Unbinding Tradition

130. A Pause Between Heartbeats 💓

🌿 Before you dive into today's chapter... 🌿

After yesterday's heart-tugging farewell of our beloved Jiminee, I know many of your hearts are still heavy - and so is mine. 💔 Thank you for holding her hand till the very end of her journey with love, tears, and warmth.

Now before you scroll ahead, please do leave plenty of comments 📝 and votes ⭐ - they mean the world to me!
Tell me how you felt, what stayed with you, and what you think might come next... I read every single one of your words.

Let's keep this world alive together... 💌
Now, go on-open the next page. 🌙✨

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The morning sun rose, but without the usual gold of celebration.
The Jeon Residence, once echoing with laughter and wedding songs, now sighed under the weight of quiet goodbyes.

The fragrance of kesar doodh and freshly made bajra rotis lingered in the air, but no one truly tasted the food. People ate because they had to, because their journey back home awaited them.

The wedding was over.
And like all endings, it left behind a strange void... the kind that fills a home right after the music stops playing.

In the main hall, relatives gathered with folded hands, offering their farewells to the Jeon family. Old aunties blessed the house, children waved hands absentmindedly, and men spoke in quiet tones, reminiscing about the grandness of the night.

Jungkook sat back on the couch, his kurta slightly wrinkled, his hair ruffled, his face unreadable.

Next to him, Mr. Kim sipped his tea, the silence between them no longer awkward, but heavy with unspoken things.

After a pause, Mr. Kim cleared his throat and said gently,

Mr Kim- We will also leave by afternoon, Jamai-sa.

Jungkook's eyes lifted. He looked at him briefly and nodded once, his voice coming as a low hum,

Jk- Hmm.

In the background, the sound of vessels clinking came to a halt.

Tae stood at the dining area, wiping the wooden surface. Her back had stiffened, and though her head was slightly bowed, her eyes were set with quiet determination.

She turned around slowly, hands still holding the cloth, and said with a calmness that betrayed her inner turmoil,

Tae- Bapu-sa, I will also come with you.

The words dropped like a stone in still water.

Jungkook's head turned sharply to face her.

That gaze.
The one that could make a thousand things burn in silence.
It landed on her. Hard.

But Tae didn't flinch.

Mr. Kim blinked in surprise but said with a smile,

Mr Kim- Of course, Lado.

But Jungkook's voice-sharp, clipped, and rigid-cut through the moment.

Jk- She is not going anywhere. She will stay here only.

A chill passed. Even the wind outside stilled.

But Tae said nothing.

She quietly placed the cloth down on the side of the table and walked away.

The bedroom door creaked open.

She entered.

Everything in the room still smelled of the wedding-flowers wilting on the side table, the bedsheet slightly crumpled, perfume still hanging in the corners.