Act. 8 | Stray Kids Imagines

[they'll never know /end]

[From the world of 'The Songless Bird'.]

"I thought we agreed to leave the mountains untouched?" Your voice was cold when Minho entered the room, a huge contrast to the loving tone you usually greeted him with. He turned to look at you in confusion, "There has been a change of plans."

"Oh, really? Well, you're not building anything there. On my dead body."

"Love, don't be irrational-"

"And now you're calling me irrational," you sighed exasperatedly. When the news reached you earlier that day, you were furious. You thought you'd made it clear to him that the mountains were off-limits. Isn't that what you came to assassinate him for years ago?

You took a seat by your dressing table and closed your eyes. You've been getting exhausted often these days. "Listen, I don't want us to fight. Find somewhere else to build your holiday house, or whatever it is. Stay out of the mountains."

Minho frowned. Why were you so persistent about keeping people out of the mountains? Taking off his heavy jacket and bejeweled crown, he shrugged, "Why are you so riled up about the mountains anyway?"

"Why?" You exclaimed, opening your eyes so they'd bore in his. "Oh, I'll tell you why, but I'm afraid you wouldn't understand, your highness."

"I doubt you've tried being a homeless, poor child, stranded on the streets, starving and dying from the heat. I doubt you've tried living the most miserable, unprivileged childhood. Have you?" The venom in your tone made Minho feel like he was talking to a stranger. What has gotten into you?

"But after all that misery, those people send off their dead, hoping for peace for their souls at last. The mountains, Minho, are burial grounds for people who can't afford a proper grave, for all those wrongly punished, for all those who have nothing, for people like me," your voice cracked at the end and with that, the king felt his heart break.

"My mother is buried there. All I wish for her is peace after the horrific life she had. Peace, that's all I'm asking for. Not for myself only, but for all of those who can't speak for themselves. All we want is peace for our loved ones."

"Love-"

"And what do you want to do? Build a party house for the other kingdoms when they visit," you didn't have to stand from your seat for the graveness of your words to permeate the air. Minho suddenly felt disgusting. He didn't know that the mountains were burial grounds. No one has ever spoken to him about that.

"At least have some respect for the dead. Have some respect for me," you lowered your voice, and he could hear the pain behind your words. More than disgusting, he felt like a monster.

"I'm sorry," his hushed apology made your eyes water but you blinked your tears away. "The only reason we never made the location publicly known is fear. If people knew, our graves would be turned inside out by tomb raiders. We only want them to rest in peace."

"I-I understand now," he took tentative steps towards you. Now in a plain shirt and simple pants, he looked like the Minho you were used to. You could only look at him sadly. "I know you think we're criminals, but that's only what you see. Han warned you to stay away for the sake of the kingdom's poor. He has good intentions, even if his means of securing them are violent and barbaric.

"But then again, the crown has been cruel to the very people we stand up for. I'm only telling you this because I know you aren't selfish. I know you better than that."

Minho listened to you in silence. He learned that the Cage wasn't entirely a criminal group in his years of courting you. You stole from those who took from the less privileged, you infiltrated drug sales, you freed kidnapped children, and through all of that, you clashed against other criminal groups. Naturally, you had to fight them. You created rivalries and hatred, but you also built your name as the biggest underground organization.

When he chose you to be his queen, he knew that you'd be able to bring something new to the council. You stemmed from the very place he's hoping to fix. No matter how absurd your requests might sound, he knows that you had reasonable justifications behind them.

You pushed yourself off the chair to face him, only letting a few measly inches separate the two of you. Your eyes searched his, looking for honesty and understanding. You found that. "Promise me you'll leave the mountains out of your plans."

"I promise," he reached for your hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Only then did you give him a small smile, "Thank you."

"No, thank you for telling me," he gave you an apologetic smile. Guilt was still gnawing at his soul. "Forgive my ignorance."

"That's exactly what I'm here to fix, right?" A light chuckle escaped your lips and you wrapped your arms around him, having longed to do that throughout the day. You exhaled contentedly, feeling Minho's chest vibrate as a soft laugh filled your ears. His hands quickly found their way around your waist and through the luscious locks of your hair, as if they were always meant to embrace you like that. Your eyelids drooped a little as he threaded his fingers along your hair. Right, you were exhausted.

"Aren't you tired?" Your words came out muffled with sleepiness and Minho yawned, "Very."

"We should go to sleep, then." You hesitated for a while before adding, "Staying up late isn't very good for the baby."

You failed at suppressing a grin when Minho's hand froze in your hair and he pulled away, gaping at you with wide eyes and features that sang hesitance and joy. "The what?"

You smiled, almost giddily, as you reached to press a soft kiss against his lips. "Your heir."