The day dwindled by. Soon, seven out of the twelve chimes were lit. Jungkook took a seat in front of the cottage. To his left, two red mushrooms with snow-capped heads sprouted up around a patch of composting vegetable peels. Jungkook smiled. Even amidst death, life grows.

He stood and ambled into the house. Taehyung hadn't shown up and yet, unlike two days ago, he felt resigned to admit that there was nothing brewing inside. He wasn't sad. He wasn't happy. He felt nothing. Taehyung had the right to choose. Jungkook would be understanding. But he also wouldn't yet give up.

The following morning, Jungkook slipped out of bed to find Taehyung seated at the table with a large coffee cup in hand. The steam rolled over his nose as he pulled it up to his lips.

Taehyung smiled as he spotted Jungkook standing before the entrance into the hallway. "No work today." He drew the cup back up to his lips. "So let's go see those swans. I've got the perfect place."

Jungkook felt his heart pick up speed. What he wouldn't do to be the reason for Taehyung failing to show up on time for his other compromises.

#

"Jungkook, wait!"

Jungkook turned around to see Taehyung bent over in a huff. "You... can't..." He waved Jungkook over. As Jungkook approached, Taehyung stood and wrapped his hands around the scarf hanging loose over his neck. Jungkook tried not to swallow as Taehyung's knuckles brushed against his linen shirt underneath.

"Make sure you actually keep this tied around your neck. Catching a cold is no good."

Jungkook cocked his head to the side. He wanted to question Taehyung's reason for worrying when nothing but a slight chill embraced their bodies from time to time but he thought better than to doubt his assertions. Taehyung knew this forest better than he could ever imagine.

As they approached a bend in the trees, the sky began to darken. Jungkook's heart picked up speed. A ball of saliva accumulated at the base of his throat. He was about to reach over for a tree when Taehyung's warm fingers wrapped around his wrist. Jungkook looked momentarily startled before he realized that Taehyung had failed to grabbed ahold of the bushes next to him.

"Oh." Taehyung feigned a chuckle. "Sorry."

Jungkook burst into laughter. There was nothing to be afraid of. If that woman wanted him dead right now, she would have to answer to the love he felt this instant.

"How many siblings do you have? I never asked."

The wind carried with it the smell of moss and first frost as Jungkook moved to take a seat on the log next to Taehyung. He wondered if Taehyung remembered how they had first met. More importantly, if he liked to replay it from time to time.

Jungkook lifted up his closed fist.

"None, huh? Me, too. Only child."

Jungkook reached over for a stick but Taehyung continued without pause. "My father was killed in the war against Cves. People thought they could harvest his power. They thought they could control him to get to the center of everything else." Jungkook cautioned himself not to ask dumb questions but he couldn't wrap his head around the name Cves. It sounded similar enough to Cserx but no matter how hard he tried to remember, the memory of that god wouldn't surface, much less provide a reason to correlate the similarity between both names.

Jungkook eyed Taehyung with enlarged, inquisitive eyes. Taehyung's eyebrows shot up over his forehead. "Do you know who Cserx is?"

Jungkoo