HEARTBEAT AWAY || JAEYONG

XXIV [ destined ]

He was following bunnies. They took him deeper in the forrest, speeding up. He had to ran to not to lose the sight of their fluffy tails.

A branch of a tree scratched his cheek, he hissed but didn't stop. He was out of breath but the bunnies were starting to disappear further.

Finally there was a light at the end of the tunnel of the trees. Relief washed over. It was the way out. Follow the bunnies, they said.

Then his path came to an abrupt end when and nearly fell off from the cliff so high he couldn't see the bottom.

He fell on his butt on the cliff, gasping in fright, dress getting dirty in the mud.

"Choose." He heard a voice saying. He looked around.

"You're living a life that wasn't granted for you. The man you love was never supposed to be yours. Think what could happen if everyone found out your secret." The voices kept talking. He couldn't figure out where they were coming from. It was like someone was talking in his head.

"He loves you out of pity. He wants to save the weak. His destiny was to find someone else and that woman is still waiting for him. Yours was to die. Thief. You messed up his life. When he's with you, he'll always feel like something is missing."

"S-stop—" He covered his ears, pulling himself in a ball. His heart hurt.

"You can choose to save the man you love. He'll never be able to truly love you for who you are in reality. Look how he reacted when you touched him. Disgust. Hesitation. Discomfort—" He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head.

"No—t-that's not...right. It's not what I want but...." Reality hit him harshly. "Jaehyun deserves more than just me." Fat tears rolled out of his eyes and left floating in the air. He sobbed.

He blinked. The tears were floating in the air. He poked one with his finger and the droplet broke into smaller pieces, floating away. It wasn't real but it felt so.

A dream.

He stood up and looked down from the cliff, closed his eyes and then, jump. He fell.

The princess shouted. There was a crash and he fell off the bed. He woke up from the dream, heart rate high, tears staining his pretty face. He got up from the floor, trembling.

The door opened noisily and the maid rushed in. "Princess, is everything alright? Why're you on the floor?"

Taeyong hugged the pillow he found on the floor, hiding his face. He nodded his head. He could feel Cho standing closer, giving him eyes of worry.

"It was just a bad dream." But it felt so real. It felt like someone was talking to me.

"Do you want to talk about—"

The door opened again. Taeyong lifted his damp eyes from the pillow.

"What happened here?" Jaehyun arrived, dressed in a robe. He looked worried, eyes searching for any sight of injury or reason for the princess' teary eyes. Oh how Taeyong's heart melted for that look in the prince's eyes.

He always knew he didn't deserve a man like Jaehyun. That they weren't meant for each other, but still, he had wanted to be selfish for once in his life and take the chance to be happy.

Jaehyun came forward and pulled him in his arms, not asking anything. Another shed of tears rolled from his eyes.

The maid left them by themselves.

"I'm sorry..." Taeyong mumbled.

"Why're you apologising? I was already awake, reading a book." Jaehyun pulled his hand over his back, soothing. The pillow was being crushed between them.

He wanted to talk about his dream with Jaehyun but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. He was afraid of losing him.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Jaehyun asked.

Taeyong shook his head.

They walked back towards the palace in the evening after a fun day out at the town. Jaehyun's hand was holding his so gently but firm enough to not let him pull away.

He felt more free in Jaehyun's home than his own but sometimes he also felt not so safe. When Jaehyun was by his side, everywhere they went felt safe but when he was alone, he felt like he didn't belong there.

Jaehyun didn't believe someone had tried to kill him. He was sure he had been poisoned that night of the ball. Why didn't Jaehyun take his words seriously? Why he only told him not to be scared and that he would be always protected?

He had seen the mask at the town again.

"Jaehyun do you believe in destiny?" He asked before they reached the palace.

"I do."

"So you do, huh? I do too, and I also believe we were never destined."

"Why? Don't say that." The prince frowned in concern. "Do you know what I believe? I believe you were meant for me as I was meant for you. It's all about the way point of view."

Taeyong's cheeks heated up. "Y-you really believe that?" He asked, eyes big. Jaehyun booped his nose like he was a baby.

"Ever since I met you, I was sure you were the one for me, Angel. Why do you say the opposite?"

"Um... you know it too. I was meant to die that night. The night I was born."

"Angel..." Jaehyun whined, worried.  "I want you to think like I do. You don't have to bother your pretty head with depressing things. I want you to be happy. Was that the thing what had been bothering you all day? You had acted unlike your usual self."

"I'm sorry. Please, forgive me for acting so strange. I'll do better—"

"No! Don't apologize..." Jaehyun interrupted but then looked around. There was staff in hearing distance. He shouldn't start a rumor.

"We'll continue this in my room." He took the princess' hand and started leading them towards home.

Taeyong felt like crying. Recently he felt so often like crying his eyes out. He was stressed.

"Jaehyun!" They stopped I'm their steps. What a great timing. Soohyun walked to them. "I was waiting for you. I need to have a word with you."

Jaehyun nearly rolled his eyes at his hyung. "Later, okay?"

"No. Right now." Jaehyun couldn't argue that tone of his voice. His sighed and then nodded. He looked at Taeyong on his side, he wanted nothing more than to be with his fiancé and make him forget everything he was worrying about. He couldn't do it now.

"Angel, go to your room, I'll see you later and then we'll talk." Taeyong nodded a little, squeezed his hand a little tighter before letting go. He bowed to the two men and before leaving he shared a lingering eye contact with Jaehyun.

Jaehyun gave him an assuring smile before he turned away.

"Did you have lovers quarrel going on?" Soohyun surprised him with the question.

"Oh- no, nothing like that." He brushed it off with a fake laugh. "She just feels a little stressed about the wedding."

"The crown prince Lee Taemin is here." Soohyun said suddenly.

Jaehyun was startled with the information. He never expected that to be the topic Soohyun wanted to talk about.

Taeyong closed the door after him and was ready to just jump in the bed and cry while waiting for Jaehyun. He was going to do that but he was greatly startled when he set his eyes on the person standing near the window.

The mask.

it's the beginning of the end. what do you think will happen in the next chapter? and I'm sorry that Taeyong was acting so depressed in this chapter, he's stressed out but he'll get over