AFFINITY.

twenty-four

"I knew they would kick up a fuss," Seokjin suddenly said, almost scaring Taehyung half to death. "I told them they would have to wait. But no, too old to have any patience," Seokjin scoffed, he smiled as he caught Taehyung baffled expression.

"If I introduced you to them, Yoongi would actually flip. They know that, but since trees are like ages older than us they seldom listen. Especially one of their kind," Seokjin said like Taehyung actually had any idea what the heck he was even going on about.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Taehyung said, staring at the dryad with wide eyes. He had wondered about how Namjoon – the most devilishly thinking scatter brain Taehyung had ever meet – matched up with someone who seemed to graceful and ethereal as Seokjin.

Things made a lot more sense now.

"Good," Seokjin smiled, pushing gently at Taehyung. "Now, let's get a move on. She's getting impatient," Seokjin said, just as another pull of magic rushed through Taehyung making all the flowers around him bloom.

"Is there a dryad in your family?" Seokjin asked, raising his eyebrow as he looked at the flowers blooming all over. There was a few even Taehyung didn't recognize.

"My grandmother," Taehyung muttered a little shyly. People always got weird that he had a dryad in the family, but it wasn't like having a dryad for a mom had made Taehyung's mom a better Wild Witch – And it wasn't that Taehyung was ashamed, but he hated how people would either think he was even more of a freak or that he had cheated to get his magic somehow.

"A few things make a lot more sense now," Seokjin smiled happily. "Well, come on now, she's getting impatient and I swear if she makes more tricks the whole garden will overgrow and I do not have the time to pester Jungkook into mowing the lawns," Seokjin said, rolling his eyes and dragging Taehyung along with him. Like before Taehyung could only follow along, looking over his shoulder at the odd presence that was growing weaker with every step he took towards the middle of the garden.

"Just a little further," Seokjin said guiding Taehyung through another odd patch of plants. Taehyung looked on in wonder as they walked right past a Smæk Slynge, the long vines twitched almost gleefully as they passed them.

"You know sometimes I forget how much power she holds within the garden," Seokjin mused, giving a Smæk Slynge vine a sharp look as it readied to slap him. "They clearly know she'll get to them if they don't behave. Not that they don't try to test the limits anyway," he continued as he upped the pace a little. For once Taehyung couldn't complain as he was pretty sure one of the vines was trying to play with his hair.

"There she is," Seokjin said a little while later after they were in safe distance from the Smæk Slynge . Taehyung who had been too busy ogling the many exotic and magical flowers he had been passing tuned to look at what Seokjin was pointing at.

All he could see was the biggest tree he had ever seen in his life.

"Where?" Taehyung asked, eyes boggling as he spotted a whole field filled with Tartaruga Cavolo. He had no idea they could even grow in Korea. "I can't see anything," Taehyung said looking over the fields around him. He couldn't really see anything but fields of low growing plants and a lots of gravel paths twisting and turning as they seemed to gather in a large square in front of the huge tree.

"Come on," Seokjin grinned, tugging a little at the bottom of Taehyung's shirt. He continued to lead Taehyung down the path, helping Taehyung jump over the gravel as if it was rivers. Taehyung couldn't help but smile as they eventually had to cross a few small streams that seemed to be part of an old watering system. All in all, this part of the garden seemed ancient. The way it was decorated and built wasn't anything like Taehyung knew people to arrange gardens anymore.