One week left before Taehyung's highly anticipated birthday feast. A birthday feast that actually couldn't be defined as a birthday feast, more like a 'marrying-your-son-off-against-his-will'-feast.
Could you even call that a feast?
Jungkook was worried. He cared for Taehyung and his well-being, he knew how much this engagement would destroy him, no matter how much he tried to fight it. As much as he admired the prince's endurance and reluctance to accept the inevitable marriage, he knew it would come sooner or later.
He had grown to get used to Taehyung's presence so much he thought of him as one of his closest friends. Imagining his beautiful toffee-brown eyes widened in shock and pooling with tears of realization as he was forced to hold his arranged fiancée's hand brought an ugly, unpleasant feeling to his gut, something that he dared say felt like a painful punch.
In fact, he really felt the urge to punch something. What would happen when Taehyung and the eligible princess got married? The prince would not have the chance to spend time with him anymore, that was for sure and certain. And he really hated that.
Taehyung was the only thing that helped him endure the situation he was in, far away from home and all.
Millions of thoughts occupied his head while his hands scrubbed the purely golden plates and goblets clean, him and Jimin being on kitchen duty. There was more work than usual, since many servants were already occupied with preparations for the birthday party.
"Work faster!," someone hissed. Jungkook rolled his eyes, knowing that the harsh order was aimed at him. Surprisingly, it wasn't Jimin who scolded him. He knew the blonde had grown a soft spot for him throughout the last few weeks, and vice versa. Jimin didn't scold him at all anymore, unless it was necessary.
No, the one glaring him down and ordering him around was a kitchen maid called Choi Yujin, a girl who wasn't fond of him at all. Considering the fact that Jungkook didn't work as hard as the other servants since he wasn't even an actual servant, it wasn't surprising and only fair to him that the other servants tended to dislike him. But Yujin seemed to despise him on another level.
"I wonder," Yujin spoke out purposefully loud in an annoyed tone, flipping her braided hair aggressively. "Sometimes I wonder how some people even made it here. While others work diligently and with sincerity, certain people think it is okay to be lazy and undignified! And they get away with it!" She huffed.
Jungkook clicked his tongue, completely ignoring the fact that he was actually not supposed to talk to other servants unless it was mandatory (to avoid suspicion) and glaring at her. "You know, you can just say you have a problem with me, right in my face. Where are we, kindergarten?," he spoke through gritted teeth.
Yujin glared back angrily. "I'm not stupid," she uttered. "Every kitchen servant knows your Prince Taehyung's lapdog. I wake before dawn breaks every single day, when the sun has not even risen yet, and work, work and work! While you live complacently, not making any efforts and not even knowing what hard work is because our dearest crown prince grants you special privileges!" Her voice had turned into more of a scream towards the end, every servant listening quietly and wondering what the problem was.
For a moment, Jungkook didn't know what to say. "You don't know anything about me. I don't know where you get the idea of Tae-- His Majesty granting me special privileges from, but it's not true. He's the prince and I'm a servant, that's all there is to that."
She scoffed in annoyance. "Of course," she mocked. "So I suppose you being caught entering His Majesty's private library is absolutely nothing? There is nothing special about you whatsoever, I don't even see why he treats you so differently from the others. Then again, Prince Taehyung is known to be dim-witted and unprofessional."
Now, the brunette was starting to feel panicked and angry at the same time. "I don't know who the fu-- who in the world told you anything about me entering his private library, but it's a lie. Unless you happen to have proof? And I suggest you stop badmouthing your prince real quick if you don't want anything bad to happen to you."
"Are you threatening me? I suppose you will run off to almighty Prince Taehyung and tell him all about how rude I am? He would not listen to you anyways, he's way too selfish for that. What I said was nothing but the truth. The only one who deserves a place on Elysium's throne is Kim Namjoon, and Kim Namjoon only. The second Kim Taehyung takes place on the throne, this kingdom will meet its doom and be in ruins within a week!," she shrieked.
Jungkook took a huge leap forward so they were almost standing face to face, his glare turning darker by the second. "Yeah?," he spoke lowly. "Then why don't you give up your job in the palace and go far, far away? Because cowards like you being here doesn't benefit this kingdom in any shape or form, now, does it? You don't know rat shit about him, so I suggest you stop being such a petty nuisance, shut the hell up and keep working."
This seemed to shut her up, as all she did was penetrate him with dirty glares and for a second, she looked like she was about to say something back when all of a sudden, another girl ran towards her and tugged at her arm while shaking her head.
"No, Yujin. You are not doing your reputation any favours, please take my advice and stop." Yujin now turned towards the girl, still looking enraged.
"I can do what I want, Seunghee! Am I not allowed to voice out my opinions?!" The girl, Seunghee, shook her head desperately, her bangs bouncing along with it.
"Just stop! You are embarrassing yourself!," she pleaded and, with her hand still grabbing on to her friend's arm, started walking away as she tugged Yujin with her. And before they were out of sight, she looked at Jungkook apologetically. To be totally honest, the boy felt utterly humiliated and along with that, feared that somehow, his secret might get exposed. Were his acting talents that bad?
"Do not worry about her. She is infamous for behaving disrespectfully towards His Majesty, behind his back. We do not know if he ever paid any attention to her, but if you ignore all her hideous words, she stops being pesky," Jimin reassured, having sensed his discomfort.
Jungkook wondered why Jimin was being so nice to him all of a sudden and was just about to ask why they simply didn't fire Yujin but then decided against it, simply shrugging and continuing to scrub the dishes hard.
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"Another search party this afternoon?"
Yoongi nodded, not daring to lift his head as his feet tread the school grounds carefully.
"This is gonna be the last time they search the woods, they said," he finally spoke, halting in his step. "They searched every single inch, dad says it's no use searching the woods anymore. We're gonna have to search further.
Yugyeom nodded apprehensively. "Okay. But what if..." He dared not speak further, sensing Yoongi tense up next to him. "Nevermind. First day of school after all of this mess. You think we're gonna survive?"
"I'm starting to hope we won't," the redhead grumbled, making Yugyeom sigh and pat his shoulder in a comforting manner. "C'mon. It's just you and me. We have to stay strong, we have to pull through until we finally find him again."
Yoongi brushed his hand off dismissively. "Yeah? And what if we don't find him? What the hell are we gonna do then?," he then snapped, the dirty blonde's eyes widening in shock.
"I-I... Don't say that. Don't lose hope so quickly! He's only been gone for what? A week? He will come back, okay?"
"And what if he won't? How will we live with the fact that our best friend lost his life because of us for the rest of our lives, huh?" Yugyeom ruffled his own hair, sighing in frustration.
"You know, your pessimism isn't making this easier for me. What are you saying, that he died? They would've found a corpse! Just-- god, you're driving me crazy!" He walked away with his fingers massaging his temples in attempt to calm himself.
"I'm just being realistic. Better if we get used to the thought," Yoongi grumbled quietly, trudging past the school gates behind him and feeling that something had changed- it was as if people were staring at and paying special attention to him. Him! How come? He simply glared at the students who suddenly seemed so interested in him in annoyance, not liking the feeling of being watched. What was happening?
Being so preoccupied by the sudden uncomfortable attention he was receiving, he didn't notice the slightly taller, orange-haired boy walk right in front of him and completely bumped into him.
"Sorry," he muttered with his head held low, rubbing his aching shoulder (still bruised from the motorcycle incident) and just about to keep walking when he suddenly felt the person grab his arm and panic build up inside him. Was he going to get into a fight or something? Could this day be any worse?
"No prob. Hey... You're the guy who lost his friend, right? I'm so sorry for what happened, I hope he comes back soon." The strange boy patted his shoulder with a look of pure pity on his face, which made Yoongi's stomach lurch in discomfort. There was no way people knew about this already!
"Wh-What-- How would you..." He retreated hastily, looking at the boy in front of him in pure revulsion. He didn't even remember his name, just that he was popular and an extroverted, bubbly social butterfly. Not the type of person he liked to spend time with. And the fact that he knew something bugged him.
"Well, a friend of a friend told me, his mom's a police officer and you made a report at the police station. That must've been so terrifying, I hope they can find him soon. My best wishes to you." The dark red-haired boy retreated even further, the boy opposite of him not appearing very fazed.
"Who knows about this apart from you?" The strange orange-haired boy shrugged. "Oh, he might have told a few people. I mean, can you blame him? It's horrible, so many teenagers disappearing and not appearing for years these days. I just hope nothing happened to your buddy. What was his name again, something with Jung? Well, I hope he's safe. Gotta run now, bye!" The boy ran off, leaving Yoongi in an utter daze.
So that's why people were staring at him. They were pitying him, because he had lost his friend. But Yoongi didn't want their pity. He didn't want to be the centre of attention for something so tragical that made him feel guilty every time he thought about it.
And what if Jungkook actually was dead? Would he be known as 'the guy whose friend mysteriously died in the forest' next? How long until rumours like 'Min Yoongi killed his friend' or 'Kim Yugyeom killed his friend' spread? Just the pure thought of it suffocated him. Losing his friend was horrible enough, but being the centre of attention and a possible target for gossip and stupid judgement made it even worse.
He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head, sighing deeply as he held on to the straps of his backpack tightly. "You bastard," he whispered through gritted teeth.
"Jeon Jungkook, if you're somewhere out there you better get your shit together and come the fuck back, I don't know how long I can take this without you here. I don't know for how long I can have hope."
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(A/N: okay now it's time to let some drama unfold i guess🤭
hello and good day to you, my dumbass fell asleep again and woke up at almost 4am so now i gotta brush my teeth and go back to sleep after publishing this shdjjdks hope you could enjoy a bit and thank you very much for reading, i love you💜💜)