Dimensions || taekook

Chapter 20

The days after Taehyung's birthday party were a complete chaos.

The crown prince's father was furious with him for running out on his 'future princess' like that and couldn't go a single day without scolding. The Queen wasn't all too proud of him either but didn't scold him much, understanding that getting married so early wasn't something he could just get used to. She felt sorry for him, however, she couldn't change the King's mind, or the law, for that matter.

Taehyung's and Princess Eunbin's parents had agreed on letting the Jeju kingdom's family stay in Elysium for a week. And Taehyung, already having expected something like this, tried to avoid every single member of that family and his own continuously.

Surprisingly, he didn't feel as devastated as he thought he would. Because there was something entirely else constantly occupying his mind.
And that was Jungkook.

When Jungkook wasn't with him, he constantly floated around in Taehyung's brain like a fresh breeze. No matter what he tried to do, his mind would find a way back to Jungkook.
And it frustrated him. Why was this happening?

The prince's tutor noticed his mental absence during his lessons and could do nothing but sigh mournfully while Taehyung would stroke his quill with the softest smile on his face and his mind completely preoccupied and filled with things that definetely had nothing to do with history, geography, reading or writing.

However, the tutor could not exactly scold the person that would rule Elysium in the future, no matter how much he wanted to. So he simply tried to stay patient and gain the prince's attention through careful words and attemps to knock him out of his daze. Which didn't always work, unfortunately.

Today, Taehyung felt quite exhausted. Due to harpsichord lessons and a double tutoring session, he had not seen Jungkook all day. The latter was on kitchen duty with Jimin so it would take him a while to return and pay Taehyung a visit. Feeling utterly bored, the prince simply walked around the castle trying to avoid people. Especially Eunbin, who had wanted to pay him a visit sometime after lunch.

As horrible as he felt about it, he really could not stand being in her presence. It wasn't her fault, really- she wasn't rude, she didn't say anything to discomfort him and she didn't try to forcefully make physical contact with him. It was purely his thoughts that heavily burdened him, the thought of having to marry this woman and the thought of her expecting him to marry her.
The silence that surrounded them at the table (the only time where he couldn't avoid her) was truly suffocating. For both of them.

Knowing Jungkook's kitchen duty was close to finished, he unintentionally (or intentionally) lurked around in front of the kitchen door, not even knowing what exactly he was doing. Was he so eager to see Jungkook? But why?
If he already yearned so much to be in his presence after only half a day, what would happen if the other got back to his world? Would he die of grief?

As the first servants exited the kitchen, indicating the end of their duty, he quickly hid behind a pillar so he wouldn't get noticed. His heartrate picked up and a sense of excitement filled him. But why?

Loud chatters filled the corridors and Taehyung just now realized how many dozens of people found together every single day to prepare his meals. He had never been inside the kitchen, but he knew Seokjin liked to visit there every once in a while. Maybe he could tell him more about the duties in there. And how did they even make dishes? Taehyung had never done as much as buttered a piece of bread in his life- everything was always done for him.
He wondered how it had been for Jungkook.

Just in that moment, the kitchen door opened for the last time and out stepped Jungkook. But he was not alone. And he was not with Jimin.

Taehyung really didn't know what was wrong with him. Why he suddenly felt dread when he saw the brunette laughing and happily talking to a sweet kitchen lady- one that seemed quite fond of him and stood in close proximity to him. What was this sudden anxiety-like emotion filling his stomach and threatening to mess up his insides?