The Rebel Prince by uhoh (yunjae)

Untitled Part 1

The Rebel Prince [COMPLETED]

by %uhoh%

Forewords

Chef Kim JaeJoong is just an ordinary guy, doing an ordinary job. Okay, his new boss might be a gorgeous future king, but JaeJoong's determined to stay professional.....isn't he?

As the second son, jet-setting playboy Prince Yunho of Korea never thought he would be king. But to save his country, Yunho reluctantly puts his wild days behind him. It's only when he meets shy, beautiful chef JaeJoong that he begins to learn the real meaning of duty, honor and.....love. The mischievous prince has one last act of rebellion in store. He's going to promote this common chef.....to princess!
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A/N: I decided to repost this fic and finish it for all my readers out there that I left hanging......sorry about that. Also, thanks to the lovely Zane at dreality.co.nr for my poster and background!

Chapter 1

Thank you to all who have commented on my story......I am hoping to repost the first two chapters I had up, at least, today if possible.
Anyway, hope you like........
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Jet lag.....maybe he could blame it on that.
Or maybe on the general state of simmering anger he'd been in since he'd been told life as he knew it was over and he was to submit meekly to living his brother's life instead.
That might have thrown his aim off.
Whatever.
He'd missed the shot and he'd hit the young man by mistake.
And that was when everything began to spin out of control.
Prince Yunho wasn't used to missing a shot...he had an arm like a rocker launcher and had once even been urged to join his country's Olympic water-polo team.
He'd never injured anyone with a shot before....except other players in the generally rough play of the game he loved.
But he seemed to have the reverse Midas curse these days...everything he touched went bad.
For a fraction of a heart-stopping second, he was afraid he'd killed the man.
Key, one of the young footmen who'd been playing the game of water polo with him, said as much, swimming over to the side of the indoor castle pool behind him.
"He looks like he's dead. Muerta," he added for good measure.
"He's not dead," Yunho corrected sharply, though his nerves were still jumping from that momentary fear.
Vaulting out of the pool, he kicked the still-bouncing water-polo ball out fo the way and crouched over the man, shaking away the water that dripped from his sleek body.
"Is he breathing?" Key asked with interest, climbing out of the pool as well. "Wow. He went down like a rag doll."
Yunho didn't bother answering.
The man seemed to be unconscious.
Not a good sign.
"Hello," he tried, touching the man's shoulder. "Are you all right?"
There was no response.
He put two fingers to the pulse at the man's neck, glad to find it strong, then noted his chest move.
He was breathing, but he looked so pale and vulnerable lying there in his destroyed cutoff jeans and black tank top.
Yunho wanted to gather him up and get him off the cold floor.
But he probably shouldn't move him.
Had the man hit his head on the tile?
Maybe he was in shock.
Snagging a large towel someone had hung on hte railing, Yunho draped it over him and bit back frustration.
Why the hell wasn't he moving?
And why the hell couldn't Yunho remember more of his decade-old life-saving classes?
It was obviously time to recruit someone who knew what he was doing.
"Go get the doctor," he ordered as the two others who'd been in the pool with them came up, shivering and dripping water everywhere.
"You mean Siwon?" Key asked hesitantly.
Yunho looked up at the three young men who were staring at him blankly.
"Of course I mean Siwon. Get him. Now."
The three of them looked surprised, but they jerked into action, hurrying off.
He felt a fleeting sense of satisfaction that he'd managed to conjure up a tone of command.
That was something he was going to have to do often and better if he was really going to end up as the king of Korea.....if this really wasn't just a bad dream he was going to wake up from and laugh at.
Korea.....the crazy little country that knew him as Jung Yunho, prince of Korea and second son of King Alec and Queen Ha Na, both deceased.
And now that his older brother Ji Hoon had abdicated the throne, Yunho was crown prince and heir apparent.
If he actually let them do this to him.
He looked down at the young man he'd decked and swore softly, his heart doing a quick stutter.
He HAD to be okay.
If the man was seriously injured.....
"I'm not dead," he murmured suddenly, though his eyes didn't open.
Yunho's heart lurched in relief.
He could talk.
'Thank God', Yunho said silently, but aloud he was less reverential.
"Then why are you pretending?" he asked, not really keeping the exasperation from his voice.
"I'm not pretending," the man said drowsily. "I'm resting."
Sitting back on his heels, Yunho stared at the man.
"Strange place for a sudden nap," he noted dryly.
The man opened large coal black eyes at that, eyes that widened at the sight of Yunho's bare, muscular chest, jerked up to meet his gaze, then quickly snapped shut again.
"Too much, too soon," the man muttered softly, snuggling down under the towel as if he were holding the world at bay.
His words were barely audible and Yunho frowned.
The man wasn't making any sense.
"What was that?" Yunho asked sharply.
The man didn't respond.
He was lying so still Yunho could almost believe he'd imagined him talking a moment before.
He wanted to run his hands over the man, looking for injuries, but was fairly sure he wouldn't accept that without protest.
And Yunho couldn't blame him.
After all, if he found an injury, what was he going to do about it?
Better to wait for Siwon, who was supposed to know what he was doing in this arena.
At least the man's color was returning.
He was beginning to look less like an accident victim and more like a perfectly healthy young man.
No visible signs of harm.
So why was he just lying there?
Yunho'd never seen the man before, but he assumed he worked here in the castle....and as he hadn't been around lately, he no longer knew all the stagg.
The man was beautiful.
Not Yunho's type though.
Not at all.
"Listen, you're going to have to communicate with me," he ordered firmly. "I've got to know if you're badly hurt."
The man stirred.
"Hurt?"
Opening his eyes again, he risked another quick look in Yunho's direction, his face scrunched up in bewilderment.
Then he looked around as though he'd forgotten where he was.
"Wait a minute. Where am I? What happened?"
He didn't remember?
That seemed odd.
Despite the man's claim to be resting, he'd obviously been stunned.
Yunho supposed a blow to the head could knock the memory center for a loop....but hopefully it was just temporary.
"You're at the indoor castle swimming pool where you very inconviently placed yourself in the path of a stray water-polo ball," he told the man lightly. "Next time, I advise you to duck."
The man's gaze settled on Yunho and he narrowed his eyes supiciously.
"I see," he said, his hand going to his head, probing for lumps. "And who threw this stray ball?"
Yunho ignored the sudden unaccustomed flash of guilt.
"To tell you the truth, I guess I did."
The man blinked as though trying to figure something out and Yunho realized his mind still wasn't really clear.
"Were you aiming at me?" he asked, his voice slightly slurred.
Yunho's mouth twisted.
"If I'd been aiming at you, the ball wouldn't have bounced first."
The look of bewilderment deepened and he quickly added, "No, of course I wasn't aiming at you. I was trying to shoot around a defender and the shot got away from me."
"So it was an accident."
"Of course."
The man nodded and closed his eyes again.
"Actually, it feels so good to just lie here," he murmured drowsily. "I'm so-o-o tired. I haven't slept for days."
Neither had Yunho, for that matter.
Ever since he'd been told to wrap up his affairs and head back to Korea to prepare for his own coronation, sleep had been elusive at best.
He'd flown to Chadae, the ancient city where his ancestral castle stood, only a couple of hours before.
Hitching a ride on a friend's private jet had allowed him to arrive unheralded and given him the time to unwind with a short water-polo game before facing his uncle and the rest of the council.
"What's your name?" he asked the man gruffly.
"JaeJoong. Kim JaeJoong."
He was peeking at Yunho from beneath thick eyelashes.
Yunho stared right back at him.
"Do you work here at the castle?"
"Sort of. I'm a chef. But I just arrived last night."
Key came skidding back into the pool area as he spoke adn Yunho noticed he closed his eyes more tightly instead of looking up to see what was going on.
He still seemed to want to ward off reality.
Yunho wondered what he was afraid of.
"Hey, U-Know," Key cried, calling Yunho by the nickname often used for him. He was grinning and motioning toward the scene he saw, with JaeJoong still stretched out before the prince. "This is just like Sleeping Beauty. Maybe all he needs is a kiss from...."
Yunho shot him a quelling look before he'd finished that sentence and cut him off with a demand.
"Where's the doctor?"
Key stopped short and shrugged.
"We can't find him."
Yunho thought for a moment.
"Have you checked the stables?"
"No, we-"
"Try the stables. You can call down there from the hall phone."
"Okay." Key paused, looking down at JaeJoong, then grinned and made a kissing motion, but Yunho shot him a murderous look that had him hurrying away again.
He turned back to the limp figure on the shiny tile.
JaeJoong's breathing seemed a bit shallow to him.
"Are you falling asleep?" he asked him, incredulous.
"Just a little," JaeJoong murmured softly. "I'm so sleepy. Just let me sleep."
Staring down at him, Yunho wasn't sure if he was annoyed or amused.
"I don't think you should that. You should probably keep talking."
"I don't want to talk. You talk." JaeJoong pulled the towel up around his shoulders, then opened one eye just a bit to look at Yunho. "Tell me a story," he suggested sleepily. "I'll bet you're good at that. You're the type."
Yunho looked at him sharply, wondering if the man was more aware than he'd thought.
Maybe he was being thin-skinned, but JaeJoong's comment sounded like derision to him.
"I think I resent that."
JaeJoong shrugged.
"It's a free country."
"Korea?" Yunho muttered cynically. "What gives you that idea?"
JaeJoong didn't answer but Yunho hadn't meant him to.
He had mixed feelings about his native country.
A love-hate relationship of sorts.
Korea was his home and now his legacy.
But it was also a place that had deeply damaged too many in his family....a place where his father had died under suspicious circumstances.
A place that now wanted him as king.
"When are you going to start?" JaeJoong asked.
Yunho turned, looking down at him.
"Start what?"
"Telling stories."
Yunho stared at JaeJoong, wondering if the man was always this strange or if he'd caused it.
"Do you seriously expect me to sit here and tell you stories?"
"Sure. Why not? We're in a castle, aren't we? Fairy tales would seem to be in order."
"Have you been drinking?" Yunho asked suddenly as the possibility occured to him.
"Just the cooking sherry," JaeJoong shot back, then giggled. "Only kidding. No, I haven't been drinking. But I'm feeling kind of...I don't know....kind of punchy." He gazed at Yunho through squinted eyelids. "Can getting hit on the head make you punchy?"
Yunho shrugged.
"We'll ask Siwon when he gets here. If he ever gets here."
JaeJoong frowned, shading his eyes as he looked up at Yunho.
"Who is Siwon?"
"The castle medical man."
JaeJoong winced, then yawned.
"I don't need the doctor. I just need a better place to sleep."
"And I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a good stiff drink myself before this is over," Yunho muttered. "I might even settle for the cooking sherry. I've settled for worse."
He sank back against a post and tried to get comfortable on the hard floor.
Every sound in the high-ceilinged pool area echoed against the walls, every lap of water against tile, every drip, giving the place an eerie, spooky feel.
Yunho supposed he could dispel that with the sound of his own voice, but he didn't want to do that.
There was no way in hell he was going to tell JaeJoong a story.
He might go as far as to give him a nudge with his foot if he seemed to be drifting off.
Other than that,they would wait for Siwon.