HIS PRINCESS | K.TH

Grapefruit and Ash

AERI

The sun is rising, shedding the little light it can through the smoke of the dark city.

It bleaches the dull, short hall with the faint shade of gold.

I'm waiting, just like six years ago.

My back is stiff against the steel chair set outside the operating room. Jungkook had taken Rin— I'd helped to put her knocked out figure on his back. He'd promised his return after ensuring her safety.

I can hear my own heartbeat, steady and quiet.

Last time, all the doctors had done was fail to save my mother and bury me under my own debt.

It's after four hours when the door finally clicks open.

I glance up, into an unfamiliar face.

His eyes are ringed with shadows, narrowing curiously down at mine. The gloves on his hands are streaked with blood. His face is paler than snow.

"You must be her."

Her.

"...how is he?" I whisper, standing. My hands unconsciously clasp together in anticipation as he sighs deeply, rocking back on his heel.

For a second, I almost expect him to tell me that V is gone.

But he doesn't.

"He's stable— asleep right now. You can go in and see him if you want." He says, yawning. "He should be fine. You can stay with him while I go take a nap."

I nod. And my voice is emotionless.

"How much?"

He glances at me in the middle of his yawn.

"What?"

"How much will it cost?" I ask, eyes flickering. It had been about two hundred thousand last time, with my mother. How much will it be this time?

"Free."

...what?

"Don't charge anything here." He says, shrugging his shoulders. Then he suddenly stops, looking at me.

"Actually,"

"Do you have five bucks on you? I'm craving a beer and I left my wallet back home."

I gape at him.

I genuinely can't tell if he's being serious or not.

Slowly, I search the pockets of my pants. My fingertips touch something like rough paper, and I'm still staring at him as I hand the five-dollar bill over.

"Thanks."

He takes it out of my fingers.

And I can hear him humming, clearly in a good mood for beer as his footsteps echo down the hall. I look down at my empty palm.

I had expected so much more.

But soon, I break out of my daze. The door opens easily under my grip, and I close it behind me, almost not wanting to see what had become of him.

All I remembered of him four hours ago was blood and silence.

I look.

There's a soft beeping in the room. And V is asleep in the bed, covered with white. The blood is all washed off.

His chest rises and falls in an even rhythm.

My heart feels like it might just tear.

I rush over to him, about to reach for his motionless hand when I stop myself. He was sleeping. I shouldn't wake him.