lee jihoon, seven
seven.
that was when jihoon finally decided to join the rest of the children and play. just imagine how shocked ryuji was to see jihoon running around with the other kids, not cooped up inside. she was even more surprised when jihoon said,
"that was fun."
seven was also the year lee chan showed up outside the orphanage door. the child was bawling his eyes out saying that his parents weren't waking up anymore. something in jihoon's seven year old heart tugged when seeing the boy and without thinking, he pulled chan into a hug whispering words of comfort into the child's ear.
and just like that, jihoon had a second little puppy following him around. chan was loved by all the other kids, especially an older one with the name choi seungcheol who always stuck with chan if jihoon was not already.
with the help of both kitae and chan, jihoon slowly (am i mean, slowly) started coming out of his shell. he stopped cooping himself in his room so much and started hanging out with the other children more.
and although jihoon didn't talk much, the children still loved him, giving jihoon confidence to start speaking more and more.
"jihoon, are you eating in your room or do you want to join the rest of us at the table?" a nun said, interrupting his little conversation with kitae. jihoon looked at the woman, then dropped his eyes to the ground.
"hoonie!" kitae said, grabbing jihoon's arm. "join the rest of us will you?" kitae pleaded, "chan's always looking around the table for you when it's meal time. everyone would be so happy if you joined us."
jihoon looked at kitae with unsureness in his eyes. "really?" he said out quietly.
"yes, really." kitae replied. "now is that a yes?"
the boy turned to the nun waiting patiently in front, "at the table.. i guess." kitae let out a noise of happiness.
lee jihoon, nine
kitae couldn't show up every day and jihoon could only assume that his duties as a prince were getting more and more demanding. the boy tried coming around at least once a week and each time he appeared, kitae would tell jihoon about the horrors and wonders from the castle.
"it's pretty cool, right?" kitae said with his shirt lifted up revealing an intricate tattoo of a crescent moon and a teardrop on the left side of his torso. the two boys sat in an isolated area behind the orphanage with kitae's guard standing nearby.
jihoon looked at it in awe, "do all royals have one of these?"
"nope." he said, popping the "p". "it only appears on the person who's heir to the throne." kitae ended his sentence with a series of coughs causing the guard to hurry over.
"your highness, please keep your shirt down. we can't have you getting any sicker."
"sorry, i forgot," the prince chuckled weakly.
the truth about kitae was that the boy was born with all sorts of defects a prince shouldn't have. his immune system never seemed to do a good job at keeping him healthy, he had heart problems making him tire out easily (which always disappointed his father) and his odd pair of blue eyes attracted attention from everyone.
jihoon knew all about these and couldn't help but worry for him. he frowned at the boy, "kitae... take better care of yourself. you've got to stay healthy 'cause you've got a kingdom to take care of in the future."
