The Flower Among the Flames

Chapter 10

The nauseating stench was the first thing Seulgi noticed as dawn began creeping over the treetops and the stone stronghold wall. He was trying to scrub out the blood stains from his top to no avail when the smell wafted in with a slight crisp breeze. Seulgi didn't rest that night. However, he was anything but tired, and he promised to keep watch. Plus, no one exactly came to relieve him of the duty. He understood their exhaustion, but secretly felt perturbed by their lack of stamina. Seulgi recalled undergoing heavy training and still had the energy to continue on the day. Perhaps it was different for everyone.

Seulgi covered his nose with his hand alarmed. This smell...He stood up slowly and when he confirmed that the smell was exactly what he thought it was, he bolted into the hallway, forgetting his hopeless task. This isn't good. He ran as quietly as he could, entering room by room but finding each to be empty. They needed to get up now. The last room he burst into contained the sleeping form of a woman– Zhao Meng, to be exact.

He blushed furiously and lost his breath. She was barely clothed, he realized. A loose white sheet covered half of her lower body, but the top was, unfortunately, exposed with a linen wrap tied to her chest. He took a second to notice several scars lining from under her neck to the small of her back– so it was true...wait...Seulgi panicked and exited the room like he was running from a fire. That was close. Had she woken up at that moment, who knows what would have happened to him much less done to him? Seulgi shook himself out of his daze; he still needed to wake her up.

Seulgi knocked on the doorframe a few times and heard some quiet shuffling. He heard a soft groan, "Mm...five more minutes..."

Seulgi rapped on the doorway again, and this time there came an exasperated growl. He heard pounding footsteps and out came Zhao Meng, yelling, "What the hell is wrong with you?! I'm trying to sleep!"

Seulgi's mouth hung open in terror and embarrassment. Zhao Meng raised an eyebrow towards his reaction but slowly came to realize that one: she was nearly naked and two...he was standing in front of her without a top seeing her nearly naked. Her face shifted between embarrassment to fury to shock to deathly calm, but mentally smirking all the same. Hey...I can use this... She giddily thought to herself. Let's see how long he can last. Seulgi trembled as she slowly painstakingly approached him until she was a mere six inches away from him. Thank gods she was wearing pants. He thought, trying not to look at her directly.

"So..." she smirked. "What's up?"

"N-need to w-wake up," he managed to get out.

"Oh, I'm awake now," Zhao Meng yawned aloud, running her hand through her hair with a sigh. Her eyes narrowed slightly with a gleam. Oh, I am so dead.

"Well, out with it," she demanded in a calm demeanor.

"S-smell," Seulgi tried to remain calm, but the situation was too overwhelming for him. Put on a top, woman!

"Smell?" she asked. "You mean me?"

"Huh?" Seulgi asked dumbly.

"Well, I think I still have a bit of the perfume I put on from yesterday," Zhao Meng twisted left and right, arms at her side and head tilted to the side with eyes full of expectancy. Now that she mentioned it, Seulgi did notice there was a sweet nectarine smell coming from her hair. It was a nice fragrance, but he shook his head. That was not what he meant.

"Wake the others," he said firmly, "and be q-quick."

Zhao Meng scoured him for a few moments. Seulgi had redressed his bandage; no doubt because he reopened the wound last night. She did see a bit of his chest from before when she had to stitch his wound the first time, but...this was different. Zhao Meng quietly glanced over the numerous scars over his upper body and the near lack any space without a faint mark from an old wound. He has certainly had his fair share of combat. That? This was nothing. She wondered how bad of a state he could have possibly been at one time. That...and she was thinking for obvious reasons, Wow...just...wow.