Promise- Minsung

Chapter Forty Four

"Sure," Minho had to dress the kids anyway. He waved Jisung away and finished tying his hanbok behind him and watched as Jisung left before turning to the small ones.

"Here we go," Minho pulled Yeong's tiny hanbok from where it lay against the bed and picked Yeong up, laying him against his own shoulder as he brought the hanbok around Yeong's shoulders.

"And there!" he tied the hanbok quickly and put Yeong back in his bed before doing the same for Hei-ran, dressing her in a bright red, pink and white hanbok that a princess would wear.

"Princess Hei-ran, it's time to wake up!"

"Waahh...." Hei-ran stretched before rubbing her large eyes and blinking at Minho. "Oh, you're so pretty aren't you?"

"Apa!" Hei-ran brushed her small hands over Minho's cheeks as he sat down with her in his lap. "We should go and find your other dad!"

With Hei-ran wrapped around his shoulder he picked up Yeong as well, tucking him safely into his other arm. "Let's go!"

Yongbok and Min-hyung were waiting for them with a fully dressed and finished Jisung when he approached.

"Here, let me take her," Jisung reached up and lifted Hei-ran from Minho's shoulders. "We're going all together today," Jisung told Yongbok who seemed confused on why Jisung would be taking Hei-ran.

"I'll carry Yeong," Minho decided as he took the white cloth from Min-hyung and began to wrap Yeong to his chest. "Jisung, can you put Hei-ran on your back?"

"Of course," Jisung nodded to Yongbok who began to create a sling across Jisung's back that Hei-ran could easily slip into.

"I've already called for your horses," Bang Chan arrived at the group and nodded to Minho. "Two of them like you asked for."

Minho nodded. "Thank you, Chan. We should leave now and have lunch there."

"Alright," Min-hyung waved as the family of four started towards the front of the palace where the horses would be waiting for them.

As they walked out, they found Cho and Hae-joo waiting outside for them in the sun, their silver and white pelts shining in the daylight.

Hei-ran lifted her arm and brushed Hae-joo's nose. "Ah!"

"You like the horse?" Jisung glanced over his shoulder at his small daughter who was brushing the horse's nose. "I do too. Come on!" he stepped up into the saddle and mounted his horse. "See, isn't this fun?"

"Come on!" Minho also mounted Cho and straightened out the reins. "Are you ready?" he looked back at Jisung and Hei-ran. "Are we good?"

"Yep!" Jisung nodded and the two horses set off at a steady walk towards the palace exit.

"How often do you go up on your own? You don't even know her," Jisung called up as they began to pick up the pace.

"I go at least once a month. Sometimes more," he sighed. "She's Hei-ran's mom after all. I just wish..." Minho sighed. "I wish I knew her name."

"I can try and find out," Jisung offered. "I can send someone to look into it."

"I have a feeling that you have other things that you should be worrying about instead of finding Hei-ran's mom. First focus on finding the Black Masks."

"Both Captain Kim and General Kim are looking into more leads at the moment. When we find one that is worth looking at, we'll let you know. But at the moment it's just a lot of people claiming their uncle is a Black Mask or they saw Black Masks on their roof at some point. Probably because of the large reward that we set up."

Minho nodded. "Let me know. But... we shouldn't expect anything for a while. The leads we do have are very thin."

Jisung agreed. As they approached the hill that held the grave, Jisung moved his horse closer to Minho so they were riding side by side together with the two little children hanging from their chest or back.

"Here, we can stop here," Minho pulled Cho to a stop right beside the small tree that rested there. Cho snorted as Minho dismounted from his back as Jisung did the same and dismounted from his white mare.

Jisung stood at Minho's side as they stared up at the hill in front of them. "She's up there?"

"Let's go," Minho tucked Yeong against his chest and started up the hill, Jisung following after.

"Say hello, Hei-ran-ah!" Jisung set her down in front of the mound at the top of the hill as Jisung and Minho paid their respects, bowing before the grave and offering food and drink offerings.

"Ma'am, I'm back!" Minho smiled at the stone face staring back at him. "I wanted to... introduce you to Hei-ran's family that we've made."

Jisung bowed before the grave. "This is King Han Jisung, who is also watching over Hei-ran. We are her parents, so I hope that you do not disapprove of the two of us raising your daughter."

A small white butterfly flitted down from the sky without Minho noticing.

"And this is her little brother," Minho lowered Yeong towards the grave. "Han Yeong."

The butterfly landed on Jisung's head, flitting its wings.

"This is our family. I hope that you are happy with how Hei-ran is living now. You see... I was not sure if you would have wanted it to happen this way, but.... I'm sorry," he bowed once again.

The butterfly turned and lifted off of Jisung and landed on Minho's hand.

"I think she's fine with it," Jisung said with a smile as Hei-ran sat down in his lap and started playing with his hair.

Minho stared down at the butterfly for a moment before it lifted from his hand and took off towards the sky.

"We'll come visit you again soon," Minho stood from the mound and bowed one more time before he turned with Yeong in his arms to Jisung. "Let's have lunch at the bottom of the hill. I'm sure the kids are hungry."

"Of course," Jisung picked Hei-ran up in his arms and followed after Minho.

They sat down in the soft green grass at the bottom of the hill and unpacked the package of food and milk that Bang Chan had strapped to the saddle.

"Here, Hei-ran," Jisung lifted the milk to her mouth as she ate it eagerly. Minho did the same with Yeong.

"Hey!" Hei-ran knocked the milk from Jisung's hand making it spill over his lap.

"Oh..." Minho lifted his hand to his mouth and laughed at Jisung who shook the milk from his lap with a pout. "Hei-ran-ah, why did you do that?"

Hei-ran laughed and clapped.

From a distance, coming away from the mountain range, a man sat on his horse staring at the two young men with their children being held close.

The White Mask sighed and lowered his head. The meeting had commenced as planned, and the agreement was final. While it was something that he knew needed to happen, he was still not happy that it had to happen this way. Especially now that Jisung had a solid relationship and seemed happy.

And he would have to leave the little boy with Jisung. Minho could only take Hei-ran since she was unknown to the outside world as his daughter.

The time was approaching quickly now. In even a few days, everything might change.

The White Mask shook his head. And not for the better.