Nightfall.
Seungmin wrapped a bandage around his arm after getting out from shower. The pain was at least bearable for him now. It might take a few days to recover fully.
He planned to go to bed earlier because of school tomorrow. However, when his eyes met the fabric hanging on the wardrobe's door, he thought sleep could wait.
The male took the cloth along with the torn off piece and brought them downstairs. He rummaged a shelf to find something until his father came down, startling him.
"What are you searching, son?"
"Um," he hid the cloak behind him. "Sewing machine. The one mom always use."
At the mention of his mother, a sad smile appeared on the man's face. He noticed the cloth Seungmin was holding. "You're sewing something?" he asked as he turned to open a door under the stairs. It was a store of their unused stuffs, mostly his mother's things.
His late mother.
Seungmin approached his father as the man handed out a familiar yet old box. "Thank you dad."
The older hummed while keeping back the things inside of the storage. Seungmin went to the corner of the living room where there was a small table his mother always use when sewing. It had been a long time since he did this. He silently hoped he'd still remember how to do it. After setting up the old machine, he hesitated.
What if he screwed up?
I shouldn't do this–
"...that was the last gift that keeps her happy."
His lips pursed into a thin line.
"...he was bleeding! Should i leave him losing blood just like that?"
Silly, the cut wasn't even deep.
A smile unknowingly appeared on his face as he remembered the event earlier that day. Even though he felt guilty, the fact that the princess showed her concerns towards him made his heart flutter.
He switched on the lights on the machine and carefully put the two separated fabrics together. His one leg stepped on the level and moved it slowly according to the speed he wanted. To say he was nervous was an understatement.
Soon, subtle sound of whirring filled the room. If he was to be emotional at that moment, he would reminisce how he'd wake up at night to the small noise only to see his mother sewing skirts to sell. Little Seungmin would always ask, "why don't you do it in the morning? mommy needs sleep too." with a pout on his lips. When his mother refused to do so the little one would drag a chair next to her and watch how the level on her leg moves along with the needle on the machine. Curiousity rose inside him and his mouth wouldn't stop asking, yet his mother replied to it with patience.
As he grew up, he was interested in trying so he did. He just learned the basic and had sewn a few random pieces of clothes, but ever since his mother passed away, he'd never touched the machine again. It brings nostalgic feels.
Seungmin had never thought he'd do this again. He tried so hard to lessen the tremble of his hands to make sure the needle won't hurt his finger. Also, he didn't want any decent defect shown on the cloak. Even though the possibility to make it look like new was definitely zero, he still wanted to try.
It was impossible to fix the badly torn off cloth without making the long line of sewing visible.
After a moment that seem like an hour, he finally finished it. Seungmin turned off the light and undone the wires that attached to the machine. He then got up to present the cloak in front of him.
Doesn't look like new, and the line is obviously visible.
A loud grunt escaped his mouth. He ruffled his hair stressfully while cringing at the final result. He put his expectation too high earlier only to be crushed after one hour.
A soft chuckle startled him. The young male turned to see his father reading a newspaper on the couch. His eyebrows knitted in confusion. Was his father there all this time?
"The princess would appreciate it, don't worry." the man spoke to assure him. "You've worked so hard, hm? Is it that important for you?"
Unknowingly, a blush spread on his cheeks when his father knew why he was doing this. Seungmin had never been open about anything towards his father, yet the two still maintain a good relationship. When the man suddenly touched about this topic he felt a bit awkward.
"This is her favourite," he shrugged, hiding the fact that he wanted to see the smile on her face when he gives her the sewn cloak. "She looked glum earlier because of this."
"I heard what happened in the woods, are you not mad?"
Seungmin's arm slowly dropped to the side as he met his father's eyes. He remembered the man's reaction after knowing the story of the stubborn princess. He almost scold her before going to the clinic but Seungmin signalled him not to. He remembered how Eunkyung had her head low all the time. He heard how the princess lowly cursed herself and sniffled all the way they went there.
He couldn't lie, but he pitied the girl although she had done wrong.
Seungmin lightly shook his head, earning a questioning look from his father.
"Why?"
"She's not stubborn," he sadly smiled. "Eunkyung is just determined. She managed to leave the culprit's trace in the woods. It helps the police to find him. And I'm not mad at her because of that."
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Seungmin felt like running away.
He reached the school's compound with the brown paper bag in his hand. He started to think sewing the cloak to make it "better" was a bad idea.
Was it okay for him to run away now?
Yes, totally–
"What is that?"
The guy jumped in surprise when a hand tapped on his shoulder. He had his eyes wide staring at the newcomer who tried to peek in the paper bag.
"Felix!" he breathed out. "You scared me, oh my."
"What's that?" the freckled guy ignored him and pulled the bag closer but Seungmin was quick to pull it away. The sound of the bag rustling caught a few student's attentions who were passing by. Felix raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Is it art supplies? Do you have art today? That's not the usual bag you always bring." he bombarded his friend with questions.
Seungmin could only shook his head. He switched hands so that Felix won't see what's inside it. "Let's... let's go."
"Are you bringing some sort of weapons?" Felix joked as he skipped next to the taller. "Anyway, I've heard about it from Princess Eunji. Is your arm okay now?"
"Who else did she tell?"
"Just me. I don't think my family knows," Felix shrugged. "After all, they weren't involved so there's no reason for them to know."
"Right." Seungmin nodded once, worrying if the incident went all out to the public. He couldn't let everyone know what happened or they would put the blame on the princess. He doesn't want that to happen.
"Are you worrying about her?" Felix muttered, as if he could read his friend's mind. When Seungmin nodded, he sighed. "The public shouldn't know because most of them have seen the cloak, the same that she wore during the sword fighting class. If you're going to defend her because you feel pity, I don't think you should."
Seungmin remained silent.
"She's disobeyed the rules multiple times. It's not anyone's fault but hers."
"I know. But she did that for reasons."
"Why some things are forbidden?" Felix asked patiently. Even though the princess was his friend, he couldn't just let her slip away from her mistakes.
"Because it could harm others..."
"Exactly."
Seungmin sighed. The grip on the bag tightened.
"When you're injured like this, I doubt she will do anything against the command anymore. Things happen for good, I guess." Felix nudged him using the elbow with a playful grin. Seungmin just rolled his eyes.
"It still hurts."
"You should be mad at her."
"I'm trying."
No, he isn't.
Seungmin lied. He wasn't even trying.
Felix facepalmed himself when he saw the guy was practically chickened out while meeting the princess. Eunkyung just stood there in confusion. Confused as to why Seungmin suddenly called her to meet him outside the dining room during lunch and did nothing other than stuttering.
"You want to eat together?" she guessed, but Seungmin shook his head. "Then..." her eyes travelled up to the ceiling, thinking. "You want to know if I have started drawing the face yet? I haven't. Yesterday my sisters were mad at me and I couldn't slee—"
"It's not that." he quickly cut her off.
Eunkyung furrowed her eyebrows. "You're trying to scold me for what happened? Okay." she stood up straight and closed her eyes. "Scold me then."
"What..." he had his mouth hang open at the sudden behaviour. Has Eunkyung always been this talkative? And she let him scold her? Was there a ghost possessed her in the woods?
When all she heard was silence, the princess peeked open one eye. Seungmin was giving her a questioning look so she opened both eyes and sighed, "I'm hungry so please make it quick." she lowly muttered.
"Oh," he snapped out of his thoughts and hesitantly held out the bag. "I just wanted to give you this."
The frown was back on her face, "You could have just give me in the class? Your seat is just in front of me."
"You wouldn't want that." Seungmin mumbled and looked away when Eunkyung took the bag. She peeked inside it and nodded her head in understanding. "It... wasn't the best. I mean I tried. But if you want to throw it away then do it, I don't mind." he spoke rather fast with his hand dismissing the bag. Before Eunkyung could say anything, he bowed and turned to walk away.
Again, confusion washed over her. Eunkyung tilted her head as she watched the guy walking away before spotting Felix a few steps ahead him. The freckled guy gave her a cat-like smile with a hand wave and she replied to it with the same gesture.
Eunkyung's mind was filled with questions. Why are the two friends not eating? Why Seungmin looked so nervous and... disturbed? Was he actually angry at her but couldn't?
Shaking the thoughts away, she took out the sewn cloak after making sure there wasn't anyone in the hall. She immediately spotted a line of threads at the left side. She blinked her eyes a few times.
Slowly, a small smile made its way to her face. Even though she tried to suppress it, she failed when thinking how the guy did this overnight with his injured arm. And when remembering how nervous he was, she chuckled to herself.
The princess traced her finger down the line. It was not bad, actually. The line was visible only because the cloak had patterns on the outside so it was hard to cover it. Seungmin chose a suitable thread to blend the colors together to make it less obvious. Apart from that, the height of the two fabrics matched with each other. If she wore it in the dark, people wouldn't know the cloak was once torn off badly.
Seungmin actually did a pretty good job, and Eunkyung appreciated that.
The smile on her face grew. Something inside her stomach tickled her, as if someone was fluttering a feather to make her laugh with glee. Her steady heartbeat skipped once, fluttered at the action.
"He's such an idiot."
Ah, Kim Seungmin missed the bright smile he wanted to see.
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a light chapter for y'all hehe.