"Do you think you're a prince of some sort?" You laughed, turning to look back at Seungmin, who was walking leisurely down the hill. When you counted to three and took off running across the greenery, you'd expected Seungmin to join you. Instead, he was making his way down, cautiously and calmly with his personal guard close.
"Actually, I am," he winked, and you rolled your eyes, "Sure, keep on saying that and I might start believing you."
Seungmin frowned. Did you not believe him? He was the prince, the only prince on the land, and he was telling the truth. "I'm serious."
"Me too," you hummed, closing your eyes and filling your lungs with the fresh air around you.
"No-" Seungmin was about to argue more, but his guard placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
He gave up, but he knew he had to convince you somehow, sometime.
You didn't take him seriously. Not when he surprised you with expensive gifts you tried to reject, and not when he told you about the king's secret collection of socks. You didn't believe him, still. Seungmin was crestfallen, to say the least. He didn't know what good reason you had to persistently reject the truth presenting itself in front of you.
Everyone across the kingdom knew that the crown prince was sick. He has never left the castle for fifteen years. No one knows him as someone other than the little seven-year-old prince. Why would the crown prince leave his castle, after being stuck in it for more than a decade, and see you? What made a simple girl like you worth seeing the prince?
Seungmin as the prince? You found it utterly absurd. You assumed he was a merchant's son, rich and close to the royal family. He must be doing this to mess with you, you were convinced.
When you first met Seungmin, it was through his guard stumbling into your small shop, asking for help. He'd told you that the young man he looked after suddenly lost consciousness outside the store, and that his heart stopped momentarily. You dropped the pieces of cloth in your hands to rush outside, finding him just as the guard described and well, that's your first kiss gone.
The guard was absolutely enraged with your actions, however, the boy you awakened seemed to feel differently about it. The next day, he visited your shop and introduced himself to you, bringing a gift with him as a token of appreciation. He passed by the day after, and the following day, and soon enough, it became a routine. Your friendship blossomed, despite the clear gap in your classes. Seungmin wasn't bothered with it, or so you hoped. He liked to randomly gift you things for your sewing shop. Fabrics, new equipment, trinkets, or just something lovely to keep around. You tried to decline his generosity, but he was more determined than you were to make sure you didn't overwork yourself.
You came from a humble family. You weren't poor but you weren't rich either, you were barely hanging on the fine line separating the two.
You wouldn't complain, however. You loved your little shop. You loved making dresses for your clients. You loved the colors and the fabrics. You loved what you did, and Seungmin loved that too. He liked to watch you work, sew, cut, or design whatever it was in your hands, with a few words exchanged in between.
It took a decade and a few years to convince his parents to let him wander around the city, and he treasured these little beautiful things. Things he can't find at the castle. Things like your breathless laugh, your snappy remarks, your starry eyes, or your perfect personality. Where else would Seungmin find those things if not in you, with you?
The few hours he was allowed to leave the castle in were his lifeline. When he's able to breathe and joke around, carefree and happy. The one thing he'd look forward to every day and dread its end. You just brought him so much joy, and Seungmin doubted you understood the effect you had on him.
Which was part of the reason he was dying to make you believe him. He is the prince!
One particular summer day, as you sat, enjoying a cup of tea, Seungmin asked, "Will you be going to the ball?"
You raised an eyebrow. "The prince's ball? I think so."
"Will you?" You returned his question and he nodded, setting an empty cup of tea on your messy worktable. The royal guard had gone around the city earlier that day, spreading the news of the prince's twenty-second birthday and coronation ball. The people were abuzz. This event meant that the prince was finally revealing himself, after years of hiding in sickness. You were not missing that ball.
"You'll be making your own dress, right?" Seungmin eyed the open sketchbook at one end of the table, seeing the designs you were working on.
"As far as I'm planning, yes."
Seungmin hummed in reply, debating on the request he was about to ask of you. It was the only thing he could do to make you believe him. Everything will change after the ball. After he's crowned king.
Seungmin hated the jitters it evoked. The chances of seeing you and acting normal were to decline to negative after the coronation. More than himself, you wouldn't speak to him comfortably anymore. Seungmin could hear the clock ticking in his head, a hasting countdown for the time he had remaining with you. The little time he had left with the girl whose eyes greeted him back to the world. The same eyes he fell in love with. Of course, that is unless...
"Would you...," Seungmin cleared his throat, avoiding your eyes when you turned to look at him curiously. "Would you mind making my outfit too?"
You were beyond enthralled. If there was anything you loved more than designing for your customers, it was designing for your friends. "I'd love to!"
Seungmin smiled at you genuinely then. So lovingly, yet there was a hint of bitterness in that curve of his lips which you couldn't understand. You didn't bother with it and only grinned in reply. Little did you know, it was the last you'll be seeing of him for many months.
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