‘If I leave him alone, he’ll definitely have strange thoughts.’
That was what worried him most, so Huiseo had honestly told him about what happened that day. But looking at how things unfolded afterward, it seemed that had completely backfired.
Huiseo clicked his tongue.
Until now, Hwan had consistently ignored the subtle atmosphere surrounding him. Sometimes he even used the surrounding situations to reversely tease back. Hwan who had dealt with things so composedly, but starting from that day, he was showing extremely sensitive reactions.
Especially toward Yuwon, he showed even more blatant hostility.
So now, it seemed like Hwan might even pick a fight first if given the chance.
“…Move aside?”
“Anyone can see I was trying to go out first?”
Even now, the two large people were having a battle of nerves over a single classroom door.
There was also a back door, and there was a way to take turns. Yet the two who wouldn’t step back even one step acted as if the side that moved aside first would lose. Huiseo, whose head ached, pressed his forehead.
“…Your Highness, this is really being a nuisance.”
Just the two of them standing facing each other filled up the space, and the kids who couldn’t enter or leave due to the untimely bottleneck kept peering from behind. Huiseo, who became embarrassed for no reason, tried pulling Hwan’s sleeve saying let’s move aside, but it was completely useless.
Hwan, who had planted his weight and stood his ground, was glaring at Yuwon with blazing eyes.
‘How dare you try to take Huiseo away on your own?’
He seemed to be asking that.
Huiseo’s insides also boiled furiously.
‘I told you several times there’s no need to react like this…!’
He clearly hadn’t listened even with one ear. Again.
On the other hand, Yuwon showed a much more relaxed appearance, perhaps because he thought he’d already made a proposal that Huiseo had no choice but to accept. He even raised the corners of his mouth in a smile as if Hwan fuming before him was laughable.
Facing that smile, not just Hwan but Huiseo also didn’t feel particularly pleasant.
Because he felt that control had definitely passed to the other party.
As Huiseo’s expression changed markedly because of that, it was also the relaxed Yuwon who noticed it first and consequently moved aside first. So though Hwan stubbornly stood his ground to the end, there was no way he could feel like he’d won.
It was a moment when both Hwan and Huiseo clicked their tongues for their respective reasons.
“Have you thought about it?”
Yuwon, who they thought would obediently move aside, suddenly bent down and whispered affectionately in Huiseo’s ear. Because of that, another new battle of nerves couldn’t help but continue. This time, sparks properly flew from Hwan’s eyes.
‘How dare you bring your face so close!’
Huiseo, who noticed first, stretched out his hand and blocked Hwan’s angry steps as he strode forward to intervene. Then Hwan’s resentful gaze turned toward none other than Huiseo. No, what if you block me? That’s what it meant.
However, Huiseo’s expression was firm.
‘No.’
Though he didn’t say it out loud, at that stern attitude, Hwan bit down hard on his lower lip. As his spirit seemed to break a little, Huiseo also finally looked up at Yuwon, trying to appear calm, and answered.
“Not yet.”
Then Yuwon smiled brightly.
“Thinking about it, I didn’t say that back then. You left in a hurry, and it’s such an obvious thing too.”
“…What didn’t you say?”
When he asked that, Yuwon lowered his voice and whispered even more intimately to Huiseo. However, that didn’t mean Hwan who was nearby couldn’t hear.
“Don’t worry at all about costs and such. It’s natural that we’ll provide full support as a scholarship student of our company, and whatever you need, just tell me and I’ll prepare everything for you.”
Summarizing his confidently continuing words, in reality it was no different from saying ‘you just need to bring yourself.’ Study abroad of all things. He probably thought it was talk that anyone would be tempted by.
However, Yuwon’s intention in bringing up this talk at this very moment was clearly ‘showing off his money.’
‘To break Hwan’s spirit.’
Huiseo, who couldn’t not know such intentions, showed clear annoyance rather than joy or gratitude in his expression. But Yuwon seemed to find that amusing again. After confirming Huiseo’s wrinkled brow, he even burst out laughing loudly, “haha.” That also looked quite friendly on the surface.
Then Hwan, who had been holding back, couldn’t endure any longer either.
Finally blocking between Huiseo and him, he warned in a low voice.
“That’s enough.”
However, that couldn’t be a threat to Yuwon.
“Enough of what? I’m just trying to help a little with the choice Huiseo will make.”
Far from being a threat, when the opponent spoke even more mockingly like that, the corners of Hwan’s mouth trembled. Though Yuwon indirectly said ‘the choice Huiseo will make,’ it seemed like a warning that he would snatch Huiseo away, so Hwan had no way to endure the surging anger even more.
For the first time in his life, he even had the thought that he wanted to strike someone standing before him.
If only Huiseo weren’t beside him.
If that were the case, he even thought he might have really done it. Hwan’s eyes became bloodshot as he endured, inwardly grateful that Huiseo was beside him. However, the sharp aura revealed at that moment was no less from Yuwon than from Hwan.
‘What the hell is this?’
Anyone watching would misunderstand it as a love triangle.
Between the two, only the innocent Huiseo clutched his throbbing head.
***
Was that incident really just that one time?
After being tormented and tormented by the two, especially Hwan, Huiseo finally exploded.
‘I said no! I said no! Why is he acting like this, really!’
He was so angry to the top of his head that he wanted to smack the back of the head of this guy who wouldn’t listen to him even with one ear. However, there was no way he could dare commit such an impertinent act toward Hwan, a prince.
Because of that, Huiseo chose a slightly different method.
He was sprawled out lying down inside Hyangwonjeong, a small pavilion by a pond inside Gyeongbokgung Palace.
In his hand wasn’t the book he always carried around like a clone. Instead, what he held was dried sweet potato he’d coincidentally obtained from Saenggwabang on the way. Putting it in his mouth and chewing while rolling around, it was truly a comfortable ‘refuge.’
On the other hand, Hwan was surely running around everywhere to find Huiseo who had suddenly disappeared. Focusing on the places Huiseo usually went. For instance, places like the palace servants’ quarters, the Crown Prince’s Palace, Gyeonghoeru. Those places were mainly located in the lower part of Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was long vertically.
Compared to that, Hyangwonjeong where Huiseo was now was located even higher up than Hwan’s quarters.
It was a conspicuous place, but that meant it wasn’t a location Hwan could easily think of and find.
The corners of Huiseo’s mouth rose wickedly.
Surely Hwan, who was already sensitive, would be running around searching for him with tears, startled by a turtle and then startled by a pot lid, so to speak, when he suddenly disappeared. He must be getting incredibly stressed, right?
But when it came to that, Huiseo was no pushover either. He really couldn’t live with this pressure.
‘Did something get communicated wrong?’
He definitely said he wouldn’t go.
‘Does he not believe it?’
Hwan had become strange, way too strange.
The point about being overly sensitive toward Yuwon was as mentioned before. However, what troubled Huiseo even more than that was the fact that Hwan was also excessively obsessed with him. No, to be more precise, the expression ‘excessively touching’ might be more accurate.
Did this puppy develop separation anxiety?
Hugging from behind at any time or place was routine, and he was desperate to be touching anywhere, whether hands or wherever, which was truly a big problem. Kneading fingers, caressing cheeks, even when he buried his face in his nape, his face heated up so hotly that he couldn’t endure at all.
‘What are you doing?’
‘…You don’t like it? You can’t?’
‘…I don’t, I don’t dislike it.’
‘Then let’s stay like this just a little. Okay?’
He tried scolding the worsened clinginess, but when asked with that pitiful expression, his heart weakened and giving in ultimately became routine. They’d been sticking together diligently until now, so it wasn’t like he’d suddenly dislike it getting a bit worse…. But still, there were other palace servants’ eyes. It was embarrassing.
And perhaps he was also worried that this incident might make the efforts he’d made so far go to waste. It was fortunate there were no external events recently—if he told him to go alone, he even thought Hwan might burst into tears pitifully.
‘That can’t happen.’
So Huiseo came to think he should hurry and reject Yuwon’s proposal.
Originally, he’d planned to observe a bit more before rejecting. Though Huiseo’s answer of ‘rejection’ was unchanged, in truth, he’d hoped to drag out time as if he might or might not go and use it like a negotiation card, so that at least he could control the level of tormenting Hwan from his side. Of course, it would be even better if he couldn’t torment him at all.
‘But when Hwan’s stress is that extreme….’
Though earlier than expected, there was no choice.
Still, given Yuwon’s temperament, he wouldn’t try to give up easily, so he thought control was still on his side. That was fine, and conversely, if he obediently gave up, that was even better. Then the reason to torment Hwan would naturally disappear too.
He’d decided to do that, but then the method became another concern.
Actually, fearing what trouble might occur if he encountered Yuwon, if he could reject him without meeting face-to-face, by phone or message, he wanted to do that. However, if he did that for no reason, wasn’t it possible that that crazy bastard Choi Yuwon might visit the palace and cause a scene?
‘…Ha. How annoying.’
Even rejecting was quite a task.
What did I even do, why is everyone like this to me, really.
Huiseo, tired from being caught in the middle unwillingly, pressed his two eyes firmly shut.
