Young Wings • h.hj & h.js

26

The ride back was silent.

This time you opted to sit behind Jisung, hands lightly gripping the sides of his shirt as you both rode back to the kingdom.

After what happened, a simple conversation on having to head back was the only exchange of words that you both did.

The air was heavy and both your minds were preoccupied with too many things.

You both entered the gate, Felix greeting you with a jolly smile at first, asking how it went. But when silence followed he realized that something must've happened. Feeling suffocated by how tense the mood was, he excused himself and left you two alone.

Silence continued to engulf the two of you as you both headed to the stables, with you trailing behind the prince as he walked, guiding the horse by the leash. 

"You don't have to you know. If you're tired, you can go on ahead y/n"

You both paused in your tracks, a wave of confusion washing over you for a moment as you stared at the prince's back.

"Huh?"

"You don't have to force yourself to walk with me to the stables" Jisung says with a frustrated sigh, suddenly turning to face you.

Your eyes go wide.

"I-I'm not forcing myse-"

"-Based on how silent it is, I feel like you are" He mutters.

"Sorry I just- I-"

At this point, you could barely say a proper sentence. You had too many questions to ask and things to say.

"Jisung I-"

"-No. I'm sorry. It's my fault that we're like this right now" He cuts in.

Silence fills the air once again. You and Jisung finally return the steed to the stables and after locking up and handing you the key to return to Felix, a big sigh escapes his lips and he messes up his hair in frustration before covering his face with his hands as he mumbled "Everything was great and I fucked it up"

You were shocked at how frustrated Jisung was. It made your heart hurt in more ways than one. But what bothered you the most was that a part of you felt relieved for some reason. Despite how much you denied in your head, you subconsciously felt relieved with the thought that all of the inner conflict that you felt wasn't one-sided. Jisung's emotions mirrored your own. Although he chose to be more transparent about it.

"But I didn't stop you either so I guess... it's both... our fault?"

Jisung slowly removes his hands from his face and simply stares at you. If he clearly thought about it, you weren't wrong. But nothing in your current situation felt right.

Right now, you were both just stuck.

What was so wrong with two single people having a moment and wanting to kiss and fall in love? What made that so bad?

'Right Han Jisung.
Your status'

"Jisung?" You ask, tilting your head to the side.

On the outside, you seemed calm. A little confused but composed.
But on the inside, it was taking every ounce of your physical and mental strength to prepare yourself for what you knew came next.

Standing before you was a prince, as before he was a knight. 

Reality finally sunk in for you. Your very short-lived time together was over before it even began.

There was no point in crying over spilled milk. What happened earlier happened.

But you decided that whatever happens next is up to the prince who stood before you. Anymore moves from you and it would really cross the line between knight and prince. You would react depending on what he did.