•68•

                                    

                                          
Watching Jimin walk away from him hurts and Taehyung is full on convinced to go after him. His feet, however, have other plans, refusing to move. Glued to the same spot as Jimin runs away, Taehyung sighs. Would it really be helpful to go after him? Would his words be of any help?
                          
"Is everything okay?" he hears Jungkook ask him, bringing him out of his conflicting thoughts.
                          
"I should go after him," Taehyung says, then stops when he notices Jungkook's puffy eyes and the way his face looked practically lifeless and haggard. "Are you okay?" Taehyung asks back. 
                          
Hands going up to cover the majority of his face, Jungkook shys away. "Sorry," he whispers behind his hands. "I'm just..." he doesn't finish that sentence, but Taehyung notices how his eyes start turning glassy and then the realization hits him.
                          
Right, the death of the princess had completely slipped his mind because of the situation he was having with Jimin. And at that moment it hadn't occurred to him that Jungkook must've been suffering. Just like he had upon the news of Jin's death. Right, Tae knows the pain. "Sorry," he says in a low voice, "I heard about your Noona."
                          
Jungkook grimaces as if someone had stabbed him. He lowers his head, eyes falling on his feet. "Yeah," he says slowly, "She practically raised me."
                          
Taehyung nods, understanding entirely. He too had also been raised by a sibling. With a father that abandoned them and a mother who worked day and night to feed them, Seokjin had no choice but to take up the parental role. Knowing the history of Korea's royal family, Taehyung assumes that something similar occurred to the prince.
                          
"I've been told not to cry," Jungkook continues, eyes still down but a sniffle escaping him, "but I can't help it. It...it happened right in front of my eyes and—and the last thing I said to her..."

                          
Not really sure what he's about to do, Tae takes a step forward. Jungkook raises his hand and shakes his head as if telling him not to bother. "I'm fine," he says. Even though he didn't look fine at all. He looks small, like a weak child, and it dawns on Taehyung that that's what Jungkook still is, a kid despite his large figure. With his large fancy title and great family background, Jeon Jungkook was still a seventeen-year-old boy. Just a few years away from adulthood but still a child.
                          
Licking his lips in thought, Tae wonders if Jungkook has ever lived his life as a child. Even now he was pretending to be strong because that was the image he had to have, the image that was expected from him. Even if he cried because of the death of a sister, the world would deem him weak.
                          
"My hyung is in a lot more pain," Jungkook says, straying the conversation away from himself and taking a seat on the porch. "This whole situation," he licks his lips as if searching for the right words, "complicates things. Namjoon-hyung is probably going to be forced into producing an heir." His big eyes flicker to Tae's. "Meaning he can't marry your hyung. This whole competition was basically meaningless."

                          
Pressing his lips together, Taehyung thinks about that. Thinks of how he was forced out of his home, had his mother killed and had his brother close to death because of this stupid competition. Hearing someone say that it was all for nothing made his blood boil. Why did people always have to suffer because of the decisions made by 'higher-ups'? And when things went wrong those same higher-ups that were so sure things would work out just apologized as if that would solve everything?
                          
His hands curled, fingernails digging into his palms. Jungkook seems to notice and offers him a sorrowful look. "It's hard on him too," the young prince whispers. "We've all seemed to have lost something because of this." His eyes go back down to the ground. "My Hyung has it the hardest though. He lost a sister and now he's practically being forced away from a lover."