ELVEN | K.TH

32

RINEI

Someone touches me softly awake.

My eyes burst open. And I jerk up from the bed, realizing that I'd somehow fallen back asleep while he'd gone. Taehyung is looking at me, a lovely smile on his lips.

I blush heavily as I nearly fly off the bed.

Stupid sleepyhead. Wasn't sleeping through the night enough for you?

"I brought some things." He says, the same time I notice a pile of food on the countertop. On the small table in the corner of the cottage, I see a carefully prepared plate of breakfast.

"For you."

Thank...you, I sign, blinking dazedly. You made this?

He nods, looking a little proud of himself as he settles into the seat opposite mine. The plate is heaped with bacon and eggs, with toasted slices of bread slathered with jam.

I can't help but laugh when I imagine Taehyung, a piece of bread tucked between his fingertips as he glazes it with a delicate layer of strawberry.

I didn't know you knew how to...

I stop signing. Of course he did— he still had to eat, didn't he? But maybe I'd thought the royal Family had chefs who would prepare their food for them.

But he says something that throws me off completely.

"I learned, from watching you and your family."

My hand pauses midair, eyes wide.

You watched us eat? When?

"Rinei, I..." He hesitates, lips pursing.

Then he takes a shallow breath.

"I watched over you. Every single day, for the last seven years. I came whenever I could, just so I could see you. And I learned the things that you like— the things you don't like."

He returns my gaze.

"Elves cannot eat the way humans do. But I know you like these things. I've seen the way your eyes light up whenever your mother cooks these for you."

His expression turns slightly worried. And he leans in a little closer, his fingers crossing over each other.

"How is it? This is my first try, so please forgive me if it—"

I shovel a huge bite of bacon and eggs into my mouth in answer.

Tae, I can't believe you came to see me since I was a kid. And I didn't even know until a month or two ago.

He crosses his arms over the table, tucking his chin in the middle. Then he looks up at me.

"I was always too afraid."

Of what?

"Of showing myself." He murmurs. "Because I believed your memories might return if you saw me— if you recognized me. And I also believed I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you ever came to hate me."

I put my fork down.

I wouldn't have hated you.

"I know. But I wasn't sure."

He sighs. "You have no idea, Rinei. Just how many times I hesitated, how much I wanted you. How painful it was to only be able to see you from afar."

"How many times I couldn't say a simple hi to you. If you hadn't wandered into the Elven Forests that day and scared me half to death, it still might've been that way."