Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XL. JAE ❆ ❆

"Kumari!"

Jae calls for her but she doesn't reply, still running down the stairs, barely keeping herself from tripping over her dress. She's sobbing loudly, and Jae's worried she doesn't actually see where she's going once her feet hit the street, taking her away, far away...

"Kumari, please! Stop! Princess!"

All pretenses forgotten, Jae officially doesn't care about keeping his friend under low profile, so long as he can reach her and calm her down.

And all the while, in his mind, he's cursing out Chiro's sister — he almost curses Chiro, but he knows better than that. It's not his fault his sister's an amkae!

She made Kumari cry and run away... Jae really doesn't like her.

"Kumari, Kumari please! Wait!"

"No!" Comes Kumari's shaking, sobbing reply, the only word Jae's heard out of her so far.

"Don't be like that, come on, come back with Jaejae...! It's not worth getting yourself tired out just because she said some untrue things!"

Kumari skids to a stop, wheeling on Jae and his heart snaps when he too stops and sees her expression up close. Her eyes are red, dark circles under them; her nose is all scrunched up and sniffling, her lip won't stop quivering...

"That's the thing!" She cries. "They are true..."

"No they're not," Jae puts his hands on Kumari's shoulders, and she tries to shake him off, but it's no use. He's too strong. "They're not true at all."

"Of course they are," she insists. "It's all t-true! It's all true... I am spoiled, and I am a brat, and I am dumb and ugly..."

"You've been locked up in the tower too long," Jae scolds. "Sure, you're a Princess, but you're a nice Princess. You're childish and naive, yes,, but not a brat... And you're definitely _not_ dumb or ugly. You read a lot of books, you know. And your face is nice."

She giggles softly, but they're more like small happy hiccups in between the tears. "R-really? My face is nice?"

"I'm just no good at laying it on thick, but you always look perfect, even when you're crying. It's like I said though, you've just obviously never gotten enough to know all of Naomi's eongteoli is just that."

"Enough what?"

"Compliments."

"Oh right," she wipes her nose with her sleeve, and Jae wonders why she doesn't have a dainty little handkerchief. Seems like the kind of thing Kumari would have...

"...Do you feel better yet?"

She shakes her head. "Thank you though. You're really smart and your face is nice, too."

Jae flicks his small blue streak of hair out of his eyes, "I try."

Kumari hiccups another set of giggles.

"So... Do you at least feel well enough to go back? I promise to deck Naomi if she opens her stupid mouth again."

"I don't... Want to go back. No, not really."

"But what about Chiro?"

"That's what I was thinking, too."

Jae too, decides to think, a little further...

"How about this," he suggests. "We hang out around here for a little while, see some sights, get some air, and then go back. You'll probably feel better by then. Does that sound like a good idea?"