♕

 

“And you told me to hurry up.” Princess Doyeon glares at her brother, Prince Mingyu, who had just came out of the royal car service, arriving late prior to their flight to Jeju.

 

The two youngest member of the House Kim were of Jeju, but are studying in Seoul. Their father had originally wanted all of his children to study abroad, but Prince Jongin didn’t want his siblings to have the same homesickness that he had experience, so he had offered to live and study abroad all his life until he finishes so his siblings could stay in Seoul at least. They’d fly back to Jeju every day; after all, it is just an hour away by air.

 

The prince had probably forgotten about the time, as he seemed so unprepared. He had his shirts ed, was wearing mismatched socks and had his hair dripping wet, which is probably because he had a football practice and had just gotten out of the showers. After seeing how his younger sister judged his appearance, Mingyu purposely ruffled his hair in front of her, causing her to get a little wet. To get her revenge, Doyeon kicks her brother in his stomach, and while he was groaning in pain, she took it as a chance to strangle him using her arms.

 

Eunuch Byun had been watching from a far, and despite him already getting used to the sight, he had an uncomfortable smile when he approached them. The two young royals didn’t even notice him standing behind them and he had to clear his throat for them to stop fighting, “Prince Mingyu, Princess Doyeon.”

 

Both of them stop, and in union, they say, “Oh, what is Eunuch Byun doing here?” The servant just bows and then smiles at them.

 

“Prince Jongin wanted me to accompany you back to Jeju. He has just landed and is looking forward to see you.”

 

“Wow, he really still think of us as little kids.” Doyeon says, amused. She finally releases her brother from his grip.

 

“That hurt.” He groans, rubbing his neck and looked at her afterwards, “You know, you really should stop doing Taekwando. You’re getting stronger every day and you’re always using me as a punching bag.”

 

“That’s why I’m doing it. So I can have a reason to hurt you.”

 

Baekhyun clears his throat once again. “Prince Jongin is looking forward to see you.”

 

“We know, you’ve said that already, Eunuch Byun.” Princess Doyeon laughs and casually links her arm with him and Mingyu. It startled him, though he shouldn’t have. The princess is known to be the darling of the crown. She was the most outgoing of the siblings, the most approachable out of all royals. She then pulls the two boys towards the airport’s entrance, but not before Eunuch Byun stopped to get the princess’ bag as she had forgotten about it.

 

 

“Did the company hire more guards?” Soojung suddenly asks.

 

As the van that she is currently riding in passes by the Han River, the actress was suddenly reminded by the scene in the airport upon seeing some policemen from the other side of the bridge. It’s almost normal for her to have a really difficult time on airports due to the fact that she has only three bodyguards when she goes out of the plane, sometimes even less. But that day was somewhat different. Apart from the security that helped her, she also saw lots of policemen outside the airport.

 

Qian and Amber, another staff of the actress who also developed quite the friendship with her, exchanged looks. They never really heard of anything related to the guards, so they were a bit shaken up by her random question.

 

“Oh, the prince of Jeju landed in Incheon a few minutes before you, if that answers to your question.” Amber says, which made Qian gasp.

 

“He was there and you didn’t even tell me?!”

 

Of course it wasn’t her bosses doing, Soojung had thought. Despite her being one of the highest paid actresses in the industry, Core Entertainment, also known as the company that she was signed with, still treats her as if she’s just a rookie. Every day she has this urge of wanting to file a lawsuit, but she also doesn’t want her name to be tarnished.

 

“What for? You’ll see him on the film festival anyways.”

 

“Still, Amber! It would have been cool if Soojung had met him before the festival. Imagine the media frenzy if they upload a selfie together!” Despite being only a few years older than the actress, Qian was almost like a mother to Soojung. She’s just a manager to her, but cares deeply about her, that including her career. They’ve been together since her early days, but she was certain that Soojung has never met someone as important as the prince of Jeju.

 

“I thought you’d want to see him for himself.” Amber glances at her fellow Chinese in disbelief before looking back to the road.

 

“I mean, it’d be cool to have a selfie with a prince, but I’m more excited for Soojung.” Qian giggles. “Aren’t you excited as well, Soojungie?” She then turns to the backseat, only to find her with her eyes closed, already sleeping. Amber also notices this after glancing at the rear view.

 

The two girls aren’t surprise by the sight. Soojung was the type to suddenly fall asleep because of her busy schedule, so instead of trying to wake her up, Qian lowers the volume of the radio.

 

 

It turns out that the people of Jeju had prepared a special welcome for their prince, which made Jongin content. Apart from the cheering music that he heard as soon as he stepped out, adults, elders, teenagers, children - different people from different walks of life came to Jeju’s airport just to see him and he felt like he had never left the country due to their warm welcome. There was even a young girl who approached him, giving a colourful flower crown that he wore while waving and smiling to everyone.

 

However, even though he loved greeting his countrymen, he only had a few minutes to spare. He had somewhere else to go on his first day in Jeju, the place he had requested to go first when he arrives – the tomb of his parents.

 

Jongin was six when he finally got a sister, something that the little prince had been wishing for after having a brother. But the royal family didn’t have a festive as you would expect them for them to do. The Queen, the royal siblings’ mother, died shortly after giving birth to Princess Doyeon. Never once was the princess blamed because of it unlike what you see on dramas. The princess was a split version of her mother, despite her young age and Jongin adored her with all his heart much like his brother Mingyu. It was also the time when little Jongin hasn’t completely understood the concept of death and he won’t able to experience someone close to him dying not after two years.

 

He was eight years old when he became king. Well, not a crowned king at least. When the news of his father, King Jonghyuk, getting involved in a car accident came out, it was the Crown Prince Jongin who was informed first. When he did, the young prince broke down into tears, knowing that he might lose his father, much like how he lost his mother whom he missed dearly. But the unexpected happened, and King Jonghyuk passed away just two years after his wife did.

 

When he left Korea to study abroad, following the former King’s wishes, Jongin vowed that he’ll come back stronger and more mature – which is what he was at the moment he had showed himself up at his parents’ graves.

 

Before doing anything else, the prince bows deeply before them, as if they were watching him, which is what he likes to believe. He then places the bouquet of flowers on their names, wiping some dirt off their tombstones.

 

“Hello father. Hello mother.” He greets them, and even if he had wanted to be serious, he chuckles. He had wanted to say and do that for such a long time, and here he finally was. “I hope you missed seeing my face, because I’ll be visiting you every day from this day onwards.”

 

The wind blows harder, causing his hair to get slightly ruined. “Ah, I know. I have to cut my hair.” He tells them, fixing his fringe. “I’ll get a haircut before the film festival – and no, it’s not because of Miss Soojung, okay?”

 

Jongin also believes that his parents know about his little crush on the actress. When he was still in boarding school, he used to sneak up late to watch her dramas and his lamp would usually flicker and he took this as a sign from his parents, telling him to sleep already.

 

“In all seriousness, I… just want to tell you… that I really miss you guys.” He smiles. For whatever reason, he felt warmer and he hopes it was because his mother was hugging him. “I’m going to make you proud, I promise you.”

 

“Your highness.” A voice speaks, startling him as he had been thinking that he was speaking to his parents. He turns around to see a servant bowing before him. “The king wishes to see you.”

 

 

If there’s something Junmyeon was known for, it was his kindness. The prince is very calm, no matter in whatever situation he is in. They say that they’ve never seen him mad, and that he was always smiling, which is why most people often confuse him as the real crown prince.

 

“His royal highness, Prince Ju-”

 

But that day was one of those rare moments when Junmyeon was seen frowning and was in a bad mood. He didn’t let the servant finish his name and just enters his brother’s chamber after he was informed that the he had slept with a woman last night while he was out with his dumb friends. Outraged, Junmyeon pulls the duvet, revealing a messy haired sleeping Jongdae, who groans after suddenly feeling cold due to the exposure.

 

“How dare you?” was the first thing the older Kim spats.

 

“Good morning to you, brother.” Jongdae mumbles as he tried to get his sheets back, but Junmyeon had pulled it even further, earning another groan from his sibling. “Can’t you just let me sleep in peace?”

 

“After what you did last night, no.”

 

This time, Jongdae finally opens his eyes. After hearing what his brother has just said, he fights the urge to laugh but couldn’t help but to chuckle anyways. “What did I do, dear brother?” He asks innocently.

 

“Oh, you bloody hell know what you did last night! There is no need to repeat it.” Junmyeon hisses at the unamused Jongdae. “I swear, if you get caught, I won’t-”

 

“So what if I get caught by the press, or by the people? As if they’ve always cared about me anyways.”

 

“You’re still a prince, for God’s sake! You’re a public figure!”

 

“And I’m also a man. And a man has his needs, hyung.” Jongdae argues.

 

“I don’t want you to become like father!” The older Kim unintentionally spats, causing an awkward atmosphere between the two brothers. Jongdae, not wanting to speak to his brother even more now, turns the other side to attempt to go back to sleep.

 

It was an unspoken rule between the two princes to not talk about their father’s unlikely ways of being a prince back when he was younger. King Junyoung was never a model prince on the eyes of his parents, the former King and Queen, and to the people actually, which is why the second born Prince Jonghyuk was always the prefered one, much especially when the young prince got a woman pregnant which was how Junmyeon came to life. To think that incident didn’t even stop there. A year later, Junmyeon becomes a big brother, after Jongdae was born.

 

The then Prince Junyoung was not married when he became father twice, so you couldn’t really call Junmyeon and Jongdae bastards. Still, when they were young, the two brothers received discrimination from the nation, and even from their very own staff despite being royals themselves. It wasn’t until their uncle died and when their father had to step in for their 8-year old cousin when they finally felt like the princes that they truly were.

 

Despite all that, the two brothers still don’t like talking about their father’s past.

 

Feeling guilty of suddenly mentioning it, Junmyeon firmly holds his brother’s shoulder before mumbling a soft apology. “Come on, get up.”

 

“You’re really not going to let me sleep for five more minutes, are you?”

 

“I don’t think you’d appreciate it if I invited Jongin here, would you?”

 

 

Ah, the throne room. One of Prince Jongin’s many playgrounds.

 

Literally.

 

When he was younger, the boy was very, very clingy towards his parents and would often throw a huge fit if he was separated from them, which eventually led him to be allowed to be in the throne room, even if his parents had important guests. He was very much spoiled when he was still an only child and the only heir.

 

It was there when he run along with the maidens following him behind. It was there where he used to play his toy cars leaning in one of the marble pillars. It was there when he squeezed past her parents bodyguards just so he could sit on her mother’s lap while they were being greeted by the ambassador of Japan. He had done such stupid things when he was younger. Jongin couldn’t help but to crack a smile while reminiscing.

 

But one of the earliest memories that he’ll never forget was when his father would used to let him sit on his throne.

 

“Someday, you’ll sit on this formally, my little prince. You’ll have the world in your hands. You’ll rule better that I did.” The former King would tell him, ruffling his son’s hair, who has yet to understand the consequences of being on that throne. Either way, the young boy seemed excited as he smiled back at his father, reaching slowly for his crown until his mother walks in and scolds her husband for goofing around.

 

His throne was still there, years after his death. Except that it wasn’t his father sitting on it.

 

It was his uncle.

 

“Ah, Jongin! My dear nephew.” King Junyoung beams from his seat. “Welcome home!”

 

“Uncle! It has been so long!” Jongin exclaims in happiness, stopping just before the steps.

 

An awkward silence followed and surrounded the gigantic room, with both of the royals expecting that the other would bow – with Junyoung, being the current King, was waiting for his nephew to kneel so he could finally stand, and Jongin, being the rightful King, was waiting for his uncle to bow so he could finally move.

 

Fortunately, Junmyeon finally arrives, with Jongdae following his back.

 

“Cousin Jongin!” He excitedly walks faster than usual towards him, almost forgetting to bow, but eventually doing it.

 

“Ah, at least somebody here knows how to bow.” Jongin jokes while Junmyeon laughs nervously, as he had not known what he meant, nor what happened before he arrived there. His cousin then finally hugs him, just like what Junmyeon originally wanted to do.

 

Then there’s a poker faced Jongdae, who immediately changed his expression before he received his own hug from Jongin. King Junyoung eventually gave up, and finally went down his throne to greet his nephew, hugging him just like how he had done to his cousins, and while doing so, Jongdae couldn’t help but wondering and worrying about the future.

 

How will Jeju manage with two kings?

 

a/n: i don't know why,,, but i really like to imagine jongdae as a bad boy...... he's like an angel and is so soft all the time, so i wonder, how would he be like as a jerk?