Facing it together

"I heard Yoona ran out of the palace without Luhan today." The King sighed heavily. "Have I been too hard on her?"

Luhan opened his eyes at the mention of his name. He had been awake for quite a while but did not have the energy to get up. It seemed the King was standing outside the room he was situated in and was having a conversation with his secretary. It was the perfect chance for Luhan to eavesdrop!

"It's understandable why you have to your majesty. The Princess does not realise the amount of danger she is in." The secretary said softly. 

"I know...but maybe I've been too restricting." The King pondered. 

"Your majesty maybe you could give her more freedom if the bodyguard stayed by her side twenty four hours. The Princess would not be able to run away then." The secretary proposed. 

"Hmm...That would work...but would he agree with it?" 

"Your majesty you are too kind taking in his consideration. After what his father had done, it shouldn't matter whether he agrees or not." Luhan's eyes widened. They were talking about his father. What were they on about? Luhan strained his ears trying to listen more closely. 

"You know I don't hold a grudge against the boy for his father's deeds. The boy has done nothing wrong." The King firmly answered. "But I guess we will have to force him if he doesn't accept in this case because we cannot allow Yoona to be in anymore danger." 

The conversation stopped there. The door to the room opened and the King and his secretary entered. Luhan shut his eyes quickly and held his breath. 

"The Princess has stayed by his side since he returned." The secretary commented. 

"Are they close?" The King asked curiously. 

"Apparently so. The maids and butlers always talk about how close he has gotten to the Princess' within a week." 

"That is interesting." The King mused. "Yoona has never been too fond of people....unfortunately." He sighed heavily. Luhan could feel that the King was now looking at him. He heard him move closer to where he lay and then he felt the King's hands against his forehead. Was the King checking on his temperature? 

"This boy looks exactly like his father..." The King trailed in a bitter voice. "He is quite painful to look at..." 

"It is understandable, your majesty." 

"I wonder how his mother is doing. Has she managed to pick herself up since then? I haven't had the courage to face her at all..." 

"Your majesty..." 

"Maybe it's about time I visit her...and then maybe I can move on..." The King took a deep breath and removed his hand from Luhan's head. "He has a high fever." He stated. "Make sure the doctor attends to him properly." 

With that, Luhan heard the King and the secretary exit the room. He hauled himself up from his bed and furrowed his brows. The King was acting strange...he was acting like a good person. Surely he couldn't be. He killed Luhan's father. Luhan buried his sudden feelings of doubt as quickly as they had appeared. That's right. It was clear as day that the King was the murderer. The 'deed' he must have been talking about was probably Luhan's father leaving the King's side or something- nothing worthy of murder!

Luhan turned to grab a drink when he noticed Yoona sprawled across a chair. She was fast asleep. Luhan stared at her contently. He didn't know why he felt at peace watching her sleep. She looked purely angelic and like she was from another world. Luhan couldn't even begin to fathom how one could be so beautiful. Before he knew what he was doing, he reached out to tuck a stray of strand hair behind her ears. This caused Yoona's eyes to suddenly flutter open surprising Luhan who nearly fell off the bed. 

"L..Luhan!" Yoona stammered. "You're awake!" The relief in her voice was evident and the huge smile she wore revealed just how happy she was. 

"I heard you stayed by my side all this time." Luhan winked playfully earning himself a scowl from Yoona. 

"Yah, this is no joking matter! You fainted!" Yoona went quiet for a moment. "I'm really sorry about running away..." she trailed whilst biting her bottom lip. “I've caused you so much trouble." Squeezing her eyes shut, Yoona bowed her head deeply.

"Yoona..." Luhan blinked a couple of times. He had never seen Yoona like this before. Had she been that worried about him? "It's okay. I understand why you ran away anyway." Luhan leaned back against his pillow. 

"What do you mean? No matter what reason I had I shouldn't-"

"Yoona, if you feel you need to get something off your chest...you always have me." Luhan gave a soft sigh. "I consider you an important friend. If you need a shoulder, I'm always here." 

"W...Why?" Yoona hiccupped. Her eyes began to get wet and soon tears were streaming down her face. "Why are you so good towards me?" she sobbed. "Everyone hates me...why would you be any different?" 

"I’ve seen sides of you that everyone else hasn’t. There’s no possible way to hate you after seeing those.” Luhan smiled warmly. “Also you have more friends than you think.” His thoughts drifted to Hwayoung and he wondered what sort of plan she would devise to reconcile with Yoona.

“Luhan.” Yoona said. Luhan broke from his thoughts to Yoona’s determined gaze which was the complete opposite of her trembling voice. “I’m going to tell you why I hate my mother.” Luhan nodded though he was a bit surprised but pleased by Yoona’s decision.

“I was really close to my mother. I was closer to her than I was with my father. My mother was my role model and I always viewed her as a righteous woman.” Yoona paused for a breather before she began again with a firmer voice. “That’s why I never expected that she would cheat on father.”

The words were a complete surprise to Luhan. After all the wondering he had done on the subject, he would have never guessed that the Queen had cheated on the King.

“The man she was having the affair with was close to father. I saw them secretly kiss one day when I was walking around with father. Father’s reaction didn’t seem too surprised so I thought my mother must have a reason for doing all of that. After that we all never spoke of the matter again. However one day I overheard father telling mother she could elope with the man she loved as he had finished the ‘preparations’. He would tell the world she passed away from an illness and she could live with her man peacefully. I asked mother if she was going to leave me and father later. She said yes without even hesitating or even flinching at my crying face…it was so funny…” Yoona scoffed.

“Then it was the day when she was going to elope. That day I followed her. I didn’t want to believe she would just leave us like that…” Yoona’s voice grew quieter by the second until the last words were mumbled. “And then she took a bullet for me.” A single tear dropped from Yoona’s cheek and onto the duvet. “After saying she was leaving us…she was assassinated instead of me…! I don’t know whether I’m supposed to forgive her or not!” The tears got more frequent till Yoona’s cheeks were all soaked.

Luhan reached out a hand and gently wiped away the continuous tears. “It’s okay to be confused in a situation like this.” He whispered whilst pulling her head close to his shoulders. “You’re confused…but I think you already know the answer to your question.” He lifted Yoona’s head and looked at her straight in the eye. She seemed so fragile and weak. “In order to move on…” Luhan weaved a hand through Yoona’s hair.

“…Yeah I know.” Yoona trailed softly. “I’ve always known the answer…I’ve just always been too scared to face her.” She began to sob again. “I’m such a coward!”

“You don’t have to do it alone.” The words Luhan spoke then were ones Yoona would never forget. They were the words she longed to hear all her life, the words she never believed she’d hear. Yet here he was, telling her exactly those words and they touched the deepest parts of Yoona’s broken heart.

“I’ll go with you. I’ll face everything with you.” Luhan inhaled the scent of Yoona’s shampoo. The dizzyingly intoxicating waft of cherry blossom filled his nose. “Together we can be stronger…” Yoona nodded her head and buried her face further into Luhan’s embrace.

“Luhan…you’re too good to be true.” Yoona mumbled. “You’re everything I needed. I feel like you’ll fly away like every good thing.”

“I’ll never leave your side.” Luhan whispered. “I promise.” Luhan didn’t know whether he would be able to keep that promise but he knew he would try his best to.

“Are you ready?” Luhan glanced over to Yoona who had been two steps behind him all the way. He watched her trembling clenched fist and took in her wobbling bottom lip. With one swift movement, Luhan grabbed Yoona’s hand and confidently entwined his fingers with hers. “Are you ready?” He repeated in a louder and clearer tone. Yoona watched her hand in his for a couple of minutes before facing Luhan and nodding.

“I’m ready.”

Yoona had never visited her mother’s grave since its creation. She had avoided every encounter with it. But here she was, with her own will, standing in front of the very grave she despised all these years.

She kneeled down and placed a bouquet of baby’s breath in front of the gravestone. “They were your favourite.” She whispered in a crackly voice. A touch from Luhan signalling he was there with her restored her confidence. After sending a smile to Luhan, she continued. “Mother, you have occupied my mind a lot- a lot more than you should have.” She laughed. “I hated and loathed you all this time…or at least I thought I did. Truthfully, I just wanted an excuse to not have to face you. I didn’t know how to face you. I didn’t know with what emotions I should face you with.” Yoona inhaled deeply.

“Father had forgiven you a long time ago. I could never understand how he had the heart to yet I yearned to do the same. I’m not sure if I have forgiven you yet but I know I can’t keep running away forever. This is my first step towards forgiving. I hope you appreciate it.” Yoona bowed respectfully and smiled. “And please watch over me from now on.”

“You did well.” Luhan complimented when the pair were back in his car.

“Forget me, how are you doing? You still have a fever yet you insisted on coming here!” Yoona scolded. She reached out to check on Luhan’s temperature. “It’s blazing!”

“I’m fine! It’s just a slight fever. I promise I’ll rest when we get back.” Luhan pouted. “Also did you know I’ll be staying with you twenty four seven from now on?” He added.

“What?! No…when did you get that order?” Yoona almost choked. Staying with Luhan twenty four seven sounded strangely pleasant.

“It was just decided in order to lift your restrictions. You’ll be allowed to go out whenever and wherever as long as you’re with me.”

“W…Well…” Yoona sneaked a glance at Luhan and found herself heating up unconsciously. “I...I don’t mind that…” She coughed. “But how about you? You have family…”

“It’s okay.” Luhan smiled. “They’ll understand.”