Chapter 24: the king is here

after mingi had calmed down, yunho picked him up and carried him to his apartment on his back. mingi had actually fallen asleep, soft breaths hitting yunho's neck, making him smile. opening the door to his apartment, he walked to his bedroom and placed mingi on the bed, covering him with a blanket so he wouldn't get cold.

"I'll be right back after I discuss some things with hongjoong." he whispered and kissed mingi's forehead, leaving the small apartment and heading back down where the others were.

"sorry for keeping you waiting" yunho scratched his neck awkwardly. "I didn't know that would happen." he laughed.

"neither did I.." hongjoong raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes. "but at least you're here now." he added

wooyoung was a little lost at what was happening, watching as the group of friends interacted with each other without any problems.

'they must have known each other for a long time' he thought to himself, feeling a little lonely as the rest of them almost ignored him. even though he was right there, next to yeosang, he didn't have anything to say to them because, what would he even say?

he didn't know anything about cera or it's people and culture he had no idea how things worked here. he was on a completely different planet, that is.

a sudden sound made everyone stop their talking. hongjoong raised his head immediately and all of them watched as dozens of soldiers walked into the building.

"everyone, shut up, right now." hongjoong spoke with venom in his tone. "that's the royal family." he pointed at the people behind the soldiers.

wooyoung closed his mouth immediately, clinging onto yeosang and pulling on his sleeve a little bit. yeosang looked at him with a reassuring smile and took his hand.

"the royal family is arriving, please make way for them and step aside from the elevator." a man said, almost yelling.

the group watched as three royal-like people walked past them, one particular male catching wooyoung's eye and making him blush a little bit. yeosang noticed this and raised an eyebrow at him.

before the royal family passed them, the man who looked like the king came to a halt after seeing hongjoong. he turned around and observed hongjoong's group and approached them gracefully. seonghwa could hear hongjoong gulping heavily as the royal family took a step closer to them.

"ah, sir. kim, it is nice to see you back at the hq." the king said with a smile that looked a little forced and fake. "I assume you were successful with your mission?"

hongjoong only nodded and bowed in front of the king. the said king chuckled and told him that he can speak. once he saw seonghwa behind hongjoong, his eyes returned to their cold state, as if he hated the silver haired man.

"I see you're still with this traitor of a man..." the king said mockingly.

seonghwa forced a smile and looked at the ground. hongjoong turned to look at him, a growl almost escaping his lips as he saw the silver haired man looking at the ground, almost as if he was ashamed to stand there, behind hongjoong.

"father, if I may." a new voice joined the conversation. "you seem really tired from our trip, maybe you should go rest in the royal chambers with mother? I can ask them a few questions if you have some in mind." the young prince offered.

the king scoffed and turned around, finally leaving his son with hongjoong's group without a word.