Everlast | yang jungwon 정원

[0.34]

I walk hand-in-hand with Jungwon on a cobblestone path through the village. Just minutes prior to now, we had snuck out of the castle using the passageways, so we weren't to be caught. Shu and Peanut had joined us on our journey in the tunnels, but only Shu had stayed back once we reached the end of the passageway.

A bright light blinded my vision, and a gust of wind blew my hair in every direction once I realized the passage led us directly to the outskirts of the bustling village in a back alleyway.

Jungwon had said that he wanted to take me to the village at least once before I had to go back home, so that's exactly what we're doing now.

"So, what are we going to do first?" I ask excitedly while skipping in my step, causing Jungwon to laugh at me.

"Well first of all .." he trails off and halts to a stop, causing me to abruptly stop walking once I've realized I've gone ahead of him. "we're going to put our hoods on." he states with a lopsided smile while extending his hands out to pull up the hood of my cloak, resting atop my head.

"Thank you," I reply sheepishly while glancing down, meeting eyes with Peanut's big beady eyes that stare up at me from inside the satchel around my belt. I look up with a small smile and quickly pull Jungwon's own hood over his head, having to stand up on my tip-toes to do so. Jungwon looks down at me with a soft smile, before grabbing my hand and intertwining it with his own once again.

"Alright," he says before continuing to walk the path, "how do you feel about jewelry?"

"Jewelry?" I respond with an amused grin, "what kinds of jewelry are we talking about?"

"All kinds, there's quite a lot of venders selling jewelry here, I was thinking we could buy you some if you'd like." he excuses while glancing over to me, making a smile form on my face.

"Alright, you lead the way!" I exclaim cheerfully as I swing our connected hands back and forth, causing Jungwon to let out a laugh before he leads us into the main part of the village.

This part of the village is much more crowded compared to where we were before. The streets are lined with stalls selling all kinds of goods, and the lively atmosphere of people rushing all around makes me instinctively step a bit closer into Jungwon's side. I feel his arm wrap around my waist securely as we step up to a vender's stall filled with all kinds of jewels, making me shyly smile at the elderly lady working the booth.

"Hello there!" the lady chirps kindly, "is there anything in particular that you are looking for that I can assist with?" she asks calmly, making me hesitantly look up at Jungwon like a child who can't order food for themselves.

"That's alright, thank you. We are just looking around at the moment," Jungwon replies with a warm smile, which is mostly hidden behind the hood that covers his face.

Jungwon pulls me over to the side of the stall, where a bunch of handmade necklaces hang off of the sides to be displayed. Some of the necklaces look expensive with embedded jewels and shiny metals, while some others look less extravagant and more toned down with just a simple pendant or a few pearls.

While skimming through the various necklaces my eyes land on a figure just up ahead of me, his hands are busy browsing through vegetables, but his dark eyes are trained on me. Getting an odd feeling from the mysterious man, I quickly turn back to Jungwon with a frown, who holds up a simple gold necklace with a few purple beaded jewels.

"I think this one would look divine on you." Jungwon exclaims while one corner of his lip is tugged up higher than the other.

"You think so?" I ask in amusement as a smile grows on my face. I carefully take the pendant out from Jungwon's grasp to examine it in my own hands. "It's really beautiful."

"How much would you like for this one?" Jungwon questions while glancing up at the vender lady.

"Ten coins." she merely replies, making my eyes slightly widen. With a silent nod, Jungwon removes his arm away from my waist to pull out his coin bag that had been stored around his belt. He counts out ten coins on the table before the elderly lady gathers them up and swipes them into a woven basket. "Good day to both of you," she exclaims with a smile.

"Good day to you too," Jungwon excuses as he wraps his arm around my waist once again and leads me away from the stall.

"I don't know how currency works here, but ten coins sure seems like a lot for one small necklace," I point out as we step up onto a small bridge above a quiet stream, just outside of the main part of the village where less people are around.

"Ah well, I don't mind the amount. It's going to a kind elderly woman anyway," he remarks with a shrug, before stepping away from my side to stand in front of me instead. Slowly, he removes my hood from around my face, letting it fall onto my shoulder blades. "May I put the necklace on you?" he asks with a soft smile, causing me to immediately nod before turning my back to him.

I move my hair off to one side of my shoulders as he slowly wraps the jewelry around my neck, clasping it close with his cold fingers.

"Okay, done," he excuses, making me turn back around to face him as I stare down at the purple jewels.

"Does it look as divine as you'd imagined it to be?" I ask with a knowing smile, causing Jungwon to snort before he extends his hand to delicately put my hair back in place.

"It is not the necklace that's divine, it's you," he remarks with a glint in his eyes, causing me to harshly look down as I feel my face begin to burn.

"You can't just say that kind of stuff and expect me to be alright when we have to part from each other tomorrow," I complain while crossing my arms defensively over my chest as a frown paints my face.

I hear Jungwon huff, making me glance up at him to meet his eyes. "It is going to be difficult for me to do too," he admits with a small frown, before reaching over to pull my hood up and over my head once again. "But it's what is best."

"Unfortunately you're probably right," I hum before deflating my shoulders.

Suddenly I hear a little squeak come from inside my satchel, before brown fur blinds my vision and I feel a sudden weight around my neck. Surprised, I look down to see Peanut, who had leaped up to my necklace and is now dangling off of one of the hanging beads.

"Sorry," Jungwon exclaims while scrambling to pry the tiny creature off of my necklace. "she is very fond of shiny things," he remarks while giving me an apologetic smile.

I carefully scoop up Peanut into my own hands, before leveling her so we see eye to eye. "Sorry Peanut, this jewel is already taken," I remark with an amused smile, watching as the tiny creature slumps down in my palms before reluctantly retreating back into my satchel.

"You better buy Peanut all the jewels she wants," I state with a laugh while sternly poking my finger into Jungwon's chest.

"Yes ma'am," Jungwon replies while giving me a salute, making me snort at him in amusement before I slip my hand into his own once again.