My Selection | JENO

Chapter 19

After dinner, there was a large amount of goodbyes as the boys who had become close friends over the few weeks were about to go their separate ways. She felt guilty as she walked past Jisung crying while Chenle held him, reassuring that they'll stay in touch and can always visit one another.

Nara felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. It was Jaemin.

"I know I'm not supposed to ask for you time but..." Nara got the message.

"I'll be in my study." Nara told him before walking away.

...

Nara kept staring at the six photos in front of her, wondering if she had made the right choice. Before she knew it, a knock came from her door and a maid opened it, revealing Jaemin.

Instinctively, the maids quickly left the room.

"What did you want to talk about?" Nara asked but Jaemin was already making large strides to her desk. He had a serious look on his face, different from his usual goofy self.

"I'll make it quick since I need to say goodbye to Cai before he leaves but whatever happened between you and Jeno has been affecting his mood." Jaemin told her.

"I don't know what you mean." Nara said, playing dumb but Jaemin saw right through it.

"Try harder, Nara. He was grumpy all day and none of us could cheer him up. He didn't even want to talk to me and I have no idea what happened. Considering the fact that you've been pretty glum all day, staying inside your study instead of going out, it's a clear sign that something happened between you two." Jaemin told her. Jaemin began to turn away but Nara quickly stood up.

"It's not my fault that he's jealous, Jaemin. I was just talking to Renjun in his room and he got upset at me. I'm trying my best here and it's not that easy to try to find love when the stake of the country is involved!" Nara didn't realize how loud her voice was becoming until it cracked at the end. She tried her best to blink back the tears as she looked away from Jaemin.

She heard a deep sigh come from his lips and soon his arms were around her, softly patting her back.

"Such a crybaby." Jaemin said as the tears began flowing down Nara's cheeks.

"I hate you." Nara mumbled back, making Jaemin chuckle.

"Don't worry, the feelings mutual." Jaemin replied before letting her go to pass her a tissue. "I'll talk to Jeno and see what I can do."

"Thank you." Nara said as Jaemin reached the door. Before he left, he turned his head to face her.

"Nara, don't stress too much. I know you already have the rest of the Selection planned and your Elite will play everything out for you. Just focus on yourself, alright."

Nara nodded and Jaemin quickly slipped out of her study, as if he had never entered in the first place.

...

Nara tried her best not to yawn as she sat with the Elite through their lesson with Heeyoung. A few days had passed since the boys had been down to six and Nara tried her best to attend their lesson with them.

Now that they were Elite, they were now learning more and more about life as a royal. The Elites had many lessons on the inner works of the palace and Nara could tell how overwhelmed they were becoming.

There was still tension between here and Jeno, which was fine anyways since the boys were much too busy studying and Nara was busy planning the next event of the Selection. Sometimes, she wondered if the people were feeling bored with the Selection, but the numerous articles released with interviews from those that were recently eliminated had convinced her that they were not.

Apparently, Jisung had performed at one of Chenle's basketball games and that itself had intrigued the public. There, they told reporters that Nara was like a big sister to them and that they were happy to meet each other and the other Selected. Ten and Johnny were also seen together, working on a new jewelery line.

Nara turned back to watch the boys scrambling to write down everything Heeyoung was telling them through their lesson. The most relaxed was Jaemin, who was only half-heartedly writing notes down. Nara was so busy trying not to laugh that she barely heard her name being called.

"Your highness, Princess Nara?" Heeyoung said again, the boys turning around to face her. Nara immediately stood straight.

"Oh, yes." Nara said making her way to the front. She thanked Heeyoung for her lovely lesson before starting her annoucement.

"As you all know, becoming part of the Elite means that you'll be learning more about become the next ruler of Illea. Although all these lessons are quite informative, nothing is better than putting everything you've learned in action. So, for this next week, you will be planning a reception." Nara said. She immediately pulled up a slide with a list of all the princes that had attended the ball last week.

"You will be pairing up to prepare a reception for one of these royal families and their officals. I would like to remind you all that my Selection is indeed a competition, so these receptions will be marked and ranked, and at the end, the lowest scoring pair will be sent home. Heeyoung and I will be there to help you and give our two cents but most of it will be on your shoulders." Nara told them.

"You have two minutes to choose your partners and the order for choosing the royal family and date of your reception will be based on numbers randomly drawn. You may begin now."

The boys quickly scrambled to the centre to discuss. Jaemin seemed to be popular between the boys, but he had obviously chosen Jeno as a partner. Renjun was then with Yangyang, Haechan with Mark. Nara went around with three folded pieces of paper in her hand, giving one to each of the groups before returning to the front.

"Who has number one?" Nara asked them. Renjun and Yangyang shook their heads while Mark and Haechan had defeated looks on their faces.

"We do." Jeno said softly, showing the number written the piece of paper to the group. Nara nodded to Heeyoung who began taking notes.

"Which family would you like to hold your reception for?" Nara asked but the answer was clearly obvious.

"Prince Cai of New Asia's family, your highness." Jaemin said with a big grin, earning groans from the others.

"And day?" Nara asked them.

"The last one of course." Smart move. Nara thought. That gave him and Jeno the longest time to prepare.

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