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Ong Seongwoo hates everything at that moment, and by everything he means the too crowded subway station, the fact that he has a long ass to-do-list to be done and also his two friends slash roommates who are the root of all his problems. He is supposed to be laying on the couch, watching all the shows he had missed and probably eating a pint of ice cream on the last week of summer break, instead of circling around Seoul just because he lost a rock-paper-scissor game.
But of course life is so much harder than that, he was irritated that he has to run errands for both of his shit friends and buy them life supplies and dammit, why does Jaehwan need so many facial mask? And what does Minhyun use all these cleaning liquids for? What are they so annoying for?
“This is so stupid,” Seongwoo muttered to himself as he was a couple steps away from the subway’s tap machine when he suddenly felt a literal tap on his shoulder – Seongwoo turned his body around automatically to see who it was and the stranger startled him. And in his entire twenty-two years of his life, Seongwoo has never encountered someone so broad and tall, and handsome, Seongwoo might add, and has the fairest skin with cute crinkling eyes, in the middle of a subway station.
“Hi,” The stranger greeted as he waved his hand, his lips curled up to form a smile and his eyes beamed even more.
“Do I know you?” Seongwoo wanted to palm himself because it came out ruder than he intended to be, and the stranger immediately took a step back and bowed down a little.
“Ah, no, actually, I just, I just don’t know how to operate the ticket vending machine, and I don’t know, I guess, the other people seem more daunting and in rush to be asked? I tried to find a security guard but I found none, I’m really sorry if I disturbed your journey,” The stranger with the cute smile rambled and Seongwoo felt like a piece of shit right away – did he just ruin his first impression to a handsome stranger? He absolutely did.
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean to be rude? I can help you with that, actually,” Seongwoo quickly replied with the best friendly smile he could offer as he lead the other male to the machine. “You just, uh, insert the money and pick your destination and also whether you want it to be a round trip or not,” Seongwoo instructed as he pointed out the machine’s part – the stranger with the cute smile nodded along the way.
“Oh, cool, thanks,” The blonde-haired stranger grinned again, as he inserted a fifty thousand won bill into the machine, making Seongwoo to raise his eyebrow.
“Uh, sorry again, but which one of the station is Myeongdong?” The stranger tilted his head a bit in confusion as he faced Seongwoo – and if the guy were less adorable than he is, Seongwoo would already snap with it was right there in the middle! It’s freaking called Myeongdong!
“It’s here.” Seongwoo pressed the screen without really looking, and that just shows how much he memorizes the map.
“Oh, you seem like a regular subway user!” The stranger clapped in delight when the ticket came out after Seongwoo picked a one-way trip option, still without really looking at the screen – the remark made Seongwoo questioned himself since when riding subway almost on daily basis deserves a clap.
“And you seem like you never ride a subway before,” Seongwoo added with a small smile.
“Does it show a lot that I’m a first-timer?” The stranger knitted his eyebrow together, and Seongwoo literally gasped because he was just joking around.
“That’s explain a lot,” Seongwoo recovered hastily from his own surprise.
“Well, yeah, thanks for helping me.” The stranger smiled again, and Seongwoo is amused, again.
It took Seongwoo awhile to realize that the stranger was already walking away from him while waving at his direction, but he also soon noticed that the stranger had a hard time to figure out how to actually enter the station, and some other people were pushing him here and there and Seongwoo felt like he just abandoned a puppy in the middle of the station. “Goddammit, why does he have to be so cute.” Seongwoo sighed to himself as he walked to the stranger’s direction.
“Hey, first timer,” Seongwoo called out and the stranger looked up to his direction right away, as if the latter has expected someone to help him inside this whole subway fiasco. “I’m going to Myeongdong too, want to tag along?” Seongwoo isn’t going to Myeongdong, but hell, Jaehwan and Minhyun could wait a little longer for their foods.
Besides, Seongwoo has never seen someone lit up like the stranger did when he bounced to Seongwoo’s direction.
---
“I’m Seongwoo, by the way, Ong Seongwoo,” Seongwoo stated when they both seated themselves inside the train – thank goodness it wasn’t as crowded as the actual station. “Nice to meet you, Ong Seongwoo-ssi,” The stranger replied with a small grin before going back to silence.
“I mean it’s totally understandable if you didn’t want me to know your name, I could practically be a serial killer.” Seongwoo laughed amusingly. “Oh, right, I just, it’s Kang Daniel,” The stranger added hastily with a little chuckle, but Seongwoo could tell that he was somewhat uncomfortable saying it – is it because Seongwoo was kind of mean earlier? But he did help a stranger.
“Kang Daniel? You have the same surname as the royal family,” Seongwoo replied nonchalantly with no other intention that to just stating a fact that everyone knows but his reply managed to taken Daniel aback.
“Yeah, I do,” Daniel muttered in return.
“Are you new here, Kang Daniel-ssi?” Seongwoo decided to shift the topic just to avoid an awkward atmosphere afterward. “Yeah, you could say that.” Daniel looked up to Seongwoo with somewhat a bitter smile. “But, I spend most of my times away, I’m the youngest child and my family have some kind of rules that I obligated to follow, so I never really get to do all of these,” Daniel continued – Seongwoo didn’t expect that kind of confession in all honesty.
“I’m older than you then, maybe you should call me with hyungnim,” Seongwoo chuckled instead as he nudged Daniel’s shoulder. “And it’s good to experience all of these stuffs now, and you could always tell your family that it’s a must for young man to experience all kind of things and breaking some rules. I’m glad that you are able now,” Seongwoo reckoned.
“Yeah, absolutely, I will pass the message to them,” Daniel replied with a tight smile this time – it’s barely thirty minutes since Seongwoo met him but the older already have a list of Daniel’s types of smiles, which is kind of fucked up and well, whipped.
“Great, so, where are you going exactly?” Seongwoo asked as he saw that they are actually nearing the Myeongdong station, which Daniel replied with a silence before shaking his head slowly. “I have never been to Myeongdong, so, I have no idea, actually.” Daniel answered with a sheepish smile – up until then Seongwoo was pretty sure that at least everyone that live in Seoul have at least visited Myeongdong five times, he was not sure anymore.
“What?” Seongwoo managed to choke out despite his astonishment. “Yeah, I don’t go out a lot around here.” Daniel sighed and scratched his hair nervously. “No shit, Sherlock.” Seongwoo scoffed with an amused grin. “Sherlock as in Sherlock Holmes? Oh, I like reading him! But, what does he has to do with me not going out a lot?” Daniel raised his eyebrow with an innocent smile, and Seongwoo never wanted to slap his face so bad more than that.
They spent about ten more minutes with Seongwoo trying to explain what slang and expression are, which Daniel claimed that his teacher never mention that kind of phrase when they taught him literature. “You are not wrong, teachers don’t usually talk about that kind of literature,” Seongwoo concluded when the announcement was made that they have arrived at Myeongdong.
“You usually learn that from the Internet, I guess or friends, especially when you have shitty, stupid-witted friend.” Like Kim Jaehwan, but Seongwoo decided that a stranger doesn’t need to know that – Seongwoo guided them out from the train and entered the station again. “I would love to meet some friends like that.” Daniel smiled instead at Seongwoo and the older starting to question whether Daniel knows that he has a very nice smile.
“What about your friends?” Seongwoo asked nonchalantly, focusing on how to get to the street without losing his stranger. “I have a few, they are nice and great, but, uh, they are not like that,” Daniel replied but his attention shifted to the underground market section immediately when they went pass the hallway.
“Can we go there?” Daniel said while pointing at one of the shops. “That woman clothing store?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrow when he followed Daniel’s finger direction. “No, I mean, just around the shops, I want to see.” Daniel laughed but he tucked Seongwoo’s jacket anyway – which Seongwoo wasn’t prepare of – and pulled the older male to the shops hallway.
Seongwoo let out a chuckle when Daniel got excited about how there are so many shops and how they sell so many different things underground. The younger male legitimately looked like a child when their parents brought them to their first toy store, except Daniel is a fully-grown, twenty-one years old man, in the middle of Myeongdong’s underground.
They ended up going around the main street too, with Daniel being overly jumpy about everything, like literally every single thing he found – be it shops, clothes, the huge advertisement board with G-Dragon’s face on it, and foods, goodness, it doesn’t take Seongwoo long that Daniel is crazy about food. The older male is positive that Daniel spends a lot of won that afternoon – and speaking of won, the younger male seems like he has tons of them.
“I know street foods would literally be the best,” Daniel exclaimed in happiness and he bounced around beside Seongwoo when they entered the subway station again.
“You never have any street food in your entire life either? Man, you have a lot of thing to learn, it’s like you have been imprisoned or something.” Seongwoo chuckled – it was suppose to be a joke, but Daniel frowned nonetheless, which made Seongwoo guilty. “I mean, it’s okay, it’s better to know now than never right? What kind of food do you usually eat then?” Seongwoo tried to brighten the mood a bit, which is working because Daniel smiles again afterward.
“All kind of foods honestly, but the chefs usually –.” Seongwoo’s mind suddenly stopped paying attention to Daniel’s explanation about the French cuisine he likes a lot, and he draws a couple of conclusion inside his head instead. First thing he settles is that Daniel is rich as fuck, there is no denying that – the boy carries around fifty thousand won bills and have a family’s chef and a private teacher which Seongwoo can’t relate to any of it.
Second of all, Daniel is a runaway.
And it makes sense because he has an overly protective family – which most probably because Daniel is an heir to a big ass multi-millions company and that’s also why he never took a subway before because he probably has a dozen of driver with another dozen of luxury cars.
“Hyungnim, you are dozing off.” Daniel laughed as he nudged on Seongwoo’s arm. “Just hyung is fine you know,” Seongwoo replied instead with a small smile. “Where do you want to go next, newbie?” Seongwoo added afterward and Daniel hesitated a bit.
“Actually I was hoping I could go to your house,” Daniel answered at the end with a cheeky smile as he nervously moved his leg and swayed his arms here and there – a set of doe eyes are there too, making Daniel looked exactly like a lost puppy.
“Why would you want to go to your house? You know I can take you to your house with the subway or something.” Seongwoo kind of knew the answer already, because, you know, he has conclusions.
“It’s because I don’t want to go home, at least, not yet.” Bingo. Seongwoo is amazed by his mind sometimes.
“Why would you not want to go home?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrow, but quickly added, “Sorry, if you don’t want to tell me then it’s fine.”
Daniel looked like he was hesitating again, before he let out a sigh and frowned. “You could say that it’s true that I feel like I have been imprisoned all my life, I just want to live a little.” Daniel smiled bitterly and it finally hit Seongwoo that the man who was standing beside him, is indeed desperate enough that he let a stranger to take him home.
“I mean, I understand if you don’t want to take a stranger home or something, it’s really impolite of me to request such thing from someone who has been so kind enough to take me on a tour around Myeongdong,” Daniel blabbered hastily – Seongwoo almost couldn’t catch half the thing the latter was saying.
“Actually, it’s no problem at all, you are not a stranger, Daniel-ssi. You are a friend, I guess?” Seongwoo shrugged it off with a smile and he has never seen Daniel’s smile wider than that.
“Great, that’s great, because you are officially a friend too, hyung,”.
---
Seongwoo’s apartment is another half of an hour trip from Myengdong and during the whole ride, Daniel was telling the older male the story about how his brother and him learnt horseback riding when they were children – another thing Seongwoo can’t really relate, but Daniel looked so happy and Seongwoo is so into Daniel already that Seongwoo let Daniel to tell him the rest of the story of his luxurious hobby.
And when they finally arrived, Seongwoo almost forgot to announce to Daniel that he has two shit roommates, which Daniel only laughed and claimed that he is ecstatic to make two more new friends. “They are really loud, don’t say I didn’t warn you later on,” Seongwoo said as he unlocked the door and the first thing the heard was a loud shriek from the living room.
“I don’t know that Myeondong is four hours away now!” Jaehwan’s scream startled Daniel and Seongwoo it would happen somehow because first-timer always does that anyway, Jaehwan’s voice alone is enough to scare people away.
“Shut up, Jaehwan,” Seongwoo screamed back when he ushered Daniel inside as he locked the door behind him again.
“I had to wash the dish with body soap, so you better have a damn good reason – oh,” Minhyun ranted as he welcomed Seongwoo but stopped immediately when he saw his roommate was not alone on the doorway. “Hi, you must be Seongwoo hyung’s roommate,” Daniel said as he waved (cutely, according to Seongwoo), before he extended his hand to shake Minhyun’s. “I’m Daniel.”
“I’m Hwang Minhyun,” Minhyun replied after paused for a couple of seconds, before calling Jaehwan.
“Oh, who’s this?” Jaehwan popped out a minute later with an annoyed expression, but he changed it into a surprised one as soon as he saw Daniel. “I’m Daniel, Seongwoo hyung’s friend.” Daniel’s smiles kind of fell, when he noticed that Jaehwan obviously inspecting him.
“You look awfully familiar, though,” Jaehwan stated which made Daniel’s face flatten.
“Hey, why are you both so rude to my new friend? I’m sorry that I took so long but you don’t have to blame it on Daniel, ugh, we will just make dinner without you two.” Seongwoo shrugged both of his friends off before he signaled Daniel to come with him to the kitchen while Daniel simply bowed to both Jaehwan and Minhyun before following Seongwoo.
“I am confused, I mean, I know I have a terrible memory,” Jaehwan whispered to Minhyun, who was mirroring Jaehwan’s skeptical face. “Dude, you just don’t forget the person you see on the news and become a trending topic on Twitter overnight,” Minhyun hissed back, and then Jaehwan got it immediately before they both realized that they are probably fucked.
“You have to break it to Seongwoo hyung, man, he’s dumb as fuck,” Jaehwan commented and Minhyun slapped the back of his head.
“We have to go and tell him that we are basically hiding a fugitive,” Minhyun reckoned. “Oh, wow, you are so going to jail for calling him a fugitive. But thank goodness, I will finally have the bathroom by myself because I am pretty sure Seongwoo is going to jail too.”
Minhyun glared at Jaehwan again one last time before dragging the latter to the kitchen where Seongwoo is busy unpacking the groceries he bought earlier with Daniel. “Look, I’m sorry again, but I organized your cleaning supplies, Minhyun,” Seongwoo spoke up immediately.
“Seongwoo, we need to talk,” Minhyun replied instead, which Seongwoo only replied by raising his eyebrow.
“Code red, now, Jaehwan’s bedroom.” Minhyun cut in before turning his body around to Jaehwan’s room direction. “What is he so weird for?” Seongwoo protested but complied anyway – since angry Minhyun is not the best Minhyun – after he told Daniel to wait at the living room instead.
Seongwoo came into the room being pissed as hell – he knows his friends are vexing at its best but he doesn’t know that they are also mean. “Look, if this is about me taking four fucking hours to get the damn home supplies, I am sorry, but like I said, don’t blame it on my new friend, he is the nicest thing,” Seongwoo snapped right away.
“Dude, do you even know who that is? It literally took me just five minutes to remember,” Jaehwan ranted back. “Oh god, he’s not some kind of a criminal, is he not?” Seongwoo suddenly panicked. “Goodness, you are stupid.” Jaehwan threw his hand to the air.
“Seongwoo, my dude, he is the prince.” Jaehwan gave up and spilled the fact.
“The prince of my heart? Hell yeah,” Seongwoo replied instead, which made Jaehwan slapped his own face and gestured his hand for Minhyun to continue instead.
“Seongwoo, he is the second prince of South Korea,” Minhyun stated nonchalantly.
“Second prince of what again?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrow, definitely not believing whatever his two friends were saying. “Of South Korea, you dumb twat.” Jaehwan shoved his phone in front of Seongwoo, showing him a legitimate page of Kang Daniel being the part of Korea’s royal family as the second prince. “He’s like the Prince Harry of South Korea.” Minhyun added.
Seongwoo was dumbfounded for a couple of minutes before screaming a really loud what the fuck – which the three of them pretty sure that Daniel will hear. “How come I don’t know about this?” Seongwoo gasped one more time before mentally beating himself – it is indeed an enormous and important fact to be missed. “Because you are reckless, careless and should pay more attention especially to the royal family?” Minhyun shrugged.
“How should I know that His Majesty Kang Minjae has another grandson?” Seongwoo whimpered as he shook Minhyun’s unmoving body. “You know as a Korean, you should know at least that,” Jaehwan cut in with cynical look.
“Well, I am sorry that they don’t expose him that much!” Seongwoo defended himself.
“His photos are all over the Internet from last night, for goodness’s sake, there is literally a where’s the prince hash tag on Twitter, even if you don’t know him, well, you should know because we are all using that app,” Jaehwan reasoned. “But still, how could I –,” “He has a weird name, you should at least recognized that not everyone has that kind of name,” Minhyun deadpanned.
“Even if he’s not exposed as much as the crown prince to the public, you should at least know if you paid more attention to the news, they are having a massive search party for him,” Minhyun stated at the end.
“Oh, is that so? Explain why I could explore around Myeondong with him without getting caught then.” Seongwoo crossed his arm in front of his chest. “How do you know that? What if they saw you and thought you are kidnapping him and now the whole army will come to our place and arrest us?” Jaehwan raised his eyebrow.
“Wait, did you just say you explore Myeondong with him? Like you have a proper date after years with the actual prince?” Minhyun concluded another thing instead.
“It’s not a date! I found him looking like a lost puppy at the subway station and offered him help, see, the army won’t put us into a jail because I saved him,” Seongwoo said as he pointed his finger at Jaehwan. “Although, if he thought it was a date, I wouldn’t mind though, do you know he has like this cutest smile, it’s like he’s carrying the whole sun on his face?” Seongwoo continued afterward which made Jaehwan to look at him in disgust.
“You did not just say that, I am this close to puke on your face,” Jaehwan snorted. “It doesn’t change a fact that his smile light up my non-existent feelings,” Seongwoo argued. “You guys do remember that we have a prince sitting at our living room, right?” Minhyun cut I before the argument gets more ridiculous than it already is for him.
“We are so fucked,” Seongwoo summarized.
“No, you are,”.
---
Seongwoo is pretty sure if they didn’t come out for another minute then Daniel would have gone suspicious on them, so he decided to not be a chicken and face Daniel – His Royal Highness Daniel – even though it was more like Minhyun and Jaehwan shoving him out from the room to lead them to face Daniel.
And now Seongwoo thinks about it, Daniel does look out of place in the nicest way possible, like he doesn’t fit the peasant lifestyle with his fifty thousand won bills – but still, Seongwoo always thinks that Daniel is indeed looking too beautiful to be true even though it is barely a day since they know each other and that’s how Seongwoo knows he is screwed, big time.
“So, hey.” Seongwoo is definitely going to jail for using such a friendly way to address the prince. “So you figured it out.” Daniel smiled faintly as he stood up from the couch. “Figure what out again?” Seongwoo asked rather awkwardly, both of his hand collected and moving nervously.
“These walls aren’t exactly soundproof, you know,” Daniel replied instead with a cheeky smile this time, which the three of them acknowledged.
“Your highness? I’m sorry if this is rude but why are you still here then?” Jaehwan asked afterward. “Oh, no, definitely don’t call me with your highness and that’s not rude, just, please treat me like a normal person? Seongwoo hyung?” Daniel turned his head to Seongwoo for help but Seongwoo just nodded hesitantly even though he isn’t sure himself.
“You know, it’s because I don’t have anywhere to go, I don’t know what to do.” Daniel gave in while getting back to his seat on the couch, as he groaned while hiding his face with his palm.
“Uh, suggestion, you could, you know, go back to the blue house,” Jaehwan replied almost immediately and received another hit from Minhyun. “We can’t just hide him here, it will make us a bunch of criminals,” Jaehwan hissed back, which got him a death glare from Seongwoo.
“One week, and then I’ll go back to the blue house,” Daniel proposed all of the sudden. “With all due respect, I feel like it is the best for you to go back tomorrow,” Jaehwan replied. “Five days,” Daniel asked instead as he averted his gaze to Seongwoo – it was the same puppy does eyes the younger used earlier and Seongwoo is having a trouble resisting that.
“Well, guys, he’s the prince, technically you should all listen to him.” Seongwoo shrugged and he swore that Daniel’s smile is enough to make up for the beating he is going to receive later on from Jaehwan and Minhyun for not siding with them
“Three days or we really should inform the blue house about this,” Minhyun negotiated which was accepted by Daniel, because the latter is nodding his head immediately. “He can sleep in my room, I’ll sleep at Jaehwan’s, oh goodness,” Minhyun added afterward.
“Our place is literally a wrecked ship, like is this even okay? There could be some diseases lying around here somewhere,” Jaehwan deadpanned. “How is that even possible when Minhyun scrub this place like five times a day?” Seongwoo retorted. “I am clearly offended by that, stop making me sound like a clean-freak,” Minhyun countered.
“Gentlemen, it’s fine, really,” Daniel cut in out of the blue – clearly amused by the bickering the three friends are having.
“Did he just call us gentlemen?” Jaehwan laughed in return instead, making Daniel flustered by the action and hide his embarrassed face by turning his head away.
“Hey, do not tease him, it’s fine, you know, you can call us everything, even peasants, because we fit it more,” Seongwoo added.
“If that so, I call a dibs to be called peasant one.” Jaehwan suddenly raised his hand up. “I’m peasant two,” Minhyun snorted. “Why the hell am I peasant three?” Seongwoo argued again, which caused Daniel to smile again.
His three days are going to be fun.
---
For an apartment that shared between three busy college students, Minhyun’s room is really nice, Daniel must admit – or maybe because it’s so neat and organized well and he did get that kind of vibe from Minhyun. He is sitting on the stranger’s bed, contemplating about his life’s decision up until that point – his life decision as a prince and as a human being – and he gets three days to sort all of them out.
So, Daniel is the prince, the second one to be exact – the third in line to take the throne – he is the part of the royal family. He used to listen to his brother’s visits to Myeondong without actually having to go through all the fuss first, and the fact that he had to run away first from the blue house to spend some times there, pisses him off.
Daniel knows he did all kinds of thing that makes his family isn’t letting him anywhere outside the blue house, but still, Daniel is trying to be a proper royal, why can’t they see that?
“Hey.” Daniel is definitely taken aback by the sudden voice coming from the door, and then he found out that it’s only Seongwoo, who was leaning on the doorframe. “Did I disturb the royal zen-time or something, do royals do that even?” Seongwoo snorted and chuckled afterward. “No, no at all, I was just surprised,” Daniel replied with a small smile.
“Want to go out with me? I mean, you know, figure that Minhyun only gave you three days before he turn you in, might as well spend all the times exploring places, right?” Seongwoo asked almost too casually and Daniel in all honesty, is stunned. When the first time Daniel asked Seongwoo, he prayed that Seongwoo would not notice him, even though he does realize himself that probably most of the people wouldn’t recognize him anyway.
But he has been a trending headline since yesterday, so his pictures must be everywhere – so why does Seongwoo still unable to recognize him at first?
“I guess I’m just that ignorant about stuffs like this, you know? I don’t even know that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez used to date, or still dating? Or that Kylie Jenner had a baby? Like I guess I have literally zero fuck to give – oh, sorry, bad language,” Seongwoo ranted while handing Daniel the T-Card, so Daniel doesn’t have to buy a ticket everytime they are using the subway.
“So, what kind of stuffs do you pay attention to then?” Daniel nudged Seongwoo’s arm lightly after passing the tap machine. “Uh, I like literature, books, poems, I also paid a lot of attention to the Olympics lately,” Seongwoo answered nonchalantly. “How about you? Tea times? Charities?” Seongwoo smirked teasingly.
“Well, actually I have a whole lesson for that, you know, how to hold your cup of tea.” Daniel shrugged and Seongwoo snorted in return – what to expect from the royal family exactly?
“Daniel, I don’t think I will ever be able to relate with your lifestyle, and honestly are you sure that it is okay to call you with first name basis? I don’t want to get charge or something, Minhyun keeps on insisting that I should try to be more polite,” Seongwoo blabbered afterward.
“Anyway, I wonder why no one caught you when we were strolling around Myeongdong earlier.”
“Well, maybe because they don’t even know that his majesty has the second grandson, or this country need a whole new security troupe.” Daniel chuckled when they entered the train – it was almost nine and they luckily got seats.
“Maybe, because their protocol isn’t the best either according to me, not to question the royals but shouldn’t you all have a private investigation first instead of using Twitter’ hash tag with your face all over the news? I mean that’s kind of a tragic way to be more known to the public.” Seongwoo teased but Daniel’s expression was flatter than Seongwoo expected.
“You are more observant that you actually claimed to be, I guess you are not that ignorant, hyung.” Daniel freaking smirked afterward – and Seongwoo has yet to decide whether he likes this Daniel’s kind of half-smile or not because it doesn’t send a tingling feelings like all the smiles before – it choked him and blocked all the air from his lungs, so Seongwoo decided that he somewhat loves it.
“But the again, I will just assume that you read a lot and you probably spend times to just observe people from the corner of the coffee shop while trying to finish you Murakami collection?” Daniel raised his eyebrow in acknowledgement.
“Are you a prince or are you a stalker, Mister?” Seongwoo laughed in return. “I practically live inside your house? I saw some things on the living room while you were debating with your friends.” Daniel chuckled back.
“I shouldn’t have brought strangers home, I should have listened to my mother,” Seongwoo ranted. “I also should’ve listened to Minhyun when he told me to research about you earlier because I know nothing except the fact that you have your own collection of crown, probably.”
“And you didn’t answer my question,” Seongwoo added all of the sudden when they arrived at Hongik University Station. “Or is it some kind of a secret? Shouldn’t your family hold a private investigation first instead of making you the headline news?” Seongwoo continued as he gestured the latter to get off the train.
“I don’t know either, hyung,” Daniel replied immediately afterward and rather hastily, making Seongwoo to raise his eyebrow.
“But if you are looking for exposure though, it’s kind of working.” Seongwoo shrugged at the end when they got out from the train. “You think so?” Daniel replied with a hushed tone, as if he was seeking for the older’ confirmation. “I know so, you can’t get any better than Twitter.” Seongwoo chuckled.
They walked a little bit before Seongwoo noticed something was off just before they exited the station – he was busy looking at his phone but it doesn’t mean that he can’t see that there are at least four persons looking like a secret agents standing at the side of the exit gate, which made Seongwoo’s mind went blank for a couple of second before realizing that they are probably looking for Daniel.
Seongwoo is positive that he is going to get arrested – they are going to tackle him and handcuff him and accuse him for kidnapping the prince, maybe they’ll let Seongwoo to say his farewell to his family – oh well, but why is one of them nodding at their direction?
Seongwoo thought it was the approval sign for them to attack Seongwoo and save Daniel, before he noticed that Daniel is shaking his hand at one of them and made the rest suddenly scattered away and went to every different direction. What the actual fuck? Daniel was busy making sure that they are no black suited man left that he didn’t notice that Seongwoo was staring at him the whole time.
“Dude,” Seongwoo finally spoke up and startled Daniel, of course.
“Hyung? I thought you are playing your mobile games?” Daniel smiled back at him somewhat innocently and that’s how Seongwoo know that he has been played the whole time. “If you won't tell me what the fuck just happened then I’m calling the blue house right now for real,” Seongwoo threaten – goodness, he just do that to a prince, he is fucked for real.
“What just happened?” Daniel still smiling, and Seongwoo wanted to slam his head to the wall immediately. “I’m calling the police,” Seongwoo deadpanned as he turned on his phone screen before Daniel hit his hand and his phone flew across the station.
“What the hell?” Seongwoo half-screamed in agony, but Daniel was panicking too, that he grasped both of Seongwoo’s wrists firmly.
“Don’t call anyone, I’ll explain, I swear,”.
---
Seongwoo’s phone screen cracked and it seems like it is unfixable, at least not with a low price and Daniel swore that he would buy the older the new one but Seongwoo was too pissed to even listen. At the end, Daniel brought him to eat at an all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurant at Hongdae – Seongwoo brought them there to show the latter some busking performances, but the night turned quite far from Seongwoo’s original plan.
“You do realize that I won’t get this far without an insider help, right?” Daniel said as he was busy cutting the meat – Seongwoo now figures why no one caught them when they were busy strolling around Myeongdong. “Why do you run away from the first place, your royal highness?” Seongwoo replied instead. “Because, I told you I have an overprotective family and I never seen this kind of stuffs.” Daniel shrugged nonchalantly.
“And I really never take a subway before, because it’s one of the royal’s rules,” Daniel added.
“Then why did you make the hash tag and leak yourself to the news?” Seongwoo snorted as he folded his arms in front of his chest and Daniel is unfazed for a second but he couldn’t hide his curiosity.
“How did you know that in all honesty?” Daniel raised his eyebrow in amusement instead. “It was a baseless suspicion that you just confirmed, you dumbass,” Seongwoo muttered nonchalantly before he realized what he just called the prince – but Daniel laughed in return.
“Okay, so how did you get the idea?” Daniel asked again.
“Because you won’t answer about the protocol thingy and I thought this guy probably bribed the chief of royal security, so why won’t he bribed the reporters in the mean time?” Seongwoo ranted. “How did you even bribe the reporters?” Seongwoo knitted his eyebrow together.
“I didn’t, I sent the anonymous leaked letter from the blue house informing that I am missing a day before I actually went missing, all the hash tag was all their ideas though.” Daniel shrugged while munching a piece of meat. “These foods are truly the best though,” He commented in between.
“Why?” Seongwoo asked confusedly.
“When you are desperate for something, you have to do another crucial thing,” Daniel replied flatly.
“You are not desperate for freedom obviously since you leaked yourself, so what are you desperate for exactly?” Seongwoo leaned closer to Daniel, ready to whatever the younger will answer. “Attention.” Daniel smiled at him, while offering him a piece of meat with his chopsticks – Seongwoo clearly and obviously declined the meat but Daniel turned out to be persistent as fuck so the older male accepted it at the end.
“So you are mad that you are hidden all this time, like this is some kind of your revenge?” Seongwoo said as he munched the meat. “Revenge is such a strong word, maybe more like my rebel act? This is for not letting me going public.” Daniel shrugged, again.
“There has to be a reason why they hid you though?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrow as he flips some of the meat to help Daniel cooks – very domestic of them already, Seongwoo likes it that Daniel is looking frustrated while trying to grill the pork belly, which resulted him looking very much adorable.
“Well, I never really felt like I fit to be a part of the royals, you know, it was weird because since I was a little kid, I was already aware that this isn’t the lifestyle I can cope up with, that’s –.” “Okay, stop right there, are you sure you want to spill your royal life to someone like me?” Seongwoo chuckled in disbelief.
“Someone like you is someone real, the first one I had in a long time,” Daniel replied instead. “Plus, you didn’t even know me when you decided that I am worth of your time, you are just careless in a good way and in a way that I like.” Daniel smiled again, and Seongwoo could feel the blood racing to his cheek.
“You are worth my time because you have a nice smile, just so you know,” Seongwoo commented hastily. “And you can continue your story.” He added when Daniel laughed again as he took another big slice of meat and start grilling it.
“That’s why they sent me to a boarding school in Jeju Island, when my brother actually went to public school years before and goodness, isn’t boarding school just the worst? They almost expelled me on my second year, but my family, of course, bribed them to shut up, before they transferred me to Busan and got me into some kind of an academy,” Daniel explained.
“What did you do in Busan?” Seongwoo said, clearly amused – he started to see why there is less than ten percent of the population who knows that their king has a second grandson. “I often skip school and gave my driver a messed up schedule so I could watch some dance busking performances,” Daniel added. “It only lasted like three weeks before they figured out that I screwed up their plan.”
“They got so tired of me that they shipped me to Sweden when I was fourteen, before they transferred me to London and never letting me back here afterward.” Daniel frowned. “Because you know, hiding the whole person is so much easier than burying the problems I might cause in the future,” Daniel ended.
“Well, I still don’t see why are you so desperate for attention though,” Seongwoo commented in return, his voice is painted with hesitancy. “The years I spent in London taught me a couple of things,” Daniel replied.
“I don’t have to like my royal status, but nevertheless it will always be with me until I die because that just run in my blood. And I can’t run away from my responsibilities forever just because I don’t like them, so maybe instead of hating it, I could do something about it, you know,” Daniel continued.
“Being a prince means you are making differences, because you could always voice out your opinion and be heard, you could help people for real, I want people to know that they could be anything they want and I want to make a platform for it so that people know their worth, I guess I don’t want more people to feel like I did. Just because you don’t feel like fitting in some place, doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it.”
“That’s why I propose to go home, I ask them to enroll me into some universities here instead of Cambridge, because I want to know my people better, the youth especially, people who will probably look up to me. I’d be lying if I said other princes don’t inspire me somehow, and they inspire people, and I want to do that too.” Daniel concluded while putting another meat inside his mouth.
“That speech inspire me already, honestly, I think you are a natural, Daniel.” Seongwoo gave the latter a thumbs up. “Thanks, and that’s why I leaked myself, because all my family did for the past five months since I got home was locking me up inside the blue house, they are still afraid of me tainting their image even after I told them I am even willing to take my lesson at the army as soon as possible,” Daniel huffed.
“You offer yourself to the army?” Seongwoo asked instead. “Yeah, I know it’s not an obligation for the people but for the royals though, we need to at least know basic defense and dedicate a year to the army division of our choice,” Daniel explained afterward – and both of them fell into a silence with the sound of grilling pan only.
“I think, your intentions are so genuine, Daniel,” Seongwoo spoke up after minutes of quietness. “I know you are a good person just from the way you talk, you are going to be a good royal.” Seongwoo smiled as he placed his hand on the top of Daniel’s, patting it slowly before he pulled away after perceiving what is happening – did he just hold Daniel’s hand?
“And I think, you should talk like that, to your family, I’m sure they are going to understand, you know, running away like this, it’s just extreme.” Seongwoo chuckled awkwardly afterward. “Extremeness got me to meet you though, hyung?” Daniel grinned cheekily.
“But thank you, for your kind words, I know this whole plan seems to be very rash, it’s still a good way for the public to at least wondering about me and my whereabouts, and that’s what will make my family to at least, rethink,” Daniel added.
“When you went back to the blue house, send me some beefs in order to pay my kindness will you? Someone would’ve actually robbed you back then if you didn’t meet me. And don’t forget about me, I guess, your highness?” Seongwoo laughed – it was meant to be a joke, but Daniel seems to take it seriously.
“How could I forget someone like you though? And I have your phone number, hyung.” Daniel just smiled and Seongwoo swore to all the goodness that his heart just jumped out and his internal organs are all a mess right now, his lungs probably are the most damaged one.
“You probably will, once you get into your royal stuffs and meeting all the royal maidens.” Seongwoo shrugged, his heart kind of sunk a little bit. “God, maidens, as if I haven’t appeared not straight enough.” Daniel laughed.
“And don’t worry, my family knows, back in London when I was still in high school, I might have came out accidentally and you will never see the pictures because my family buried them down, but not because I was kissing boys but because I was wasted and almost naked at the pavement.”
“You are giving your family a lot of reason not to expose you, Daniel.” Seongwoo smirked, obviously amused. “I am a changed man, and point is, there won’t be any maidens around,” Daniel replied nonchalantly.
“Okay, you were drunk at a high school’ party but you don’t know what a slang is?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrow afterward. “Of course I know, hyung, it was just amusing to see you all worked up when I said I didn’t.” Daniel chuckled.
“And you were all lying to me earlier then.” Seongwoo crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Well, I somehow have to go along with your idea about me, so you won’t suspect me any further and will shelter me without questioning my intention.” Daniel shrugged nonchalantly.
“Why would you even want me to shelter you?” Seongwoo argued with annoyance. “If I booked a hotel’s room, they will definitely recognize me from the news,” Daniel replied.
“So you are toying with my ignorance?” Seongwoo sighed. “Hyung, you are not really mad at me because if you are really angry then you would’ve kicked me out earlier and won’t be here right now,” Daniel concluded.
“You are right, I am such a cheap person, and all because you have a nice smile,” Seongwoo sighed, deeper this time. “Not because I am the prince?” Daniel smirked, again. “That too, but I can at least list ten other reasons than that, because I have started listing before you reveal yourself with an anti-climax.” Seongwoo shrugged.
“You know, I think it’s really the universe’s work that I chose you earlier on the subway, I mean, not because you looked out of place because that kind of face should be inside the museum and not a subway station.” Daniel grinned and Seongwoo kind of died inside already – and when Seongwoo blushed very hard afterward, Daniel let out a chuckle before proceeding to grill another batch of meat.
They almost missed the last subway train home, which resulted them to run from the entrance to the train hallway and then to Seongwoo’s apartment – and they are welcomed by the smell of pizza when they entered the room. “Oh, hey your highness and peasant number three, we ordered some pizza and will binge-watch some How I Met Your Mother, want to join us?” Jaehwan asked too casually.
“He’s literally the prince, he could sue you for being friendly to him,” Seongwoo snorted but he took his seat on the couch and signaled Daniel to sit beside him. “He asked for it, I am literally doing his order, dude.” Jaehwan shrugged and hand Daniel the pizza box for him to take one, which Daniel took with a wide smile before nodding and agreeing with Jaehwan.
They spent the first night just like that, as mundane as possible and Daniel kind of misses those kind of nights, where he is away from the reality, when he was still in London, living kind of his own life with his family constantly hiding him – but Daniel is back to stop running away from what he is, Daniel wants to change and getting used to a daily life is not going to help him.
Especially not with Seongwoo around.
The older is truly something else, Daniel realized that when they talked all night – they talked about the stars, and conspiracy theories, and more of Daniel’s plan as his first duty as the royal, they talked about books and some bands – and that’s also how he knows how he somehow already so screwed.
What is with him and his luck and his life choices that he ended with Seongwoo instead? Seongwoo wasn’t wrong when he said that at first Daniel was happy about Seongwoo’s unawareness of him but then Seongwoo is so beautiful and nice and so real and so comfortable to be with. Daniel has met all kind of people, and he decided that the one who doesn’t know that he is the prince is the best.
But someone who treat him just the same after they know he is the prince? That person is on another level.
So when Seongwoo thought it was a good idea to go to Han River in the morning and the subway station is crowded as fuck and they are trying so hard to get into a train – that’s how Daniel know it was an escape – he wouldn’t want to come back if he stayed one more night or even if he said goodbye – Daniel realized that he doesn’t even get three days to figure his life out because he just added another problem, a big one that is going to be so hard to be ignored.
And with that, Daniel is gone.
---
“How could you lose a prince, in all honesty?” Jaehwan snorted when Seongwoo was panicking after he got home and was all-loud about how Daniel was missing when they were at the subway station. “He’s just gone?” Seongwoo gasped. “On the bright side, maybe he didn’t like staying here and decided that we are too much of a peasant,” Jaehwan replied instead.
“No, on the even brighter side,” Minhyun suddenly commented as he walked in to the living room while holding his phone, before he turned on the television and searched for the news channel immediately – they showed the front gate of the blue house with lots of reporters waiting. “It just came in that His Royal Highness Prince Daniel is found, the blue house’s representative has informed us that the prince is safe,” The news reporter announced.
They aired Daniel giving a speech the day after tomorrow – Seongwoo watched it, and it felt like he was watching a different person and decided that he should get rid of his huge crush on Daniel – the one that has already been there even before he knows Daniel is the prince, but because Seongwoo is so whipped, he still remembers Daniel’s kinds of smiles.
The speech was about how Daniel will soon start his royal duties and will enroll to one of the universities in Seoul – he looked so happy and Seongwoo knows because it is what he wants and even though Seongwoo has announced to both Minhyun and Jaehwan that he has gotten over his whipped-stage, he knows himself that he is still very much screwed when Daniel smiled and his stomach still tingled.
Maybe Seongwoo should start reading entertainment news so he won’t like someone without knowing that they are not just someone else.
---
“It has been a week, please stop sulking, I know a literal prince charming came and swept you off your feet with his smile and that is probably not going to happen again, but it has been a week,” Jaehwan commented when he saw how Seongwoo was not eating his lunch and dozing off in the middle of the campus’ cafeteria.
“And he said he is not whipped anymore, top ten anime’s biggest lie,” Minhyun added as he took a seat in front of Seongwoo.
“That’s not even the right meme? What the fuck?” Seongwoo sighed. “He has my number guys, and I literally showed him my Instagram page? He should remember, right? I know he is all about his royal duties but he fucking said –,” He would remember me. But Seongwoo didn’t say it out loud.
“The royal family isn’t allowed to have any social media account, you do know that, do you not?” Minhyun snorted as he grabbed a spoonful of mac and cheese. “They also aren’t allowed to take subway, or to run away from the blue house? I mean why don’t break more rules?” Seongwoo deadpanned.
“Look, Seongwoo, I don’t know what else he told you, but maybe you are right? Maybe he is just playing with your ignorance and your carelessness about him being a prince,” Minhyun commented and Seongwoo regrets it already that he told his two supposed-to-be best friends about everything.
“You just made the prince sounds like an asshole, I hope you are liking prison’s food,” Jaehwan replied instead.
“Why am I so dumb?” Seongwoo let out a whine before slamming his head to the table, while producing some inhumane sound of whimper. “It’s okay, we know that all along,” Jaehwan said and got a glare from Minhyun.
“I am going to the toilet and grab some coffee,” Seongwoo announced as he stood up abruptly before leaving the table. “You should’ve shut it, you know he hasn’t liked someone that much in a span of day meeting the latter – goodness, I thought he was asexual or something,” Minhyun added afterward. “Oh? I am not the one who accused His Royal Highness Daniel is only playing with his ignorance though?” Jaehwan retorted.
“I just don’t want him to get his hopes high and – wait, what’s with all this fuzz again?” Minhyun paused when he saw a large group of people leaving the cafeteria and followed by another groups while saying something at the same time. Minhyun managed to catch the word prince in between but he decided maybe that was just his brain playing with his mind because he heard too much prince before he decided to go back to his mac and cheese.
“Probably just the football team,” Jaehwan commented afterward before going back to his spaghetti, even though the crowd noise are getting bigger each second before the commotion died the second both Minhyun and Jaehwan noticed someone took a seat in front of them – the person immediately faked a cough to grab their attention from the food and it successfully worked.
“Hi, Minhyun-ssi and Jaehwan-ssi.” Daniel smiled as he waved his hand rather awkwardly – in which Jaehwan and Minhyun replied with a slight gasp, before looking at each other in confusion. “Oh, why hello, your Royal Highness Prince Daniel,” Jaehwan initiated to greet Daniel first very awkwardly with a bow, and then followed by Minhyun.
“Why are you guys so awkward, we shared a box of pizza and cried over how the Mother died together,” Daniel whispered as he leaned closer to both males in front of him. “You started the awkwardness first,” Jaehwan hissed immediately before Minhyun hit him as if telling the later that they are being watched.
“What are you doing here?” Minhyun continued with the whispering. “Because I wanted to ask you guys whether I could sit with you guys and study together sometimes or watch movies together again some other times, maybe this weekend?” Daniel blabbered back in a low voice.
“You mean like become friends?” Jaehwan whispered back as he raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, something like that.” Daniel nodded. “Why would you even want to do that?” Minhyun added – still with a low voice – they must’ve looked so dumb right then. “Because you both are cool and I just enrolled here, so you could say that I don’t have any friends?” Daniel answered nonchalantly.
“You just what – shut up,” Jaehwan said the last part rather loudly – which caused Minhyun to shut the latter’s mouth with his hand and Daniel only chuckled lowly. “Oh, and also, I wanted to ask you where peasant number three is?” Daniel continued immediately. “Ah, he just went to the toilet to cry over how you didn’t call him,” Jaehwan exposed.
“He did that?” Daniel was taken aback – even though it was an obvious sarcasm, but it gave him at least the slightest hint that Seongwoo probably doesn’t hate him yet.
“Seongwoo is so going to kill you, Jaehwan.” Minhyun gave him a warning smile before they were interrupted by the very familiar voice, “Guys, why are the people looking at us – oh my goodness, I am hallucinating now,” Seongwoo announced the second he locked eyes with Daniel, who was sitting and Jaehwan immediately grab Seongwoo’s coffee cup to prevent the latter to spill them.
“Peasant number three is here.” Jaehwan gave out his shit-eating grin. “I think they put weed inside their coffee, are you guys seeing Daniel too?” Seongwoo replied instead and made Daniel burst into a laugh. “Their weed is so good, even their laugh is the same,” Seongwoo sighed as he took a seat beside Daniel.
“We will ditch him after this, because he is so dumb and embarrassing, I am so tired,” Minhyun whispered to Jaehwan.
“Hyungnim, I am real,” Daniel said as he patted Seongwoo’s arm – and it kind of made Seongwoo jumped out from his seat. “What are you doing here?” Seongwoo half-shouted, making almost everyone more alarmed because someone just screamed on their prince’s face. “To see you guys,” Daniel answered with a wide smile – goodness, Seongwoo misses it.
“And I just enrolled here,” Daniel announced as he chuckled when Seongwoo gasped even more. “And also, I want to talk to you, in private.” Daniel added the last part in a lower voice, making Seongwoo shivered a little bit but he nodded nonetheless because guess what, he is still very much crushing on Daniel.
They ended up sitting inside Seongwoo’s car, with the two bodyguards standing not too far from where Seongwoo parked and with Daniel still grinning here and there. “I heard that you cry over how I didn’t call you?” Daniel opens up the conversation. “I am so going to murder Jaehwan for that, thank you for snitching,” Seongwoo snorted in return.
“But I am sorry for that, I have been busy and thinking.” Daniel bit his lips nervously because he didn’t know how to break it down to the older male. “Yeah, I saw your speech, congratulations, by the way.” Seongwoo smiled to the younger, turning his body a little bit so he could face Daniel better.
“No, more like, about our meeting,” Daniel cut in. “I am sorry about all of it, because it made no sense, it was rushed and it was too short, well, I was in rushed and I was panicking because – because you made me want to go back to the life that I have been trying to leave in order to do a greater good,” Daniel spoke up, again.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Seongwoo raised his eyebrow in confusion. “It made me feel like I wanted to stay under the radar but it just not my purpose, and to be honest I was thinking that I couldn’t have everything at the same time, but then I realized it was not enough.” Daniel sighed.
“Hyung, when I got back to the blue house, they almost disowned me.” Daniel chuckled all of the sudden. “I didn’t blame them, Daniel, I told you it was kind of extreme to begin with, but well, you do you,” Seongwoo replied instead. “But after talking to them, and having some kind of deals, clearing up my intentions in front of my whole damn family, they decided to give me a chance,” Daniel added.
“And I didn’t call you because despite clearing up my intentions and getting chances as a royal, you blur my intentions as a person because I keep thinking that one day isn’t going to be enough and I will forever wondering which Murakami book you like the most, and I had to think about it for days whether or not I should give this a chance.”
“Hold up a second, what do you mean by this?” Seongwoo interrupted as he moved his hand in circular motion, mirroring what Daniel did.
“This, you and me, things that we are going to do,” Daniel replied almost too nonchalantly.
“Wait, wait, so you kind of like me?” Seongwoo stuttered in disbelief – what in the world is even happening, his life is starting to make more and more nonsenses.
“Yes, because you are an interesting person, and that’s why I am taking you out sometimes, if you want to, you know,” Daniel said, still with a cute smile of his, the one that he used the first time he met Seongwoo – and Seongwoo swears to all the goddesses that the man in front of him knows how to weaken him.
“Yes, I want to but –.” “Good.” Daniel cut the older off by suddenly planting a kiss on the older’ cheek. “Now, I assume you know how to drive since you have a car,” Daniel commented afterward, ignoring Seongwoo’s frozen state. “What was that for?” Seongwoo finally spoke up after Daniel stared at him in amusement.
“For not noticing me, liking me nonetheless and treating me the same despite everything.” Daniel grinned. “And also, because my mother would killed me if I didn’t do that,” Daniel continued. “Your mother knows about my stupidity?” Seongwoo yelled. “She thought you are cute and she is thankful that you are a nice person.” Daniel shrugged.
“Your mother is the future queen and she thought I am cute? What the fuck?” Seongwoo shouted again, making Daniel laugh. “You know what will get me killed too? Taking a subway again, even though I like subway already but I guess, if I want to stay here and have more dates with you, we should use your car?” Daniel suggested with his doe puppy eyes again and Seongwoo knows he is fucked already.
“Subway is often overcrowded anyway, I take them because I like driving at night more than day, but yeah, I see the point of the rules, everyone could kidnap you there and we can’t let that happen, right?” Seongwoo chuckled at the end as he turned on the engine.
“Yeah, but subway station got me you, so,”.