Seven

“How are you? Where have you been all this time? Why didn’t you come see me? Are you well? Have you been eating? How often do you fucking strip here at the castle? I don’t even know how to-” his hand comes up to my mouth and cuts off my words. He has on that eye smile that can melt even the driest of ice. I blink while just scanning his handsome face.

“Shut up. You’re rambling.” He says softly. I breath in and out through my nose to keep myself from spouting out everything I’ve been wanting to ask him. I don’t think he’s allowed to be in here, but that just means I need to be even more composed. I don’t want him to have to leave just because my excitement got the best of me and someone happened to find him here. After seeing that I’ve quieted down Jongin removes his hand and looks at my face thoughtfully. “You’re okay?” He’s asking as if he’s having a hard time believing it himself.

I snort. “Barely.”

“I heard about what happened when you got here.” I frown in confusion at his vague statement. “I heard about the girls who died and got taken away that day. I thought you were one of them.” My heart pounds at the simple observation. I could have been one of them. Easily.

“Ho-How’d you hear? Does the whole castle know?”

He shakes his head minimally. “No, I was just listening around for news about it. About, uhm, about you. I was trying to make sure you were okay. No one else pays much attention to it. They don’t like hearing about the next human girl who will be taking up space in the palace.” I can’t say that surprised to hear that. “I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.” He says looking away for a moment. I grab his hands in mine.

“I am okay.” I say truthfully. The fact that he was worried about me warms my heart. “I’m not going to lie and say that it was no sweat because it was. I was…I was terrified that I was going to die next. The other girls, those girls…they were…they shouldn’t have been made to come here. They didn’t want to be there. I was the only one who did…” I trace circles on the back of his hand to keep myself from crying while thinking about their terrified faces. “I felt like a traitor Jongin. No one in their right mind would willingly come into this place, but I did. And seeing the girls who were like me made me realize how fucked it is that I’m here. I’m a fucking traitor to my own kind…” I whisper the last part and force myself to swallow the growing lump in my throat. He slips his hands out of mine, and his comfortable arms envelope me. I can do nothing besides just relish in the fact that someone like him exists here in this little hellhole to bring me some kind of ease.

“You aren’t a traitor.” He leans his cheek against the top of my head. “You’re doing this to help them too. If you weren’t there, then one of them would have been forced to be here against their will. They would have had to deal with all of this without any warning, and that wouldn’t have turned out very well now would it?” he asks. I shake my head and feel his cheek ruffling my hair. “Okay well then stop beating yourself up about it.” I push myself away.

“I’m not beating myself up, I’m just wondering if I’m really doing what’s right or not and if it’ll actually even make a difference it’s just-”

He gives me a knowing look so I stop. “That’s called beating yourself up.”

“Blah, blah, blah Mr. Know-it-all.” He rolls his eyes at my childish way of dismissing him. He’s a dummy, but he always says such truthful things; a dummy with deep ass words. Trying to steer the conversation away from me, I change the topic of conversation. “Back to the real issues at hand. How’d you know I was outside of the Charmer hall door?” It’s not a real issue at all, but his timing was just so impeccable that I was curious as to how he got there right as I did.

“Oh that?” he scratches the back of his head. “I was just, you know, coming back too and I saw you about to go in.”

I hum and lie back on my bed at his simple answer. He lies on his back next to me and the two of us fall in to a comfortable silence for a bit. He’s like my large living safety blanket. He’s still obviously trying to watch out for me, but at this point I’m going to welcome it. I can’t do this alone. Sehun is starting to be on my side, but I still can’t be 100% positive that he’s trustworthy. I trust Jongin with my life and if he’s here with me then I think I can tackle any problem the castle throws at me.

“June?” I turn my head to face him. He places his palm on my cheek and looks at me with emotions on his face that I can’t place. “Thank you.”

I press my hand to his and then let it go so that I can sit up on my elbows.

“For what? I haven’t done anything.” I smirk and raise a brow.

“Just…for everything. For existing.” He murmurs. I feel fluttering in my stomach under his heady gaze and I don’t know how to handle the feeling so I scoff and look down at the stretch marks on my thighs so that he can’t see my embarrassment. The heavy feeling in the air after his words is making me feel weird and I’m not good at dealing with these kinds of situations. Whatever this situation is.

“Tell me about your friends here.” I say to change the subject yet again.

He sits up at the sudden new question. “Tell you what about them?”

“Just…stuff about them. What they’re like. What they like. If they’d like me…”

He chuckles. “What are you even talking about?”

I look up from focusing on my legs to look him in the face again. Luckily, the look from before is gone. I internally sigh in relief. “What if they hate me?” I know that Jongdae guy does. I haven’t even seen the guy since he choked me out in the hall, but I know that he still hates my fucking guts. “If I’m going to pull this off then I need them on my side right? What if I get killed or worse get one of them killed? How would I cope with that emotional damage? If they didn’t hate me now, then they’ll definitely hate me then-” his hand covers my mouth once again and he lets out one of his oh too rare laughs where his mouth opens fully and his eyes all but close and it just makes him look so happy and fuck there go the stomach flutters again for some reason.

“It’ll be fine. You worry about a lot of things. How long have you been thinking over all of this?”

“I just don’t want to fuck up-”

“If anything happens I’ll take you away myself.” I shut my mouth at that. He smiles but I can sense how serious he actually is behind his words. “If anything goes wrong then we’ll both leave. I’ll take you to the farthest part of the world so you won’t have to worry about anything like this ever again.” He says firmly. The back of my eyes start burning, and I know that I’m like 3 seconds from crying at the cute ass thing he just said.

“But we’ll be found-”

He shakes his head. “I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again, okay? We’ll live on the run. I’ll protect you June. I promise.”

I promise.

He looks at me directly in the eyes. I don’t doubt him in the slightest. He actually said he’ll protect me. No one has ever said that to me before. My stomach flips. I said that I’d protect them; it’s nice knowing someone is protecting me too.

I tackle him in a hug. Why is he acting like this? He’s being so fucking cute again and I can’t deal with this right now. I don’t deserve this happiness that the boy is providing me, but I can’t get myself to let him go. I don’t want to let him go. He laughs softly again. “You’re awfully touchy today.” He says playfully once he’s able to pull away. I’m touchy? He should see how touchy he is now compared to a few months ago.

“That’s cause you’re acting like…this.” I wave my hands around in circles in front of him.

“This?”

“All cute and stuff! It’s gross and hugging is the only way I know how to calm myself down so that’s what I’m doing.” I admit. I shove him lightly to emphasis the fact that his actions are messing me up. At his sly smile I try to turn the conversation away from me yet again. He’s embarrassed me enough for the day, it’s time for him to feel weird too. “What’s up with your dancing though?” I ask. His eyes widen at the topic of his dancing.

Got him.

“What was all of that about? I’ve never seen you look like that before.”

“I don’t know it just…I ju-just, I slip into it when I’m dancing. I can’t help it.” He bows his head slightly to hide his face from me.

“It was really hot.” I say leaning back on my hands. I watch as he lifts his head with his mouth slightly open from surprise. “I was shocked. I genuinely didn’t know you could look so…sexy.” I say leaning towards him just to fluster him further. His face turns a bright pink; after getting the reaction I wanted, I lean back and laugh despite his discomfort.

Surprisingly, he responds back confidently (despite the flush of his face), “I’m always sexy!”

I snort. “Um no. You’re usually precious and cute and adorable.” His pout after my comment only proves my point. I lean even closer and squeeze his lips with my index finger and thumb. “Nice pout you’ve got there, Mr. Sexy.” He smacks my hand and then lifts up my blankets to hide himself under the covers.

What a loser.

A cute loser. But a loser nonetheless. My stomach rumbles deeply and I place a hand to it trying to calm it. I’m hungry, and I think Minseok was cooking something down in the kitchen earlier. I wonder if I can grab something to help me last until dinner.

I smack the lump under my covers that also goes by the name Jongin. “Do you guys eat at different times from us? None of you were eating at dinner yesterday.”

“We have a dining room in our hall. We eat there.” Comes his muffled response. I roll my eyes and pull the blanket off him.

“Come on cutie. Let’s go get something to eat. I want to be quick.” He sits up and holds out his hand. I place mine in it, the feeling of the air shifting leads me to close my eyes. When I open them, we’re in the kitchen.

Behind the low counter is Minseok as usual, but his head is lowered even more than usual. I know that means that we aren’t in the kitchen alone. I turn marginally and come face to face with a girl. A girl with long light brown hair and bangs. Jongin jumps and quickly goes behind me after letting go of my hand. The girl looks an awful lot like Minseok, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think that she was his sister. Hell, she might be.

Beside her are two boys. One with fluffy light pink hair and delicate features, the other with wavy nearly blonde hair. He has feminine features, but they’re sharp. He looks less uncomfortable than the other, but I look at the both of them just as quizzically. They both look pitiful and sad, and even though Jongin is behind me, I know he looks nowhere near as…down as these two. I catch Minseok sneaking out of the open area of the kitchen.

The unknown girl and I stand in silence, and it feels as though we’re sizing one another up for hours. I prop a hand on my hip and give her my blankest stare. Are we just going to have a stare down or what? She catches my shift in posture, and then she smirks.

She finally holds her hand out. “I’m Moonbyul.” Her voice is polite, but strong. I look at her pretty hand and contemplate whether or not she might kill me with some secret magic when our skin touches. If something happens the Queen would avenge me right? I take my focus from her hand and transfer it to her face. I press my hand to hers and hold it firmly, I keep my focus on her eyes.

“I’m-”

“June. I know. I’ve heard a lot about you.” She says cutting me off.

“I’m sorry to say I can’t say the same.” I take my hand from hers. Quite a grip the girl has.

She sighs out a laugh. “I can’t say I’m surprised; you haven’t been here long enough to know all of us who call this place home. I’m the Queen’s cousin. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“The pleasure is mine.” I return. She glances at Jongin again.

“Why were you holding Kai’s hand a moment ago?” she asks nonchalantly. It sounds innocent, but I know that she is digging for something.

Wait, Kai?

I turn back to Jongin and it only takes a second to realize that he must go by Kai here. Kai, huh. Noted.

I face the woman again. “He was bringing me down for lunch.” I say suspiciously. What exactly is her motive right now?

“You should be in your hall.” Her eyes are on Jongin. “Send Sehun. She isn’t your responsibility.” Her eyes focus back on mine. Why does she feel the need to butt in on what I was doing? His hand touches my back subtly and I only nod giving him the okay to go. He vanishes and I’m left in the tense room with the Gaia on my own.

Well not alone, but if it comes down to a fight or something, I’m practically on my own. The Charmers here aren’t on my side. “I’m just concerned that you’re getting involved with Charmers that you have no business with. You should focus on staying with your given servants.” She says with a forced smile. I sit into my hip and glare at the girl before me. How does she even know who my Charmers are? He isn’t my personal Charmer yeah, but Jongin is my business. And I don’t appreciate this chick stepping in and trying to dictate who I’m allowed to be around.

“I appreciate your concern, but Kai was with me for a reason. I’m aware that I’m not his responsibility, but I requested his presence and if I recall correctly, Kai is directly under the Queen and not you. If I am with him, you have no reason to tell him where he should be unless he is actually needed there. I’m just concerned that you’re trying to give orders that are a bit above your paygrade. Therefore, I’d appreciate it if you kept your concerns to yourself from now on when it comes to things that don’t concern you.” I say trying to keep my temper under control.

Her composure falters slightly at my response. “Who do you think you are to speak to me this way-”

“You know who I am. I should be asking who you think you are to be speaking to me this way. Maybe I should go speak to Solar and let her handle this case of confused identities. Obviously, one of us is in the wrong here, and I think we both know who she is.” I cup my hand around my mouth. “You. It’s you.” I whisper just to add insult to injury. She scowls and her eyes flash angrily before she walks out of the kitchen with her boys right as Sehun is coming in.

He bows until she is gone and then walks over to me with a confused frown. I glare angrily at the door where she just exited. “Who is that woman?” I ask him despite already knowing the basics.

“That’s Mistress Moonbyul. She’s the next in line for the throne and the Queen’s cousin.”

“And who were those Charmers with her?”

“Baekhyun is the only Charmer. The other is a human named Kibum.”

“Mm.” Baekhyun and a human. Why is she walking around with a human like he’s a Charmer? I thought Gaia barely even associate with human men.

I tense after realizing what I’ve just done. I can’t believe I just bullshitted that whole attitude. I was fucking terrified, and I don’t even know if what I said was valid. I wasn’t going to just let her tell me what to do though. I exhale from my mouth and turn back to face Sehun with an exasperated expression. “Sorry for disrupting your time off. I really didn’t mean to have you called here.”

He shrugs. “It’s fine. I wasn’t doing anything; I’m not used to having time of, so I’m kind of…glad that I was needed.” I sigh loudly. Minseok finally comes back in, looking afraid.

“I’ll just make myself a sandwich.” I tell them both before attempting to walk behind the counter.

“NO YOU CAN’T!” Minseok is standing in front of me with his arms spread wide open and eyes looking right into mine. I step back frightened at the bold behavior from the polite boy. I see the panic on his face right before he drops down to his knees. “I apologize for speaking out of turn Mistress. Please spare me.” He says from the ground, voice shaking.

Fuck. What did I do now?

I’m really not good at this whole thing.

I look at Sehun with wide eyes, but he looks away. What do I do? What do I do? I crouch down and place my hands on his shoulders. He flinches at the contact and I feel my heart crack. I pull him back on to his feet and the guy is shaking in fear. “It’s fine! Really!” I say trying to sound cheerful. “S-Sorry. I won’t do that. I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed back there. Can you, uh can you uh make me a sandwich then?” he nods and the escapes my grip and goes to the back of the kitchen.

I stand confused as to what’s just happened. Before I know it he comes back out with a human boy and the sandwiches. Before I can even offer to take it myself, the human boy is scurrying up to my room with the plate. I sigh again and palm my face. This is going to be harder than I thought.

This has been such a long day, and it’s only my second day out. I’m ready to collapse already. Kris, Luhan, Tao…I hope I’m doing this right. I hope you’re still cheering me on from outside of the palace walls.

I’ll need it.

Notes