"Grandmama. Father! Why have you two come here yourselves? You should've sent for me instead. Here, please sit down." The crown prince said upon seeing both the queen dowager and the king at his side of the palace.
"What is the issue, Grandmama?"
"Father, why are you two here?"
The prince felt uneasy, wondering what the problem could be.
"Hm. It's the court. They're suggesting that we find a bride for you. I've been ignoring them but now they got your grandmama too involved." The king explained the reason for their visit.
"Don't worry. I have arranged with the prime minister to make a match between you and his niece, Lee Minseo. Your father agrees with me that this is a good idea since she used to be a good friend of yours. What do you think?" The 76-year-old queen dowager added.
"But I'm still young, and Father is very well in shape, so why the need to rush my marriage? Can it wait until I'm a bit older?"
"You're not that young, my prince. But alright, I can delay it for a bit while. Just be sure to try and rekindle your relationship with the girl. It would not hurt to have her as a candidate for your future queen, would it?" His grandmother suggested.
"Yes, son. I also believe that doing it this way will help solidify our long-standing relationship with the Lees. And it's about time that you let go of that dead girl whose portrait I heard that you're still keeping in your bedroom." The king added.
"Okay, fine. I'll start to be visiting her house and inviting her over soon." The prince finally caved in.
At least this way, he'll have more time to come up with something later.
***
"Now, as you are about to step back into the world outside, be sure to stay as the good boy that you are. Do not come back to this place again or let me hear anything disreputable about you. Do you hear me?" The jail superintendent gave a final piece of advice before signalling the guards to take Lee Minsu out of the place.
"Bye Bye, Minsu." We'll all miss you, dear friend."
Minsu waved back at his friends as he left, trying hard not to cry.
To some people, prison is a cursed place, but to Lee Min-Su, it was the most fun place to be. And a place that has made him grow more as a person. It felt more like a home to him than the one he was nurtured in.
But everyone in here says that the world outside is still better than in here, so Minsu believes that perhaps they're right.
He was too young to understand the things that had happened to him as a kid. Maybe the world outside isn't as bad as his memories make him believe.
*
It was nighttime when Lee Minsu got to the address that was given to him as his family's new address.
Bam! Bam!! Bam!!!
It's been over an hour since Lee Minsoo arrived at his home, but the guards at the gate refused to let him in.
Apparently, his parents have instructed them not to.
But Minsoo continued to bang on the hard wooden gate despite the security guards' displeasure.
He saw through the small spaces in the gate that his parents and his older sister were coming. They too seem to have seen that it was him at the gate.
"What are you still standing there for?" His mother asked in an unwelcoming tone, even before she reached the gate.
"Father, mother, please tell the guards to let me in. They're the reason I'm still standing outside here. They've refused to let me enter the house and are saying some weird things that I don't even understand. I just want to come in and rest. I'm hungry and exhausted, please. Whoooh." Minsu yawned.
"What don't you understand? Haven't they given your things to you? Shouldn't you be on your way? We do not want an ex-convict in our family." His father said to him.
"Just leave, and don't you dare tell anyone anywhere that you happen to know me or any of us here." His sister, Lee Min-Seo, added.
"Sister! What is happening here?"
Minsu could not believe what he was hearing. Tears started to fall as his mind tried to make sense of what was going on.
"What? Call me sister again and see what I wouldn't do to you." His sister was getting very annoyed that this ex-convict dared to call her his sister.
What the hell?
"Sis, how... how can you say this? I went to prison for you, and I am only coming back now. Mom, Dad, how can you all do this to me? Is this my reward?"
Min-Su asked as he kept saying to himself that he would not cry. It was a trick to prevent him from shedding a tear before these people.
"And so? Leave here quickly before my visitor comes. Dad, Mom, let's make him leave fast. The crown prince will be here soon. I don't want him to know that we have a criminal in our family, Father."
His golden child's words made their father spring into action. Of course she is right; they can't have this cursed boy ruin the good reputation that they have built over the years.
"Stop talking nonsense and move out of the gate. Or I'll release the dogs on you if you do not leave here this instant. Guards. Bring the dogs here!" his father commanded.
In a matter of minutes, the guards came with three large and scary-looking dogs, each one on a leash.
Minsu could tell that these dogs were definitely brought in after he went to prison.
He has been away for seven years, but he was sure he would've been able to recognise them if they had them before he left to serve time.
These ones were very wild and aggressive, even though they were chained.
They kept barking at him from inside the house, with only the gates separating them.
Min-Su became afraid, for he could feel that these big dogs would not spare him if they got the chance.
Eventually, Minsu had no choice but to leave. He turned to walk towards nowhere in particular, just wherever his feet would take him.
It was then that the tears that he didn't know he was holding back finally came out, flowing down his cheeks like a flood.
All Minsu was asking himself was why his parents and sister hated him this much. From his childhood till now, he still could not fathom it, except for the fact that he was born different, and the dynamic between him and his family only became worse after that incident seven years ago.
He was lost in thought as many things ran through his head while he walked around aimlessly, with his things in one hand. Unaware of the unscrupulous gang spying on him as they too carefully followed him.