After Midnight | VerKwan ✓

Chapter 14

"You're back, Hansol," Jisoo spoke with a little smile.

I bowed my head. "I- I wanted to apologize for my behavior before. I didn't mean that at all. I was just-"

He giggled. I looked at him confused.

"I know, Hansol. I know you had been just exhausted from all this. It's understandable." Jisoo sighed and looked away for a moment. Then he looked back at me with his smile. "You have difficult times. And I didn't help you at all. I was just a nuisance to you." He sadly smiled with a sigh. "I had to help you, Hansol. I should have been here when you needed me. However, I wasn't here for you..."

I was watching him for a while, then I walked over and hugged him gently. "Nothing happened, Jisoo," I whispered in his ear. "You have nothing to apologize for." After a couple of seconds, I stepped away from him with a smile on my face.

"I'm really happy you're my friend, Hansol."

"So do I," I replied with a grin. "You're my best friend, Jisoo. I can't imagine a world without you as my friend."

Jisoo chuckled as he wiped his fake tear from his eye. "Please, Hansol... Stop talking!" he said while laughing. "I don't wanna cry with laughter."

I started chuckling. Suddenly everything seemed awesome again. Except that the book was still here.

***

"Are you ready to go back into the book?" Jisoo asked me seriously as he walked over the book.

I turned to him with a nervous face. "I hope so." No, I wasn't ready to go back into the book, even though it wasn't my first time. Everything was so fast. I wasn't ready yet.

Jisoo turned to me. "You really don't want to go back, right?" he sat down beside me on the bed and tapped my back gently. "It's okay, Sol. I understand your feelings. I can imagine how you feel right now and I understand."

"Thank you for still being here, Jisoo. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me. You've always been the stronger one."

Then the book opened.

I looked around to see where I was. I sighed. I was at the stables again. And, unfortunately, I noticed the two boys.

"Welcome back, Hansol. You ready fulfill your destiny?" asked me the boy who brought me here yesterday. He seemed full of energy, unlike me.

"For what?" I asked back a little bit nervously.

"To fulfill your destiny," said the other boy with a little smile. "How you could hear before I'm working for the king, unfortunately, only as a stableman. As you may have noticed."

I nodded and frowned. "What exactly is my destiny?"

"To be a king of the kingdom," the first boy answered me calmly.

"I- WHAT!?" I shouted at them in shock.

The taller one just grinned. "Yeah and... I just wanted to say that magic isn't allowed here."

"Why are you saying this to me?" I asked confused. I didn't really understand anything. What was going on here?

"Oh, you don't know that," the boy looked at the other uncertainly. "He really doesn't know that?"

The other shook his head. "No, I guess..." both boys turned to me again. "Didn't they tell you?"

I frowned. "What didn't they tell me and who?"

"That you have magic, Hansol."

I flinched when I heard a familiar voice behind me. "Seungcheol? What are you talking about!?"

"I'm talking about your abilities. You are the same as me or Chan. You're a magician."

"No... I don't understand. I- I'm not the same as you, Seungcheol! I'm an ordinary boy!"

"I don't think so," the other added to the conversation. "You're a special one. You're a hero of the story."

"Soonyoung has a point. Your destiny is simple. You have to be the hero of the story 'till the end."

"You have to be a new king, Hansol," said the taller one who was standing next to the boy named Soonyoung. I finally found out the name of the boy who brought me here.

"No... I- I'm not ready yet!"