UNTILL I MET YOU || JIKOOK

11

JUNGKOOK POV

Like bam, Jungkook never took well to being cooped up.

His father knew it too, and when ever he was in a particularly bad mood, Jungkook's life would get just a bit more constrained.

Growing up, he'd lost count of the number of times he'd been confined to the palace, to his wing, to his rooms.

The king knew just how to make him feel like a caged animal.

So it was no surprise that he felt like a helpless child again when Prince Jimin forbade him from leaving the castle.

Jungkook wasn't sure whether he'd told the guards and the ban would be enforced if he tried to go outside but he wasn't foolish enough to attempt it.

He also wasn't stupid enough to write a letter home asking for his winter clothes to be sent on.

His father would probably have them burned in a fit of anger.

No, Jungkook was stuck inside for the foreseeable future, or at least until the spring came.

He grew more subdued as the days passed, desperately craving open space and fresh air.

It would pass, as it always did, but he hated the constant realization of being trapped, of the walls closing in on him.

So when Ari started talking about the library, he seized on her words,clamoring for a distraction.

"Library?"

She paused mid-sentence.

"Yes, I'm sure you saw it when Jimin showed you around."

Prince Jimin hadn't spent long enough in his company to show him around, except that day he'd 'rescued' him.

"Everything happened so fast," he said instead.

Ari might complain about every one and everything, but she had a soft spot for Jimin.

"I'm not much for reading these days, but it has a compendium of all the royal portraits and paintings," she said.

Ari presently had a fondness for watercolors, though she often seemed frustrated by her own lack of talent.

Jungkook knew how that felt he'd never shown much aptitude for the traditional omega accomplishments.

He was as likely to prick his finger to the point of needing stitches as he was to successfully embroider a cushion, and it was not for lack of tutelage or perseverance.

"I like to read," Jungkook said, wondering if he'd be allowed in the library in the first place and how restricted his reading selection would be.

Hybe had a small omega-approved selection that extended to include educational materials, but all in all, it was poor fare.

He'd survived by pilfering the occasional title and relying on his indulgent tutor to provide him with interesting tomes now and then.

Jihyan had been a good egg who'd done his best to keep Jungkook from the wrath of his father while nurturing his more eclectic interests as far as he could.

Despite how careful he'd been, it hadn't stopped him from being dismissed on Jungkook's fifteenth birthday.

He'd been seen as too soft, too indulgent, not a firm enough guiding hand for an omega only a few years away from marriage.

Jungkook missed him and often wondered where he'd ended up.

It was hard to get a good position when you were let go by the royal family.