I was sitting in the windowsill of one of the large bay windows that were scattered throughout the castle. I had been reading a book that I had borrowed from the library, but I got distracted by watching the people outside in the garden. I saw some of the other girls in the Collection down in the garden sitting around a table and giggling as they were in an animated conversation with Prince Seokjin, Jungkook, and a man that I now recognized as Lord Yoongi. I had no idea where Ha-na was or Taehyung. I had been told that I would not be practicing with Jimin today so I was actually pretty bored. I was scared to break my promise to Jimin about leaving without telling anyone. I didn't know who to tell...or really I didn't know where I would go. I wasn't wearing anything extravagant today. I had on a simple oversized top and dark leggings underneath it. My shoes were discarded on the floor below me.
"Why aren't you outside with the other girls?" a low voice suddenly asked causing me to nearly fall out of my seat in the window as I whipped around to see who it was.
"Oh, Prince Namjoon, you startled me." I laughed nervously.
"Why are you sitting here all by yourself instead of out with the other girls?" he repeated his question.
"Hmm? Oh, I was not invited. I assumed that it was an outing for Prince Seokjin. So I didn't want to intrude." I replied with a slight shrug. Namjoon got closer and leaned over me to look out the window at the people below.
"Hmm, maybe. I was not aware that there were going to be any outings today besides Jimin's. He must have decided to do that spontaneously." commented Namjoon. When he said that Jimin was having an outing I felt a pang of pain in my chest. I felt confused about why I felt that way. It's not like I like Jimin. He's just a prince of this castle and my dance partner....That must be why he didn't want to practice today...
"Lady (y/n)?" Namjoon said snapping me back to reality.
"Yes?" I asked looking him in the eye. I noticed he was holding the book that I had been reading in his hand.
"You like to read?" he asked as he looked at the book in his hand. I shied away from his gaze.
"Yes, it's a good way to pass time," I replied softly. I was lonely in this castle. Even though I was surrounded by people, I felt lonelier than ever.
"Come, follow me," he said turning away from me, still holding the book. I snapped quickly scrambling out of my seat to get my shoes on. I quickly followed after him, struggling to keep up with his long-legged strides.
"Damn you've got long legs," I mumbled under my breath.
"What was that?" asked Namjoon as he side-eyed me.
"Hmm? Nothing. I didn't say anything." I quickly covered. I don't think he believed me, but he let it go. I thought we were heading towards the library but he took a turn in the opposite direction.
"Um...Prince Namjoon....where are we going?" I asked curiously.
"Somewhere," he replied nonchalantly as he kept walking. After walking for a little while longer he stopped in front of a door. I saw him glance to see if anyone was watching us before opening to the door. Inside the room just looked like a well-furnished study for someone...him maybe?
"Is this your study?" I asked him. He nodded.
"It is. Here, this way." he ushered towards the far wall to the right. He pressed one of the panels in the wall and it sunk in a little before popping back and I creaking noise was made as the whole wall seemed to move. I watched in awe as the wall moved aside to reveal a whole other room. I looked at him with wide eyes as he nodded for me to go inside. I walked in and my eyes about fell out of my head. It was a secret little library!
"This is amazing!" I gushed. "Did you create this yourself? Are these all your books?" He chuckled at my excitement.
"I did. Nobody knows about it other than my mother and my brothers....and well you now too. So don't go around talking about it." he warned. "Some of the books and documents here are priceless. Lots of them are original works from authors, historians, inventors, scholars, and important documents for Bangtan. We keep the originals here and put copies in the library of most things since we want to keep them maintained." he explained. I nodded.
"Who would I tell anyway? It's not like most of the other girls are really interested in this kind of thing." I shrugged. "I do have one question though...why did you decide to show me this. I thought you didn't really like me very much. Why didn't you show one of the girls you had selected from the Collection?" I could see a faint smile on his lips.
"Because like you said....none of the other girls are really interested in this kind of thing." he mused. I felt myself trying to hide a smile.
"You can come here on your own, but there are a couple of rules. You break them and I will make sure you are out of this castle faster than you can say Bangtan. Is that understood?" he asked in a commanding tone. I straightened up and nodded.
"Yes, sir," I promised.
"The first rule, as I mentioned before don't go telling people about this place. The second rule, don't take any of the books or documents out of here without my explicit permission. Like I said before these works are priceless. The third rule, as I said in not tell, don't bring other people in here either. I'm putting a lot of trust in you, Lady (y/n). I want to see how trustworthy you really are. My brothers seem to like you quite a bit and Min-Sun's a good friend and good man. I hope you hold the same qualities as him." Namjoon told me. I bowed my head to him.
"I will do my best to maintain your trust in me and in my family," I promised to him before looking up at him trying to still not smiling.
"You really want to look around don't you?" he asked amused. I nodded earnestly.
"Yes, please." I squeaked out in excitement. He let out a low chuckle.
"Go ahead." he beckoned. I could hold in my excitement as I began to wander around looking at everything. There was so much I didn't know where to start. I didn't even notice that Namjoon had left me until I began to look for him to ask a question...as to how to get out. I went back over to where the wall had opened up but I couldn't figure out how to open it. I let out a frustrated groan as I continued to try and get out. I began to look and see if there was some other way out. I began pressing on all of the wooden wall panels, looking for switches, levers, buttons, anything! I could feel tears pricking my eyes as I was getting so worked up about being traps that I didn't pay attention as I had accidentally backed into one of the busts that were on a pedestal. I braced myself for it to fall and break...but it didn't, it just tipped back and suddenly one of the wall panels moved, just not the one that I had expected to. I quickly walked out as the panel slid back in place behind me. I walked down the winding dimly lit hallway as I tried to guess how to get out. I was panicking that I was going to be lost in this secret halls of the castle forever! Suddenly I found a panel that had a crack of light shining through and I pressed on it. It shifted for me to get out before sliding shut behind me. I looked around and realized that I was in someone's bedroom.
The bedding was a dark shade of navy blue, there were books piled in different parts of the room with papers and writings. There were other personal items around the room, and it didn't take long to figure out that this was definitely not a girl's room as I looked in the closet. As I looked a little longer I let out a little gasp. I knew who's the room I was in. I heard voices at the door and knew that is was too late for me to get out that way. I didn't know what to do. I quickly hid inside the closet and tried my best to stay quiet and hidden.
"I'm serious, I have no idea where she is. No one has seen her in hours. We've already sent out search parties to look for her." said Taehyung as I watched him walk into the room.
"She promised she wouldn't go wandering without telling anyone. She promised me!" stressed Jimin. I could see through the crack in the clothes the two of them near the door.
"Don't worry too much Jiminie. (y/n) is a tough girl. I know she's fine. I'm sure she just fell asleep in the castle somewhere. That's happened before." reminded Taehyung. I had to agree that it had happened before and Jimin also got mad.
"If she is not found in the next couple of hours I bringing in the Royal Guards to find her." threatened Jimin.
"Do what you will. I will check her room again. I'll send Jungkook to give you an update. I'm sorry father won't let you actually go look for her..." apologized Taehyung.
"Me too," Jimin replied softly before I heard the door shut leaving only one of them left. I finally took a deep breath and tried to get up but basically tumbled out of the closet....scaring the shit out of Jimin.
"What the actual hell! Nai (y/n) do you know how long we have been looking for you!? Where the hell has you been!? How did you get in here!?" he shouted at me. I felt my heart racing as I tried not to cry. I had already been locked in a room, lost in tunnels and now I was getting yelled at.
"I'm sorry. I got lost in...in the hidden hallways. I couldn't get out. I got locked in...I'm sorry." I chocked out as I stayed on the floor looking down at my hands as they clenched the hems of my shirt. My hands were bruised and scraped from me trying to find my way. My leggings had a large rip in the side of them from snagging on a nail. I'm sure I looked like a mess. I couldn't look him in the eyes.
I held my eyes shut and braced myself to be yelled at again...but it never came. I felt a pair of arms suddenly slide under my arms and legs lifting me up bridal style. I looked at Jimin in shock.
"What are you doing?" I asked in confusion.
"Bringing you back to your room. You're dirty and you're hurt," he replied. I couldn't take my wide eyes off of his face. I didn't realize how tired I actually was until we neared my room. Jimin tried to set me back on my feet only for me to stumble forward and for him to grab me again before I fell down.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I mumbled out. "You can just leave me here. I'm sure you're...tired of looking for me."
"I'm not going to leave you alone in this state. It's unsafe. I'm not sure where your lady-in-waiting it though either..." he trailed.
"It's okay, I can get myself to bed," I assured him as I carefully walked over to my closet and grabbed some clothes before walked over to my bathroom. Jimin remained seated on the sofa in my room. I had managed to get out of my old clothes and into a new oversized shirt but trying to get my shorts on was another story. I just about face planted the floor as I tripped over them. The door flew open when I was on the floor.
"(y/n)?" asked Jimin with concern as he looked at me. I let out a frustrated sigh as I rolled over onto my back.
"Can I just give up at life now?" I asked causally causing him to let out a low chuckle.
"Not today," he replied with a slight smile before helping me back to my feet.
"Thank you...for helping me. I'm sorry I scared you into thinking that I broke my promise." I told him softly.
"I'm sorry I doubted you...I won't do it again," he replied.
"Did you have a nice time with your outing today?" I asked him as I sat down on my bed.
"Where did you hear that I had an outing today?" inquired Jimin.
"Namjoon told me," I replied causing Jimin to huff. "He had asked me why I wasn't out in the garden with some of the other girls before letting me know that you were the only one who had a scheduled outing today. I figured that's also why we didn't have practice today."
"Well, you are right. It was why I didn't have practice, but I never actually got to go on an outing today thanks to you," he replied.
"I'm so sorry! You should've gone out instead of looking for me!" I exclaimed. "Oh god, that other girl is going to hate me for ruining it. I'm sorry I ruined your day, Jimin."
"Well she might hate you...but it'd be kinda hard." Jimin shrugged. I looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?" I asked
"Can you hate yourself? Because you were the girl I was supposed to have an outing with today," he told me causing my mouth to fall open.
"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean you were supposed to have an outing with me? No one told me anything about that!" I exclaimed.
"It seems that Namjoon conveniently left that part out when he was supposed to tell you," muttered Jimin clearly annoyed at his step-brother.
"It seems he did." I agreed. "Either way, I'm sorry that I ruined it." I apologized.
"Well the day's not over yet, and it may not really be an outing as in leaving the castle but we can watch a movie, and I'm sure you're hungry since you missed dinner," he added. I eagerly nodded at the incentive of food. He took my hand as he helped me off my bed.
"Come on, let's go." he smiled as I followed along behind him.