He stands indecisive in front of the door, his fist hovering inches away from knocking on the surface. Shifting his weight from a foot to the other nervously, he raps on the door a few times. When he doesn't receive any reply, he looks around for a doorbell but he has been here enough times to know that there isn't any. He is about to rake his hands through his hair but stops himself as he doesn't want to ruin his made up hair. The other boys had made fun of him because he had wanted to slick his hair back, saying how she would 'think he looks ridiculous' and 'laugh the moment she sees him'.
He had simply wanted to look presentable to her; after all, this is the first time he will face her properly after more than a year.
The door opens wide just as he's about to make another decision of knocking on the door, in case she couldn't hear it.
"Yunho I told you Madam Eurielle's cooking lunch so-" Akira's words cut off when she sees the blonde man, his hair slicked back with too much gel standing awkwardly in front of her. He is wearing a black turtleneck with a striped coat thrown over it and his irises are bathed in grey, though she's not sure what emotion it's supposed to indicate. She has her fingers stuck in between the pages of a book, marking the place where she's currently reading, but she drops it the moment her eyes lay upon the man, losing her bookmark. She quickly picks it up, slightly embarrassed. "I'm- sorry- I thought you were Yunho."
He scratches his cheek, not knowing how to react either. "It's- it's fine. I mean, I'm sorry that I'm not Yunho but-"
She chuckles and he's taken aback slightly. "I told Yunho that Madam Eurielle's cooking, so he doesn't have to bring in lunch." She stares deep into his eyes and her lips twitch slightly. "Your eyes are as green as they can get; are you jealous?"
"I'm not jealous-" he catches sight of his eyes in the reflection on the window - they are indeed green - and he realizes one thing. "You... can see them?"
She nods in response and raises her shoulders lightly. "I started seeing them the day Yunho and I left the palace; it seems that the fountain in town is effective." She sees a flicker of regret passing across his eyes and a tinge of blue, before it completely colours his irises. "Ah, look at me being rude to a guest and leaving you to stand outside." She steps back, ushering him in. "Come on in, we can talk inside. Or, if you'd rather stand outside in the sun, I don't mind."
He accepts her invitation and steps inside the library. He takes in the scent of the books, looks around in amazement at the expanse of the collection of books and she has to pull out a chair to offer him a seat before he snaps out of it. She is about to go to the back to make him some tea, but he pulls her hand gently, saying that it is unnecessary. So they sit across each other with nothing on the table except for their hands clasped ineptly, as if they don't know what to do with them.
"I never stopped regretting that day, when I couldn't stop you from leaving," he utters. "I was a jerk to you and there hasn't been a day where I don't regret whatever I said to you that day. I know I'm a coward and I'm... sorry."
He spills out everything; from when Jongho left to their plan at the ball. She doesn't interrupt, only shifting her gaze from his eyes to his lips, watching as his pupils and lips tremble as he tells her about the past year. She doesn't even show a reaction as Seonghwa finally revealed to her that San... was the king all along. Now she knew, that San was the one who went to Emira and requested for her to let them go. She feels grateful, but at the same time melancholic as she is reminded of what happened after.
"I missed you a lot but I felt conflicted between choosing you and Jongho-" he plays around with his fingers, "-because I care for both of you. When Jongho left, he said that he doesn't blame both of you for his father's death anymore..."
"That was the first time you sent those flowers."
"I was too ashamed to face you even though I wanted to. I made a promise to myself that if I managed to grow and see the delentines bloom again, I'll show up in front of you. But months after months, I had to keep waiting for them to bloom. After a year, the flowers finally did. I wanted to fulfil the promise I made to myself, but the chaos happened at the ball and you fell unconscious." He sniffs. "I wanted to give you the flowers with my own hands but you still haven't woken up, and the month was ending."
"So you asked the little girl to put the flowers on the last day of the month, which was yesterday. 12 months... and it was the first time I managed to latch on to the mysterious person who sent me those flowers. But still, you were long gone before I could see you."
She puts down her book on the table before standing up, making her way to the shelves. Wordlessly, he follows her from behind. They weave in and out of the rows of books, with her having her back towards him. She touches the spines of the books along the way, walking slowly as she feels Seonghwa trailing her.
"You brought me to the palace when I was lost in the forest, alone, on the way to Nyla."
They emerge from the first row.
"You were the first person that found out I couldn't see colours, and you were the first person who was truthful about my blood colour."
They leave the second row.
"You got the scar on your right hand when you stopped the sword's blade with your bare hands, when we went to rescue Yunho."
They come out of the third row and enter the fourth row.
"You taught me the symbolization of the colour of the flowers, although I couldn't see them."
They stop at the fifth row.
"You said you love me that night at the ball, but you told me that you don't know how much you'll regret it."
She stops walking, her hand rested on top of a random book. She turns around to look at him, and asks, "Do you?"
He doesn't answer verbally but goes straight to her, placing his hand on top of hers and bringing their faces closer. Her back is now against the shelves, heat rising to her face due to his sudden movement and as he asks, "May I?", she realizes how badly she misses him. She nods once and after gaining her permission, his lips latch onto hers but only for a few seconds before he pulls back. When he sees that she looks irked as he pulled away suddenly, he smiles smugly. "Does that answer your question?" he questions, the smug smile still plastered on his face. "In case you can't catch on, the answer is no, I don't regret it."
"Well, if you don't, I think I regretted saying it," Akira grumbles. "It's been one year but you're still as annoying as ever. Stop being so smug or I will kick your ass."
"It's been one year but you're still as lovely as ever. I keep on forgetting that you were once a soldier," his smile starts to falter when he looks at her serious expression.
"And if you keep playing around like that I'll make sure you remember that for the rest of your life."
"I'm pretty sure I'm going to remember that for the rest of my life because that's how long I'm going to spend my time with you."
"You're making me nauseous from all those sweet words because it's so unlike you. I can't believe that this was the same person that I met for the first time back in the palace. Your words could cut through anyone but here you are now, spitting all these sweet words."
"Then is our relationship on a 'no sweet words' basis? Because honestly I feel like it's not my thing," he crosses his arms. "I can't believe I said that too." He shakes his head, "Wooyoung must have possessed me for a second there."
She chortles. "You don't have to say them because-" she pulls the lapel of his coat so that their faces are closer once again, and this time, he is the one blushing from her sudden action. "-your actions say it all." She initiates the second kiss, and as their lips meet, he cups her face, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. This time, it lasts longer and she can feel him practically smiling throughout.
The book can wait, she decides. They spend the whole day and night together as they lose track of time, their hearts finally being reunited after what seemed like an eternity.
---
Here comes the dream again.
How many times has it been replayed? I need to wake up from this infinite slumber.
First, it's his family. Ones that are out of his reach, ones that he cannot call his own. They never did care for him, and in this dream it's all the same. His parents taunt him as they put their arms around his brother, their eyes and smiles showing how proud they are of him, their only prince. They look down on him from the throne, with him bowing at their feet and scrambling to get up once his duty as a servant calls. After an eerie laugh reverberates through the space, they disappear, leaving him alone in the dark.
Then the surrounding becomes brighter as four men come into view; the ones that he can call as his real family. They are wearing bright clothes, but their expressions do not match. Their words keep resonating in him: Please wake up, we miss you. Please wake up, you have a kingdom to rule. He hears their calls, their pleading, and he wants to say back to them, I can hear you, I'm here, I'm trapped in this unknown dimension and I can't wake up, but his lips remain sealed.
The other two do appear in his dreams too, but their faces are the opposite of the remaining four. Their faces are bright as if they have finally found their own comfort after leaving the palace. Wooyoung, Jongho, are both of you happy now, wherever you are? he wants to ask them every time they appear smiling in front of him, but as usual, he is forced to keep muted.
The two initial strangers that quickly became their acquaintance would appear next, but they look at him, their stares piercing into him, as if blaming him for the death of their friend. You were the one who killed her, and then you kicked us out! is what he hears them screaming about as they smile cynically and their imminent last words threatening him in the lightless void: You deserved this after all that you did.
No, this is all a dream. There is no way they would say that.
He thrashes around, wanting to feel pain, to feel anything, to show others that he's still there, still alive. In the endless tunnel, he loses the meaning of time. How long has it been? He needs to wake up, he needs to see them again, he needs to mend what's broken. I can't simply go away like this.
The scene of his parents and his brother replays again, as if they are drilling the same notion in him over and over again: Worthless. Incompetent. You're not worthy to take on the throne. Look at you, putting on the crown and you're already endangering our kingdom. How do you expect to rule Nyla when you can't even keep the secret under covers?
No, he shouts back. I will show you how worthy I am to be the king.
"I'm sorry," a muffled voice fills his ears. It's not a voice in his dream, but someone is near him, uttering these words. "I never meant it when I said you're incompetent to be the king. Please wake up now, you're not supposed to be lying down here when a whole kingdom is waiting for you. I'm sorry."
He gasps for air as his heavy eyelids flutter open, taking his time to adjust to the new world surrounding him and not the darkness that had wrapped him up before. His limbs feel numb, but he has finally regained his senses. He can barely move but he has finally escaped the abyss that he fell into. He turns his head to the left slightly, the only movement he can do right now.
He locks eyes with the person waiting beside him, the person who uttered the apologies. The first friend he made in the palace and the person he couldn't apologize to before he went away. Wooyoung's eyes go wide as he sees that San has finally opened his eyes. He scrambles to get up, almost knocking the chair backwards. He opens the door and shouts at the open hallways.
"His majesty has finally woken up!"
---
Mingi screams when he sees the bee hovering around him, his hands busy swatting the air around him in an effort to keep himself free of the bee. Hongjoong, Seonghwa and Yeosang shake their heads at the scene in front of them, but their mouths are calmly chewing their breakfast. Only Mingi has abandoned his food and is ducking and avoiding the insect.
"The bee must really like you," Yeosang says calmly in between his chewing. "No matter how much you try to keep it away, it keeps coming back. Sounds and looks like a romantic drama to me."
"Shut up and help me!" he shrieks. "Don't just sit there and watch. Anyone?" He yelps once when the bee dives towards his direction.
"We opened the windows because we wanted to let fresh air in the dining hall," Hongjoong looks at the open windows forlornly. "But we had no idea that a bee would fly in and fall in love with you."
"You were mean to me when I was crying because you said my tears could water my whole damn garden," Seonghwa butts in. "So I'll just sit here and watch."
"That's-" he ducks. "I'm sorry-" he shouts. "Now someone please help me!" he pleads.
The heavy doors of the dining hall is pushed open and in comes San, sitting on a wheelchair being pushed by Wooyoung. San might have woken up, but his body is still weak due to its lack of use for the past year. He has to rely on a wheelchair for some time, and Wooyoung had volunteered to push him around. Ever since Wooyoung returned to the palace, the pair seemed like they wouldn't want to be separated.
"Did we miss anything?" San asks as Wooyoung helps him to sit at the dining table.
"Nothing much," Yeosang shrugs. "Just some bee falling in love with Mingi."
"How did you do that?" Wooyoung takes a place next to Seonghwa. "Can't believe your skills transcends species."
"Shut up," Mingi grumbles as he does a final swat to the bee. "Seonghwa, can you please tell it to leave me alone? I'm sorry for making-" he ducks. "-fun of you when you were crying."
The gardener sighs exaggeratedly before rolling his eyes. He does a motion to the bee before saying, "You can stop hovering around him now, and thank you. I'll let you have the best nectars from my best flowers." He smiles at the insect before it flies off, completely leaving Mingi dumbfounded.
"Park Seonghwa did you really tell that bee to bug me? I can't believe-"
"You were mean when I was crying so I just wanted to hear you apologize."
The rest snicker at his answer, and Hongjoong mutters to himself, "I really have no idea why I thought he was the most mature."
Wooyoung had come back after hearing the news about the attempted assassination of the Shadow King, and he came running back because he was worried for San; he was worried that he would not have the opportunity to amend things between them. He brought himself to Estar and for as long as he was there, he only wandered around, crashing anywhere he could. He only realized it when he left the palace and wandered around alone; his real family is back in Nyla, in the palace.
So he came back.
He came back to find out what had happened with Yunho and Akira at the ball, and how much things had changed in the palace.
They finish their breakfast session and they go outside to find a carriage waiting for them. They hop on the vehicle to go to a place they had agreed on; they will be on their way to meet Yunho and Akira to seek forgiveness from them.
The sun peeks from in between the clouds, ready to reveal itself as the day inches forward. The trees sway silently in the breeze, as if their branches are extending their greetings towards the carriage that passes by them. The young masters of the palace throw their gaze outside, taking in the view of the world around them. The journey hears no conversation among them, only silent shamefulness and regrets trailing them as the carriage comes to a halt in front of the library.
When the rest seem hesitant to move, Seonghwa is the first to knock on the door of the library, but he receives no response. Even after a few tries, the door remains shut. He looks around, catches sight of the others standing in a line like they're schoolchildren being punished, and mutters, "Just a moment." He goes to the house next to it, raps on Madam Eurielle's door and hopes that she will be able to tell them where Akira and Yunho might have gone to.
This time they do get the door to open, and Madam Eurielle takes no effort in hiding her surprise when she spots the young masters in front of her house. She finds it even more suprising that San is there, bound to the wheelchair, as on the day of the ball after the chaos ensued, he was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you young lads looking for Akira and Yunho?" she asks straight away, as if she can read their minds. As Seonghwa nods, she smiles before gesturing them to come in, "All of you happen to be lucky because both of them are in the backyard. Please, do come in."
They make a beeline for the door and as they pass through Madam Eurielle's house to go to the backyard, all of them, except Seonghwa, keep on repeating what they're planning to say to the two in their heads.
They arrive at the backyard to see Yunho playing around with a puppy, seemingly teaching it to do tricks and Akira holding a book with one hand, while her other hand is busy feeding apples to her horse. Her head and hands are still bandaged. Both of their heads immediately turn to the direction of the sliding door leading to the backyard, as the young masters emerge and cast shadows on the ground.
Madam Eurielle appears briefly to say that she will be bringing in tea for them, but they politely refuse. Looking back and forth from the young masters to Yunho and Akira, she finally realizes the situation they're in and excuses herself. She knows better than to snoop around, especially when it involves the young masters of the palace.
When Madam Eurielle left them, they don't know who would initiate the conversation. There's no verbal conversation as Wooyoung starts to kneel on the ground first, followed by the rest. San bows his head low until it could have touched his knees, his hands balled.
"What... are you guys doing?" Akira is the first one to ask. "Stop kneeling, your knees are going to break if you don't stop doing that."
"We have wronged you in many ways that there's probably nothing we can do to mend what happened," San says. He lifts up his head, "We want to apologize for what we did to you a year ago."
"And..." Wooyoung adds, "I'd like to take back whatever I said to both of you when you left... I'm sorry."
"Thank you, too, for not hesitating to help us when things went wrong at the ball. Although we treated you badly, you still risked your life to help us. There's nothing we can do to repay you," Hongjoong says.
Yunho chuckles lightly. They look up, trying to register Akira and Yunho's reactions. Akira is smiling, while Yunho looks amused. They stop whatever they were doing before, with Yunho cradling the puppy like it's his child.
"All of you did nothing wrong," Yunho replies. "It was our mistake, and we deserved it. And... we can't really turn back time, can we? We never blamed all of you for whatever that's in the past, and even if we did-" he gives a knowing look to Akira, "-we forgave you a long time ago."
These two have purer hearts than us, they think to themselves, ashamed.
"But you did the right thing too," Yeosang says. "You helped to fight off the jerks who beat me up."
Akira's eyes glaze over. "You knew it was me?"
Yunho looks at her, lifting his eyebrows as he has not heard about it before.
"It was hard not to, especially seeing how good you were when fighting. It was definitely someone who was trained to fight. And even though I was almost dead on the ground, I could still see a little bit of your face."
"You were just doing your job and we are really sorry it took us one year to finally admit it," Mingi adds. "Jongho told us that he doesn't blame you for his father's death anymore."
"That is why we'd like to invite both of you to go back to the palace, and we know this cannot cannot compare to what we did to you a year ago," San says, as a mischievous glint appears in his eyes. "It's a direct request from the king."
"We appreciate the offer." She looks to the direction of Madam Eurielle's house, taking in the sight she has come to love for the past year. She returns her vision to them, "But we have to refuse. We... have found where we belong." She then looks to Yunho, as the latter nods slightly at her. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid we have to go against the king's request. Please do relay this message to him; we are grateful for the utmost hospitality we have received when we stayed at the palace, but our time over there is up." She makes a point to look at San directly as her lips curl to form a full smile. "We will visit the palace from time to time though, if we're ever welcomed to."
"You're always welcome there," Wooyoung utters. The puppy barks as it hears this, and he turns to look at it, "The puppy is always welcomed too." The puppy wags its tail, thumping it against Yunho's arm.
"You still haven't given the puppy a name, have you?" Seonghwa suddenly asks. They look quizically to him, a bit surprised that he started talking as he was quiet throughout. Yunho nods, confirming his question. The former shrugs, "You don't have to give it a name though, it says that it already has one." It barks again, glad that someone finally understands what it's trying to say ever since the beginning.
"What's its name?"
Seonghwa sweeps his vision to the rest. "Mars." As he catches sight of Akira, who is smiling at him like he's the most precious thing in the world, he winks.
Yunho lifts the puppy up, stares into its eyes before tittering, "Mars, I like that name." The rest murmur in agreement.
The tension between them is undone, the regrets and hard feelings gone together with the clouds that have finally revealed the sun hiding behind them. Rays of sunshine bath them, hitting their skins but nothing can compare to the bright expressions they are able to put on now.
In the far distance, a crowd forms around a musician, whose hands are busy plucking the strings of his guitar while the lyrics to Nyla's national anthem flows through his parted lips. He closes his eyes, smiling while singing and his body follows the rhythm. A year ago, he wouldn't be able to do this in the middle of the common square, because his blood colour prevented him from doing so. A year ago, he would be dragged away mercilessly, because people like him should only live to serve others. But right now, as the residents of Lucida start gathering around him, the crowd becoming bigger and bigger, he realizes that he is finally unshackled from the cuffs that have left scars on his hands and legs.
This, this is what all of us had wanted. To finally be free of the blood colours.
As he finishes his performance, thunderous claps sweep through the crowd and he gets up, stowing away his guitar and bowing down. Among the crowd, he imagines his father to be there, clapping along with the brightest smile plastered on his face, before mouthing the words, I'm proud of you son. Then, he imagines the rest of the palace occupants, including Yunho and Akira, to be there too, joining in.
Maybe there will be a time when he will return to Nyla, to face them again, finally being able to say that he has become a successful musician.
All of them bear physical and emotional scars that persist for as long as they can remember, but the scars have faded over time. They might not be under the same roof again for the time being, but the palace had been a shelter, a witness to them breaking free from their painful pasts. It was a place that had seen them fall countless of times, but they had learnt to pick themselves up again.
The one and only Nyla palace.
Their safe haven.
The end.