"The Selection" minsung

\\Muffins//

Minho hesitantly followed Hyunjin and Chan onto the dance floor leaving Jisung and Felix alone. when they reached it Hyunjin instantly started dancing while Minho was frozen in place. "so uh Minho, how is Jisung at the castle?" minho shifted his attention to the guy who was speaking. "Anything that goes on in the castle is none of your business."

Minho's dry reply made Hyunjin stop dancing out of awkwardness, and it really became silent between the three in this loud place. minho on the other side didn't want to be on the jisungs friends' bad side but he also didn't really like this chan guy. "so you paint huh?" he asked hyunjin trying to start a conversation with him.

hyunjin nodded, which wasnt enough to keep the conversation going so minho had to carry it on again. "how many paintings have you sold recently?"

"about 32" the prince noticed how hyunjins shell slowly broke and how excited he was getting about the talk of his paintings. "that's nice for a small artist. id like to own one of your art works." hyunjin instantly gasped. "do you really want one of my paintings?!"

"of course, why not. how about you get it ready before me and jisung head back to the castle."

"sure! ill pick one of my best ones and ill delivered it to jisungs house. ill go tell felix now!" hyunjin excitedly ran to felix. minho almost smiled at this, almost. he liked making people happy but he definitely didnt want to be left alone with chan.

"i know youre the prince and all" minho shifted his unbothered gaze upon chan "but whats your problem with me?" chan frowned and it seem like he was getting this feeling that minho despised him for a long time now. "problem? i have no problem" he replied with a carefree, almost mocking tone.

"sure." chan scoffed and crossed his arms. "you like jisung?"

that's when his expression shifted, and Chan had his full attention. He stated almost defensively, "Like Jisung?" He scoffed, "Why would I? He's just my servant."

"sure. thats why you look at him that way"

"what way?" minho frowned. he really didnt like jisung in any way so in what way was he looking at him. he looks at everyone the same! "just so you keep this in mind, jisung is like my little brother and i dont like him one bit in any way romantically." chan shook his head and just when minho was about defend himself again, chan gave him no chance to speak. "but if you hurt him, i dont care if youre the prince or going to be a king. i will crush every bone you have." chan glared at minho one last time before he noticed jisung was heading their way.

🜲

"TA DA! isnt it beautiful? i promise ill make a better one next time" hyunjin stood proudly next to his painting in jisungs house living room. " i mean as long as it doesnt have naked men then yeah it is" jisung spoke as his mom was giving a bundle full of food for the road. everyone was standing around the painting with minho in the middle. "truly impressive. ill send you the money as soon as possible with a generous tip." hyunjin and felix both smiled widely and bowed. "Actually, id love to have some paintings as gifts for the elite. Jisung please have Mr.Hwangs name as one of the options for the artists we might get."

hyunjin gasped again and it just seemed to be his usual thing to do when hes happy. gasping loudly like hed seen a ghost. "THANK YOU SO MUCH YOUR HIGHNESS" he bowed again, 90 degrees. "we should go now your highness" minho nodded at jisung. "it was nice to meet you all, it would be even better to meet you again some day. shall we go han jisung?"

jisung nodded before asking the boys to help him carry the stuff to the car. as they were out the door, minho was still in the living room looking at the photos of jisungs childhood one last time. "you can have one if you want to" he looked up to the voice, it was jisungs mom. she walked closer and took one of the frames, opening it and taking the photo out. "here"

"no no why would i own a photo of jisung." the prince protested, but jisungs mom took his palm and put the photo in it. "just keep it" before minho could protest again he heard jisung calling him. his head was peeking for the door with his usual smile. "coming?"

minho took a second to process before he nodded instantly keeping the photo in his pocket. "have a safe trip your highness." jisungs mom bowed her head, minho looked at her one last time. taking in all her features. she was a tired old woman, she looked really sweet. he wondered if she was actually old or the sickness made her look old.

🜲

jisung stopped a car just around a bakery. "why'd we stop?" minho asked. "i need to get you those muffins, i grew up eating those every day after work if i got an extra tip." minho followed jisung out the car and into the bakery and the second they stepped in, the smell of all the baked goods hugged minho. "jisung, is that you?" the women and man who were both working stopped. "you've grown up so much its been a while" jisung smiled and walked up to the couple who were so fond of having him here. "you've grown up so much son" the older man spoke"

"hehe, thank you" even though minho was standing behind jisung he knew he was smiling widely the couple. "Can i have my usual please? five if you dont mind. i promise this time i actually have money" he chuckled. the couple smiled softly at him, "lucky you cause i just pulled the muffins out the oven" the husband spoke as he walked over to the tray he just pulled out. " how about eight? as a reward for coming so far and because we missed you so much." he said as he picked the steaming hot muffins placing them in a paper bag. "no no please i insist, five are enough"

"jisung weve known you ever since you were a kid, five are enough for YOU but not for sharing with your friend." jisung giggled, leaning on the counter to get a good smell of the muffins. the man handed jisung the muffins and jisung took his wallet out and placed a lot of money on the counter, probably more than how much five muffins would cost. "jisung we told you its on the house" the woman scolded, but jisung was already heading out. "have a good day! it was nice meeting you again.

"here" jisung and minho were both standing out the bakery when jisung impatiently took a muffin and gave it to Minho. "thank you" before jisung could speak again he felt someone snatch the bag from him and run away.

Both being alerted but jisungs senses were faster, he started running after the person and well after really hard training in the castle for keeping the prince safe it didnt take him more than five second to catch him. but it was a little boy who almost started crying. jisungs eyes softened but he kept his grip tight on the boy's shirt. "didnt your parents teach you not to steal?" his voice was stern, and the panicked boy only replied with sobs. "how old are you?" jisung asked but the boy didnt reply. "speak up" jisung raised his voice slightly "ten.." he replied in muffled sobs.

"if i catch you stealing again im going to teach you a lesson do you understand? " the boy nodded trying to hold back his crying. the latter let go of the boy. "dont go anywhere cause i will catch you." the boy again nodded and froze in his place as teh older guy in front of him pulled his wallet out and handed him some money. "take this and you can keep the muffins. but if you steal again i will find you. do you understand?" the shocked boy could barely process this, he just nodded and ran away happily but still terrified. jisung look at him run away, letting out a breath before he faced minho who was watching everything; flashing his usual smile jisung walked back to minho to continue their journey back home.

to be continued..

hyunjins painting