Hasan = Hoseok
Junaid = Jin
And,
Aayan's POV
"Shehzadi, my boys, we are talking about the Shehzadi." One of them answered.
(Princess)
"Shehzadi? What about Her Highness?" Hasan asked, curiously. The only child of their great Sultan - the famous and beloved princess of Agrabah. She was known worldwide for her beauty, intelligence and ofcourse, for the love of her Kingdom. She always tried to help the citizens and it is also rumoured that the construction of the dam was her idea, which is really helpful for the people. It is the reason why there is drinking water available for everyone, and the people respect her so much for that, even when they haven't seen her face once. Her actions are more than enough.
"Do you not know? The Shehzadi will be turning eighteen tomorrow."
"Oh. Is she going to marry now?" Junaid asked, rather quite intrigued by the conversation. A lot of things would change in the kingdom if the shehzadi decides to get married.
"Not sure, but it is the right age to get married. She might soon."
"But tomorrow, on the occasion of her birthday, there will be a procession to visit the whole city, and the Shehzadi herself will be present in her palanquin! I wonder if we will be able to catch a glimpse of her..." A young man, whom I didn't really recognise, said with a dreamy look.
I chuckled at that. "I think the palanquin will be surrounded by knights." I said, immediately shattering all the hopes of the young man.
"You didn't have to say that..." he said quietly, but I couldn't help but snicker. The boy wanted to be left in his dream world, but in reality, he might not even be able to go near the palanquin.
I said from experience.
When I was younger, I saw the princess' palanquin procession passing right in front of my eyes. It was surrounded by guards and knights, who walked in uniform lines and kept a close watch to avoid anyone from coming too close. But they failed to notice a small boy. I had never seen anything as grand and magnificent as that, the golden swirling designs of carriage attracted me greatly. It was carried on the shoulders of four bulky men, who were more than enough to carry the young and fragile princess. Though the openings of the carriage were curtained, I was able to make out the faint silhouette of a crowned form much smaller than mine, which didn't come as a surprise considering the fact that the princess was younger than me by two years. I kept gazing at her, and at some point it felt as if the princess was looking at me too, the partially see through material of the curtain allowing us to do so. But the moment didn't last for long, the carriage carried on it's journey, passing right infront of my eyes. I raised my hand forward - wishing for the moving carriage to come back, but my hand fell back soon, knowing it was impossible. I wanted to look at the glittering, shining palanquin for a little longer...and also the person sitting inside it.
However, this encounter was only possible because I was small and frail child. My tiny, malnourished form went unnoticed by the tall and bulky men. This incident occurred log ago, before I had found my soulmates. But now... One could say that I was almost as bulky as those men from before. My soulmates made sure to provide proper meals to my growing body and keep me healthy. There is no way I can escape from the sight of those knights now. And though not as muscular as me, surely the 'Dreamy boy' won't be able to escape as well.
And though I knew the incident might've been insignificant for the princess, I still spent hours just idly sitting and wondering whether she saw me that day too. And whether she wanted to stay too. As years passed and I grew up, this perticular memory always remained fresh and a frequent visitor of my mind.
I suddenly felt a hand on top of my shoulders, which brought me back to reality. Turning my head, I glanced back to see Junaid looking at me with a concerned face.
"Are you okay? You were lost in your own world..." He asked gently, and I found a small smile curling up on my lips upon seeing how he immediately came to check whether I was alright after feeling a change in emotions through my side of the bond, not caring about all the other people around us. Being the eldest mate of the group, Junaid always seemed to know if something was wrong with any one of us, or if we had something on their mind. He'd listen to us patiently and then gently give us a piece of advise, nudging us towards the right direction. Nothing was hidden from him as he was always so good at reading people. He made sure that each one of his mates are happy, well fed and healthy, fretting and fussing over us to set his instincts at ease.
"I'm okay," I replied, the smile never leaving my face. Junaid looked into my eyes, trying to find any hint of sadness or worry, but soon he smiled back. Though the disappointment from the childhood memory was still present, I felt okay because my mates were here. And as long as I have them, I do not need to worry about anything else in the world. I'll be okay.
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I'm not okay, I said to myself.
Our short break had long since came to an end, and now we were back to work. The market was once again bustling with people, it's whole atmosphere now drastically changed from the deserted afternoon look. The sun was halfway through it's descent in West direction while forming a gradient of purple, orange and red in the sky and everything had a glittering orange glow around it due to the last rays of the sun. Though everyone was used to the sight, still, I found my eyes drifting to look at the mesmerising sight. It looked almost magical.
However, the same nauseating feeling arised in my stomach once more – bubbling up and leaving a burning sensation in my throat – and just like it did each time, it made my head spin and vision blur; hands darting around to clutch at something that can stabilise myself. But this time, instead of a table or chair, my hands grasp another pair of hands that hold me still and anchor my body to theirs, arms wounding themselves around my waist. And through the scent of the person, I barely manage to identify the source of support as Hasan, my mate. And to be near one of my mates slightly lessened the sickening feeling, so I bury my face in his neck, breathing in his scent and relishing the slightest comfort that I found in his arms.
"What's wrong, Love?" Hasan asked with worry seeping in his tone, arms tightening around me.
"I don't feel good..." I replied truthfully. There was no point in lying, he wouldn't have believed me anyway. Soon after the break got over, I started feeling weird. At first it was just an uneasy feeling, but as time went on it turned into something more sickening. And if I let my health deteriorate even more it'll definitely be a burden on my older mates - just another reason why I didn't lie. Hearing my response, Hasan leaned back and gently guided me towards one the chairs, letting me sit down and collect myself.
Junaid also emerged soon from behind the buckets of spices, no doubt feeling the worry and discomfort through the bond.
"Aayan! What happened? Are you okay?" He asked hurriedly, keeping his hand on my forehead to check the temperature.
"I think he's dizzy, he almost fell down..." Hasan informed him, shooting me a concerned look.
"He seemed lost and out of it in the afternoon too! I should've noticed that something was wrong..." He sighed and rambled on about how I should take care of myself, avoid overworking, not be in the heat for too long, and some other things that he says everytime anything happened to our mates. By now, I knew it byheart. He went away for a second and returned with a tumbler of water in his hands. All this time I couldn't manage to say anything, all energy draining itself out of me, making it difficult to even move my mouth. As if almost sensing my situation, Hasan gently pried my mouth open and Junaid poured the water in my mouth from the earthen tumbler. I drank greedily and after having enough I weakly leaned back, body cooling down and throat not parched anymore.
My mind was buzzing, as if a thousand bees were locked inside it. It was difficult to focus on anything without my head throbbing with pain, and the increasing crowd of the market just made it worse. So I decided to close my eyes and leaned back onto the chair, trying to relax myself. Soon I felt a pair of hands gently massage my head, weaving in and out of my hair, applying just the right amount pressure. A relieved sound made it's way out of my throat as the hands now moved over to my temples to gently rubbing in a circular motion, the waves of burn reducing greatly. I heaved a sigh of relief and then took a deep breath. I attempted to relax my mind and body, in hopes of the pain going away completely. However, that, unfortunately, didn't happen. After some minutes of calmness, the pain came back, and this time it shot through my whole body. I shuddered as a whimper escaped my mouth, grabbing the hand that was above my head and squeezing it, trying to seek comfort from one of my mates.
"Oh dear, I don't think we should stay here anymore. Let's go home..." Junaid said in a low and gentle voice, not wanting to agitate my already messed up condition. Hasan agreed, so then they both started to wrap up the shop. Stacking the empty buckets, covering up the buckets which still had some spices in them and safely keeping all the money collected in a bag. I wanted to help them, but even a slight movement made me recoil back in pain.
Soon they were done, and supporting me by my arms, we started walked towards the Northern side. Asma's huge house was there, where many people lived as tenants. We were one of them. She was a greedy and rude woman, and I never liked her. But most importantly, since her husband was a minister of the royal court, she had power. She controlled us, forced us to do things we never wanted to. I wanted to leave that house, but we couldn't. This was what angered me the most.
Anyway, when we reached near the area of our house, we saw Irfan, Samir, Tahir and Javed standing nearby. They were clearly worried, definitely having felt the pain and concern through the bond. The journey from the Southern market to the Northern one was not easy, the pain kept coming in waves on and off, I was sweating and some tears left my eyes at the brutality of the pain. As soon as they saw us and my condition, they ran towards us.
"What's wrong? Aayan?" Javed asked me, gently cupping my face from his hands.
"I...I don't know..." I managed to whisper.
"Bring him inside the house." Samir said in a firm voice, and at that moment I knew it was the Healer side of my mate speaking.
That's right.
Samir was a Talented.
In fact, every one of us was either a Talented or a Protector...except Tahir.
Only Talenteds have protectors, so it was a moment of great joy when we found that Hasan was the protector of Samir, who was a healer. Irfan was the protector of Junaid, a Talented – who could control fire, and I was the protector of Javed who was also a Talented, having the Ability to talk to any of his mates through his mind.
However, the joy died down when Tahir was the only one who was left behind. The sight of his eyes filled with tears and the disheartened look on his face is something that I never wished to see ever again. But we overcome that period of life. Together.
"Let's hurry up." Irfan said, moving forward and giving a hand of support to Junaid and Hasan in carrying me, since I was barely able to stand straight.
However, just as we were about to enter the two-storey huge building, I glanced back at the crowd of the market. I didn't even know myself as to why I suddenly made that decision, but it felt as if I just had to. A part of me had been urging me to do so for as long as I was standing there with the support provided to me. I had too much going on in my body that I didn't even resist, and at last gave in to that feeling just so it wouldn't keep niggling away at me, troubling me even more than I already was. And so I look at the crowd once, meaning for it to be nothing more than just a fleeting glance, just to soothe my instincts which were riled up due to an unknown reason. My heart was thudding away rapidly, it's pace rather faster than usual. I expected it to be nothing though, that I'll turn around and find nothing out of the ordinary and that I was anxious and uneasy for no reason. But what I didn't expect was that one fleeting glance at the crowd would turn into staring, gaze wandering away unattentively at first, and then suddenly setting upon a perticular sight. Unable to look away, eyes meeting another pair in the dim lighting of the sunset atmosphere, another pair of eyes that were wide and shocked just like mine.
It was at this point, when I felt as if I wasn't just leaning on three men who were having a hard time to keeping me standing, as if I hadn't been fisting up my trembling hand to reduce the effect of the torture I was going through. No. I was suddenly filled with a boost of energy, all the pain, discomfort and nervousness bleeding away in an instant, as my feet kept me planted to the ground. My anxiousness and uneasiness faded away into nothing, just to get replaced by something that was much more pleasant – happiness.
Tears gathered in my eyes, this time not due to the pain but instead because of sheer ecstasy I felt at the moment. I had, we all had, waited so long for this moment, and now finally- finally it was happening in reality, years and years of yearning finally coming to an end. The pair of eyes that I had waited so long to look at, turned glassy as well, mirroring the longing and relief that I felt.
I was so delighted, wanting to gaze at those mesmerising eyes looking back at me for endless eternities, to gaze at the beautiful artwork infront of me. And at that moment, being lost in giddiness, I could only manage to utter one word.
“Ours.”
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Heya! Here is the third chapter. I hope you liked it so far, and I also hope that you will like the further chapters as well. I personally enjoyed writing this chapter, because finally we were getting a closer look at the boys' life and also Aayan's (jungkook). And FINALLY! They met! What do you think? Did I express the emotions well? Please let me know, I'll get some peace😌
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Words :- 2615
Date :- 9/4/23