Cursed Hearts | ATEEZ

034

I had been sitting in the enormous tub for so long now that I could barely remember when the water had turned cold, simply sitting there, legs pressed against my chest, my arms wrapped around them and my chin resting atop my knees as I stared numbly out at the glinting landscape of lights and colours beneath the palace; Martel filling up the isle in the middle of The Eight Mountains where it glowed magically against the setting sun.

But the beautiful scene beneath me was not enough to keep my thoughts from drifting back to Santiago, the horrible memories, and events that had unfolded both before and after Taeyong had come to my rescue haunting me as a shaky breath left my lips.

My lungs burned with the memory of the heat within the volcano, and my hands shook as I remembered the burning mountains of metal. My skin was still sore and irritated even as I dipped them into the cold water, closing my eyes as I saw Kai stagger to the ground, again and again, the light vanishing from his eyes, his blood coating the ground, and Taeyong standing over me.

I remembered all too well how his hands has been the colour crimson, a bold proof of what he had done, as well as the far-away sound of his gladius clattering to the ground which had echoed through my very bones as horror washed over me.

"He killed someone," I choked, feeling tears fell up behind my eyelids, dripping into the water around me, and burning my cheeks as they trailed down my skin; hot and salty and dreadful.

"Taeyong- he-" my words faltered as I bit back a sob, desperately trying to understand the situation and push it away at the same time, a strange feeling of numbness mixing with the devastating guilt that was swirling within me as I shivered in the water.

He hadn't been the first one, though, I told myself. They had killed Baekhyun as well. Someone had killed Baekhyun, but that didn't change the fact that a life had been lost.

A life had been taken. Jackson had died and Kai had been murdered, we had been told; a contestant from Sector 7 and a champion from Sector 1. A champion, the first one this year to have died, which meant that both of Hongjoong's contestants were now out of the trials.

I bit my bottom lip in an attempt to stop it from trembling as I told myself that more things like that would happen, were bound to happen. Murders were always a part of the trials, and at some point, I would have to get my hands dirty as well, I realized, for Taeyong's sake, but-

"Hey," a soft voice broke through the heavy clouds of pain and guilt that had been looming within me like a delicate ray of warmth as the sound of soft footsteps padding against the marbled floors came to a halt, "Will you please get out? I don't want you to get sick from the cold."

"I deserve to," I mumbled, clenching my eyes shut as I folded into myself. "Don't be like that," the King of Autumn whispered, his voice turning even softer as the word "please," drifted past his lips like nothing more than a ghost of everything he wanted to say, wanted me to know.

It was only when something soft touched my shoulder, not warm like that of a hand, but textured and fluffy, that I let my eyes flutter open and turned my head to face the king, finding myself staring at a towel instead of the familiar features I had expected, hanging from Wooyoung's outstretched hand as he used the other one to shield his eyes.

He shook it a little, and then more insistently, making the cloth ripple slightly which brought a smile to my lips as he continued to look away from me with a blush the colour of shyness and peaches covering his cheeks and the tops of his ears.

"Well, take it, woman. This is already a lot more difficult than it needs to be," he huffed, stepping closer to the tub as I continued to stay silent, simply observing how awkward and flustered he seemed despite being the only one in the room who was fully-clothed. Wooyoung sighed, "I could also just open my eyes since it would make it easier to-"