Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

15 Change

"Akira-" he gets cut off when the door is already shut, and he's pretty sure that she won't hear him anymore.

He sighs in frustration as he can't gather the courage to apologize to her. He feels stupid knowing that they're fighting over something that could've been talked out yet they couldn't. He feels useless too; he's pretty sure all the palace staff, the ministers and their associates only look at Akira as the rightful queen. To them, he's probably an extra baggage who doesn't know how to manage administrative matters but only knows how to maintain the palace garden.

In their eyes, he's not on the same level as Akira.

At the hallways Akira is walking as fast as she could, as if she's trying to get away from their bedroom. But when she arrives at a corner where no one else is around she stops walking, leans against the wall before she slides down to the floor. Her head is in her hands, but she simply needs the time to collect herself before she meets the others.

"That idiot," she says under her shaky breath. "That stupid idiot."

"Your Majesty," a voice comes and she almost knocks her head on the wall.

Jihyun is looking at her, a half smile on her face. "I was thinking that maybe you'd like to walk to the meeting room together?"

She stands up, pretending that she wasn't startled by her advisor's sudden appearance. "Sure." She walks forward faster, and leaves Jihyun trying to catch up with her.

"Your Majesty," Jihyun catches up with her, but already out of breath.

"You're breathing really hard, not enough stamina?" There's a smirk on Akira's face as she says this.

"I'm not- used to-" she pauses to take a deep breath, "-physical exercise. I very much prefer to stay in a shaded area."

Akira side eyes her, claiming, "I can tell. You're a noblewoman who can't stay too long under the sun or have her feet walking longer than a minute."

Jihyun looks at the queen, irritated but does not dare to refute; it's the truth anyway. "I'm used to being pampered since I was born, so surely you can't blame me on behaving this way."

"Someone who always gets her way, huh?"

"Most of the time."

"Like what, 99.99% of the time?"

Jihyun doesn't answer.

"Is my husband one of what you're pursuing too? What else? The throne and the crown?" Akira stops to face her advisor. "Tell me, if you're really the best for this position, would you understand what those with yellow and blue blood have to go through? How they suffer to get through every day, thinking about whether they could eat the next day? Have you experienced that, when you have to refuse eating dinner just so you could save up for tomorrow?"

Jihyun feels her cheeks burning up, clearly embarrassed by the queen's words. "No, Your Majesty." She doesn't clarify which question she's answering, but it seems like she's generalizing them into one answer.

"I see," Akira says. "So you don't understand what they have to go through, but you're willing to open your eyes to their problems and be empathetic to their situation? If you don't," she pauses, "then I'm afraid that you're not the best one for this position." She starts walking again but Jihyun holds her back by the arm, almost sounding like she's pleading.

"Your Majesty," Jihyun holds on to her sleeve, "I'll try my best to become your advisor."

Akira stares into her eyes before uttering, "So now you're looking at me directly in the eyes. First day we met and you were pretending like I didn't exist. I know that Seonghwa is too handsome for his own good," she chuckles, "but you could at least acknowledge me. I'm not stupid." She starts walking again but Jihyun holds on to her arm.