Kintsugi // ATEEZ [Ishihara Sequel] ✔

55 Snow

Since Seonghwa and Akira had requested for them to at least stay away from the palace for a day starting from before midnight, all of them had showed up to town to crash at an inn, with the rulers promising to them that everything will be alright once they can return. While the other boys had drifted off to sleep, Sara had appeared in front of his door, one that she, again, had put a temporary protective spell on and invited him to Ileara while the rest were unaware. He accepted the invitation anyway, since she seemed to be very much eager to invite someone to her palace after living alone for years.

"So it's safe to say that I'm special?" he asks jokingly, bringing her attention to him as she finally drops her head and looks at him. "Since you said I'm the first person to actually be invited inside."

She stares at him, mouth twisting. "I guess you could say that. You should be honoured," she sticks up her nose as it crinkles, "I haven't had any other person inside here."

"But really," he starts as they turn to head towards the direction of the library as promised, "you shouldn't be too trusting, especially towards men."

She blinks, not saying anything.

"They can take advantage of your... innocence. You know," he does some gestures, "do something to you."

"Really, like what?" she asks promptly.

He only blushes, figuring that he hasn't had a proper way of explaining it. "You know like-" he takes a sharp breath, "-when you kissed me without consent, that's harassment. They could do something similar to you, but worse." He gestures towards his own body, looking slightly bashful. "You know, stuff that you don't like when you say that you don't want to."

She narrows her eyes, trying to compute what he's saying before she shrugs. "I feel like I understand what you're trying to say, but at the same time I don't. Anyway," she holds his stare, "is it safe to say that you're not like 'other' men?" She does quotation marks.

He only clears his throat as he awkwardly smiles. "I guess so."

She stares down at him as she nods. "Because I know that if someone ever does something to me that I don't like, I won't hesitate to break their necks."

"That's the spirit."

Sara laughs, pretending to flex her muscles under the low light as she utters, "I may not look like it but I can beat up grown men. So," she stops walking as they arrive in front of doors that run the length from the ceiling to the floor. She gestures towards them, "Here's the entrance to the library. Although I know that I'm the only person on this island, I usually like to keep the library sealed off. My precious are all in there."

She raps her knuckles on the doors, and what San thought were normal door handles uncoil themselves, taking the shapes of snakes that seem to bow towards the two of them before the doors click open. She pushes one door with her shoulder, holding it open as she motions for him to come in.

He does, albeit slightly wary of the snakes that seem to watch his every move, fearing that they might suddenly attack him, but he heaves a sigh of relief as he makes his way past the animals. He sees over his shoulder as she lets go of the door, closing it as it seals them off inside the library. He immediately scans the expanse of the huge library; eyes attracted to different directions as he doesn't know which part to focus on. He walks briefly past the bookcases that fill the entire height of the library; this space is obviously way bigger than what he called a library back in the Nyla palace.

"You really read all of these books?" he asks, jaw dropping as he did not expect that when she said she has read an entire library, this is not the size he had in mind.