Royally Yours ✓

36| before the wedding

   "mum," hoseok dreaded hearing weisoo say that word. she was not his mother, but his. he couldn't bring himself to say anything, but his blood boiled whenever weisoo addressed him or his mother as someone close to him—as his family. call him bitter, but he wanted weisoo to know his boundaries... even though he knew he sounded ridiculous. "what're you doing here? you're not supposed to exhaust yourself... the doctor said—"

   "quiet." she demanded harshly, making everyone's jaw drop. hoseok took a quick look around the room: it was just him, seokjin, weisoo, daeho, his mother and several of her bodyguards—and for some reason so were the servants including jimin. he then looked back at her to see her staring straight towards him, brows frowning deep and eyes wide. he blinked, puzzled, yet quiet.

   "can you-can you at least tell us what's going on?" weisoo asked calmly. hoseok was speechless. his mother wasn't harsh on weisoo, never was... what happened now? weisoo was obviously shaken a little, but all in all composed as she turned her gaze towards him, her anger unrelenting.

"you want me to tell you?" hoseok spotted a vein appearing vividly on her forehead. this wasn't good, neither for his future safety or her health.

however, before he could voice his concerns, something harsh and thin struck his shoulder. it took him by surprise, causing him to gasp, lose his balance and fall until he crouched on one knee. he looked up at his mother in shock, seeing her glare. what was going on?

¥¥¥

namjoon woke up to an empty side of the bed. taehyung wasn't there beside him. he gazed at his phone, and outstretched a hand to pick it up. he unlocked it and looked at the time: 10:34 am. oh... he was late. he stretched, and sat up, realizing that now he had to go and alert the people who were supposed to help him get ready, that he woke up late.

but it was strange that no one woke him up—jimin promised he'd be his personal alarm.

   he got into his casual clothes, and headed towards breakfast to see that everyone was there... except for chaeyoung. strange, the woman promised to be here in the castle first thing in the morning. namjoon blinked, and padded towards the grand dining table, and sat in his spot beside taehyung.

   no one spared him a glance except for hoseok. "how did you sleep?" he asked, leaning forward to pat namjoon's hand in front of him (granted it took him to lean forward some distance). namjoon frowned in confusion, but didn't comment on hoseok's behavior.

   he nodded and dug in, because apparently no one waited for him to eat. "well. you?" he asked. hoseok responded the same before taking a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. usually namjoon would mentally laugh at the comical sight of a prince eating cereal, but he couldn't even bring himself to do it from the tension in the room... no one else spoke to him. why?

   he glanced at taehyung beside him. he was writing something in his book and was occasionally eating. weisoo kept playing with his food while daeho ate silently. the servants didn't even greet him as he walked in, and whoever glanced at him immediately looked away.

   what was going on?

the problem was not at breakfast though, it was after it, nearing noon when he was supposed to get ready. he and hoseok had to separate because it was apparently bad luck to see each other before the wedding or some made up stuff like this. he stayed back in his designated temporary room, with taehyung watching him as he brought his white suit out.