As the days passed and the General didn't come home ,Hyuk heard a lot more then he did on the first day of the General's disapearence , the more he heard the more he became disgusted and grew terrified of the General. The rumours Hyuk heard mostly were how the General killed little kids and pregnant women, how he cut open a man's heart or how he forced brides to drink their grooms blood, before killing them, making him tear up everytime.
The days passed by quickly and in the blink of any eye the General had already been gone for two weeks , everyone in the palace was happy and living a peaceful life , Hyuk was also happy ,not having much work to do other then occassionally helping in the kitchen , Hyuk had a lot of free time and he used all that time to play with Aerum and Hoon .
Right now ,Hyuk was in the garden playing with the Kids , when Jin-He came running to him, her eyes full of worry and fear, but when she saw Hyuk she felt a rush of calmness and called him .
"Hyuk , Hyuk" .. she called as she panned towards him, while trying to catch some breath.
"What happened Noona?" , Hyuk asked as he stopped playing with the two kids and walked towards her.
"Come with me, come , the General is back" , Jin-He said holding his hand in her left hand while her other hand was on her chest, as she was trying to make up for the lack of oxygen.
"He... he is back?, But why, was not he gone for some years, why did he return?", , Hyuk asked terrified.
Hmm,i don't know about that, all I know is that the the General is back now let's go ,he might need you serve him" ... Jin-He said and dragged him back to the kitchen.
Everyone had already gotten back to their work , the kitchen was already preparing the dinner and the maids were cleaning up and doing their chores, everything was back to how it used to be, no one was talking or laughing today, it felt like everyone had turned into a corpse, looking at how everyone was sweating , Hyuk gulped and went towards the chef.
"Should I help you with something?" , Hyuk asked politely.
"It's okay Hyuk , the General fortunately does not want to be disturbed right now so we don't need to prepare any snacks and for the dinner , the preparations are already done , i heard that he is not in a good mood today , so when you take his dinner for him , don't make a mistake okay, be careful", the chef explained gently and patted Hyuk's head.
"Okay" , Hyuk said in a low voice looking down at his feet.
...
The whole evening Hyuk sat in the corner of the kitchen , thinking about all the things he had heard these past few days , the more he thought the more terrified he was becoming and the more that happened the more he grew disgusted towards the General and a little bit of good image that he had made in his heart shattered in little pieces, hurting Hyuk's heart.
*what will happen if I make a mistake,what if he kills me or tears my heart and body apart, who should I do, he ....he is not a human, what if someday he kills everyone,what will happen then* ..
He thought and thought until it was time for him to serve the General.he took the tray of food and started walking towards the General's chamber but once he reached there he could not help but tremble in fear , he put forward his hand and knocked on the chamber praying to the Gods to spare his life ..
In the meantime the permission from the General came and Hyuk opened the door , he walked towards the General but with every step he took ,the plates in the tray collided with each other violently , making a shattering sound , the General looked at Hyuk as he saw him walking very slowly , he placed the plates on the table looking down , during the whole time the General looked at Hyuk but he didn't look back at him .
He stared as Hyuk was setting the table , the General stretched his hand and tried to touch Hyuk's shoulder but as soon as Hyuk sensed him reaching for his neck , Hyuk cried for mercy and he kneeled in front of the General, with trembling body, while his voice seemed like he was about to cry.
"Please , please forgive me General , i will never do this again , i will never make a mistake again , please spare me, i beg for your forgiveness , General ,please show mercy" , Hyuk pleaded as his cries filled the whole chamber.
"Hyuk , what?" .... General wanted to say something but he could not , he was confused because of Hyuk's behaviour, he was okay when he left so what happened, why did he become so afraid of him now, the General could not help but think.
"I beg you ,please forgive me , please please" , Hyuk said and ran out of the chamber, even without listening to what the man had to say, he fell down a few times but soon got up again and ran until he got back to the servant quarters.
"GWANG HO", the General yelled in an angry voice.
"What happened my lord , is everything alright, did Hyuk do something?". The eunuch Asked kneeling in front of the General.
"Why is Hyuk behaving like that , what happened to him , did anyone hurt him?" , the General asked in frustration.
"No ,my lord , nothing of the sorts has happened , everything was alright while his majesty was away and Hyuk was happy, no one has ever bullied him".
"Then why was he crying?" , the General asked.
"Please forgive me ,my lord , i have no idea about this matter but I will look into it as soon as possible please forgive your incompetent servant" .. the eunuch said..
"Scram" , the General ordered and in a few moments he was left alone in the chamber .
The General was still in a trance not being able to fathom Hyuk's behaviour ,his eyebrows contorted in confusion , he ate a little and got up to take a bath..
Well this was not how he thought his first meet with Hyuk would go after so many days, he knew Hyuk would not say more then a few words, but this kind of reunion was really bad.
The thoughts and fatigue from all these days took over him as he drifted off to sleep.
IN THE MORNING :-
Hyuk was standing in the kitchen ,his eyes puffed up , he leaned on the pillar in the kitchen , waiting for the General's breakfast to be ready, he had just cried before coming to the kitchen so his eyes were bright red and his nose was jammed, making him look like he had a fever or some serious illness.
"Hyuk , if you are not feeling well , then I will take the General's breakfast to his chamber", Jin-He said patting Hyuk's shoulder.
"No noona , it's okay , i will do it myself". Hyuk said with a sigh as he looked at the burning stove .
"You are still not well , you didn't sleep whole night and kept crying, so rest for today , i will take the breakfast, Don't worry, i can do this" , Jin-He commanded in a serious voice, making Hyuk's mouth curve upwards.
Hyuk was about to say something when the General's eunuch came and put the tray of food in Hyuk's hand, and looked at him worried.
"He is the server so he will serve it , go quickly the General is waiting for his breakfast, don't get late",. The eunuch said in a strict manner.
"But sir" , Jin-He intercepted as she looked at Hyuk's bad condition.
"I said no buts .. get moving with your work already", .. The eunuch commanded .
Hyuk looked down, bowing to the eunuch and he gave a small nod to Jin-He and went to the General's chamber, after getting the permission he went inside ,still trembling like last night ,he sat the food on the table and was was about to leave, when a voice sounded in the chamber.
"Hyuk, come here" , the General said In a soft voice .
Hyuk immediately stiffened at the sudden call and then a minute later, he hung his head low and sat in front of the General.
"What's wrong?" , the General asked .
"N...n.o...nothing is wrong my lord" , Hyuk answered with tears in his eyes.
"Hyuk" , the General called, as he streched his hand towards Hyuk silently walked but Hyuk staggered back and dodged his hand and shrank his shoulders in fear.
"Hyuk , i know something is wrong, so tell me what is it , why are acting like this, did I do something wrong?". The General asked again, patiently.
"The General is a great person and I am your servant ,what can my lord do to an insignificant servant like me" , Hyuk said holding his tears back, and tried his best not to stutter.
"Hyuk something Is definitely wrong so tell me ,did someone bully you or say something to you?" .. the General asked once again in a gentle voice trying to get closer to Hyuk.
Hyuk looked up at him with tears flowing down his cheeks and asked in a cracked voice.
"I ...i heard you killed a little child" .. Hyuk said crying.
Hearing what Hyuk said the General clenched his fists under the table and gritted his teeth, before calming himself a little.
"Hyuk , come closer", he said with a forced smile on his face as the gentle expression returned calmly.
Hyuk looked at him and slowly came closer to him , The General held his hand and pulled him into his lap and tightly hugged Hyuk before letting him go .
"Hyuk I have two kids of my own, do you think I would kill a child, when I have never even raised my voice at my own children, do you think I am so heartless that i will kill an unborn child, do you think I am a monster,?", the General asked as a tear slid down his cheek, Hyuk was not really smart so he would easily believe everything as long as he acted of being sad.
As Hyuk saw him crying an unknown feeling took over him, he immediately hugged the General back.
'I am sorry , I am sorry, please don't cry I am sorry please, please please", Hyuk pleaded as he hugged him tightly.
"No Hyuk, it's actually me who should apologize to you, I am sorry, I didn't know you hate me and are terrified of me, if you don't like seeing me you don't have to, if you don't like serving me you don't have to do that either , I will ask my eunuch to give you a decent job if you like that, but please don't be like this to me, my heart can't handle it, please don't do this to me". The General said looking at Hyuk like a person who was at his mercy, like he had not just returned after wiping off a whole village.
Hyuk looked at his face for a moment and then kissed the General's tear on his right cheek and then the left cheek and said,
"Please, don't say sorry , I am the one who should apologize for hurting you please, I am so sorry, I will never say these things again and I will never stop serving you, I WANT YOU". Hyuk said determined.
On hearing Hyuk's last words the General's eyes lightened up and he snuggled into Hyuk's chest.
"I want you too Hyuk, I will never let you go". He said as a satisfied feeling came over him.
The two hugged like that for a couple of minutes before Hyuk spoke up again.
"Why are people saying so many bad things about you, what will they get out of hating you?", Hyuk asked as he remembered the things he had heard.
"Hyuk, you don't know these people are all envious of me , they want to kill me, I am protector of this country not a destroyer so how can I kill someone, Hyuk, they want me to be left alone in this world, my wife, my children, my people , everyone thinks I am a bad person so I am all alone in this world", the General said with tears glittering his eyes.
"No... No, you are not alone, I will always be with you, you are mine you are not alone", Hyuk said resting his head on the General's shoulder.
"But you have to promise me that you will not ignore me again". Hyuk said as he was now pouting.
"Huh, when did I do that?", the General asked confused.
Hyuk puffed up his cheeks and said,
"you yelled at me in the garden a few days ago and you even ignored me after that for a week".
"I am sorry Hyuk, I don't remember doing that but if you are saying that then I must have done something but I promise I would not do that again and I will never ignore you", the general said patting Hyuk's head, as he now had his little comfort back.
"Promise?".. Hyuk asked.
"Yes, I promise, .. You look like you haven't eaten anything from last night, even your eyes are red.. Let me feed you", The General said,
"Hmm I haven't eaten anything, I could not sleep last night and kept crying, but you don't need to feed me, I am not a baby", Hyuk answered.
"No, to me you are a baby, my most precious baby, let me feed you, open your mouth.. Ahhh", he said as he fed Hyuk a spoonful .
"What else did my baby hear of while I was away", the General asked with a bit of smile but he was already planning on killing everyone in the palace.
"Hmm, yeah they said you killed".....