Sweet Catastrophe

Chapter 9

The moon had shined bright in The Land of Light. A worried Jungkook was awaiting the return of his Princess whom had been gone since this morning. He had looked out of the balcony window for a while, viewing the formation of the rocks that he and her used to gaze at together. Suddenly, the Golden Knight saw dust form on the cobblestone road along with a horse commencing towards the castle at a brisk pace. It was ______.

As she dismounted the handsome horse, she grabbed it's rails and walked it into the stable side by side. Jungkook quickly made his way to greet her. He entered noisily into the stable where she treated the horse with sugar cubes. Seeing him, ______ gave a simple greeting but nothing more. Seeing him was a constant reminder of the part of her she hated.

"They didn't send you a cab?", he asked.

"The Land of Darkness is old fashioned like that. Horses are the main use of transportation there, don't you remember?" She spoke highly.

"But sending you back without an escort is a little---"

She jumped in rebuttal to his words. "Oh, my companion is this fellow here!" She patted the white horse with a proud smile. "Prince Jimin gave me this as a gift. Isn't he beautiful?"

The horse was a sight to behold. It was entirely white with a strong frame and heathy coat. It's blue eyes looked as if it could read into your soul. By far, in comparison to the other horses in the stable, this breed was the highlight of them all.

"Princess", he began, too impressed by her gift to break into a scold. "What were you doing today that made you come home so late?"

"I was at Jimin's castle," she stammered. "I told you that I'd be there yesterday."

"And nowhere else?" He demanded.

"No", was the heated reply.

There was a brief moment of silence. Jungkook didn't want to argue with her. Lately it had seemed that they couldn't even converse without bickering, so instead the loyal Knight took a deep breath to release his anxiety.

"What was his home like?"

"Much bigger than ours", she answered immediately. " Their kingdom is not as advanced as ours, but it has a vintage charm to it that makes me feel like I'm in a movie. And the people are all clothed and comfortable - for the most part."

"Is that it?" He grinned. "Doesn't sound like much fun."

"But it was! There's this cave towards the rocks we used to look at. The Prince took me inside and guess what was there?" She asked but answered with no needed reply. "Crystals! Millions of them! Different types too, and each type had a different color." The Princess shuffled through her bag and took out the gems. "See? He told me I could keep some in memory of our meeting."

Jungkook wanted to tell her she admitted to being somewhere else besides his castle, but refused to argue. ______ looked so happy that hurting her would do him more bad than good. Though, he was jealous in the fun she had without him and envied the relationship she had no made with The Prince.

Jungkook helped bring the horse in the stall, hoping to have further conversation. "I was looking outside the balcony and saw the moonstones reflecting off the sun. They're even brighter than usual tonight."

"Are they? I haven't noticed." She replied uninterested in his whereabouts.

Jungkook closed the gate and escorted her out. "Or perhasp you didn't bother to notice."

The Princess laughed without giving a proper reply. She had only looked out towards the stars and sighed.

Without wasting time, Jungkook grabbed her hand: "Look at them with me.", he sweetly asked as his brown eyes tried to bring out the childhood connection they had before. But the princess was tired, and in no mood to do anything more than sleep. Excusing herself, she walked ahead of him peevishly.

"Perhasp another time. I've been walking, swimming, and riding more than any athlete would consider."

Jungkook held in his tongue. His heart aches and his jaw clenched. He knew he was foolishly attached to her, yet he couldn't find the strength to neglect her. The princess though, knew she was guilty of neglecting him and so her heart ached too, perhasp maybe more than his did.

______ stopped and turned her head to face her childhood companion. "Jungkook?"

He looked up to her.

"Do you think..." She tried looking strong through her guilt. "...you can play the piano again for me? I haven't heard you play in a while and I remember being able to fall asleep when you sung along to it..."

A genuine smile formed on his lips. Though he was thrilled, the sensation just made his heart beat harder. It hurt, but it was a good kind of hurting. Jungkook raced off to her and walked her into the castle side by side.

In the library, ______ took a seat on the large leather chair as a maid made her a cup of tea. The princess made sure she would make Jungkook a cup as well. There was a kind of mutual respect she had for him. Though he was a constant reminder of the mistakes she made, she still cared for him. ______ knew carrying on like this would make things more difficult, she couldn't resist his charms. This was the boy she used to love. The difference was that she accepted that their relationship could never happily exist, while he disputed it.

The keys of the piano played a soft ballad, composed by the Knight himself. Truly, he was talented in anything he set his mind to. Swordsmanship, chivalry, art, piano, vocals, dancing... He was the perfect gentleman. So why? Why did it have to be this way between them?

{The long night is following you as it flows.
Time follows you and fades.
Why are you getting farther away?
So far that I can't reach you?
Tell me why, you're so far away, why?
Can't you see me in your eyes anymore? }