STRINGS OF MY HEART | SVT | JEONGCHEOL [?]

32 - Until I Found You

Seungcheol's smirk widened, unable to hide his amusement, "You were staring at me the whole time? And you remembered it?" He chuckled, clearly enjoying Jeonghan's embarrassment. "Well, who could blame you? I am pretty handsome." He flexed his arm muscles in a playful manner.

"Yeah? And you were also a grumpy grandpa back then." Jeonghan rolled his eyes, "You've become a good man only after marrying me."

"Hey! I wasn't a grumpy grandpa." Seungcheol dramatically stated, "But yeah, marrying you had a great influence on me. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea."

Jeonghan stared at him for a while after which he pushed Seungcheol's arm lightly.

Seungcheol stumbled back a few steps, dramatically clutching at his arm like he had been hit with a wrecking ball. "Ah, the betrayal!" he exclaimed, "You have wounded me deeply, my dear husband." He feigned a look of mock hurt, his eyes full of playful affection.

"I'm just too embarrassed right now." Jeonghan squeezed his eyes shut.

"It's alright." Seungcheol chuckled, leaning his head on the younger's shoulders, "I was too stupid back then. My real, true love was right in front of me, staring at me as well, but me? It's funny."
-

[Flashback]

-

The pool party was in full swing along with the competitive spirit of volleyball going on in the pool. Seungcheol, Mingyu, Seungkwan, and Dino were in one team while Seokmin, Jun, Hoshi, and Vernon were in another. They were the only ones up for playing.

Minghao, Wonwoo and Woozi had willingly taken up the referee's position while Joshua was of course cheering for Seokmin's team.

Jeonghan had chosen Dino's team to cheer but the fact was, he was more focused on Seungcheol.

Jeonghan felt extremely guilty to be gawking at the eldest prince, who was of course already in love with someone else. But he couldn't help it, his eyes were drawn to the older, his muscular frame flexing with each move.

"Yah don't cheat!!" Seungkwan's voice snapped Jeonghan out of his stance. There was a playful dispute going on between the two teams. The refrees were rather enjoying it while Joshua was talking on Seokmin's team's side.

"Hyung!" Dino called Jeonghan, "The ball touched Vernon hyung's hands, right?"

"What?" Jeonghan blurted out, Uh- yeah right. It did."

"Are you blind or just siding with your team?" Joshua pointed at him, "It clearly didn't touch Vernon's hand."

"I-" Jeonghan fumbled with his words. He glanced at Seungcheol who was looking at him with a knowing chuckle.

"Or probably you were too focused elsewhere?" Joshua raised a brow.

"Yeah, I was organizing the drinks." Jeonghan lied.

Everyone scoffed as they got indulged in playing again.

Jeonghan went to the resting area is as he quickly gulped a glass of alcohol. He had to calm himself somehow. He wasn't supposed to be gawking at a man who was actually in love with someone else already. Someone who was already cursed and dead.

"Why am I getting attracted to a stupid person like him?" Jeonghan scoffed.

After a while, Seungcheol approached the same resting area as well. He was drying his hair with a towel while his physique was on full display. Jeonghan tensed slightly but pretended to ignore his presence while sipping on his drink.

"Why didn't you play though?" Seungcheol asked.

"Me?" Jeonghan pointed at himself.

"I don't see anyone else here?" Seungcheol raised a brow.