Purely An Act of Survival

A Big Fat Cat

Alberu woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache.

The pain adds up more as he gets drenched as soon as he opens the door to his office. Alberu doesn't know the extent of Cale's troublemaking tendencies, but experiencing them himself is already tiring enough. He can't catch a break.

He couldn't even sleep properly last night.

It was one of the many rare times he actually went to bed instead of sleeping in his office, yet at that moment he was invited (KIDNAPPED!) to Cale's bedroom and was humiliated. Correction, Alberu was misunderstood and humiliated.

It is exactly how he expected things to turn out because of Cale Henituse; now he had an immediate headache.

It's a miracle that the Henituse Family loves him enough to indulge whatever he wants. Even finding ways to navigate the troublemaker after he had left without notice; if it were his family, Alberu would be thrown and left to the streets quickly.

Worse case? Alberu could leave the palace and none of his family members would notice that he did.

This is his life within The Royal Family.

For Alberu, Cale Henituse had everything he ever wanted. A loving family, caring father and proud step-mother, cute step-siblings who do not wish for your demise every second of the day, and all that, an actual definition of what a family is capable to be. Alberu remembers times like that when he was a child.

A loving mother and father.

When his father looked at him and genuinely smiled. His mother gently squeezing his cheeks and telling him that he was the light of her life. When he was sad, they were there to dry his tears. They would both comfort him and make him laugh because— and he quote, ‘laughter was the best medicine’. And if they were happy, so was he, when they are a family.

Who loved and cherished each other.

But now it was nothing like then, even he had to act kindly to survive in the palace. Even he, who constantly felt sorrow, smiled winningly towards the people.

In Alberu's point of view, Cale Henituse never had to act anything out. If he was irritated, Cale would show his anger and lash out. True feelings were expressed, true anger and rage. To Alberu, that was something he could not do. When he was mad, Alberu had to smile and move on despite the gloomy blob building up in his heart.

Everything Cale was made Alberu envious. He is jealous, there! He admits it!

(Cale in the corner: stay jealousಠ⁠◡⁠ಠ)

Cale has a lot of freedom and Alberu doesn't. He gets to say whatever the fuck he wants and nobody has the guts to shut him up, even Alberu feels nervous enough around him. He talks dirty. To the point he just came to accept that this is who Cale Henituse was, and there was nothing he can do to change the way he talks.

It's not like Alberu had anything against Cale. Just that he's just not fit to babysit or rather, not fit to tolerate Cale. In order to prevent any more closure and exposing his true self even more, Alberu constantly evades Cale in his own palace.

He locks the doors. He closes the main gates. He makes sure that Cale is kept away from danger and at the same, keep him away from himself.

Kim Rok Soo, I'm totally not being irresponsible.

If he somehow ends up in the same floor as him, Alberu clearly has no shame when he turns away and goes back to where he came from. Even if it meant going back to his office, entering a random guest room, or in the kitchen. If he was lucky Alberu end up in his own bedroom. If he wasn't, Alberu jumps off a window.