Chapter #26:

           The Birthday.

“Why do I always have to be so careless?” Haejin grumbled to herself in an irritated manner as she made her way through the long, narrow hallways to reach her room. It was almost the beginning of another beautiful night as Sun was ready to set down any moment. Most of the Princes including her husband were all out for their works leaving Haejin alone to deal with Chanyeol and Tao. It’s not ‘dealing’ as per say she has spent all her day moping in her room once again, but she has been well aware of their presence since the two males have tried everything they could do to cheer her up. The young queen really appreciates their efforts, but she genuinely wished that they could see that she was really not in the mood; not until her husband finally, talks to her. It’s been a whole week and Baekhyun has ignored her like a plague. It was almost like the first two weeks of their marriage; he came home late after she has slept and went away to work even before she got up. The difference this time was the fact that before it didn’t bother her this much, but this time it was killing her from inside. She, of course, has tried staying up late for him and she had even succeeded in her task, but somehow she couldn’t just muster up enough courage to call him out. He would come home late, take a shower and then lay down on his side of the bed to sleep without any greeting; even though he knew that she was awake. He wouldn’t even face her. All she got was his broad back to stare at. The mopping girl was even surprised that her husband hasn’t stopped sharing the bed with her. It almost seemed like he was in a daze and wasn’t aware of the things that were going around him; it was as if he was operating on his muscle memory. She wasn’t the only one being ignored. He has almost started ignoring everyone which of course, has worried his family to the point that the former queen came to visit her son herself.

I don’t know how long this is going to take.

Haejin thought to herself with a tired sigh. She really didn’t know and this fact alone was making her go crazy. She had some hope when Sehun had talked to her that day, but the maknae has been giving her helpless looks for the past two days too which only leaves her to assume that the latter has tried to talk to his eldest brother- but of course, it has not worked. She just has to walk to him and ask, but she was too afraid; too afraid that she would give up after she hears his answer.

At least, talk to me for once…

The young queen thought to herself as she stared down at her hands that were covered in red chili powder. Kyungsoo was the first prince who came back from wherever he has gone and has practically forced her to cook with him; which she appreciated because it did take her mind off the problems at hand for a little while. Both of them had been cooking peacefully when she had accidentally dropped the chili jar. The red powder spread all over the kitchen floor as the broken pieces of glass flew into different directions. Of course, being the stupid girl she was, she immediately leaned down to clean the mess which was later on actually cleaned by the castle maids. Nevertheless, her hands at that moment were covered with red spices and they were burning her skin to hell.

So troublesome!

Haejin groaned to herself mentally and pushed open the door of the room with her arm in order not to dirty the place with her hands. She hastily entered the room and would have probably made her way towards the washroom to wash her hands, if it was not for her husband; who was sitting on the bed with his laptop perched on his lap.

When did he come back?

She couldn’t believe that she was so busy in cooking with Kyungsoo that she didn’t even realize that Baekhyun was at home. It might have to do something with the fact that his presence was totally unexpected; especially if you consider the way he has been avoiding everyone for the past week.

How can I not know?

Even though she has been waiting for an opportunity like this to come, still, she couldn’t help but feel awkward and extremely nervous. Suddenly, the words she has been planning to say to him for the past whole week has disappeared out of her mind like they were never even there to begin with. Haejin was sure she must have looked like an idiot standing there while gaping at her husband. She was only snapped out of her trance when Baekhyun finally lifted his head to raise a questioning brow at her while directing his stare at her chili covered hands.

“I-I was helping Kyungsoo cook. The jar accidentally fell down.” She explained while nervously biting down on her lower lip and let out an exaggerated laugh when her husband just nodded his head with a hum.

“We made spaghetti. Do you want to…e-eat?” God knows just how hesitant and nervous she was at that moment.

“I don’t feel like eating right now.” Baekhyun’s reply was curt and brief like he has been to everyone ever since she came back from the lab that day. He wasn’t even looking her way anymore; it was almost like her presence didn’t mean anything to him. The young queen shifted her gaze away from her husband when she felt tears prickling her eyes and immediately brought her both hands up to wipe them away-

“Ahhh!”

Baekhyun, who was busy typing away at the laptop snapped his head up when he heard his wife’s sudden pained cry and looked on with an incredulous expression when he saw her rubbing her eyes with her dirty hands. He immediately threw the device on his lap to the bed when she released another pained whimper and quickly made his way towards her.

“Are you crazy?” He questioned her in an agitated manner and forcefully pried away from her hands that were still trying to lessen the torture the spice was giving to her eyes.

“Stop rubbing your eyes it will make it worst.” The eldest snapped when Haejin tried to free her hands from his grip to rub at her eyes once again.

“It hurts!” Baekhyun let out a silent sigh when he heard that and hesitantly placed a comforting hand on her shoulder which immediately caused the girl to still in her place.

“Haejin, you need to calm down, okay?” Haejin reluctantly nodded her head in affirmation and slowly followed her husband when he carefully guided her towards the washroom; at least, she hopes that it was the washroom.

I won’t mind getting chili in my eyes if it finally makes him talk with me.

It was a stupid thought, but she was quite desperate by that moment. She wanted nothing more than to make things better; just like they were before. She really wished that she wouldn’t have ended up going to the lab that day. Nothing of this would have happened, but at the same time, she thinks that it was good that she ended up going there because it told her things about Baekhyun that no one would have ever told her. It helps her understand him better. It helps her understand his pain; which is the only reason why she has not given up completely. She knows that she had touched a very sensitive topic and it would take him some time. She was ready to give that time to him, but at the same time, she was not.

“Stay here and don’t rub at your eyes.” The young queen was once again startled out of her thoughts by Baekhyun; who sounded quite worried if she was not hallucinating. She quickly nodded her head in response to his statement and let out a small sigh of relief when she heard him turn on the water tap. Soon her husband was next to her while carefully guiding her head down to make her face level with the tap. He was doing it so carefully that it made her heart throb with pain. Only if things were right between them at that moment, she would have given him a kiss shamelessly. A small gasp escaped her lips, as Baekhyun slowly splashed cold water on her face and started to gently rub her eyes with his own thumb to get off the chili that was sticking to her skin.

“Try opening your eyes.” Haejin did exactly what her husband instructed her to do and immediately closed them when she felt the extreme burn. She heard him sighing next to her once again and let out a startled noise when he softly forced open her eyes with his clean fingers. The young queen felt tears gathering in her eyes once again due to the pain and tightly clutched at her husband’s arm when he splashed water on them. It might have been really painful at the start, but slowly the burn started to subside; which of course, caused her to breathe in relief.

Oh- lord! I take that back. I don’t want any more spices in my eyes.

Baekhyun turned off the water tap once he was done and handed out a towel for his wife to take so she could dry her face. He leaned against the wash basin casually as he watched her clumsily swiping the towel across her face with her eyes still tightly shut. He still can’t bring himself to believe the fact that the fight they had a week ago actually happened. He actually can’t bring himself to believe that his wife managed to get herself into the inevitable danger. He still can’t bring himself to believe that he had failed to stop it all and he really can’t believe that there was a possibility that she might have gotten caught; the possibility that she might have ended up dead too was something he didn’t even want to think about. With a shake of his head, he once again pushed his body away from the basin he was leaning against and took the towel from her hand when he noticed that she was not getting anywhere with it.

She is such a troublemaker…

“Stay still.” He instructed her gruffly and let a small smirk graced his lips when he noticed the way her whole body went rigid all of the sudden; looks like she wasn’t expecting any further help which, to be honest, he wasn’t expecting at all to give. The eldest brought up the towel and carefully took hold of his wife’s face with his free hand before tilting it upwards so he could easily have access to it. He fixated his gaze upon Haejin as the latter struggled to open her eyes to stare at him. It was obvious that it was a difficult task, but he was glad that she was able to do it.

He is so unfair.

Haejin thought to herself bitterly as she stared at her husband who was looking at her with such a tender expression on his face. It didn’t seem like he has been avoiding her for the past first week. It almost seemed like he was yearning for her just like she has been yearning for him which made no sense because if Baekhyun did want her the way she wanted him at that moment than the dispute between them would have been solved ages ago. It was just her delusional mind making up things that she wants to see. The thought unknowingly brought tears to her eyes which flowed past her eyelids even before she could think of stopping them. Haejin was thankful that her stinging eyes could be a good excuse of crying if her husband ever asked her about the reason of it.

Oh- who am I trying to fool?

She was sure that Baekhyun was well aware of the fact that brought those tears to her eyes; however, that fact didn’t matter at all. The only thing that mattered was whether he was going to acknowledge it and do something about it or whether he was just going to act like there was nothing going around like he has been doing for the past few days. She really wished it was the former one because she desperately needed some closure.

He is only smart when he wants to be!

A startled gasp escaped past her lips when she felt warm fingers brushing away the tears that were freely transcending down her cheeks and she lifted her stare up to gaze into his eyes that were surprisingly swimming in raging emotions. Why was he being like this? Why did he even care? Why can’t he just let her cry and not wipe her tears away when he clearly did not care? Why did he even confess to her if he was going to torture her like this afterward? There were so many ‘why(s)’ that she wanted an answer for, but sadly there was no one who could help her with it.

Please, say something…anything that would tell me that at least he would bother listening to what I have to say.

“You are an idiot.” And of course, Baekhyun won’t be Baekhyun if he does something according to her wishes. Haejin knew that it was wrong of her to feel that way, to think that way, but still, she had had enough. It’s been a long week and she hasn’t even managed to get a proper eye shut because of all the worries that have been clouding her mind. The worries that have been bothering her were not only related to the fact that her husband was not talking to her, but it was also due to the fear that she felt. The poor girl was afraid that her father would somehow find out that it was her; which was not impossible since she had stupidly dropped her phone in his car- don’t even ask her about Baekhyun’s priceless expression when he was informed of that very fact. Her husband looked like he would literally tear all of his hairs out in frustration. The look filled with rage that he had directed towards her at that time was also the reason why she was so afraid to talk to him again. It didn’t seem like he was ready to listen to anything that she has to say so hoping that he would understand her would be a little far-fetched. Her brother-in-laws at that time may have assured her that it was not a big deal and Baekhyun was just over reacting, but the way security of the castle has been made ten times stricter spoke otherwise.

After all, my dad is a dangerous man.

Haejin was actually surprised that her father hasn’t managed to find out about it already. It was kind of hard to believe because as long as she remembers the driver was instructed to clean the car daily. It was either that the driver was being lousy at his job or maybe, just maybe, she has dropped her phone somewhere out of the car; which once again won’t be very assuring because the only place where it could have dropped was the parking lot of that God awful lab. There was also a possibility that her father knew about it already was planning something big. That thought alone caused unpleasant shivers to run down her spine. She was afraid that those people will come after her and Jihoon; the fear mounting up inside her was getting worst by each passing day. It was almost to the point where she didn’t feel like eating at all; it was difficult to swallow the food past and it was all because she was way too miserable to even care about it. It was because of her this desperate state that she couldn’t help the heavy cloud of disappointment that hovered over her being after she finally heard Baekhyun talk.

Of course!

It was not something that she wanted. She didn’t want for him to state the thing that he has told her so many times. She wanted him to tell her that it was okay and those people won’t be able to get to her. She wanted him to tell her that they all would be alright and her father won’t be able to make her life miserable anymore. She wanted him to show that he still cares. She wanted to hear so many things from him, but this was not one of them.

He is always so damn unfair.

The young queen thought to herself with a small sniff and swatted away Baekhyun’s hands that were still trying to wipe away the salty trail of tears from her cheeks. Her husband looked taken aback by her sudden rejection for a split second before he once again schooled his expression into a cool mask of indifference; which didn’t help her case at all. At that moment she was way too distracted to notice that it was just a false act he was putting on to keep his distance from her.

Does he even care?

It actually pained her; the way he had decided to turn a blind eye towards the obvious pain that she had displayed. It made her wonder that whether he was telling her the truth when he confessed his love towards her days ago; which she knew was stupid because why would he do that. There was no need for him to lie about something like that.

I just have to give him some more time, right?

She thought to herself dejectedly and pressed her lips into a thin line before taking the towel out of her husband’s hands wordlessly. Haejin swiftly wiped her face clean and folded the towel neatly before placing it on the nearby table so it could be thrown in the laundry basket later. She wanted to say something; anything because at that moment the