07/15/12

Another update for my lovelies :) Hehe, this will be the last one for the night/morning.

What was the reason behind the abrupt kiss? How did the kiss even happen? Maybe this chapter will partially answer the two questions :P

            After the door closed, Victoria snapped her head at Nichkhun. “What did you do that for?!”

            “I don’t know,” Nichkhun whispered sheepishly.

            “You don’t know?!” Victoria yelled. “What do you mean, you don’t know? You kissed me!”

            “Well, if you weren’t such a pain, I might not have done that!” Nichkhun fumed. “And weren’t you kissing me too?”

            Victoria looked down. She actually didn’t know why she kissed him back. It was like she became another person when she was kissing Nichkhun. “I guess.”

            The two of them grew silent for a while, not knowing what to do. Victoria went to sit down on the bed, and that was when she realized there was only one bed. “There’s only one bed.”

            Nichkhun rolled his eyes. “Duh. What’s the point of having one room together without one bed?”

            Victoria sighed. She didn’t want to deal with this right now. She was just kissing somebody she met a few hours ago, and to add to that, she had to go out and eat dinner and face all the people who will be talking about the king and queen “kissing.” She sighed again. Getting up from the bed, Victoria walked toward the door.

            “Where are you going?” Nichkhun asked. It was Victoria’s turn to roll her eyes. “To eat dinner, of course. And endure all the talk about us… kissing.”

            Better face it sooner than later, she thought to herself.

                                                            ::::::

            As expected, the dinner was torture. Although it wasn’t as Victoria expected, it was much worse. There was no outright talking about the king and queen kissing, but there were very loud whispers. The only thing Victoria was thankful for was Hyuna’s lack of questions. Knowing Hyuna and her inclination towards gossip, Victoria was glad Hyuna was able to hold back her questions.

            After dinner, Victoria walked back to the room, and she once again removed covering and washed her face. All the steam and the oil from the food were suffocating to her sensitive face.

            “You really want to get rid of that birthmark, don’t you, Miss Defect?” a voice came from the bedroom. I could only belong to one person.

            Choosing to ignore him, Victoria grabbed a towel and wiped her face. Not wanting to repeat the incident that happened before dinner, she took deep breaths as she snatched the mouth covering and put it on her face. She couldn’t take it anymore. “Who do you think you are, a god? You don’t have the right to call me names and mock my weaknesses! You sour-mouthed, shoe-kissing wannabe! I don’t want to see your stupid face every day of my life, but guess what? I have to!”

            Victoria stormed toward the door. But as she was about to open it, she felt a strong tug on her left hand. The next thing she knew, Victoria was looking directly at Nichkhun’s hostile eyes, their faces two inches apart. He’d better not kiss me again! She thought to herself, trying to keep her cool. Through gritted teeth, he whispered, “Don’t ever call me a shoe-kisser again. Do you think I wanted to be dragged into this mess? No! And I definitely didn’t want to spend my life with you! You think you should be pitied, but guess what? I’m in a worse situation, and I’m handling it better than you!”

            Victoria tugged her arm and freed herself from his grasp. “What do you mean worse situation? You’re a guy! You’re allowed to go out and travel everywhere, fight in wars! I’m just a girl, a mindless human being who’s supposed to stay at home and produce heirs! I’m going to be stuck in that palace that we’re going to. But you are able to roam around like a wild horse!”

            “Wild horse? I’ll be watched everywhere I go! People want to kill me because I’m not the descendent of the last king! People are suspicious and unsure about my right to be on the throne! You’ll be protected by the safety of the palace, but I’ll be outside, in the wild, where anybody can shoot an arrow at my heart. You think I have a good life? Think again!”

            “But what does life mean when you have no risks or excitement? How will you be happy with your life if you haven’t experienced its capabilities?”

            Nichkhun didn’t know what to say. He shook his head. “My goal in life is to live as long as I can. I don’t care about the adrenaline rush you feel when fighting in a war.”

            Victoria stared at him in disbelief. “Are you a king or not? If you want to be a good king, you have to know how to fight!”

            “Who ever said that I wanted to be king?” he retorted.

            “Okay, no one. But what will happen to the nation while you’re in rule? Are you really going to allow the advisors to have their way? What will happen when they die?” she fired back.

            There was silence in the room. “I didn’t know you were so interested in the nation’s well-being.”

            Victoria scoffed. “Of course I am! I live here, don’t I?”

            “Then why are you complaining about the hardships that you will face as queen? Aren’t you doing this for your own country?”

            Victoria opened , but nothing came out. It was now her turn to be speechless. After she recovered and closed , she glared at Nichkhun. “Although I may sound cold, I do not feel that I should sacrifice my whole life for the sake of this nation.”

            “And neither do I. Fair enough?” Nichkhun stated. “Even when it’s for the sake of our own country, you don’t want to stay in a caged up palace for the rest of your life, and I don’t want to risk my life fighting war after war. You have no reason to accuse me of being weak-hearted.”

            Victoria continued to glare at him, not saying anything. Nichkhun stared back, keeping his gaze. After a while, Victoria finally said, “You’re good at this. But I’ll win next time.”

            Turning away, she went to the bed. Taking out the bed sheets from the bed, she laid the bed sheets on the floor, next to the wall opposite of the bed.

            Nichkhun watched as she arranged the sheets. “What are you doing?”

            “Obviously, I’m giving you a bed,” Victoria rolled her eyes. “We’re not going to sleep together, you know that, right? Especially after what happened.”

            He stood there silently as he watched Victoria laid the blanked on top of the sheets. After she was done, he asked. “Won’t you be cold?”

            She replied with a shrug. “I’ll get used to it. Now go to sleep. I don’t want to hear you talk to me.”

                                                            ::::::::::

            The next morning was brutal for Hyuna. Victoria was always a late sleeper, and Hyuna was practically falling off her chair waiting to ask Victoria what had happened the night before.

            “Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?” a voice asked. Hyuna looked up. It was Hyunseung, Nichkhun’s right hand man. His face looked as delicate as an angel’s but his eyes seemed so sad. He was definitely the silent and mysterious type of guy that everybody drooled over. Hyuna had to admit that she was attracted to him herself. But no, I can’t get into any relationships and neither can he, she thought to herself. A king and queen’s assistants are not allowed to marry.

            Hyuna smiled at Hyunseung. “I’m sorry. I’m saving this seat for my friend.”

            “Then can I be your friend?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

            Genuinely smiling this time, Hyuna told him, “Maybe someday, but not today.”

           Hyunseung grinned and sat on the chair next to the saved one. Hyuna couldn’t help grinning back. She never expected him to be so straightforward. Just then, Victoria walked in, and Hyuna inwardly screamed with joy. Time for gossiping.

                                                :::::::::::

            Victoria woke up with a blanket covering her. She looked around and saw no one in the room. After washing her face and changing her clothes, she went out and wandered to the dining hall. There, Hyuna looked way too excited to see her. Oh no. She’s going to ask me about that.

            Trudging over to the seat that Hyuna saved for her, Victoria greeted Hyunseung, who was sitting to her left, and when she turned to Hyuna, she tersely said, “Not in the mood,” before Hyuna could even open . Slightly disappointed, Hyuna continued eating her food.

            “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you later,” Victoria said, not even needing to look at Hyuna’s expression to know what Hyuna was thinking. With that, Hyuna returned to her happy self.

            Hearing a chuckle, Victoria turned to her left. Hyunseung was hiding his smile with his hand.

            “What are you laughing at?” Victoria asked, trying not to sound angry. She was just curious. Besides, Hyunseung couldn’t hurt a fly.

            “Nothing,” Hyunseung’s smile quickly left his face. “The interaction between the two of you is just funny.”

            Hyuna laughed, and Victoria smiled.

            “Hey, I want to join in on the conversation!” Taecyeon, who was sitting to the left of Hyunseung, called out.

            “Sure, go ahead,” Victoria shrugged. “But what do you have to bring to the conversation?”

            “Just something I heard from somewhere,” Taecyeon replied vaguely. He cleared his throat. Nichkhun, who was sitting to the left of Taecyeon, raised his eyebrows. “There is a rumor about the relationship between the past kings and queens in Tawaran. It seems like all the kings and queens do not get along well with each other upon their first meeting. Like how the queen and my brother are like right now, the past kings and queens fought with each other two lions in a death match. Of course, they end up getting along afterward, but during one generation, an advisor tried to ease up the relationship of future reincarnations of the king and queen by casting a spell.”

            “And what was that spell,” Victoria asked quietly.

            Taecyeon shrugged. “That’s all I know. Only heard about it yesterday.”

            “That was sort of… random,” Hyuna commented, her eyebrows furrowed.

            “Well, that’s how Taecyeon is,” Nichkhun shrugged. He went back to his breakfast.

            Victoria also continued eating, but not before she stole a glance at Nichkhun. Did he really not have a reaction to that rumor? Or is he faking it?

                                                :::::::::

            After breakfast, everybody went outside of the house to set up for the daily journey. When everybody left the house, an advisor pulled out a pouch and sprinkled magic dust on the house. In a second, the house disappeared.

            Victoria shook her head in disbelief as she saddled up her camel. Seeing a whole house disappear like that is sort of unnerving.

            “So, Victoria,” Hyuna said as she was setting up her own camel. “The boys are up in the front of the line, so now you have to tell me what happened yesterday.”

            “Gosh, Hyuna, do I really have to do this?” Victoria whined.

            “Yes!” Hyuna shouted. “And quickly, before the journey starts. I’m not going to be looking at your back while you spill the details.”

            Since people are not allowed to ride side by side, Hyuna will have to ride behind Victoria during the journey. Victoria took a deep breath and let everything out at once. “Yes, Nichkhun and I kissed, but it wasn’t because we liked each other, we were arguing, and then all of a sudden, we were kissing; it might have been that spell that Taecyeon was talking about, though I still don’t really know exactly what the spell is.”

            Hyuna pouted. “That’s not meaty at all.”

            Let out an exasperated laugh, Victoria asked, “Then what do you consider meaty?”

            “Oh, well,” Hyuna smirked. “Maybe if you guys were fighting, and then all of a sudden, your faces were really close to each other’s, and then you guys realized how good-looking the other one was, and so you two couldn’t help but kiss.”

            Victoria gagged. “I won’t ask you that question ever again.”