The Definition of Beautiful (Shin-ah Love Story)

Chapter 8 - The Blue Dragon

Chapter 8 – The Blue Dragon

"Hey! Roo-na! I told you not to move around too much!" I flinched from the familiar voice. "I really want to kill you myself!"

"But I'm doing fine," I pouted at Yun.

"Your wound's going to open up! You should first take care of yourself before you attend to heal their wounds!" Yun reasoned. He was giving me a hard time lecturing me about taking a rest before healing the injured people from the war. I thought that he would come here later but maybe he didn't find me in my room that was why he got the hunch that I was here.

I'd been sneaking here in the soldiers' quarters to heal the injured people. If I could be of help then I should just take the opportunity, right?

"Do you want me to call Shin-ah here?!" he yelled.

I stood up and hurried towards the exit. "No need for that, Yun. I'll take a rest so calm down," I breathed a sigh of relief when I went out of the quarters.

It had been three days since the war.

And it had been three days since...nevermind. I grabbed my spear from my room then went to the training grounds. I should just train since there was nothing left to do. But I should at least keep my actions to a minimal level so that I wouldn't reopen my wound.

"You do know that you still need to rest, right?" Jae-ha landed beside me and sat on top of a rock. "I like your dedication to your training but you still need to rest, mi'lady,"

"I don't like wasting time doing nothing," I sighed.

"Do you want Shin-ah to worry?" I froze at his question. I wanted to ask him why Shin-ah would be worried but I managed to silence myself. "So...why are you avoiding him all of a sudden?"

Ever since we came back here from the war, I started avoiding Shin-ah. I guessed everyone noticed it. Whenever he was there, I would just disappear. Whenever he tried to talk to me, I would just excuse myself. I didn't even want to find myself around him because whenever he was near, I always felt something inside my chest.

"I—I don't know," it was an honest excuse. I didn't even really have an idea of why I was avoiding him myself.

Without having second thoughts, I tried to attack him with my spear but he just jumped then sat on the rock again. "No need to be so defensive," he smiled. "Now tell me, have you ever been in love?"

In love?

I knew that Jae-ha was teasing me but he was serious at the same time. "No, I haven't," I said flatly and turned my back on him.

I was about to go leave the training grounds when he added, "You and Shin-ah are both innocent in this kind of thing so I'll let this slip. But please do try to talk to him. Since Zeno is already two-thousand years old, Shin-ah is the youngest. And I care about my youngest brother."

***

"Hey, Roo-na!" someone called.

"Good afternoon, Queen Yona," I bowed.

"How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Yona," she pouted. "You're just a little older than me, you know?"

I giggled. "But you're the queen. I should treat you with respect,"

"Please?"

"Alright,"

"I noticed that you were avoiding Shin-ah," Yona was going to bring out this topic too? "What's the matter? I wouldn't take 'I don't know' for an answer. It just falls down between you hate him or you like him. So, which of the two is it?"

"I ca—"

"Or you love him?" I just looked down. When she noticed that I wasn't going to give her an answer, she continued, "Before I realized my feelings for Hak, I was oblivious of his feelings too. I thought that I just cared about him since he's a childhood friend but as time went by, I struggled only to find that my feelings for him were deeper than that. It came to a point that I was jealous of the other girls that came near him and I wanted him to stay by my side always,"

"Then you realized you love him?"

She nodded. Her face was of peace. It was like she was remembering all those struggles and how she got passed through them. "Life is too short, Roo-na. You'd better face your feelings sooner than later. When you spend both of your lives together, you'll regret not having those days that you wasted just because you're afraid. This applies to everything, not just your lover. I regret those days that I acted like a spoiled brat in front of my father and after his death, I wished that I could turn back the time and show my love to him. We're humans after all. If you're not like Zeno, one lifetime wouldn't be enough if you're happy,"

"I still don't know what to do," I admitted. "I'm not used to these feelings,"

As I said to Jae-ha, I hadn't experienced being in love before. I prioritized helping those people in need that I didn't spare a glance at myself or my love life in the matter. Many guys tried making me their woman but I just turned them down in an instant.

But this was different. I didn't feel anything from those guys. Never had I ever felt this feeling in my stomach or this pounding in my chest...except for the time when I met Shin-ah.

"You just need to follow you heart," Yona advised.

"Isn't it too early for that?" I asked her. "I've only known him for a couple of months,"

Yona then looked at the sky, "Nothing's too early for love."