Yours

Prologue

It had barely been twenty minutes since the party began and Kao was already exhausted trying to fend off a million questions. The PR team he hired did a good job of keeping the press at bay, but that didn’t stop everyone else that walked through these Palace doors from bugging him - no matter how influential they were. 

“Really? Not even a hint, K’Kao?” The Prime Minister asks.

“The ladies seem to think that it could be someone from the Saeli family,” his wife chimes in. “All the young people from that family are easily the best-looking and most well-educated. Everyone is certain that it has to be one of them. Am I right, K’Kao? You can just wink at us if it is.”

“Forgive me, Sir and Madam, but I really can’t divulge anything to anyone outside of the Royal Family.”

“Well,” the dignitary says, straightening himself up. “Stories of your loyalty aren’t famous for nothing. It was worth a shot. Thank you for your indulgence, K’Kao.”

“I guess we’ll learn at the same time as everyone else,” his wife says, the disappointment clearly seen on her face.

“It won’t be long, Madam,” the Aide smiles as warmly as he could. “Would you want me to get you some refreshments while you wait?”

“It’s quite alright, K’Kao. You must have a million things to attend to. If you’ll excuse us, I can see a few members of Parliament to say hello to. Good evening,” he says, whisking his wife to the other end of the room, leaving the Aide’s side almost as quickly as they appeared.

There really wasn’t much else to do but give the both of them a polite nod and watch them walk away. Kao releases a slow breath in an effort to calm himself down. It didn’t seem like it, but having to decline one of the most powerful men in the country made him so nervous that a bead of sweat rolled down his back. He couldn’t blame them for asking, though. Standing in the middle of the room like he was, it was almost an invitation for the curious to descend on him.

He takes a quick glance at his expensive dress watch as he reaches into his pants pocket to fish out his work phone. As usual, there were a dozen messages, but none from the person he was waiting for.

His earpiece comes to life as the garbled voice of Special Agent Suphadach comes in.

“Boss to Kao, Boss to Kao. K’Kao, target is approaching foyer entrance. I repeat, the target is approaching foyer entrance, over.”

“Roger that,” Kao responds, bringing the microphone on his cuff close to his mouth. “You really don’t need to call him ‘target’, Boss. You’re making him sound like a threat.”

“Right,” Bosston replies, his voice a bit flustered. “But we need a code name for him now too, right?”

“We do. Let’s talk about it on another day. Oh, wait, I see them. Let me alert the Prince that he’s here. Over,” Kao says, hurriedly taking his phone and calling Ohm just as he was instructed to do. The Prince answered the phone so fast that it didn’t seem like it rang at all. “Your Highness, he just stepped onto the foyer.”

“And the press?”

“He slipped right through them, Sir. It seems that they don’t have a clue.”

“Thank goodness,” the royal replies, relief dripping from his voice. “I was so worried.”

“I’ll be sure to take him upstairs as soon as I can, Sir.”

“Thank you, P’Kao.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” he says, dropping the call.

It still took some getting used to, the way that the Prince cared so much about someone else. The thought of caring about another person so fiercely was always something he had a hard time understanding, even if doing so was his literal job. This was different, he always told himself. To care for and protect the Prince was his duty as a responsible citizen, more than anything. But to be so loyal to a random person was strange. Love was strange.