A month later
"Your highness." The servant bows to the prince who was waiting for him to show up.
"Are they here?" The prince asks calmly as the maids proceeded to help the prince to wear the robe.
"Yes, they are here, your highness. They have been waiting for you." The prince smiles as he quickly wears the robe before tying it by himself.
"Let's go." He spoke and walks off.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
"Woah. .this is extraordinary. .." Jimin gasps while looking at the vase and ornaments around the big hall.
"Jimin...sit down, the prince will be here soon..." Jimin's father orders him but he is in his world, astonished by the designs and structures of these beautiful pieces of ceramic.
"The prince is entering!" The guards yell as the doors open from the outside. The prince walks inside and immediately his eyes drifted to the guests in the hall.
The merchant was bowing down but he was confused because the boy wasn't beside his father. Then he looked around and saw him at the corner, eyes glued to the vases and other ornaments.
"Please raise." He orders as he sits down and smiles at the boy who looked back at him and shyly lowers his head before walking back to his father and bows down quickly.
"My apologies, your highness. This boy has never been out from home much, so he gets lost in everything." The merchant explains but the prince kept staring at the boy who was hesitating to look up at the prince.
"It's okay. I am happy to see him running around. He should be running around like that than sitting at home, feeling bad for being fragile." The prince explains as he leans on to his hand.
"So, what have you got today?"
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
"Pack those with these and then-" The prince stopped when he heard some muffled sound, coming from the spot next to the merchant.
The boy was covering his mouth to stop his coughing and don't want to draw any attention to him. But once he controlled his coughing, he looked up to see the prince was already staring at him. A confused look was on the Prince's face as he frowns.
"Merchant... " The prince calls calmly as he leans back in his seat. The merchant gulps but bows down to the prince.
"Yes, your Highness.." The prince whispers something to his servant and he motions the servants to go away.
"How's your son's medication is going? " He asks after dismissing the servant. The merchant started to shake a little. The boy was worried about his father when the prince asked something so critical.
"Your Highness... Please forgive me!" The merchant immediately bows down in front of the prince who sighs.
"I had a lot of debts and I have few more to finish my debts. I used my son's medication payment to pay those debts... Please forgive me! My Lord! I have a big family to handle... " The prince sighs and the door opens, the doctor from before enters and bows to the prince before walking toward the boy.
"Well, I want to propose something to you, merchant." The prince spoke which made the merchant look up at him.
"Sure... My lord. "The prince shift in his seat before leaning on his hand with a smile.
"I want your son to live at the palace with me." The merchant was surprised by the odd proposal from the prince.
"My son...I have done the wrong, your highness! Please punish me! not my son!"The merchant cries but the prince rolled his eyes.
"I do not want him as a servant." The prince started which grabbed the merchant's attention.
"I do not need him to be my servant. I saw some potential in that boy which might be a great help to the nation but he can not serve in his fragile state and a weak body, can he?" The prince continues while throwing a question at the merchant who looked so lost in his thought.
"So, to make him worthy, I will let him stay under my care as long as he can get better by the medication by the royal doctors." The merchant stares at the prince with a grateful gaze.
"And do not worry about the allowance which I was sending for his medications. I will still send them because you have a big family to feed. You are a subject and a man known by the royals, that's the least I can do for my people." The merchant went in for a full-on bow mode as he kept his head down even though the prince told him not to.
"Your highness...how kind and great you are! Truly! No other clan was so nice as yours, your highness!"He wipes his eyes and smiles at the prince.
"So, what is your answer, merchant?" The prince asks in amusement while the boy gets treatment from the doctor.
"Your highness, I have no complaints about your proposal but...I think my son and his mother should have a say in this." The prince nods as he permits to take the votes from the child and his mother.
"You are so kind, my Lord." The prince smiles when the boy smiles widely at the doctor who finished treating him.
The prince's heartfelt warmth from inside as the smile of the other boy wides more and almost creating a particular shape which he adores.
A crescent moon
"My lord?" The thoughts were cut off by the merchant's voice as the prince looked down at him.
"Yes?"
"We will take our leave now." He repeats himself because the prince was absent-minded at that time.
"Ah..yes. Okay, well. I'll send my men to pick him up later if he makes up his mind." The prince says while staring at the boy who walked back to his father joined him.
"Sure, my Lord. Have a nice evening." The merchant bows as well the boy too.
"You too."
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
"Haaaaaaay!" Jimin's mother gasps loudly before covering her mouth when her husband gave her the exciting news.
"The prince said that! He thinks that our Jimin has some potentiality in him!" She kept asking her husband about the same thing for like an hour now.
"Yes, dear! The prince wants to keep him under his wing! Our luck has been uplifted! He even said that he won't stop sending the amount he gave us till now!" Jimin's father kept repeating the same answer to his wife. Jimin's mother was beyond happy but then her smile fade.
"So..does that mean..we can't see him at all..." She asks being sad. Jimin notices the sudden change in his mother and his father looked worried too.
"Mother, father.." both of his parents looked up at him and he smiled at them.
"No matter what happens I won't allow the prince to stop me from meeting you both. I'll request him to let me meet you, the prince seems like a nice person, mother." Jimin assures his parents and they nod in unison.
" We have our faith in you, son." Jimin's mother strokes his cheeks. Her smile returns as Jimin smiles back at her.
"Jimin...oh boy.." Jimin's grandmother calls him from the other room. Jimin slowly slides away from his mother's touch to answer his grandmother.
"Yes, grandmother." He answers and holds her hand. She smiles and tugs something in his small hands.
"What is this, grandmother.." Jimin asked being confused and curious about it.
"It's a charm, I blessed it with my best wishes so that you can full fill what the prince desires and do well, my dear." Jimin looks down at his palm where a small charm resting and his eyes water up. He hugs his grandmother and sobs.
"I will miss you so much..." His grandmother slowly caresses his brown hair while inhaling the sweet scent around him.
"You will be coming home, right?"His grandmother asks while holding her tears. Jimin nods while hugging her as he cries.
/ / / / / / / / / / / / / /
"Are you serious, Hyung? .." the young ask while stop eating his candy floss. Jimin hums, swirling his candy floss while his younger brother; Jihyun, stares at him. His younger brother lowers his head, poking the big fluffy pink item in his hands.
"So, that means...I can't play with you anymore..." Jimin turns to his younger brother who was pouting and blinking hard. Whenever he wants to cry he blinks very fast to stop the tears to roll out. Jimin snakes his arm around his younger brother's shoulder and snuggles his nose into his fluffy hair.
"Hyung won't leave you. Hyung will come around and place with you, just wait until Hyung's body gets well, okay? Can you wait for me, Jihyunie?" Jihyun blinks before looking up, smiling widely as he can while nodding.
"I'll wait for you! Jihyun loves Hyung!" Jimin giggles at his younger brother who hugs him and they enjoyed each other's company for the last until Jimin leaves tomorrow morning.
Family is a big thing in life.
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How's the story going? I don't know but it is a little boring at first but it gets good as it goes.
Let me know if it's good or not!