Chapter XXXVI
1890 Words
서른 여섯 번째 왕관 (36)
♪ Bureo hoo hoo~
ppalgan bultiya
nae maeumdo neo gata
taoreul deut wiheomhan
salposhi neol nulleo
deopeuryeo hae bwado
kkeojiji anneun neoreul
eotteoke haeya hana ~ ♪
Prince Yi Eul kept on watching Da Hyun’s solo performance in M! Countdown, a music show in Korea. She's covering one of the famous songs from the soloist and Girls' Generation's leader, Kim Taeyeon. He’s inside his room resting since he stayed up all night practicing what he’ll be going to say to the press with Jae Kyung since the press conference will happen on Friday.
Of course, they have to agree to anything that they’ll be going to say in the press so that they’ll not going to be suspicious to everyone.
It’s honestly a pain in the neck.
And right now, here he is, watching his ex-girlfriend’s (they didn’t actually break up but it is safe to say that she’s his ex) performance on TV. Well, he always watched her performance especially her or her group is on the lineup. She’s a group member and a soloist at the same time and Prince Yi Eul knew her guestings, shows, or anything that related to her and her work. That’s how supportive he is.
He honestly just opened the TV out of boredom but instead of watching boring news, he ended up watching Da Hyun singing and dancing.
♪ Bultiya bultiya kkeojiji malgo pieona
bultiya bultiya saebyeogeul hweolhweol naraga
sae bultiya bultiya chumchudeut onmomeul salla
sae bultiya bultiya kkeojiji malgo pieona~ ♪ (song: ‘Spark’ by Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon)
The fact that this woman tormented him after he saw the news of her dating another man and the fact that he’s actually hurt and mad about it but still, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s like a lovesick fool, still in love with her and still hoping for her to come back to him. After all, Da Hyun is the first and still the only woman he loves.
Pathetic.
It may sound like that but Da Hyun had a huge place in his heart and he didn’t think about anyone replacing her.
He couldn’t help but sigh.
“She’s so beautiful and talented, right?”
“Yeah,” Prince Yi Eul responded unconsciously. When he noticed the voice speaking, he immediately turned his head and saw Jae Kyung standing beside his bed and her eyes were on the TV screen watching Da Hyun’s ending pose in her performance.
Huh, he’s still in love with her, I see. Welp, she’s the only woman he dated after all.
“Bultiya ~ bultiya ~” Jae Kyung even bobbed her head while singing with Da Hyun.
“W-What are you doing here?!” Prince Yi Eul asked in shock and even pointed his finger at Jae Kyung. “How did you come here without my permission?! Eotteohke gamhiyo?!” (*How dare you?!)
Jae Kyung frowned at him and responded. “Eotteohke gamhi jegayo? Well, excuse you, Your Highness. Your servants announced my arrival and we even knocked on your door but you didn’t respond so I came inside only to find you staring at your famous crush like a lovesick fool. Duh.” (*How dare I?)
Prince Yi Eul cleared his throat as he hastily stood up. “Jeon, jeon animnida. I’m not staring at that K-Pop star and I am not a lovesick fool, you brat.” (*I’m not)
Jae Kyung blinked at him innocently and started dancing, imitating what Da Hyun did on TV. “Bultiya bultiya kkeojiji malgo pieona ~ bultiya bultiya saebyeogeul hweolhweol naraga ~”
“Stop that, you i***t. You looked so gross. Da Hyun is a better dancer and singer than you.”
Jae Kyung’s mouth agape. Excuse me? I’m the best performer in my high school days in Jeju! I felt so offended. Gaejassik.
“And you, Your Highness, sounded like a lovesick fool praising her right now.”
“Hey, I’m not!”
Jae Kyung made a face. “Whatever and I don’t care. You can fool anyone, but not me, your personal assistant s***h your fake fiancée, Your Highness.”
“What the heck are you doing here? You’re trespassing,” Prince Yi Eul asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“I know it’s both our day-off since, you know, we’re going to the press conference this Friday and I remembered that you promised me to watch Baekirui Nanggunnim today so,” Jae Kyung showed her phone at Prince Yi Eul and grinned. “I’ll let you borrow my Netflix account since I’m watching with you too.”
Prince Yi Eul frowned at her. “When did I promised you to watch a lousy K-Drama, you lazy bum?”
Jae Kyung’s eyes widen. “Ya, you promised me to watch it at your house! Don’t you remember?”
“Hey, did I tell you to drop formalities at me, you brat?” Prince Yi Eul flicked her forehead and she grunted.
“Aw! You phony prince. Anyway, I don’t care. This is my Netflix account so whether you like it or not, we’ll going to watch the final episode since I haven’t watched it as well.”
Prince Yi Eul stared at Jae Kyung in awe when she sat on his bed as if she owned it while connecting her Netflix account on his TV. “Ya, get off my bed! You can watch that lousy drama of yours in the living room!”
“Oh, c’mon. Stop being so stinky and just sit and watch!”
Prince Yi Eul just massaged his temple and tried to compose himself not to hit Jae Kyung because seriously, this girl is getting on her nerves.
Remind me why did I hire her to be my personal assistant and my fake fiancée? I yeojaaeneun jeongmal nareul michige handa.
While reading Yul’s diary entries from the past year, Hong-shim sees how he thinks of her and longs for her every day. On the anniversary of their wedding, he’d written, “There are two paths in life — one is to believe that nothing is a miracle, and the other is to believe that everything is a miracle. I look back at the hundred days I spent as your husband. Now I know that every moment was a miracle.”
Crying, Hong-shim wraps up the diaries and runs to find Yul, but Gu-dol and Kkeut-nyeo tell her that he had urgent business at the palace and left. Hugging the diaries, Hong-shim trudges home to sit in her yard, bereft.
But Yul shows up in front of her, and he says that the crown prince left… “But Won-deuk is still here.” Hong-shim says he doesn’t look much like Won-deuk, but Yul tells her to look closer, and as they both look carefully at each other, they start to smile.
Up on the roof, Dad, Magistrate Park, Gu-dol, and Kkeut-nyeo take their cue and start tossing cherry blossom petals down onto the couple. Okay, that is adorable! Hong-shim wonders where the petals came from when it’s not even Spring, and Yul is all, “Oh look, you found my books!” Hee.
Hong-shim admits that she read them, and she asks him to stop writing heartbreaking stories. Yul says that this evening, he plans to write, “I proposed to the woman I yearned for all my life. The woman smiled and nodded. Come what may, I will spend my remaining days with her.”
He holds out a hand and asks Hong-shim to come with him to the palace. Hong-shim asks if that was his marriage proposal, but he says he’ll do it properly. He takes her hand, pulls her close, and kisses her, while the cherry blossoms rain down around them.
“Aw~” Jae Kyung muttered as her tears pooling in her eyes. She, then, took a tissue and wiped the tears off her eyes. “That is such a satisfying ending. I really love Hong Shim. The strength and bravery of Hong Shim are something that will surely inspire you. For a young girl who suffered from traumatic experiences and was left alone, she is so brave who still remained kind to everyone especially to the needy.”
Because you could relate to her because of what happened to you when you’re still a kid. Prince Yi Eul wanted to say it to her but chose not to.
“I don’t understand anything,” he said, frowning. They’re both leaning on the headrest of his bed as they both watched the ending episode of Baekirui Nanggunnim. “And it’s such a cliché drama. It’s really obvious that they’ll be going to end up together because they’re both head over heels in love with each other.”
Jae Kyung gave him a look. “Duh, real-life has many clichés, you know? Fiction is not far from real life though.
“And you have no place to say such things since you’re also head over heels in love with Da Hyun.”
“Just like what you did to your novels?”
“Of course!” Jae Kyung said proudly. “My novel even reached—” she paused, recalling that the Crown Prince didn’t know that she did an impromptu novel about him. “A-Anyways, Hong Shim and Prince Lee Yul’s love for each other is beautiful, you know? Even if it’s fiction, they showed their strength and weaknesses not as fictional characters but as how people project in real life. They showed how love should be done. That if people love you, they will love you in their own ways. You don’t need to show off or so to capture other’s hearts. Love can be shown in different forms. And also, love will find a way. That, if you’re really for each other, love and life will find a way for the two of you to meet again. Destiny.”
Prince Yi Eul fell silent and Jae Kyung knew what the meaning of that silence is.
And somehow, she felt a throbbing sensation in her chest again.
“You really are a writer. You over-analyze things,” Prince Yi Eul chuckled and shook his head.
“Hey, I’m not over-analyzing. That’s also part of reality, you know?”
“Whatever floats your boat, lazy bum,” Prince Yi Eul said as he slowly lied on his bed. “I’m already tired. Turn off the TV after using it.”
And with that, they fell into total silence.
Jae Kyung just let the sound from the TV play in the background as she stared at the Crown Prince’s sleeping face. Her mind is full of questions of curiosity to this guy lying beside her.
Jin Hee only knew, imagine, and felt love in Fiction. And for her, it’s always been a happy ending. But somehow, seeing Prince Wang Eun’s reactions when the woman he once loved was mentioned made her want to know more about love—the actual, real love from reality and not from fiction… how blissful and how painful it is. She wants to know how it felt.
But somehow, she felt scared to know it… at the same time.
— Dealing Prince Arrogant Chapter 25
- Writer
