Taehyung looked up at the crown prince who had suddenly appeared out of the blue. He was still not ready to face the man so the shock led him to stumble back and fall into the pond.
Shao Lan was scared into a standstill by the appearance of the crown prince, so much so that he didn't even realize that Taehyung had fallen into the pond.
The man had just recovered from a cold and it seemed like he was gonna get sick all over again. Yoongi's eyes went wide as he saw Taehyung falling into the small pond but before he could react, he saw Taehyung standing up instantly and getting out of the pond.
"I-I'll go change and come back." Taehyung stuttered as he didn't dare meet the eyes of the crown prince.
The next thing Yoongi knew, the man was already out of his sight as he had run away. Yoongi didn't know if he should cry or laugh as he saw this.
He wondered: Had he done something wrong?
He thought back to what he had done or said and he really could not think about anything.
Shao Lan was suddenly stunned to see that his young master had abandoned him. He felt a bit betrayed. How could Taehyung just leave him like that? He was too scared of this crown prince so there was no way he would even be able to breathe in comfortably in the same room as the man but here he was, all alone with a shocked and confused crown prince whom he feared.
"Would you like to repeat what you just said?" Yoongi asked as he looked at Shao Lan.
Shao Lan couldn't detect if the man was angry at him or not but if there was one thing he knew, it was that the crown prince would never find it pleasant to hear that this hostage of his was going to go back.
Shao Lan didn't know if he was supposed to seriously repeat what he had said or if he should apologize immediately to the man and in the end, he decided to stay silent and choose not to respond. It was a bit rude of him not to answer a question asked by the crown prince but it didn't look like Yoongi seemed to mind all that.
Shao Lan didn't respond to the question and instead, he ran away with a single sentence, "I-I should probably go help young master get dressed."
Yoongi squinted at the man but didn't say anything nor did he stop him from running away.
It wasn't like he was that familiar with this attendant of Taehyung's and on the contrary, he was wary of him.
Shao Lan had always tried his best not to raise suspicion on himself and didn't want anyone to dislike him. He was always afraid that the crown prince might turn hostile towards him if he said anything so he was always considerate with what he said and would try his best to avoid all types of interaction with Yoongi.
Sadly, no matter how much he tried to stay in the clear, he was unaware of the fact that he was already disliked by the crown prince who saw him as nothing more than a mole sent by Taehyung's mother.
With both Taehyung and Shao Lan running away at their own convenience, Yoongi was left on his own and he wasn't particularly liking it. There were hardly any times when he was alone like this and although it was not his first time that people were avoiding him, he felt like it was the first time that the reason why he was being ignored was different.
He looked at the damp stone table on which Taehyung was lying at and he moved closer to sit on it. As he sat on the stone table, he looked at the pond on which Taehyung had fallen into and frowned.
He would probably need someone to get that thing out of here.
He secretly cursed the architect who planned to put a pond right behind a chair. How dumb did one have to be to do this? Did they never even think about the consequences?!
If his late mother were to hear him say something like this, she would have been so disheartened that she would have died all over again.
It was her idea to create a small pond here just for the aesthetic view of the place.
How was she to know that her own son would one day call her an idiot for it?
She was probably weeping in the afterworld after having heard her son's thoughts.
A few minutes passed and it looked like Taehyung had finally decided to come back.
"I'm sorry about that, your highness." Taehyung apologized.
Yoongi looked at the man and unconsciously smiled but like always, it was hidden behind that wretched veil.
If Taehyung was hoping for the crown prince to let go of the previous topic, he was surely going to be disappointed as the first thing Yoongi asked was the same question that he had asked before.
"Are you leaving?"
Taehyung stopped in his tracks and peeked at the crown prince to watch his expression but from this much distance in between them, there was no way he would be able to see anything.
Taehyung suddenly was at a loss for words and he was shocked at himself for this. Since when had Taehyung not known what to say?
After a short pause, Taehyung smiled brightly as he finally decided to act like his normal self and answer the crown prince like he always had.
"You probably don't want to let me go," Taehyung beamed confidently with that bright smile that could melt anything in the world.
"Of course, not." Yoongi chuckled as he heard the answer that wasn't too unexpected from the man, "Don't you feel spiteful for being sent here as a hostage?"
When Taehyung heard the question being asked so straightforwardly, the smile on his face faltered and although he didn't realize it, Yoongi had.
Yoongi was watching and observing all of his expressions so there was no way he didn't see that faltering smile and that split second of hesitation.
Taehyung repeated the question in his mind but no matter how much he thought about it, there was no way he could answer it.
His own feelings were really complicated even for him to understand so how could others understand him?
If there was someone who could understand him, that person had to be a mind reader and Taehyung might probably pay the person to share the knowledge and tell him as well. Tell him what he felt about being sent here as a hostage.
Taehyung didn't know how to respond to the question so he simply smiled and tried to mask away his feelings behind a single sentence, "I feel great."
He wasn't exactly lying as he said this. He really did feel great about coming here but there was a difference between coming here and being sent here as a hostage.
He was happy to come here and get to meet this crown prince but as much as he was happy about that, he was also saddened to know that his own country was ready to sacrifice him.
Well, it didn't matter anymore...
He hated being born a prince.
Why couldn't he be born as a peasant? He could have done anything he wanted and rebelled as much as he wanted without anyone saying anything.
He kinda wanted that life with nothing much to worry about and with nobody holding up any expectations from you.
Just because he was a prince, he had always held up the hopes of his people and when he failed to give them what they wanted, he was proclaimed as a 'good for nothing'. In the end, they still came to him and begged him to save them by becoming a hostage. He really couldn't believe how selfish people were. They were so shameless that they asked him if he could become a scapegoat for them and he was expected to agree without any questions asked since he was their prince who held up their hopes and whose life was supposed to be all about serving them.
For Yoongi to ask him such a question, really was stupid. Taehyung wasn't allowed to have a problem with it. He was supposed to happily accept what was given to him with a smile and move on thinking that he had at least proved himself helpful in the end, even if it was just as a hostage.
He wasn't allowed to have an opinion.
Although the smile on his face didn't fade away, a single tear dripped down his face and when Yoongi saw it, he was stunned to the core.
What had he done now?!
"Eh?" Taehyung looked down and his hand reached up to wipe the tear away, "Why...?"
Taehyung didn't know why he was crying but he was baffled to see the tears pour out. After one had fallen out, the others soon followed and Taehyung was full out crying with a smile on his face that seemed to slowly fade away.
Yoongi had no idea that he had asked such a personal question. He was only joking around but his joke really made the man break out crying?
For the first time in his life, Yoongi felt helpless and guilty.
What was he supposed to do if he sees a grown man suddenly crying like this?
Taehyung crouched down and hugged his knees closer to his chest as he wept away the tears that had never before fallen. He had a lot to say, a lot to express but nobody had ever asked for his opinion so what Yoongi had asked, although it was just a simple casual question, hit somewhere deep in his heart and he felt the emotions surging out altogether in the form of tears.
Yoongi jolted up from his seat and stepped closer to Taehyung. He crouched down in front of the man and after much deliberation, he raised his hand to pat the man's back.
Taehyung felt the warm hand gently caress his back and the tears doubled.
He was constantly screaming in his head: Why the hell am I crying? Why?!
Taehyung was so confused that he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.
This was so freaking embarrassing!
"It's okay to feel wronged." Yoongi comforted the man and Taehyung cried even harder.
Yoongi seemed to be at a loss for what to do as he saw the man having the opposite reaction to what he hoped for.
He wanted to make him stop crying but it looked like no matter what he did, the man was going to cry even louder but this did not discourage Yoongi from speaking further.
"If you want to cry, just cry. Let it all out. You were wronged. You have every right to feel this way." Yoongi patted the crying man's back gently and suddenly felt like the man was not crying so loudly anymore, this further gave him more courage to continue coaxing Taehyung, "But when you are done crying over this, I hope I never see those tears on your face again, at least not for the same reason again."
Taehyung looked up to glance at Yoongi's face which was now really close to his.
Yoongi smiled and Taehyung could somehow see through the veil and notice the smile. It warmed his heart. It gave him comfort. The comfort that he had long sought after. The tears lessened in number but they didn't completely stop.
"If you feel so wronged, just tell me and I'll help you get your revenge." Yoongi said jokingly and Taehyung also cracked up as he heard this.
There was no way Taehyung would ask for revenge and there was not a chance that Yoongi would go into war for him or at least that was what Taehyung thought.
Who knew how unpredictable this crown prince was?
Who knows if he was just joking or if he would really go into a war for this hostage?
___________________________________
A/n: I was listening to Lo Vas A Olvidar while editing this and it really made me get into the sad mood. Ngl I cried when Taehyung cried ಥ╭╮ಥ
But I think Yoongi would go into a war for Taehyung. Don't you think so too?
Next update is this week (A surprise update so I'm not giving you a date)
New updating schedule is here🎊🎊:
Chapter 21: ?? Jan, 2021✨
Chapter 22: 1 Feb, 2021✨
Chapter 23: 5 Feb, 2021✨
Chapter 24: 8 Feb, 2021✨
Chapter 25: 12 Feb, 2021✨
Chapter 26: 15 Feb, 2021✨
Chapter 27: 19 Feb, 2021✨
Chapter 28: 22 Feb. 2021✨
Chapter 29: 26 Feb, 2021✨
I'm updating this while sitting in my online class so my author's blabbering is going to be short today 😭
I hate college... (༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ)
With that said,
Have a nice day 💜
Eat healthy, drink plenty and get some sleep.💜💜