jongho was right; wooyoung being there really helped with the training.
the soldiers were learning new things by the minute and not only did wooyoung help them by creating mists and stuff to confuse them and allow them to think more and better, he also taught them how to free themselves from vines and attacks of magic. even san and jongho were learning new things.
"see? i told you," jongho whispered to san thirty minutes into the training, "i knew he would help us a lot."
san, to be honest, was impressed with how wooyoung was putting up with all this. the soldiers didn't really appreciate the fact that a sorcerer — and not just any sorcerer, but jung wooyoung himself — was on the field with them. sure, they've seen what wooyoung could do that day when wooyoung created those cherry blossoms out of nowhere, but they didn't really like that wooyoung was now sort of in the army with them. so a lot of stink eyes and eye rollings were sent to wooyoung's way for the first ten minutes of training.
and, oh god, it was so bad to the point where jongho had to physically hold san back so that san doesn't do anything he knew he'd regret afterwards.
but in the end, it all worked out. the soldiers learnt how to defend themselves against magical jinxes, how to efficiently snap out of the mist that might be casted upon them, and how to cut through the vines that sorcerers with chlorokinesis could easily conjure up and choke them to death. the soldiers were thanking wooyoung left and right once the commander called it a day. wooyoung was grinning from ear to ear at the end, jumping happily towards san as the older smiled sheepishly at him, too.
"they were all so happy that they learnt so much!" wooyoung chirped cheerfully as the pair retreated back into the palace as well. jongho, hongjoong and seonghwa followed them, putting a little bit of distance between the couple and them so that san and wooyoung could have some alone time that they deserved after a day of hard work.
soon, hongjoong and seonghwa left jongho to follow the pair as they, too, retreated into their own quarters. hongjoong decided to spend some time with seonghwa before returning to his tower, and seonghwa accepted it gladly. jongho was going to go into his quarters before wooyoung stopped him. to say jongho was confused was an understatement, but his heart immediately eased when he saw wooyoung's bright smile.
"your highness — do i call you your highness?" wooyoung asked, a frown taking up his facial features. jongho chuckled, "no, you only call san hyung and haneul noona that. i'm not a prince, so you don't have to call me that."
wooyoung nodded, "alright, jongho ssi. while being up there with the moon goddess last year, i overheard one of the moon dusts from a neighbouring kingdom gossiping about your soulmate. and i also happen to be very closely related with your said soulmate. so, i was wondering, if you'd like to see him?"
jongho's world came to a pause. wooyoung arranging for him and yeosang to meet? of course, jongho would be over the moon just thinking about it. but would yeosang want it at all? after what happened? would yeosang still be holding that against him? (to which jongho understood. he wouldn't blame yeosang if yeosang still held that against him)
"if you're worried about him not wanting to see you," wooyoung continued, his voice dropping to something just above a whisper now, "he does want to see you. he's mentioned you to me a couple of times and even he could tell you're someone special to him. having a soulmate is a hard concept to grasp for yeosang, even though he grew up with someone like me. it took him a while to realise and finally accept the fact that you're his soulmate, then that happened. he knows it's not your fault. he knew it from the very start. so, if you'd like, i could arrange you and him to just meet up and catch up or whatever."
jongho blinked twice, "r-really?"
wooyoung hummed, "yes, really. sannie told me about how you always look over the village like a part of you is there. well, a part of you is there, just living within yeosang." wooyoung saw the look of doubt in jongho's eyes and smiled softly, "i do mean it when i say he wants to see you. he never mentions it, but i can feel it in him. he's missing something; he's missing someone."
jongho felt his heartstrings being tugged. it was like wooyoung's words revived something in him. it was like wooyoung's words awoken the resting soul within him. so jongho nodded, a smile starting to form, "okay. i'll meet him."
"great!" wooyoung laughed, "i'll go down to the village this weekend and you can come down with me. if it goes south, well, at least we tried, yeah?"
yeah, jongho thought, at least they tried.
—
fast forward to the weekend when wooyoung was getting ready to go down to the village. he was going to bring along some of the cherry blossom seeds he grew a week ago to the marketplace to add some wildlife and also bring some of felix and yeonjun's treats to his family and friends, which yeosang was included on the list.
jongho was really fidgety. san had never seen jongho fidget so much and that says something, given that san knew jongho basically his entire life.
"hey," san said when he approached jongho, the younger smiling at him, "don't worry too much about it. like wooyoung said, if it goes south, it goes south. there's no forcing with these type of things. but from what wooyoung said, it really does seem like he misses you, too. just go to him and explain what happened. he'll understand."
jongho nodded, drawing in a deep breath and let it out as well as all the concerns he had for the meeting, "yeah, you're right. wooyoung's also right. everything is going to be alright. and if he doesn't want to see me, then i'll just accept it."
"he'll want to see you," wooyoung interrupted the conversation between the cousins, "trust me. maybe he'll be a bit reluctant at first, but he'll give in. i've known him for fourteen years; i think it's safe to say that i know him like the back of my hand. so don't worry too much and just say whatever you want to say. it'll get to him. eventually."
jongho chuckled lightly at that, "hopefully that 'eventually' comes sooner than later."
wooyoung chuckled as well, shaking his head softly, "yeah, hopefully."
—
a/n: another chapter down n we're not even at the climax point! maybe the story will actually go pass chapter thirty. idk tho. hopefully it does. (and hopefully i don't have to abandon this for a while for my exams)
