paralyzed | taekook

thirteen

past

the sound of quiet sobs leaked from the vaguely opened door.

stroking his fingers over the cold surface of his necklace, kim taehyung felt his heart combusting into a series of misadventures as it launched him to the great unknown. 

after what seemed to be an endless but dreadful conversation with the queen, all taehyung ever needed was to sit by the nearest lake, just a few walks away from the palace — clearing his head and breathing in the cold air. the atmosphere was almost humid, but taehyung didn't care less. the only thing he could think about was something along the words of legacy and time traveling.

because, indeed, time traveling was one of the only legacies the royal family left him, aside from the throning responsibility of being a king.

"the necklace your father had inherited to you is the reason why you have been granted the access to transport back and forth into the future."

a tear escaped from his eyes.

"i am incredibly sorry for denying the truth. all i ever wanted was to keep my kind son safe and healthy, away from the risk and danger of paying the price . . . the price of messing with time."

another tear escaped.

"because that's what happened to the king. look where he is now."

and then another,

"an enemy poisoned your father in order to steal the necklace. by all means, imagine what can you do with the power it beholds. you can change the world, for the better or for worse. it has been like that for the past hundreds of years. there is no doubt that the universe will be yours, even the gods will feel threatened by your existence. shame that he already gave it to you — which means that you're becoming their next target."

and another.

"i don't want you to get killed like your father did, taehyung. but, my son, now that you're strong enough to fight this battle on your own, with your kindness and euphoric positivity, i'm sure that whatever they do next, will be nothing compared to what you're capable of."

"i have to survive, no matter what it takes," taehyung violently wiped the tears that stained his face, letting the wetness seeped through the fabrics of his oversized sleeves. and then he stood up from the grass, heart encouraged and mind determined to turn things around, as he slowly made his way back to the palace. "for my parents, for silla, for jungkook . . . and myself."

present

"yah, jeon jungkook, have you brought everything?"

nodding along to jimin's stern voice from the other line, jungkook watched his classmates walking out of their mini bus in anticipation. "hmm."

"camera? notebook? ballpoint?"

"hmm."

"what about the lunch seokjin hyung made you this morning-"

"-aish, jimin hyung!" jungkook whined against the phone, loosening his hold in the process. it would be a lie if he never questioned himself for befriending a management major. "for god's sake, i'm not a baby anymore! so can you please stop overanalysing things and let me join my friends?"

"aigoo, you're right. sometimes i forget that you're a twenty one-year old grown man, hehehe. have fun and take care!"

"you too, hyung. you too."

locking his phone in a hurry, jungkook placed it inside the pocket of his jeans and stumbled out of the vehicle, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he had always been an avid fan of art history. it was funny how his love of video games and technology sometimes contradicted with these unexpected sides of him, but that was exactly what made him jungkook.

when jungkook finally arrived in front of the gate, most of his classmates were already scattered all over the area, leaving him alone and stranded with a few students who were most likely just as late for unspecified reasons. it only added up considering their professor was nowhere to be found. so, after contemplating his social anxiety for a minute, jungkook decided to befriend one of them,

particularly a lanky tall man in bright gucci rainbow sweater and matching ripped jeans. 

"um, excuse me?" jungkook greeted, more like asking.

"yes?" he smiled. widely. "you're jeon jungkook from class a, right?"

"how did you . . ."

"ah, sorry if i came off a little bit iffy. it's just that we attend the same class, and yet never had a proper conversation," scratching the back of his neck, he reached out his hand for jungkook to shake, a rosy blush creeping up from the bones of his cheeks. "i'm jung hoseok, by the way, but just hoseok would be nice."

"okay, just hoseok," jungkook stifled a giggle. "anyway, i was wondering if you could explain to me about the professor's instructions? or were you just as late as i am?"

hoseok immediately laughed at jungkook's slightly panic reaction. it will be an understatement to say that this boy is a sunshine.

"no, no! i'm only here because i had to go to the bathroom first," hoseok shook his head. "mr. lee said that we can do a three-hour exploration inside the museum — be it taking pictures, writing down notes or hanging out by the local cafeteria, literally whatever — before coming back to our meeting point."

"you have a . . . peculiar choice of words," jungkook continued before he fell into a complete silence, realising that he had been subconsciously thinking about taehyung again. 

excellent, now you remind me of everywhere and everything. 

"should we just go together?" picking up jungkook's sudden mourning expression, hoseok linked his arm around the younger man's and jumped around like a kid high on sugar. "i've been told that it's always better to go in pairs — you won't have to worry about getting lost in the crowd."

shaking off the remaining thoughts about taehyung, all those time-consuming conspiracies about his past, stories about silla, their unofficial dates and everything in particular, jungkook flashed a weak smile to his newfound friend and let himself being dragged inside the building,

not knowing that what happened next would change the game forever.

i finally found the time to update, omg! these past couple of weeks had been dreadful for me — too many assignments due in such short amounts of time, but writing fictions has always been my passion from the beginning, so here we go ♥ 

pls note that i will be updating more soon!