Sun And Moon

Chapter Two (Part One)

          Crown Prince Jimin and  the Empress Seulgi had fought again, Prince Hwang Taehyung could tell.
          Jimin had the look on his face. He always had that expression on when he fought with their mother, which was painfully common, happening on a regular basis.
           Taehyung wished they didn't. His youngest sibling, Princess Hwang Yuna , was  only eight - too young to be exposed to that shit. What made everything more painful was that all this didn't need to happen.
         Jimin and Empress Seulgi's fights were always about the same thing - the Emperor Kyuhyun. Jimin believed that his grandfather deserved to be remembered as a great, powerful man. Seulgi, on the other hand, let her father be remembered as the monster he was.
          All their fights could be avoided if one surrended to the other, but Seulgi and Jimin, unfortunately,shared this one trait - stubbornness. Neither would let it go. Their relationship was so strained that it was a miracle that Jimin was still Crown Prince.
         "Tae?"
         One of Taehyung's sisters, Princess Hwang Yeji, tugged on his pants. She was nine, the second youngest. He smiled and picked her up. He loved all his siblings, even hot headed Jimin, especially the younger ones. They were the cutest and besides, he loved kids.
           "Jiminnie scared Yuna just now. She wanted to play tea time with him but he yelled and shouted at her,"  Yeji said in a small voice. She was sad,to say the least. Jimin was always a sweetheart to his siblings , especially the maknae Yuna. He was never like this. And that made Yeji so upset. She wanted her sweet, caring Jiminnie -hyung back.
          And Taehyung, he was furious. He tolerated Jimin and his mother's fights solely because they didn't let the children who didn't understand know. But now . . . Jimin was stepping out of line.
            "Where's Jiminnie, Yeji?" Taehyung asked as calmly and sweetly as he could. He couldn't let the child see how angry he was; it would only serve to upset her. And when Hwang Yeji was upset, it could last for days. Besides, she'd already seen enough anger for a child of nine.
          "He's in his solar. Jiminnie said he doesn't want to be .. to be.." Yeji scrunched up her face cutely as she tried to remember the word Jimin had used. It made Taehyung soft;his sisters - Yuna,Yeji,Yerim and Ryujin - always did.
           Yeji's face lit up ad she remembered. "Oh yeah! He said that he didn't want to be disturbed. "  She, being only nine,couldn't pronounce into properly. It ended up sounding like disterubed. It made Taehyung giggle momentarily,before he remembered the situation at hand.
          "Tae-Tae? Jiminnie was very angry,he was yelling at Mummy for so long. And Mummy looked so upset." A tear escaped Yeji's left eye. She'd heard her eldest brother and mother's whole argument. She didn't understand anything they said, but she heard they yelling so hatefully at each other it made her heart break.
           "I'll talk to Jiminnie, okay,Yeji?"Taehyung said, wiping the tear off his sister's cheek. He was even madder at not just Jimin, but also his mother. They'd both crossed the line. He put Yeji down gently. "Why don't you go to Yuna and play tea time with her? It'll make her happy."
            Yeji's face lit up. She kissed her brother on the cheek,an innocent,childish kiss from a sister to a brother.  "I will, Tae!"
             And she ran off, determined to make her youngest sibling happy.
             Taehyung smiled sadly at his sister 's innocence ,purity and childish  naivete. He didn't want her to lose them but he knew that Yeji would eventually lose them, like he did. She could not remain a nine year old forever. The same went for Yuna. No one could stay a child forever. Eventually they would have to grow up and face the brutal, hellish reality of life.
           That doesn't mean they can't cling on to their innocence for a while longer, though.
           Taehyung went to find Jimin.