Behind The King

The Call

Yeong plopped down on his bed and closed his eyes, then groaned.

Before, he could see Seung-a's smile when he closed his eyes. But now, he could also see her giggling at him and winking at him. This was bad. This was very bad.

Being around her was making him put his guard down, which was such a strange feeling for him. He was used to always being on high alert, on having his defenses up at all times. But now she wanted him to relax and be himself.

What was that, even? He had been in the shadow of the King since childhood, and had perfected the art of blending in the background. He never drew attention to himself, never really thought to pursue his own interests, since he dedicated his life in service of the King. Seung-a was asking him all of these questions that she didn't realize were very difficult for him to answer.

With a sigh, he reached for his phone and tapped on her number. "We train at 0500 hours tomorrow," he typed and sent her the message. Immediately after hitting send, he stared at the screen. Was that too terse? Was he being too short with her? He shut his eyes in frustration. Why did it even matter so much to him?

His phone pinged and he grabbed it, reading her reply. "I'll be there. Fans would love to see you looking hot and sweaty. I know I would." He groaned again as he saw that wink emoji at the end of her message, and pictured her winking at him in real life. He threw his phone down beside him and covered his eyes with his arm.

Of course he knew that she was attracted to him. Judging by the number of photos she had taken of him at the rowing competition alone, there was no denying it. He actually admired that she was brave enough to send him those photos, even if it meant exposing herself to him. And now she was even so forward to say that she wanted to get to know him, even if it was so that she could do her job.

Yeong had stared death in the face so many times, sometimes literally looking down the barrel of a gun, but this was the first time he was genuinely afraid. He was afraid of what she would learn about him, but he was mostly afraid of what he would learn about himself.

"Yeong?" His eyes flew open as he heard her voice coming from his phone.

He quickly picked it up and saw that in throwing down his phone, he had accidentally hit the call button.

"Hello?" he said as he put the phone to his ear.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "Was it about my message? Was that inappropriate? I'm sorry, I was just tea--"

"No, it's not that," he hastened to reassure her, then wanted to kick himself for saying that. Did he want her to think that he enjoyed her flirting?

I dialed your number mistakenly. The words were already in his head, but instead he found himself saying, "It's hard." He winced as he realized those two words could be misconstrued.

"I know it is," he heard her sigh, "This isn't exactly your cup of tea. You're not supposed to draw attention to yourself." His eyes widened as he realized that she understood.

"Seung-a... sometimes I don't even know myself," he admitted. Somehow it was easier to talk when he wasn't seeing her smiling in front of him.

To his surprise, she giggled. "No one does! I mean, it's normal to not really know who you are," she pointed out, "Not everyone has his destiny written out for him like His Majesty."

Despite himself, he smiled, especially when he heard her say, "But listen, I'm here to help you figure it out. We'll take it one day, one post at a time. Don't worry."

He took a deep breath then said, "Okay. I'm sorry to bother you so late."

His heart skipped a beat when he heard her say, "Yeong. Call me any time. Whether or not it's about work. Just, call me."

Then she said, "It's late, you should go to bed if training is at 0500 hours. I need my beauty sleep too."

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "No need." He shut his eyes again and smacked himself on the forehead.

She laughed, "I'm glad you think so. But we still both need to get some rest." His heart pounded in his chest when he heard her lower her voice flirtatiously as she said, "Good night, Yeong."

Well, two could play at that game.

"Good night, Seung-a," he said huskily, then disconnected the call before he could hear her reply.

How was he supposed to get some sleep now?!