war-ridden | 최연준

8 | illicit affairs.

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"They won't expect you here," Taehyun looked around his room as Akari took a seat on his bed. "at least not right now. It'll save you an hour or so while they look around."

Her head remained down. She hadn't raised it—as if she were refusing to.

Taehyun sat alongside her, leaving a respective space, now that he knows she was taken. As he was about to hold her hand to comfort her, he was reminded he never had a chance.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking at her solemn face, immediately knowing the answer. She sat silently, as he let out a sigh. "I was worried about you, you were silent all of dinner and you haven't spoken since."

He stood after hearing no response, taking steps around his room to kill the time. But honestly, he didn't know what he was stalling for.

"The weather is beautiful outside, considering how rainy it's been lately. It's a beautiful night to go star—"

"How can you still speak to me?" She whispered under her breath, her eyes meeting Taehyun's, who was standing by the windowsill.

"What do you mean?" He walked over to the girl, sitting beside her on his bed.

"I betrayed you. You were going to marry me, are you not even in the slightest way upset with me for being with another?" She cried. "I was planning on marrying you and being with another at the same time—how could you live with me after that? How could I live with myself?"

"Because you have the right to choose who you love." Taehyun said, his voice slightly above a whisper. "You can't force love—I knew you didn't love me and I was trying so hard to stop this marriage. I knew you didn't want this."

"But you did—"

"But how can I be happy if my lover would be unhappy the whole time?" He said with a sigh. "Of course it hurt that you were with another—but how can you blame yourself? This marriage was sprung out of nowhere, we both didn't have a choice. You guys had been together long before the marriage was announ—"

"How did you know that?"

He chuckled slightly. "It wasn't that you were unhappy to marry me, but there was a sense of longing for something else. I knew the instant you ran out of the ballroom that day that you had somebody in mind the whole time. I just knew it wasn't me."

"Taehyun, I'm so sorry."

He smiled. "I love you, Akari. I really do. But, I can't force anything upon you—neither can your father or anybody in this kingdom. I hope you can fight for the prince, he better be worthy of you."

She sobbed, a hand covering her mouth. "You don't deserve me. You deserve somebody better."

He smiled. "You're all I've ever wanted. Whenever I'd see you in the ballroom, I'd see your gorgeous smile, your elegance, your wisdom. I was ecstatic to know you. But, I'll fight against this marriage because I wouldn't want the one I love to suffer for something you really don't want."

"It's not that I don't want it, Taehyun. I just—" She sighed. "I really love Yeonjun. He's the one I want to marry—But I knew that years before I knew you."

"I know." He sighed. "Allow me to be selfish, just for a moment and say that one day, maybe, you can find me in your heart."

"I'm so sorry, Taehyun." She sobbed, tears falling down her face as she cried.

"Me too."

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"What the hell did you do?!" Yeonjun slammed the blonde's door open, breaking a glass vase on her dresser in the process.

"Prince Yeonjun, what are you talking about?!" Ara shakily said as she stood up from her bed. She made eye contact with the prince who's eyes now filled with fire—a look she had never seen before.

"Don't play coy right now." He was within an inch from her face, scolding. "I agreed to your stupid deal and you promised you'd keep your mouth shut about Akari and me."

"Yeonjun, I don't know—"

"Don't say another word unless it's the truth." He panted from his anger. "Heejoon told me Akari's kingdom knows all about her relationship with me—nobody else knew about it besides you."

"I swear to the Heavens, I didn't say anything!"

"You're lucky that this kingdom doesn't know about it yet." His breath halted. "Or else you'd be finished by now."

"Yeonjun, please." She sighed, looking at the prince who didn't want to pay any heed to her. "I don't even have any connection to Chihu, how could I tell them anything?! You have to trust me!" Ara screamed.

He looked back at her. "You were willing to put Akari and I in jeopardy for your own good—I'll never forgive you, nonetheless trust you." He sighed. "Regardless of whoever let out that secret, it's a disgrace that at any  point in my life, I liked somebody like you. Now, I can't even tolerate you."

The man turned his back.

"Consider yourself done with Palace Haeyong." He said before slamming Ara's door loud enough to break another glass frame from her dresser.

"Prince Yeonjun," Heejoon called as he stood behind the door, watching Yeonjun storm off back to his bedroom.

"I'm meeting Akari before anybody else finds out about this."

"They're bound to find—"

"How am I supposed to fix that?!" He screamed back. He wasn't in his right mental state at all, pushing past Heejoon and walking out the kingdom doors.

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Akari sat flat on her bed, completely emotionless. Soon, they had found out that she was hiding in Taehyun's room—banishing her to her bedroom in silence.

She had been staring at the ceiling now for what felt like ages as the clock struck midnight. How could she go to bed at this rate? She couldn't even imagine what Yeonjun must be thinking—he must've heard about it by now.

Tears stained her face, running down her temple and dampening her pillow. She was hopeless, sobbing as if it were her last night.

Upon her cries, she heard the door forcibly open, as she immediately sat up—her father.

"Father, I—"

"I currently do not have the words for the acts you've committed, Akari." He sighed, stating his words in a passive-aggressive tone. "But I will tell you one order. You will end things with Choi Yeonjun right now."

"But Father—"

"Or else I will have no choice but to send an order to kill the man who had an illicit affair with my daughter. I am not afraid to do so. Do I make myself clear?"