A high end restaurant in Seoul,
Hoseok was waiting for the other party’s client restlessly. The thing is Taehyung's office got a call from the 'Royal Palace' about the contract; the same contract he and Taehyung were so desperately waiting for. Apparently the ‘egg-donor’ was somehow related to 'the royals' and they wanted to ‘discuss the contract well with him before submitting it’ as a royal protocol. He was skeptical about the authenticity of the message which was delivered to him, but he still managed to reach there on time.
He ordered himself a coffee to kill the time while he worked, waiting for the other party’s lawyer to reach out. He was already given a table number, where he was supposed to be waiting. It was almost the time for the meeting, so he switched his tablet off, on which he was working. Glancing around him, he saw a familiar figure walking towards the private area he was seated in.
Draped in the finest suit, with his longish, silky locks flowing over his nape, there he was. Min Yoongi, his high school crush, walking with his full confident glory. Hoseok couldn’t help but feel a little swooned over his confident strides. But he composed himself before Yoongi could sense his presence. Hoseok got out of his seat out of respect and walked towards the elder to greet him,
"What are the chances to meet attorney Min the Great Yoongi himself after 12 years! Hyung, hope you recognise me."
"Attorney Jung Hoseok, are you calling me old, buddy? Hell no!" Yoongi retorted, before bro hugging Hoseok.
"Whoa… you actually do remember! Can't believe it's been ages since we met, and my role model senior recognised me in seconds. How are you hyung?" Hoseok asked.
Yoongi jokingly replied, "Apart from being called old by you and my husband, I am doing perfectly fine. How about you? "
"Wait! What? Husband? You got married ? That too with a man? I never saw that coming!" Hoseok was definitely shocked.
"Why? You sound disappointed! Are you secretly homophobic or something Hoba?" Yoongi asked cautiously.
"Well definitely not. Because one, we don't live in the stone age and two, I am happily engaged to a gorgeous man myself." Hoseok explained proudly.
"Then why the disappointed tone? Did you have a crush or something on me Hoseok-ah?" Yoongi said smugly.
"Hyung, let's not. That was ages ago. And I really thought you were straight. But look at us now, being all loyally committed."
"To two different but gorgeous people. My Jimin-ah too is a piece of art. To be honest, he is the reason I came to know I could love someone of my own gender. Anyway, what brings you here? Last time I heard you were practicing in Daegu."
"Oh yes, I was there. I was there for my fiancé's ancestral property dispute case against the real estate tycoon "
"You are marrying into Kim Soekjin's family? That's how I learned about the case. It was quite a buzz in the media."
"Hah… yes I am marrying in that family, I am marrying the said Kim Seokjin himself by the way!" Hoseok informed, chuckling!
"Way to go Hoba! For a closeted teenager like yourself, I would say you won a lottery. Jimin-ah keeps talking about how jealous he is of his acting skills and looks, all the time! Well it is mostly the looks, but I didn't tell you that!" Yoongi joked, winking.
Hoseok responded with a joke of his own. "Oh well, I wouldn't disagree with that. More like, I wouldn't dare to. As I would be sentenced for life, if I did so. But you didn't hear it from me. Nope!"
They both shared a hearty laugh, before Yoongi asked again.
"So are you waiting for someone to join? I mean this is an odd hour for lunch, so…"
"Oh no no, I am here for a meeting. I was waiting for a 'royal representative' to meet up for my brother-in-law's, Seokjin's brother's surrogacy case. People think they can fool anyone who is a bit naive. It's almost time for the meeting, and no one is here. They might have gotten cold feet when he told them his lawyer would attend the meeting. What a sham!" Hoseok chuckled
"What do you mean by sham? What exactly happened?" Yoongi asked with a very composed tone.
"Well, I shouldn't be sharing this, but I trust you hyung. You might even be able to give me a few suggestions in this case. It's a long story, but I'll make it quick. So Jin's brother Taehyung is a well known scientist. He wanted to have a child. He is not into dating or relationships, so he went in for surrogacy."
"Well, is there already a surrogate involved?"
"Yes and no. The issue is not with the surrogate though…” Hoseok briefly described the whole situation to Yoongi, very honestly. He trusted Yoongi, and believed that Yoongi would offer him some insight.
“... I guess now the donor wants to play coy and use that against him to get the money out of him which she graciously denied wanting while donating. So the whole 'royal facade'. I don’t think there is any royal connection here, she just wants to play my socially naive brother-in-law. She knew he was desperate, so she waited till he actually used the samples and now wants to chip in. Now she will use this ‘royal’ card and is trying to manipulate or threaten him into doing what she wants.”
“I don’t think it is a scam Hoba.” Yoongi said tentatively.
“Why? What do you mean hyung?”
“Because I am the ‘royal representative’ you were supposed to meet and the ‘egg-donor’ you are talking about is nobody else but the crowned princess, Jeon Joana.”
Hoseok was beyond shocked, “Wait.. what? How is it possible hyung? The crowned princess is ....”
“Yeah… She is no more and that’s the reason you did not get any response from her as she died a few days after she made the donation, and could not get any of your mail ….”
“Oh…”
XXXXX
Royal Palace, Queen Joana’s Chember:
“So you want me to claim the child? The one we are not even sure is conceived yet?” Jungkook asked, being utterly confused.
The queen replied with the exact opposite demeanor, “Yes, you heard that right.”
“And what do I do with that child?”
“Parent them, of course, My prince.”
“Parent them? With all due respect, my queen; but I would like to talk to my grandmother right now.” Jungkook requested.
“Okay go ahead Kookie…”
“Grandma, respectfully, are you out of your mind? You want me, Jeon Jungkook, to parent someone else’s child?”
“Kookie, don’t give me that sass. It is your sister’s child we are talking about. Your twin’s child.” Grandma Jeon tried tempting the younger, knowing well how much he loved his sister.
“No grandma, It is that Dr. Kim’s child. Jo willfully donated those eggs and we don't have any claim over that. She already signed the contract.” Jungkook desperately tried convincing the elder. Too afraid to even think about being near a baby.
“The contract has not been submitted yet. If we deny her having signed it, we can take him to court. We can easily get custody of the baby, considering our stature, instead of that unknown, random person. He is not on insta, not even twitter. How can you even judge him to be a good parent to our Jo's child, Kookie?" The queen asked.
"Since when being on social media started being a parameter of being a good parent? And besides he seems intelligent like Jo, they were colleagues. Jo wouldn't have agreed if he wasn't a good person. So I think we should leave it be, Grandma."
"Okay."
"Really? You agreed with me just like that?" The prince was surprised.
The queen calmly stated, "Yes, as your grandmother, I did! You made a good point, right there..."
"Why do I see a 'but' coming?"
"Because you are smart, my prince. As a queen I cannot ignore a royal blood being born and raised without any elder royal being around. So, your queen commands you to fight whichever way possible to get that child's custody or else your royal rights and pension would be revoked." The queen roared.
The prince could not help but whine, "You what? This is not fair, grandmother. You know how much I love money and royal privileges!"
"Oh I know that. And that is why I also know you will have no other choice but to do what I asked you to do!" The queen smiled with a wicked glint in her eyes.
"You are an evil queen!"
"Oh well, I better make good use of it then!" The queen winked. And the younger royal just rolled his eyes.
XXXXX
"How could you not know your donor was no-one else but the crowned princess Joana?" Hoseok yelled, pacing back and forth in his penthouse.
"Because she never told me that?" Taehyung was still very confused.
"I know you hate social media but at least you could have known who she was if you used it. Also I see them on the news all the time Tae, how could you never catch a glimpse? " It was Jin's turn yelling.
"Maybe because I don't pay attention to the random things you watch on that idiot box. And what social media? It's just a waste of time." Tae deadpanned.
"And what do you even do with the time you save?" Jin retorted back.
"I use it in my lab. Read and write good research." Tae said proudly.
"Lab, right! Lab! The day she died, wasn't there a commotion in your office? Didn't people tell you about her death? They must have known her identity." Hoseok asked.
"First of all no one dares to waste my time on irrelevant gossip and I hardly have ever talked to anyone there apart from work related issues. Also, Dr Jo never came to work without a mask. She only took it off when it would be only two of us, in my lab. She even had a special ID without her picture on it. It only mentioned her first name, 'Dr Jo', and her designation." Tae tried to remember the ignored fact about Dr Jo.
"And you never questioned why?" Jin asked, being shocked beyond limits.
"NO. She never questioned me about why I used a prison grade lock for my lab entrance. We both never judged each other. That is why she was the only one I talked to and who was allowed to enter my lab."
Jin and Hoseok both gave each other a knowing look, before Tae continued.
"Anyway what do we do now hyung? We cannot just let them claim the fetus. It is my progeny. Can we take them to court?"
"I don't know Tae, everything changes when the word 'royal' is added before it. But the silver lining is, their legal advisor is a good friend of mine. He has promised to find a middle ground, but for that we need to have a personal meeting with the crowned prince, the queen has appointed him as incharge of this case. Let's see how that goes." Hoseok tries to pacify the scientist.
But Taehyung was not ready to take it. He took a deep breath and promised,
"I don't care what the prince says or thinks, hyung. One thing he should be assured of, I am not giving up without a fight."