HIS PRINCESS | K.TH

Kiss and Coax

AERI

I wake up to a soft touch.

I'm left drowsy at first, as someone's fingertips caress my cheek. The painkillers weigh down the pace of my thoughts.

It just feels nice— that's all.

I lean into the sensation.

Then I hear a hushed laugh.

My eyes open almost instantly to the familiar sound. And then I'm staring up at V, the side of my face cupped in his hand. His voice is so warm and intimate that it sends a wave of sparks running up my back.

"Did you sleep well?"

He leans closer.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"I-It doesn't matter," I mumble, pulling away a little too quickly. "I was about to wake up anyways. I slept too much already."

"And your back?"

I blink. It takes me a second, to register what he's talking about.

"Feels fine," I say, almost like a robot.

This isn't how it's supposed to go.

I'd fallen asleep thinking of all the things that I was going to tell him when I saw him. But now that he was in front of me, I couldn't get a single rehearsed line out of my mouth.

"That's good," He says, with a pleased look on his face. "The doctor let me know that you'd be ready for discharge in a week or two."

I nod, only half-listening to what he was saying.

My attention is more on the shadows under his eyes.

And his voice. Was it just me that he looked more exhausted than usual? It looked like the weight on his shoulders had grown tenth its original size.

"Is something wrong?"

He glances up in surprise.

"No."

"Liar." I accuse. "Something happened, didn't it? Where were you last night, V? I heard you left somewhere in a hurry. It—"

He laughs again. It cuts me off, but this time his laugh is more defeated.

"I can never hide anything from you, can I?"

"Forgive me that I can't say too much. Time isn't on our side, Aeri."

But he ends up telling me. About the relationship between him and his father. How Jungkook had been nearly killed last night.

Then he asks for the records.

"I need to know where your brother kept them," He pleads. "They need to be destroyed. Please."

"I can tell you where."

"But you'll need to take me," I murmur. "You'll never find it on your own. And I don't even know how to describe the way to you."

What would I tell him? Follow a path up a mountain— turn a bunch of lefts and rights until he reached a huge oak tree? He probably wouldn't even know where to start in the first place, with the Underground's mazelike structure.