Red String (Series #1) \\ Ateez ✔

cloaked agendas

THIRD POV

He's almost there.

A man with red streaks of hair stealthily walked the corridors of the palace, his footsteps silent against the polished floors as he clutched the vial tightly against his hands. Every movement was deliberate, every breath calculated, as he made his way towards his only destination.

His eyes subtly flicker towards the vial he has on hand, and a proud smile graces his lips. To be able to lay his hands on the vial he holds tested him like fire and water, and now that it was on him he couldn't dare risk it disappearing.

As San turned the corner he suddenly stopped in his tracks. In front of him, hidden in the shadows was a mysterious figure. The dim light from a nearby lamp barely revealed any details, adding to the sense of unease. San was curious as he cautiously approached, unsure of what he might encounter.

Fiery red hair, whom he instantly recognises, a foreign Young Miss that has taken sanctuary in the west wing of the palace.

Perhaps, Young Miss Hongmo.

He narrows his eyes as he surveys. Her shoulders were hunched and tears glistened in her eyes. Though San could've easily retracted his steps and taken a substitute corridor, he remained on his feet and spies on the maiden carefully.

He watched from a distance, unseen and unknown to her as Hongmo muttered to herself, her words tinged with bitterness like a sharp dagger in the silent hallways.

"Why must life be so cruel?" She seethed, her tone filled with bitterness. As she continued to speak of things of life's unfairness, her voice filled with a mixture of anger and despair.

"Why can't it ever go my way?!" Her cries were punctuated by the sound of her frustration, the echoes reverberating off the palace walls. "Infuriating." She spat.

It was a savage reminder of the injustices she felt trapped by, a cruel reality she couldn't escape. But San's brows continued to furrow as he scrutinized her in the darkness, glued in his spot.

He made no move to intervene and remained hidden, his thoughts streamed with any possibilities why the Young Miss whom the palace had carefully taken care of, welcome to stay until she decided to go back to her Kingdom would suddenly scream her heart out in the early dawn?

Breaking out of his thoughts, he notices Hongmo stomping into her room with anger seething out of her. She harshly enters the door and with her agitation, she fails to close it behind her.

San's eyes narrowed once again and took cautious steps, emerging from his hiding place and approaching the ajar door.

His sharp instincts were as sharp as he is when he is a tiger, and his guts were something he did not dare slide especially when he felt something strange. Though he may appear as a weird man stalking over a woman, something inside him urges investigate further, to uncover what's unfolding before him.

Peering through the crack in the door, San's trailed his gaze to her chambers. The sight of Hongmo's ghastly appearance was evident, with tear-streaked cheeks and dishevelled hair framing her face. She feverishly goes through her luggage, her movements are erratic like a madwoman.

With trembling hands, she retrieves a crumpled piece of paper and a bottle of ink from a nearby shelf. Her fingers shook as she dipped the quill into the ink, leaving splatters and smudges across the parchment. With tears streaming down her face, she begins to write in a hurried and disjointed manner. San can only watch in stunned silence, his heart heavy with confusion.

His curiosity grew even more as he watched her write in long paragraphs, her movements deliberate and calculated as he continued to peek through the door.