title: apple mint
pairings: shinkyung; chaeyul
summary: The Royal Couple have loved each other for a long time, and to one Faux Prince it's everything but justice.
notes: so i'm still watching goong, and i just finished episode 10? i think where hyorin and shin get all up in it. while that annoyed me to no end, i admired yul and chaekyung's relationship. i'd like to expand on it in an easier-to-work with AU setting. work with me, here. (basically: this whole fic is set before the marriage. the engagement is postponed.)
She's just so innocent that it seems surreal.
She's never been with a guy. She crushes and dreams but it's never been beyond that. She's never dared or never thought to go beyond that realm, to the place of rose petals and red lipstick and other symbolic things.
Shin is the first one, incidentally, to change that. There are strange opportunities and situations that form themselves because of Fate's mysterious desire. There's the memory of getting locked in the storage room and waking up entangled in him. She screamed and kicked at him until he pointed out who's offending appendages they were.
After that, there's a very subtle but growing attraction between them. They make nothing of it because of the obvious circumstances. A handsome prince has nothing to do with a common, plain girl. It's a cliche that never happens in real life and yet he blushes and she dreams.
But there's always something else; someone else. Always. In this case it's Yul, and years of living in the land of tea-cups and delicate accents has effectively made him an outsider. Handsome smiles and pretty hair aside; he cannot connect with the boys who laugh loud and share basketball practice after school.
But - there's always a but - he can connect to Chaekyung. She's not extraordinary but her presence is so demanding he admits she kind of is. Her gym pants make a swishing sound when she walks beside him, and before he realizes it he's associated the sound with affection.
He's never been to demanding or daring but seeing her with his cousin angers him. He treats her like dirt and still expects her playful affection. He ignores her for a week and then comes back for more, looking shocked when she turns away with glassy eyes.
It boils his blood.
He sees Chaekyung defenceless several times when all of the self-absorbed, green-eyes girls snap at her for being close to the prince, snap at her for being his fiance, snap at her for something she can't control.
He tells his mother he wants to be King.
He knows this is giving in to what she wants, but it could matter less. What mattered was Chaekyung; she was all that was there now.
He takes her to parks that look just romantic enough when she wants to forget and puts his long years of domestic skills to use in a cute lunchbox to share. She eats it with childish glee in her eyes, and his heart aches.
He loves her.
Chaekyung tells Yul that she likes Shin. No news there. She tells him that she's so innocent and simple-minded. She might have even fallen for Yul if she had met him first.
Yul's fists clench and his expression never changes.
"He's calling me," she says. She turns her face away and speaks quietly into the phone, and Yul doesn't say another word.
Their marriage is in two weeks.
All Yul wants to do is run away to a faraway place, but she's still holding his heart in the palm of her hand and he can't leave that behind.
That's when they jump from small-talk in the garden to kissing when no one's looking.
She says she's tired of Shin. She says he's so much better. His heart is so warm.
He loves the soft curve of her waist but he hates the way her hands never fit in his own.
Later, Shin pushes him in the hallway and asks him what the hell he's doing with his fiance. Yul asks him what the hell he's done to her. Chaekyung refuses to even look at him in the hallways.
Shin doesn't respond to that. Instead, he glares and warns him to back off before he let it slip to the media. Yul can't stop the automatic smile that rises to his face when he responds, "Okay, brother."
Chaekyung is sick.
Yul sits by her bedside with worry gripping his heart as he feels her forehead. He recoils from the feel of terrors unfolding within and the immense shimmer of heat. She opens her eyes to his touch and smiles.
"I brought you something." Yul picks up the plant at his feet and places it on her bedside table. Its leaves are bright spring green and reminds him of nothing but her.
"You shouldn't have!" Chaekyung is touched at the gesture as she reaches out to stroke the plant's thick, scented leaves. "What is it?"
"Apple mint," he answers softly. He hesitates. "It's meant to cure fevers."
She plucks one leaf and holds it under her nose, inhaling deeply. He's drawn to her every move; so much that there's only little stopping him from leaning in and pressing his nose to the crook of her neck and inhaling -
She sits up and presses a swift kiss to his cheek as her thank you.
Yul represses the leap of his heart and keeps his face apathetic instead. Briefly, he mutters, "I don't think Shin would like this."
Her answer is playful but he can tell it's been rehearsed. "This isn't about what Shin likes."
He can read her like a book. "What is 'this'?"
The question is vague but they both know too much. Chaekyung visibly stiffens and she's rendered speechless for once.
Yul things he understands now. He understands what is happening, what's his place in it, and what he will never be.
"You don't like me, Chaekyung." His words are carefully said but he can't stop the monotone remorse from leaking into them. He forgets to take it back and turns, exposed, to stare into her eyes mournfully instead.
Since when did he care about hiding the truth, anyway?
"I do," Chaekyung insists. Her words waver. Her eyes never meet his.
"Maybe it's what you want to believe, because I can assure you that I don't feel the same way."
When Yul stands up, the apple mint leaf that Chaekyung picked falls off of his lap. He doesn't let her speak again when he shuts the door behind him.
As he walks out, he thinks he can hear the sound of something crashing.
Ten years after they're married, the Royal Couple is inseparable.
Yul meets her on Sundays and Wednesdays, and each time his heart breaks a little more.