Vaid6

"We can’t go back now, can we?" the Prince asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Dan-Bi stared at him, feeling the magnetic pull between them, the unspeakable truth that had been buried deep inside both of them for so long. The unspoken bond.

He didn’t reply immediately. There was nothing to say. He just stepped closer, and in that moment, all the walls they had built came crashing down.

Without thinking, the Prince reached out, his hand brushing against Dan-Bi’s. It was subtle—an accidental touch—but it was enough to spark something neither could ignore.

Dan-Bi’s breath caught, and for a brief moment, he wanted to pull away, to push the Prince out of his life before it went any further. But he couldn't.

Instead, he leaned in, his lips brushing against the Prince’s in a kiss that was soft at first. But then, the kiss deepened, and everything that had been left unsaid, everything that had been buried under the surface for so long, came to life in that one moment.

It wasn’t just a kiss; it was a declaration. Of something neither of them had been ready to admit, but something they both knew was inevitable.

UNHIDDEN BLOSSOM

Jin-Seok found Dan-Bi the next morning, exactly where he expected—seated under the pavilion, a book open in front of him, though his eyes were focused elsewhere.

He strode over, hands behind his back.

"Your Highness," he greeted coolly.

Jin-Seok sat across from him without invitation.

"You're being followed," he said bluntly.

Dan-Bi's fingers tightened against the pages of his book, but his face remained impassive.

"You've been watching me, Your Highness?" he asked dryly.

"I sent someone to investigate. He has yet to return," he continued.

Dan-Bi exhaled slowly, shutting the book with a deliberate thud.

"Then perhaps you should be worried about him instead of me."

"Dan-Bi, what are you involved in?"

The scholar met his gaze, expression unreadable.

"Nothing that concerns the Crown Prince," he said smoothly.

"I take you for a prince who is too curious for his own good."

Jin-Seok leaned forward, lowering his voice.

"If someone is targeting you, it is my concern."

"Then let me make this clear, Your Highness—stop it."

"You are drawing unnecessary attention to things I have already handled."

And Jin-Seok knew that forcing them down would only push him further away.

Jin-Seok sat back, exhaling sharply.

Dan-Bi's expression didn't change.

"If you have handled it, then I trust I won't hear about you vanishing mysteriously in the night," he added.

Jin-Seok frowned but didn't argue.

But if Dan-Bi thought this was over—

Chapter Twenty-Six: Unwanted Attention