When Cherry Blossoms Fall (A KaiSoo Fanfic)

Part 2: Spring

The voices were back, but this time they were louder and fewer in number. They were closer, too, which both scared and confused Jongin. But more than anything, he became curious who these voices belonged to. So, slowly, he began to let his eyes flutter open, for a little longer with each blink until he was able to keep them open long enough to get a proper look around.

The room was fairly large with a few wooden pillars placed here and there in order to keep the roof up. Straight ahead, he could see a small dining set-up, which included a table large enough to sit one or two people comfortably, though it looked as if it was only built for one. The décor looked entirely outdated in his opinion and as he soon came to realize, so did most of the rest of the mysterious room. 

Brow furrowed, he slowly began to sit up and look around. He was in a large bed, which was colored with more red with accents of gold and green and blue. The more he looked around, the more he thought this place looked like something out of one of the those history book he barely looked at when he was in school.

"He is awake!" one of the voices from the other side of the wall said, forcing Jongin out of his trance. The sliding doors flew open and revealed two younger men, probably in their mid-20s, who looked just as surprised as Jongin felt. They were wearing traditional hanbok and that's when everything became even more muddled. Just where the hell was he? "Go tell the prince and the doctor now," one of them said, prompting the other to run out of the room.

The one that stayed looked hesitant to come in or speak to him, but Jongin could see he wanted to say something, so he spoke first. "Who are you?" he asked, mustering up as much of a voice as he could. The man flinched a little and looked around quickly as if he was checking to make sure no one would see or hear him talking to Jongin.

"My name is Lee Beomseok," he replied in a very formal way. "Are you okay? Does your head hurt?"

"Um...a little, I guess?" Jongin rubbed his head, feeling a tiny, pin-like sharpness poking him from the inside. "Where am I? Why am I here?"

"You were in an accident," Beomseok replied, seemingly a little less tense than before. "The Crown Prince felt terrible, so he insisted you be brought back to the palace for treatment."

Crown Prince? Palace? What kind of twisted, parallel universe had he been launched into?

"What? I thought I just fell into a ditch..." he said, his voice falling off as he looked around the room some more.

"Don't worry, the doctor will be here any moment," Beomseok went on more casually but still speaking formally. He even began to smile a little, but it disappeared the moment the doors to the room opened and two more men walked in.

"How long has he been awake?" the slightly taller one asked as he walked toward Jongin.

"Not for very long, sir," Beomseok replied after having bowed upon their entrance. The taller one approached Jongin and knelt by his side. He assumed he was the doctor unless this Crown Prince also just happened to have a Ph.D. in medicine.

"He has no fever, which is good. He seems to be a little disoriented, however, most likely from the head trauma from when he fell," he explained aloud before directing his words at Jongin. "Does your head hurt anywhere specific?"

"U-Um...n-no, I don't think so...just generally," replied Jongin, feeling a sharp pain poke his head only moments after he spoke. He brought a hand up to his temple in response, causing the doctor to let out a little chuckle.

"I would suggest seeing how long the pain lasts, if it gets worse, or appears anywhere else before moving on to further treatment," he said afterward as he got onto his feet again. "If we must, we will do acupuncture to help the pain, but for now, give him herbal tea and make sure he rests properly."