royal trend ° hyunho

twenty-five

Sunday, 24.07.2022

the jazz music stopped. with a clattering sound, jeongin's fork fell into the plate in front of him. the prince rose from his chair. "they are what?"

surprised by his reaction, felix blinked. "minho found him outside, and now they're in his car," he quickly clarified. "did i upset you? what's wrong?"

jeongin smoothed his expression and forced a relatively convincing smile. the years of lessons in etiquette and diplomacy should not go to waste. his voice even, he said: "no, everything's okay. when you mentioned your cousin, i thought of my brother and that i've forgotten to call him." he flashed felix another smile. "i'll be right back."

with that, he made his way toward the balcony, leaving his bodyguard to stare at his back with a frown.

as soon as he was out of sight, jeongin scrambled to unlock his phone. his finger hovered over seungmin's name in his contacts, but he did not press it. who was he supposed to call? if he told seungmin who hyunjin was with, the bodyguard would definitely alert the secret service, and felix would figure out that jeongin was involved. 

well, felix was going to find out who sam hwang actually was soon anyways, so this was not that much of a problem. if lee minho learned who his crush was before friday, though, it would not be good. furthermore, jeongin did not want felix's cousin to be grilled by secret service agents. this situation was all hyunjin's fault, not minho's. 

the prince groaned in frustration and dialed hyunjin's number. maybe he could persuade that idiot to stop gallivanting around. 

"go home immediately," jeongin ordered as soon as the beeping ceased. "do you know–"

"it's me, your highness," hyunjin's driver interrupted. "your brother left his phone in the car." after a moment of silence, he asked: "how come you know he's missing, though?"

shit. jeongin bit his lip. he wanted to strangle hyunjin so badly. then he would go down in history as the prince who committed fratricide, but who cared? the benefit outweighed the cost. 

"your highness? is there something you want to tell me?" the driver's voice was knowing. 

resigned, jeongin said: "can you keep a secret?" this was partially a useless question. everyone knew that crowned prince hwang hyunjin's driver could keep secrets.

he could almost hear the driver's pleased smile. "of course, your highness. haven't your brother told you? i'm the best secret keeper around."

"hyunjin's with a guy," the prince went straight to the point. "i don't know where, but i know who the guy is."

"got it." 

it struck jeongin as interesting that the driver was not even a little surprised by his statement, but such questions could wait. "can you find them, please? without telling the secret service. just bring hyunjin back quietly. the guy's name is minho. lee minho." 

after a moment of contemplative silence, the driver replied: "sure. i still have a friend or two in the nis who might help. lee minho the dancer?"

"yes."

"excellent, your highness. you're so helpful. i'll call you back as soon as i know his whereabouts."

jeongin breathed out a sigh of relief. "thank you, hyung." he ended the call. 

♔

just below the balcony, felix was leaning out of the window of the restaurant's restroom, his forehead creased. he had not meant to eavesdrop on jeongin's conversation, but the phrase "hyunjin's with a guy," if he had heard it correctly, had made him turn off the sink and strain his ears to hear more. royal gossip!

the noise of the street below had drowned out most of what jeongin had been saying. what felix managed to catch, though, both confused and intrigued him. it was something about finding the prince and his guy, and about the secret service. 

had jeongin not told him that he would call his brother, though? the person whom he had actually called was definitely not hyunjin.  

felix's thoughts went back to jeongin's weird reaction to his words, and his frown deepened. what was jeongin hiding?

a/n:

royal gossip. :)