화랑 - a tale of curiosity [ON HOLD]

🌸chapter twenty-six🌸

Upon hearing those two words leave the Queen's lips, Ji-ae let a tear escape down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, angry that she was crying about a man who wanted her dead, but deep down she knew that he was a loving, caring father at one point, helping her her grow into the woman she is now.

She looked to her trembling fingers, tugging at the rings adorning her fingers.

"When?" She choked out, not wanting to look up once to meet the Queen's gaze.

"We can't pinpoint an exact time-"

"Why not?" Ji-ae exclaimed, getting to her feet. "You get the man killed, and don't even know his time of death."

"Ji-ae." The Queen calmly said, reaching out for the younger girl's hand, but she pulled it away.

The young girl's face was stained with the few tears she allowed herself to shed, but there was also anger swimming behind her eyes. "So, tell me." She demanded. "When?"

"We don't know."

"Don't lie to me!"

"We don't knwo because it was a suicide!" The Queen yelled back with an equal pitch.

The silence that surrounded the two was thick with every morbid emotion a man could name. The look they were sharing with eachother spoke a thousand words, but that isn't what Ji-ae wanted to hear. She darted her eyes around her surroundings and soon began in a quick pace to somewhere else.

"Ji-ae!" The Queen called, briskly getting up from her seat and taking a few attempted steps forward, but not being able to reach her. She knew that Ji-ae needed to be alone, so that's what she was going to do for the time being.

Whilst walking at a quick pace, and wiping away the tears from her eyes, but her journey soon came to a halt when someone caught her arms from the front of her. She stumbled slightly, recognising the person's face instantly.

"Are you crying?" Sam asked, a hint of mockery in his voice, causing Ji-ae to push him away. Sudden realisation hit him when he saw her red eyes. "Why are you crying?"

"Stop mocking me." She spat, walking around him to only be pulled back by his hand.

"Ji-ae."

"Let go of me." She said, ripping her arm from his grip.

"What did she do?" Sam asked, both of them understanding that he meant the Queen when he said 'she'.

Ji-ae just shook her head and shrugged. "Go ask her yourself." She said, continuing to make her way back to her dorm room.

-

Upon entering her room, the pushed the screen doors closed and pressed her back to them as her sobs became uncontrollable. Slowly, she slid onto the floor, bringing her knees to her chest as she continues to let out sobs of a broken heart.

What hurt her more was the fact she was crying over a man that killed her mother. She hated him. She loathed him. But, here she is. Crying alone in her room over the said man.

Unbeknowest to Ji-ae, slowly wandering his way inside the building was Hansung as he was curious to why Ji-ae was crying as she made her way over to her dorm.

He was casually minding his own business when he caught a glimpse of a hurried figure wandering across the courtyard. Looking closer, he saw that figure to be Ji-ae and when he saw that her eyes were raw and puffy, he felt a strange pang in his heart. Not quite knowing what to do, he did what his heart told him to, and that was to follow her.

He was carefully treading on the wooden floorboards, careful not to make a noise because he did not want to alert anyone, and therefore be caught and thrown out of the dorm building before he had chance to see Ji-ae.

Slowly creeping along, and staying close to the wall, he glanced at every door plate to eventually find Ji-ae's. He licked his lips from nervousness but, had enough courage to make himself known.

Ji-ae heard his familair and distinct voice, causing her head to snap up when he announced he was coming in. She quickly got to her feet but was greeted by his shocked expression when he opened the doors.

"What have you been doing?" He asked, leaving the doors open behind him, to absorbed in the state of Ji-ae's room to close them.

Pieces of ripped paper and canvases wwre littering the floor, paint smears covered the wall unevenly, large slashes across the centre of her displayed artwork. He was truly mortified by the site.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, wiping her nose with her hanbok sleeve.

"I think you should tell me what is wrong first." He confidently answered back, making Ji-ae more angry.

"I don't want to tell you."

"You're supposed to tell me these things, we're together."

"And?" Ji-ae laughed. "You think that I'm supposed to confine every single detail of my life into you?" She rhetorically asked, but Hansung answered.

"I know I don't look like i'm completely with it most the time, but I do know how certain things work."

"What do you know about love?" She asked. "What does anyone know about love?"

A short silence lingered between them before Hansung spoke up. "I'm not going to force you to tell me, but the only way I can understand is if you do confide in me." He reasoned. "You're obviously upset, and your entitled to feel that way, but it makes me feel stupid that I can't do anything."

"It's because you can't do anything." Ji-ae said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. "Nobody can." She whispered, only do she could hear.

"You could at least let me try."

Ji-ae chortled. "What?" She asked. "Can you bring someone back from the dead?" She croaked out.

Hansung became utterly confused and shook his head to see if he was hearing her right. "What?"

"My dad, is dead." Ji-ae said, slowly feeling herself break down again. "And there is nothing, nothing, anyone can do about it."

Hansung watched as she began to burst into tears again. He closed the doora behind him and made his way over to her side, sitting beside her and bringing her into a warm embrace.

"I know that right now you don't want to talk about, but just to let you know, I will always listen to you." Hansung said as his chin rested on the crown of Ji-ae's head. "The best way for us to become one, is to tell eachother everything."

Ji-ae agreed to what he said, but didn't quite know what to think. A boy who seems like a delinquent to others, is actually such a wise person when you get to know him. He's such a versatile human being, and that makes Ji-ae know how lucky she actually she is.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, only to get shushed by Hansung, and his repeated gesture of running his fingers through her hair.

Admist the moment, a sound of a gong being repetedly hit meant that everyone was being summoned to the hall.

Hansung looked at Ji-ae as she sat up and wiped her eyes, looking to Hansung with a small smile.

"I bet I look puffy." She pouted and then sighed as she stood up.

"You don't look puffy." Hansung replied, taking her cheeks in his hands. "You look cute." He commented, placing a kiss on the end of her nose. He then glanced around the room he was in and pursed his lips.

"What?" Ji-ae asked, looking around to  also see the extent of the mess she made. "I can clean it later." She reasoned. "Now, can we go quickly before We Hwa scolds us and makes me cry even more." Ji-ae teased, walking out of the room already, Hansung latched onto her hand.

"Don't cry again." He whined, embracing her from behind and walked so that they were waddling down the hall way.

Ji-ae laughed. "I won't cry again." She said, amused at the baby steps that were currently taking.

"Promise?" Hansung asked, placing his head in the crook of her neck, making her smile at him and nod. "I don't believe you." He teased, narrowing his eyes playfully.

"I, Kim Ji-ae, promise not to cry again." Using the hand she was holding onto, she placed it over her heart, mimicking that of a vow. "Because you, Suk Hansung, are everything that makes me smile."