"S-shut it,"
The weak voice that was coming from the corpse on the bed stunned everyone speechless.
"J-Jooni!" Tari said leaning down to take a better look to see how he was blinking a couple of times to let his eyes adjust to the light.
"Hyung!" the youngsters said in unison as they stepped away from the heated conversation they were having with their brother.
"You are all too loud," he groaned bringing his hands up to cover his eyes bothered by the light. "I can hear you just fine." He tried to cover the feeling of nausea that he is having. He tried to get to sit up straight his muscles sore from lying down all this time only to be pushed back by Tari's balm.
"And where do you think you are going?" she raised an eyebrow at him.
"Nowhere, I was only trying to get up," he looked at her like a lost puppy, his ignorance, when it came to caring, will never stop being funny.
"The physician said that you barely made it through!" Min Jun said backing up Tari. Joon Wo looking at him in confusion and wonder, just a day ago he was avoiding him and now he is looking at him with eyes filled with tears?
"He is right," Yu Jun said taking a step forward. "You should rest for a couple of days."
"T-thank goodness you aren't dead," Jin Wo stuttered as he steeped over his ego and allowed himself to express the deep feelings he has for his brother.
Joon Wo was speechless in front of them, his mouth agape with no words coming out, the care they have for him was still the same as they were young. He looked at them to see any sign of resenting or hate that he thought they had for him but he found none.
'Maybe they never stopped caring?' he said to himself.
"What's with that pathetic look?" Tari chuckled at Joon Wo. "They never stopped caring for you Joon-ah, and I think you never did either." She caressed his hair as he turned to look at her with a tint over his cheeks giving color to his otherwise pale face.
"S-she is right!" Jin Wo said raising his voice in an attempt to cover his flustered self. "We never stopped caring, we never stopped asking about you, you idiot!"
Everyone was taken aback by the sudden confession and how he dropped the formalities with his brother and calling him an idiot at that too.
"Why are you looking at me like that!" He raised his nose as he talked. "It's not like you didn' care either." He pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Joon Wo groaned as he sat up straight despite the protest from Tari. "W-why are you saying that all of a sudden." He said fighting the dizziness that kicked in once he was sitting up straight.
"Why didn't you tell us the first time we met?" Min Jun said, clearly pissed.
"D-didn't tell you what?"
"Noona told us everything." Min Jun yelled. "Just what did you have in your mind that made you hide it all this time." His scolding gradually turned into a cry.
If Joon Wo didn't know that he could get more speechless than he already is, but he did.
"We knew since before the ritual, we were going to talk to you after it. How dare someone poison you!" Jin Wo almost roared.
"I-I wasn't ready to talk to you." Joon Wo said looking at his fisted hands that lied on his blanket-covered thighs. "I was waiting to gather the courage to talk to you. I knew that I wasn't the only one hurt so the thought that you resent me couldn't leave my mind, I needed time, I apologize for this mess."
"Idiot,"
Thud.
His eyes blew open as Min Jun wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep embrace. "You shouldn't apologize, it's not your fault." He whispered through his sniffs and sobs in his ears but everyone heard it.
Tari slowly slipped away from Joon Wo and his circle of brothers and stepped outside, taking one last look to see Jin Wo joining his brother's hug. She could swear that she saw a sparkling tear drip down Joon Wo's face, she smiled at them and closed the door.
"Why didn't you join in?" Azar said as he stood next to the door.
"I know that he is fine now, no need to interrupt their brotherly moment." She smirked. "Let's go have a walk, I think they will have a lot to catch up to,"
"Or not…" she sighed as she saw Queen Eun Ae walking towards them.
"Her son was dying for hours and she was changing her outfit." She hissed frowning her brows at the wicked queen.
"Greetings, princess," The queen said with a smile bowing her head at Nefertari.
Nefertari held her head high her expression dark and blank as she glared into the queen's wicked soul, her silver eyes like daggers slicing through her opponent.
The monarch inside her started showing now more than ever as if she inherited her father's dark side.
The queen almost flinched in fear at the stare she had from the girl that was taller than her by a couple of inches. Tari walked right past her without replying to the greeting.
"You have no right to receive my greetings," she spat out as she was shoulder to shoulder with the queen followed by her knight Azar who didn't bother to hide the smirk from his face.
Tari was blind to the queen's wicked plans but, she knew that a mother who doesn't stay by her sick son's side doesn't deserve to be a mother.
"How dare she smile like that when her son was poisoned to death!" she yelled.
"Clearly confident in her son's immunity against poisons," Azar said sarcastically gaining a glare from Tari. "Just kidding."
"You have no sense of when you should joke and when not too," she shocked her head.
"Oh my princess, don't you know that best way to make hardships pass is by joking it off?" he said raising his hands in protest.
She rolled her eyes giving up the thought that her knight might mature up. "Well, whatever you say." She sighed.
"May I ask where are we going?" He said.
"Well, to meet the king of course," she said and smiled at him.
~~~~
"Would you give me and my mother a moment alone please," he patted Min Jun on the head who nodded and retreated from the room along with his brothers.
She waited till the door was securely shut. "Oh my poor boy, are you okay?" she faked a pitiful cry.
"As you can see I'm not, all thanks to you, I believe." He said.
"It's not my fault that you stepped in instead of your brother," she said raising both her shoulders in defense which made Joon Wo shrug with disgust.
"You should thank me that I was the one who drank your poison," he narrowed his eyes.
"How arrogant. If you hadn't interfered you would've been king by now."
"What makes you think that I would've accepted? I would rather live in a cave than sit on that cursed seat." He closed his eyes trying to keep his temper under control.
"Step again in my plans and I would make you regret it, my son."
"I'll be more than happy to see you try."
She stood up and left the room slamming the door behind her, her anger made her blind to her daughter who was standing in front of the door.
"That damn brat," she said. "I was already bothered by the witch's glare."
Jae I heard as her mother hurried past her. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Joon Wo said. "Oh, Noona," he smiled weakly at her spotting the dried tears on her cheeks.
"Joon-ah!" she hurried to his side. "Are you okay? Do you feel pain anywhere?" she scanned him for any injuries.
"I'm fine," He said smiling at her worried face. "And…"
"What?" she said tilting her head.
He grabbed her into his embrace tightly.
"Wh…" she yelped. "Are you okay?"
"Thank you," he said in the crock of her neck. "Thank you for making it better with my brothers, Noona,"
Her heart softened and she returned the deep embrace. "It's the least I could do, you are my dear brother." She caressed his long raven hair, feeling it's silk strands tangle around her fingers.
They stayed like that for a moment, she felt the heat radiating from his forehead from his fever. She pulled back and pushed him down. "You should lye down, you are still with fever,"
He found himself complying without objections. He lied back and closed his eyes enjoying the luxury of being pampered by his family.
He closed eyes, his sister's delicate fingers still tangling in his hair. He slowly found himself drifting on to a deep slumber, one he didn't feel since a long time ago.
"Welcome back, brother,"