Hold My Hand - A Taekook Love Story.

18 - You Were Never Meant To Be Here..

“Taehyung!”

Taehyung looked up from the shelf he was making to see his mother walking towards him, looking like an angry bull. “Yes?”

“Tell that prince of yours to come out of the room and help with chores!”

“My-” Taehyung had to gulp down the lump that had instantly formed inside his throat. “My what?”

“That good for nothing friend you brought! He must be thinking he's the prince of this country and we all are his handmaidens. Tell him that if he wants to stay here, he needs to earn his keep, not sleep till noon! I'm not gonna slave myself for scum like him.”

Taehyung rubbed his forehead with two fingers, letting out an exhausted high. “Mother.. I told you not to call him a scum. He is nothing of the sort.”

“Of course he is but you're too blind to see it!” Hara replied spitefully, before turning around and walking back into the house.

Taehyung kept his tools on the ground, and got up. He was sort of covered with wood dust so he quickly wiped those before entering the house. Once inside the room, he noticed that Jungkook was indeed sleeping, which itself was rather weird because Jungkook was usually the first one to get up these days. He says he likes to have a head start but Taehyung thinks it's because the bedding is not comfortable enough to have a peaceful sleep. Just by these two weeks, the prince already started to have a bit of dark circles on his previously perfectly glowing face.

Taehyung walked towards the prince and kneeled next to him. “Jungkook, wake up.”

After a few seconds of no response, Taehyung called the other's name again. That's when he noticed the prince's hands. One of his palms was facing upwards and Taehyung felt his heart shatter at the sight of the calluses on them.

“Dear God..” Taehyung whispered, while taking the palm in his hand and gently running his fingers over the calluses.

He checked the other hand which looked pretty much the same, if not worse. He was running his finger over the calluses, when Jungkook made a little noise, almost like a whimper.

Taehyung looked up at the other's face, only to see Jungkook already looking back at him. Those starry eyes looked scared, doubtful but mostly, it looked guarded. After a few seconds of pause, Jungkook slowly sat up. Taehyung didn't let go of Jungkook's hands and Jungkook didn't try to pull them back either.

“What happened to your hands?” Taehyung asked in a soft voice, a voice that he had purposefully refrained from using with Jungkook all this while.

“Grinding herbs." Jungkook answered in an equally soft voice. “Namjoon hyung said it will be better in a few days, if I don't work my hand a lot.”

“Hmm…” Taehyung hummed as a reply, still letting his fingers wander over Jungkook's palms. “Kookie?”

“Y-yeah?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Huh? What do you mean-”

Taehyung sighed before gently placing Jungkook's hands on the quilt. “What are you doing here? Why are you in my house like this?”

“I..” Jungkook's eyes started to glisten no matter how hard he tried not to. “Y-you know what father said-”

“You were never meant to come to a place like this, Jungkook. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to this.”

Jungkook and Taehyung stared at each other for a few seconds, before Jungkook broke eye contact and looked down at his lap. “I-I'm s-sorry. I don't want to bother you b-but I don't have anywhere else to go.”

“That's not what I mean, Jungkook.” Taehyung sighed again. “You're not cut out for this life, you do understand that, right?”

Jungkook wiped a tear drop that had started to run down his cheek, before looking up and smiling. “It's not like I have a choice, hyu-”

The word that Jungkook stopped weighed heavy on both their minds. Again, there was silence for a few seconds, before Taehyung got up.

“Well, I think you should go back home. Because if you're staying here, you have to work, just like everyone else. My mother wants you to help her with chores.”

Jungkook quickly got up. “Of course, my apologies. Please tell her that I'll be there in a minute.”

Taehyung watched for a few seconds while Jungkook swiftly folded his bedding and fixed his appearance. Then, without sparing another glance at the elder, Jungkook left the room. Taehyung stayed for about a minute more, before he too, went back to his work.

Neither of them saw the shadow looming outside the window.
   
   
   
   
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Taehyung watched with unemotional eyes as his mother made Jungkook work without a rest for the whole day. First it was sweeping the house, then it's washing pots, then helping with the cooking. Jungkook was blowing into the stove for over an hour, his face red from the heat and covered with soot. He should have used the little metal tube to blow but guess he didn't know that. And Taehyung's mother was not so helpful as to tell him that.

Jungkook goes to help Taehyung's father only for 4 days of the week. The rest 3 days, he's at home where Hara slaves him for almost every work that can be passed on to him. On those 3 days, Jungkook is exhausted to the point of falling asleep the moment his body hits the mattress. But he never says anything. Never complains or even expresses his discomfort in any other way, not that there is anyone to listen, even if he tries.

He silently takes everything, not letting anyone know how his heart wilted with each passing day. 
    
   
   
   
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It has been over a month since Jungkook left the palace, and he could hardly remember the life he had before he came to Taehyung's house. There are occasional moments of weakness where he lets his mind wander to his father and his brother, to Gureum, to the old cook in the kitchen whose daughter was due to give birth to her child right around this time.

To the guard Lee who wounded his leg just a day prior to Jungkook left the palace. Jungkook wondered whether they had to cut the leg, like the physician said or if the wound got healed. Jungkook hoped it did, guard Lee was the sole breadwinner of their family of 10. His children were all very little and his wife has a medical condition that makes her tired easily.

By now, Jungkook had fully adapted to his new life. Working with Namjoon was both interesting and easy, as compared to staying in the house which is an utter nightmare. Jungkook is all but a maid in the Kim household now. He doesn't know whether Taehyung is aware of the abuse Kim Hara is subjecting Jungkook to, because the elder never says anything to his mother about it.

Jungkook had accepted this weird twist of fate in his life. It doesn't help anyone to cry about the injustice of life, you simply just have to do the best with the things you've been given.

They were having dinner one day, when someone knocked on the door. After glancing back at his father, Taehyung went to open the door.

“Hello, Taehyung.”

Jungkook doesn't remember getting up from the floor, nor walking towards the door. But he does remember how Jimin's smiling face changed in an instant, after seeing Jungkook's tears. Even in the faint light given by the single lantern, it wasn't hard to recognise the boiling anger in the newcomer's face.

If looks could kill, Taehyung was sure that he'd be dropping dead right about now. As Jungkook's body shook with silent sobs inside Jimin's embrace, the latter's gaze focused on Taehyung looked absolutely murderous.