Consumed | ATEEZ Park Seonghwa (Revising)

2:13- Nascent

1818 words

Seonghwa had returned to his room to do laundry and do his thing. I felt a painful kick in my stomach when he left, but I had to deal with it. I decided to resume my training with the guards that day, even though I didn't have to anymore. I fumbled with my cape, struggling to button the middle and the shoulders into the brown straps that stretched across my waist and my back. I flinched when I heard a knock on the door, I hated how jumpy I was getting. I walked over to the door, my stomach churned when I saw his face. "Yunho? What brings you here?"

He studied me, yet he didn't make me uncomfortable. His eyes were calmer then usual, less like hot coals and more like ashes, if that even made sense. "I've been meaning to talk to you, may I come in?" He looked around, he seemed anxious.

"Sure? Hey Jeongin!" A guard down the hall looked in my direction, his perplexed expression was adorable. "Can you keep watch next to my door?" He shouted a 'yes royal' before marching over. I turned to Yunho with a bleak smile plastered on my face, "just in case you try to kill me or something. You can come in." I moved aside. Both Yunho and Jeongin were shocked by my words, but Jeongin quickly hid his concern and Yunho held his nervous look as he walked inside.

"You look a lot more serious than usual, it's odd. Not bad, but odd." He looked down at me, the height difference seemed so big, yet it was only a small two inches. "Would you like tea? Oh! Fortunately for you, I just got oranges from the garden, would you like one?" I spoke cautiously and definitely more politely than I would have normally. Only because his eyes grew glossier the longer we looked at each other. The sparkles in his eyes grew and grew. Until a tear skidded against his cheek and seeped into his jacket. I tried not to show my shock, but he wouldn't have noticed anyways since he turned away and rubbed at his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me." I couldn't see his face behind his arm, but I could make out his big jet-black eyes and the tears that seemed to overflow his waterline. I cursed my heart for aching, and I forced myself not to go over and console him.

He sniffed and his back straightened, his arm moved across his face once more before falling back down to his side. "I came here to apologize, for being a bystander." I understood what he meant, but I had never once thought of him that way. "I remember when you'd run to Hongjoong crying, and all the times I watched you be hurt and harassed. That one time when San was messing with that knife and cut you? I loathed myself for not staying and helping you, yet I ran away and hoped nobody knew I was there."

I stayed silent, I couldn't let my emotions take over. I analyzed him thoroughly as he spoke, "now that I have a daughter, someone that I would protect even if it cost my life, I can finally understand." He paused, he looked to the floor and took a deep breath. "Y/n, I know that you lost your purity." My heart did flips, the sincere look in his eyes only sent me spiraling faster down into panic. "San told me and Alyss about what he did. When I heard what happened, and he described everything," Yunho's voice broke, he swallowed down hard before continuing, "it was hard not to resort to violence. Anyways, I found it in me to keep quiet this whole time, until now. Alyss and San have a plan, and they believe I'm apart of it. They're going to request a meeting with the elders and tell them about your purity, which would result in your relinquishment-"