V #2
"Shit. That hurt like hell, Bower." Kent complained, referring to the tan brunette trying to muffle his laughter behind his hand.
"Your fault, Yoshida, you should know to never get distracted in the middle of combat." He replies.
"Can you get up?" Y/N asks, putting a hand behind his back to make him sit up.
After successfully getting him up, Y/N gently turns his face to the side to inspect the site where he took a hit.
Kent slightly winced at the contact, and Y/N moved her face closer to inspect the swelling that was beginning to form.
It seemed like he was going to have a significant amount of swelling that would last potentially up to a week.
She looked up at him. "I'm going to have to palpate the area to see how much tenderness or pain you have. This is going to hurt a little."
Before he could respond, Y/N pressed down around the area and heard him take a swift inhale.
As she continued, his hand gripped her arm to stop her movements.
She looked down at the place where he was making contact with her.
The flex of his muscles and veins in his hand caught her attention.
It was a visual representation of his strength and commitment to his job.
And she could tell that even with all that power, he was being gentle with her in his grip.
Her eyes looked up into his, and it was only then that she realized how close they were.
The steady sound of his breathing filled her ears.
He smelled of citrus and grass with a hint of sweat from his training.
His hair clung to his forehead, and it was from this short distance that she was able to appreciate the stunning green of his eyes.
The clearing of someone's throat broke her out of her daydreaming, and she pulled herself out of Kent's grip and quickly stood up.
Bower smirks at Y/N, and she diverts her attention away from him and back down to Kent.
"Everything seems to be fine. I would recommend you take some pain relievers as you need them for the soreness you will feel for the next couple of days."
Kent lets out a huff as he pushes himself back to his feet and stretches his jaw, testing to see the pain.
He winces a bit, but Y/N is distracted by the sight of his sharp jawline and bobbing of his Adam's apple.
He turns to her, "Thanks, I'll make sure to swing by and pick some up from you if that's okay?"
"Oh, I can just bring them to you if you'd like. You're already hurt, and I'd hate to have you doing more work." Y/N offers.
"It's not work if it means I get to see you." He replies.
Y/N is stunned by how matter-of-factly he was able to say that. But she supposes she shouldn't be that surprised. They're friends after all, right? But something about the way he said it made her heart pause. Maybe there was something wrong with her? She should get Healer Ellis to do an exam on her.
"Well, in that case, you're more than welcome." She smiles at him.
Bower steps forward. "Sorry, Yoshida. Didn't mean to punch you like that. Knowing you, I thought you would've been able to block it. But looks like you got distracted for a second there." Bower motions towards the oblivious Healer, who doesn't know what he's referring to.
"Oh, shove it, Bower." Kent pushes him away and heads to grab a towel from the corner.
"I don't blame you, though. Before I met my Amy, you might have piqued my interest, Miss..." He trailed off.
"L/N." She answered
"Ah, Miss L/N. Very lovely to meet you, I am Laurence Bower, an old-time friend of Kent's. I must say it's not very often I get to meet a lady friend of his." Laurence kisses the top of her hand.
Kent, witnessing the whole thing, rushes to separate the two.
"Alright, that's enough, Bower. Y/N, I'm sure you don't want to waste your whole lunch break surrounded by sweaty guards and risk losing your appetite. I'll be sure to visit the Physician's wing as soon as my training is done for the day."
He begins ushering her towards the door, and Y/N can't help but smile at his odd behaviour.
But right as she's about to reach the door, a woman comes barreling in and embraces Laurence in a tight hug. "My love!" She cooes.
"My sweet!" Laurence calls as he lifts her off her feet and spins her in a circle.
"How have you been? Training hasn't been too difficult, right? I've been thinking about you the whole day." She begins when he puts her down.
"I've been terrible without you. Training has been great today. I finally landed a punch on Yoshida. I wish you had been there to see it. My precious victory. I was thinking we could go out into town tonight and have a nice candle-lit dinner, just you and me." He winks at her.
The woman gushes, and they both break into chatter, making plans for later in the day. Y/N and Kent stand off to the side, watching the whole thing unfold.
"Is that Amy?" Y/N asks.
"Yeah. She's Laurence's soulmate. They met for the first time while working in the palace and discovered they both had the same mark on their forearms. How incredible, right? The chances of working in the same place. They're... very lucky." Kent explains.
Y/N notices the matching marks on their arms.
The way that they're an exact copy of one another is unmistakable.
And that whenever they're touching each other, their marks glow.
She nods her head in understanding. She turns her head and notices the wistful smile on Kent's face before he turns to her. "Have you met your soulmate?" He asks.
Before she's able to explain, she turns 25 in the coming weeks, she notices the way all the guards in front of her stand to attention and their gazes are locked on her. Or no, not on her, but right behind her.
"What sort of council meeting is going on in here?" An authoritative voice asks sarcastically. A chill runs down Y/N's back. Prince Lennox.
She freezes, anxiety pooling in her stomach.
She can tell he's standing right behind her, but is too scared to turn around and face him.
She had promised herself that she wasn't going to let Lennox ruin her life here, but she hadn't expected to run into him again so soon.
Why did the Prince seem to be everywhere she was?
Kent pulls her behind him, and Lennox raises his eyebrows, finally taking notice of her. A wicked smile pulls up on his face as he turns to address the room. "You." He points his finger at Amy, "Get back to work! This palace isn't going to clean itself now, is it?"
She quickly nods and bows before scurrying out of the room. "And all of you." He addresses the guards, "Are you all preparing for a war against orphans? What kind of pathetic excuse of training is this?"
Only silence followed.
He turns back to Y/N. "And why is it that this pest is always where I am. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were purposely seeking me out." He takes a step towards her, but Kent pushes her even further behind him.
Lennox pauses at the action and frowns. "What do you think you're doing, Yoshida?"
"Don't," Kent says, looking at the floor near Lennox's feet.
Y/N could feel her heart beating in her chest.
Kent knew she wasn't ready for another confrontation with Lennox and was protecting her, even if it meant getting himself in trouble.
Her hands were slightly shaking, and Kent grasped her hand in his and gave it a light squeeze.
Lennox stared at where the two were connected and felt himself become irritated.
He took another step forward until he was practically face-to-face with Kent.
From this distance, Y/N could see that they were both around a similar height of 6'0, with Kent only being the slightest bit taller.
"Why don't I show you all what real combat looks like?" Lennox states before beginning to unbutton his shirt to reveal sculpted, lightly tanned arms. Lennox chose to keep on his undershirt, but the muscles underneath were still visible without having to look for them.
He walked over to the mat before turning back to Kent and motioning for him to join him. Kent released a breath and made to move, but Y/N pulled him back. He turned around and gave her a reassuring smile before squeezing her hand and walking towards the centre of the room.
Lennox glared at Y/N. "You get lost. This is men's business only."
Y/N's brows creased at the insulting comment. But realizing he was practically handing her an out of the situation, she turned towards the door and left, the door slamming closed behind her. She could hear the sound of grunts and punches being thrown and could only pray that Kent would be okay.
——— ??ˋ ? ?ˊ? ———
Y/N sits on the bench near the fountain later that night, waiting for Kent.
She clutched the book he gave her tight in her lap.
She worried about him the entire day and found herself struggling to focus on her work.
And that was only made worse by the fact that Kent hadn't visited her once his training was over.
Was he okay? Had Lennox killed him?? But all these worries came to an end when she felt a tap on her shoulder and saw him.
She quickly stood up to do a once-over of him, placing the book on the bench, and let out a sigh of relief when seeing that he was standing perfectly fine and didn't seem to be in any active pain.
The only thing new about him was the cut on his lower lip that looked like it hadn't been treated at all.