𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲•𝐣𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐧

fifteen

AFTER BREAKFAST, the king headed to the gardens. jisoo was allowed to 'stalk'(mingyu corrected it as 'observe' but jisoo keeps on using the former word) jeonghan, so here he is, hiding behind the sliding door. no, he's not being a coward(understandable, mingyu says), he's waiting for the perfect moment to butt in.

when jisoo sees jeonghan heading to the garden maze, he tells mingyu to stay behind and trust jisoo. it was weird that mingyu wanted to come so bad though, it's like the king was dangerous.

oh, no, jisoo thought, shaking his head as he thought of mingyu's distorted face of shock while he walks to the garden maze. he's scared that i will mess up. of course. jisoo is a walking time bomb that starts its countdown off when jeonghan is around.

again, jisoo must say: wrongly worded.

"y-your majesty!" jisoo stretches out a hand, as if he will grasp the king's coat with the distance between them. luckily, the king was not feeling rude today, so he stops for jisoo to catch up. "thank you."

"very well. good morning, jisoo-ssi." jeonghan says, offering jisoo a small smile. he looks at the latter up and down, as if he was criticising jisoo's fashion—but mingyu was the one who styled him that way. if jeonghan hates mingyu as jisoo's stylist, the photographer will start wearing his own, comfortable clothes. "you look like you could be a part of the royal family."

oh. jisoo did not know if that was bad or not. no criticism from jeonghan, but he will continue wearing tight ass clothes and there is a possibility that the king would make another wedding joke about them that would send jisoo choking in the next second.

"perhaps... you would be fitting for the role of a pretty little gentlemanly prince. or better, a handsome spouse. may i take your hand in marriage?"

there it is. jisoo coughs aggressively, averting his gaze somewhere else so jeonghan doesn't get to see his rather embarrassing reaction. jeonghan doesn't seem to care, though. stifling a laugh, jeonghan walks past jisoo.

"i...." jisoo starts, striding to keep up with the king's pace. walking beside jeonghan, jisoo mirrors the former's posture in fear that he looks even more sleazy if he walks like a normal person.

alright. straight body, shoulders relaxed, chin on 45°, hands behind back. jisoo's toned chest was too visible under the stretched fabric of the dress shirt, while his fitted navy blue vest makes an annoying opening to showcase his chest better.

"you...?" jeonghan asks.

"i have pictures of your feet. i will sell it online if you don't stop with your plan."

and then, jeonghan laughs hysterically. jisoo found it funny too; but hey! it could work, you know? would you want your feet being sold online for millions? isn't that weird, and illegal? but oh well. anything for peace. (and money.)

jisoo observes jeonghan's gamut of expressions. he doesn't notice how rapturous he looks when he observes the king, but he sure is aware that he is overwhelmed. it's amusing to see different expressions on a pretty face.

"that could work, hong jisoo-ssi. but you'd be in jail after i cancel my plan. no money." jeonghan replies simply, making a sharp left. jisoo frantically stepped backwards in fear of colliding with the king—which jeonghan chuckled at. "you're wonderful. i like your ideas."

"my idea is to stop whatever you're planning and keep the peace between two countries."

"you're wonderful. i like most of your ideas."

it was jisoo's turn to laugh, exposing his rotten sense of humor that has stooped so low through the years. maybe it became like that after watching bad sitcoms on netflix. should jisoo cancel his subscription? hey! he'd save money and his sense of humor is saved. it's a win-win!

"what about, if i beg on my knees, in front of a lot of people? lots of rumours will come out then." jisoo suggests, narrowing his eyes as he expects a good reaction.

"i don't want that. your reputation will be stained. the people you will ever date on dating sites would immediately scroll past your profile because o—" bravely, jisoo cuts the king off.

"please leave my love life out of this. please," jisoo says, making jeonghan laugh. ugh! he truly became a laughing stock after all! he should've read the contract twice! the lee princes are scammers!

"i'll be busy tomorrow afternoon, and i probably won't be back for another day or so. i'm going to the northeast kingdom, the kingdom of hainya. the due date is extended to monday since it would be unfair for you." the king smiles, tilting his head to the right. "do you agree with me, hong jisoo-ssi?"

jeonghan thankfully avoided jisoo's love life. jisoo could care less about anything now.

"alright. i agree." jisoo nods once, eliciting a smile on jeonghan's lips. once again: jisoo was mesmerised by the king's one-in-a-million smile. he pities the people who see it only on tv, and not in real life. you could feel the positivity radiating off of him.

sorry to break it to you though, this optimistic and smiley person is going to start a war; he's going to involve other innocent people for his vengeance.

"hong jisoo-ssi... will you hate me, if i continue on with the war?" jeonghan says, and to that, jisoo furrowed his eyebrows. the question was not exactly out of the blue, but it was... a little out of context.

"maybe i will. i don't want to lose my friends and family."

"hmm.... very well." jeonghan turns around, leaving the confused latter behind, in the middle of the garden maze. "see you at dinner, hong jisoo-ssi."

"wait! does this mean that you're going to stop the war!" jisoo asks, and he immediately shook his head at his question. i'm irrelevant, why would he care about my opinion? "wait! answer me!"

to no avail, jisoo sits on the grass. he does not do anything about the alarming sight of jeonghan swerve to the right, and out of jisoo's view. "at least tell me the way out, you bastard."

jisoo hopes that there are no microphones in the cctv cameras.