SERENDIPITY | jaerosé

0 ♕ PROLOGUE

"Rosé."

Rosé was awakened by a light shake to her arm, followed by a gentle, masculine voice, whispering her name ever so softly as to not completely disrupt her from her state of serenity and comfort.

"Your father requests our presence downstairs."

Reluctantly, Rosé opened her eyes, blinking slowly as she tried to adjust to her surroundings. Around her was an elegant room draped in shades of red and purple; the colors of royalty.

Standing over her lounging figure stood Lee Taeyong, her fiancé.

Rosé groaned, pushing herself up from the velvety white sheets in an attempt to hoist herself off of the large mattress. Taeyong laughed quietly as he watched her struggle, wrapping his hands around her's without any hesitation as he helped her up from their bed.

"I'll meet you downstairs, is that alright?." Taeyong asked, delicacy lacing its way ever so slightly into his voice.

Rosé smiled and nodded her head in approval, and Taeyong proceeded to place a light kiss on her temple before releasing her hands and walking off, closing the door silently behind him.

As Taeyong headed out of their room, Rosé slowly sat back down on the bed, running her hands over the soft velvet sheets.

She then looked over at Taeyong's side of the bed. His imprint in the mattress was still visible from the previous night, and it was a significant distance away from where she herself had been sleeping.

This observation wasn't new, however. It was a daily occurrence.

Every evening, as Rosé and Taeyong settled into the bed they shared together, they made sure to stay a considerable distance away from each other. During the night, they never made any sort of physical contact with each other whatsoever, unless Rosé requested Taeyong's comfort or consolation after experiencing something awful during the day.

Even then, the most Taeyong would do was wrap his arm loosely around Rosé's waist; just enough to make her feel at ease. Just enough to keep that invisible barrier between the two of them.

Why?

It was simple. Rosé and Taeyong weren't in love. No mutual feelings of intimacy or affection; not even one-sided feelings. Nothing.

Growing up, the two had always been close acquaintances; friends, even. Eventually, they became closer through family connections and kingdom meetings.

From the moment Rosé and Taeyong had met, it had always been their parents' intentions to push the two closer together in an attempt to create a mutual love between the two. However, over the entire fourteen years of their lives that they'd known each other, Rosé had never once thought of Taeyong as more than just a family friend; and that, much to the dismay of their families, was the honest, requited feeling the two had - and continued to share - towards each other.

Due to the appalling situation, both Rosé's and Taeyong's parents had taken it upon themselves to force the misplaced love upon them, stirring up a sense of unfamiliarity between the two individuals who had once been at a decent state of comfort with each other.

"It would be highly beneficial for two lovely and attractive royal juniors to be together. It makes our families look better." Rosé's parents had said, constructing excuses as artistically as they could to convince Rosé and her soon-to-be husband.

Rosé had protested of course, as had Taeyong, but it was no use. Just like that, the two were engaged to each other nearly two months prior to the present day; only a week after Rosé had finished her final academy courses. To this day, Rosé still felt the same way as she had the day her parents had announced that she would be marrying Taeyong; helpless and foreign to the world around her.

It wasn't because there was a flaw in his nature; he was virtuous, compliant, and easy to get along with. In addition, he was intelligent, hard working, and very well educated.

Lee Taeyong was unmistakably husband material; however, he wasn't what Rosé wanted. No matter how unexplainably perfect he was, he didn't seem to have what she wanted. Something was missing; something Rosé needed to complete the missing puzzle piece in her life.

It wasn't because Rosé had high expectations either. She couldn't explain her reasons for not loving Taeyong; not when even she herself was questioning why she hadn't fallen in love with him yet. He was undeniably handsome, and his traits were desirable, so why didn't she love him? Why couldn't she love him?

Of course, Rosé wasn't one to talk, especially not when Taeyong was in a situation much worse than hers.

Upon discovering the news about his mandatory marriage with Rosé, Taeyong had been forced to break up with his girlfriend of three years. Jennie Kim - Taeyong's first and truest love - was a clever and loyal girl from a long line of royal descendants with a mysterious personality and a carefree attitude; something Taeyong's parents had disapproved of from the start of their relationship. She was one of Rosé's closest friends, and was part of the reason why Rosé and Taeyong had eventually grown from family acquaintances to amiable companions.

Over the years, Jennie had been nothing short of a devoted, loving girlfriend towards Taeyong. Although she had constantly gotten the two of them into trouble, she had constantly gotten away with it, knowing that Taeyong would be unable to object due to his strong love and affection towards her. The two had been as dysfunctional as a couple could get, but neither one of them had cared. Other people's opinions didn't seem to matter when the two of them were together.

Now, everything was ruined. Taeyong was in a thoroughly distressed state, working his way around his schedule in order to meet with Jennie as much as he possibly could without any of their parents finding out. He had never fallen out of love with Jennie, and he hadn't planned on it any time soon.

Rosé despised the situation that they were stuck in. She was only nineteen; she had never been able to experience true love, nor had she had the chance to make her own decisions about her life even once.

At this point, Rosé had put all of her trust into a single element: hope.

Hope could show her parents their wrongdoing. Hope could bring Taeyong and Jennie back together. Hope could realize that everything in the world was wrong and had to be fixed.

Little did she realize, hope would lead her to the one who could fulfill her dreams.