The Queen's Palanquin [Seventeen fanfiction]

Chapter10:Candles

Seungkwan woke up in an unfamiliar room.

(Where-)

But as soon as he laid up his body, he was engulfed in a tight,warm hug by a pair of familiar arms.

"Min-mingyu."

"Do you know how worried I was?"

Mingyu's voice was a bit shaky but he didn't stutter.

"Wha-what happened?" Seungkwan asked as he looked around the unfamiliar room. He then realised he was inside the guest room of the royal castle.

His eyes then fell to a tall,well built figure with familiar mystical brown eyes, dark hair and the black earring on his left ear leaning against the wall besides a painting just a feet behind Mingyu.

He recognised the guy as the one who approached him yesterday and led him to the Queen's chamber.

Mingyu then explained to Seungkwan what had happened in the afternoon. When  Seungkwan realised that they lacked information, he decided to learn about the castle and focus on the few leads they had. So, he went to the library to learn about the royal family's history, this castle, the histories of their kingdom Eniama,etc.

That was when he encountered the arch-mage,DK. After which he fell asleep....the whole afternoon inside the library until the said servant with the black earring standing behind Mingyu i,e Vernon found him. He had been passed out the entire afternoon and it was now evening.

Mingyu told Seungkwan how Vernon brought him here and then called him as soon as he had laid Seungkwan on the bed. In fact, he has been by their side since then.

Seungkwan turned to give his gratitudes to Vernon for helping him.

However Vernon didn't respond. Instead he stared at Seungkwan for a while before nodding his head. He then simply bowed and then left.

In normal circumstances Mingyu would have regarded Vernon's actions as rude and he would have said something about it. He wouldn't excuse such behaviours but right now, he had a lot on his mind and also, with Seungkwan in front of him, his attention was solely on his friend. He didn't have time to worry about something else such as etiquette, manners or attitude. Besides he was thankful to Vernon for calling him over and watching over them to ensure that Seungkwan was okay. He doesn't know if Vernon was really concerned or not but he nevertheless did helped them and Mingyu couldn't be more thankful for that. Perhaps that was why he couldn't bring himself to be angry at him for something as trivial as manners.

Now that Vernon has left, Mingyu and seungkwan were the only ones in the room.

"what happ-Actually, are you okay now? How are you feeling?" Mingyu bombarded Seungkwan with Questions. But he put aside his curiosity and checked his friend's condition.

"yea,i'm fine."

"you sure you're feeling okay?"

"yea, just feeling a little dry in my throat."

Mingyu immediately fetched him a glass of water. After Seungkwan downed the cold water, there was some silence before Mingyu turned to him, his eyes on Seungkwan "I don't know what you saw in your dreams but your face looked troubled with each passing minute and all i could do was watch you in agony as you struggled in your sleep. later i saw you crying in your sleep. I didn't know what to do....I just watched-" Mingyu fumbled with his fingers, his gaze lowered, Seungkwan immediately held his hand and squeezed it trying to comfort him.

"Thank you."

Mingyu was confused. it was evident on his face.

"you wiped the tears off for me, didn't you? thank you. I'm glad i have someone like you by my side whenever i'm feeling troubled. You needn't do anything. your presence is enough for me. Knowing that you are there for me gives me assurance and comfort. So thank you."