The Light in the Dark

Chapter 5: Shattered

Note: Sorry for the late upload! This is sort of a filler, but I promise the next chapter will be satisfying:)

Prince Seokjin leaves the dinner table quickly after his Father dismisses him. The Prince waves his guards off, signaling them to leave him as he takes the flight of stairs up to his brother's hallway.

Skipping meals, locking himself in his room, disrespecting our family... The list of his brother's actions goes on and on in his head. He's tried his best to lead an example for him to follow, but the kid is so damn ignorant and selfish to even care. Seokjin has had enough with his behavior, and he only wants to save his ass before his parents do something about it.

He reaches Taehyung's hallway and finds it completely deserted. No guards either! What is his problem?

The Prince's marches towards his brother's door and barges in. Taehyung is sitting in a chair before a painting. He whips his head around with surprise, a scowl soon forming on his face. "Nice of you to knock."

"What the fuck are you doing?" Seokjin stomps toward him getting a better look at what's in front of him. A painting of a black rose with protruding red streaks covered the canvas. His brother wore a white shirt with smudges of paint covering the front of him.

"Painting," his brothers sasses back, as if it weren't obvious.

"You need to get your act together," he yells, trying to peel Taehyung's eyes off of his art. How can he just ignore me like that! "You don't do shit for this family--all you do is hide away and--and paint. You're lucky mom and dad haven't thrown you on streets!"

"If you only came here to ridicule me then I'm going to kindly ask you to leave. I don't want to hear what I already know," he continues to paint.

Seokjin is fuming. He snatches the brush out of his brother's hands and throws it across the room.

"What the fu--" Taehyung begins, but is cut off short when his brother grabs his shirt and forces him into the wall. The neck of his shirt is balled into Seokjin's fist while it presses into his chest hard.

"Shut up! Your party is in two days, and by then I better see all of this paint and all of your attitude gone or else--"

"Or else what?" Taehyung challenges, panting hard at his brother's sudden rage. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'll fucking kill you if it means keeping our families dignity," Seokjin says through gritted teeth. "If you mess up our family name, you won't live to see it fall apart."

Taehyung wants to fire back, but the seriousness in his brother's tone only makes him hit a barrier of realization--no one in his family cares about him. Seokjin is saying all of this, posing like he cares about Taehyung getting his act together, when it's only all about keeping their family in high ranks against the other kingdoms. He's knows that if the Kim family possesses a deranged member, they'll be looked at as weak.

Well, deranged in his family's eyes.

Taehyung sees his actions as a way a living somewhere outside of a royal concept--a normal life.

That's all he's ever wanted; a life with no expectations, no fake smiles, no fake love, and just a way to express yourself freely.

But he can't have that here.

And that is exactly the reason Taehyung has been looking for to explain his interest in Jungkook. The boy lives such an innocent and normal life. He can go out and get dead drunk with no worries of shaming his family. He attends his job and does what he's told. He's a good person.