화랑 - a tale of curiosity [ON HOLD]

🌸chapter seventeen🌸

"Hansung, that is not how it goes."

The said boy gives Ji-ae a confused look whilst holding the belt around his waist. "What?" He asks, looking down at himself.

Ji-ae sighed, taking a step forward. "Can I?" She asked, holding her hand out for the garment, that he was still perplexed about. Ji-ae took the belt from his grasp, and then held it to his front. "Hold that, there." She ordered, and Hansung did as she said, holding thr belt in place. She then walked to the back of him, and pulled the back together by the strings. "See, it goes like this." Ji-ae said, tying the knots so that it wouldn't fall.

Hansung looked down at himself, and smiled. "Thank you." He said, looking over his shoulder at the girl.

"What about your headband?" She asked Hansung. He then reached his for his hair, and felt around for the headband, but it wasn't there.

"It's not there." He said, looking at Ji-ae who now stood infront of him.

"I wasn't lying to you." Ji-ae laughed before looking to his dresser. "Where did you put it, Hansung?"

"In my room, somewhere." He replied, scratching the back of his neck.

Ji-ae rolled her eyes and then continued to looking through his other headbands, but couldn't find it. She then moved to his bed, and lifted up his sheets and pillow to find it underneath the latter. "Ah, here it is." She mused, straightening it out in her palms. "Do you fall asleep with them on?" Ji-ae chortled, walking back to Hansung.

"Sometimes." He answered, along with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Well, you best start taking them off before you go to sleep." Ji-ae said, holding the garment up to his head. "Because, when you're in the Hwarang house this afternoon, I won't be there to help you find it."

"So, where do I put it?"

"Well, my mother always used to hang my father's over her mirror." Ji-ae said, reaching her hands around the back of his head. "Lift up your hair." She said, and Hansung did as he was told. "They were mostly his favourite ones, so the others were placed in his wardrobe." Ji-ae said, continuing with the headband as she reminisced. "They were on the top shelf, left hand side in a colour order. All nice and folded."

"Your Mother sounded like a perfectionist." Hansung said, making Ji-ae look down to meet his eyes. "Just like you." He continued with their noses inches apart.

"And is that a good thing?" Ji-ae asked, finally securing the headband in place.

"Yes." Hansung replied. "Because you just helped me to look my best." He then placed a peck on the end of Ji-ae's nose, making her smile. "Everyday you look perfect to me."

Ji-ae blushed, instant covering her rosy colour with her hands. "Ah, I don't like compliments." She chortled, but then Hansung pulled them away.

He was smiling at her. "Why are you blushing?" He innocently asked, tilting his head. "And, why don't you like compliments?" He further questioned, interlinking their fingers together.

"Because you gave me a compliment." Ji-ae answered. "And, I don't know." She asnweted his second question. "I guess, I just haven't heard one in a long time."

"Well, you'll hear then everyday from me." Hansung said, rocking their interlocked fingers back and forth for amusement.

"How so?" Ji-ae asked, letting her hand be rocked back and forth. Hansung gave her a goofy smile, making her tilt her head."What?"

"Do you remember what I had said to you, before I left you to go into the palace?" Hansung asked.

Ji-ae shyly nodded, her cheeks blushing as she remembered that they both had confessed. "You said you 'like-like' me." She reminded him. "And, I said that I 'like-like' you."