CRYSTAL EMPIRE | JINKOOK

TWENTY

Two weeks later...

JungKook hadn't approached Jin, or even tried to, that always put a smile on the face of the dwarf who dared to call himself "Empress". Their encounters, frequent but not very fiery or very lacking in feelings, were beginning to tire the Emperor, they made him question his actions, whether he was right or wrong to treat Jin like a street whore. His wounded pride prevented him from saying more than those words to himself:

'He is to blame' and excused himself behind that trail of smoke that at times lost its density.

'He wanted to murder me'

'It was SeokJin who provoked this.'

'His dagger would have ended my life just as it ended my love for him.'

And maybe he was right, maybe Jin was the absolute culprit, but JungKook was not satisfied with that because in the bottom of his cracked heart was sown the seed of doubt together with that forgotten seed of love that Jin sowed the moment he met him.

"He did it for his son" he reproached himself in an effort to put an end to all that stormy Greek story.

Did Jin really have a son or was it an excuse he made up to try to save himself?

"You would do the same for a son of your own," he said to himself.

Yes, but pride was more powerful than any other thought or resolution.The Emperor noticed that, for several days now, Jin had not shown up for breakfast, lunch or dinner, something that caught his attention and worried him greatly.

Could he be ill?

None of the servants or the palace guards informed him about any inconvenience with the boy, and he thought that maybe it was just because the cheeky Jin could not look him in the eye. Even Taehyung commented to him about the absence of his previous kompos, although he does not remember what he said because that comment was loaded with high-flown words that the Emperor was not used to hearing or saying.

That afternoon, walking through the corridors of the palace he found himself heading for the elusive boy's room, and so deep in thought was he that he did not hear the dispute raging inside. He opened the door and found Taehyung, a servant, and Jin kneeling on the floor beside a basin. The servant did not look healthy, he was pale, with dark circles under his eyes and he looked tired.

"What's going on here," he questioned out of the blue, leaving those present stunned.

"SeokJin," Taehyung replied simply as if that solved any doubts "It seems the little bitch is taking more liberties than he actually possesses."

'You too,' JungKook wanted to reply upon hearing such a crude comment that hurt his ears.

"Young SeokJin is sick apparently," the soft-spoken servant told him coming to the defense of the boy on the floor.

"Bullshit! He's just pretending so JungKook will pity him,"

"Is it recent," he asked the boy back ignoring the third party's scathing comment.

"Well. No," he confessed chagrined and fearful "it's been like this all week but he asked me not to comment,"

"I will assume that no doctor has seen him yet,"