Hold My Hand - A Taekook Love Story.

22- Worse Than Killing Him

Jimin blinked a few times. He wasn't sure he heard it correctly, despite standing close to Taehyung. “W-what?”

Taehyung rubbed his neck with his fingertips, trying to make the throbbing pain subdue. He sat straight, leaning on the tree trunk, before looking at Jimin's confused face again.

“The King came to the dungeon that day. I thought he came to order my death but he actually apologized.”

“The king-” Jimin let out a throaty gasp. “Apologized?”

“Yeah.” Taehyung nodded his head. “He said he made a mistake by calling me to the palace. He had thought that Kookie and I had a bad fall-out, and he wanted to see the person who dared to break the prince's heart. The king said that he didn't mean for Kookie to see me at the palace that day. He also said that Kookie has an unfathomable loyalty from the people in the palace, and that he wasn't surprised when it happened.”

“I don't believe it.” Jimin got up and paced in front of Taehyung. His eyes showed an emotion that was unreadable.

Taehyung scoffed. Of course it's unbelievable. Taehyung would not believe it either, if he personally didn't experience it.

“Believe it or not, that's what happened. The king apologized for not handling things properly. I was honestly waiting for my execution in that dungeon but instead, I got a deal.”

Jimin stopped pacing and glared at Taehyung. “Oh.. I bet you liked that!”

“What's not to like?” Taehyung shrugged. “The King was right. Kookie is not meant to live in a place like this. He deserves to have all the luxuries in the world. He deserves to live a life filled with happiness and love and everything good. He's so precious and..”

There was silence for a few seconds, before Taehyung spoke up again. But this time, he had a much stronger voice.

“The King asked me to break Kookie's heart, so that he would return to the palace willingly. Then, he would not be sad, his heart would be free from the pain of unrequited affection, and he'd be able to live his life happily without the thoughts of me. The king said he will announce to the court that the prince was away for studies, to excuse his absence so that the people will not get suspicious. When the prince returns, everything will be as it was before. He could marry a princess one day, and his future will hold nothing but happiness.”

Jimin laughed. He held his palm over both his eyes and laughed. The sound rang through the night air, and decreased its temperature by a few more degrees.

“You absolute fool!” Jimin's voice was soft. “Neither of you have any idea about what kind of a person he is. This is worse than killing him.”

Jimin then turned around and looked at Taehyung. “Kookie can never know about this.”

“What?”

“What you two have done, there's no fixing it. But know this. You have hurt him so badly but it'll be nothing compared to what will happen if Kookie gets to know about this. So you will keep your damn mouth shut-”

“I think it's a bit late for that, hyung.”

Both Taehyung and Jimin snapped their heads towards that sound, only to see Jungkook walking out from a shadow of the trees. One look at his face was enough for both Jimin and Taehyung to understand that Jungkook had heard their conversation.

“K-kookie-” Taehyung tried to talk but Jungkook cut right across his words.

“Jimin hyung?” Jungkook's voice had a certain sharpness, and Jimin responded accordingly.