Royal Flush | pjm; jjk

Chapter Fourteen

Nora woke up from a slight push on her arms. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Hoseok looking at her with a worried expression. "Hi." Nora whispered, and Hoseok released a sigh of relief. He quickly sat down on the floor, taking his face into his palms. Nora sat up, looking at him with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong?" She whispered again. Hoseok quickly lowered his arms and flashed her a smile. "Sorry, Nora. You were just sleeping so soundly that for a second I got scared..." His voice was shaking a little bit, and Nora quickly realized what he was implying. She smiled at him and shook her head. "Everything is fine! It hurts a bit, but I will heal. What time is it?" She tried to look around, but all of the windows were covered with curtains. "It's a little bit after noon. You're allowed to go home already, but I can't come with you right now. Do you want to wait for me or will you be able to go by yourself?" Hoseok stood from the ground and sat next to her. Nora pondered for a moment, but the very idea of seeing Jimin's face when she brings the news of her success made her heart beat so much faster. "I'll go now, I'll see you home, ok?" Nora smiled, allowing excitement overtake her.

It was the first time, probably ever, that Nora rode so fast. She kept heeling her horse to gallop faster, with every jump bringing her closer to home. The moment she saw their house peek out from the outskirts of the forest a wide smile danced on her face. Nora reached the entrance in what seemed seconds and tied her horse to the stables. Quickly turning on her heel, she saw Jin and Yoongi in the inner yard. Without thinking about it too much she started to run towards them, and Jin quickly noticed the approaching footsteps.

Jin saw Nora running towards them, with her hands spread wide and a smile on her face. Jin was about to flash a smile himself, when he actually noticed her face. She was badly bruised, there were many blue spots on her face. Her right brow was split in half, the same was with her lower lip. Anger and fear started to overtake Jin, and without a second of hesitation he ran towards her too. The moment she was inches away, Jin wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in Nora's shoulder.

"Jesus, Nora, what the hell happened?!" Jin kept yelling into her skin, hands tightly wrapped around her back. Nora returned the hug and announced smilingly. "I did it. I won!" Ripping away from the hug, Jin took one more look at Nora's face, and a sharp sting pierced his heart. But realizing how happy, how proud she stood there, he didn't dare to question her anymore and focused all of his emotions on the happiness of her return. They stood there smilingly, when Yoongi walked over to them.

Nora quickly noticed, that even if Yoongi's exterior was cold as usual, there was a shimmer of pride in his eyes. He offered Nora his arm and she quickly shook it. "Hoseok told me about the hand to hand combat. You did great, Nora. I'm proud of you." He stated calmly, but the tremble in his voice betrayed him. Nora flashed him a wide smile. "I just did what you told me, Yoongi. Thank you." The trio stood there for a moment, Jin still holding his hands around Nora's shoulders, afraid that once he let's go she'll simply crumble. Nora quickly raised her eyes at Jin. "Where's Jimin?"

Jin, Nora and Yoongi were enjoying a cup of tea in the meeting room. The sun has set already, and they spent the whole day talking about the palace. The boys informed Nora that Jimin had some things to attend to, and he'll probably be home only tomorrow. This disappointed Nora a bit, but she didn't want her mood to sour, so avoiding his name completely, she focused herself on the Prince instead. "When he spoke about the King, I really felt resentment coming from him. I believe that he is not too fond of him as well. I really think that we might not even need the assassination, we just need to get prince Jungkook on our side." She pondered, and took another sip of her tea. Jin didn't say much, but he would occasionally stand up and put some ointment on Nora's face. Yoongi, on the other hand, seemed quite intrigued by the proposal.