Hold My Hand - A Taekook Love Story.

04 - Interesting Encounter.

As Taehyung laid on his bed that night, his mind wandered to the strange man he saw at the market today. The man had a cloth covering most of his face so Taehyung only saw his eyes. That too, for a few seconds only.

The man looked extremely rich, and judging by the sword at the hip of his companion, he must have been a one from the very high class. Although it's not that strange to see high class citizens at their village market, Taehyung had never seen this particular one.

Taehyung visits the market almost on all of its days. It's a place where he can buy the art supplies for his paintings as well as get a little work done. It takes Taehyung less than half an hour to draw a human portrait, so he gets requests from the people at the market to draw them.

It's a good source to get some extra money. Not to mention the recognition and future recommendations. Painting is his primary source of income. He loves his work but the thing is that it is not a consistent one. On certain days, he earns enough for him to last a few weeks but on some days, he doesn't even get enough to buy his supplies.

He didn't see the man at first, as his attention was solely focused on the little boy. It pained his heart to see a child getting scolded like that, for a handful of snacks. He would have bought the boy much more, but sadly, he had already bought his art supplies so he only had very little money to spare.

Still, he couldn't ignore the feeling that he didn't do enough so he went to look for the boy again, thinking that he would ask the boy to stay with him and give him some money that Taehyung would get from the commissioned painting.

However, when he reached there, two people were already talking to the boy. Even though they didn't look dangerous or anything, Taehyung was concerned. So he walked towards the boy, and that's when he heard what the man said.

Palace. And a Job.

Taehyung was not one with an ego, so he wasn't upset that the mystery man helped the boy much more than he did. If anything, he was happy. That offer could very well be what could save the boy's family from poverty and hunger.

He didn't know what made him follow the duo, till at least they got to their horses. Taehyung didn't have a horse, not that he was planning to follow them all the way.

Taehyung had seen his fair share of high class people and officials but this particular one, seemed to have made an impact on him. Because while the man seemed like he never had to go hungry, he understood a simple truth related to that.

"Life lessons are good. But I doubt he will learn much with an empty stomach."

Taehyung didn't think he would be able to even recognise the man if he saw him again, given that he didn't see his face properly. But Taehyung wished for another meeting.

It was rare to see an elite with that kind of mindset.
  
 
  
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"Your highness! Your highness!!"

Jungkook snapped his head towards the sound. He was peacefully playing some music but someone seemed to be looking for him.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!"

A palace maid was running, with her dress raised up past her ankles. She came to a screeching halt near Jungkook and doubled down holding her stomach.

"Y-your h-highness." The maid tried to speak through gasps but Jungkook held a hand to stop her.

"Stop!" Jungkook commanded in a soft voice. "Now, breathe first. Yes, like that. One.. Two.. three.. okay? Now tell me what it is."

"T-the brown. mare. birthing."

Jungkook quickly got up to his feet. "What?! But elder Lee said that it won't happen until next week!"

He didn't wait for an answer and started to run towards the stables. He loves all animals but lately, there's this one special pregnant mare that caught his attention. He had spent a lot of his free time taking care of her.

The maid sat down on a step. Well, more like collapsed on to it, while still clutching the side of her stomach. "Go on, your highness. I'll clear up all these equipments."

Jungkook ran as fast as he could across the palace, yelling for people to get out of his way. Some did with a frightened face, some with soft smiles. There were few guards who even bent down, so that the prince could jump over them. The happy laughter of the prince at that gesture was more than enough to warm their hearts.

It only took about two minutes for Jungkook to reach the stables, and he slowed down when it was close. He tried to take deep breaths, just like he instructed the maid to do, and calm his erratic heartbeat.

The man in charge of the stable looked up at the sound of the prince's footsteps, as he had been expecting the prince.

"Has it started?" Jungkook asked in a soft voice and the older man shook his head.

"Almost. Your highness is just in time."

Jungkook looked at the mare with fond eyes. She seemed to be in pain or discomfort, and his heart ached at how wet those eyes looked.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Your highness can brush her mane, gently please. It'll help her to calm down."

Jungkook sat on the dirty floor at the stables, next to the mare's head. He softly brushed the mane, letting out soft words of encouragement. The animal may not be able to understand the words, but she sure can feel the love and affection. And for the nth time, the old man wondered how pure the prince's heart was.

Here is a prince, sitting on a dirty ground, with zero regard to his position or prestige, just to comfort an animal. No wonder the people love the prince so much.

Jungkook watched with wide eyes, as the birthing started. The pain, the struggle and the relief at the end. He watched how the newborn foal tried to get up on their wobbly legs and inched closer to the mother.

As he watched the mare's eyes glistened with moisture when she finally had her baby close to her, Jungkook felt as if he and her were the same. Different species, but it was the same love.

He wondered if his own mother got to look at him with such overwhelming eyes. Or hold him against her chest at least for a few seconds. He likes to think that she did. Maybe she's still looking at him like that, from heaven. He looked up and gave a small smile. 'I love you too, mother.'

"Would your highness like to name him?"

Jungkook's heavy thoughts got distracted by those words. He lowered  down to see the old man looking at him with a smile.

"Name him?"

"Yes, your highness."

Jungkook thought for a few seconds, as he looked at the gray-ish white color of the foal. Soft. Cloudy.

"Gureum." Jungkook said in a soft voice.  "Let's call him Gureum."