Arranged | Jinkook ✓

Chapter 20.0

Souls were not meant to be reborn.

Lives were not meant to be restarted.

Fate granted no second chances.

There were no exceptions.

Except one.

...

"Taehyung!" His voice rang through the empty corridor formed by heavy stone, emotions that he couldn't even name contained within the outburst.

"Good morning to you as well, my future prince." There was this cocky little smile playing over the others features - and he realized that he hated it. "How can I be of service to you?"

"You were in love with him, weren't you?" It was nothing more than a harsh whisper, leaking out the moment he got close enough.

"What are you -" But he wasn't even allowed to finish, because the truth was Seokjin didn't want to hear whatever he was about to say.

"Don't play dumb. I am him, remember? I have all of those memories right here." Lifting a hand, he gently tapped a finger against his temple as he spoke. "His last words were that he loved you."

"Seokjin -"

"I kept trying to figure out why you would betray Jungkook and help him. Why every time he managed to get away he would always stay near by. Like he was waiting for something." It made no sense. Why Jimin wouldn't have just ran as fast and as far away as possible. Why he wouldn't have done more to make sure that no one could track him.

Because he wanted someone to find him. The wrong person just always got there first.

"He was waiting for you." For them to run away together. For them to find place where they could forge their own life.

Where they could be together.

"Twice. I was supposed to follow him twice." He watched as the other slowly backed away, until he hit the rough surface of the near by wall. Watched as his head knocked against it once before he was sliding down, knees bending as he hit the cold surface. "But she was watching me."

"Who?" Shifting, he lowered his weight onto the balls of his feet, balanced himself there as he began to regret not choosing somewhere more appropriate for this ambush.

"Who do you think?" Hands scrubbed over the other's face, a slow, rough movement that he could hear as much as see. "The queen has had me under her thumb since the moment I was born."

"I don't understand." There was so much that he didn't understand. So much that he didn't think he would ever fully get.

"Don't you think it's weird how the prince doesn't have any brothers or sisters?" It was custom for families to attempt to have as many children as possible. After all, it wasn't like all of them would make it to adulthood. And even if they did, the more hands that were available to work the more that could be done.

For royals it meant that their bloodline was secure. That it didn't hinge on the survival of a single heir. Realistically, it would only make sense that Jungkook would have siblings. That he didn't was an anomaly.

"I only have an older brother." It wasn't as if his parents hadn't tried. But his mother had simply been incapable of having any more after him.

"Two is better than one." Two increased his families chances that there would be a survivor. Someone to carry on their name. To continue their story. "It's weird, right? That they would leave everything to Jungkook. I mean, sure, they got lucky. He's too strong and stubborn to actually ever die. But what if they hadn't been?"