This night is sparkling, don't you let it go
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew
That this night is flawless, don't you let it go
I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew
I was enchanted to meet you
Dokja hummed quietly to himself while he arranged the enormous collection of books in his study, his feet light as he paraded around from shelf to shelf, unaware of the eyes watching him from the door cracked open.
"What is he doing? "Han Sooyoung leaned against the door frame, arms crossed.
"Isn't it obvious? He's singing," Jung Heewon smarmily replied. Sooyoung rolled her eyes and went back to watching her friend.
Like Sooyoung, the duchess leaned to peer through the door and whispered, "I didn't realize that Dokja could sing, he sounds lovely." Persephone was a bit awed at the sight in front of her, she never expected to see her son act like this. Before, when he was infatuated with Lee Seolhwa, he much preferred expressing his feelings through manic and borderline psychotic reverence.But this type of love was much more soft than she'd ever thought her son could express.
Namwoon added, "Hyung has been growing more and more strange these past few weeks."
The Duke grunted," He doesn't seem all that different to me," he grumbled out. The others looked at him with dry stares. Ever since finding out about his son's prior relationship, the Duke could be seen moping around the manor, at times unsubtly trying to convince his son how much the prince didn't deserve him. No one had the courage to tell him to stop, except for Persephone, but she found his sulking too cute. Though, no matter how much Hades would deny his son's lightened mood, the signs were apparent.
Besides the casual touches that the two shared so frequently now, everyone in the manor noticed that whenever Joonghyuk visited the Duchy, Dokja always smiled brighter. Their casual, witty exchanges were a common site to walk in on, and the way the crown prince stared at Dokja… every time his eyes would be burning with warmth.
His family and servants noticed the fruits of their newfound relationship even when the crown prince wasn't present.They would sometimes find Dokja looking out the window blankly, letting out wistful sighs every now and then.
When they tried asking him what was wrong out of worry, he would simply give a small smile to them and say, "It's nothing," and went back to his gazing [He was sad because a character from a novel he'd been invested in had died].
Even during their family dinners, Dokja would be seen spacing out and overall, being less responsive to his family.Whenever they'd ask him questions, Dokja always needed them to repeat themselves [he was thinking about what novels to read next].
Usually, he'd at least interject whenever Lee Gilyeong and Shin Yoosung started their petty squabbles at the table, arguing over who got to sit next him, who had bigger portions, etc. But now they had to whine at him to get his attention, imploring Dokja to hand feed them their food, since they heard the prince had done it for him.
Needless to say, the only people more disparaged at how close Dokja was with the crown prince than Hades were the children. Persephone, still amused with her husband's childish sulking, suggested that he take advantage of their mutual loathing of the prince to get closer with his grandchildren. While the duke hadn't yet taken her up on the offer, he was seriously considering it.
Not wanting to make Dokja uncomfortable, the family stopped questioning him about his relationship with the prince. Instead, they waited for him to open up to them on his own terms. Or at least that was the plan. As his strange behavior continued on, everyone agreed that Kim Dokja was a scheming bastard that would probably never tell them his secrets unless forced to. So there they all were, spying on him from outside his study as he sang.
I was enchanted to meet you
Please don't be in love with someone else
Please don't have somebody waiting on you
Unfortunately for Kim Dokja, the Underworld Duchy was not immune to the stray pieces of gossip that had circled around about him and the prince. They had even come up with their own theory about the two; his family believed that Yoo Joonghyuk had courted Seolhwa while he was still dating Dokja, which made Dokja jealous of Seolhwa.
They figured Joonghyuk eventually broke up with him to fully commit himself the physician, only for Kim Dokja to start trying to woo her out of spite, thus sparking their rivalry.
Heewon turned to the rest of them, "I mean, it's the only explanation that makes sense, right?" Everyone nodded in agreement.
"What a bastard… I'll sic my grasshoppers on him the next time he comes here" Lee Gilyeong growled, his face dark.
"Ahjussi deserves someone better," Yoosung piped in. No one disagreed with her.
They were about to make a move when Sooyoung glanced at them, sighed, "Alright, I'm going to get some answers from the rat, just count on me." She didn't wait for them to respond, opening the door to fully reveal Dokja still arranging his books.
Pausing his actions, Dokja turned to look at them, cocking his head to the side "Oh, do you guys need something?"
Everyone stayed silent and just continued staring at him, making Dokja smile awkwardly back at them. He was about to ask what was going on when Sooyoung beat him to the punch, "Can you guys give us some privacy?" she sighed out, looking at all the people standing by the door with a pointed expression. Everyone looked at each other before reluctantly nodding, closing the door to leave the two alone.
" Errr, did you need something from me or—"
"What's wrong with you these days?" Han Sooyoung gave him a hard look.
"What do you mean," he questioned as he put his hands on his waist with his brows furrowed.
"Look everyone has already figured out how the prince cheated on you. Don't tell me you're still in love with that bastard—."
"Yes, of course I love him, I've always loved him, yup" Dokja casually said, eyeing his friend to gauge her reaction.
Sooyoung groaned and put her hand on her head as she thought she had a headache. "You're so hopeless, your type really sucks, y'know, there are plenty of better guys out there that aren't emo bastards." she said, shaking her head.Dokja just rolled his eyes at her and continued organizing his books "What are you going to do now?" She asked
Without glancing at her, he responded, "Obviously I'm going to stay by his side," and went on to arrange his books.
"What do you get out of it?"
"Nothing."
She approached him and leaned next to the shelf he was organizing, "You remembered what I said, right?" This made Dokja to halt what he was doing.
"Yeah, of course."
-----
The day after the trial transpired...
Dokja walked to his room to shower and sleep. He was eager to finally clean himself of and sleep in his own bed again. He is still wearing the clothes he had before the royal guards arrested him, and the prison they'd kept in didn't have a proper bed, forcing him to sleep on the cold stone floor. Dokja sighed as he thought back on everything that had happened to him.
He wasn't able to comprehend what was going on when someone grabbed him by the wrist and pushed him against the wall.
"Oh, hello to you too, Han Sooyoung."
However, Sooyoung continued to glare at him and growled angrily, "Don't hello me, you rat."
Dokja rubbed his head before responding, "How should I greet you then, how about h—"
"Shut your mouth" she spat out with venom, "Did...did you really sleep with that bastard?"
Despite his grimace, Dokja replied, "Yes, but why?"
"Why?! You bastard, are you crazy? Did you forget what I told you about becoming pregnant?!"
Dokja rushed to cover her mouth and looked around the hall before turning to her, "Shut up, what if someone heard you?" he hissed out.
"Who cares, everyone already knows that that bastard prince fucked you!" Sooyoung muttered as he took his hands of her mouth.
"No one would've known if you'd just kept your mouth shut when we're in the courtroom,"
She pointed at him "Shut up, I'm not done speaking," she ordered, "How many times did you do it with him?"
Dokja looked at her critically, judgment written all over his face, "Seriously?"
"Just Answer!"
He sighed, knowing she wouldn't let this go until she answered, "Just once, that's all," he grumbled.
Dokja scowled at Sooyoung as she sighed and nodded, "Thank God…" Sooyoung put her hands on his shoulder, staring at him seriously, "Dokja, make sure to not to do it again, no matter how hot you think he looks."
He rolled his eyes at her, "Tell me straight, is this just from one of your novels?"
Sooyoung scowled at him, "Do I look like I'm just making this up?" Honestly, Dokja really wouldn't put it past her to convince him of something like this for the shits and giggles, but he kept quiet about it. Judging from how seriously she was talking about it, he decided to just trust her word.
Taking his silence as reluctance to accept her words, Han Sooyoung gave him an unimpressed glower, "Wow, are you really that desperate to get fucked again by that bastard?" Not bothering to answer her, Dokja gently moved past her and strided away, wanting to just get to his room already.
------
"I just wanted to tell you, I could be wrong about the whole pregnancy thing," she sighed out. Dokja glanced at her, bewildered about her sudden change in tone after how adamant she was before.
"What does that mean?"
Rubbing the back of her neck, unsure of herself, she explained "Well, we really can't be sure if it'll happen or not...it's been decades since it last happened, so the trait could've fizzled out of the bloodline or something..."
"Thank god, so there's just a miniscule chance it could happen to me." Dokja said as he exhaled in relief, "I really thought I was in an omegaverse for a second..."
Han Sooyoung blinked at him, confused, " Omegaver—?"
She was about to question Dokja about it when she heard the door opening off to the side of the room. Sooyoung didn't even need to turn to see who it was, her curiosity immediately satiated as Dokja excitedly rushed past her to leap into the arms of their uninvited guest.
"I'm glad you're here," Dokja crooned with a sickly sweet voice, "I really missed you."
Someone should really give her an award for not throwing up on the spot, she didn't need to see this dog food damn it, and she didn't want to bear witness to Dokja acting like some bashful maiden. If that rat seriously thought this was how he should flirt with people, it was no wonder why Lee Seolhwa rejected his ass. She thought that, but right in front of her there seemed to be a man that was extremely responsive to Dokja's horrible seduction attempts, at least judging by the fact that the crown prince held him tightly in his arms.
When Joonghyuk looked at her after their flirting session, she made sure to visibly gag at the two, exaggerating it as much as she could as she grabbed her chest in agony. The prince chose to ignore her and looked back at Dokja.
Deciding that it was her time to leave, she loudly stated her exit "Well then, I don't need to see you sickos be all disgusting like this. I'm off to go flirt with Sangha, see you bitches later," Sooyoung announced as she went to walk out the room, though she paused at the door frame and looked Joonghyuk directly in his eyes.
" Before I go, I just wanted to warn you, you emo bastard, if you ever do anything to Dokja ever again, the full force of the Han Marquis and the Underworld Duchy will be out to get your ass. Don't think you'll be able to walk away in one piece." Her eyes didn't betray the danger in her words, Sooyoung holding her gaze a second longer before turning her back and walking away.
As she made her way out of the manor, her expression went from serious to giddy in less than a second. She was bouncing on her heels as she thought about visiting Yoo Sanga's manor. Her knees already felt weak imagining the smile that the Saintess would greet her with. Humming happily to herself, Han Sooyoung started skipping away in the hallway.
----
Needing to recover for a bit after Han Sooyoung's sudden intimidation, Dokja stepped away from the prince and started questioning him.
"What are you doing here?"
"To see you, of course," Yoo Joonghyuk answered right away. Dokja blinked at him in surprise, shrinking away from the prince as he stared at him warily, feeling a slight warmth go to his cheeks since the man caught him off guard.
"You bastard… Han Sooyoung is already gone, you don't need to keep up the act anymore," Dokja glanced at the man before quickly looking away, " And stop staring at me with those eyes," Dokja insisted.
Joonghyuk tilted his head questioningly, "I'm not putting up any act… what eyes?" he asked, perplexed. He had no idea what was wrong about the way he looked at the man.
"Those eyes." Flustered, Dokja pointed at his face, not knowing how to explain it. He stared imploring at the man, urging him to understand what he was talking about already. Joonghyuk scowled at him, bewildered. If the prince had dog ears they would be drooping right now, Dokja couldn't help but think it was cute. He shook his head dismissively.
"Forget about it…Anyway, why did you really come here?" Dokja asked quietly, opting to change the subject since the topic seemed like it would go anywhere. Besides that, he knew that Joonghyuk wouldn't come to meet him for nothing.
Joonghyuk's shining black orbs boring onto his own, the prince grabbed his hand and slowly brought it to his lips."Kim Dokja," each syllable of his name that rumbled from the prince's lips brushed against Dokja's ears like silk,making Dokja swallow hard as he tried his best not to look away. "Would you go to the royal banquet with me?" he asked, the ends of his lips quirked up into a sly smile.
Even the weeks of constant shared touches and hugs between the two hadn't prepared Kim Dokja for the massive mental damage Joonghyuk had just inflicted on him. He could feel heat creeping up his neck as his heart throbbed uncomfortably in his chest. This bastard… normally when Joonghyuk did weird gestures like this he'd chastise the prince to save it for when they were in the public eye, but for once he was glad they were in private. Now way was Kim Dokja able to function properly after that.