Six Years Later

A child's cry echoes through the halls of the palace, stirring the conversation between the adults to a pause.

Jin halts from sipping his cup of coffee and sighs in exasperation. He already knows who that voice belongs to.

A little girl appears from the corner of the room with a fist rubbing her eyes.

"Yijin." You softly call out, setting your cup down. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

Instead of answering, the three year old girl runs to her father and cries even harder in his embrace.

Jin places her on his lap and begins gently rubbing a comforting hand down her back.

"Is she okay?" You ask in worry. 

It's not normal for Yijin to cry out of nowhere. Mainly because she's the happy type of toddler. Seeing her out of her element brings an agonizing feeling in your chest.

"She's fine." Jin assures you as he tries his best to calm his daughter down. "Don't worry."

Just then, your son steps in and you take in his appearance. Ten minutes ago, his clothes were dry and neat. Now they look grimy, smeared with the shade of mud. Basically, his shirt's anything but white. And when his gaze lands on the crying girl curled in Jin's embrace, the glare on his face only intensifies.

And you catch this.

"Jungwoo." You call out his name in a stern tone but it isn't enough to faze him. "Did you two fight?"

The five year old boy, who resembles so much like Jungkook, gruffly huffs. "She wouldn't stop following me. It was annoying."

"So what did you do to her?" This time Jungkook speaks up.

With no remorse in his face, Jungwoo answers in a spiteful tone. "I told her to get lost."

"Y-you t-told me t-to dissapear!"

Jungwoo grinds his teeth together. "That's because you don't listen."

You can tell he's trying to hold back a yell right now.

Jin attempts to calm Yijin down but it backfires. "Now, now baby. That's not how you talk to your friend-"

"He's bad! He's bad! He's ba-" In obvious panic, Jin quickly stands up with his daughter's words now muffled against his neck. Then he looks at you with a half smile. "Thanks for having us over. Always fun catching up with you. We'll be leaving now."

"Wh-"

"I'll call when we return." He ruffles Jungwoo's hair on the way out and then he's gone.

You slump on the sofa with a pout. The only time you get to finally sit down and catch up with your best friend, this happens.

You spare you son a glance and gesture him to come closer. "Care to explain what happened, young man?"

He's doesn't avoid eye contact. Instead, looks at you straight in the eyes.

But it isn't the kind of stare that resembles a glare.

"Honey." Jungkook places a gentle hand against your back and gently leans in to hover beside your ear. "Let me talk to him. Stress isn't good for the baby."

You're due in a few days so everything should be okay as far as you know. A little trivial matter won't kill your unborn child. "I'm fine." 

"I know." He says. "But I'm not. Go rest."

He's not leaving any room for protest.

So in the end, you let out a sigh and slowly stand up to leave the living room to rest.

It has been a long day after all.

Twelve Years Later

Homeschool are the worse.

And Jungwoo detested it with all his heart.

Unfortunately for him, attending a normal school like normal kids his age's out of question.

All because of he's part of the royal family.

He tugs the ends of his ebony hair and grinds his teeth together.

It's boring.

The door bursts open and a familiar figure casually walks in.

The tutor barely breaks from his lecture but still politely acknowledges the newcomer with a subtle nod.

Kyujun on the other hand completely turns around from the lecture board and an adorable smile can be seen taking up his once bored expression. 

"Yijin noona."

Yijin looks up from her phone and her gaze softens as she sends the boy a wave, mouthing the words 'concentrate first. I'll just be here'.

He nods his head in understanding, causing his hair to move in motion.

An hour later, the two boys thank their tutor with a bow and the man takes his leave.

"Noona. What took you so long to get here? I thought I was gonna die of boredom."

"Just school stuff." Yijin casually shrugs her shoulders before getting on her tippy toes to whisper something in his ear. "Guess what I got you?"

Kyujun's eyes sparkles. "Don't tell me."

Yijin unzips her backpack to reveal different varieties of sweets he's never seen before.

She pulls out a green pack. "This one's sour. You'll love this one for sure. It's my favorite."

The excitement on Kyujun's face turns to a frown. "But noona... I don't like sour things."

"Oh."

"But I'm willing to try it. For you. Maybe if I had some water-"

"Water." She interrupts in realization. "Got it. Wait here. I'll go get some from the kitchen."

And just like that, she walks out of the room. The smile on Kyujun's face vanishes and a blank one takes its place. He casually snatches the green pack and pours the powder-y content inside a bin until it's completely empty. 

Jungwoo scoffs with zero amusement, eyeing his brother up and down. "You're really something aren't you?" 

"Me?" The boy lazily glances up. "You know I don't like candy."

Yijin appears with a bottle of water and Kyujun forces a smile on his lips. "I'm back- oh. Did you eat it already?"

"I did actually. Turns out I didn't need water after all." He rubs a hand behind his neck with a cheeky grin.

"Well, in that case -" Pausing, Yijin picks up a candy wrapped in red. "Try this one next."

It takes Kyujun exactly thirty seconds before he takes the candy from her palm, unwraps it and dumps it in his mouth. Yujin tilts her head in expectation.

She knows how much of a party pooper their grandmother can be when it comes to outside food.

Maybe it's because they're known to have very weak stomachs. But then again, it's not like their grandmother's at fault. She's just looking out for her grandsons after all.

"Well, what do you think?"

"It's not that bad." Kyujun says, sniffing under his breath. "Oh right. I suddenly remembered. Mom told me to stop by her room after the lecture. I'll be right back, Noona."

Strangely enough, he makes a beeline out the door while gulping down the bottle of water. And since Yujin got too busy placing the candies back in her bag, she failed to notice Kyujun spitting out the content from his mouth.

Now it's just her and Jungwoo in the room.

At least until he returns.

For ten years now, it's been a spoken agreement between parents for Yijin to stop by three times a week ever since.

Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's not. Things got a little bit better after Kyujun, the second child of the Jeons, was born. It gave Yujin a reason to ignore the first born once in a while.

Jungwoo's been observing what's been happening from the side. It's all peace and quiet until Yijin walks over to the bin.

Instant frown falls on her face. But she disperses the feeling with a shake of her head.

"You know he's messing with you." Jungwoo says. "Why do you still let him get away with it?"

"I have to get along with at least one of you." She confesses in a low tone, thinking he wouldn't hear her.

It's a known fact that she isn't on good terms with Jungwoo. She hates him. And he hates her. The only reason why she's here, is because of her father. The eerie silence breaks in half, causing Yijin to look up from her phone in confusion.

"Then maybe you should stop paying attention to him. "Jungwoo starts slowly, looking at her through hooded dark eyes. "And start paying attention to me for once."