67

Draw Me a Date
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Sehun knocked on Yeonhee’s door just after six in the morning and already dressed in a suit.  Somehow, he didn’t look remotely tired.

Yeonhee must have been the opposite, because the first thing he said when she let him in was, “have you even slept?”

Yeonhee shook her head.  Sehun pursed his lips for a moment and then crossed the room to sit on her bed.  Yeonhee sat beside him and wrapped herself up in her duvet.

“Are you okay?” he asked.  “I mean, obviously you’re not, but give me an honest answer why.”

“Yixing was really upset,” Yeonhee said after a moment or two.  Sehun just watched and waited for her to continue.  “I wish I’d never said all that stuff about him.  I don’t want to hurt him.  It’s awful for him.  It makes me feel awful.”

“If it bothered him that much, he wouldn’t stick around and you know that,” Sehun pointed out.

He was right.  Yeonhee bit her lip.  Sehun went quiet again, waiting for her to say something else.

Yeonhee really didn’t want to go on.  It was like poking an open wound with a dirty stick.

“Taehyung. . .” she began.

“Is a complete and utter d*ck,” Sehun finished.  Yeonhee almost smiled.

“But the stuff he was saying. . . What if he’s right?”

Sehun looked absolutely speechless.  He stared at her for a couple of moments, jaw working as if he wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

“What if is the only thing I’m good for?” Yeonhee went on miserably.  “And he didn’t even think I was that good at it.  Just decent.”

“Yeonhee,” Sehun cut in, appalled, “of all people, don’t let Taehyung set the standard by which you judge yourself.  He was probably trying to spite you anyway.”

“But Yixing’s never even made a move in that direction.”  Yeonhee rocked backwards and forwards, her eyes filling with tears as she began to wallow.  “Am I not good enough for him?  Does he not find me attractive?  Is he—?”

“Stop,” said Sehun firmly.  “All of this is blatantly untrue.  He’s very physically affectionate with you and you’ve told me both that he’s said he’s not sleeping with anybody until he’s married them and also that he’s declined sleeping in the same bed as you in order not to tempt fate.  is not a measure of your worth.”

Yeonhee knew he was right, but it didn’t make her feel any better.  Sniffing, she wiped away the tears that had begun to fall.

“Taehyung. . .”  She gulped.  “If he thought that little of me, why did he keep me around?”

Sehun looked like he was fishing for a tactful response.

“I don’t know what hurts more,” Yeonhee rambled, feeling increasingly upset, “the fact that he saw me as something to use, or the fact that at the time I was so happy being used.”

“Initially you didn’t know.  You weren’t happy when you found out he’d been hooking up behind your back.”

“Yes, but I didn’t challenge him about it!  I let him walk all over me!  I’m such a worthless little—”  Hiccoughing, Yeonhee buried her face in her knees and let the tears burn.

Sehun shifted awkwardly beside her and started patting her back.  She heard the click of his phone as he began typing out a message of some kind.  Once he’d finished, he sat there patiently trying to comfort her for quite some time.

“Yeonhee,” he said when she’d begun to calm down, “I want to give you a challenge.  Stop defining yourself by Taehyung.  For that matter, don’t define yourself by the prince, and definitely do not define yourself by a comparison between the two.  It’s messing you up.”

Yeonhee groaned.  Sehun had an incisive mind, but it didn’t necessarily lend itself very well to comforting people, because he was much more of a problem-solver than anything else.

Sehun continued on regardless.

“One last thing,” he said, “let yourself trust the prince a little more.  I know it’s difficult when you’ve been badly hurt by somebody you trust, but you can’t have a good relationship without trust.  He trusts you.”

“But does he?” Yeonhee protested, still miserable.

Sehun pondered.  “Well, his exact words to me last night were I know her, I know her character.  I know she’s not going to do it and I have every faith she’s never going to do it.  You tell me.”

“Do what?”  Yeonhee’s voice was morose.  “It is specific.”

“We were talking about Taehyung quoting stuff you’d said two years ago and the unlikelihood of you veering off republican again or joining Antiroyo,” Sehun said, “but that’s beside the point.  It’s not like he spends his entire time begging you to keep things secret or not to tell the press about stuff.  He doesn’t even tell you to keep things from us now we know about him.  Surely that speaks to some level of confidence in you?”

“I suppose,” Yeonhee said with reluctance.

He patted her back again and got to his feet.

“I’m meeting delegates at the airport, I need to go now,” he said.  “But good luck today.  I’m sure it’ll pan out fine.”

 

Half an hour after he had gone, Jongdae knocked on the door.  Like Sehun, he didn’t look all that tired, but he didn’t seem too surprised that she was wide awake.

“You poor thing,” he said, handing her a warm paper bag.

Yeonhee opened it to find a piping hot croissant inside.  He pulled over her office chair and sat in it, facing her as she began to uncurl from her duvet nest on the bed and tucked into the food with a muffled thank you.

“We’ve currently got Taehyung booked on terrorism charges,” Jongdae told her.  “I ran chromatography tests on his fountain pen and the ink matches the ink in the message with the gift he left outside the door yesterday, which confirms he’s the anonymous note-giver.  He refused to say anything until he’d spoken to his lawyer and we’re still questioning him.  Admittedly suspected knowledge of the anonymous non-note-giver is a tenuous connection to terrorism to hold him on, but his argument is that he’s been proven to give you the nice gifts and therefore didn’t give the nasty ones.  I actually suspect he gave both.”

Yeonhee swallowed the flaky pastry in .  “Why?”

Jongdae passed her his phone.  “Take a good look at his lawyer.”

Yeonhee had to wrack her brains for a few seconds before she was sure of what she was seeing.

“He looks like that Minwoo person from the tapas bar.”

“Exactly.  He didn’t introduce himself as Minwoo, though.  He claimed to be a Park Hyungjun.”

Yeonhee nibbled at the croissant.

“From what I remember,” said Jongdae, “‘Minwoo’ said he was a lawyer, and when he and Jaebum were trying to get your contact details, ‘Minwoo’ kept out of it and they tried to channel you through Jaebum instead.  I am a hundred percent certain that Minwoo and Hyungjun are the same person or that Minwoo’s an evil twin.”

Yeonhee overshot the pastry and accidentally bit her finger.

“This is bad,” she said.

“Potentially, yes.  We don’t have anything concrete on him, so we can’t legally hold him, but he’ll stay in the detention centre with Taehyung anyway until the forty-eight hours are up.  That said, Taehyung blatantly knows about you and his highness, so the cat is out of the bag for that one.  It’s just a good thing it’s being announced today anyway – Antiroyo might try to steal the march on that but considering the prince has said on camera that he’s going to announce you today anyway, the press will want to confirm from official sources and the press conference is happening early enough for nobody to actually publish an article on speculations beforehand.  It does put your security at significantly more risk, however, since Antiroyo and ZPX have been targeting you anyway and they will try anything to shred your image and catch his royal highness as collateral.  Once the prince is awake I’ll ask him about security for your family, just in case.”

“I appreciate that,” Yeonhee said gratefully.

Jongdae nodded and fixed her in the eye.  “Speaking of waking up, you look like you’re in need of some rest.  Get some shut-eye and I’ll wake you up in an hour or so.  I don’t wish to be cruel, but people who are looking to nitpick at you, which they will because this is going to be controversial, will comment on your appearance, and if you’re yawning they’ll paint you up as having bad attitude.”

Yeonhee swallowed the last of the croissant.

“I can’t sleep,” she admitted.  “I feel awful.”

Jongdae surveyed her in silence for several long moments.

“Considering your backgrounds,” he said slowly, “I highly doubt the prince holds anything from the past against you.  He’s done some pretty stupid things in the past, but he knows better than to get into a physical fight in public and he still would have done so for the sake of your honour if I hadn’t got there first.  You don’t need to feel bad about anything.”

It didn’t allay Yeonhee’s worries completely, and it didn’t lift the humiliation she still felt from Taehyung’s comments, but it did make her feel significantly better.  She attempted a smile and lay down, wrapping the duvet around her.  Jongdae switched on the bedside lamp and then got up to turn off the main one.

“I’m going to stay here and work,” he announced.  “You can chat to me or watch me or doze off – your choice – but try to rest.  You’ll need it.”

 

Yeonhee wished Jongdae had come in at the start of the night, because she did manage to drift off to sleep and an hour hadn’t been nearly long enough.  Mihae popped in at her request to help her choose stuff to wear, and then, in typical Mihae fashion, sat Yeonhee down to do her makeup when Yeonhee started yawning.  Jongdae had nipped out to get the three of them coffee.  He declared her Definitely Presentable once she’d woken up a bit, and steered Yeonhee in the direction of the car to take them over to the administrative palace.  It wasn’t until they were off campus and in the traffic in the city that the nerves about what was going to happen hit Yeonhee, and she almost began to gibber.

Jongdae showed her cat photos in an attempt to calm her down.

Quite apart from the press and the public reaction, there was also the issue of how Yixing was going to treat her.  Yeonhee knew that in front of the cameras they’d have to pretend absolutely nothing was wrong, but in private was another matter.

The prince must have been worrying about similar things, because as they were waiting at a traffic light about five minutes from the palace, Yeonhee got a text from him.

From: Private number, 9.23

If you’re free this evening, can we go on a date?  It’s been so long since we last went out.

From: Private number, 9.24

I’m thinking a meal somewhere nice and then a stroll along the riverbank?

I always enjoyed our chats by the river.

While Yeonhee was debating her reply, trying unsuccessfully not to second-guess anything in the proposition, she received another text.

From: Private number, 9.25

Sehun said you hadn’t slept.  Are you okay?

I wish I’d punched Taehyung in the face.  Luhan would have killed me, but it would have been worth it.

From: Private number, 9.26

Also, Taehyung is not up to date on your levels of internal beauty.  Ignore him.  You should only be listening to the most recent critics on the subject and they’re all me.

And maybe Juan.

He rounded up with a massive cheesy grin emoji that wrested a laugh from Yeonhee.

To: Private number, 9.26

Thank you.  I needed that.

From: Private number, 9.26

I know ^_^ Pls dont stand me up tonite

To: Private number, 9.27

Would I?

From: Private number, 9.27

Um, Senpai

Yes you would

And before you say anything

You were asking for that

To: Private number, 9.28

Savage

From: Private number, 9.29

^_^

I’m looking forward to tonight.

Feeling distinctly reassured, Yeonhee settled back in the leather seat.  Jongdae raised an eyebrow at her and smiled, evidently sensing something had happened to boost her confidence, and went back to monitoring a long-distance feed of Taehyung’s questioning on his tablet, earphones plugged into his ears.

 

Yeonhee had never been in the administrative palace before.  She’d been near it a couple of times, largely as part of a protest, but that was it.  It was adjac

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Korekrypta
I don't currently have much internet access so I might not be able to respond to your comments until the weekend :( 30/8/17

Comments

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Mitsukiii #1
The political issues in this seemed very applicable to real life, I always did wonder if you took inspiration from an actual country/show. It's been years and I missed all of you wonderful authors.
JeMerald #2
Chapter 25: This is my nth time rereading this and after all the angsty stuff I've read, it was even clearer to me how different the feels wouldve been if Yeonhee decided to be a tsundere of the highest degree
OhSehorn
#3
It's the year 2023 and i'm to reading this fanfic, my comfort fanfic T.T i remember waiting this fic to be updated years ago. This is one of the best fanfic i've ever read.
Baembi
#4
Chapter 23: naurr yixing’s messages are so cute it’s turning me into a pile of goo >…< yeonhee’s “royal high-nice” was such a good save too hahaha
tonnettie
#5
Chapter 83: Dang! It’s still ao good! Be honest sometimes when you re-read stories it gets boring. But this is a real gem! (Stories like this results to hopeless romantic individuals)
atasiwi #6
I love the story' ^^
hetacat
#7
Chapter 83: Well, I finished it. And I was thoroughly enjoying it by the end. Thank you for writing such a brilliant story as usual Korey. I do hope you still read comments despite your disappearance. I've been a fan of your writing for so many years now and I genuinely reread TBBC and DLWL at least yearly, usually more. This story was certainly just as impressive, if not more for the sheer depth of worldbuilding. I'm kind of bummed I put off reading this for so many years, it's a shame. But it's bloody brilliant. Hope to see you back someday, your writing genius isn't something to be sniffed at!
hetacat
#8
Chapter 33: I have to admit I didn't know whether I'd like this story from you Korey! I've always been a fan of your works but the deeply political themes of this story put me off. I'm glad I finally got to reading it though. As a political philosophy graduate some conversations and statements in this story make me deeply uncomfortable but I'm really enjoying how the narrative deals with it. Kudos to you for making me uncomfortable whilst I'm still enjoying the plot! And as always, your romance is absolutely blissfully perfect. So so smooth you hardly notice it growing. I love how protective Yixing is without being over the top or overbearing, especially when compared to Taehyung. Adore it! And do I spot Daehyun from BAP? My ult <3 Thanks for writing such an amazing story as usual and I'm excited to see how the plot thickens!
Emilieee
#9
Chapter 64: HIT WITH THE REALIZATION THAT THE AFF ANNIVERSARY FRIEND IS ME ??? WOWOWMAMWMEMDN ITS BEEN SO LONG