“Why don’t we settle in the living room and talk, it would be better, right hyung?” Hoseok tried to steer the conversation towards clearer waters.
Yoongi, understanding the clue, replied promptly, “Yeah, right. Let’s go in. Shall we, your majesty?”
“No need for honorifics hyungie, we are outside the palace. And nice home, Mr Kim and Mr Jung. Your taste in decor is very refined, I must say. Just like the aura you both fine men give out.”
The couple blushed at the compliment, while the scientist scowled, Yoongi was shaking his head and Jimin? Well, Jimin on the other hand just muttered, “Smooth fucker!”
All of them settled down in the living area. Jin himself served everyone the lemonade he made, fetching compliments left and right for his looks, house, and the drink. All of them were just trying to make small talk while Taehyung was getting impatient with every passing second. He didn't want to know what kind of products Attn. Min’s husband has endorsed, he didn't care about the funny stories Hoseok and Yoongi kept laughing about. He didn't care if the sweet talker called the prince was trying to impress his hyungs by sliding sugar coated compliments here and there. (Well, he did care about the last part as he was a jelly-bean, but he wouldn’t like to admit that!)
So the nervous wreck kept on nudging Jin by pinching his arms once in a while, but got smashed by the elder everytime. So he just kept fidgeting, which didn’t go unnoticed by the prince. He was endeared by the interaction of these two brothers. It made him miss his own sister. Though they were twins, he knew Joana always behaved like she was the elder one. Though they never bickered like the two siblings he was observing in the past few minutes, he could sense the love behind that. It made a lump form in his throat, but he somehow managed to swallow it down with a gentle smile.
"Hyung, he looks exactly like Dr Jo!" The scientist commented absentmindedly. Meaning to whisper it in Jin's ear but it didn't come off as silently as he planned.
"Of course I look like her! We are identical twins!" Jungkook commented back which made the scientist get into a fit of ecstatic giggles. Which sounded like melody to the prince, but that's not the point. Everyone looked confused. So the scientist tried to explain,
"Clearly, she had the intelligence and he, the muscles!"
"What do you mean by that?" The prince questioned, frowning.
"What I mean is, you both are not identical twins. If that was the case you both would have been of the same biologically assigned gender. You see, monozygotic or maternal twins are called identical. Because they share the same genetic makeup as they are split from the same zygote or fertilised egg, at an early embryonic stage. Thus they also carry same assigned sex, predetermined by the fusion of parental chromosomes. But you both are clearly dizygotic or fraternal twins, two separate eggs, fertilised by two separate sperms. Making you no-more identical than any siblings born at different points of time, to the same set of parents. And it looks like she had more dominant genes of intelligence and you got, well, the physical aspects of attractiveness. It's common for twins to have 2 different sets of dominantly evolved abilities. So I don't blame you for having an average intelligence. By the way, you could have fooled me for having a below average intelligence by showing an oblivious reaction to basic scientific terms, but your linguistic skills and social tactics say otherwise."
The prince is beyond surprised by a sudden science lesson which kind of sounded like an insult but decides to keep quiet. As a matter of fact, he didn't get half of what the other had said and well, the pretty scientist did in fact call him physically attractive. Which did go unnoticed by some smart people in the room.
Hoseok, who was observing his would-be brother-in-law spilling unnecessary scientific information, took mercy on the scientist and changed the subject.
"Why don't we start with our lunch? Seokjin especially made his signature dishes. I can dare to claim, if he wasn't an actor, all the chefs in the world would have had their jobs on the line."
"Ah… really? Yoon, be alert then. I can't wait to try the food. And if I like it more than yours, I might stay here forever." Jimin joked.
"Let's see about that pumpkin. So Kook, shall we start?" Yoongi nudged the still silent prince.
“Hyung, I know for the public's eyes we are here for a casual lunch, but let’s address the elephant in the room first. Let's talk about the custody issue before anything. I'll be very honest with you all and say that I have no intention to claim the child's rights which I am not even sure is conceived yet. But due to my grandmother, Her highness, the Queen herself; I have to jump in. She has given me an ultimatum that if I don't win the custody battle, I might lose my royal rights and inheritance. Which I love so much by the way. So even if I have no interest in it, I have to participate in this fight. So please pardon me for whatever is about to happen. Dr Kim, I don't know much about you or your parenting, but I must admit that you have got a wonderful family here and would be able to give the baby everything that it might need."
The prince said, giving a gentle smile to the couple hosting them. Which reflected on their faces as well, forming gentle curves of lips. Then the prince turned to the scientist, continuing his talk,
"But unfortunately my say in this will not be weighed upon. So unless we could find some middle ground, my hands are tied. I might sound like a cruel person here but the best thing I can hope right now would be that this IVF trial doesn't work out and you sign up for another donor. It would save all of us from the misery this situation has bestowed upon us."
This made the scientist frown.
"But I don't want another donor. I selected Dr Jo for a reason. I wanted my progeny to have intelligent genes. It's proven by research that children inherit intelligence from their mothers. And Dr Jo was ideal for that. She was not just as intelligent as me, but also had no major genetical anomalies , had healthy parents with no major hereditary health conditions, had acquired adequate social skills, had no major psychological traumas, and even physically, she was very healthy. We both together are the textbook definition of alpha male and female. There's a very significant chance that the combination of our dominant genes could give birth to a superhuman. Why do you want me to sacrifice being a significant or rather the causing factor of a huge Evolutionary milestone?"
The prince kept fishmouthing for a minute after listening to the scientist's reasoning. He had to collect himself, before he exasperated, "Is he for real right now? He talks of it as if it's an experiment of some kind! That's your child you're talking about. Not an achievement or experiment. What is wrong with him? I think you should definitely get him checked."
The hyungs gave apologetic looks to the prince, before Seokjin started explaining.
"I am sorry for this. Just please know, he means well. He just can't speak for himself well. Actually he is not at fault for this. It's my parents. We had a high achieving household. They always expected him to win. He already had a rough childhood in an orphanage. No social interaction at all. And he was almost 10 years old when my parents adopted him. My father is a high functioning narcissist; and mom, well, she was no better. I was not the ideal son according to them, academically I was just average. So they ended up pressuring him instead. But Taehyung is a good person, he would also be a good parent. He just doesn't know how to express emotionally. He has no experience with society. His only family or friends are me and Hoseok. This is the only way he has seen parents behave. And I suppose I lacked to give him the exposure he needed too. I will try to train him better. Help him raise the child even."
The last of his sentences came out of regret. He didn't know why he was justifying Taehyung's behavior to the prince. But he didn't want people to perceive Taehyung to be an emotionless android.
When he pestered his parents for adopting this highly intelligent but orphan kid from his school, that he had been saving a lot lately from the bullies; he never expected his parents would turn this child into a prestige earning machine. They indeed gave him the best chance to education, but snatched away his every chance to grow socially, emotionally. They always treated him like sponsors and expected him to fulfill their expectations. So naturally parenting was left in the hands of Jin, who was just a year or two older.
"Hyung, why are you blaming yourself? It's not your fault I am weird. I will do better, for you." Taehyung said with a pout, eyes almost wet. He might have been the pain in Jin's unholy body parts, but he loved his hyung. It was safe to say he was his everything. He did not want him to blame himself for the things he wasn't responsible for. He had already done enough. Hr might not show it often but Taehyung loved Jin, more than anything.
The prince saw Jin pull Taehyung close gently, just like Jo would pull him in. This made the prince calm down a bit. He didn't want to come off as offensive, but somewhere down the line, he didn't want his sister's child to be used as a trophy. He didn't know how to handle this situation, so he looked to his hyungs for help. Understanding his dilemma, Jimin readily dived into the conversation, to rescue.
"Seokjin-ssi, Taehyung-ssi, I apologise on behalf of Jungkook. He didn't mean to offend as well. It's just that, no matter what he claims, he would still care if that child is part his sister. I hope you understand his protectiveness, and do not misjudge it as an insult. He is a good guy too."
Yoongi smiled at the two elders trying to side with their younger brothers, who of whom were not bound to them by blood, but love. He tried to bring the mood back up again and said,
"Look at you two hyungs bonding over defending your dongsaengs! I believe we do have a common ground here. We all care for our families, love them. So no matter what, even if the baby is born, they would be surrounded by loving people. No matter who gets custody. But I just hope we are able to find a fair solution."
"Absolutely hyung. After listening to everything I have a feeling we all need to come up with some out of the box solution, because the legal battle seems to be a losing end for everyone. I am glad we were able to meet unofficially, and not in a courthouse. The only thing we can do till then is to wait for the surrogate's results."
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