Seven

For the entire time, Meryll sticks like a glue to Mino. She keeps being too touchy, putting her hands around Mino's arm, putting her head on Mino’s shoulder, whispering whatever in Mino’s ear and much more. Mino on the other hand, just gives her a small smile, which didn’t even reach his eyes. His eyes are always cold and domineering. He will always look ruthless and rough. I blink my eyes, and shake my head to sweep away my thoughts. Why am I always admiring him?

As I look at Mino, I also see Meryll wipes something at the side of Mino’s lips. What the hell? Mino seems to not mind it, but eventually holds Meryll’s hand and put it away. Despite Mino’s rejection, I still feel something in me suddenly boils. I am ready to pull the girl’s arm away from Mino and throw her hard on the marbled floor if I haven’t controlled myself. I shut my eyes tightly for a few seconds before breathing out harshly. I need to get out of here first to get some fresh air. If I will not, killing some will not be impossible, and I don’t want that to happen. I will not dirty my hands for that girl and get myself killed in prison then she will have the emperor by herself. ! What the are you thinking Jinu?! Get some sense!  Random stupid scenarios are playing on my mind.

I hurriedly walk to the back door of the palace without anyone noticing, to find the garden and calm my mind. Mino seems to not mind I am missing since he was so busy with that little Meryll. Ha! Why am I even bothered? For all I care if they go ing around, they might even be kissing by now since I’m not there! ! My face is all scrunched up while I’m half running towards the small fountain at one side of the garden. This place is a bit secluded and dark, but I can still hear the music inside the palace.               

This is not good. I am very much bothered on what I saw. I am bothered by the sight of the emperor with another person other than me. I don’t even like the thought of it! I heave a sigh as I sat down at the marbled seat surrounding the fountain, slightly tilting my head sideward to look at the fountain at my back. I suddenly feel down. The excitement I had felt a while ago when Mino was being clingy vanished instantly and have been replaced by an upset feeling in my stomach to my chest. This is only Meryll, and she is not even that relevant in the novel. She is not that important but the ill feeling I have towards her is so strong, just because Mino is paying attention to her. What if I will be meeting already with the main female lead for Mino? For the emperor? What if I will already see Orlaine Rossana being happy together with Mino?

My eyes suddenly felt hot for I have to inhale a huge amount of air to stop the unshed emotions flow out. My chest feels heavy. No, no. I shouldn’t feel this way. It’s only been a small time with him, why do I need to feel this so early towards him? Why should I even feel this way when I shouldn’t at the first place. I cleared my thought and let my fingers touch the water in the fountain. I may have this feelings, but I should not let it consume me. I have a reason why I am here. This is all for me to live, for me to have a decent and peaceful life, even just in this world. My life back outside the novel is not that good… and miserable. Atleast I want my life here to be happy and contented. I need to get the emperor’s trust. Even if I will not get his heart…. his trust is more than enough.

“What could be this beautiful boy be doing here without his fiancé? Embracing the world of loneliness?” I suddenly snap my head to where the voice came from. I see Seunghoon standing in the dark while crossing his arms. The lights from the palace slightly illuminate his face, looking majestic under the moonlight. What can we expect from Mino’s friends? He raises his eyebrow as he watches me. He may have notice me taking my time in checking him out. Well it’s dark so I hope not. His playful smirk is showing a bit and it annoys the out of me. I glide my tongue in my inner teeth to avoid myself from gritting it. I don’t like his playfulness. It feels like he can read what’s on my mind that even I can’t even fathom. His smirk feels so evil. “Just wanted to have fresh air for a bit.” I can’t even hide the slight irritation in my voice. I heard him laugh like he is so amused with something. He starts to walk towards me and when he’s already in front of me, he squatted a bit so our faces will be leveled. “Not because your jealous?” then he smirks again.

I scoffed at what he said. I don’t know if I’m too transparent or what but I still don’t like the way he said it. The air around him is something asking for a punch and I am very much willing to give him. He is Mino’s bestfriend but our personalities just didn’t match with each other. It’s like we’re two people who don’t want to lose with each other. He sits next to me as he put his arms around my shoulders, still chuckling. Patience Jinu, if you punch this guy, your life will be cut short this instant. He is still a royalty.

“You know, as much as I want to taste you pretty boy, I don’t want to touch what is for Mino. I just want to tell you that you don’t have to be jealous with that little brat.” He laughed a bit before lowering his head to whisper near my head, “Damn! I have never seen that man being so possessive of anyone. Not even towards his parents.”  He looks at me, “Just to you.” “Just to someone who suddenly appears out of nowhere.” Then he chucked again. This time I didn’t even care about Seunghoon’s laugh. His words resonate around my head. For some reason, my chest feels like thousands of people are running inside it. It’s heavy with its own beating and I suddenly felt scared for a good reason. I felt happy. And now I don’t know if I can still survive.

“So be careful. Because you’ve associated yourself with a very dangerous man.” Seunghoon said as I look at him and he looks up the sky.

Author's message: Hi, I know I have stopped updating this story for such a long time. It's been almost a year. I am really sorry for leaving all of you guys hanging on that duration. I want to give my readers a good and a well written story, but I know it's a bad thing to just stop updating all of a sudden. If there are some of you who waited and  are still waiting for this story, Thank you! Thank you thank you so much! Your presence really motivates me. I know this time is not easy for everyone, especially this pandemic. I hope you are coping well with life, I hope no one have been infected with the covid-19, and if possible, I hope no one from around you have got it. If some is silently battling with covid-19 now, I hope you get well very soon. And for everyone, I hope that better days will come again for all of us.