2031 words
I briskly walked across the tiled floor, and the sound of my heels echoed faintly. My green dress wrapped and caressed my skin as my hips swayed. My eyes were locked on the floor, and a dumb smile was plastered on my face. Seonghwa was branded into my brain and was melted in there forever. After spending time with him my mind finally collapsed under the pressure. I couldn't stop thinking, and it was invigorating.
"Y/n." I looked up, and my smile vanished. "You look.." Yeosang inspected me nonchalantly, his eyes wide. "Stunning."
My nose scrunched up and I scoffed. "Don't look at me like that," Yeosang sighed, he seemed to sigh, closing his eyes as he rubbed his neck. His shoulders slumped and his blonde hair covered his face, like wilted petals.
"Yes royal," Yeosang's eye's attention flickered up to me again as I walked past him, and his legs followed as well. "I have something to discuss with you."
"What is it?" I walked past the many empty rooms in the hallway, occasionally glancing at them. With wooden doors with clean golden room numbers on them, the capital seemed almost like a very fancy antique hotel.
"Your heirs are coming to visit." He spoke such offensive volatile words so calmly that it almost irritated me. This wasn't like me at all.
"What?" I stopped in my tracks and spun around, my eyes wide with shock. He seemed to be surprised at my reaction a little as well, but for the most part he didn't seem to care.
"They want to meet your partner, with your permission of course." Yeosang stood straight, a stack of papers in his hands.
"I haven't even completed the first stage yet, what made them think that this was anything close to an appropriate time to visit?" I clenched my fists. "Don't they resent me anyways? If anything they loathe me." My voice rose and he jumped a little.
"Y/n, calm down." Yeosang clutched the stack of documents in his arms, he glanced into my eyes gently. "You have what they want, the throne, they're going to be at least a tiny bit bitter towards you."
"But it's not my fault--"
"I know," Yeosang held out the papers, "Look at these, I have to go." He gazed at his watch. Suddenly I felt guilt wash over me, and I tensed. Yeosang would be the one doing most of my work while I was bearing the curse. I should've felt indebted to him and probably have been more respectful, but I always hated the way he looked at me. He would confuse me, he'd look me up and down and smile so slyly sometimes. Nobody's ever dared to act that way in front of me but him.
Yeosang walked away, and I stared at the back of his blonde head. He's always been quite odd to me but I appreciate him.
•
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•
"Seonghwa, what's your family like?" I shifted in my seat to get comfortable, his name rolled off my tongue so sweetly. I rested my head in my hand, and my elbow on the back of my chair. I had to admit I would say his name just to see him perk up and react to my catching of his attention. The quirks of his eyebrows and lips, the softening of his eyes. I wanted to know what he was feeling.
"Well my mom's a nurse, and my other mom stays home. I call her Mama, so I can differentiate of course. I have two moms, just so you know." Seonghwa spoke clearly and softly, his voice more comforting than anything I've ever known.
"It's an virtuous career. I actually wanted to be a nurse when I was younger." I shook my head and smiled with a sigh, "Obviously that didn't work out."
Seonghwa leaned in and chuckled, his shoulders relaxed as he stretched his arms on the table. He seemed like he was getting comfortable around me, and I was so glad. "My mom loved her job, she took good care of me and my older sister. Me and my sister's relationship is complicated since she's 12 years older than me. She's more like a third mother than an actual sister." Seonghwa's smile never faltered. "When they first adopted me, my sister wouldn't let my parents hold me. She would dress me up and always was so gentle and kind."
"That's adorable, how is she doing now?" I asked while trying not to smile too big from how cute the imagery was.
"She's married now, with two kids. So, she's doing pretty well." Seonghwa answered enthusiastically, his pretty eyes smiling. "She moved from tribe 1 to 43."
"Ooh, you're from here? Which area of Korea?"
"Jinju, in the South Gyeongsang province."
"Oh wow, I've never been to that city before! But I could tell because of your accent," His satoori would pop out randomly, which I found adorable, "but I'd like to go there someday, it sounds like a beautiful place."
"Yes, it was."
There was a moment of silence. It wasn't awkward, or tense. Not even solemn. We both just happened to be deep in thought at the same time. He looked like he was reminiscing about his past, and I was just trying to understand him. I wished it was easier and faster to know him. If I could, I'd dive down into his brain and bask in his memories. My mind would be free of judgment and full of him. If that even made sense.
"Do you miss them?" I broke the silence timidly. I waited in nervous anticipation for him to speak up.
Seonghwa gazed into my eyes, no certain emotion lingered in them. "Yes, of course. You might not know, but it's my duty to represent my family. To come here and present myself to you... I didn't know I'd be the one."
Then I saw it, a little spark. "It kinda feels like winning the lottery. But at the same time, I don't know you well. So just keep this in mind," Seonghwa paused. His eyebrows set low and his voice quivered ever so slightly. "There's only a small chance I'll stay with you, I have plans and I never thought this would happen. I'm not saying it's decided, but it's very likely." He glared at me as if he was asserting dominance. But in the calmest, most passive way possible. "I would never do anything to hurt you, and I'm afraid you might."
My mouth hung open. "You've got balls huh." I smiled coyly and leaned in a little over the table, his eyes widened at my choice of words. "I won't take you for granted, or abuse your trust if you ever were to. I promise, and even though I'm a royal I'm in my most vulnerable state. So please, don't take advantage of that either." My smile slowly turned into a neutral expression.
Seonghwa nodded, and he settled in his seat a bit, his eye contact suddenly became shy. "Sorry, I just want to be honest with you." His smile was round, unlike mine, which had defined, sharp corners. Kind of awkward, and full of charisma. I wanted to hold him. I didn't want to make him love me. I didn't even care at that point about any points I was trying to earn with him, I just wanted him to know. But patience is always so key, no matter how insignificant it may seem.
"I'm glad you are, it makes me feel a lot more comfortable. We're going to have to be around each other a lot, and it will get hard. I'm happy that we can be honest with each other. Don't we all have a difficult time trusting people?" I leaned back. "Issues regarding trust are very tricky. Balance is a must. Don't want to be immune to love now would you? But most don't want to be taken advantage of either, what a shame we have to be so careful. But what can I say, I don't know anything at all no matter what anyone may say about royals".
"...You're smart royal." Seonghwa had this adorable look on his face, he seemed aware but lost in thought. "I really like that."
My heart throbbed, I hid a grin so hard my cheeks were sore. "Thank you."
Seonghwa smiled again, less awkward this time. But the way his eyes squinted and his lips stretched radiated an unsure feeling. I wondered what was hidden beneath his delicate, stunning facade.
•
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I woke up, my breaths were heavy. My own sweaty palms startled me as I didn't realize I was rubbing my eyes. My arms fell to my sides, and I huffed out a deep breath. "I miss him." I rolled to the side, and I hugged my big fluffy blanket. "He's- ugh." I groaned. "Why am I so pathetic? The older I get the more childish I become. I'm even talking to myself.." I buried my face in the blankets.
I jumped when I heard a knock on the door. "Yes?"
"It's Hongjoong." He sounded anxious, his voice was faint through the wall.
I sat up, too unbothered to straighten up my appearance for someone so comfortable. My eyebrows knitted, and my eyes were focused on him. "Come in," I watched as the door opened and he shuffled over to my side, "what's wrong?"
"Your heirs are coming, they arrive in exactly an hour." Hongjoong talked fast, I pitied his distress and squinted my eyes while trying to make out his words. "I tried to explain to Alyss that you weren't feeling well, and I tried to postpone the visit.. But she didn't listen, she never listens." Hongjoong whined, and my eyes widened when he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I'm so sorry-"
"You poor thing, I knew she'd come along eventually. There's no reason to be sorry." Hongjoong looked at me with his adorable relieved expression. I wanted to laugh knowing he thought I was going to be upset with him. "But that means that they're all coming as well?"
"Yes, all of them are."
"Oh damn. I hope I'm not murdered-"
"Don't say that! You're frightening me." Hongjoong slapped my arm and knit his eyebrows, making me flinch away in defense.
"Ouch," I bit my lip, trying to hold back a smile. Hongjoong observed my facial expression, and he started to calm down just a tad.
"You don't seem very concerned, why is that?" Hongjoong questioned me as he sat down beside me on the bed.
"I have more important things to worry about. I was chosen to lead, and I know why."
Hongjoong nodded, he looked down. His body moved slowly with his breaths, and his defined porcelain neck twisted a little to the side, as he was looking towards me. "Promise me you'll be careful, because if she even says one passive aggressive fucking word I'll publicly humiliate her and ruin her reputation until I won't have to kill her, the public will."
I snorted and laughed, Hongjoong grinned a little, "Jeez there's no need for that. I'll be fine.. Even though that sounds tempting."
"You better. Okay," Hongjoong stood up and crossed his arms. "Get up, your mate's been waiting for you."
My expression went soft, but I masked my obvious elation with a chuckle."Ugh I would be more excited if you didn't use the word mate. It's so fucking odd like who even-" I stood up an before Hongjoong interrupted.
"Blah blah blah! All I care about is that you're up and getting your ass in the shower, come on."
I frowned as Hongjoong linked arms with me, dragging me to my bathroom. Then he stopped and we looked at each other. "... It is really weird though you're right." We both started cackling and I leaned on him as I bent over laughing.
"We're humans just use the word partner or something.. Did they write that in the fucking curse manual or something? Some extravagant wizard shit.."
••••
For a second there I forgot this was a seonghwa fanfic. I just can't resist Hongjoong.