war-ridden | 최연준

15 | i can never give you peace.

[ 🛏️ ]

Akari refused to leave the boy. She stayed at his side of the bed in his room that he was placed on; her eyes glancing at his new clothes that the nurses had changed him into—he couldn't have stayed in those ripped, bloody ones.

It had been two days, he remained unconscious. The war was over, nobody had spoken to or about the girl and she refused to leave the room. She stayed in his bedroom he was being treated in, clutching his hand tightly. Her eyes fell to the boy's ring finger that months ago, would've been decorated with their shared ring. But it was no longer.

Yeonjun's father visited him recently, bowing slightly to Akari out of respect, knowing how it feels to lose a lover.

The doctors had given her a forewarning about the boy's failing health, the trauma on his head that was now bandaged and the stabbing of his arm. They had told her it wasn't a good sign that he was still unconscious. They left the room hours ago, but Akari refused to leave, crying on the boy's hand.

"You idiot." She whispered under her breath. "Why would you fight?" She slightly shook, her voice unsteady.

The girl had grown increasingly more thin and pale—her fear for Yeonjun evident in how she looked.

"Father met your father today." She sighed. "For the first time in a while. I think he saw my despair for you and your willingness to fight for me, maybe they're reconciling." She muttered. "Or maybe Taehyun said something vouching for us, who knows? Either way, I'm not leaving your side until you wake up—even if it's decades later, I'll still be right here." She planted a kiss on the back of the boy's hand.

She stared at his state. His paleness, his black hair messy all over his head. The boy's dry lips, making Akari's eyes water with sadness. "Choi Yeonjun." She muttered. "I've never been sure about anything in my life before. But the one thing I'm sure about is that you're the only good thing in my life. I can't leave your side, even if I'm dragged away from you. I love you more than you know." She clutched his hands tighter. "I miss you more than anything."

She felt a finger of the boy's move slightly, in an effort to wrap around hers, only to fail a second later. His eyes still remained closed, but just knowing that the boy was still with her was enough.

It was enough.

"Take me back to the night we met, Yeonjun." She cried. "The night when nobody knew about us. The night when I wouldn't have to worry about being forced to marry another man. The night when all you had to worry about was having to avoid mixing your paint colors." She slightly chuckled. "I miss you, Yeonjun. Please, wake up."

Akari felt his door slam open, a blonde girl furiously stomping up to Akari's stool and grabbing her by her shoulders. "What did you do to him?!" She exclaimed, screaming at the top of her lungs out of anger. "You killed him!" She shook her, a guard from outside having to pry the insane girl away from her.

"He was perfectly fine before he met you." The girl wrestled with the arms of the guard, trying to escape. "This is all your fault! Because of you, he's going to die in this room." Ara's eyes grew more and more red from her tears. The red reflective of her anger.

"Please, I didn't know—"

"Save it!" Ara screamed. "He heard your name and rushed to that battlefield. He wouldn't be in this position if he never met you!"

The guard tried to remove the girl. "Ara, you have to leave—"

"NO!" The blonde screamed at the guard, trying to pull her away. "You should feel disgraced to even show your face in this kingdom anymore!" She screamed before the guard dragged the girl away from Akari, halting her from saying anything more hurtful.

With that, the door shut closed. All that was left was Akari's sobs and the echoes in the empty room.

Akari fell to her knees, looking up at the boy in his bed. "This is all my fault, Yeonjun." She cried. "I'm so sorry, love." She gripped onto his bed, sobbing into the sheets.

She felt a finger lay atop of hers, very weakly. The girl felt so guilty—how could he still support her in this situation when she's the reason he's been sick?

Her eyes fell to the wispy strands of black hair on his forehead, his lips that have become dry and dull. His scrunched eyebrows as if he were having a nightmare he couldn't wake up from.

This was Akari's nightmare.

She looked around at the boy's room. Sure, she had been snuck here a couple of times before, but she had never truly admired it. Her eyes wandered for her as she continued to sit in his wooden chair beside his bed. She looked at the boy's dresser—the one decorated with the painting he made for her.

"Yeonjun, please wake up and keep that promise to me." She held his hand and kissed it, placing it onto her face. "That you'd paint us stargazing. I'd give up the world to see that right now—to be with you in that moment."

Her body collapsed onto him, sobbing onto his chest.