Conditionally Unconditional

Intro: Reality Check

"No, sir. Yours was the last!" 

"Good. You wait there, I'll be down in a moment." Changmin then retreated into his home, leaving a confused Eric waiting outside. Changmin rummaged through his vast closet, grabbing something casual that he knew looked good on him, grabbed his wallet, and headed to the front door. Well, tried to head to the front door. As he reached the lobby, a man stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

"And where do you think you're going, sir?" Changmin's butler raised an eyebrow at him.

Changmin sighed before simply replying, "Out." Changmin took a step to the side, but once again was blocked by the man.

"Just out?" The man spoke with a tone that suggested he didn't believe Changmin's response.

Changmin sighed again. "Chanhee, come on! I'm literally just going shopping. You really don't have to follow me everywhere. Someone is waiting for me."

"And who might that be?"

"The paper boy."

"Right..." Chanhee rolled his eyes at the younger. "You know it is in my job description to babysit you. And you're telling me that the person waiting for you right now is the paper boy?"

Changmin raised his eyebrows and paused for a moment. "...yes...so let's go, Chanhee. It's rude to keep people waiting." Changmin quickly stepped around his butler who sighed loudly and followed the boy.

"Sir, do you want me to call the carriage?" Chanhee asked.

"No, I will. You know why?" Changmin turned to Chanhee who stopped to sigh heavily and respond.

"Why, sir?"

"Because I'm a grown man that does not need babysitting and can call a carriage on my own." Changmin raised his head high.

"Respectfully, you can't." Chanhee deadpanned.

"Yeah, you're right, I can't, but I'll learn how to." Changmin began to walk quickly to the front door.

"Uh-huh. I'll call a carriage." Chanhee walked away, signaling the other butlers and maids to get the carriage ready. In all honesty, Chanhee was more like a brother than a butler to Changmin. Chanhee became Changmin's butler when they were both young boys. They were nearly joined at the hip, but eventually they grew up and Chanhee had a job to do. Babysit Changmin all day as per his job requirements as the butler of the Count. They spoke to each other informally, but no matter what, Changmin could not get Chanhee to drop the "sir". Chanhee said he'd be overstepping some boundaries if he did. Nonetheless, it made Changmin content to know that he had Chanhee's full loyalty through thick and thin.

Changmin exited his home to greet Eric, who still looked like a lost puppy. Changmin stood in front of Eric and examined him while Eric stood there slightly uncomfortable under Changmin's gaze. After Changmin finished taking a better look at Eric, he swiftly turned to his side and walked to the already prepared carriage. A coachman opened the carriage door and helped Changmin in. Changmin then peeked his head out of the window, giving Eric a quizzical look. "Well, hurry up now. The boutiques are going to close in a few hours."

Eric bounded towards the carriage, stumbling over his own feet a couple times. He entered the carriage, taking a seat across Changmin. Chanhee, who was sitting beside Changmin, signaled to the coachman and the carriage began to move out of the Count's estate.

Silence enveloped the carriage. Changmin was leaning against the carriage walls, staring out the window in what looked like deep thought or a daydream. Chanhee stared blankly ahead, unbothered as always. Eric was excitedly looking from window to window, silently marveling at a grand estate to his left, then quickly whipping his head around to stare in awe at an even grander estate to his right. After a couple more minutes of silence, the carriage came along a bumpy path. They were going down the bumpy passage that separated the elite's posh housing from the elite's posh plaza. The carriage hit a bump in the road causing the passengers in the coach box to bounce in their seats. 

"Goodness! When are they going to smooth this road over?!" Chanhee huffed after bouncing in his seat multiple times. His bottom was beginning to feel a tad sore.

Changmin, brought out of his daydreaming session, responded. "I remember them saying they weren't going to at the last meeting. Something about 'letting nature have her way'. I think they're just being stingy on money." 

"The wheels are going to pop off if we continue to go on like this!" Chanhee clutched the walls of the coach box to keep him in place.

"Come on, Chanhee. It's not that ba--" The carriage came to an abrupt stop.

"What's going on, sir? Why have we stopped??" Eric asked in confusion and slight discomfort.

"My thoughts exactly..." Changmin was about to open the coach and leave his seat when Chanhee stopped him.

"Let me." Chanhee stepped out of the coach. Changmin and Eric leaned their heads out the window to get a better listen of what the coachman and Chanhee were discussing. Seeing as nothing had been resolved minutes later, Changmin stepped out of the coach and walked up to a frowning Chanhee with a less bouncy and more concerned Eric following him.

"What's wrong?" Changmin asked, slightly startling Chanhee with his sudden appearance.

"One of the horses got injured. The road was too uneven." Chanhee sighed. "How are we going to get to the plaza?"

"We can walk." Changmin answered quickly with no second thought.

"Walk?! Absolutely not! If your father hears about you, his only son, walking from here to the plaza, I'll have my head on a silver platter. Is that what you want?" Chanhee berated Changmin.

"Chanhee, it's not that far from here. What will a little walking do. Kill us?"

"Yes. It will literally get me killed."

"Chanhee~" Changmin whined.

"No."

Changmin sighed, exasperated. "Then what are we going to do? We don't have any other choice but to walk. What? Are we going to wait for another carriage to come along? Is that what we're going to do--"

"Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do."

"Chanhee, I promise I won't tell father--"

"I know you won't. But later your feet are going to hurt and you'll start whining about it and I'll have to go order a foot massage and all sorts of other treatments and then your father will become suspicious and find out, and my head will be on the chopping block." Chanhee responded in one breath.

"Fine. We'll wait. But what if another carriage doesn't come by for the rest of the day? Are we going to wait here until the sun rises for another carriage to come by--"

"That shouldn't be a problem." Chanhee interrupted once again.

"What do you mean?" Changmin squinted in disbelief at Chanhee's defiance.

Chanhee pointed behind Changmin, not even blinking. "One's coming right now." 

Changmin turned around to see an all too familiar carriage pull up beside theirs. "Oh no." Changmin sighed. Eric looked at Changmin with even more concern.

"Oh no what, sir?" Eric looked at the newly arrived carriage in even more discomfort as he scooted a bit behind Changmin's back. Meanwhile, Chanhee smiled in satisfaction at both the resolution of their problem and Changmin's reaction to the new arrivers.

"Hey, Minnie. Looks like you need a ride."