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“Hello,” said Jaeha.
Before him stood Won, Lily’s former bodyguard, who also happened to be Soowon, the current king of Kouka, as well as Yona and Hak’s childhood friend and betrayer.
“Hello,” said Soowon.
Right.
It’s not that Jaeha didn’t like Won when they first met, he did. Soowon was a pretty interesting person. If circumstances were different, they could have gotten along. But you can’t just unlearn things about people.
“Right, so… we’re hoping to leave town by the morning. I hope we’re not expecting soldiers or that really angry general of yours?”
Soowon blinked twice, then chuckled. “Apologies for Judoh’s threats. He is an angry one, isn’t he?” He had the most amiable smile.
“There’s no need to worry. I have business to attend to after, so it’d be easiest for me to pretend that I’ve never seen you.”
“Sounds good to me!” Jaeha was 100% ready to turn and leave.
“Your injuries, they’ve healed…?”
Now it was Jaeha’s turn to blink.
“Yeah, they’ve healed. Thanks for the concern, Your Majesty.” Jaeha smiled, putting on an air of ease.
“That’s good. I’m glad.” Having grown up on the streets of Awa, Jaeha had a good knack for spotting lies. Somehow Soowon actually had genuine concern on his face.
“I’ve never got to thank you, for Shisen,” Soowon continued.
Jaeha remembered Hak’s raw scream. “Only him.” The tear that slid down his face as Yona told him she was okay.
“It wasn’t for you,” he wanted to snap. But Soowon beat him to it.
“Thank you, for protecting him,” and before Jaeha, the King bowed his head.
Jaeha felt like he could understand now, why Yona and Hak thought of this man as a friend.
“It was my choice,” he sighed, letting a wary smile slip back on his face. “He and Yona, they’re very important to… all of us.”
“I’m glad,” Soowon said, but his smile had a tinge of loss.
Jaeha remembered when Hak and Soowon’s eyes met across the fort, how they sprang into action as if it was a single being with two bodies.
“Only him.”
And he could see it, the tangled mess of connections that couldn’t be severed between the three.
“You miss them.” He stated. A neutral observation.
Soowon answered with his silence.
“How are they?” Soowon spoke again when Jaeha was ready to excuse himself,
“You… Are you sure you should be asking?”
“…You’re right, I shouldn’t,” Soowon gave him an apologetic smile.
“They’re doing well.”
“Oh.” There was a tiny hint of relief.
“Hak confessed his feelings.”
“O-oh!” A brighter, hesitant smile crossed Soowon’s face. He looked genuinely happy despite himself as he gave a small, breathless laugh. “Took him long enough. And Yona?”
“Flustered,” Jeaha said, grinning, “Hak practically shouted his confession to her in front of all of us. She’s all blushy around him now. It’s adorable.“
“No! He didn’t!” Soowon gasped. He chuckled, unbidden. And soon his shoulders were hunched over from quiet laughter.
“Really, I’m so glad… Thank you… I’m so…” Soowon was still hunched over, his shoulders shook. But the laughter already died down.
He found it difficult to hate the man before him, filled with genuine happiness and pain. But he remembered Hak’s scream and Yona’s tears, and it was difficult not to. Here stood the man who had irreparably hurt people most important to him.
“Why did you give her that hairpin?” His question cut sharper than he intended.
Soowon stilled as if struck. The air froze between them.
“It was a farewell gift. I… wanted to see her happy… one last time.”
“You–“ Jaeha could feel it, the protective anger rising from the pit of his stomach. How dare he? How dare he?
“I love her.” I love her so much. ”I love the both of them. We all do.” ‘Only him.’ ‘I’m the only one who can’t move on.’ “But I can never fill the hole you left.”
Soowon’s gaze bore into him. It was seconds before he bowed his head yet again. “Thank you, for being there for them.”
There were resignation and finality in those words. Jaeha didn’t know what to do with that either. It wasn’t his intention to hurt.
“You have a heart, Mr. King. Don’t kill it,” he said, as Soowon turned to leave.
Soowon froze at the words, but Jeaha never heard an answer.