If Only I'd Met You Earlier♡ •Ot7•

22. Trial

Those pin-drop-silent minutes felt like hours, where I stood rooted in my place, equidistant from both of them. I didn't want to see a sadness on either of their faces.

It felt more like a trial than anything.

On one hand was the man who tried his best to make me feel loved, the man who waited for this through out his life, the man who I was pledged to as the Queen of his domain. The one who made sure he treated me right. The same man who was ready to give his only ever love up for his brother's happiness but the one I should be with. A betrothed kin.

And on the other hand was the first and only man who ever made my heart skip more than a beat at once, the man who protected me when I was in need, the man who fell in love for the first time ever but with the wrong woman, the man who- who was also willing to give up his love for his brother's happiness but the one who I shouldn't be with. A forbidden kin.

I knew nothing about what was right and what was wrong, I only knew that I couldn't let myself bring even an ounce of dejection to either of them.

"Aeyooooo~" Hoseok's voice pierced through the silence, "Nawww you guys didn't just start the drama without the audience!!!" He walked into the thick tention with unnecessary excitement cutting right through it. Pulling out a chair, he seated himself in the middle of the room like the director of a movie. "Go on now, speak up, Princess. Pun intended."

"Does anyone else know about what's going on over here?" Namjoon asked, looking at Hoseok with the fire wiped out of his dragon eyes.

"Nope, unfortunately none. So I'm the only one cheering our little girl here." He softly gestured his hand in my direction.

"Don't be an arson, Hobi. There is no requirement of fumingthe fire anymore than what it already is. Don't meddle in with this matter." Jungkook's blunt comment almost took him by suprise.

"Agh, no no! You're taking me wrong my brother. I'm just here to enjoy the drama that's beginning to unfold." He smiled gently, placing one of his palms over his chest.

"What is wrong with you? Why are you behaving like this, Hoseok? It's not funny!!" I spoke up next, only to be shut when he suddenly stood up from his seat with his arms crossed.

"And that- my deary Y/n, is my point!" He still smiled, but with eyes wide, "This is not at all funny, this is not something that should have happened. It's not a doll's play where you choose the prince you like for her then switch him up the next minute."

"W-what do you mean?" Jungkook asked.

"What I mean is, this is going to alter every single shred of our existence so far and what is coming beyond. It was supposed to be Namjoon, but instead it was you, Jungkook, then it was Namjoon. And now there is again a cliff hanger. And this by the way, is toiling all eight of our lives. We don't know how thing will turn after you again change your mind Y/n. You see, it all started going wrong when the outlawed relation between you and Jungkook started forming. Ever since then the trajectory of all out lives is unstable and now, now that finally there is some peace- again." He circled his hand between the three of us. I didn't know how to react to that, so I stayed silent. Namjoon and Jungkook follow suit, "Look Y/n." Hoseok stepped ahead to place his hands on either of my shoulders, a sudden calmness taking over his voice, "I don't mean to scare you or haste your descision, rather I want you to think everything through for this once and for all. It's not only about how it is even unknowingly affecting others but more precisely about how it is affecting both my brother's here." He stretched his hands on either side, as if reaching out for them. I nodded my head slowly, looking only at Hoseok and no one else.

He stepped back, taking the chair back to it's original spot next to the table, "And for the two of you, don't make her stand on such a podium and expect her to announce her will in matter of minutes while you look at her with waiting eyes. It's definitely not easy for her as well-"

"They're coming home-" I announced, on hearing SeokJin's laughter and Ayeon and Jimin's goofing around in the distance. Taehyung's distinct footsteps were approaching way ahead of others while Yoongi's lingered on somewhere between them, "Why are they back soo early?"

"Ohh, our trainee is a fast learner!" Hoseok ruffled my hair, "Even I couldn't have heard them from soo far without a deliberately concious mind. Oh and, get ready. We're going out on Ayeong's demand."

------

Minutes later, I found myself in the backseat of a closed Jeep, squashed tightly between Ayeong and Jimin who had a minor argument about some colour of Jimin's shirt and now they didn't want to sit next to each other. Across from us were Hoseok, Taehyung and Yoongi. Jungkook sat knee folded against the thick metal partition that seperated us from the divers compartment where Namjoon and SeokJin sat.

Neither Namjoon nor Jungkook had spoken a word to me, probably because of Hoseok's request before we left from home, to not do anything that would affect my decision. At least Jungkook had given up on ignoring me anymore, our rapid fire back in the cabin made it clear that he too, still cared. From the second we sat in the jeep to that moment, Jungkook's eyes had barely looked away from me or my constricted movements.

Except for Yoongi and Jimin who were busy talking about his garage work, all the others sitting in that compartment knew about Jungkook and me so it only became easy for him to keep staring at me and bring back to my stomach, all those velvet winged butterflies I missed soo much.

I flicked my eyes to Hoseok who's head rested on the frame behind him. As if his gut told him that I was looking, he looked right at me before switching his gaze to Jungkook who was still staring at me. I switched to Jungkook before Hoseok could catch me again, but he did look back with a knowing smile which made me scoff hard, harder than what I could disguise as a cough-

"Jimin, how did you manage to get off work soo early today?" I asked, slapping his knees before anyone could ask me if I was okay.

"I'm on a half day leave for 'High class reasearch on TMM'." He grinned.

"Sneaky bastard!" Taehyung laughed.

"HiGh cLAsS rEasEarcHh oN TmM" Ayeong mocked his tone to annoy him.

"Youuu-!!" Jimin got triggered immediately, but before anything else could happen, the jeep came to a sudden halt which propelled us all forward followed by all of us laughing.

A strong knock came from the front compartment followed by SeokJin's voice, "We're here! Get out of the vehicle now, kiddos."

We silently hopped out one after the other. Jungkook was the last to move, Ayeong beat me on our way out to go annoy Jimin even more which made me the second last to leave, that was... right before Jungkook.

The heat from his gaze was already enough to burn holes into my back and that added to his body heat that was growing against me as he approached was surely going to give me third degree burns. A light yet hot feathery touch grazed the small of my back that was exposed from where my top had lifted over my skin, "Let's get down, Areum, everyone's waiting." He whispered into my ear. The warmth in his voice travelled down my entire body, straight to my toes and back up which made me realise I had frozen on my spot, paralyzed by whatever his attention was doing to me.

He rubbed a small circle where his hand still remained on my skin, sending a high voltage current down my spine. It took me great amount of self control to not turn around and crush my lips to his, all I wanted in that moment was to feel his warm touches against my skin.

With poise, I forcefully nodded my head and stepped down to meet Hoseok whose lips were pulled up in triangle shape and arms were crossed. I looked down at floor before long-strides-walk-running to Ayeong's side who had linked her arm with annoyed face Jimin's.

"I told you not to do your luring business!" Hoseok pulled Jungkook's ear.

"Ouchhh! I really didn't do anything! She wasn't moving!" He justified.

"Shut up!"

______

A/n:,

Hopefully updating soon again:)
*Runs away"