Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

48 Distraction

Akira feels the groove of the bow, familiarizing herself with the weapon before she fires. She lowers down her bow as she hears a cheer from the side; Seonghwa is clapping enthusiastically, too much in fact, as her target has barely reached the middle of the board. In fact she's lucky enough that her arrow did hit the board. She sighs; it doesn't seem like it'll be good enough if she wants to make herself a part of the team.

Slightly pouting, she puts the bow down before sitting next to him. She knows that Seonghwa is giving her encouragement, but she feels frustrated knowing that she only has a few days left yet she's nowhere near ready. It's slightly ironic considering how she's supposed to be the one leading the attack. When she sees his face however, he's smiling as he does tiny claps with his forefingers.

"I'm not good enough," she complains. "But physical wise, archery is my best option."

"You're doing great," he utters, patting her head. "Akira, you do know that I took years to master the art? You've only trained for a while and your progress is amazing. I'm proud of you."

Despite feeling worried that she might not be able to give her best, she can't help but smile seeing how he's supportive of her. Without asking, she places her head on his lap, burying her face into his stomach.

He laughs. "That tickles." He feels her arms struggling to wrap around his waist, before he chuckles again and helps her.

As there's a silence after she presses her face against his stomach, she sniffs before uttering, "To be honest..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm scared."

"Of?"

"Everything." She pulls her face back slightly, seeing that Seonghwa is looking at her with a small smile on his face. "Of what's happening to San, the attack, both of our kingdoms and," there's a shine in her eyes, "our children. Well I'm just-" she blinks as she says through a pout, "-it's my first and I'm scared. I've heard a lot of scary stories about pregnancy."

"There's still hope to cure San, right?" he asks as he brushes her hair.

She sighs. "Sara said that the only way to put a stop to the curse on San is to stop the Nyla royal bloodline... so the curse won't be able to be passed on to anyone anymore. The theory about the curse being alive because the Ileara royal bloodline still exists is not true." Her body tenses, "At least that's what she told us. So far, we only followed whatever other people told us. About Ileara... about the fact that my mother was a princess from Ileara... about the palace attack about to be initiated from now.... what I'm told of the only way to cure San. It's all based on trust. I wouldn't know any better if any of them did lie to me about them."

"What makes you trust them in the first place?"

She blinks as she pokes a finger on his chest. "Because I was desperate to find a cure to the curse."

"And you did," he smiles. "At least for me, for now. Sometimes..." He leans forward, placing a kiss on her temple. "The best we can do is to trust people. It doesn't make you weak just because you're the type to trust people so easily."

"I usually never trust people that easily," she counters. "But I guess there were some instances that I've changed from who I was." She changes her position so she's now looking at the sky, clear and sunny - a complete contrast to whatever is brewing inside their palace. Locked away, with barely any shine of hope as the only person who could stand on par with the curse has reached her limit.

"It's cruel," he utters. "How we have to suffer because of things in the past. It came back to haunt us, and even though everything should have been settled, we're embroiled in the problem."