venture I v.s

●.iii.●

Taehyung opened the main door with a smile, which soon disappeared at the sight of his beloved mother looking at him with the gravest of expressions. Beside her stood three maids, heads bowed in silence. She motioned over to the sofa. "Sit down, adeul. There's something you must answer."

Before he even fully seated himself, "Where have you been?", she shot her first query.

"Out hunting, Mother, you already know-"

Kim Minha sighed, "Servant Choi's story doesn't seem to match up, however."

"She says she saw you walking by the old church."

"With a lady by your side.", Taehyung gulped.

"Who is that, Taehyung?", she almost whispered, looking straight into his eyes.

"We met a few weeks ago, mother. She's just a towngirl-", he tried to keep his voice calm.

Minha almost swooned as one of her maids rushed to sit her down. "A commoner! Dear lord! She could be an assassin for all-"

"Mother.", the lady paused. "It is nothing of the sort. She is a simple girl-"

"My son, you are of Royal blood. Though not reigning, have some consideration of your ancestry. Marrying a layman's daughter? Never heard of it! You will cease your meetings with her instantly. That is all I have to say. I cannot believe you have deceived me by saying your were out hunting! Tell the guards to keep a keen eye on the prince now on."

Taehyung took all this in with sealed lips. Slowly he went back into his room. There would be extra restraints on his going out from now. He clenched his jaw unconsciously. What plagued his mind was that he knew all of this. Since the start. And yet he choose to do what he did.

How selfish.

✧✧✧✧✧✧✧

Jisoo was frantic, feet pacing ceaselessly near the backside of the mansion. It had been two days since she had seen Taehyung. No shadow of him through the curtains, no appearance of him near their meeting spot. She was dead panicking every hour. A stream of what-ifs plagued her; the abundant one being he had been engaged to some wealthy glowing damsel already and she would be left hanging forever. For the first time in life, she was only fretting over something without there being something she could do to help herself.

Her brain nagged at her to fear some better, logical outcomes, like what if his mother caught a whiff of his escapades? But no, her new infatuated self had 'losing her lover' as the first thing she could think of. Pitiful.

That stupid sweet-smiling handsome fucker. He could at least tell her!

A minute later her ears registered the sound of a switch clicking in place and her eyes landed on Taehyung's silhouette near the window. Jisoo wasted no time in climbing up to him.

"Taehyung! Do you know I've been going—", she was interrupted by his embrace. "I know, I missed you too.", he whispered.

"Sit down, there's something you need to hear."

By the end of his narration, Jisoo was left with eyes almost bulging out their sockets. "Before you suggest something.", he spoke seeing her about to say.

"They think I've been going out to meet you. They have no idea you come up here. So we can just continue...you know."

Jisoo nodded but her eyes held deeper questions. Questions pertaining to what his mother had said about marriage. But they both knew no one had a solution to that part and so they resorted to the easiest action known to mankind: ignoring.