૮₍ ˃ ⤙ ˂ ₎ა
./づᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘♡ chapter four
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"I... I..." What should I say to him?! Suddenly, he grabbed my arm.
"Whatever, you need to take your punishment." Punishment?
"Let him go, Thyme!" Again, I felt blessed hearing Ren from afar, and then he quickly reached our side.
"I said, let him go." Prince Thyme faced his brother while pressing harder on his grip on me.
"He escaped from the palace without notice, yet you want me to let him go?"
"It's because of me; he's just here to take me home."
"Are you kidding me? You? Breaking the palace rules?" I smirked deep inside. Thyme, you didn't know how many rules your brother had already broken. "Stop faking it; you just want to protect your people. It's useless to me." Thyme continues to drag me; that's why I panic.
"R-Re—Crown Prince Ren!"
"Thyme!" Ren also grabbed my other arm and said, "Let.Him.Go." His voice became different, and now I know why he is the eldest son because Prince Bright slightly pushed me and let my arm free.
"You? Are you siding with him over me?" Ren hid me behind him.
"Stop it, Thyme; he is innocent. If you want to punish him, I'll take all the punishment alone." He just gives me a deadly glare and walks out of our sight.
"Woah, I didn't know that even a hard-headed person like him would listen to you." Ren also let me go and faced me.
"Yi, believe it or not, no one could separate the three of us before. I think Thyme still sees me as his older brother after all."
"Then why did he become so distant and aggressive all the time?"
"I also don't know; since we entered middle school, he has become distant towards us and has always isolated himself. We already tried to approach him and talk to him, but no one succeeded."
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We both arrived safely that night, and no one knows that we escaped from the palace that night. I bet that Thyme didn't speak about it.
"Stop this nonsense and focus on your duty! How can you befriend people if you're always wasting your own time on this?" Then I heard a loud bang on the floor, and Her Majesty stormed out of the room. Who's with her? Broken glasses scattered after the loud bang. I was about to check inside, but someone had already left the room. It was the third prince, Prince MJ! When I came in to check what had happened, the floor was a mess with different paint colors. There's a canvas in the corner; it looks like someone threw this away. The painting is good; however, it is stained from the mess on the floor. It would be a waste to throw this art in the trash, so I picked it up and brought it with me.
"Your painting?" Ren followed me here on the veranda; he must finish doing his paperwork.
"I'm just fixing your brother's painting, Prince MJ."
"MJ? He's painting again?"
"Why? Actually, I saw him with Her Majesty, and it was kind of them having an argument." Ren sat beside me.
"Of course, our mother hates him for wasting his time making a masterpiece instead of doing his duty. But look, why can't she see the talent of his son? She should be proud of MJ." Hearing that from Ren makes me smile.
"You must love your brother."
"Just like how you love your sister." Right, I wonder how my sister can handle being in the palace alone. Suddenly, Ren stopped me from painting.
"Yi, can you help me again?"
"Ren! I can already read your mind. No, drop it. I don't dare to make that mistake twice." I got the brush again and painted, but then again he interrupted me.
"The last time Lita and I talked, we promised that we should meet again tonight."
"Do you want to get caught again?"
"We will be more careful this time, I promise!"
Why do I have a bad feeling about this? However, how can I turn down my friend, who's really happy about his forbidden love life.
"Thank you, Yijeong, for coming with Ren. Irin will be upset if she hears that you're here and we didn't invite her." I just gave a shy smile, and we all just raised our glasses to toast them for celebrating their anniversary. Why do I have to be their third wheel? This scene was indeed familiar to me; however, that day, I wasn't alone... I'm with Jandi.
"Yijeong-ah, don't get drunk too much. How can I explain that to His Majesty?"
"I will protect you from anyone." I hugged him in front of our friends, which caught their attention and teased us.
"Ren has never been like that to me!" Lita was also teasing his boyfriend, and Ren just flicked her forehead.
"Come on, let's cheer. Long life for the future kings and queens!" Sangwo led the toast.
"Yijeong?"
"Oh, yes?" I snapped back to reality—the reality that I still miss her.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I think I will just go outside to breathe some fresh air." I didn't wait for them to answer; I just stepped outside.
After I got outside, I went directly to the vending machine and put in enough coins to get the water. However, I suddenly feel uncomfortable, not because I'm drunk or whatever. It's just... My body trembles when someone throws and strikes a knife in the vending machine. I slowly turn around to see the culprit, but my eyes widen when I see an unknown man pointing a gun towards me.
*silent gun shot*
Instead of shooting me, someone dragged me beside the vending machine and pulled me to a safe place while the unknown man kept shooting us.
"R-Ren?" He dragged me down with him to avoid the gunshot.
"You should hide Yi; I'm going to distract him."
"Are you crazy!? What if you get shot?"
"He's targeting you, Yijeong! Just call the police, okay?" I didn't have a chance to negotiate with him because he suddenly attacked the armed man. I have no choice but to call the police and run towards the guards in the club.
"Please help; they were just here a while ago!" Seeing the evidence in the crime area, they immediately split off to search for Ren and the gunman. Where did they go? I also ran to the other side to search for them. This is a private club, and only VIP's are allowed to be here, so there are no other outsiders. But then I suddenly feel pain in my thigh, which makes me kneel on the ground. He's here!
"What do you want from me? Where is my friend?!" I put pressure on the wounded part that was shot by this person, so somehow it will stop bleeding.
"Freeze! Put down your gun!" It's a good thing the police arrived immediately, so the gunman in front of me immediately escaped. He managed to avoid the gunshots from the police.
"Are you okay, sir?"
"Did you see my friend?"
"He was immediately sent to the hospital; he's in a bad state." I can't believe this is happening. Please stay strong, Ren!
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thank you for support,
have a great night!
⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝ edited version