The Prince's Stableman | Taejin

Chapter 5 - Fancy Boots

Seokjin turned and walked all the way to the end of the stable heading out to the first exit. It was still pouring outside. The young man was just following him until Jin stopped and looked for umbrellas.

"Damn it. I guess Namjoon or probably the other helpers have the other umbrellas in their cottages." He turned to face the younger. "Is it all right if we shared my umbrella?"

"O-okay..." the young man then scooted quite awkwardly near Seokjin as he opened the umbrella.

The umbrella was just for one person and without thinking twice Seokjin wrapped his arm around the young man's shoulders and pulled him close as he started walking the muddy path to the cottage.

The young man stiffened at first but was thankful that Seokjin wasn't aware of how awkward he was, he just followed the man's footsteps.

He was wrong, Seokjin noticed how stiff he was and took a quick glance at the young man's face. Maybe that was a wrong move since the younger's face was just a few inches away from his. He momentarily softened at how pretty the latter's cautious eyes were and how his curly and fluffy hair swayed along their steps with the wind. He blinked a few times and looked straight ahead.

"Is he blushing? No.. He might be having a fever. Yeah. Everyone is sick because of the rain." Seokjin thought.

"Welcome to our cottage!" Seokjin happily exclaims. "You'll be appointed to one of these with a roommate one of these days. You might get one to yourself if you're lucky. Haha"

They arrived at the cottage. The young man looked up and observed Seokjin's "house." It was a quaint stone cottage among the other stone cottages they passed by going there. It's walls were made up of gray limestone topped with wooden shingles and stone slabs. It seemed like a cold place to stay in. It was the first time he was able to venture to the stablemen's homes and he feels quite bad for them. 

Looking from the window of his spacious bedroom from the castle, he always thought the stone structures were just shacks for storage.

Seokjin took note of how the young man shivered when he removed his arm from his body. "Take your boots off." he says as he was taking his off as well.

The young man wrapped himself in his arms and was quite hesitant and was looking back at the stable and the castle.

Seokjin stood as he noticed the young man's worried face. "It's reasonable for him to be worried. I mean, the management didn't even introduce us! I hope he doesn't think ill of me." He cleared his throat,

"Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen to you. I brought you here to lend you some of my work clothes since you don't have any yet. I will also lend you a pair of work boots. It seems like our size is not far off." He says as he opened the front door and went in. 

The young man was quite surprised with how Seokjin kind of read his mind. He then bent down and started to remove his mucky boots feeling more comfortable.

He wasn't done removing his boots, mainly because he didn't want his fingers to touch the muck. He was still bent over when he felt a fuzzy towel wrap around his back. Seokjin was outside again and gave him a towel.

"Make it fast. Let's get you changed already. I don't want you to get sick." He patted the younger's shoulder, smiled softly and headed back in.

The young man couldn't help but feel warmth rise to his cheeks. He shook it off and took a deep breath and walked in.

As soon as he was in the cottage he could smell delicious chicken noodle soup waft through the air. His tummy immediately grumbled because he didn't have any breakfast yet.

The cottage wasn't as horrible as he expected. It was quite cozy. Beside the main door was the kitchen. It was tiny but had all necessary items for cooking. The cupboards were all attached to the walls making use of the small space. A sink was beside a window. In front of a kitchen was a wooden table with four chairs. Directly from there was a bench and some wooden stools placed on top of a circular red carpet facing the fireplace. On the left, there were two doors. The walls had a ton of horse shoes nailed on with what he presumed were the horse's names under them. A lot of things were hanging on the walls or placed beside the small "living room". Extra halters, cinches, ropes, bridle, saddle pads and such. He was revisiting the thought that this place was actually a shack.

Seokjin chuckled as he looked at the young man's sheepish smile. He handed him a pair of folded trousers, a long sleeved shirt, a pair of socks, a jacket and a small bag for him to place his wet clothes in. The young man took them and gave a small smile. 

"Put those on, my room is the last door to the left. I'll just get the table ready. I will lend you the boots later, you don't have to continue wearing those fancy ones. You don't have to impress anyone here." He turned taking out cups and bowls from the cupboards as he watched over the soup on the hearth.

"Th-thank you." the young man quietly says as he bows and swiftly turns.

It wasn't a surprise how their royal subjects were always nice to Prince Taehyung, but Seokjin didn't know he was the prince and he was this nice and hospitable? Taehyung was speechless.

The young man complied as he slowly walked over to Seokjin's room. He passed through the other door and slowly opened the last door to the left and made his way in.

He breathed in deeply and let out a sigh. The room.. kind of smells like warm coco and.. cream?. He could feel his tensed nerves slowly melt away. He leaned on the door and closed his eyes. He didn't even know how tensed he was. 

He was so afraid of Seokjin knowing that the Prince was running around the palace alone early in the morning doing god knows what avoiding his "morning routine" and his parents' scheduled tasks assigned to him for the day. 

Little did Seokjin know, the guards were frantic all over the other side of the palace looking for the Prince. Taehyung grinned as he changed into Seokjin's clothes, giggling. 

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Are you guys excited for black curly haired Taejin Pied Piper in Japan? I hope we see some juicy stuff. haha

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