Hours turned into days. Which soon turned into weeks, now catching up on a month. Things in Wimborne have gone back to the way they used to be, before I returned.
It makes me feel uneasy, everything does. Wimborne hasn't heard a single thing from the Sorian kingdom since the carriage incident, which feeds the growing eerie feeling in my stomach. Everything at the moment just seems too good to be true. It's all too peaceful.. especially when there should be an oncoming war instead.
Instead, Jungwon's father had decided to go forth with the annual celebratory ballroom dance in honor of the late queen's birthday. I found it odd at first, knowing that Sorian could strike at any given moment.. but I guess it would be shameful to dishonor the queen by breaking the tradition. At least that's what the talk around the castle is all about.
Besides the ballroom dance itself, I've heard news of an ascension ceremony being held the same night, for Jungwon. I'm not sure what the actual ascension part could be about, the details are strictly between the members of the royal family- which has been passed down to a few friends in secret.
"Am I doing this correctly?" I ask Jay, who sits beside me on the floor of his workroom.
Due to the ballroom dance causing an overwhelming amount of formal wear requests from not only the people in the castle, but also from a few villagers Jay personally knows- he's been stressed about finishing everything before the deadline.
After every sword training lesson I've had for the past week I've spent it helping Jay with his seamstress duties, which is surprisingly pretty enjoyable.
"Yes, just continue that stitch and tie it off once you reach the bottom." Jay responds with a smile, momentarily glancing down at me before going back to work on a pair of trousers.
I do as I'm told and continue the stitch, threading the needle in and out of the fabric before tying it off once I reach the bottom of the skirt. I hold up the blue dress with a proud smile on my face, satisfied with what I accomplished. That's another garment done, just about six more to go.
"I think that one is your best one yet," Jay comments.
"Really?" I respond with a smile, my eyes gleaming brightly at the compliment.
"Definitely," Jay remarks with a small chuckle. "It's nearly perfect."
"I think I'm getting the hang of this now," I reply while gently folding the blue dress before getting up to lay it on the long table. "This is actually really fun." I add while grabbing an already picked out bundle of fabric, laying them out in front of me to see what i'm working with this time.
"I think you would make a great seamstress," Jay comments while snipping a loose thread. "As your official occupation.. Or as my assistant, so that you could learn more before deciding if the job is for you."
"I would love that!" I respond with a toothy grin, catching his glance as he chuckles to himself.
Just then, the silence is disrupted by the sound of the door opening. Both Jay and I turn our heads to the cause or the disturbance, seeing Riki walk in with a little bounce to his step.
"Hey Riki, what's up?" I greet as he stands at the door, sending a smile back to me.
"Jungwon hyung is looking for you. He wants to have a duel.. in the hedge maze." Riki says while pursing his lips together, staring at me expectantly.
"A duel.. in the hedge maze?" I repeat with my eyebrow raised in amusement.
"Yep." Riki simply responds, popping the 'p'.
I shake my head while snickering to myself, looking back down to the fabrics before me. "Tell him that I'm busy at the moment." I respond while beginning to prepare the next needle and thread.
"But he's already waiting for you!" Riki blurts out persistently. "He like.. really wants to duel.." he trails off awkwardly, seemingly just saying whatever he can to make me agree.
I let out a sigh before glancing back to Jay, who gives me a nod with a look of amusement on his face. "It's alright, go on. I got this," he insists, to which I just nod.
"All right fine, let's go 'duel' then." I mock while pushing myself up off the ground, grabbing my sword and satchel that I left by the door before following Riki out into the hallway.
Eventually I find myself stood right before the tall hedge maze, Riki long gone. I sigh as I peek into the maze, not seeing that familiar head of dark hair anywhere.
"I'm not going to just wander into this maze without you, Jungwon!" I shout to Jungwon, who hopefully hears me. "I'm going to get lost!"
A few moments later and the boy appears right before me, emerging out of the maze. "Sorry," he apologizes out of breath, like he'd just ran here. "Follow me," he instructs and I do as he says.
After walking through the tall walls of green that all look the same, we end up at the same little clearing where Jungwon last took me. The clearing with his mothers' flower.
"Why did you bring me here?" I question as I take a seat on one of the blankets, eyeing Eunjoo's gift carefully- it looks the exact same as the last time I saw it. "I have a feeling that you don't want to 'duel'." I mock while glancing up at him with an amused smile, watching as he takes a seat beside me with a rather dull expression on his face.
"We need to talk," he says, "about a lot of things."
"Okay.." I respond a little quieter than before.
Things were definitely awkward between us after our argument, but now we've sorta moved past it, without acknowledging anything that was said and done.
"I don't have a good feeling about the ballroom dance." he suddenly says, causing me to knit my eyebrows together in confusion.
"So why did you call for me, shouldn't you tell this to Sunghoon or your dad or something?" I question in confusion.
"I just wanted to talk to you first, so you could tell me if i'm just being paranoid or some shit." he remarks while letting out a sigh, mindlessly picking at the grass in front of him.
"I don't think you're being paranoid. I don't have a good feeling about it either." I admit truthfully, a frown painting my own face.
"Don't you think it is suspicious that Sorian hasn't made any moves since we rescued you, Heeseung and Taehyun? I mean surely they are planning something." he remarks with a deep frown resting on his face as he stares off.
"I was thinking the same thing." I respond before letting myself fall backwards onto the blanket, crossing my arms in front of my chest as I stare up at the clouds in the sky.
"It's scary.." Jungwon trails off quietly, before his eyes land on me. "Maybe we should just run away."
"What?!" I exclaim while sitting up abruptly.
"We should go back to earth." he retaliates, but I can't tell if he's being serious or not.
I stare at him in disbelief, my eyes as wide as saucers. Suddenly a smile breaks out onto his face, before he falls back onto the blanket with a laugh.
"I'm just joking," he laughs, "but wouldn't that be so much easier?"
I stare down at him for a moment, just watching him watch the clouds as I purse my lips together in thought. "Maybe," I respond truthfully.
"Come here," he says, making me raise an eyebrow in confusion.
Before I can respond though, he grabs on my hand and pulls me closer to him. I fall with a huff as I plant my hands on the ground beside both sides of his shoulders, hovering over his body. We share silent eye contact as I feel my face redden from the mere amount of space between us, but I still don't move.
Jungwon's eyes land on my purple necklace which dangles between us. He reaches his hand up to fiddle with it between his fingers, a small smile spreading on his face. "You are still wearing the necklace," he observes.
"Of course I am," I respond back quietly. "I haven't taken it off since you put it on me."
Jungwon smiles to himself, a smile which makes his dimples appear. He lets the necklace fall back between us to instead cup his hands around my cheeks. He slowly leans in to place a lingering kiss to my forehead, before letting his head fall back to the blanket where a frown begins to paint his face instead.
"I'm sorry." he apologizes quietly.
I ignore the pounding of my heart and the overwhelming heat in my face, furrowing my eyebrows together instead. "What for?" I ask before gulping down my nerves.
"Our argument." Jungwon easily responds, shutting his eyes close at the mere mention of the word.
I lift myself off from above him to instead sit beside him, a tight-lipped smile painting my face. "Jungwon, I thought we were past that." I respond lightly.
"I know, but I just wanted to make it clear in case you didn't know." he says while lifting his arms to rest over his eyes, blocking out the sun. "I am really sorry, Minj. I did not know what you were going through, and I was so harsh to you."
"I deserved it." I chuckle lightly to myself, causing Jungwon to merely glance back at me in response.
I stare back at him in silence before letting out a sigh, looking down to hide my dejected expression. "Can I ask you why didn't you visit?"
I hear the blanket shuffle around, causing me to look up to see Jungwon sat up before me. "I couldn't." he simply responds, I just nod in response. Of course he couldn't. He's a prince after all, he's got his duties to attend to.
Suddenly I feel his hand lift up my chin, forcing me to keep eye- contact. "The proposition was broken. You don't remember because you lost your memory." he explains, causing my heart to drop.
I stare back at him with wide eyes, my mouth slightly agape as the realization sets in, my memory of that day slowly coming back to me.