The Next Prince (ZeeNunew) [Charan&Kanin]

5.Inescapable

 "Doesn't it hurt enough to make you cry?"

"Yes..." Young Kanin tried to deceive himself with his own strength, so his voice was weak and trembling. He lowered his eyes and pursed his lips, attempting to hold back his tears. When his father showed interest and asked for forgiveness, the tears were on the verge of overflowing. 

"Dad is sorry." Tattanai's voice carried a mix of tenderness and guilt. The middle-aged man took a deep breath before gently hugging Khanin onto his lap.

"I shouldn't have taught you like that... I only thought that you had to endure it to succeed because in the future, you'll face things that are ten or a hundred times worse than this... But I forgot that you're just my little child now... I was wrong. I'm sorry, Nin."

At that time, Tattanai kept apologizing repeatedly, acknowledging and reevaluating his own teachings once again.

"From now on, if you're in pain or sad and want to cry, just cry. Remember that the bravest thing is to accept the truth, be honest with your own feelings. Crying doesn't mean you're weak or giving up; even if you shed tears, you're still a strong person because crying is a human nature."

"...But every time, I want you to separate and find the cause of the feelings, to discover what it is. Knowing your own feelings is a good thing, isn't it? Not just sadness, but I mean every feeling—happiness, love, sadness, and fear."

"..."

"Don't let anyone know these feelings better than yourself because that could lead to people with bad intentions using these things to harm you, my son... Do you understand, Nin?" 

"I understand," the little boy said to Tattanai, who responded with a relieved chuckle, reaching into his pants pocket and handing over a round, brown candy to Nin. 

"I know you want sweets, but I can't let you have too much or your teeth will rot... So you can only have this as a reward for accepting your feelings. Is that okay?" The offer came with a caramel candy placed in Nin's small hand. 

Kanin raised his head and looked at his father with hidden sadness, still haunted by the pain.

 "Father knows that you want to eat sweets, but I cannot let my little Nin eat too much because his teeth will hurt. Therefore, Nin can only eat this when it is a reward for himself. Is it good when the child can accept his own feelings like that?" The proposal came with a small candy placed in his small hand. Kanin looked up at his father with sadness still lingering as the pain from the wound continued to affect him.

"Uh." 

"Do you still want to sing?"

 The response to this question is a pause. Kanin still held back, even though tears were about to fall. 

"If you want to sing, go ahead, good kid." 

Memories of the past, even if time has passed. Kanin still remembers. He looked at the brown candy in his hand and weighed it in his heart for a moment before realizing that he could not reward himself this time. Finally, he chose to put the candy back where it was.

"Hey, hiding here without telling me? Don't you know I've been looking for you everywhere?" The call from a close friend drew Kanin out of his reverie. Paul walked in, while the other party stepped closer before raising his eyebrows slightly when surveying the face of his small friend.

"It's been a while, right?"

"I called your name three times. Is there something wrong?" Paul greeted him, and Kanin was confident that it was not because of his facial expressions, as this close friend knew his personality and behavior better than others.