Lost in a Masquerade

12

"How much more?" The princess asked.

"Just a few more steps, princess." The man replied from behind the crown princess.

"I feel you want to kick me off this valley. Did I trouble you that much, Park Jimin?"

Jimin chuckled. "I promise if you fall, I will fall before you to cushion the impact. You can't die until I am alive."

Although the words were spoken without prior consideration, Jessica stopped and turned around to look at Jimin panting slightly due to hiking, who had his arms ready to hold her in case she tumbled.

"Do you really mean it, Jimin?" The younger asked with such innocence and solemnity that it made Jimin gulp while his hands reached to hold the princess' palms.

"I can swear on my ancestors." The gorgeous man gave his word.

Albeit Jessica called Jimin a chartered friend, the answer he received didn't feel like duress in any way. 

Jessica made herself believe, even momentarily, that it had nothing to do with so many rules of the kingdom king, that Park Jimin was a true companion. When she pulled her hands away while looking down, her breath hitched with a gasp at the surreal-ness of the sight after slowly turning around on her feet.

As she stood on the top of the valley, she saw a plethora of yellow and orange flowers perturbing through the mountains.

 It was as though the sky and earth were mating on the horizon. The captivating sky was melancholic, yet elated. The frangipani around the small pond trickled the bees that danced over them. What made Jessica's eyes fixated was a meadow of red roses many feet under.

"You said you liked them on plants," Jimin whispered against her ear from behind, making Jessica's hair on her body erect.

"You brought me here to show me this?" Jessica's voice cracked at catharsis. All she wanted was a loving pair of arms around her. She tried her best to not think of Lee Geon, but she couldn't when all the man promised him to show him all this, and now, it was a stranger in place of a man she truly loved.

"Princess?" Jimin voiced out in worry.

"Hm?"

Jessica's voice was so small, underwhelmed in contrast to her emotions that Jimin had no option, but to turn her back around. A transparent tear was trickling down the expanse of her milky skin that the older captured on his fingertip. "Now where should I keep this?" The man asked, his own eyes turning moist.

Jessica blinked, sniffling with her red nose and reaching out for the tear when Jimin pulled his hand back, immediately stroking the finger in his hair to make the tear disappear in the silvery mop, and be a part of him forever.

 "How is it that you have seen me in my most mortifying moments?" Jessica chuckled while sniffling.

"For someone who is as adorable as you, as captivating and ravishing as you, the word mortification shouldn't go near you," Jimin responded politely.