song:  i need u   –bts

15|  realisation

it's finally the day that marks the end of the two weeks. the kims and the parks were all gathered in the dining hall ready to discuss the main objective–the marriage.

"where's sunoo?" questioned king park jaemin.

a tense silence befell over the younger royals.

jay cleared his throat. "he left."

"what do you mean jeongseong-ah?" queen park jina asked.

jay put sunoo's crown on the marble table, a small gasp leaving queen kim mirae. "where is my son?"

"he renounced his title. he left the palace."

"on his own? where is he, jongseong?" king kim haneul raged.

"i'm sworn to keep silent and i do not intend to break my promise especially when he wishes for his location to be hidden. rest assured, he is safe. i made sure of it, your majesties," jay bowed.

sunghoon sunk further into his chair. his heart was physically aching. sunoo was gone.

gone with the wind like the first time he met him.

"will he come back?" sunghoon whispered.

the sharp glare of jungwon made sunghoon flinch. "he shouldn't for his own good," jungwon scoffed.

another half a month had rolled by painfully slowly for sunghoon. days seemed to be like years and he hadn't registered anything that has been happening.

he was a living corpse, his skin pale and the eyebags deepening due to the number of days that he goes without sleep. it was blatantly obvious that sunghoon was doing horribly ever since sunoo just packed up and left.

everyone in the palace felt it too. the sunshine, the positivity, the colour that livened up the palace more than half a month ago suddenly became monochromatic.

sunghoon's mind was a flooded mess. the kiss sent his blood rushing but sunoo not being within an arm's reach left him distraught. not knowing where he is made him anxious. not knowing if he's safe made him distressed.

papers and ink were scattered all over his room, his food almost went untouched everyday, he overworked himself in the armoury, he sat alone in the garden for hours on end staring out into space.

"sunghoon please talk to us," heeseung begged for the hundredth time.

he was an empty shell now. it's almost as if he lost his reason to live. "i don't know what to do. i want to see him again for one last time, if time would permit."

"would just one more time be enough?"

the small realisation and the gasp that left sunghoon's lips were all heeseung needed. heeseung smiled in understanding as he gently stroked sunghoon's back, the silent tears streaming down sunghoon's cheeks soaking his shirt.

"i love him. i want him for the rest of my life. every day. every night. i need him. i let him slip past my fingers. i pushed him away. i hurt him. i didn't get to tell him how much i love him too. i–" sunghoon's muffled sobs were heart wrenching.

"it's time to set things right then brother," jay gently pushed the door open and walked into his room.

"you're an idiot for being so dense. he's an idiot for running away. it's about time you made the move sunghoon-ah. he was crushed when he thought you didn't like him. though anyone with a pair of eyes could see how much both of you love each other." jay passed him a slip of paper with the address scribbled in pencil on it.

"i'm getting him back."

it's about time sunghoon followed his heart. 

– 

L