Hi! ^.^

An update before this week ends!

Thank you all for your kind comments and also the subscriptions! *bows bows*

It's chapter 50 and I think I am actually going somewhere with this... tho I am still being kinda/ very draggy. Please do tell me if there is anything you would like to clarify.

Do stay and read!!

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“T-That’s nothing. I got it from the… the garden.” A timid airy voice stutters as it whimpers pathetically.

“Garden? I just had the herbs removed a month ago… in case you have forgotten. Why are you lying?” A deep voice shattered the awkward silence as another speaks after a long pause.

“I am not.” The other replied, sounding so guilty that it is impossible to miss, body language evident of furtive activity.

Without any warning, the advisor takes a big step towards the healer and seizes him by his arm, squeezing the thin bicep painfully as he slams the ceramic pot onto the counter top with the other hand, staring down the healer. “You used to be able to talk your way around. Something is fishy. Tell me and I might not take this incident into account.” The advisor pulled the healer close and whispered into his ears.

Cracking under the pressure, the healer forces himself to toughen up and pries Yunho’s hands off, shoving the man aside as he attempts to walk away, despite the weakness in his lower limbs. His legs fail him as his feet remains glued to the spot, allowing the advisor to counter. “Stop!! Stop harassing me!” The healer half pleaded as the advisor presses him against the table behind them.

Yanking the healer by the hair, Yunho pulls Jaejoong’s face close to his and looks into the healer’s big beautiful eyes, boring holes into the other’s exquisite face with his intense stare. Jaejoong flinches as he tries to escape again. “Leave me alone!”

“Fine.” The advisor releases the healer’s hair after a long while, since he can actually feel the healer’s pulse quicken. Even though Yunho is behaving so aggressively towards Jaejoong, he really cares for the other too. Jaejoong’s newly acquired ‘Yunho phobia’ is disappointing, though it does give the advisor an edge. “I will have to ask the other physicians what this is though.”

Yunho assumes that Jaejoong is up to no good, and he is right. Jaejoong is taken aback by Yunho’s ‘propostition’, so, running forward to block Yunho’s way, the healer tries to grab the pot from the advisor as the taller man raises it above his head with a single hand. No matter how Jaejoong tries to coax and beg, the advisor wouldn’t budge. “Give it back!! I need that!!”

“Answer my question and I will return it to you.” Yunho’s mind is made up.

“It’s… it’s the leftover from your parents!!” The healer lied, poorly.

“I know how my parent’s medicine look like. You can’t lie to me.” Yunho decides to stop playing games with the healer and throws the pot to the ground, smashing it to smithereens. Jaejoong is appalled yet unable to remonstrate.

Tottering a little as he witnesses the blackish liquid seep into the ground, pooling within the cracks on the floor, the healer wanted to scream, but instead, a loud sob escapes. Wailing loudly, the healer wished he could just die on the spot. Wrapping his hands around himself, the poor healer could not keep his thin shoulders from shuddering as he bawls like a wilful child, for the first time in almost a couple of decades.

Yunho is stunned momentarily, but tells himself that he cannot be shaken. Hovering over the healer while the other makes a din, squatting low and wiping furiously at his teary eyes, the advisor can feel his heart break, but he wouldn’t falter. “I HATE YOU!!! GOD!! I HATE YOU SO MUCH!!!”

“SHUT UP!” The advisor couldn’t stop himself from terrorising the other. Jaejoong immediately covers his mouth as he muffles his wails, appearing more pitiful. The healer is finally forced to reveal the child-like side he thought he did never show Yunho, it’s so embarrassing for him that he felt like dying.

Watching the ‘potion’ merge with the ground to form a muddy mess, the healer had the sudden feeling that he really wouldn’t mind it if he were to just die on the spot. The mental and emotional torture Yunho had subjected him to is too harrowing, wearing him down too deliberately. That ‘potion’ had caused him his entire available fortune, and there is no way he can get anymore without any resources.

Calculating the due dates earlier on that day, Jaejoong had arrived at a conclusion that he is dangerously close to the second trimester, where the baby would be stable and difficult to get rid of. At the moment, he is in complete disarray, ireful yet equally consumed by his impetuous temperament. With radical ideas invading his head, the healer immediately hauls himself up and makes a break for the door.

Scampering as he drags his weary legs along, Jaejoong barely made it to the door when Yunho had him trapped inside. Nevertheless, the undaunted healer simply pushes past Yunho with whatever strength he has, and proceeds to wander around the place hysterically, peeling the advisor’s hands off him whenever the man catches up.

Yunho knows Jaejoong is aware that he cannot get very far, but he has no idea what the healer is up to as he looks around the place like a lost child searching for his parents.

Spotting a long flight of stairs leading to the main gardens, the healer rubs both palms across his face to dry it before sprinting towards the inclining architecture. Yunho initially thought that the crazed person is simply letting off some steam by running around in circles, but he isn’t. With one move that required Jaejoong a life time of courage, the healer shut his eyes and ran towards it without planning to land his feet on the next step.

Not braking even though he is just inches away from the first rough stony descend, which is headed almost twenty steps downwards, the healer flung himself off. Its death or nothing for him as he squeezes his eyelids together tightly, numbing his senses as he tumbles down the rough edges. Unable to hear, see or feel anything, Jaejoong braces himself for the tumultuous journey down as his life flashes past him.

Bouncing off each riser with bone breaking force intermittently, increasing in velocity as he moves along like a sack of flour hitting the narrow tread and riser, Jaejoong can feel the air knocked out of his lungs as he plunges, finally reaching the end. Ending off with a loud thud, the healer can feel the bone piercing pain as he shifts his position a little, but there seem to be something cushioning him all this while, hence, he is able to retain his consciousness.

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Back in the palace… (A while back)

“Chunnie.” A tiny voice broke the silence within the king’s study as the man sits over the shorter table, working the brush as he writes in the best handwriting he can summon, trying not to slant too obviously as he steadies his hands. “Are you free?”

Turning around to see a lovely form standing by the door, watching him shyly, the man smiles widely and puts his stationery away. Walking over to the boy, the man pushed the door wider apart and pulls the person in, wrapping his muscular arms securely around the boy playfully. “What is it my queen?” The man askes and takes a whiff of the boy’s sweet-smelling hair.

 “Hyungie just arrived. I want to bring him over to see our uncle. Can I?” The boy spoke formally, causing the man to frown and runs his hands through his own thick black hair. “You really don’t have to ask for my permission… as long as you don’t plan on running away again.” The king sighed and took a step back to admire his pretty wife-to-be.

“Tell him to see me after you two are done. I have something in mind that involves him.” The man spoke, grinning to himself like an idiot.

“I can help you pass the message…” The boy immediately jumps to his brother’s defence, thinking that the other man is probably planning on being confrontational. With a worried facial expression, the boy fidgets around nervously as he avoids meeting the man’s gazes.

“It’s private and confidential. We promised not to fight with one another anymore because of you, so don’t doubt our commitment towards this promise.” The king interrupted, bemused by the boy’s lack in confidence in him and the brother.

“Chunnie. Thank you.” The boy is genuinely touched by the king’s effort to accommodate him. Placing a dainty palm on the king’s thick bicep, the boy tip toed and gave the man a peck on his jawline.

The boy, and everyone else to be exact, knows that Yoochun isn’t the mister nice guy sort of a person, and it definitely did take him a lot of pain to give up on his ideals and lay down his pride. Junsu, being the only human who can push him to do such a thing, is remarkable.

Suggesting that Junho participates in the ruling and expansion of his united territories, everyone is astounded when the king made the announcement to put the other man in charge of the northern fort four months ago. The previous general in-charge there had subsequently been promoted to join the ‘board’. This proves that not only is Junho spared, he is also given the benefit of the doubt and got a reinstatement.

The fallen general does not want more. He had always been passionate about his job of running an army and fighting to protect his land. Now, Junsu is the one is defending, and Yoochun believes Junho will do it with more fervency. Yoochun’s land also belongs to Junsu in a way, as Yunho puts it, therefore, the previously rash person will not hesitate to keep in running order.

The north rightfully belongs to the brothers and their uncle, so Yoochun knows that by allowing the general to run the show, he is relinquishing the control, and is even close to offering surrender. Junsu is aware that the king bases his ‘self-actualisation’ on his conquests, so the sacrifice he is making is highly representative of his real feelings and true love for the boy.

“No. Thank you.” The bigger man slips his arms around the boy as their connected bodies sway together in rhythm, fingers enjoying the feel of the boy’s supple skin and slim but curvy frame.

Yoochun finally realises that he is indeed one that takes many things to the extreme, like how Yunho always harangues him for. Everything he does, he wants it to be up to his personal standards. Everything he owns, he does not like it to be unworthy of his possession. Everything he does, he does with such ardour that it’s almost an obsession. This characteristic is clearly reflected in the way he treats Junsu.

He had never loved anyone that is not family before, and the first living organism he developed an enduring infatuation for, Junsu, he loves with all his heart. The king’s devotion is so intense that he is lost in it, and can probably never extricate himself from it. He is lucky that the person he chooses is reciprocating positively.

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Back in the Jung residence…

“This way.” A servant guides the way while the brothers enters Yunho’s estate, on a trip to visit Jaejoong.

Junho had especially made a trip to the capital to see Jaejoong since they only ever brushed past one another once after Junsu woke. Jaejoong is subsequently whisked off and locked away while Junho is sent back to the northern plains. The healer’s nephew is concerned about the healer since the man had been writing ambiguous and worrisome messages to him whenever they communicate through paper. Also, he wishes to apologise in person, for landing the healer in such a fix.

Junho’s main reason for visit is also mostly influenced by Yoochun as well. The king wishes to discuss the official wedding ceremony between him and Junsu, hoping to get the man’s blessings before they proceed. Yoochun plans to wed Junsu when spring arrives. Junho is instructed to keep the plans a secret until the date is fixed.

The occasion is supposed to be a happy one, and Junho even have plans to search for his parents as well as get Yunho to allow Jaejoong’s attendance.

Walking by the main garden, the trio consisting of Junho, Junsu and the servant can hear a man admonishing another person loudly. Even the birds in the vicinity are terrified and fluttering their wings desperately to escape from the still snow laden landscape. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!!” A loud slap followed, and the three people widen their eyes instantly.

Another sound of a merciless slap startled them as they inch forward to check out the ruckus.

There, seated on the bottom of the steps, where the three are at the top, is Jaejoong and Yunho, ‘the two people in question’. Yunho raises his hand to slap a frantic Jaejoong as the healer tries to dislodge himself from the livid man’s stronghold.

Witnessing Yunho wrench Jaejoong’s now stick-thin forearms as the healer behaves like a total baby, sobbing non-stop as he cups his swollen cheeks, bearing with the stinging pain, Junho can feel his temper flare. It looks to him as if Yunho had been abusing Jaejoong while the once egoistic person allows him to do whatever he pleases, appearing all vulnerable, almost docile.

“YOU!!” “WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT!?” “YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!” The advisor continues bellowing as the healer gathers his aching limbs into a ball, wrapping his hands around grazed knees as he rocks himself back and forth, shutting Yunho out again. The advisor is even more agitated by this behaviour.

“GET UP!! YOU ARE SO GETTING IT FROM ME!!” The advisor immediately leaps off the ground and tugs furiously at the healer while the poor man wails like a frightened child. “NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!” His pitiful cries broke Junho’s heart while he watches Yunho try to dislocate the healer’s arm, in an attempt to haul him off the ground, despite both having just ‘flew’ off a long flight of steep stony steps.

With succession after one more forceful heave, the advisor uprooted the healer from where he is seated and tows him up the steps where they rolled down from.

“I can’t walk… Stop!!” The advisor ignores the healer’s pleas and even lifts him by the armpit. However, before he can even make it up the first step, an enraged Junho is all over him, punching Yunho with all his might, screaming abuse as he tries to break the advisor’s neck.

Jaejoong, dropped from Yunho’s hands, collapses as well, gasping for breath as he rotates to his side, grimacing in agony, as he clutches his abdomen tightly. “JAE HYUNG!!!” Junsu immediately descends the flight of steps as well, rushing to his uncle’s aid. “HYUNGIE!!! YUNHO HYUNG!! STOP FIGHTING!!! JAE HYUNG IS BLEEDING!!!” “HELP!!”

TBC

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