If tomorrow never comes || Haobin

006: Checkmate

Zhanghao stopped writing in his notebook ever since the day of the masked ball. He stopped counting how many days and weeks had passed by, because he had no clue what to do next. Imagining the end was something he had been doing for the past couple of weeks. 

No matter how he thought of it, none of it ended pretty or the way he wanted. He knew Hanbin was going to find out about the truth one day. And he knew that the prince wasn't going to look the same way at him anymore if he knew that the guard was here to assassinate him instead of making sure he was well protected.

Was. 

He didn't have any intentions of killing Hanbin. Those thoughts ended before the masked ball. Before what Ricky told him, he was already struggling to think about his death, but now, he had no idea what to do. 

Zhanghao wasn't even sure if he felt safe in the castle. He never did, but the reason was slightly different now. It wasn't just the feeling of having to hide what he used to be, but also the feeling of that his old boss might somehow turn up here and kill him. Zhanghao was never really afraid to die,

But why was he feeling afraid now?

Every time he was in his room, he checked the doors for hundred times, he looked out of the window multiple times as if there was someone and looked for his notebook underneath the closet, hoping to see it there. He hated the feeling of the need to check everything and even when he did, his mind was still a busy mess.

The library was his favorite place for a reason. Usually, no one was there, only the two girls who worked there and Hanbin. It wasn't the reason why he liked it so much though. The look of the place, the feeling it gave him was enough for him to like it more than his own bedroom he had here. 

He looked through the shelves for the nth time while his fingers were running against the spines of the books. He wasn't here to read a book or find a story to enjoy, he was just here to try to ease his mind. Zhanghao looked up and kept his eyes focused on one book. There was maybe just one thing left he still wanted to find out what it exactly meant.

It was Hanbin's flower. 

He didn't have to think for long to assume who the other person was that the flower was- used to be connected with. The guard couldn't think of anyone else but Matthew. He was the prince's best friend and lover, there was no way it could have been someone else. Especially after that one night, he was sure it was Matthew and no one else. 

A sudden noise from behind caused him to be dragged away from his thoughts. A book fell from one of the shelves. Odd, he thought, because he was sure there was no one else here but him. When he looked at the book, Zhanghao knew he had seen it before. Not because he had been here a millions of times, but because he saw it in someone's room.

He saw the book in Dongbin's room. He hadn't seen this book anywhere else but in his room. he went to the other side of the bookshelf and expected to see Dongbin there, but no one was there. Zhanghao tried to shake his thoughs away by saying that someone might have put it wrong on the shelf and that's why it fell, but when he reached out to touch the book, a weird feeling entered his body.

It was the same feeling when he touched that flower in the music room. He hesitated for a second before grabbing the book. He waited to see something in front of him, but nothing happened even though the odd feeling was getting stronger. When he opened the book, a note and a flower fell out of it.

Zhanghao placed the book on the floor and grabbed the note while also grabbing the flower. The feeling was washed away when he noticed his whole surrounding started to change. He was still in the library, but it was empty and the darkness of the night was making it hard to see who he was seeing. Looking at his hand, the note and the flower wasn't there anymore.