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It had been a week since an angel had helped him. Minhyun had seen neither hide nor hair of him since, much to his disappointment. He had lurked around the kitchens, first in his normal robes as crown prince, but was caught too fast and immediately ushered away from the kitchens as it was an inappropriate location for the crown prince to be in. Then he had come back in less obvious clothing, and while he wasn’t immediately identified by his robes, some of the senior workers who often delivered meals for him and the other noblemen recognized him by face and escorted him out.
This time, he was determined to find his angel before he was thrown out again. He had managed to finagle a spare kitchen servant robe from the laundry and was currently sneaking through the halls in his new attire. Though the poor fabric greatly irritated his skin, he wanted to find his angel already!
Seeing no one in the hallway, he dived into a nearby empty doorway, only to hit something both hard and soft.
“Ow!” Minhyun stumbled back from the impact and shook his head. He heard a quiet ‘oh no’ coming from a slightly familiar voice, and immediately looked for the source.
There. Right in front of him on the ground was the boy from the other day. His excitement in finding his angel dimmed however, when he realized that the boy was covered in food and a broken dish lay on the ground next to him. Then he realized the boy was nursing a cut on his hand.
Minhyun immediately crouched down and grabbed the boy’s hand to look at it, apologizing and trying to wipe away the blood.
The boy could only stare as the person he crashed into earnestly tried to care for him. “Umm…who…?”
“You don’t remember me?” Minhyun asked, hurt. His angel must help a lot of people every day to not recognize him.
The boy stared a bit longer before realization dawned. “Oh! You’re the one with the ornament! I didn’t know you worked in the kitchens though...” He sounded confused.
Minhyun eagerly leaned forward. “Yes, yes! You remember me? I’ve finally found you!”
“Jonghyun? I heard a crash. Are you alright?” A voice called from deeper inside the room.
The boy, Jonghyun, called back, “I’m fine! But I need another set for Master Taehyuk. I’m sorry I spilled the food.” Then he turned back to Minhyun. “I’m sorry, I need to get back to work. We can talk later when both our day’s work is done.”
Minhyun pouted as Jonghyun started to clean up the spilled food and tray. “I’ll wait-”
“Jonghyun, here’s another…” Both Minhyun and Jonghyun looked up to see the head cook, Yori, turning the corner with a prepared tray. “Your highness!” She exclaimed. “What are you doing back here again?”
Jonghyun could only blink in confusion. That was...until he heard a huff from his companion.
“I was looking for Jonghyun!” Minhyun puffed out his cheeks indignantly, though he was happy to finally have a name for his angel. “I wouldn’t have had to come back so many times if you had just let me find him!”
The gears in Jonghyun’s head slowly turned as he thought of the pretty robes that Minhyun had been wearing (he had thought Minhyun was just one of the many scholars’ sons running around), and then the delicate rare ornament that he had returned to Minhyun (only the queen made those, he thought with growing horror). It clicked that he had been speaking to one of the princes and not providing him with the proper respect. Turning around, he quickly put down the broken tray and prostrated himself on the ground, “This lowly servant apologizes for not-”
Jonghyun was cut off as Minhyun grabbed his arm and pulled him up. Losing his balance, he stumbled into Minhyun, only for the prince to hug him tightly to him.
“No! No bowing.” Minhyun didn’t want his angel to treat him like everyone else did. His angel was supposed to be his new friend. “You treat me like how you’ve been doing. And no running off now that I’ve found you!”
Jonghyun squirmed at the tight hold. “Okay, okay! I still need to finish my work!”
The cook could only watch, both in exasperation and amusement at the miniature drama between her beloved little Jonghyun, who she had found as a baby in the streets one day 5 years ago, and the crown prince who was currently trying to coddle the other boy. She sighed as she saw the beginnings of what could possibly be puppy love or obsession from Minhyun. For Jonghyun’s sake, she hoped Minhyun would lose interest quickly or at least treat Jonghyun right. It was never good to catch royalty’s eye if one did not have any ambition of moving up in status.
She sighed, “Well, since Your Highness is the cause of delay of his own Teacher’s breakfast, you should go with Jonghyun to make sure that he isn’t blamed, yes?”
Minhyun looked up at her and beamed. “Right!” Meanwhile, Jonghyun slumped in Minhyun’s arms and pouted, giving up on getting out. Minhyun, catching sight of the pout, melted. His angel was so cute!
“Here’s the plate. Who wants to take it?”
“I’ll take it.” Jonghyun said, before saying to Minhyun, “Can you let go of me now? I’m not going to run off you know.”
Minhyun grumbles before letting go. “I’m following!”
Yori watched as Jonghyun took the new tray, and toddled out the door with the crown prince in tow. She wondered if Jonghyun realized who exactly it was that was following him, and thought to herself that of course the ‘angel’ Minhyun had been ranting about the past week was Jonghyun. Majority of the kitchen staff and even other servants loved Jonghyun for his kindness and willingness to help anyone and everyone. Angel was an apt description, actually. She thought.