"Why is this place always freezing?" Chenle groaned, wrapping his arms around him as Lina led him through the halls of the ice castle.
"That's because we're in the realm of ice." Lina replied, glaring at the male. "I told you to dress warmly. Plus, it's not the first time you're here and you're the one that begged me to take you away from your home realm."
"That's because it's stressful there." Chenle mumbled under his breath. "All they ever talk about is the potential of war happening in Orenda and beginning to come up with a training plan."
"It's that bad?" Lina couldn't help but blurt out, in shock. Dealain was one of the most peaceful realms, the most peaceful out of all the dark realms. Their focus was on developing the technology of Orenda, and even had a decent relationship with Luminosa. If they were worried about a war starting, then that meant that the war was closer than they expected.
"Apparently." Chenle sighed, before shifting his attention back to Lina. "So what do you have planned for my entertainment today?"
"Is that all you care about?" Lina replied, crossing her arms and stopping in the middle of the halls. Chenle smiled, moving over and grabbing her arm.
"Aw Lina, you know how tired I am, look at the bags under my eyes." Chenle whined with a pout. She gave him a look of disgust and Chenle threw his head back, a loud laugh escaping his lips and echoing down the halls.
"Ah, why do you have to be so loud?" Lina asked, Chenle removing himself from her. She gave him a light smack, only making Chenle laugh even harder.
When he finally calmed down, he looked around, realizing something. "Where's Sona? And Renjun? They normally pop up around now, no?"
Lina bit her lip, feeling exposed by the observation Chenle had made. She stayed quiet, pretending like she didn't hear him.
"Lina." Chenle sang, a big smirk on his face. "I know you can hear me. Did you ask them to leave us alone for the day?"
"Perhaps." Lina mumbled, guiding Chenle to the waiting room she had prepared with Renjun, filled with electronics that the people of Dealain loved to play with whenever they came to visit Eis. "They're annoying, you know."
"Oh, sure they are." Chenle giggled as they entered the room. He turned around, grinning from ear to ear as Lina closed the door behind her.
"What do you want?" Lina asked. Judging the look on his face, he had something up his sleeve and she wasn't sure if she was ready to deal with it.
"Come here." Chenle said, widening his arms.
"You want a hug?" Lina was confused as she approached him, letting the male hold her in his arms.
Chenle shook his head, tapping his cheek. Lina shook her head, leaning towards him to give Chenle a peck on the cheek.
The thing was, Chenle turned his head at the last second and she ended up kissing him on the lips instead, shocking her. Lina instantly moved back, unprepared as she began to feel her cheeks heat up.
Chenle chuckled in satisfaction, not letting her get too far as he kept a firm grip around her waist. "What? Not expecting that?"
"Not at all!" Lina exclaimed, still in disbelief. I kissed him. I kissed Chenle, I kissed Zhong Chenle!
Chenle let go of her waist to cup Lina's face, seeming proud at the little stunt he had pulled. He looked Lina in the eyes, and after noticing how flustered she was, gently caressed her cheek. "Relax, Lina. It's just a kiss."
"Just a kiss?!" Chenle quickly leaned forward, giving her a peck on the lips, taking Lina by surprise for a second time.
"There, that's two kisses." He did it one more time. "And a third. And-"
"Okay, I get it!" Lina called out, feeling like her insides were going to explode. "You're going to make my heart burst if you continue that."
Chenle only laughed, settling on the couch and patting the space beside him for Lina to sit.
"You're already made my heart burst, Choi Lina."
....
Jisun rested her head on Mark's shoulder as they sat on a bench located on the rooftop of one of the building's the President of Dealain owned, staring at the city down below. It was a beautiful sight, different from the castle life both of them lived in.
Mark held her hand, giving it a squeeze every now and then. She noticed that he wasn't looking at the neon lights but rather at their laced hands.
Something's on his mind.
Jisun lifted her head, making Mark turn towards her. "Is something wrong?"
"I should be asking you that." Jisun replied. "You seem stressed."
"Oh. Um." Mark was definitely trying to make excuses, thoughts scrambling through his head. Like usual, it didn't go so well and a deep sigh escaped his lips. "Do you think that Orenda will be at war?"
Jisun had a feeling this was going to come up eventually. The whole dinner Mark had organized and the constant reminder that tonight was for them to talk about anything other than the stress of ruling their own respective realms only showed that Mark desperately needed a distraction.
In the end though, he couldn't hold it in, asking Jisun the dreaded question that she didn't know how to answer.
"I think it's hard to accept, but I think it'll happen." Jisun admitted. "There's just too much tension between the realms"
"Yeah, that's what I realized." Mark sighed. "I guess there's nothing we can do then."
"We need to prepare our realms." Jisun told him. "The best thing to do is keep a look out and be ready if anything happens."
"Is that what you're going to do when you get back?" Mark asked, staring into Jisun's eyes.
"Mark, we can't be protected forever." Jisun said, taking his other hand, holding both of them in hers. She gave each of them a light squeeze. "Think about our loved ones, we need to do what we can and if it means go harder in training so that they'll be ready to fight, so be it."
"You know." Mark began, letting go of one of her hands to gently tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You'll make a great queen one day."
Just not your queen, Jisun couldn't help but think, knowing that they had more important duties than dedicating their lives together.
Even though Mark looked like he had more he wanted to say, Jisun couldn't bear it, instantly looking away. "Mark, it's late. We should head back before your family gets worried."
"They'll be fine." Mark responded, gently nudging Jisun's head so that she was looking at him again. "Are you thinking about that again?"
Are you thinking about the fact that we can never truly be together? That was Mark truly meant by his question.
"Would it be better to just end this?" Jisun wondered out loud. Mark didn't even flinch, clear that the same thought had gone through his head before.
"If you want." Mark replied and Jisun felt uncomfortable, shifting in her seat.
"Is that what you want?" Jisun asked back, unable to look at Mark. She knew Mark well enough but when it came to this, she couldn't trust herself. Her own feelings got in the way and there was an answer that she desperately wanted to hear, one that she forced herself to believe would be the one Mark would say.
"If I wanted to, we would have broken up already." Mark answered, calming every nerve in Jisun's body. She looked up to meet Mark's smile, a light chuckle escaping his lips as he pulled her closer to him. "Silly, I'll be with you as long as I can. Why would I choose to be unhappy when I can be overwhelmed with joy instead?"
"Because that would be the logical choice." Jisun told him, sinking into Mark's body as she rested her head on his shoulder, hugging him as she sat in his lap. "But you don't go with your brain quite often, do you?"
"I do what I think is right, Jisun." Mark told her as he leaned back so that their faces were inches apart. He leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on her lips before shyly smiling as he watched her begin to blush. "And for now, being with you is exactly just that."
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OMG I ACCIDENTALLY TURNED OFF MY UPDATE ALARM SORRYYY