𝕾𝖔𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖊//𝖂𝖊𝖓 𝕵𝖚𝖓𝖍𝖚𝖎

Chap. 5

You should have known that commoner clothing is the least impressive Junhui's fleshed for within the next couple of weeks; you almost had a heart attack when the very same man pulled you off the street and into an alley. At first, the struggle you put up causes him his left rib until the painful groan that has a distinction of something Junhui hits your ears and you gasp at your assailant.

Doubled over, Junhui breathes in and out heavily as though performing an arduous labor like pulling a wagon full of goods on his own. Upon closer inspection, you realize he'd been running when he snatched you off the street like a kidnapper which you initially thought he was; thus the elbowing and consequential feat to inhale.

"Is that," you cock your head to the side to get a final affirmation of your kidnapper and his companion, "a ladle?"

Wedged in his hand that's propped on his knee, the cooking utensil almost matches the color of his pants, resulting for you to almost miss it altogether if not for its counter parts; a chef hat perched on his head and an apron smudged with orange stains. His dark fringe pokes out from underneath the hat, matted with perspiration on his forehead.

This time, he's disguised as a cook at the royal kitchen and for some reason two guards who were doing their rounds down the hallway enters the place clacking with pots and pans and realized the young man stirring the soup closest to the door is an outsider. Thus, the ladle. If you'd scrutinize, you can almost see the vapor wafting around the air from the wooden stick from it being submerged in the pot for stirring.

"Apparently," Junhui tears the apron and hat off and discard them along with the ladle behind a crate of one of the peddlers nearby and peeks into the street, "they don't take too kindly people who aren't certified as the royal cook helper."

"How did you become a guard," impartial of the alarm still rushing through Junhui's veins, you tread forward to join society once again, "and get in trouble with your own troops a fortnight later?"

"Ah," he grins like a man who's won the lottery and maybe he does, that lottery being his impeccable escape mechanism, "I never said I was one ─"

A swarm of guards hurry past you as Junhui pulls you back into the dark. The clacking of sheath against belt is drowned out by a rapid dub-dub-dub right next to your ear, echoing through your bones as your own heart mimics its fastened pace as though you're running a marathon, burning your ears and neck with a sort of warmth that no amount of sitting by the hearth can alight.

You're not sure how many guards are there as it is hard to tell from the commotion but it feels like an eternity until the whole of them pass through. With every shout of order, you begin to stomach the consequences of being found with the kingdom's most wanted and judging from the calls, the crown must want him badly if he was along with the chase; your family, your sister and her newly wedded husband, your servants, they will all have to face the wrath of plotting against the royal family.

"Quickly men!"

"This way!"

"Your highness!"

"Did you check over there?" A ragged voice asks as the footfalls fall out of hearing but you are far from safe as a prominent clink, clink, clink approach the spot where you press yourself into Junhui subconsciously, wishing for both of you to melt through the wall, "Sir, have you seen a young man pass through here? He looked like a cook?"

The peddler replied with a negative answer only to have the guards move on to the other stall, the one closest to the alleyway. Taking a deep breath, you lift your head up, meeting Junhui's pleading eyes to not to as he interprets your intention but you crane your neck anyway, peering over the line of sunlight that hits the tip of his shoulder.

You barely manage to avoid drawing one of the screaming coat's attention to where you are when you abruptly fall back into Junhui as one of them turns towards you.

"Where could the crown prince have run off to..."

You think you almost combust with a myriad of emotions coursing in your bloodstreams as the seconds tick by ever so slowly before the footfalls no longer sound like they're a hair's breadth away from you and gradually disappear, their last words holding none of your attention for all the tension lifted off the air has taken you to cloud nine.

"They're gone," you breathe in relief before your mind can even register your bodily response and it takes another heartbeat for the fact to sink in and when it does, you can't help peering up at the person who shares your rapid heartbeat ; though he is the main reason your heart almost leaped right out of your throat, "Junhui, they left!"

The realization that you'd addressed him without formality barely misses you but the set of pearly whites illuminating the entire passage as he matches your lifted lips and a first string of laughter escapes him, is what reminds you of your mistake. The vibration of his chortle seeps into you, bringing about yet another concern; your close proximity to him. Your hands, balled from the nerves, are pressed on his chest as are your arms; the latter being the only wall from having you be chest-to-chest with him. If he hadn't noticed the eyeful of your cleavage that almost seem to pop out of the front of your gown with your back curved into him, he must now as he studies the dawning of your positions on your expression.

As though reading your thoughts, Junhui's eyes sweep down for half a heartbeat before they meet yours again. The arms that have been wrapped around your waist slackens but does not leave as his Adam's apple bobs up and down as he swallows.

And in that moment, you don't think you can pass this off as a dream even if you tried convincing yourself because Junhui is leaning down and swipe the tip of his tongue over his lips. You can feel his breath fanning your skin as he hovers over your mouth, hesitantly, shyly, so very unlike Junhui but then again, it is verily Junhui of him to wait for you.

Your fingers tremble as they grasp a handful of the front of his shirt for extra purchase, so that you know he's here and he wishes for this as much as you do. Your stomach is a mess of flips as tilt your head up and cover your lips with his. Junhui's mouth is softer than what they look, sweeter than the honey flecks in his eyes. They begin to move yet you're a frozen statue, waiting, waiting, waiting for who-knows-what to smack you in the head and tell you what to do next because you're so new to this.

Junhui's hand lands on yours for a second before it traces down your elbow, ascend your shoulder and then he is thumbing your jawline, easing you into mirroring the movements of his own lips. You're kissing him back and it's all too surreal for only five minutes ago, your lives were hanging on the chances of the guards finding you.

"My lady, ___?" Your maid's voice is heard from somewhere in the streets; in the process of admiring a bracelet from the stalls, you'd be whisked away from her by Junhui and with your life on the line, you'd completely forgotten her.

Breaking the kiss, you cement your fists on Junhui's chest and receive a soft whine when his chase for your lips is stopped. You have half a mind to kiss him again but another call from your clueless maid, you're stepping out of the shadows, looking over just once at the hand that's holding yours until it lets your slip into the sunshine.