Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

15 Change

Yeosang squints at the bandage on Seonghwa's face, hand subconsciously trying to touch it but his hand is immediately slapped away by the king.

"Don't touch it," Seonghwa reminds him, and the doctor gives up.

"You're still good looking," San offers. "So don't worry."

"You're worried about that, weren't you?" Wooyoung grins as he chomps on some garlic bread. "You're scared Akira wouldn't like you anymore once you gained that scar on your face."

"I wasn't, but I know that you would act that way."

"He was," Akira replies, earning laughter from the rest.

However this time Seonghwa doesn't refute as he only eats his breakfast in silence, slurping on the mushroom soup as the rest get absorbed in conversation. Yeosang and Hongjoong are the ones who notice that Seonghwa seems uncharacteristically awkward around Akira, the first time they've ever seen him like this after both of them got married. The doctor and blacksmith look at each other, but they know better than to pry in their private matters. Instead they keep their silence as they join in the rest.

Jongho notices how Akira is playing around with her food, barely eating but when he looks over to her husband, he seems to be gobbling up whatever he can find, as if not enough to satisfy his hunger. He sighs as he returns to eating his own breakfast, wondering what could be the first strike to have the married couple acting that way.

"You're not hungry?" Yunho asks as his hands quickly fly to steal some food off the queen's plate, but Akira does nothing to stop him. He chews slowly, his suspicion of the couple having a somewhat tense air between them confirmed.

"No," she says. "I just don't feel good."

"It's normal to have fights once in a while," Yunho utters, stealing more food from her plate. "But don't let it get too quiet between the two of you for too long. Communication is important."

"We're not-" she pauses, trying to think of whether yesterday could be considered a fight. "-fighting. It was just a difference in opinions."

"Well, whatever you want to call it..." The general swallows before downing it with water, "Don't let it get to both of you. Both of you need each other the most during times like this."

She throws a look to Seonghwa beside her, who is scooping up more mashed potato onto his plate. Some of the gravy has gotten on the corners of his mouth, but it seems that he either doesn't bother to clean it up or he doesn't realize the mess he has made. She shakes her head and mumbles again.

"I really did marry a toddler it seems."

Her hand automatically reaches for the napkin, then she dabs Seonghwa's mouth clean and complains about how he can't seem to eat properly without making a mess. He only stays rigid in place, waiting for her to finish cleaning up his mouth. When she's done she throws the napkin on the table before facing her own plate.

They continue to eat, and for today it seems that the rest are planning to return to Nyla directly.

"It's so weird," Wooyoung whispers to San. "They're fighting aren't they?"

"Silent treatment?" San guesses.

"And it's none of our business," Mingi states.

"We better get going," Yeosang announces, giving signals to the rest of them with his eyes to not pry into the couple's matters.

"You're going already?" Seonghwa says, eyes glancing towards Akira but he says nothing to her.

"Yeah," Hongjoong agrees. "Thank you so much for the warm hospitality and everything that you've provided us."