Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

34 Gathering

"You're still welcomed to stay longer," Suria says as she helps Akira to tie her belongings to her horse, making sure that everything is secured. "It's barely been two days and your body still needs a lot of rest."

"It's fine, I don't want to be staying too long and burdening you," Akira takes Suria's hand as she rubs her palm over the back of her hand. "Thank you for letting us stay, and I'll make sure that Lucida will send something over to you as a token of appreciation. That's the least we can do, plus," she smiles, "your doctor is really good; not even two days yet my body is in an almost perfect condition. Your cooking is excellent too- well, everything was perfect. Though..." She awkwardly glances at Bulan, who's only crossing her arms as her lower lip is pushed outwards and her body angled to another direction. "If I ever did something wrong to Bulan without me realizing, please do relay my apologies to her. She seems... pissed."

Suria only chuckles as she whispers. "Don't mind her, she's just jealous of you, actually."

"Jealous?" Akira blinks. "Why would the princess of Estar be jealous of me?"

"Your Majesty," Suria says good-naturedly, "you're married to the only guy she's had her eyes on, so she's jealous of you."

"Ugh," the queen groans. "Park Seonghwa always brings trouble to me, having so many admirers."

"But no worries," Suria utters as she lowers down her voice. "Don't tell her this, but I find both of you suited for each other. I'm happy to hear the news about your marriage with him."

The queen only smiles; both her and Wooyoung didn't tell them the actual reason behind their journey, so Suria would have no idea that Seonghwa is currently bedridden. She nods, still with the smile on her face. "Now that it's been two days since I've last seen him, I kind of miss him."

"Have a safe journey back," the princess says, but her eyes drop to the ground as she sees Wooyoung approaching them. "You too," she mentions him although it only sounds like a whisper.

Ever since they talked outside one night ago, she has found it embarrassing to even look at him in the eyes. Her heart was beating crazily after he relayed the words to her, asking her to wait for him and that he'd come back for her. As always, Wooyoung stayed nonchalant to how severe the effects of his words towards her were, while Suria was left to deal with her own heart pumping vigorously. They had barely talked after that, because Suria would always find an excuse to get away from him.

Akira gets onto her horse, her body feeling energetic now that she has gotten her much needed rest. Despite being worried the longer they're away from Lucida, Suria had managed to convince them to stay for another day. So only now they're returning to Lucida, which means that it's been at least two days since Akira had last seen Seonghwa. Wooyoung has insisted on accompanying the queen all the way until Lucida, before he returns on his own to Nyla.

For whatever they'll do to cure Seonghwa and San... they'll think about that later.

Wooyoung only clamps his lips tight as he heaves himself up onto his horse, taking the reins after glancing at Suria, knowing that the princess is looking everywhere but at him. He's ready to turn his horse around when his name is mentioned, and his first instinct is to look at the princess.

Truly, it was her who had called his name, and she's handing something over to him. "I cooked this for both of you for the journey back to Lucida. And um," she mulls over her next words, "some extra for you since you'll be continuing your journey back to Nyla too."

His lips curl into a smile as he takes it from her, their fingers brushing against each other but this time, she doesn't pull back as they stay staring at each other.