nytis
it's dark. and cold.
with only a tiny square window in his cell and the torches on the walls for light, the dungeons by far were the darkest, most lifeless place jihoon has ever been in in all the years of his life. but it was surprisingly fitting for him since he acted just as dead as the rest of the poor people in their cells.
jihoon doesn't know how long it has been since he first arrived. it has to be at least a week now. whether it be a week or not, the boy didn't care. why would he need to count anyways? he spent his days just.. thinking.
thinking about jeonghan and the bakery. it must be a real shock if your two and only two workers abruptly stopped showing up (and then finding out that one was a secret prince while the other was now in jail).
thinking about seungcheol and chan. were they doing ok? did they accidentally burn down the house while he was gone? was seungcheol still taking his medicine, was chan still going to school? did they hear what happened? all these thoughts (worries), raced around his head. the most important was what about money?
and as much as he hated to admit it, jihoon was thinking about soonyoung too. in fact, a lot. he vaguely remembered the time jeonghan told him about the rumours of a prince searching for a bride. jihoon brushed it off not believing it for one second, because what's the chance of that actually happening and if it is true, what's the chance they'll come to nytis?
it's sort of funny because that was exactly what happened. jihoon should've known that there was something suspicious about soonyoung. the guy could read and write perfectly and even knew history, geography all these things that most people would've never learned. and on top of that, soonyoung's sword fighting skills along with dancing skills were impeccable.
most people would've needed years and years of training to get that good. jihoon's expression could help but sour when thinking about how many different people soonyoung has danced with before.
and most of all, the boy couldn't help but feel a little sad that soonyoung hid something so big from him the entire time. soonyoung was royalty, a freaking prince. did he not trust him enough to tell? the thought of that hurts.
so with his time in the dungeons, jihoon made up his mind. he hated soonyoung. he hated him. absolutely despised him. he hated that even after everything that happened he still couldn't stop thinking about him, worrying about him.
jihoon tried to hate him. telling himself that soonyoung was nothing but a liar who lied about his identity and lied about staying with him. soonyoung was just another royal, stuck up, annoying and rude.
but why is it that even after reminding himself, jihoon still misses him?
apart from thinking, jihoon has also realized that not all guards are the same. especially not the one that's been in the dungeons. the man was... not rude or mean or anything but more... weird? no, he was down right alien like.
the young man's name was junhui and not only did he talk to himself he also talked to walls... and prisoners... and well, anything that was willing to listen (not caring if it could listen or not). he was too bright and energetic to be a guard in the dungeons. jihoon almost expected to see a man like him to be selling spices at the market (why spices? jihoon doesn't know. it's just a feeling).
"you have a nice voice." those were the first words he said to jihoon one night while he was humming. jihoon ignored him at first, having no interest talking to someone who served such a bullshit king.
but as more time passed and jihoon was forced in listening to the man talk, he deemed that junhui wasn't that bad and often quelled his boredom by telling him about how quirky and adorable this boy (who he apparently met almost everyday) was, about yet another dried chinese herb or about the latest news.
he felt a little admiration for him whenever junhui started rambling about how much he longed to quit his job and start his own little shop of medicine and become a healer. despite all the challenges, the guard still wasn't quitting.
"woah, woah woah. so this guy was actually a prince?" junhui said, very intrigued with the story.
"yeah." jihoon sighed, "i hate him. he's annoying." he said with a small smile.
junhui grinned from outside the bars, "but do you really?"
"no, no i don't," jihoon said, shaking his head, "i could never hate him."
the guard laughed, "aw man, that's adorable. i'm rooting for you guys."
"thanks. but are we seriously worth rooting for?" jihoon asked quietly, "i mean he's far away, probably forgotten about me and i'm... down here with no idea how much longer i'm gonna stay. things aren't exactly looking the best."
junhui looked at jihoon ridiculously, "of course it's worth rooting for. you know my grandma told me, you can't give up hope or it'll never happen. so don't give up. i mean whoever this guy is.. he's definitely worth fighting for am i right?"
speechless, the boy nodded.
"good. then go fight for him. i'm just reminding you, no matter how big a storm is, one day a rainbow will always take its place!"
jihoon smiled and shook his head, junhui is so lame.
