The King's Pet

Chapter 10: Runaway

Hyunjin's P.O.V

Makita and I had fallen asleep together the night before so I was surprised when I woke up and he was gone. At first I wasn't panicked, I thought he'd woken up to go to the bathroom or was wandering around the castle. So I got up, bathed and went off to look for him. After I'd been searching for ten minutes, asking various people if they'd seen him and still not finding him, I became worried. From how he was the day before I was expecting him to be in bed for at least a week, but the very next day he was just gone.

When the panic set in I got a few of the guards involved with looking for him. After three hours of searching and turning up empty I decided to have notices printed so the entire town knew to look out for him. After that I couldn't think of anything more to do and I began to pace up and down the courtyard. My mind was racing with every possible place he could've gone. My parents found me pacing and the look on their faces were all too telling. I could see that they felt sorry and couldn't figure out what to say to me.

"Is there anything he might've said yesterday...?" My father asked cautiously. I shook my head, too upset to even think back to when we were together. "He couldn't have gotten far, a man can only walk so far Hyunjin."My mother soothed, attempting to calm me down. "So then where is he mom?" I asked, finally stopping to look at my parents. My tone was on the brink of being attitude and being desperation and it left my mother speechless which wasn't a common occurrence with her. As my parents sensed there was really nothing to be done, they hugged me before leaving and I continued to pace.

I knew he couldn't have gotten far on foot but then again we fell asleep early and I didn't know if he'd perhaps left long before I woke up. He really could've been anywhere in the town and even some of the surrounding areas, it didn't sound like a large area but it was. And the more time we spent looking for him in the wrong places the further away he'd be getting.

I stopped pacing and forced myself to think. Then the countryside popped into my mind. "Maybe he's there." I spoke out loud, having my eureka moment. I ran to the carriage park to speak with the boss. The whole run there I was kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner. I'd taught him how to drive a carriage a while back so he easily could've used one and if he did that meant he was even further away than I'd thought before. When I'd realised this I felt as though a clock was above my head, following me everywhere and ticking down to the time when Makita would've eventually been too far for me to find.

My heart was aching, both from exertion and a desperate sadness. When I'd got to the carriage park I burst into the boss' office, nearly breaking her door of its hinges. "Oh my goodness, King Hyunjin, is everything okay?" She asked, startled and quickly moving to stand in front of me. "I'm looking for Makita, he's disappeared." I heaved out, still trying to catch my breath but being mindful that there was hardly any time for it. "Y-yes, he'd asked to borrow a carriage, my husband helped him pick one out—let me get him." She spoke hurriedly, picking up on the urgency of the situation and ran off to find her husband.

In no time she was back with her husband. "I gave Makita a single horse carriage, he'd brought some clothes, water and food but it wasn't much. He never said where he was going and he was unusually withdrawn...he also seemed...angry." He reported, not wasting time with formalities which I appreciated. "Which direction did he go?" I questioned, hopeful that I was on the right track. "He traveled west your highness." He responded and my heart felt lighter as that was the direction of the countryside.

"Bless you both, may I take a single horse carriage, I need your fastest one." I requested, smiling hopefully as I felt my body become overwhelmed with a new energy. "Of course, follow me." He said and directed me downstairs to the garage and stable. He set me up with the best carriage and the fastest horse, I promised to return with everything in one piece before making my way. At that point the adrenaline in my body had completely kicked in and I didn't even have time to stop and think about why I didn't ask what time Makita had come by. Though, in hindsight, he couldn't have gone there any earlier than seven thirty because that's when Mrs. and Mr. Abdallah opened their business.

I made it to the countryside by the afternoon and frantically ran into the cabin we had stayed in. I looked everywhere and called out for him desperately but he was no where to be seen or heard. I decided to search the areas we had visited during our stay but again, there was nothing to show he'd even been there. I walked back to the carriage with less urgency than I'd arrived with as I realised that I was out of time. At that time I decided it wasn't worth me going further west as he was probably several hours ahead of me and I still didn't know where he was headed. My best bet at finding him was to extend the missing notice to the whole kingdom and, if that turned up nothing as well, the whole continent.

I rode back with my heart in my stomach, all the adrenaline drained from my body and all the hope I had gone to the wind. On the way back the words Mr. Abdallah used swirled in my head, he'd said Makita was withdrawn and seemed angry. I was only realising that he said that on my way back. I didn't think Makita had the capacity to feel anger before and to hear that's how he seemed when he ran away made me feel even worse. In my mind, I could only think of one thing he'd do with his anger and that was hurting himself, though I'd come to find out that was a gross underestimation.

I returned the Abdallah's carriage and horse then made my way back to the castle after giving the word for the kingdom-wide spread of Makita's missing notice. I'd exhausted all the options I could think of and so, feeling disheartened again, I turned in for the day but in his room—just so I could feel a little bit closer to him. I hugged the pillow he'd used the night before and couldn't help the silent tears that seeped into it's fabric. If I hadn't known how much he meant to me before, I had definitely found out that day.

----