Born From Kings - Minsung (Promise Sequel)

Chapter Thirty One

The thumping of hooves on hard ground rocked Minho in his sleep. He rode on the back of his grey stallion, surrounded by waking woods, mist hanging in the fresh, clean air.

"Walk," he ordered his horse, inhaling deeply as he took in the freshness of the morning. The sun had hardly broken past the horizon, yet Minho was already so awake and refreshed. It was as though-

"... help... help!" 

Minho's ears pricked as he heard a soft whisper through the trees. He looked around, confused. His horse was confused as well, and panic, rearing up in the air.

"Calm down!" Minho cried, rubbing his horse's neck. "Shhhh... shhhh..."

Minho quickly dismounted from his horse's back and tied him to a tree so that he could go and investigate where the cry was coming from. 

After look around for a few minutes, Minho spotted blood on the ground. His heart dropped as he looked up to find a young woman... crushed by a tree.

Minho ran over to her side quickly, kneeling down beside her. She was already so pale though... was there anything that he could do?

"Stay still," he said quietly, looking around to see if there was anything around he might be able to use to prop up the tree. He stopped as her small, frail hand caught his arm.

"Don't!" she cried out in weak voice. "Just listen!"

Minho couldn't move from her grasp so he knelt there in the grass and listened.

"M-my baby," she whispered, desperately looking around with what strength she had left. "She's only eight months old, you must take her!"

"We have to get you out first!"

"Don't," she said again, weaker this time. "I heard my own spine snap. My body has been crushed..." her breath was staring to fade. "I will die here. But please, sir..." she stared up at him. "She doesn't have a father. You must take her, or nobody will...

Minho was at a loss for words. 

How could this woman just ask him to take her baby? What if he was a bad person or something?

"You don't know me, and I don't know you, but please..." she gasped. "Take care of my baby. Her name is Hei-ran. Please..." she was drifting off, Minho could tell. "Take her."

Finally, Minho dragged his eyes off of the woman and found a small bundle a few feet away. The baby had been thrown, that much was obvious, but she seemed to have fallen onto soft grass and was undisturbed by the tree.

Minho brushed his finger over her cheek. 

"Don't worry," he whispered, turning back and brushing the hair out of the young mother's face. "I will take care of her."

~~~

"Earth to hyung, hyung.... hyung, can you hear me?"

"Hm?" Minho sat up, startled. He looked up and found Changbin and Jisung standing above him, their arms crossed. "Hyung, you fell asleep."

"Sorry, sorry," Minho stood up slowly from where he was sitting and looked over at the clock. He had only been out for twenty minutes, yet that dream... it felt so draining that his rest did nothing for him.

Inside the music production studio back in the dorm, Minho had been testing out recording with Jisung and Changbin, but the two producers had gotten carried away in the logistics of the song that Minho had been able to take a twenty minute nap without missing anything.

"So, now that this is done," Changbin turned away from the computer and displayed his tracks to Minho. "We can start writing lyrics that go along with it."