❛ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ❜ | jsc

19

the ride back to the inn was painfully silent. aera was exhausted, renjun and sungchan were back to hating each other while chenle found the situation too awkward to speak up.

the new boy had tried to lighten up the mood by making a few jokes, but no one had laughed at them.

when they finally returned to the inn, sungchan got off chenles horse, only to be met by a screaming girl who was running towards him. she embraced him the minute she was in his reach.

sungchan awkwardly hugged her back, not wanting to show too much affection for the princess as she buried her face in his neck

she loosened the hug, looking at him. "i'm so glad you're okay" she said as her eyes were slowly drawn towards the ex bandit. her expression fell, as so did her jaw. "chenle?" she softly asked, letting go of sungchan.

chenle turned her way, being shocked at the sight of his first love. he didn't know what to say. he remembered the night he had met her, how they had spent the whole night together only to never see her again.

"you two know each other?" sungchan asked, breaking the silence that they had created. "yes we do" chenle told him directly. bom felt regret. if she had known she would meet her first soulmate again, she wouldn't have tried so hard to fall in love with someone else.

"but it's not important, right bom?" chenle asked her bitterly, clearly still hurt by her actions. bom bit her cheek. "chenle i'm so sorry, please let me explain everything" she begged him, but he shook his head. "you don't need to, i've seen enough"

he got off his horse and walked towards renjun and aera, who had been in their own world.

sungchan turned to bom. "what was that about?" he asked, making bom turn away from him. "it's nothing." she mumbled, making her way in a different direction than chenle.

sungchan followed her, wanting answers. "if we are going to get married i need you to be honest with me. what was that?"

bom turned around, frustrated and sad at the same time. "why would i be honest to you? it's not like you want to marry me or even give a shit about me. it's pretty obvious you still like aera, i'm not dumb. you keep lying to me so why should i be honest to you?" she snapped at him.

she knew she had probably been a pain in the ass for him, but she really wanted to make this work. for her country, her parents and for herself, wanting to live a nice life. she knew they were still young, but duty was above love.

sungchan was taken aback by her sudden outburst. he knew she had taken this marriage more seriously than him, but he had never expected her to feel hurt by his lack of effort for this marriage.

when he was about to answer, she added to her speech. "you act like this marriage is a joke to you, but it isn't. if we don't get married it means there is no alliance. no alliance means war. this isn't about you or your pity life, it's about a whole nation and the life of your citizens. so just, stop acting so selfish"

sungchan bit his inner cheeks to not burst out in anger. he wove it off as he walked back to the inn.

"sungchan come back here!" bom yelled at him, angry by his actions, but sungchan ignored her. he had heard enough.

———————————————————————————

bom nervously waited a few alleys away from the inn they were staying over at, hoping for a specific person to come. she had written a letter and had shoved it under his door.

"what was i even thinking" she mumbled to herself as she had been waiting for nearly half an hour already. however, just when she was about to go back, the person she had been waiting for turned around the corner, stopping in front of her.

"you wanted to see me?" chenle asked her. bom slowly nodded, biting her lip. "we- we need to talk" she softly brought out.

chenle noticed how she was nervously playing with her hands, softly smiling to himself. he felt that spark from their one night together once again, how the bond that they once had still was there.

the small mark of their soulmate bond might have faded or changed, but the bond itself wasn't really gone as they didn't break it my not loving each other, only by believing to never see each other ever again.

"so what do you want to talk about" he asked curiously. bom took a deep sigh before starting to say everything she had ever wanted to say to him.

"i still remember the night we met very clearly, it was more than enjoyable and maybe even the best night of my life. i couldn't come back the night we would meet up due to my parents being too strict. when i did get to go out for the night, you already weren't there anymore. i didn't know where you lived or even what your last name was. not going against my parents will is one of the most regrettable things i've done" she honestly said.

she inspected chenles face to see if her next words were okay for this moment. "and the worst part about never getting to see you again, is that i still love you since that one day"