Gardens of Love ➬ yoonmin

18

🌪

Yoongi was sick.

Very sick.

It seemed like nothing but a common cold at first, however, as the week went by, his condition only worsened. The king had been refusing rest and medical attention throughout the first few days, though when he nearly fainted in front of all the nobles at court, his protests were futile.

He now laid in bed, his reddish hair plastered against his forehead by sweat and his milky skin even paler than usual. Court physicians had been rushing in and out of his room for three days nows, feeding him all sorts of herbs and remedies, yet nothing seemed to restore the king's health.

The stress wasn't making his situation any better, either.

It didn't matter how, but people had already found out about Yoongi's condition. Word traveled fast around the palace, and as far as people were concerned, the king was now lying on his death bed, or would be soon.

And all without a heir to the throne.

Seoyun was perfectly capable of ruling the country, but then again, other rulers would not see her fit as a queen, and would therefore try to claim the throne.

Which that meant war.

His country wasn't prepared for a war. Even their allies wouldn't hesitate to join the fight over the claim of the throne if or when Yoongi died. The amount of land a country owned was never too much, on the contrary, it was always too little.

Yoongi had never felt more useless in his entire life. It was rare for him to feel content with his duties as king, even when they were properly accomplished. He always wanted to do more.

Yet now, all he could do was lie in bed and drown down his painful little whimpers and try not squirm as less as possible.

Seoyun sat on a stool by his side, her hand on top of her husband's. Her eyes were wet with tears as she stroked the hand with her thumb. She didn't love Yoongi, but he was her friend, at least had been somewhere along the way.

For the past half hour, Yoongi mumble incoherent words, barely opening his eyes at all, which is why Seoyun was almost shocked when he breathed out his lover's name.

"Yoongi?," she whispered, pressing a wet towel to the king's forehead.

"Bring him to me, please," he begged, his voice hoarse.

Under any other circumstances, Seoyun would've denied his wish. Now, as she looked at Yoongi, who gazed back at her with pleading eyes, her heart broke. She knew what he was thinking at once. Yoongi was afraid he might never see Jimin again.

She didn't even have it her to be envious right now; she had to sneak Jimin into Yoongi's chambers, no matter what.

•

Jimin's recent newfound knowledge of the secret passages hidden between the walls of the palace had come in handy as he and Seoyun sneaked into Yoongi's room that night.

Ever since his fight with Taehyung, Jimin had been attending to the gardens in the palace more often, so it wasn't difficult to locate him.

Jimin was shocked by the invitation, especially since it came from his lover's wife, but he asked no questions.

Seeing as he wasn't voicing any worries about Yoongi, the queen assumed he didn't know anything about her husband's ill condition, but she didn't have the heart to tell him. How could you tell someone their beloved was dying?

Neither of them uttered a word during the short time the spent together to reach Yoongi's room. Once there, Seoyun glanced back at Jimin once before pushing the wall open.

Had Yoongi not been agonizing and squirming on his bed, Jimin would've stayed rooted on the spot to gaze around the room with marvel. The walls were covered with wine red wall paper and the wooden floor with carpet of the same color. To his left, there was a balcony, the curtains slid open to let in the dim light of the blue moon, and on the other side of the room was a desk with several stacks of papers and dry ink drops on it.

Right in the center of the room was a canopy bed, with the fluffiest pillows Jimin had ever seen, and red curtains with golden patterns engraved on them and golden laces on the sides.

There was Yoongi.

Barely holding himself up as he laid back on the bed, he held out a hand as a signal for Jimin to come closer.

Trembling, Jimin started towards his lover. "My god, Yoongi..." he whispered, his voice shaking while a lump made its way up his throat.

"It's okay," Yoongi mouthed, taking Jimin's hand into his. He looked back at Seoyun and mouthed his thanks, to which she answered with a sad smile before turning around to leave. Jimin kneeled down besides Yoongi's bed and cupped his face with his free hand.

Jimin was at a lost for words as he looked at Yoongi, tears already prickling at the corner of his eyes. It was silent between them for some time, Jimin looking at Yoongi with pure sadness and fear in his eyes, until Yoongi finally took one of the many rings he always wore around his finger and slid it into Jimin's ring finger.

"I'm sorry," was all Yoongi could say before Jimin burst into tears.

He didn't need to explain for the fairy to understand what he was apologizing.

"P-please don't l-leave me, Yoongi," Jimin sobbed, taking Yoongi's hand to press it against his cheek. Yoongi smiled sadly at him and squeezed the fairy's hand with all his strength.

"Promise me you won't ever take that ring off, Jimin, promise me you'll take good care of it," Jimin nodded against Yoongi's hand. "And promise me," he went on, his voice hoarse and thick with emotion, "that you won't forget about me."

"I p-promise!" Jimin choked out, pressing a loud kiss to Yoongi's hand before throwing himself onto his beloved to sob into his shoulder, his whole body shaking.

It wasn't long before Jimin felt the king shake below him with almost as much intensity as himself. Yoongi's quiet sobs followed shortly after.

Jimin couldn't possibly begin to imagine losing Yoongi to death, it was too much to bear.

So he decided he wasn't going to lose.

He refused to let Yoongi go. He'd do whatever was in his power to keep Yoongi alive for as long as he could, even if he had to use magic for it.

No matter what it took, Jimin would not let Yoongi die.