impending [adjective]

an impending event or situation, especially an unpleasant one, is going to happen very soon

She had a sense of impending disaster.

impending changes in government legislation

 

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"Your majesty, Prince Eunhyuk will be ending lessons soon." Changmin reported.

 

"The prince studies in a public school?" A look of disbelief on the emperor's face.

 

"Yes your majesty, the prince and Lady Nana had left the palace with a new identity. Prince Eunhyuk is now called Hyukjae and Lady Nana is now known as Lady Jin ah. Most people around here do not know of their real backgrounds, including the prince himself."

 

Donghae who was gazing around as the advisor spoke snapped his head towards Changmin at the last line, eyes wide opened and mouth agape.

 

"Lady Nana, also known as Lady Jin ah, kept it from him." Changmin explained.

 

The emperor thought for a while and then gave an understanding nod before turning away. He kicked some random rock on the floor, trying to kill time as they waited for the oblivious Prince Eunhyuk or Hyukjae to appear.

 

They were at a spot at the corner of the street, trying not to attract too much attention which was obviously failing as they had two horses along with them. The two had left the palace about an hour prior and travelled all the way to this slightly secluded part of the country. Donghae had yet again been made to give a death sentence to an innocent life yesterday and was rewarded with today being free. Instead of his usual hunting trips, Donghae had decided to leave with Changmin so that he can have a chance to see for himself how is the supposed emperor of the kingdom currently living like.

 

A few minutes later, groups of teenagers clad in simple, cotton robes emerged for the doors of the school, chatting away loudly. The emperor started to squint, trying to guess which one of them is Prince Eunhyuk while Changmin only stood behind him as he spoke his head slightly at the emperor.

 

"Don't tell me where, I want to guess." The determined yet dumb emperor told Changmin.

 

Changmin made an action that resembled that of smacking the emperor's head from behind, though he did not actually hit him.

 

"I am afraid I can't, your majesty. If I let you guess then Prince Eunhyuk might have already left." The advisor replied politely, contrary to his actual thoughts.

 

Donghae turned around to face the advisor, wanting to give him a glare but was cut off as Changmin pointed out that the one they had been waiting for had finally appeared.

 

"He's there, the one in the red robe, with the girl in pink robe."

 

Upon hearing that, the emperor turned and caught sight of the one that was suppose to be the emperor now instead of him.

 

There was Hyukjae, chatting away happily with Minah beside him about the things that they have learnt in school that day. In his hands were a small bundle, which Donghae presumed as books, wrapped in a plain black silk cloth. Both of them were dressed in robes that looked like they were made of silk and of slightly brighter colours as compared to the other students. Though he was not dressed like how someone of the royals should be, he did look like he belonged in a higher class compared to the rest. Also, Donghae noted that the girl did not look that bad either in terms of being richer than the rest.

 

As if able to read the emperor's thoughts, Changmin started, "The girl beside Prince Eunhyuk is Jung Minah, his neighbour. She is the daughter of Jung Yunho and his wife from the middle class."

 

"How old are they?"

 

"Both of them are the same age as you, your majesty. Just a few months older."

 

Donghae turned back to look at Prince Eunhyuk and saw that he was looking in their direction.

 

"Don't look over, just talk. Continue talking."

 

Changmin tried looking over but was stopped by the emperor, "I said don't look over! He is looking in our direction now."

 

"Don't we look even more suspicious now?" The advisor retorted.

 

"No, and don't look over yet, I can still feel his gaze." The emperor instructed.

 

"What if we lose him while we are doing this?" Changmin asked and look over immediately only to see the boy yelling for someone to be careful.

 

He looked behind him at where the boy was pointing to and managed to dodge a group of people who were running towards him. Unfortunately for the emperor who was still in his own world, he did not manage to dodge them and ended up on the floor while the group of people fled immediately.

 

Prince Eunhyuk, upon seeing this scene, rushed over towards them with Minah trailing behind.

 

"Oh my god, are you alright, sir?" The Prince asked while stretching out a hand.

 

'Oh my god'... Definitely not brought up as a royal, Donghae thought as he stretched out a hand to grab the one before him so that he could get up but wince immediately upon contact with the other's hand. The emperor retracted his hand and flipped it over only to see the skin of his palm scraped.

 

The prince went to help Donghae up by his one of his arms wordlessly as Changmin did the same with the other arm.

 

"Are you alright, your-" Changmin asked but was cut short as Donghae shook his head at him.

 

"I'm alright."

 

"Are you sure? You should get it treated first before it becomes worse. Hyukjae, is there anywhere to get him treated?" Minah voiced out.

 

"You can come over to my house, we don't have professional treatment but we have what is needed for a scrape like this. Oh, and we are very gentle too, no pain." This words seemed like a joke to Donghae but the sincerity in his eyes made Donghae think otherwise.

 

The emperor gave the suggestion a thought and agreed, completely ignoring the look of disbelief on his advisor's face. The Prince and Minah soon turned around and led the way while the other two followed.

 

"Why did you agree to it?" Changmin asked as he omitted the curse words and harsh tone from what he originally wanted to say.

 

"Now we don't have to watch them secretly and don't have to worry about getting caught anymore."

 

"Lady Nana knows me." Changmin said as he desperately tried to control his tone.

 

"Nevermind, it will work out." Donghae brushed the problem off as if it was nothing and walked faster, catching up with the two in front.

 

"You are reckless like always." The advisor mumbled after letting out a sigh.

 

Donghae walked in between the two, leaving Changmin alone trailing behind them.

 

"How old are you?" The Prince asked.

 

"I'm fifteen, you?"

 

"We are all of the same age. You don't look fifteen though..." Hyukjae said as he got softer towards the end.

 

An awkward silence filled the air. Donghae tried to steal a few glance at the Prince but he did not as he felt someone staring at him instead. He thinks it is either the Prince or Minah so he just kept looking straight while trying to act normal.

 

The rest of the walk back was in silence.

 

∞

 

Upon reaching the Prince's house, he called out to his mother but to realise she was not in.

 

"Your mother went out to get some groceries, she will be back soon. Oh, I see you two brought friends." Minah's mother informed him.

 

"Well, we should go to my house instead then." Minah suggested as he pulled Donghae over by the wrist. "Umma, he fell just now and we brought him back so that he could get his palm treated."

 

Minah's mother took a look at Donghae's palm and went to take the necessary items before helping him while the others just sat around. Donghae winced as she applied alcohol to his wound. Upon seeing that, she started talking to him to distract him of the pain a little.

 

"Are you related to Changmin?" Minah's mother started.

 

Donghae opened his mouth to answer but Changmin had answered for him before he could, saying he was his friend.

 

"What is your name then, dear?"

 

Again, Donghae did not get to answer but this time it was because someone had called for the Prince. Looking over, the Prince realised it was his mother and called back.

 

A questioning look appeared on her face as she saw Changmin and an unfamiliar face with her son and neighbours.

 

Changmin stood up and said in a firm voice, "Can I have a talk with you, Jin ah. Yunho too."

 

She nodded and walked back to her house while Minah's mother quickly finished up the cleaning of Donghae's wound and bandaging it before leaving to get Yunho, leaving Donghae with the other two.

 

"Is that your horse?" Minah asked as she pointed to the two horses at the side.

 

"The brown one is mine, why?"

 

"How is it like to ride a horse? I have never rode one before." The curious Minah asked again.

 

"Well, when the horse is just walking, it's like seating on a really tall chair where you can see things from a much higher view. When the horse is running, it's like bouncing on a tall, hard chair. Sometimes, your may hurt if you have been on the horse for a long period of time. I really like the feeling of riding a horse as it runs around a big patch of grassland though, if you don't think about the pain." Donghae shared as the ends of his lips drew up slightly.

 

"It seems fun." The Prince muttered unknowingly as he is still in the midst of imaging how it would feel like riding a horse.

 

"Do you want to try? I can't let the horse run around here but a walk around the house is fine." The Emperor suggested and was immediately met with a pair sparkly, single lid eyes. Then, he saw Minah waving her hands around and pointing to herself, puppy eyes at its fullest.

 

"Ok, you too."

 

The three walked over to the two horses and Donghae went to the mane of the brown horse before helping the Prince on.

 

∞

 

The three adults have gathered in the room and was watching the three oblivious kids from the window.

 

"So, what did you wanted to tell us? Is it about that boy? Who is he?" Jin ah asked, tone seemingly light yet was able to give an impression of someone to not mess around with.

 

Changmin nodded before saying in a smaller voice, "He is Lee Donghae, the current emperor."

 

"You mean Jiyeon's son? What do you think you are doing?! Wait, are you on Jiyeon's side now?!" Yunho shouted at Changmin as he drew his sword at the last line.

 

"I am not, and he means no harm! He is not on Jiyeon's side either!"

 

"How do you know? He is her son." Jin ah asked.

 

"Lord Chu Yong never spent a single night with her! Don't you find his birth strange?!" Changmin retorted, unable to keep his volume down anymore.

 

"Are you trying to say that that guy is the result of an affair Jiyeon had?" Yunho asked, shocked by the thought.

 

"No! Jiyeon faked her pregnancy! Donghae is an innocent baby separated from his mother since young!" 

 

"How can do you know about this?" Jin ah asked, an eyebrow raised in doubt.

 

"He told me..." Changmin trailed off.

 

"And you believed him?! Are you serious, I guess I overestimated you." Yunho said as he shook his head in disbelief.

 

"You should have seen how he was when he told me, he was crying so badly. He had always been used as a puppet by Jiyeon, killing so many innocent lifes for her."

 

"You believe him?" Jin ah questioned yet again.

 

"I believe my own judgement."

 

"Well then, how did he know about his birth, I doubt Jiyeon told him." Jin ah asked.

 

"Song Qian told him, she was her caretaker since birth and she was found dead the next morning after she told him."

 

Jin ah turned her back against the two and watched the kids from the window again, "Did you bring any guards with you today?"

 

"No, because Donghae wanted to reduce the chances of Jiyeon knowing about you and Hyukjae as much as possible." Changmin replied, heaving a sigh of relief as the talk about Donghae finally came than end.

 

"Really? I saw someone that looked like Jaejoong on my way back just now. Is he still a small soldier or did I miss out a lot in the past fifteen years?"

 

Jin ah got no answer from Changmin and turned around only to see him dashing out towards Donghae. The two looked at him, confused about what happened before going after him.

 

∞

 

The advisor went straight to Donghae and pulled him away from the other two kids. They just looked at them confusedly before continuing their conversation.

 

"Jaejoong is here!" The advisor reported.

 

Donghae's eyes widen in shock and said in a pitch slightly higher than usual, "I have to bring them back to the palace!"

 

Jin ah who happened to hear that immediately denied, there was no way she will let them bring Hyukjae back to the palace, especially Donghae.

 

"Can we talk? Privately."

 

∞

 

"You have to let me bring both of you back to the palace, it is no longer safe here!" Donghae exclaimed, hoping that the lady will heed his request.

 

"No, and that is final. I brought him out of the palace fifteen years ago for a reason. And... I don't trust you. You may just be acting this whole time so that Jiyeon could get us killed." Jin ah said in a flat tone.

 

"You don't have to trust me, the decision is up to you. You can choose to go back to the palace with me where there will be many guards around to protect the both of you or to stay here where Jaejoong already know of. Of course I can place some guards here if you want. The decision is up the you."

 

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A/N: Done! I am not sure if I will be able to update next week because I will be out every single day. I'll try but not promises. Hope you all enjoy this chapter where eunhae finally met!!! Thank you for all the comments, subscriptions and upvotes!!