It was after dinner and Princess Yona was occupied trying to entertain Soo-Won with some music and dance. Sora had politely excused herself and was now taking a walk along the palace corridors, her face buried in a book. Suddenly someone rushed at her out of nowhere, knocking the wind out of her and slamming her back against the wall. His hand over her head, palms braced against the wall, trapping her within the shadow of his body.
Her book fluttered to the ground as she faced her attacker.
He could not tear his gaze away from her burning amber eyes.
Once she realized it was him however, the fierce look dissipated, replaced by an annoyed scowl that marred her otherwise pretty features.
"Hak, I could've killed you! What do you think you're doing, scaring someone like that?"
"Hak has no doubt hime-sama could've killed Hak" he said with a straight face. However, in the back of his mind he acknowledged that she could have, had it been a real attacker, given the look in her eyes moments ago.
"Sora-hime" he said in a serious tone, pausing a moment to make sure he had her attention before continuing.
"When are you leaving the castle?"
"How did you… Yona" she concluded with an exasperated sigh.
~Flashback
It had saddened her to cause any kind of hurt to the king, he had taken care of her for years after all and she truly did love him like a father. But she had been determined, and this morning she had gone to appeal to him to let her go. With a heavy heart the king had granted her request.
"You won't lose me… chichi-ue. I am sorry I've never fully acknowledged you as a father, but before I go I do want to let you know how much you mean to me. I am sorry I was not as obedient a daughter as you would wish but I promise I will do something for this kingdom and make you proud one day"
"I understand, Sora, it must not have been easy to lose both your parents at such a young age and then to transit into life here in the palace. I am and will always be proud of you, my daughter"
~End of flashback
"You haven't answered me" he said, interrupting her thoughts.
"A week from now"
What!? A week!? That was… too soon.
He felt something unfurl in the pit of his stomach, he didn't know what it was exactly, but it felt awful and left him feeling desperate. Desperate for what exactly?, he wondered.
"Oh. And when were you planning on telling me this? The day before you left? Why are you so insistent on going anyway? You're just chasing a dream your father left behind! It's a fool's dream! You are one person! And a girl on top of that! What can you do? You should just stay like an obedient princess and live a safe life here!" he snapped, his fists clenching above her head.
"I don't have to stand here and listen to you talk about me or my father that way. I need to do this. I just thought you of all people would understand why. I thought I could count on you to support me even if nobody else did" she said, pushing against his chest away from her and storming off.
As he watched her retreating back, he wondered where that outburst had come from. That wasn't what he had intended to say at all; he just felt so furious and helpless that she had decided to go off on her own, and without telling him at all. He couldn't bring himself to admit what he had really wanted to say, because he didn't have the right to say such things in the first place.
Please… don't go…
"Come on, Hak! When are you gonna take me seriously?"
They were having their last training together as she would be leaving the next morning. A week had flown by; and with each training she had become more and more intense. She truly was a formidable opponent – it had taken all he had to hold her off. After a week of intensive training, his mind felt sluggish, his body and limbs felt like lead, weighing him down.
She swung her sword skillfully at him, then took that opportunity to deliver a forceful kick to his chest, sending him reeling backwards and landing on his back.
"Get up, Hak"
"No, Hak surrenders" he said as he dropped his own sword and stretched out on the grass, relaxing his sore muscles.
Suddenly he felt a weight atop him and someone grabbed him by the collar. He opened his eyes to see Sora-hime straddling his waist, her fists clenched so hard around his shirt that her knuckles were turning white.
"How are you gonna protect anyone if you can't even beat me!? Surrender!? Is that what you're gonna do when enemies come and surround you and back you into a corner and there seems like there is no way out!? Just give up!? That's like telling them 'here, take my meaningless life' you baka!" she shouted, tears brimming in her whisky coloured eyes.
Hak's blue eyes widened as one of her tears fell onto his cheek. Her shoulders shook as she choked back her sobs.
"You have to make sure you keep training as hard as we have this week; I may not be around to train with you but you have to promise you won't get lazy. Promise me you'll become stronger and tougher so you can protect yourself and everyone while I'm away. Promise me you'll never surrender! Promise me you won't die!"
His heart thumped wildly in his chest at her words. So that's why she was pushing me so hard this week – she was afraid I will not be strong enough to look after everyone and myself while she's gone.
Sora hid her face behind her hair as the tears continued to fall against her will. Yes, she was still a little mad at him for what he had said a week ago when he found out she was leaving, but the fear she had was much bigger than that. She couldn't bear the thought of returning to Hiryuu Castle one day and finding everyone gone, or if Hak was gone. If anything were to happen to them, she would never forgive herself.
She felt him brush away her hair from her face, tucking the strands behind her ear then cupping her cheek gently as he raised her face to look him in the eye.
"You're my best friend. I don't know who else I can count on. And I can't lose you too" she confessed as she lost herself in his beautiful blue eyes.
"As you are mine" he replied, bringing her forehead to rest against his.
"I am sorry for what I said earlier, I simply could not accept that you were leaving. I mean, who would I train with, eat with, make fun of and tease. I…I didn't mean what I said about your father" he continued.
"I know" she assured him.
They didn't know how long they remained there, staring into each other's eyes before they were interrupted by someone clearing his throat. They jumped apart, Sora wiping her eyes frantically.
"I just wanted to tell you two to call it a day and wash up. The King wishes to have a feast in conjunction with for Sora-hime's departure. But it appears that training ended ahead of schedule today anyway" Mundok said with an amused expression on his face before walking off thoughtfully.
Later that night as I was getting ready for bed, I heard a soft knock on my door. I opened it to find a sheepish Hak standing there.
"Sora-hime… I… erm… do you think I could stay here for tonight? No…not that I'm a pervert or anything, I just thought we could talk and stuff like how we used to when we were kids. I just wanted to… erm… spend whatever time I had…" he trailed off, blushing furiously.
…
Before dawn the next morning, I quietly made my way out of the room, which was easy given that we had left the doors ajar during the night (it would have caused quite a scandal if we were discovered in a closed room alone at night; we weren't kids anymore after all). Last night we had reminisced about funny moments in our childhood till we both fell asleep; Hak had been a gentleman and taken the floor.
Before I left, I leaned over Hak, watching his peaceful face as he slept; and pressed the gentlest of kisses on his cheek. "I will miss you the most" I whispered although I knew he couldn't hear me.
Sora had thought about it during the night and come to terms with the fact that she had fallen in love with him somewhere in the years of their endless bickering and fighting.
"I'm sorry, I just don't think I can face you and say goodbye" she said before turning to leave, the first rays of dawn illuminating her silhouette.
Hak awoke to sunlight on his face, and an empty bed. He rushed out of the room, bumping into Mundok who was walking along the corridor. He made a mad dash for the stables when the old man told him that the princess had already left. When he discovered that her horse was gone too, he rode his own stallion as quickly as he could to the city gates but he was too late, she was already long gone by now.
She didn't even say goodbye…
