Hwarang (ON HOLD; UNDER EDITING)

08

Maek Jong woke up to the sound of a horse chewing. He opened his eyes and saw Su-Jin already up and feeding her horse.

Maek Jong stood up and approached Su-Jin,

"What are you doing?", he started.

"Just feeding him some grass so he can have a lot of stamina for the journey", she answered, not looking at him but focusing on giving the horse more grass.

He looked at his horse who was eating the grass on the ground, still tied to the tree. He took of the knot and lead his horse to the lake in front of them so the horse could have a drink.

Su-Jin saw this and did the same. She lead her horse to the lake and patiently watched her horse drink water. She didn't notice that Maek Jong was staring at her before he spoke,

"Why do you keep hiding your face?", he asked her.

She looked at him,

"Privacy and safety", was all she said.

He chuckled a bit and said, "I understand that, I do that too everytime I enter a village. I can't let people see my face, but I took off my mask since I'm in the forest and nobody is here, except you".

She just nodded and walked back to their spot.

"Should we get going now?", Maek Jong asked.

"We?", she asked back, looking confused.

"Oh, I didn't I tell you? I'm travelling back to Silla", he answered, earning an unreadable look from Su-Jin.

She nodded and they both drank some water before going on their horses.

"Gaja?", he asked.

"Gaja", she said before they charged. They wanted to get out of the forest as soon as possible, so no one stopped or talked.

Soon enough, both of them saw the end of the forest and they saw a clear path ahead.

They eventually exited the woods and slowed down. They sighed in relief and stopped for a while.

"Let's...stop...and...rest...for...a moment", Maek Jong panted. Su-Jin nodded and tried to catch her breath.

Maek Jong finally got enough breath and went back to talking about her mask, which she was still wearing.

"Su-Jin, take off your mask", he said.

"Why do you want to see my face so much anyway?", she asked, a bit irritated.

Short-tempered, I see, he thought.

"It's because, there must be a beautiful face hiding under that mask that goes along with that beautiful voice of yours", he smiled.

Su-Jin's eyes widened and she had a surprised expression. Flirt, she rolled her eyes.

For some reason, she didn't know why, she pulled her mask down, revealing her face to him for the first time.

For Maek Jong, everything slowed down as she pulled the mask down. Her closed eyes opened in the process and wind started to blow on her, making her hair flow in the wind, making her look more attractive than she already was.

Maek Jong was speechless as he stared at the princess.

"Uh...Maek Jong? Hello?", she waved her hand in front of his face.

He blinked and snapped back into reality, "Yes?", he asked.

She smirked a bit, "Let's go now, we don't want to stay here forever"

Actually, I would like to stay here if it means staring at you, he thought, not aware that he said it out loud.

"What was that?", she asked.

He blinked again, "N-nothing! Let's just go.", he said as he charged off and left the confused princess behind.

Throughout their journey, Maek Jong couldn't get the image of Su-Jin out of his mind, and the fact that Su-Jin was keeping up with him without her mask anymore was not helping.

What am I doing? What is wrong with me?

He's usually calm and mature and doesn't get distracted easily.

What was happening now?