❛ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ❜ | jsc

26

aera walked through the halls of the castle, feeling extra lonely. she had woken up this morning when sungchan was already long gone, his side of the bed cold and unforgiving.

she frowned when she thought about how he had slept so far away from her. they were always used to cuddling before sleep, but he had kept a cold shoulder the entire night. she hadn't slept well.

she came across sungchan's sister in the garden and approached the younger girl with a smile on her face, "hi eunhye," she greeted as she sat down on the bench.

eunhye looked up from her own thoughts and smiled brightly at aera, "good morning! i came here looking for sungchan, have you seen him around anywhere? it's supposed to be his day off from everything."

aera tilted her head, "he told me yesterday that he had a lot of things to do today and not to bother him," she said with a troubled voice.

eunhye frowned, "that can't be right... mother dismissed him from his duties today and said he should focus on you for the day. she noticed you two weren't really spending time together."

aera didn't know what to say. her eyes became a little watery and she looked away quickly to blink the tears away. eunhye pretended not to see and gave the girl time to recover as she hummed a special tune.

"maybe he's taking the time to talk to his friends," aera suggested in a weak voice.

eunhye offered a bitter smile. she knew better. sungchan's only friend was away on a mission and had been since the early morning. sungchan wouldn't be spending anytime with haechan today.

"how about we go into town together? my friend jaemin is about to come and we were going to go to my favorite bakery. you can even invite a friend!" eunhye said to cheer aera up.

just as aera was about to agree, renjun walked into the scene and smiled, "can i accompany you, aera?"

eunhye glanced between aera and renjun, taking in the way they were both looking at each other wistfully. she sighed, this love story was a lot more complicated than she thought.

aera stood up and accepted the hug that renjun was holding out his arms for, "of course."

"how's my eunhye doing today?" jaemin showed up, a bouquet of flowers in his hand for the young princess.

eunhye's eyes widened, "my favorite flowers..."

jaemin ruffled her perfectly curled hair, "you didn't think i'd forget, did you? while you were away, i missed you so much," he pouted, "but you were probably with that other guy."

eunhye slapped a hand over jaemin's mouth, looking at aera awkwardly, "shush, i missed you too. now let's get going, the carriage is waiting."

the two pairs made it into town as chaotic as possible. along the way, everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the princess returned home and the soulmate of prince sungchan. as a result, jaemin and renjun had stared awkwardly at each other whenever the carriage stopped for the girls to greet the subjects.

when they finally made it to the bakery, renjun let out a sigh of relief and clasped aera's hand with his, "let's get your favorite pastry," he said and picked out a simple cherry tart. before aera could even blink he paid for it and pulled her down at a table.

"renjun, i could've paid," aera said.

renjun shook his head, feeding her with the fork so she would stop talking, "my treat."

jaemin and eunhye came and sat down with the pair, much to renjun's dismay.

eunhye cleared her throat, "you two sure look awfully close."

aera almost choked on her cherry tart, "he's my best friend."

"and i also used to be her soulmate," renjun said nonchalantly and a piece of cake fell from eunhye's fork.

"what?" eunhye and jaemin said at the same time.

"is that true?" eunhye asked aera, who nodded awkwardly.

"aera lost her soulmate mark with sungchan for a long period of time. when she realized her feelings for me, we each got a matching mark," renjun explained further, ignoring the kicks aera was giving him under the table.

eunhye blinked, "that's almost unheard of."

jaemin shook his head, "that just means she has two soulmates. it's not uncommon, most people just don't meet their other soulmates."

"i thought it was one at a time?" aera said.

jaemin shook his head again, "no, aera they're both your soulmates. whoever you pick determines the mark on your arm. that's why your mark changed so many times, because you were wavering."

renjun was in shock, "so... we're still soulmates?" he asked. jaemin nodded.

aera avoided renjun's gaze, looking around the bakery instead. this was an instant mistake because she was the first one to see sungchan enter through the door.

she gasped and lowered her head, "why is he here?"

four sets of eyes trailed sungchan as he made his way to pick out sweets. nobody missed the way he told the baker to specially wrap a cherry tart. aera audibly gulped and sipped on her water.

"hey sungchan!" jaemin waved, earning him a kick.

"you are so tactless," eunhye whispered as her brother approached the table.

sungchan's eyes landed on the cherry tart sitting in between renjun and aera. his eyes then traveled to the hand renjun had placed on aera's shoulder and he took a deep breath, "what are you guys doing here?"

"eunhye wanted to go to the bakery so we all went, what about you?" jaemin said cheerfully, oblivious to the current tension.

"i went to go get my soulmate her favorite pastry as an apology, but i see that she's eating it already with another boy," sungchan brought out.

"sungchan- it's not what it looks like," aera told him desperately.

eunhye nodded, "yeah they just came with me for fun, as friends."

renjun wasn't liking the 'just friends' narrative, but he kept his mouth shut. he forced a smile at sungchan, who stared back coldly.

"here. you can have another, i'm going back to the castle," he practically slammed the tart onto the table and left without another word.

aera stood up to follow him, but renjun tugged her back down, "wait until he cools off."

"why are we always arguing?" she sighed and lowered her head.