Dear Friend

♕ ♚

For nearly a month, Minseok spent every day buried in papers, or training. His days became so repetitive, that at one point he felt as if he was reliving the same one over and over again.

“My prince, this is the data from the last week from the High Gardens,” Kyungsoo spoke, placing a pile of documents in front of Minseok.

“Why are you doing this to me, my friend?” the elder whined, almost falling from his chair, “I’m gonna die in here!”

“That’s what happens when you neglect your work for years,” the younger man stated, rising an eyebrow, “nevertheless…”

“Huh? What is it?”

Kyungsoo sat down in front of the prince, and leant back in the soft chair, “I am speaking now as a friend, Min, not as a royal official –“

“You’re not even a real official, yet, Soo,” the other laughed.

“Beside the point. Anyway, as I said, I’m speaking now as a friend, keep that in mind, please.”

“Okay, you’re sounding terrible, what happened?” the prince, asked, getting anxious.

“You tell me, Min. What the hell has actually happened?”

“I don’t think I’m following—“

“One day you fight with the whole system for your right to leave this place, and the moment you come back from the city you’re suddenly up for anything the governors want to put you in,” he pointed, looking at his friend with agony in his eyes, “what the hell happened down there, Minseok?” Kyungsoo pleaded.

The prince sighed, looking defeated.

“No one actually questioned my motives, you know,” the prince spoke softly, “no one really cared. That’s why I kinda gave up. Mum promised that this whole thing would only be to buy us… me, more time, but I’m not sure about it. They’re all just happy that they’ll get rid of me…”

“How can you say that?!”

“That’s what I’ve heard, Soo,” he chocked, “ ‘Let’s face it, our prince is a sorry excuse for a king,’ they said. ‘If we leave the situation as it is, we can never see the day he’ll bring a real king to the throne,’” Kyungsoo gasped, but the prince continued, “ ‘he’s not the one to rule, but to be ruled.’”

Minseok let the words hang between them for some time, before he continued.

“That’s what they say about me behind my back. When they think no one hears. That’s one of the reasons I’m doing all this… I won’t let them take the throne away from me. It belongs to my family, my blood.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Kyungsoo mumbled, “don’t you trust me anymore?”

“Of course, I trust you. You’re my friend. The only friend I have here, Soo. I just… I guess I didn’t want to bother you. I feel like I’ve been a burden to everyone for too long…”

“Stupid you! How can you be a king one day when you’re so stupid!” Kyungsoo raised his voice, and the prince blinked, “that’s what friends are for, Minmin! To carry each other’s burdens! You’re a prince of one of the greatest kingdoms!” the boy pointed, and his expression softened, “you cannot carry all the burdens on your own, my prince, you’ll break.”

Minseok’s eyes watered, and even though he hated crying, especially in front of Kyungsoo, the exhaustion of all the expectations thrown his way overwhelmed him.

“Thank you, my friend,” he smiled at Kyungsoo, and the younger smiled back.

“It’s always been the two of us against the world, remember?” the boy winked.

Minseok laughed, “although I hate it all,” the prince sighed, looking around at all the papers, “I would never give it up for anything else, you know?”

“Why?”

“Where ever would I find another you?”

Kyungsoo laughed as well, “you’re so cheesy, Minseok!”

“What can I do about it?” the prince shrugged, smiling widely.

“But I guess you’re right, there’s no other one like me out there.”

They spent a few moments in silence, munching on a blueberry pie that rested on the corner of the table.

“I love your pies,” Kyungsoo confessed, and the prince chuckled. “I hope you’ll never stop making them. Even when you’re a king.”

“Remember what I promised you, when we were younger?”

“You promised me a lot of things, many of which I am still waiting for!”

Minseok rolled his eyes, “beside the point,” he mimicked his friend, to which Kyungsoo stuck his tongue out. “I mean the pact we made after my mother took the crown.”

“That night when they told you you’d be the next one to wear it,” Kyungsoo nodded his head, “I remember that. You promised to grant me one wish of whatever sort if I never leave your side.”

“I did. So, if you want me to bake blueberry pies forever, just say a word!”

“Oh my dearest, Minseok! Seriously?! I thought we were going somewhere deeper with this!” he yelled, hitting the prince in the arm.

The elder just burst out laughing, trying to dodge the attacks. His little friend always amazed him, especially in situations like this. Because, how the hell was Kyungsoo, with his short hands, able to reach to him over the long and heave desk?

“You still haven’t told me everything, right?” Kyungsoo asked once he calmed down, now sipping on his tea.

The prince only sighed, biting his bottom lip.

“Should I ask, or do you want to keep it to yourself for now?”

“I don’t know, to be honest.”

“Okay. I will be here if you feel like talking,” the younger smiled, and the prince returned it.

They both went back to work, with Kyungsoo patiently explaining to Minseok everything there was to know about governing.

♕ ♚

A few hours later, when the sun was setting, there was a knock at the door, and the king stepped in.

“Son,” he spoke, closing the door, “it’s time for your evening training.”

“Oh,” Minseok sighed, getting up, “I’m on my way.”

“Hello, Kyungsoo,” the king greeted the boy, smiling at him softly, “how are you?”

“Your majesty,” the boy bowed, and then smiled back, “I’m good, thank you. Yourself?”

The king laughed, letting his son pass through the door, “never been better.”

“Soo, can you walk with me?” the prince asked, looking at his friend.

“Of course.”

“I will see you at dinner, Minseok.”

“Of course, father,” the prince nodded, and went in the direction of his chambers, to change.

“Is everything alright?”

“Can you meet me after dinner in the gardens? By the roses?”

“Sure, I’ll be there.”

“Thank you,” Minseok smiled, relieved, and waving goodbyes to his friend, went to his chambers.

♕ ♚

“Minseok!”

Once he entered the training fields, he heard a cheerful voice of his instructor.

“Hello, Jongin,” he smiled at the boy in the gear.

“Are you ready, my prince?”

“I hope so,” the prince mumbled, grabbing a long stick that Jongin already held in his direction.

“Then let’s begin.”

That evening wasn’t Minseok’s best training session. In fact, it was one of his worst. He ended up on the floor, beaten, every fifteen minutes.

“What is wrong?” Jongin asked, helping the prince up.

“Nothing,” Minseok groaned, noticing a bruise growing on his arm.

“There certainly is something. You’re not yourself tonight.”

“I’m just tired, I suppose.”

“Well, that’s not an excuse. If instead of holding a stick right now, I was holding a knife, and instead of being in here, a safe place, we’d be in the forests, would you use your exhaustion as an excuse and ask me to walk away and come back another day?”

“What?” Minseok mumbled, as with every word spoken by Jongin memories of the night from a month ago surfaced from the back of his mind. “Of- of course not,” he mumbled.

“Use whatever is bothering you as your driving force, Minseok. Clear your mind.”

“I… I can’t,” the prince sighed, feeling defeated, “this whole thing doesn’t even make sense,” he looked at the weapon he was holding in hand, “I’m not good enough…OUCH!” he screamed suddenly, falling to the ground, “why would you do that?” he yelled at Jongin, feeling an intensive pain in the back of his knee.

“You were talking bull, Minseok, so I cut it short. This is not a place to take pity upon yourself. Just grab your stick, and fight,” Jongin dared him, his eyes shining.

“Here comes another life lesson,” the prince thought to himself, as he tightened his grip on the stick.

“No one is gonna pity you, Minseok,” Jongin said, as he was attacking the prince, “no one is gonna feel sorry for you. No one cares. No one will care, not only because you’re a prince!”

Minseok started sweating, and his anger was building up in him.

“Stop it.”

“You gotta learn how to take care of yourself! No one else will! Especially with your burden! How do you want to be able to lead a nation, if you cannot cope with your own demons?”

The prince was breathing heavily, trying to avoid the other’s hits.

“Life is not a fairytale, Minseok!”

“Shut up, Jongin.”

“Let it out, Minseok, let it out here and pull yourself together! You’re to be a king!”

The prince bit his bottom lip, as his thoughts started crushing against each other in his mind.

“Why are you doing all of this? What are you trying to prove?”

“That I am good enough,” he mumbled, looking Jongin in the eyes, “this is my job, and my burden to carry, and no one will take it away from me!” he raised his voice, turned the stick in his arms and hit Jongin in the ribs.

The younger let out a whine, as he stumbled a little.

“Good,” he nodded, looking at the fuming posture of his prince in front of him. “This is how you do it, my prince. You visual your thoughts, your insecurities, and you battle them. In the end, all this pain,” he mentioned at Minseok’s bruised arms, “becomes liberating.”

The prince was breathing heavily, nodding at the younger’s words.

“I think we can end for tonight. I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully, better rested,” the boy winked at the prince, and turned around to leave.

It took Minseok a minute to calm down, and clear him head. Even though Jongin had left, Minseok took up the wooden stick and spent another hour training by himself.

Maybe Jongin was right. Maybe pain was liberating.

♕ ♚

“What took you so long?”

It was the first question his mother asked, as he stepped into the dinning room, late.

“I was training,” he replied calmly, sitting down.

“I saw Jongin leave over an hour ago,” she continued.

“Yoona,” the king spoke, but the woman silenced him.

“We finished an hour ago, yes, but I stayed by myself to practice some more,” the prince explained, slowly eating what was in front of him.

He could feel a burning stare of his mother on him, but decided not to give in.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, anymore,” she said, and Minseok almost chocked.

“What?”

“Your trainings. I think you know enough. There is no need to hurt yourself any more.”

“Hurt?!”

“Look at yourself. You’re a walking bruise. Your arms, your neck, probably back and legs as well. This is not what a prince of your sort should look like—“

“And what am I supposed to look like, then?!” he asked, on the verge of losing his temper.

“Perfect,” said the queen, and something inside of Minseok broke. As if someone burst a bubble.

“Yoona,” the king said again, this time with more authority in his voice.

But the queen never backed away, keeping a steady gaze on her son.

“It’s not like you’ll have to go and wage wars,” she stated, “there is no need for you to train any more. Instead, you should focus more on your governing skills. That is –“

“Stop it,” Minseok said, and stood up, “stop telling me what to do, mother. I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what any of you thinks! Haven’t you put me in enough chains already?! You will not make me into one of your porcelain figures! I will not let you, you understand! You wanted to me to play fair. You gave me something, so I should have given back. And I did! Haven’t you gotten enough of me?! You will not get any more!”

The prince only turned around and left the room, furious and angry at his mother, and everyone in the world.

♕ ♚

“Min?” the prince heard Kyungsoo’s soft voice, as he was staring into the black sea ahead of him.

“I’m here,” he replied, moving to the side to make some room for his friend.

“Here, I brought you something to eat,” he placed a box between them, and when Minseok gave him a confused stare, he smiled sadly, “your father told me you stormed out from dinner. I figured you probably hadn’t eaten much.”

Minseok smiled softly at his best friend, “thank you.”

“Wanna tell me what happened?”

“Mother, as always,” the prince shrugged, looking back in front of him.

“Can you elaborate on this?”

“She wanted me to stop training. Said I had too many bruises. That I was not “perfect” anymore…”

“Your mother is a very peculiar person,” Kyungsoo hummed.

“No matter how hard I try, it’s just never enough for them. For anyone. I agreed to marriage, I’ve been focusing on my work, I’ve been attending weekly meetings with the ones that despise me the most in here, I’ve been going to the hearings, I studied all the data they wanted me to, even the documents from fifty years ago, which I am sure they all did only to torture me,” the prince let out, sighing heavily at the end, “and yet, this is not good enough. It’ll never be.”

“I don’t think this is your mother’s point, you know…”

“I think it is. She wants me to be someone I will never be. She wants me to drown in the paper work, in the system, so that I would forget about all this,” he mentioned at the view spreading in front of him, “she wants to trap me inside.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

The prince sighed, “I have no idea. I am running out of them…”

“And the ball thing?”

“That’s a two way plan…”

“What do you mean?”

“It can either go right, and buy me time, or go completely wrong and I’ll end up being married within the first week…”

“This sounds super creepy and scary.”

“It gives me nightmares, to be honest.”

After a few moments of silence, Kyungsoo just sighed as well, “you’re so screwed, Minseok.”

The prince looked over at him, an expression of utter shock written on his face, “wow, Kyungsoo, you sure know how to make people feel better!”

“A man does what he gotta do,” the younger shrugged, smiling a bit.

“I guess.”

“Alright, that’s it!” the young boy said, sitting more comfortably, his legs crossed on the bench, his body turned towards the prince, “spill.”

“This gotta stay between us, you understand?”

“Of course,” the younger shrugged.

“I mean it, Kyungsoo,” Minseok looked at him, like he hardly ever does—with his royal supremacy.

Kyungsoo swallowed, shivering, “what have you done, Minseok?” he whispered.

The prince look towards the sea, and sighed, “I met someone.”

*ekhem* hope you enjoyed!

Leave your thoughts in the comment section down below! *ekhem* that would be very much appreciated *ekhem* 

Is there anything in particular you guys would like to see happening in this story? I have a few places left to fill with ideas--so if you like this story, and would like to see anything happening, that has not yet happened, let me know!

Kisses,

xbadbloodx