You, Again | jhs

2. Brotherhood

Pulling out a sky blue handkerchief made of the highest quality of silk, Hoseok traced his thumb on the embroided lotus flower at the right bottom corner of the clothing, a sad smile etching on his face. This handkerchief was gifted to the man by the past Hana he once loved, with the girl telling him stealthily that this object would be the embodiment of their forbidden love.

Lotus flower.

He used to call her his little lotus flower, seeing her name had the word lotus flower in it, and in his eyes, she was the most beautiful flower he had ever known of. Unlike now, he used to be a man of little words and more actions, so to receive such an endearing nickname from her lover had made Hana treasured it a lot.

Hoseok's mind travelled to a few days ago when Jungkook had showed him the popular webtoon. The nickname the author of the webtoon had chosen to use was the exact same name, and he debated whether it was all just too coincidental or not.

Grabbing his phone which was placed on the wireless charging deck, he downloaded the app and searched for the webtoon to read. He gulped unknowingly, feeling nervous for some reason as he tapped onto the first episode, where it all began.

The story started out with a scenario where a group of young boys were chasing after each other happily in a buckwheat field, their wide toothy grins emphasized accurately with the artist's magical touch. Hoseok counted how many children were there.

One, two, three, four, five, and... six.

Unlike the former four who were dressed in normal clothings, the latter two adorned slightly different clothes, with one wearing all black and the other wearing a striking blue with a small hat on his head.

Hoseok hitched his breath when a sudden pang of nostalgia hit him, causing him to drop his phone onto his desk abruptly before holding onto his own head, his thumbs rubbing in circles on his temples in attempt to soothe the growing pain. His eyes fluttered close then, and before he knew it, he had already passed out onto the ground with a loud thud.

"Your Highness! You're not supposed to run away from us!" Little Hoseok yelled desperately when he saw the Crown Prince he was supposed to shadow for zoom away towards the town area. "Your Highness!"

"Hush! Stop calling me Your Highness when we are outside the palace! If we get caught I'm going to blame it all on you!" Crown Prince Lee Hyeon gritted his teeth angrily.

"B-but, we aren't supposed to leave the palace..." Hoseok looked down at his feet nervously, fearing for the royalty's wrath.

"Tell me then! How are we supposed to meet up with the others without escaping from the palace?" Hyeon pouted before bawling out loud. "I just want to play with the others!"

Flustered at the sudden change of mood of the Crown Prince, Hoseok lifted his arms, and was about to hug him when familiar voices hollered their names.

"Hoseok! Hyeon-"

"How many times have I told you guys not to call me by my real name when we are outside?!" Hyeon stomped his feet, now crouching down on the ground with more tears escaping from his eye sockets. "Call me Taehyung! Tae-hyung!"

"Alright alright, we are sorry, Your Highne- I mean, Taehyung." Seokjin gave Hoseok a comforting smile, signalling him that he would handle the little Crown Prince who was still sulking. "Taehyung-ah, are you going to remain like this for the whole day while we go and play?"

"Don't leave me alone!" Hyeon pleaded instantly, and stuffed his face onto Seokjin's clothes while locking him into a tight hug. "You guys can't abandon me!"