“...
You are here again,
so realistic,
just, the golden dawn 
takes you away 
in the morning...

Be here now,
not there,
where there is nothing
but stars
and emptiness...
...” 
― Zorica Savron, Only for You, My Love: Love Poetry

 

“Do you still worry about him, sister?”

 

Sooyoung tucks the folded note with parched, burnt edges as its saffron hue was highlighted in the candlelight flame underneath her feathered pillow. Scribbled expeditiously were the initials J.H.S on the folded crease by the scarlet stamp splattered on the parchment, and she looks back up at her sister blinking her eyes innocently and a faded smile on her pretty, youthful face.

 

“Of course, Chaeyoung-unnie. Whether we admit it or not, we always worry about Jimin-oppa’s safety when he is away from home. We know his wandering spirit lingers too close to trouble sometimes.” She clears as she turns around and rests her back against her wooden bed frame, fidgeting with the cotton material of her ivory coloured nightdress.

 

      Chaeyoung frowns and sighs tiredly as she knows that something is wrong with her sister, and that her younger sister thinks she doesn’t notice, but she notices so many things people don’t even look at, and that Sooyoung thinks Chaeyoung doesn’t care about anything either. Sooyoung never runs out of things to say, as she is a fountain of relentless and natural wisdom without effort even at her young age. For her to suddenly build up her walls and cut off communication with her dear, older sister broke her heart, yet she didn’t know how she could bring things back to how they were. When she cares about everything and anything that she comes across.

 

Brushing her pristine, dainty fingers between her luscious, ruby locks behind the nook of her earlobes, she sits up from her queen-sized mattress to join her sister on her own bed, and locks her younger sister in a warm, tight embrace cuddling underneath their hickory wool blankets. The younger shifts in her mattress, and tucks her head on Chaeyoung’s shoulder, her back pressing against her older sister’s chest, and suddenly everything feels right again. When it’s clearly not.

 

War is lingering closer than they would like to believe. But it’s coming. The tension between the Hanyang and Haeyang clans are brewing more intensely and violently than they ever have been in centuries since they had been first established, and both are becoming more secretive, furtive than ever before.

 

The faint scent of lavender lingers, and Chaeyoung quietly smiles as she softly brushes the tip of her nose against Sooyoung’s forehead. Suddenly, she is reminded of the times they were little fiery haired girls in their frilly, vibrant gowns sneaking barefoot in the green, mossy grass getting dirt stuck between their tiny toes, and giggling mischievously while their Septa Hyoyeon struggles to keep up with them panting in heavy breaths.

 

    “For all the predicaments Jimin-oppa causes all of us, he is still, of course our brother. He is our flesh and blood, and all that we have. Deep inside, he only has good intentions for all of us, even if his methods of showing so aren’t the most practical.” Chaeyoung shakes her head cheekily, and the sisters break out into laughter as they toss and turn against the wool bed covers. Playfully, Sooyoung grabs the closest feather pillow and s it gratingly into Chaeyoung’s face, who grips it in return and shoves it towards her torso as the snowy tufts fly around them like the first snowfall.

 

Their laughter suddenly halts, and the two lie around stunned in silence, having so much to say but not knowing how to say them.

 

    “W- Will we still be able to talk like this? After you marry the Crown Prince? When you become Crown Princess, are you still my sister? ” Sooyoung asks hesitantly, and the moment she starts talking, she regrets she even opened .

    

    “That’s nonsense, Sooyoung! We all know it’s not me who he will choose, but Lady Kang Seulgi will be the future Crown Princess.” Chaeyoung responds pointedly, the volume of her voice gradually becoming louder as her tone becomes colder and less intimate and affectionate as she usually is.

 

    “But Lady Kang is from a minor house from the Haeyang faction, for goodness’ sake! Father said they were insane for taking such a huge risk like that when they were given the chance to best represent their house-”

 

    “Sooyoung, we know that even if the King and his councilors will pressure Crown Prince Chanyeol to choose me because it would be a more critically important power move for the Royal House to take- he will regret choosing me in the first place!” Chaeyoung sharply cuts off her younger sister aggressively as her usually pale, ghastly skin reddens to the same shade as her crimson hair as anger takes over her like never before.

 

She looks away in shame and turns her body against her sister, facing outwards towards the open window that exposed a clear view of the haunting, exquisite moon off the corner of the willow tree as she is ashamed that things have turned out this way but there is nothing she can do.

 

Things have never been the same since Chaeyoung, as the eldest daughter of the Hanyang clan, had been chosen by her father and the clan council unanimously as the Hanyang candidate for Crown Princess. It felt like they had suddenly put up opaque blinds in front of her and shunned her from the rest of the world as they had clearly paved her future up for a lifetime of nameless politics and figurative, powerless pretending dressing up as if she had control about anything that happened in the country when she would just become a pretty pawn in their games.

 

     What most broke her heart was how it seemed to put things between her and Sooyoung out of a sudden. They were sisters, of course! They vowed with pinky promises at their young ages that they would not let anything get in the way of their honesty, trust and confidence in one another, but she just speaks less and less and doing more pretending to be who she’s expected to be not the true Chaeyoung that only Sooyoung could know so well. Not even her older brother Jimin bring her out of her true shell.

 

Chaeyoung was to become the clan’s new piece in their intricate, complicated, and long ongoing game that is beyond sudden actions and weaved into subtleties and secrets unheard and unspoken of in the royal courts, but what about Sooyoung?

 

Who was she now that her older sister has become so much more than just “one of Leader Park’s daughters’”? Now, that her sister has such a divine future ahead of her- she was just there, stuck in the same routine of education, limitations and mimicry of the noble, submissive women before her?

 

    “I’m sorry, Sooyoung-ah. I can’t believe I’m becoming like this-”

 

    “Don’t worry, unnie- I understand. Father expects a lot from you and mother expects twice as much from you.”

Tears brim in the corner of her eyes, and Chaeyoung quickly wipes her tears against the lace collars of her nightgown. Sooyoung looks up at her with sympathy and tucks her in a tight, meaningful embrace.

 

    “Let’s just hope Jimin-oppa comes home safely, and we can start anew tomorrow, alright?"

 

    “Alright, unnie. As you wish.” Sooyoung grins, and Chaeyoung half-heartedly smiled back, before sitting up from the corner of the bed to blow the light out from the flame of their melting candle.

 

    “Good night, eonnie. We have a long day ahead of us.”

 

    “We definitely do, little bird. Good night, Sooyoung-ah.”

 

Chaeyoung wishes she slept peacefully and effortlessly after all of the exhausting, draining lessons and protocol she took during the day, but as she wept and whimpered under her sheets, she got no glimpse of darkness nor rest other than the encompassing shadows around her.

 

…

 

    Seulgi knows it’s wrong. But she can’t get enough. Enough of him.

 

The stars have aligned against them, and the universe has plotted its coordinates opposite their direction, when even from the beginning- they were already destined to never be together. Or if they were- it would never end on a good note.

 

She had accepted her duty, her role and her purpose to serve the family and bring honour to her house that has not seen the light of day on the noble courts in ages since her ancestors’ glory days. She, who was born on the day when the sun shone the brightest and on the longest summer, was fated to bring her family back to its prime and see its kingdom rise again.

 

Seulgi, was chosen to proudly carry her faction’s banner and close the gap between what they have been waiting for years, and the possibility of it happening by becoming the Haeyang candidate for Crown Princess to be the Crown Prince’s future wife.

 

Yet like all tragedies, all was not well and that was not she realized she was called to do.

 

Years and years of her life have been dedicated to fulfilling her duty, training and studying hours and hours to become the perfect noble lady, and it has been ingrained in her that she is everything a noble father would want and everything the Haeyang clan needs to reign supreme over the kingdom once again.

 

All of a sudden, the impenetrable, murky night shade that has clouded her vision and troubled her inhibitions and beliefs have left her and suddenly she sees the light. There is more to her than a pawn and a future breeder that will supply the future line of figureheads who hold relatively no power other than the symbolism they hold when they are tied by the councils who have a secure grip around them.

 

What is duty? What is honour? What is glory? What is wealth? What is stable comfort? What is all of that when there is love and nothing as pure and true and rewarding as love in this sinful, immoral world full of criminals and sinners and lovers?

 

It consumes her completely. It engulfs her raw and entirely, and she can’t seem to get enough. It is a flame that has burst into a wildfire, and has broken down and eradicated everything she thought before and everything she used to believe in.

 

Park Jimin crashes into Seulgi’s life like a whirlwind, and everything has changed to the point nothing seems the same or right or wrong anymore. All of her senses are stimulated, and her mind is frantically hectic yet occupied and all over the place all at the same time.

 

She has never wanted to be the cliche, yet here she was - love at first sight, and it has changed her completely. Gone was the girl who was satisfied and fulfilled being the girl others had always wanted to be, and just wanted to make others happy without thought of her own, when all of her judgements, care for anyone’s opinions about her life and her choices were nowhere to be seen.

 

Her life had been completely mapped out for her - she was a fortnight away from officially becoming the Haeyang clan’s candidate for the Crown Prince Chanyeol’s future wife and consort The Crown Princess. Hailing from a minor house of moderate financial standing yet pristine, immaculate, and exceeding superiority in lineage and bloodlines, she used to be willing to become her family’s tool to reinstate the Kang clan’s preeminence in the power play in Westeros.

 

Seulgi was no longer that girl. She knew who she wanted to be, and with whom she wanted to be. She was drawn, attracted, and enamored unconditionally and intimately with Park Jimin. From the moment he had taken off his mask and revealed his handsome, picturesque face, her breath was drawn and her heart beat so fast she could hear it so clearly and loudly.

 

Her eyes met his, and history was made. Both were frozen, fixed and rooted in their positions from across the crowded, heated room as swirls of activity, chatter, laughter and music clouded them, but to them there was no one else who could catch their attention. Seulgi was Jimin’s as much as Jimin was Seulgi’s.

 

If only a gentle yet secure tug on Seulgi’s wrist by the Crown Prince had not stolen the Lady Kang from Jimin’s clear, yet hidden perspective, and his heart sunk as the two were deeply involved in timely, choreographer movements in tune with the harmonious, elegant music in the banquet hall. He thought she didn’t care and that she had forgotten all about him for this dashingly handsome, tall, and admired prince, yet if only he had known he was all that she had thought about, and that to her- there was no one else.

 

She had waited until the Crown Prince had gracefully finished his third round of choreographed dances with her and brushed his plump lips gently against her bruised knuckles before she attentively curtsies gripping the peach tassels etched into the silk material by her hips, and placidly sneaks her way among the crowd to meet Jimin hidden in the shadows of the corridors away from the banquet hall.

 

Jimin was determined he was going to wait. He wasn’t going to let go and give up this time, now that he had finally found the one for him, and would go to the ends of the world to be with her and make her happy. Just as he had crossed party lines and risked his allegiance and bloodlines to find the one he was destined for.

 

     He patiently waited behind the marbled pillar, eagerly peeking through as he clung tightly, and cautiously ensured no one has spotted or figured out his identity. She leaves the rowdy, bustling crowd unnoticed, and she runs, not caring the loud clatter of the sole of her shoes, and reaches to interlaced her fingers with his.

 

Her heart leaps with such joy beyond reason or human comprehension, and she becomes self-conscious, coy and almost apprehensive around him because she has never felt such bliss and elation in her life with someone who finally understands her and someone has such a deep connection with her arduous being.

 

They make their way in the deep encompasses of the convoluting, whirling maze of cerulean hydrangeas , and white-yellow roses, hand in hand, tightening their grip on one another as the cold, evening breeze brushes through them in the night haze.

 

The smoldering, murky nightfall clouds eclipse as the gloom hovers over them, and the roaring, booming sound of thunder erupts in their ears as they canter to take cover before the pouring rainfall soaks them completely.

 

    “Never have I been as in love with anyone as I have been with you, my most gracious lady.” Jimin clears his throat as his cheeks fluster in rosy adoration and admiration for his new found love, and his eyes sparked in blinded fondness.

 

Digging in his coat’s pocket, he reaches for a cluster of untouched, beauteous lilac roses, freshly plucked with beads of dewdrop on its petals, tied together with a golden ribbon and its stinging thorns scraping his calloused fingers as he bends its stem and forms a crown of roses across her head.

 

The corner of slid upwards as she crinkles her eyes in pure glee, and bares the apple of her cheeks with a broad smile as she delights in the crown of roses Jimin circles around the crown of her head. She softly grasps her lithe fingers around his wrist, and tenderly tugs his palm to caress her ample cheeks.

 

    “Where have you been all my life? Had I meet you so many years before, we would have been happily wed from early in our youth.” She murmurs dolefully as she tilts her head closer to his intimate touch, and he looks back at her with wistful, nostalgic, tear filled eyes.

 

    “We are from opposite worlds never meant to cross, my sweet love. They had kept us apart because of silly allegiances and loyalties that are only superficial and man-made. They had done all they can to keep us apart, yet we have defied the odds.”

 

    “Oh, my love-”

 

Jimin leans in and touches his lips against Seulgi’s passionately and assertively, his hands lingering around her waist as she moans in approval as their teeth clash aggressively while their tongues sloppily wrangle in dominance. He loses control of himself and his emotions, and how at this moment, he wants nothing else for this to continue eternally, and that he spends the rest of his life loving his Seulgi.

 

     The moment he whiffs a trace of luscious, sweet lavender from her pinned up hair, he gets a flash of familiarity and amenity like she had always been in his life, and that scent is what he would like to smell every morning, every day and every night of his life.

 

She shuts her eyes in passion as her cheeks flush, and her breathing becoming deeper and more irregular as she finds a way to take in more oxygen in the heated moment.  Her fingers knot in Jimin’s thick, silky, mauve hair as he leads her towards the marble, Ionic column of the pavilion, her pressing against the chilled sensation as he pins his arms over his shoulder.

 

All of a sudden, the sound of abrupt, vociferous footsteps pounding into the harsh metal tiles interrupt their moment of isolation, as they quickly jump away from one another in dread of being caught, suspiciously with hair tangled, lips swollen and plumply red, with pupils dilated as they catch their uneven breaths.

 

     “Lord Park Jimin?” Taehyung questions in distress and confusion, staring at the two lovers with wide eyes and a gaped, open mouth as the drenching rain soaked his entire body as beads of raindrops cascade like minuscule drops below him.

 

Jimin cannot find himself to look at him, or even Jungkook. How could he have lied to the two people he trusted the most? How could he tell them that he forgot about that Yerim girl so quickly, and moved on to another Haeyang lady - Lady Kang Seulgi, the Haeyang candidate for Crown Princess? How could he have ignored the fact that they could have never been together, as she is officially already the Crown Prince’s, even before any official statements or decisions between the two candidates.

 

It all comes rushing in to realization and awareness to Seulgi. It makes things crystal clear that Jimin is a true Hanyang, sworn and the future of her enemy faction, and the leader of the pack who have rivaled her own for centuries.

 

      "Lady Kang Seulgi, w-we apologize, but we will have to take Lord Park with us before we get caught by officials.” Jungkook mutters sluggishly, clearing his throat as he quietly speaks over the thunderous rain pouring over the covered pavilion.

 

Seulgi doesn’t want this moment to end so soon when it just began for her. But she is no fool - she knows, keeping him here longer will only risk his life and his future, and completely eradicate the possibility of them seeing together again and ban their relationship forever.

 

She knows she will have to take a moment of pain and separation for a lifetime of affection, intimacy and companionship.

 

    “Of course, Lord Jeon and Lord Kim. Take my love to safety, but as long as you promise me to keep an open line of communication between the both of us-”

 

    “But, my love - I cannot bare to be apart from you after an eternity of separation and isolation-” Jimin disagrees in alarm, his voice wavering in disheartenment and worry as he grasps her wrist gently, yet she tugs away immediately and turns away, facing her back against him.

 

She looks down at her miserable, lifeless reflection, a murky, deep pond filled with floating water lilies and maroons reeds as a flood of embarrassment and shame comes across her. Only a shell of who she used to be was looking back at her. 

 

    “Please, Jimin - This is for the better of us. If you would be caught now, the Hand of the King, Lord Kim will punish you greatly. I will send a dear friend of mine to deliver letters between us I promise!” Seulgi promises, her voice sounding confident, even if she was truly shaky and skeptical about the grand affirmation she is most likely never going to fulfill as tears dropped from her eyes and she wiped them off clandestinely.

 

    “Do you promise?”

 

    “I promise with all my heart, Jimin. Now, please - go!”

 

Jungkook begins to make his way down the railed staircase and dash through the dusk darkness through the vineyard gardens, yet turned around and grabbed Jimin gratingly by the shoulder once he realized the heir had been frozen in his spot in resistance, not wanting to leave the love of his life.

 

    “Jimin-hyung, we have to go. We don’t want to get caught and risk our lives even further. Us being here is already disruptive and treacherous enough for the sake of the faction and your family.”

 

Taehyung looks at him with sorrowful, sympathetic eyes, and suddenly to Jimin, his pale skin and translucent, platinum blond hair made him look like an angel of peace and tranquility picking him up in the gates of heaven.

 

To him, it felt like him and Jungkook were evangelists, heralds of the devil himself sent to tear him away from the love of his life.

 

Jimin closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly before fluttering his eyes open to take one last look at Seulgi before their indefinite period of separation.

 

   “Hyung, we have to go-”

 

    “I know.”

 

Like a thief in the night, the trio disappears, nowhere to be seen, out of sight and out of mind without any trace of sound that they were even there.

 

The hidden shadows continue to hover around the pavilion, as the prevailing pattering of the rain echoes like a timely clock. The pond unwaveringly swallows around her, while the auroral glint of the fireflies brings light to the seemingly eternal darkness.

 

Seulgi sniffles as her face contorts in anguish and melancholy, as she falls to the ground and her knees hit the cold, marmoreal ground.

 

A wretched sob of affliction and convulsion reiterates repeatedly, as the haunting scintillation of the pure moonlight illuminates over her.

 

…

 

Kim Seokjin looked like the splitting image of the Hand of the King Kim Jaejoong, and that when he looked at his own father, it was like he was looking at his own mirror reflection. The same platinum blond hair, charming, mischievous cobalt eyes, and a nearly identical handsome face.

 

They never talked about how he was closest in nature to his mother, Taeyeon. He carried around with him the same aura of delicacy, surreal, and unworldliness with the same empty glances of ambiguous curiosity and inarticulate presence.

 

     However, his ability to mask his intentions and appear to be less than he actually is was his own. His sharpness of wit, his cunning deviance and ease in playing a role where he will always win by catching his opposition off guard was an ability he crafted in his own time and intentions.

 

As the middle child of the second most powerful man in the kingdom, there were already numerous responsibilities in the family’s political and power landscape that were taken before he was even born.

 

The eldest, Joonmyun, was wise, sensible, well read, and armed in both fighting and the role he is to fill in succeeding his father. Seokjin had always had a sense of respect and admiration for his older brother, and how in his eyes, he has brought nothing but honour and glory to their noble house.

 

     It just pains him how he never got to see past the surface, past the rehearsed front, and what everyone expects him to be. How he never heard any insecurities, any worries, any true feelings or concerns or how his brother really felt. He never felt like he knew his brother at all.

 

What about Taehyung? Oh, Taehyung. He wasn’t even supposed to be considered to be called his brother, what more a part of his family, because he was no true born. He was a bastard, of course.

 

As a matter of fact, Taehyung was the unfortunate casualty of their father’s drunken encounter with the kingdom’s most desirable courtesan, who had lost the most prestigious of her customers once the news had spread of her blond haired offspring, and died miserable and penniless of pneumonia on the streets shortly after her son had been forcefully taken away from her.

 

If he had to look at it that way, Taehyung was the greatest accident that had occurred in his life, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

The youngest, Jennie, was the creme of the crop and the only daughter in the family, and was appropriately treated as such. With her mother’s petite, sickly frame, but her father’s self-absorbed pride and egoism weaved intricately in her light caramel hair and Arctic ice blue eyes, Seokjin found no way to confide in her either.

 

Jennie believed Seokjin to be sacrilegious and blasphemous to the family name for taking in and treating the half-breed kindly as if they were pure siblings. She was horribly ashamed at how Seokijn looked the most like a Velaryon, the finest of both his parents, yet in nature resembled neither.

 

What Seokjin will never tell anyone is how Jennie loathes how Taehyung was half of a Velaryon as she was, but looked hundredfold more like one that she ever will be. If anyone else found out and she knew that it had come from him, all hell would open and she would never forgive him again. Even worse, she refuses to acknowledge his sympathy and courtesy to the common folk.

 

Truthfully, he wonders how he found more of a truer sibling in Taehyung than he has ever found in both Joonmyun and Jennie, and how fate is full of irony everywhere you find it.

 

If Seokjin with his light coloured hair was the sun, Min Yoongi was the moon in his raven colouring. The two were raised from the cradle, side by side, as they learned to crawl, walk, talk, were tutored and educated alongside each other for years and years that they can’t remember any time apart since.

 

They had ridden their first horses together, run around in the fields and manors of their estates as their septas and maestors had gone worry sick looking for them as they schemed and plotted their hiding games in the midst of their youth and naivety.

 

They knew each other’s most hidden secrets, knew their strengths, their interests, passions, tales of foolishness and stories that would rather not be told, but most of all knew each other’s weaknesses.

 

Seokjin knew himself in a comfortable degree, and was at an age where he was satisfied with who he was and knew his place, but he knew Yoongi and his darkest secrets even better.

 

    “Lord Kim Seokjin! It would be nothing but a shame if my future wife the Princess and I would leave your manor walls without even the most simplest of farewells from my best friend.” Min Yoongi merrily teases, a sly smirk on his face as he escorts the Grand Princess with a gentle grip on her hand as she gets into the wooden carriage.

 

Broken from his sentimental trance, Seokjin tightens his grip on the barricade of the towering, open panelled windows as he ganders downwards past the spiraling staircase by the front gates, and breaks into a nervous, tremulous grin as he waves at the couple.

 

    “I offer my sincerest apologies, Lord Min! If you and the most gracious Lady, the Grand Princess Seungwan had stayed for the party even a little while longer, I would have given the both of you the most opulent and monumental of departures.” He chuckles heartily, even if his smile doesn’t meet his eyes, but from the distance, they would believe everything he says is nothing but true.

 

    “The both of us wish we could have stayed longer, yet I would have to safely deliver my princess back to the Kingdom before it gets too dark! Perhaps one last time before the wedding, we can arrange a simple brunch or even a cup of tea.”

 

All of a sudden, Seokjin is unable to respond and finds his tongue tangled as the Princess stares at him directly with her captivating, dazzling hazel eyes with a sweet, bashful smile, after hiding her gorgeous face with a silk veil that was brushed away by the robust wind.

 

A pang of elation and bliss yet a coexisting, disappointing realization and defeat brushes through him as he realizes what he has felt and what he has done. One cannot look at their childhood partner for life’s future wife with an expression like that and eyes that cannot talk but express more than words can.

 

He cannot forget his duty, and definitely cannot forget that the Kingdom has brought the two together in a way that nothing can force them apart and bring them asunder. No one can, not even Seokjin can do that. The Princess had married the Warden of the North and the Heir to the largest shipping empire in the Kingdom for obvious, strategic reasons- and that was final. No one can revise an arrangement that has been forged and agreed on before any of them were even on Earth.

 

    “Of course, Lord Min and Her Royal Highness! The two of you have my fondest and sincerest blessings for your prosperous marriage. I am nothing but ecstatic and exhilarated for the both of you. Henceforth, ride now before it is too late!”

 

With a swift nod of recognition from Yoongi, the cavalryman whips the obsidian maned horse into action and the carriage motions away from the manor as the gate swings open for the two to make their way back to the palace.

 

Seokjin walks away, yet turns to look one last time where he had met eyes with the Princess, with a furtive hope inside of him that she was still there. Even with nothing but emptiness in front of him and the usual sounds of the night.

 

Perhaps he wasn’t as comfortable with who he was as he thought he was. How could he forget that Yoongi knew his own weaknesses as much he knew his?

 

...

 

My loves, I have finally returned! I apologize as school has pretty much kept me captive (work has been pretty rough too but it's just a matter of getting used ot it) I will be going away for a trip in a few days as well so I wanted to get this out before I would be away. I'm so excited for what this 2nd act has in store, and the direction it brings our characters in. Another interesting interaction will be occurring next chapter, so do look forward to that! Thanks guy and love you. <3 

 

Song: "With All My Heart" by TVXQ!/ DBSK