❛ 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 ❜ | jsc

6

aera placed her hand on renjun's forehead, feeling the heat emitting from it. she bit her lips nervously as renjun flinched under his covers.

"it's starting to hurt," he could quietly bring out making arae frown. and aera. she hated seeing her friend like this.

renjun had woken up that morning with a small fever, but being the persistent boy that he was he still went to training. by the afternoon, he had collapsed in the middle of his sword trainings.

"i told you not to overwork yourself. you need to take better care of yourself. just listen to me for once please" aera fussed as she placed another cold towel on his forehead. she was extremely worried about the young guard.

on the other side of the bed, nahee was just as worried as aera was."it's getting worse, he really needs help. maybe a medic or some medicine. i tried to find haechan to get some help earlier but i think he's on an expedition right now."

renjuns situation was only getting worse, sweat breaking out like crazy. he wanted to push the blankets off his, but nahee stopped the boy. "i know you're feeling really warm right now, but you'll only get more sick without the blankets" she told the ill boy.

aera sighed at the sight of her best friend. "he really does need help right now but the shops in town are too far away and by the time i get there, they'll all be closed."

nahee nodded, frowning as she tried to think of a solution. suddenly her expression turned bright. "i have an idea! haechan told me that there's this really big infirmary on the other side of the castle. there must be something there that could at least make the fever go down a little."

"we aren't allowed on that side, one step and we're done for," aera said with a defeated sigh. she glanced back at renjun's who's clammy hands were now clasped around her own.

she felt his grasp slowly loosen, making her only more worried. "i'll go."

nahee looked at her warily, slightly worried aera would get forbidden from being in the castle. "are you sure? it's pretty risky and i- "

"anything for renjun. he would do the same for us" aera cut her off. nahee's eyes softened and slowly nodded. "take care of him?" aera asked of nahee.

"of course" she answered, grabbing renjuns other hand. nahee looked up to meet aera's eyes"don't get caught okay?"

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aera had successfully made it past the round of guards that constantly patrolled the corridors. she sighed peacefully before continuing her search for the infirmary, tiptoeing past doors.

when she finally found a door with a sign on it that infirmary, she internally made a little dance, feeling cheerful at her succes. she opened the door, stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

the infirmary wasn't big, there was just enough space for two medical beds and a few cabinets. she had expected it to be larger from haechans words. suddenly, she noticed a tall figure in the back.

"who are you?" she murmured. she hadn't expected someone to be in the room with her.

sungchan turned around, feeling the same surprise. "shouldn't i be asking you that?" he said as he stepped into the light, squinting his eyes to see who was infront of him.

aera raised a brow. "sung?"

sungchan blinked and paused for a minute before he remembered the time he used 'sung' as his alias. he tilted his head a little with the surprise of seeing her.

he slowly forced a smile. "nice to see you.. aera?" he said, slighly unsure if he had remembered her name correctly. "wait, aren't you forbidden to be here?"

aera's expression turned into a worried one. "please don't say anything, renjun is really sick and i just need some medicine for him."

sungchan slowly nodded "i suppose this can be our secret."

aera smiled before starting to look around for renjuns medicine. "so what are you doing here? are you hurt? sick?" she asked, grabbing a few jars filled with things she thought could help. she felled a sudden wave of concern about the boy she had only met for the second time.

sungchan sighed. "well, no..." he bit his inner cheek. "but i'm also not totally okay i guess" he mumbled.

aera tilted her head. "what do you mean?"

"i came here to get something to cover up my soulmate mark," sungchan let out bluntly as he stared at her, pressing his lips together.

aera blinked, confused about his words. "why... why do you need to cover it up? if you don't mind me asking of course!"

sungchan smiled slightly at her curiosity, "because, even if i find my true love, i won't be able to stay with her. i don't want to go through pain like that." the smile on his face was one full of pain.

aera came closer, her eyes softening. "why?" she almost whispered.

"because.. i just can't. i have these duties." sungchan looked at the floor, "besides i don't think soulmates are real anyways." he murmured, trying to brush it off.

"i don't want to believe in them either, but they're real. haechan and nahee are so happy with each other, you can't say that it's fake," aera reasoned.

sungchan looked at her in the eyes. her eyes held many stars, it was a shine he had seen everytime he had met her. "it doesn't matter if it's real, it just wouldn't work for me. it brings pain and pain only."

aera observed the conflicted boy. she could see that it hurt him but that he tried to hide it. she had no words to be able to comfort the pain that he was trying so hard to push away.

unsurely, she raised a hand to grab his hand comfortingly, but he shuddered away immediately before she could touch him.

"sorry i didn't mean to-" she began.

sungchan smiled bitterly at her. "it's okay, you should go to renjun before he gets any more sick. the guards should be on break at the moment."

aera smiled at him one last time, "thank you, really." she thanked him sincerely. "i hope to see you again, sung."

"you too.." he quietly brought out.

as he watched her leave he wondered about what she said. she seemed pretty worried about the ill boy, could that be her soulmate? of course not sungchan. she said it herself, she doesn't want to believe in soulmates either. but.. what if she just doesn't know?"