Red Lotus [kv]❤️

SEVENTEEN

|A HAPPY ENDING|
☘☘☘

From the distance, Taehyung watches the crowned prince talking to a woman in the garden, her clothes screaming royalty, there's an elegance in the way she talks, and she laughs. 

Something curls in him. He hugs himself and looks down at his feet. He is nothing like that woman. He doesn't have that elegance and he isn't a royal, unlike the woman. She is a vampire princess, a dominant one while he is just a normal vampire. 

Why is he even comparing himself with her? With someone so mighty. He looks away, wanting to curl somewhere in the corner so he just wraps his hands around himself instead. 

Taehyung glances at them one last time and slowly retreats inside the palace with a sour mood and a heavy heart. 

"Is that princess very close to prince Jeongguk?" Taehyung asks, climbing on the bed as Jimin watches him settling in the middle and grabbing a pillow to put it on his lap. 

Jimin sits on the bed and smiles, "She is." And he sees the light in Taehyung's eyes dimming a little. "They are more like siblings, baby." He tells him, reaching for the younger one's hands. 

"Princess Jookyung practically grew up with Jeongguk." 

Taehyung looks toward the window instead, eyes brimming with something Jimin knows so well. Insecurity, discomfort. His words don't assure Taehyung's heart. It ain't enough. The assurance isn't there. The 18-year-old carrier slowly shifts his gaze to the tea table, there's a book on it and the dried lotus inside as a bookmark. 

Prince Jeongguk gave him that lotus. He reminds himself. But does Jeongguk give Princess Jookyung flowers too? The thought is there in the back of his mind. Booming irritatingly.   

Jimin glances at him, sadly. 

He flinches when a rumble is heard, wide startled eyes settling on the balcony to see the wind furiously rushing in, blowing the curtains wildly. And another thunder, the lightning piercing the night sky before his eyes. He grips the pillow tight and gulps. 

Jimin looks out the window, "I think rain is gonna start. Strangely, the weather was good just a few hours ago." He mumbles and stands up, going to each window and the balcony to shut them. 

Jimin turns to face Taehyung and sees the boy already lying on the bed and pulling the blanket over his head. "Don't you want to hear the story we left last night?" He asks, walking towards the bed. 

Taehyung shakes his head under the cover. Jimin heaves out with a small smile and nods, "Okay then. Good night, baby." He bends, kissing Taehyung's head over the cover. 

When Jimin leaves there is another thunderstrike. Taehyung curls under the blankets, a few drops of tears escaping from the corner of his eyes. He sobs. Why is he so pathetic? Why does a mere thunder strike terrify him? It's terrifying how every strike feels like it is going to fall on him. Like he is bared for nature's wrath. 

He flinches when another thunder hits. He reaches to cover his head with his hands as he begins to tremble. He cries, eyes shutting closed and only one person's face is shining in the dark maze. 

"Prince," Taehyung calls in a weak and low whisper that no one can hear. 

☘☘☘

"You look weak, Jeongguk," Jookyung states, eyeing his face. "Aren't you getting your daily beauty enhancer?" She arches an eyebrow, playful. 

Jeongguk laughs, throwing a leg over the other, and shakes his head, "No. It's not like that." He says, looking at the red wine in his glass on the slab. He looks back at the princess and smiles, "I'm on fast."