Modern Prince (Chapter 4: Care For Some Soju?)

Modern Prince 

Written By: Michele Hii

Chapter 4: Care For Some Soju?

Chapter 3 recap: Phelia forced Joo Yoon to get into her house. Joo Yoon only wanted sikhye from his new chef which was the girl he encountered in the first chapter of Phelia's story but Phelia decided to give him a taste of her own homemade sikhye. As soon as she was about to present him a bowl, he was fast asleep. Leaving the bowl of dessert in the fridge and driving her way to Madame Cyprine's store, she hoped that she would be given a hopeful answer to bring Joo Yoon back into the story. However, she found out that the only way was to finish the story and keep the prince away from her activities. As she went out of the store, she bumped into Jordan...

"There you are! How come you didn't answer my calls?" Jordan asked.
"Huh?"
"I've called you five times, but you didn't picked up."
I quickly pulled out my phone and saw missed calls flashed on the screen.
"Where the hell were you, Phelia?" he frowned. He crossed his arms and looked at me with an icy blue glare.
"I...uh...I was at home...and then I came here." I stammered.
"Came here for what?"
"Just to see Madame Cyprine." I took a step backward, wanting to run away before he attacked me with more questions.
"Phelia, I know there's something else. Please, can you tell me?" he asked, fixing his gaze on me. 

What should I do??? I was so distracted by this whole Joo Yoon situation that I hadn't checked my phone since I pulled him out of the mental hospital. I wouldn't want to expose him to anybody, including my close friend, Jordan. Besides, Joo Yoon was not a real human. He's a fiction character. He's only brought alive by magic, and he shouldn't be known by the world or be involved in anything here.

Jordan's lips were in a thin hyphen. I swore I could hear the persuasive speeches from the angel and the devil in my ears.

Angel: Tell him the truth! He's your friend right?
Devil: No! Tell him that you're just looking for something else! He's probably jealous because you take the prince with you.
Angel: You've known Jordan since college. He can help you with your problem.
Devil: Oh please! He warns you not to buy that magic notebook in the first place. He's annoying. You can handle this on your own, right?

Argh...what the heck...

"Okay fine...it's Joo Yoon. He's actually telling the truth."
"Ah yes..that lunatic we took him to the mental hospital?"
"He's not a lunatic. He's actually a fiction character."
"A fiction character eh? Then how come he's human?" Jordan raised his eyebrow.
I shoved my notebook right into his face, "Because of this."
He pushed the notebook down and looked at me with a confused look, "Can you be more specific? It looked like someone accidentally added a shot of espresso into your drink back at the cafe."
"Well remember when I bought this notebook and Madame Cyprine said that it's a magic notebook?"
"Yeah, and I warned you that it's expensive."
"Not helping!" I snapped.
"Hey! I'm listening!"
"Anyway, I wrote a story in it and I wished that the prince in my story would come to life. And guess what? He's the man in the hanbok! The notebook has cast a spell on my story!"
"So you're saying that the notebook has magically transformed your 'prince' into a man and...what else? What are you gonna do about it?"
"Well," I clutched the notebook on one arm and my other extended to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear, "Madame Cyprine said that all I have to do is to not let the prince to be involved in this world. Get him away from human activities and events. The only memories he has are from my story. If he creates new memories here in LA, he'll be in big trouble...and so will I..."
"Wow! That's a lot to take in!"
"And the worst part is that in order to get him back into the story for good, I have to finish writing it..." I sighed, "There! Happy?"
"I am, and I want to help."
"Well...if you want to help, then come with me."

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"You just left him in the house?" Jordan exclaimed once we arrived.
"So? There's no other way! He fell asleep right before he was about to eat."

Once we went through the door, the coach was empty and the blanket was dropped on the wooden floor.
"Joo Yoon? Your Majesty?" I called.
CRASH!
"What the hell?" I gasped.
"Did someone broke into your house?" Jordan's eyes widened.
We charged into the kitchen and saw him standing close to the cupboard at the top left corner. In his right hand was a half-broken pearly white Corelle plate. He stared right back at me and tossed the broken half into the sink like he's making a basketball goal. Another loud crash was heard as I pictured the glass shattered into cookie chips.
"Doesn't that kind of plates cost you more than a hundred dollars?" Jordan whispered.
I just stood there, deadpanned.

"Ahem!" Joo Yoon cleared his throat, "Servants, clean this up please!"
Jordan and I kept on staring at him. The prince tried again, "I say, clean this up please!"
"What are you talking about?" I spoke, "You're the one who made this mess, so you should clean it up."
"Princes don't do cleaning. Servants do." he sniffed.
Why you little...
"Phelia, just do it." Jordan nudged me.
"What? Why?" I turned back to hiss at him.
"He doesn't want to clean up, so you should do it. Besides, you're the one who bought the plates."
I glared at him but I found myself doing it.
"I better made him do chores in the second chapter." I mumbled. As I got up, I spotted an empty glass buried in the broken pieces of the other half of the plate in the sink. Well at least he drank my sikhye.

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*
Chef of Sun Yang
Written by: Phelia Song
Chapter 2

The prince finished the last drop of Soju from his shot glass. He was about to put it down when suddenly...
"Oh no!" a cry made the new chef jump. She turned back to see the prince standing in front of broken China.
"That's the third time someone broke a plate since I work here." she shook her head.
The prince said nothing. He watched innocently at her kneeling down to clean up the mess. As he was about to leave, he felt someone grabbed his hand.
"Where do you think you're going, Your Majesty?" she barked. Her eyes were like fiery coals that sent shivers to his spine.
"T...to the throne?" he stammered.
"You may be royalty, but you need to do what's right." she said, pointing at the shattered pieces.
"You want  me to pick up these?"
"You're the one who broke it! So you should clean this up!"
"But I don't know how!"
"You've got to be kidding me." she rolled her eyes. She then held a triangular piece, "See? You can gently hold the glass like this and throw them into the garbage can here. Just be careful though. Don't touch the sharp edges."
The prince reached his hand and slowly picked up a smaller piece. He then dropped it into the can.
"Like this?"
"Yeah! There you go!" she smiled.
The prince smiled back. He suddenly felt his cheeks grew warm. Even his heart was pounding.

Still, he continued on. There was this strange feeling that stirred within Joo Yoon. He peeked at her velvety soft black hair and her serious but gentle face. He wondered if it was alright to know her more.

"There! Done!" she smiled, tossing the last piece.
"That's...kind of fun." the prince blushed. He suddenly noticed a bleeding scar on her left wrist.
"Omo! Y...your hand!" he gasped.
"Oh!" she immediately ripped off a piece of cloth from the kitchen cupboard and covered it onto the blood.
"I'll call the doctor now."
"No, it's fine. I can just rub ointment my mom got for me and then I'll put a bandage."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. Don't worry about me." she smiled and walked off.

"Wait!" he called out, "I realized that I haven't got your name."
The girl turned back and smiled again, "I can't tell you my name, Your Majesty."
"Why?"
She held onto the frame of the door and replied, "'I'll tell you later, but not today."

The prince watched her walking away. He placed the can at the corner and headed to the throne. For the first time ever, he couldn't get the girl out of his head.

I'll talk to her more...hopefully soon, he thought.

*

Alright! I've finished writing the second chapter!
I placed my pen down and stretched my arms. Suddenly, I heard a yawn and a rustle of the bedspread behind me.
"You're still up?" Joo Yoon asked.
"Yeah." I nodded, "Can't sleep well huh?"
"I woke up like five minutes ago but I can 't fall back to sleep."
"Hmm..." I looked at my right where a plastic bag filled with a couple of green bottles sat near my handbag, "Your Majesty?"
"Yes?"
"Do you drink Soju?"
"Soju? Well I remember I drank it before I broke a plate. Wow, that was the second time I broke a plate."
I chuckled, and grabbed both things, "Come on! Let's go!"
"Go? Go where?" the prince asked in surprise.
"To relax." I winked.

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"What is this place?" the prince asked. He squinted through the window at the empty rectangles of the parking lot. Beyond us was a lake surrounded by pine trees. I smiled at the moon that cast its silvery shadow on the waters below.
"Hello?" he waved his hand in front of me.
"Oh! We're in Rosewood Park."
"Park? What's a park?"
"It's like a backyard but bigger." I  unbuckled my seat belt.
"How so?"
"Well, you can jog around, play fetch with your dog, and play Frisbee. Basically you can get some fresh air here."
"I've...never heard of those things before."
"Don't you do those things when you were little?"
"I...uh...I can't remember. I can't think of any childhood memories."
Oh right...I haven't included any young memories of him. 
"The only things I remember are when I hire my new chef and...I also know that I started to have strange feelings of her when I picked up broken pieces of a plate I broke." he stared straight ahead, "I wonder why I have such limited memories."
Because you're a fictional character. You just don't know that.
"Well..what are we doing here anyway? How are we supposed to relax here? It's dark and deserted."
"That's the best part." I winked as I handed him a bottle of soju, "When no one's around, you can have all the peace and quiet. It's like a remedy, you know."
"That sounds boring." he pouted.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm a prince." he said as he gripped hold on the bottle cap to pull it out, "I'm not allowed to go outside of the palace. I don't even have memories of going out."
I tried not to giggle as I watched him struggling with the metal circle.
"Why is this so tight?" he groaned.
"Here." I put out my hand.
He looked at me blankly, "Huh?"
"Give me your bottle." I said.
He did as he told, and I twisted the cap and opened it with ease.
"H...how did you do that?" he exclaimed.
"Strength. And also practice." I winked, handing him the opened wine.
"Wow, you're lucky. I usually have my servants to open the bottles for me." he remarked.

I opened mine and took a big gulp. Oddly, I didn't hear him chugging his. I stopped and looked at him, "Aren't you gonna drink it?"
Joo Yoon stared at the scenery gloomily. His pale fingers wrapped around the bottle's neck. From the dull hues in his eyes, I could tell he's thinking of something negative.
"Your Majesty, is something the matter?"
He settled his bottle on his knee and sighed, "I feel like...I'm in the midst of two worlds."
He finally drank a bit before sighing again, "I only have memories from a week or so in Sun Yang, and then I'm...stuck here in this strange city, this strange era."
"You mean, Los Angeles?" I chipped in, gulping another shot.
"Yeah whatever that is...I don't know why I'm here. I wonder if the sun gods send me here for a purpose."
I stared down at my blue Toms as I waited for him to finish his second gulp of the alcoholic drink. I felt sorry for him...and guilty too. When would be the time for me to tell him the truth? Never? He's the lost puppy here!

"I just...don't know what I'm supposed to do here." he continued.
"Your Majesty, maybe you have...uh...something or someone in your life that you are interested in?"
"Hmm..." he drank more and thought for a moment, "You know the new chef I've told you about?"
"Yeah, I remember." I nodded as I took in another dose of the drink.
I immediately noticed red blush automatically painted his cheeks. He got drunk that fast?
"When I'm around her, I feel like my heart goes mad. I wanted to tell her this feeling but I had many doubts just thinking of doing it." he explained, "I just don't know how to show it to her."
I nodded and took in some more. My head spun a little and my eyes felt heavy, but I fixed my gaze on him, "You know what you have to do?"
"What?" he slurred.
"Spill it. Tell her how you feel like a real man." I replied, "and when she said yes, you have to make a move."
"Make a move?" he drank some more, "What do you mean by that?"
"Uh...you know...hold her hand or give her a hug or...kiss her." I chugged my bottle.
"Well...that might be a problem." he groaned, "I don't know how to do those kind of gestures."
"Your Majes...Majestyyy..." I started to feel tongue-tied, "It's n...not...as hard...as y...you think."
"Really?"
"Yeah...here....let m...me show you how...it's...done."
I dropped my bottle near the pedals and cupped my hand on his left cheek. Suddenly, I leaned forward and smooched right on his lips. I let go three seconds later. He looked stunned at first before nodding sleepily with a smile, "Ahhhh...I get it now."
"See?" I showed a thumbs-up, "It's not...so bad right?"
"I'll do it when I see her next time." he replied.
"Well, I wish you all the best." I raised my bottle.
"Thanks...uh...I don't know your name...silly me..." he hiccuped.
"Phelia." I replied.
"Phelia...that's a pretty name." he giggled.
"Why thank you, Joo Yoon." I laughed.

We clinked our bottles and continued on drinking. When we reached our last drop, I suddenly saw a realm of darkness. I couldn't even remember anything.