chapter.22  »  the meeting itself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Y- Yes?”  I turned around from scrubbing, soap bubbles and water snaking down the window.

 

Jonghyun was standing there, grinning broadly.  I furrrowed my eyebrows briefly, turning back to the window.  He tapped me on the shoulder again, making me turn around quickly.  I supposed my face showed annoyance since Jonghyun jumped back slightly.

 

He stammered, “I- I was just... I- I'm sorry, it's just that...  I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, I just thought—”

 

“I- It's okay.”  I waved my hand away at him, some of the bubbles on my hand flying off of it.  “It's fine.  What do you need?”

 

Jonghyun regained his composture, standing taller and more firm now.  “Well... I was wondering, you know, if you were free—”

 

“She's not free, she's expensive!”  Seungpyo yelled from across the café.

 

A couple of customers that overheard him chuckled.  Seungpyo was elbowed by Mara in the rib, mumbling a ‘shut up’ under her breath.  Then, she turned to Jonghyun and me, flashing a reassuring smile that ushered for Jonghyun to go on.

 

Jonghyun chuckled nervously.  “I didn't know I was that audible.”

 

“Or it's probably just because Seungpyo's good at eavesdropping.”

 

“Y- Yeah.  Yeah, maybe.”

 

We both let out nervous laughter, looking at the ground.  Jonghyun placed his hands in his pocket, his eyes on the ground.  I gave the sponge in my hand a squeeze, letting soapy water soak the floor.  The awkwardness was hard to bear.

 

“Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “I was wondering, if you had the time, you know... maybe we could... hang out some time?”

 

My eyes got a bit wider as if Jonghyun's words were very peculiar.  Which, in that certain case, they were.

 

 

 

It was as if the safe world I had created inside my head that resembled Preriloth came crumbling down to the ground.  The once strong kingdom became dust, blown away by the howling of the wind.  Blown away by Kemwen.

 

I looked down at my palms.  They were sweaty, but also ice cold, with patches of light pink and white here and there.  I had been gripping my hands too much.  I looked down at my clothing.  I felt worthless; I didn't deserve to wear the kingdom that hailed me as prince, especially since I wasn't there with the king and the queen to lead them.

 

I was not a prince, sitting on the sofa, plastered down and all senses blocked by my thoughts.

 

Then it hit me, like an archer would hit an apple sitting atop a head of a target.

 

Several days ago, the witchess had visited me once more.  It was the second time she had come, and I could remember the mood I was in that very day; the memory of the mess I made in Soojin's room was still fresh on my mind at that time.  The witchess had talked to me, and said, “A good thing to do, Prince, is to start thinking about yourself”.  Start thinking about myself... start thinking about myself...

 

She also said that there was not only one lesson I can learn.

 

Was one of the lessons I can learn include... starting to think about myself first?

 

And recurrently, after her first visit, the words she said kept ringing in my head:  “And none of this is my fault, Prince Jinki.  This is all yours, for not being able to act like a real prince”.

 

I couldn't act like a real prince, let alone a man was the thought that kept dancing in my head after I had ruined Soojin's room.

 

Everything was like a puzzle at that certain second.  Pieces were being pieced together slowly, gradually, and I suddenly had an idea—

 

THUMP.

 

My jaw dropped.

 

The witchess was laying silently on the floor, unconscious.

 

And I was still a human.

 

 

 

“I- I mean, we can always go together as friends.  You know.  Nothing more,” Jonghyun said all this very fast.

 

As if I was asking the public for an answer, my eyes hovered over to Seungpyo and Mara.  I had expected Mara to be jumping around and raising both of her thumbs up in the air, and Seungpyo to be standing there looking grim and shaking his head.  I was correct.

 

“But it's fine if you can't—”

 

I chuckled at Seungpyo and Mara under my breath.  “When and where?”

 

“—there's always another time— W- What?”

 

“When and where are we going to meet?”  I added.

 

Jonghyun blinked really quickly.  His words came out in stutters.  “I- I was thinking tomorrow, you know, since it's Saturday and all.  And we can always meet here, around ten in the morning, maybe.”

 

I furrowed my eyebrows.  “Sweet Swirls is closed on weekends.”

 

“Oh, I know.  I just thought we could meet here first, then go... wherever.  I- It's a surprise.”  Jonghyun said, and I had a clue he had planned everything out before he even asked me.

 

“Alright then.”  I nodded.  “Tomorrow at ten, I'll be here.”

 

Jonghyun grinned lopsidedly, sniggering nervously.  “Alright then.  I'll be waiting.  S- See you.”

 

He started backing away.  Unfortunately, an empty chair behind him went unnoticed and he bumped into it.  He slightly winced, but tried to keep a straight face to wave goodbye at me.  Then, after a couple more avoiding chairs and customers, he was out of the café.  I could see him jumping as he walked farther away.

 

 

 

I let out a small, bellowed scream.  Quickly I rushed to the witchess and tapped her cheeks, muttering, “Don't be dead, don't be dead, don't be dead!”.  I looked around and stood up, glancing out of the window.  No one outside seemed to have noticed.

 

Taking advantage of the quietness, I picked up the witchess bridal style and brought her to the couch I was sitting on.  After I had placed a pillow under her head for support, I ran to the kitchen to go get a glass of water.

 

It was hard to admit, but I was panicking.  I had never felt so much adrenaline in my own life, except for when I was running away from the guards I annoyed back at the castle.  I rushed to Soojin's room and went through her closet, trying to find a towel while making sure everything I took out was put back just as neatly as I had found them.  I found one and went to the kitchen to damp it with water.

 

I honestly had no idea what I was doing.

 

After I had gotten the towel damp with water, I placed it in a bowl and settled it next to the glass of water on the coffee table.  There was a piece of cardboard lying around so I picked it up and started fanning the witchess.  She's not even a human, how is this going to work, I thought to myself as I continued fanning her.

 

“Oh, Arddun's beard,” I muttered under my breath.  I could get in trouble for calling out Preriloth's Founder by his last name and his beard, but I could careless.

 

I carefully removed the pillow from under the witchess's head and had her laying down with her back flat on the couch.  I picked up two more pillows and piled them at the other end of the couch, setting her feet on top of the pillow file.  She was still breathing (I checked her pulse), so I kept on fanning her with the cardboard and hoping for the best.

 

It was the afternoon, and Soojin would be coming home any time soon.

 

Talk about bad luck.

 

 

 

“She's got a date!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“She's got a date!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“SHE'S GOT A DAAAAATE!”  Seungpyo and Mara were performing their new piece in front of me after they had turned the ‘OPEN’ sign into ‘CLOSE’.  “YEAH!”

 

I folded my arms in front of my chest and shook my head at them, slightly laughing.  “You guys are hopeless.”

 

“Oh, do not change the subject!”  Seungpyo pointed at me with his index finger.  He returned to using his mop both as a microphone and a guitar.

 

Mara hopped beside me.  “So, where are you two going, hm?  Tomorrow, right?  At ten?”

 

“We heard everything,” Seungpyo said, now completely done with his performance.

 

“Everything?”  I asked, my eyebrows raised.

 

“Everything,” said Seungpyo.

 

“When you'll be going—”  Mara piped.

 

“—Where you'll be meeting—”  Seungpyo added.

 

“Okay, guys, that's creepy.  You sound like twins.”  I waved my hands at them.  The clock on the wall ticked loudly, and I became aware of the time.  “Oh my goodness!  Guys, I have to leave!  I still have to feed my pet!”

 

Mara and Seungpyo were waving and yelling goodbye at me as I ran out of Sweet Swirls after raiding my locker of my stuff.  I ran all the way home, jaywalking on accident and having to avoid cars on the road and other people on the sidewalk.

 

The house was only a couple of meters away when I saw a man get out of my house carrying a woman.

 

 

 

Is that—  Soojin...  Goodness, thank goodness the witchess wasn't heavy.

 

But Soojin wasn't heavy either.  Not even three seconds, in my opinion, she arrived at the gate of her house.

 

“W- Who are you?!”  She huffed.

 

I looked at the house, the witchess, then to Soojin.  “I- I'm... I'm—”

 

“I- I'm going to call the police!”  She raised an index finger up in the air, her other hand placed on her knee as she breathed out.  “Right now!”

 

My eyes got bigger as she pulled out her, what was that, oh!  Phone!  “No!  No, please, don't!  I wasn't doing anything—”

 

“Then why are you getting out of my house?!  You broke in, didn't you?!  Oh, you're really going to get it!”  She growled under her breath.  I had no idea what ‘police’ meant, but I've never seen Soojin exhausted and angry at the same time.  “And you'll be arrested for kidnapping, too!  Oh, that poor lady in your arms—”

 

“I did not kidnap her!  She's— She's just—”

 

Her phone was ringing, I could hear it even when she was standing about three meters from me.

 

“Who is she then?!  So you can get charged for one thing less,” she glared at me.

 

I wobbled at my spot and walked further towards her.  “She's my mother!”

 

“Bad liar.  She looks too young to be your mother!  And what would you and your mother be doing at my house?!”  She screamed back at me.  Some onlookers were really looking on at us.

 

“That doesn't matter right now, she just fainted!”

 

“Fainted?”  She gasped, her voice full of concern.

 

Soojin pressed a button on her phone and it beeped, and the phone stopped ringing.  She ran towards me and looked all over at the witchess, her eyes glinting with care.  Her brows furrowed a little, then told me that she was going to go get water then ran inside the house quickly.

 

 

 

White dress...  Where had I seen a white dress like that before...

 

I shook my head quickly.  There was no time to think about it right now.  I could careless completely about a white dress, but the lady had fainted.  Taking risks wasn't part of anything; who knew why she fainted?

 

I came back to the man by the door, squinting up at him.  “What are you wearing?”  His odd clothing had just registered in my brain for the first time; it looked like he just came back from a royal party or something.

 

“I...”  He trailed.  There was something about those eyes I could recognize...

 

“Never mind.  Here.”  I handed him two bottled waters, two chocolate candy bars, and a towel (which had me wondering where that other towel in a cereal bowl on the coffee table came from).  “Give her water right after she wakes up, and a little bit of chocolate.  Make sure she has an open space all for her.  You do know where you're going to bring her, right?”

 

He looked out on the street.  It was starting to get darker.  “S- Sure.  I know where to go.”

 

“Alright.  Be careful, okay?”  I said.

 

He nodded at me and proceeded out of the house and at the gate.  The lampposts were now lit, the yellow glow reaching the ground.  He looked around and walked straight slowly across the street.  The only people out of their homes were him and me since I was watching him walk away.  It was a good thing he said his mother fainted, or else he would have been sitting at the police station by now.

 

I turned around, feeling odd.

 

Prince was nowhere in sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

dun, dun, duuuuuuuuuuuuun!  mwahahahah, cliffhanger, everyone, as if that's new.  heheh, did you guys like it?  i like it very much!  sorry i didn't update yesterday, i just thought it'd be better to update today, you know, and yeah.  heheheh.  thank you for the positive comments!  i love it guys!  and welcome new subbies!  thank you all for reading!  -hearts-  cheers!

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