The SelecTXTion

Chapter 29

"He missed the summer days that seemed not so long ago."

taehyun

written by: t

Taehyun sat at his desk furiously typing on his typewriter. He needed to have this spreadsheet ready for his meeting at 11:00, but he had completely forgotten about it. He scribbled notes from last week's meeting in his notebook. Finished.

It was 10:55, and he needed to be in the meeting room as soon as possible. He pushed his glasses higher onto his face, quickly gathered his notebooks, stray papers, and pens, and hurried off to the meeting room. His dad would be disappointed in him if he was late, so he ran down the hallways of the palace. Taehyun got to the meeting room with a minute to spare.

Taehyun bowed to King Jaesung as he entered the room. He took his seat next to his dad, who was the head Financial Advisor at the palace. Taehyun was training to take his position. He would one day oversee all major budgets for Illéa and work closely with Prince Yeonjun. This role had been saved for Taehyun his whole life; his dad never turned down the opportunity to brag about his son to anyone whom he met.

Taehyun straightened his tie and organized his papers as the meeting began. He tried not to stare out the window and daydream as his dad droned on about the transportation budget. Taehyun would much rather be outside snacking with Beomgyu or chatting with Maddie and Amy.

Soon enough, the meeting was over. Taehyun hurried back to his desk for his lunch break. As he approached his desk, he saw a girl sitting in his desk chair.

"Hello," he said, peeking over Amy's shoulder to see what she was doodling on his weekly planner.

"Ack!" Amy yelped. She backed up the chair, slamming right into Taehyun.

"Ouch..." Taehyun mumbled, clutching his side. His papers scattered on the floor.

"Oops, sorry," Amy apologized. She smiled at the sight of a frazzled Taehyun. She got out of the chair and helped Taehyun pick up the papers.

"What are you doing here?" Taehyun asked.

"Well, I don't have much to do, and there isn't a formal lunch planned today. So, I thought I would come visit my BFF at work," she replied, pulling up another chair to Taehyun's desk.

"Make yourself comfortable," Taehyun replied, knowing he didn't need to tell her at all. She had already started looking through the fancy stationery on his desk. She picked up an envelope and examined the gold details on the back. Taehyun grabbed his lunch from the break room and sat at his desk. Amy was drawing detailed vines and flowers on a blank piece of palace letter paper.

"Are you having fun at the palace?" Taehyun asked, taking a bite of his turkey sandwich. A tomato fell out the back of the sandwich into his lunch box.

"Mmhmm. I have another date with Prince Yeonjun soon. Can you believe it?!" she exclaimed excitedly. She played with the charm on her necklace as she spoke.

"Where are you going?" Taehyun asked. He was sure Amy had given Yeonjun plenty of extravagant date ideas.

"There is the big music festival next weekend, remember? We were going to go with Joy and a few of her friends before the whole Selection thing happened."

"Oh. I forgot about that," Taehyun said, checking his calendar. He didn't have the event written down; he never would have remembered it with all of the hustle and bustle of work. Amy would have shown up at his door, ready to go, and she would have yelled at him to get ready in less than five minutes. Taehyun could picture her rummaging through his closet, throwing whatever clothes at him that she thought would look best for the event. He would get changed, and be dragged out the door by an anxious Amy who hated being late. It wouldn't have been the first time that happened.