With a small huff, Jarim dropped the books and novels she had been carrying onto the table.
The engineering student was done with her classes for the day, and what better than curl up and read? The Royal Library was home to thousands of books, and what more could anyone want?
The Queen had informed her daughter-in-law that she would teach her more royal etiquette when she thought was suitable and when she wasn't busy.
At first, Jarim had been slightly puzzled at why her mother-in-law would be so occupied. Then, she remembered the several rumours that whispered across the palace by attendants. The fact that Prince Hyunjin could possibly be crowned King in just a few months.
Jarim's heart sank. She was sure that after he was crowned, he would divorce her.
You got yourself into this mess, you'll deal with the consequences.
Shaking her head as though to rid herself of the negative thoughts that ran through her mind, Jarim returned to her reading, carefully turning the pages of the book as though it were an antique piece.
Her eyes scanned each and every word, savouring the plot line as she wished she could be the protagonist in the novel, brave enough to speak her mind.
"Do you not ever leave this place?"
Jarim looked up, smiling softly towards Hyunjin as he approached her, pulling out a chair and eyeing the title of the novel. The first time he had spoken to her in days.
"If it were possible," The girl leaned back in her seat. "I would never leave! I would stay sleepless just to finish the books,"
Hyunjin glanced around the library. He had taken most of his classes in the chamber, and the memories were not exactly pleasant as he despised studying in general and the fact that he didn't have his best friends with him wasn't any fun either.
After he had finished his classes and had grown older, moving onto more royal duties, the Prince had avoided the room, not wanting to be pushed into reading by his parents.
"You're still reading romances?" The blond stood up, planting his palms either side of Jarim as he examined the sentences in front of her, unaware that she had frozen at the sudden closeness.
"'There's a flame between us, and I pray that it never burns out'" Hyunjin's smooth voice read out the sentence close to Jarim's ear, and she could feel his hot breath fanning her neck.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Jarim spoke quietly.
The boy was silent for a minute, regarding the quote as well as his wife's own take on it.
"Yes," He murmered, glancing at Jarim, who swallowed as she faced her husband's stare. "I suppose it is,"
The pair couldn't take their eyes off of each other, both still in the same position. Jarim observed her husband's dark, onyx eyes and how they could display his emotions so vividly, even if they were the colour of night. Her gaze flitted from his smooth, blond hair, pushed back by a hairband, to the small mole underneath his eye. Exactly where her's was.
Until she settled on his lips.
His pink, plump, soft, lovely lips.
Hyunjin's gaze fell upon Jarim's own rosy lips, and for a moment, he thought of what it would be like to kiss her.
"Hyunjin!"
Hyunjin's palms leaped off of the table, stumbling back into a bookshelf whilst Jarim stood up from her seat, patting down any invisible wrinkles on her plaid pants, a light pink dusted on her cheeks.
Chan and Changbin hurried into view as their eyes mirrored panic and anxiety as they addressed the Prince.
"What's going on?" Hyunjin was smoothing out his hair as he turned into 'Prince-mode', a sharp gaze upon his two best friends and bodyguards.
"Um," Chan mumbled. "Well- "
"Bae Jiwoo's back," Changbin gulped as he glanced at Jarim.
"Bae Jiwoo's back, and she wants to see you,"
...
Hyunjin had not spoken to anyone in three days, and Jarim was becoming increasingly worried for the Prince.
It appeared that the situation that they were in was one hidden from the King and Queen. The two Senior Royals simply suspected that their son was just moody.
Jarim was bewildered. She had no clue as to who this Bae Jiwoo was, and the only thing that she could figure out was that she was someone who had a connection to her husband.
So as her and the boys sat inside the Game Room, Jarim conflicted on whether she should voice her confusion out loud.
"You're probably wondering who Bae Jiwoo is, aren't you?" Seungmin glanced at Jarim, who nodded slowly.
"She's someone you all know, isn't she?" Jarim's eyes flickered onto each and every one of them as they inclined their heads.
Felix let out a deep breath. "She's someone we're not particularly fond of,"
"She wasn't the best of people," Minho said, darkly. "She hurt each and every one of us in some way,"
"But, she hurt Hyunjin hyung the most," Jeongin mumbled to his older sister, still looking as puzzled as ever.
"But, what exactly did she do," Jarim asked. "What did she do that make you loathe her so much?"
"She manipulated us," The oldest of the group said quietly as the girl turned to him.
"She manipulated us to the point we thought we would lose Hyunjin,"
