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She could barely lift the sword, arms shaking as she forces the blade up to parry the incoming attack. It took every ounce of her strength, muscles screaming out in exhaustion to force her opponent’s weapon away from her. There isn’t time to relax for even a moment as she knows the one training her is much stronger and faster than her. Gripping the hilt tightly within her hands, she quickly forces herself back into position to engage. If this was a real situation, if she had to protect someone she loved, the weakness she was feeling now could mean life or death on the battlefield. She had to push through it.
Pure adrenaline pushes her forward to attack, the blow is blocked as she expected it would be but she’s rewarded with one of his genuine smiles for her effort. The sight causes butterflies to erupt within her stomach and her chest to swell with pride—as well as somehow lose her grip on the ground beneath her feet and slip on the grass. The landing is hard, muscles in her legs and bottom sore to begin with that the added impact makes the discomfort worse.
“Princess,” he’s at her side before he even finishes speaking. The amazing smile she just witnessed replaced with concern. It’s a little disappointing. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Hak. Let’s go again.”
It isn’t until she moves to stand up that she realizes how damp the ground is. There is a rumble of thunder above, interrupting her childhood friend from responding. Head rising to look to the sky, blue eyes scan the clouds to check the weather situation. “No, I think we’re done for today,” he finally responds, probably spotting the same flicker of lightening off in the distance that she’d just seen. “I didn’t realize it was drizzling and getting this bad out. It’s almost dark and a storm should be blowing in any second now. We should probably find a place to stay. I don’t think we’ll make it back to the inn before the storm hits. It’s too far away.”
Hak reaches his hand down to help her up. Yona can’t help wincing from the soreness in her muscles as he tries to help her to her feet. It’s a struggle and she’s moving extremely slowly for someone of her age and health. “Sore?” The pleased lopsided grin on his face makes it obvious he already knows that answer.
“I have the feeling if I stop moving it’s just going to get worse.” Yona stretches her arms out in front of her, the ache of the muscles lighting an uncomfortable fire within as she finally gets to her feet. “My teacher was a demon today. I’m feeling muscles I didn’t know existed.”
“I’m not a demon every day?” Holding her hand, Hak gathers their few belongings before pulling her behind him as he walks off toward some nearby rocks. She knows he’s searching for shelter in the form of a cave or overhang of some sort. This isn’t the first time they’ve been stuck in the rain. The wind picks up a little, a sure sign of the storm getting closer as it ruffles his unruly hair in the breeze. He looks back in the direction they came from as thunder claps out a warning. “Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…”
It doesn't take long for Hak to uncover a small break within the rocks that is just large enough to fit the two of them comfortably. Yona climbs in first, fitting herself in the corner of the alcove before Hak crawls in after her. It's a somewhat tight fit, leaving only about a foot of space in any direction for Hak.
Almost immediately his presence dominates the tiny space, the warmth from his body radiating over her skin and the scent that was so purely him unavoidable in the air of the small cave. Suddenly feeling nervous as her heart flutters and skips a beat, she feels almost faint. There is a part of her that feels an overwhelming sense of comfort by it all. A part that wanted to bask in it, take a nap and stay here like this forever.
And then there was the part that was just too aware of every little thing he did. The part that longed to just climb on his lap and bury her face in his neck to get completely drunk off the scent of him. The part that had difficulty breathing when he looked at her. The part that made her pulse quicken and her stomach erupt in butterflies. The part that made seeing him smile the highlight of any day. The part that more and more often couldn't keep her eyes off him--which was ridiculous because this was Hak.
She'd known him since childhood. He was annoying, rude, teased her constantly and was here out of obligation to her father. He was the last person she'd ever expected to fall in love with. Somehow that's exactly what had happened though and she's not exactly sure when. All she knew was the moment she'd realized it, being around him became almost painful because when she looked at him, all she could think about was never letting him go. Her head knew that's what she needed to do, but her heart ached to even think about it.
The craziest part of all? Since discovering her feelings she'd had this hyper awareness of everything he did. This ridiculous desire to see a smile cross his face for whatever reason. She paid attention to his reactions to others. His reactions to her. She wanted to see what stressed him out. Needed to know what made him laugh.
She'd always assumed he was a flirt with women and found herself shocked to discover that wasn't the case at all. Jae-Ha was, which she knew, but Hak tended to gain a following with no encouragement. He was never rude, but his treatment of them was a stark contrast to his treatment of her.
It had gotten to the point that sometimes she couldn't help but think--maybe. But things had always been like this between them. So there was no way that was possible. And then something else would happen to suddenly start her questioning everything she believed again.
The past two weeks since realizing her feelings had left her feeling a myriad of confused emotions. Over the past few months, Hak had begun this strange habit of kissing her on the face. It had started with the space above her eye. Then moved to just below her eye. Next was the apple of her cheek. Then her cheek and finally just above her jaw by her mouth. It was confusing and nerve wracking, but she just brushed it off as Hak being Hak.
Until that day about two weeks ago where she swears he was going for her mouth but at the last second changed course and kissed her on the apple of her cheek again. Her world as she'd always believed it to be had pivoted completely on its axis for the second time in her life.
Heart in her throat, she felt nauseous because her first instinct was to feel completely rejected. Coming to terms with the realization that she had wanted him to kiss her hadn't been easy but once she had, everything else fell right into place.
Twice more in the past two weeks the cycle had repeated. The belief that Hak was aiming to kiss her on the lips, only to have him kiss her on the cheek instead left her feeling completely and stupidly heartbroken. She wasn't sure if it was the awareness of the situation or if she was just imagining things, but everything between them felt tense and super charged in the past two weeks. The only thing that seemed to help the situation was going off together alone to train.
A crack of thunder echoed against the walls, followed quickly by another flash of lightning lighting up the dark cave. There wasn't much light to see by, but there was just enough to see his profile as he sat with one leg hiked up as he watched the rain as it started to fall. Tucking her feet up, she wrapped her arms around her knees and just watched him as he watched the rain.
The movement must have drawn his attention because he glanced over to her as he pulled her cloak out from their supplies. "It's pretty dry still, if you're cold," he said as he handed it to her.
"I'm fine, but thank you," Yona watched as he put the cloak back away to keep it safe from the rain. There was no need for it in the small space yet with how hard she'd worked during their training and being stuck here with Hak's body heat so near. "For everything, thank you. Everything hurts, I probably won't be able to get up without help and you'll have to carry me back--but I'm happy. I know I forced you into this, but you're taking it seriously."
"If I didn't take it seriously, you'd get killed," he frowned, hands clenching at his side. "But I know why you're doing it. I don't have to like it, but if you're going to do it I'm going to make sure no one can touch you."
She giggled, pushing her feet against the ground to rock back excitedly. "I feel like I got some stamp of approval today or something. Hak thinks I've improved and my reward is I'm one step closer to being his bodyguard."
"Excuse me?" Hands fly to her face, smushing her cheeks between them. "That's some dream you've got there. It will never happen."
"I'm serious," her hands reach up to wrap around his wrists. "You're the strongest person I know but you're constantly putting yourself at risk because I'm not strong enough. I refuse to lose you because of my own weakness."
He flinches slightly, frowning as he looks down at her. His heated gaze captures hers, sending a riot of nervous energy through her stomach. "You really shouldn't say things like that, Princess,” he mutters, but the longing on his face gives her a sense of hope. It only lasts a moment before he breaks eye contact with her, looking away. His expression devoid of every emotion she’d just seen there seconds before, as if he’d just forced himself to get control of himself.
She swallows past the knot that had formed in her throat, gathering the determination from deep within herself. The hands on her cheeks start to slide away and she panics, heart within her chest doing flips as she makes a split second decision that would change everything they knew from this moment. Hands still gripping his wrists tightly, she throws caution to the wind and presses her lips against his gently. The kiss only lasts a second, releasing her hold on his hands as soon as she pulls away.
Yona’s never quite seen the expression that currently covered his face before. Surprise seems almost too weak of a word. There’s absolutely no other reaction, even his hands are frozen in the air where they’d been at the moment she’d kissed him. Heat rushes up her neck and across her cheeks, suddenly realizing exactly what she’d done without thinking. “Um. I just thought—“ No, she hadn’t been thinking at all. “I-I’m okay with it. If that’s what you want to do. It seemed—uh. But if not…just pretend that it nev—“
She isn’t even able to finish before his hands are in her hair, gently threading his fingers through the strands with an expression of complete captivation. She’d be lying if she said she’d never seen that look in his eyes before and the realization of that fact brought to life a staggering number of new questions she wasn’t sure she wanted the answers to yet. Yona forced herself to focus on the here and now as Hak slowly came to terms with what had just happened to him.
It doesn’t take long. In fact, Yona can almost taste the regret of her actions the very moment a familiar cocky smirk lit up his face. “Say it again.”
She had no idea exactly what he wanted to hear but he looked incredibly pleased with himself as he smiled at her. Instead Yona went for the most obvious thought in her head at the moment. “I wonder if this is what prey feels like when facing down its eventual killer right before being attacked. Regretting how it got into this situation and wondering what it needs to do to get out.”
“That’s definitely a bet I’d take. Odds are really good, actually.” His smile is contagious though and she can’t help laughing. “Last chance to change your mind.”
“Somehow I’m not the one delaying things,” she said, leaning into his hand as he stroked her fiery hair with his fingers. “You’ve been trying for at least two weeks. I got you on the first try.”
“Point taken,” he responded and suddenly there were demanding lips on hers with an urgency she’d never imagined before. Hands buried within her hair and keeping her head steady as he kissed her. It was dizzying and left her heart racing; so much so that she wondered if he could possibly hear it. She closed her eyes and kissed him back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Instantly she was rewarded with a moan of pleasure that echoed the crack of thunder from outside, the combination sending shivers of excitement through her body.
Even sitting, there was a large difference in height and Hak’s hands slid to her hips and helped her to crawl up on her knees in order to more comfortably hold him in her arms. The rhythm of their kisses melted into a dance of sorts, his mouth tugging gently on hers until his tongue slid into her mouth. It startled her, nothing she’d expected to happen, but it wasn’t as if she disliked it. Curiosity led her to experiment with it as well and found the moment her tongue met his, warmth pooled to areas of her body she hadn’t ever felt before. It wasn’t long before her body was complaining about the position she was in, legs still sore from their earlier training coupled with the desire to touch more of him.
She climbed across his lap before resting right on top of him. Hak groaned and tore his mouth away from her. A flash of lightning lit up their cavern and the look in his eyes was simply ravenous. There was a hardness that caused a moan of ecstasy as she tilted her hips forward on his lap to capture his mouth again.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” he chuckled as he tore his mouth away from her again, this time with both of his hands slowly sliding up and down the sides of her body. “If I don’t stop now, it won’t happen.”
She doesn’t understand what he means, but even after saying that, Hak continues to press kisses against her mouth every ten seconds or so for the next couple of minutes. When she tries to do the same, Hak stops her with a painful groan. Gently, he pulls her against him as he hugs her. It’s there on his lap she stays wrapped in his arms perfectly content to listen to his heartbeat through his rock solid chest as she inhales the unmistakable aroma of his skin.
Neither of them speak, time going by slowly as they are wrapped in each other’s arms. She’s almost succumbed to the warmth of his body heat when the unmistakable sensation of laughter stirs her awake. “My bodyguard,” he chuckles, apparently still amused all this time later.
“I mean it,” she snaps, upset that no one seems to take her goal seriously.
“I know,” he answers with a squeeze for her, a smile evident in his voice even if it’s too dark to see his face. “I can’t wait to see you pull it off.”