lee heeseung - breathe

- one -

Pearls. Ruffles. Champagne. Beauty.

Heels of all sorts clicked across the ballroom floor. Gentle music filled the space to its brim like a sloshing bucket. Soft polite chatter rose up into the air. You twisted the stem of the sparkling glass in your fingertips and raised it to your lips before setting it down on a table nearby. You had no personal business attending the prince's birthday ball. If it were up to you, in this moment you would be sleeping. Of course, it was not a personal affair that you had attended for, but a business issue.

Although you enjoyed getting dressed up, your issue with the situation was the prince himself. Just your luck that you would be assigned to something that considered him.

"Join the dance." A warm voice whispered by your ear. You clapped a gloved hand to your mouth to stifle a shriek and turned over your shoulder to find a figure bending over to reach your ear with a small smile. You raised your eyebrows, "Your Highness. Why aren't you mingling?"

"I would ask likewise," Heeseung straightened to his full height, "But we both know you aren't the small talk type."

"You know nothing about me." You could feel the heat of his chest against your back. You turned around and took a slight step away. You resisted crossing your arms and frowned instead. You couldn't help yourself from staring at the pale scar on his chin.

"Would you care for a dance?"

"No." You said plainly. Heeseung frowned, hand outstretched. "Really?"

"Yes, really." You sucked in a breath, hoping he wouldn't notice how deeply you wanted to avoid him and his stupid smile.

"I meant- really? You would reject a prince?" His doe eyes sparkled in a way that made you want to tear your gaze away. You continued staring.

"I..." For a moment, you considered the stakes of your assignment. It would be (very) good for you to be close with him- that was, in general, and not considering the way you knew him already. You formed the prettiest smile you could and placed your hand lightly into his with a small curtsy. "I was only joking, of course."

Heeseung's eyes lit up. "Of course." He chuckled. He drew you to himself, and you both spun into the gaggle of dancers. You found yourself after a moment of twirling skirts and stepping around feet, in the center of the hall right beneath a large, shining, chandelier. You couldn't help looking up at the glorious thing, calculating how fast you could get out of the way if it fell. Your gaze dropped back to Heeseung to find him smiling shyly at you.

"What?" You mouthed. He raised his eyebrows and leaned towards you to hear over the music. "I asked what?" You gasped. Heeseung leaned away and shook his head. You took a grateful breath of air not clogged by his honey scent only to have him leaning back in. "Actually- I need to talk to you. Later tonight. First balcony down the hallway there." He glanced over your shoulder and you twisted to follow his gaze. You frowned, "Your Highness..."

He only smiled and twirled you around. His breath hit your ear softly when he leaned in and spoke again. "Please."

Your heart twisted.

He traded you off to another dancing partner.

You stared in disbelief as you not-so-gently shoved at your new dancing partner's groping hands and slipped away through the crowd. A memory began to surface in your mind and as hard as you tried to think of anything else, you were unsuccessful.

Around a year ago, you found a bloodied boy collapsed at the steps of your cottage.

Dark hair wet with blood, bruised arms, ragged clothing, and shallow breaths. The sword clutched in his cramped fingers was missing a portion of the tip and cracked all the way through like it was seconds from shattering.

"Please..." His head was down and his voice shaking. You couldn't see his face. You stumbled back through the doorway and tripped over your own feet, falling into a pile on the floor. At the crash of noise, he glanced up at you, and somewhere in the house, your mother came running. You sucked in a sharp breath at the warm brown eyes that stared at you with unspeakable sadness. "What happened to you...?" You whispered.

"I-" His gaze dashed up to your right shoulder where your mother had come to stand and his eyes welled up with tears. You glanced up to find her gaping with worry.

"Please." His shaky gaze came back to you. You gasped as you grasped the reigns of the situation and scrambled up, gently taking him into your arms. His sword clattered to the ground.

"Oh my goodness!!" Your mother shouted. "Prince Heeseung!!"

"Prince?" You whispered. He stared up at you with those dark eyes, a tear streaked face, and bloodied cheeks. His eyes fell shut and he became limp in your arms. You screamed. Your mother slammed the front door shut and started yelling, bustling off into the kitchen. You stumbled after her, dragging along the unconscious prince and sobbing at the feeling of his heartbeat against yours.

You lay him down on the kitchen table and flapped your hands about helplessly. You eventually dragged over a stool and wiped at blood on his chin from a deep cut. You winced and lay your head on his chest, listening for the faint flutter of his heart. You shot up again when your mother reappeared with a host of medical supplies.

"Strip him." She began furiously mashing ingredients for a salve. You swallowed nervously and peeled off all top layers, his shoes, socks and pants. You stared intently at the shallow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. You barely flinched when your mother shoved an armful of bandages and freshly made salve into your arms for surface wounds before leaning towards him for closer inspection.

You hunched over his body, applying salve to slashes on his thighs and stomach. You washed his face gently with water, fingers gliding over his smooth skin. Your mother had begun making dinner. You carefully bandaged up his chin and brushed his dark hair back. Your hand came away sticky with blood. You sighed and rinsed it off, moving your stool around so you could work on his head. You gently cleaned his hair then searched for surface wounds. You couldn't find any save for an abrasion near his temple. The blood must not have been his.

You found yourself a towel and dried his hair until it was soft and fluffy. The kitchen had become filled with delicious scents of cooking food. Your mother set down a hot bowl in front of you beside the prince's head and you blowed on a spoonful, staring at him with melancholy. "You said he was a prince?"

"He is." Your mother took a seat near his shoulder. "Prince Heeseung of the Lee Dynasty. Hyphen. It's the kingdom across the forest." She shook her head. "I don't know what he's doing in Engem."

For a moment, there was nothing but the sounds of you eating.

"I'll take the first shift watching him." You whispered.

Your mother only nodded.

Later that night, you clattered hopelessly with the dishes. Every couple of seconds you would glance back at Heeseung to check that he was still living. Frustrated, you set the bowl from dinner down in the sink and washed your hands. You wiped your palms on your apron and turned. You inched forward across the moonlit kitchen and reclaimed your seat on the stool. His solemn face appeared to glow in the dim light.

You pressed an ear to his chest and listened to the erratic beat of his heart. You found yourself gripping onto his arm. "Heeseung." You begged. "Breathe."