Serendipity

Trepidation

The visit to the hospital was apparently a big public affair since it was Taehyung's first public appearance as one of the regals, that too for charity. It was all very atypical for him. And it made him anxious. The thing was there were going to be at least 20 kids lining up to meet them, shake their hands, HUG THEM. And the interaction was supposed to be happening in the hospital lobby (a place where Taehyung's worst nightmares belonged), in front of a lot of influential spectators. A lot of unknown people were going to come their way, greeting them, asking them questions. And the security guards around them were not going to do anything to prevent this intrusion, as it was an approved interaction. But he couldn't back off now, could he?

He was deep in thought even while they both were being dressed as per the guidelines given by the spokesperson and were provided with a list of rules and protocols they needed to follow. Jungkook seemed to be okay with it, as for Taehyung, he was struggling, not just with remembering all those rules, but also with holding himself up. So while in transit and once they reached the hospital, he was constantly clinging to the only source of comfort he had there. His fiancé, the Prince. He kept a steady hold on his arm; not just for the act, this time.

And Jungkook could sense it, too. He could sense the nervous twitches, shiver in the fingers, the demanding pressure on his arm. No matter how much the prince loved teasing the scientist and making him squirm due to irritation, he didn't like seeing him in discomfort. So to ease him a little, once in a while he would just squeeze the other's hand, rub his back gently or simply put an arm around him to keep him closer. Frankly speaking, even the prince was not very used to such visits. It was a rare occurrence for him as well. The only time he did such visits was when he had accompanied the queen or his sister. Never had he ever been asked to make an appearance alone.

Well, having the image of the notorious prince, nobody ever expected or rather wanted him to make a solo appearance. And the reason he had such an image was a story for another time. But deep down he truly wished that people didn't believe all these rumours about him, so blindly. As they approached the hospital lobby, he pulled Taehyung by his arm even closer; this time, for his own comfort. Sighing deeply he made his way in where people, cameras and people behind the cameras were waiting for him.

At the end of their visit, everything went surprisingly well. He did have to stop Taehyung from excessively using his hand sanitiser a dozen times, and also had to stop him from almost telling a kid that 'how Santa is not real and how he cannot make him better soon.' And let's not forget the time when Taehyung almost lectured a staff about their lack of knowledge in microbiology. But all in all, it went well. No harm done, Jungkook saved the day. He decided to give himself a pat on the back once they would be done with a small press appearance about the visit. They were made to sit in the director's office while Ms Chung briefed the reporters.

Meanwhil,e Jungkook thought about updating Taehyung about how the reporters can get, and how to dodge the questions politely,After  years of being subjected to controversies, he had learnt this at least.

"Tae, I just wanna give you a heads up that the reporters can get a little loud, they tend to shout question after question and many of them are not even relevant to what we are doing here. Just hold on for a bit, okay? So far you have done well. Just a few more minutes and we will go home, yeah?"

Taehyung looked up from his phone a bit, his face contoured in concentration. He just nodded silently as if he didn't fully understand what the prince had said. He was not one to use his phone very often but he did seem like he was engrossed in something, too deeply. It confused the prince a little but then he thought perhaps it was because of too much social interaction Taehyung must be behaving in such a way.