am. jisoo should really be asleep by now.

jisoo had a healthy sleeping schedule, and he would not like for it to get messed up. his friends were just such a pain in the ass. yeah, they were great company and stuff, but still! who would like to drive through an empty and scary fricking highway all alone with the radio playing some sexual shit? not hong jisoo. not anyone who's sane.

ugh, right! jisoo has to clean up the mussy bottles of liquor and cans of beer back at his place. plus, it smells like vomit in there! hansol also did not turn the ps4 off! ah god!

jisoo steps on the gas, cautious of the traffic lights—or what if a person or an animal suddenly shows up on his way? he doesn't want to be a murderer today! or get a ticket! both are unequally bad and jisoo doesn't want any more problems. ugh.

okay, hear out the reasoning of broke man, in case you want to be his lawyer when he actually gets an offense or a murder case: the chances of running over a person at this hour is incredibly high, but with jisoo's heightened senses, he can—

"what the—?!"

jisoo cusses under his breath, steering the wheel bluntly to the left just so he could avoid his upcoming murder case. jisoo cringes at the sound of his tires screeching, vision getting spinny as his (too expensive)car went in circles. fuck, no murder case, but jisoo almost got deleted from existence!

huffing angrily, jisoo steps out of his car and trudges to the long-haired fella who previously stood on the middle of the road. jisoo noticed that he was holding his thumb out—what, was he hitchhiking? WHILE STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?!

this guy is inexperienced. plus, what the heck is he wearing? a wedding suit stained with wine or red paint or something red? is he straight out of a ducking stageplay or something? is that long, messy black hair a wig just for this guy to look the 'inexperienced rich runaway groom trying to get a ride out of the city' part?

well, jisoo must say, this guy totally nailed it.

"what were you doing? are you crazy? if i didn't see you a second later, you would've given me a murder case! and oh, you lose your life too—!" jisoo grunts, his blue hair bouncing as he spat out rants. the long haired guy in a white tux flips his hair away from his face, meanwhile.

"i'm sorry. i was not very educated about the peculiar and efficient ways that commoners use to fix temporary inconviniences." the long haired guy says, impressing jisoo with his rich vocabulary. jisoo furrows his eyebrows, suspicious.

is he a prince? jisoo squints, trying to recognize the long haired guy in the white tux. perhaps this guy may just be incredibly rich to not know how to hitchhike, or he's stupid. no. even if he eerily looks like the deceased heir of bellezia, jisoo refuses to believe that the prince's ghost has chosen jisoo to haunt for life and scar him using his.... scary dead face or whatever.

but...

"hey, are you a cosplayer or something? why are you out here in the middle of the night?" jisoo asks, crossing his arms and eyeing the bulge on his jean pocket. i can use my keys as a weapon, just in case he's an axe murderer or something. "you don't hitchhike like that. you will get hit. you should only stand on the side of the road and hold out your thumb."

the long-haired-guy-in-a-white-tux-who-looks-similar-to-the-dead-heir-of-bellezia bursted in laughter, yet he was still composed and classy. you know what jisoo means? like a prince. "i'm terribly sorry, i have no excuse for my illiteracy when it comes to commoner things. well, since you're here..."

jisoo raises an eyebrow. jisoo changes the murderer percentage of this long-haired guy from 10% to 50%. okay, maybe a little too much because he looks more of a ghost than a murderer. it's not often when murderers show up in front of your speeding car in a white tux, bleeding and seemingly injured. but, sickos don't all look the same, do they?

"can you give me a ride to a... certain address? i will provide the directions. i am truly sorry for what happened earlier. i also would very much like to drop the pleasantries now, since i am in such a hurry. if it's not a pain to you..?" the long haired guy hopefully asked, using his charming smile to 'con' jisoo.

jisoo sighs.

he hated having a kind heart, sometimes. "fine. but just to be sure, can you confirm your identity? and if you're a human?"

the long-haired guy chortles at jisoo's last question—but hey! better be safe than sorry— before he answered both of his inquiries.

"i am yoon jeonghan, previous heir of bellezia, first-born of queen hanseok and sire yoon joonhyun. that's all i can say." the long-haired guy—yoon jeonghan, the prince, apparently—smiled once again which made jisoo feel like he was being bewitched.

"but, like," jisoo's uncertainty could be heard lacing with his usual honey-smooth voice. "aren't you supposed to be dead?"