૮₍ ˃ ⤙ ˂ ₎ა
./づᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘♡ chapter twelve
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
k
avin
“Prince Thyme, please calm down. Klaharn is only eight years old. Please understand him.” I whispered to the man next to me, who was having an eye to eye battle with a child. They both had bad blood, but only for one meeting. I can’t believe it. We’re now at our temporary house, and I took Klaharn with us.
“Khun Thyme, Khun Kavin! Let’s have dinner now!” We heard Maggie from the outside, I almost forgot that we were going to eat at the chief villager's house.
“Thyme is heading out now. Wait for a moment, Maggie!”
“What do you mean?”
“You can head out first, Prince Thyme, I need to take a bath first. I will come with Klaharn later.” I didn’t wait for his answer and told Klaharn to wait for me. I quickly took a half bath because the water here was so cold. Unlike in the palace, where there's a bathtub and warm water, there’s only a scooper for water and a big drum here. The most challenging thing here is how you can tolerate the wind that keeps blowing since the shower room here is an open area. Despite some inconveniences here, I find it more interesting to live here than in the boring, cold four walls of the Korean palace. Then, while hanging up my wet clothes, I heard something fall to the ground—the jade ring! I was planning to give this to Jandi that night. I suddenly felt a sting of pain in my chest while looking at the ring that was supposed to be on her finger right now.
“What are you doing?” I was surprised by the sudden appearance of the second prince, so I just hid the ring in my palm. Good thing, I’m already wearing my clothes.
“You've been quiet for a long time. The kid is hungry, and so am I. Hurry up.” What’s with him? I told him to go out first.
“My apologies, Your Highness. Let’s go out now.” In the end, I put the ring in one of my pockets and followed Klaharn to the village chief’s house. It's a little farther than I expected, and since it rained the last time, I have to help the second prince. But he just always rejected my kind help, so picky!
"Woah, is there a feast today?" That was the first thing I said after seeing the table with many different dishes on it.
"Don't mind it, Khun, and just sit here." Klaharn sat on his side.
“Dr. Akk, I thought you would be at school for the whole day.” He pointed to the empty chair on his other side, so I unconsciously walked and sat beside him.
"Madame Gawao is really generous, you know what, Khun, he also made a feast for me when I just came here." A man in his 40s came from the kitchen with a dish.
"Here is the last dish. Feel at home and eat this." He may look masculine, but his voice shows femininity and kindness. I already like him, and we give him wai in appreciation for his generosity.
"This will help you to regain your energy, I heard you did your laundry today, my father cooks the best." Madame Gawao smiled at the compliment he heard.
“What are you saying, I’m the one who did the laundry.” I didn’t realize that Prince Thyme was already sitting in front of me, aggressively biting the meat on his hand while giving me a deadly glare. Seriously, his mood swings are so hard to predict.
“Just eat, kids.” Madame Gawao just laughed at us.
“Try this, khun. This is my father’s specialty.”
I took a bite of a vegetable dish, Dr. Akk didn't lie. Even though it's a vegetable dish, it's yummy! I gave a thumbs up sign to Dr. Akk is a sign that I agree with his statement, which makes him have a proud expression. Then I realized that I have a boss to serve who's giving me a dark aura on the other side of the table.
"Thyme, you like this kind of dish, don't you? Try this." I fill his empty plate and gesture for him to finish it all.
“Klaharn, eat this one too.”
After the village chief gave us a full meal, we thanked him and promised that we would visit him often. Then Dr. Akk and Maggie voluntarily tour us around the area so we can also meet the people in this village. The kids are quite shy at first, but eventually, they become willing to play with us here on the seashore. I’m happy to see them with Klaharn. Dr. Akk and Maggie are quite popular with them, maybe because they also teach students how to use personal care and first aid kits.
"P'Win, is he okay?" Ink pointed to the man sitting on a big stone. I forgot about him again, so I told Ink to play with others.
"Your Highness, why are you sitting here alone?" He snapped at me and ignored my presence.
"Your Highness, isn't this a good opportunity to socialize with other people other than elite and powerful officials?"
"Shut up, you don't know what you're saying."
"You know what? My dream is to go to the beach. I love to see a sunset like that. It's so warm and calm to watch." Ren and Sangwo even promised me that they would sneak me out to the palace to go to the beach with me. Who would think I would come here first with this crazy second prince?
"You must have a boring life."
"You can say that, but luckily Ren is always there to accompany me—" I made the wrong move by bringing up his name. A dead silence occurred after that moment.
"I'm–”
“Ren must be too good to treat his servant like his own friend, what an idiot. People always take advantage of him because of his kindness, but look what happened to him because of you. Well, he deserves that.” I was too stunned to speak at first.
“Your Highness, you shouldn’t talk about the crown prince like that!”
“Why, I’m just stating the facts. I hope he will never wake up.” Something triggered my anger, and I forgot who he was and just punched him in the face. He quickly grabbed my shirt and punched me back.
“Khun, what are you two doing?! The kids can see you!” Maggie and Doc Akk came to us to refrain from more physical pain.
“How can you say that to your own brother? Ren loves you so much. He cares for you! I know it’s my fault for putting him into a coma, and I’m really sorry for your family for that, but don’t you dare speak to him like that!” I freed myself from Doc Akk’s embrace, “Your right, Ren is too kind that he doesn't deserve having an immature and self-centered brother like you!” I walked out into the scene while my tears kept falling in my face. I’m really disappointed with him, I never thought there would be anything worse in his attitude.
After walking alone on the other side of the island, I gradually felt that someone was following me. Right after I turned around, he was already offering his handkerchief.
“I’m sorry about that, Doc. I already couldn’t think straight earlier and caused a scene in front of the kids.” I sat in the fine sand and wiped my tears. He also did the same.
“It’s okay, are you calm now?” I deeply inhaled and exhaled, then gave him a small smile.
“Hmm, thanks to you.”
“Don’t worry, it will take time, no matter what happened between the two of you in the past. You know what, I remember the son of the village chief.” I feel relieved that, after they heard the serious topic on which Thyme and I were fighting, Doc Akk never asked or judged me.
“What do you mean, Doc?”
“There’s no time we didn't fight every time we saw each other.” He even laughs when he reminisces about his past.
"Aren't you the village chief's son?"
"Kind of." Then he went forward to whisper into my ears, "I am the village chief's son's boyfriend." Then we both laughed.
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
thank you for support and reading!
always keeep saafee ♡