『JenSoo Short Stories』

Lend Me Your Hand (4/4)

"Your Highness, all I am trying to do is make sure that you know exactly who you are involving yourself with."

"And how would you know his true nature when you're too busy talking to some flirtatious follower?" Jennie bites back.

"Princess-"

"Jisoo, there you are!" A voice steals their attention, making their small fight come to a pause.

You've got to be kidding me, Jennie thinks.

"Oh, pleasure to see you here, Roseanne," Jisoo gives a slight bow and smiles at the new company. "What brings you here?"

Roseanne bows in greeting to the both of them before answering. And even though Roseanne lowers her voice, Jennie can still hear her, "Why for you, of course."

"O-Oh," Jisoo stammers out.

If they were in front of her, they would've seen Jennie roll her eyes. Thankfully, she didn't need to hear anything else as she spotted just the person she was looking for a few feet ahead of her. She stands from the bench, making Jisoo straighten up and follow her line of sight.

"Duke Hansol," Jennie greets once he's in front of them.

"Princess Jennie," the Duke takes Jennie's hand and kisses it, just like when they had first met. "I apologize for running late. I was having some-um... wardrobe issues." He lowers his voice at the next line, "I had ripped my pants when I had leaned down to pick up these flowers for you earlier." 

Jennie bursts out laughing as she takes the flowers from the Duke and brings them up to smell, "Thank you, your Grace."

"Have you eaten yet, your Highness? I can grab you some food if you're hungry?" The Duke offers and Jennie graciously accepts.

"I'm starving, a plate would be wonderful," Jennie replies and the Duke heads towards the tables of food with a promise to try and not to take too long.

"Are you hungry too, Jisoo? I haven't eaten yet, so we can get some food together if you'd like?" Jennie suddenly hears Roseanne ask.

"I appreciate the offer Miss Park, but I can't leave Princess Jennie's side," Jisoo answers courteously.

"Oh, that's alright," Roseanne says in understanding. "I'll see you later then?"

Jisoo nods and once again all that remained was the Princess and her bodyguard. After a brief moment, Jisoo appears in front of her, "Your Highness, you should have told me you were hungry, I could have gotten you something ages ago."

"What happened to not leaving my side?" Jennie perks an eyebrow.

"I-I meant we could have gone together," Jisoo hastily corrects. "You should eat when you want to and not wait for some man even if he's a Duke."

"This again?" Jennie says incredulously. "First of all, I didn't wait for him. It's just that I wasn't that hungry until now. And secondly, my goodness, I swear you can't help but mention him every five minutes. It's always 'Duke this' or 'Duke that.' What do you have against him?"

"Well, what do you have against Miss Park?"

"She- She has nothing to do with this!" Jennie can't believe Jisoo would even ask such a thing.

"Oh, I think she does, your Highness. You think I haven't noticed all of the faces you make whenever she's in the room or with us? Or how you scoff or roll your eyes at nearly everything she says? How come you're allowed to have an opinion about my friend and I can't have one about the Duke?"