The Jeon of Jeonseol

38. This is...it's my...

"Aww, my baby," Jeongguk muttered under his breath and leaned down for a kiss, groaning when he got a lick on his mouth instead. 

Right then, Taehyung walked in, ready for wherever they were going, and Jeongguk straightened up right away, looking elsewhere with his hands held behind his back as if he weren't coddling Yeontan just a second ago. 

Taehyung scoffed to himself and picked Yeontan up in his arms. "Come on, let's go," he said. When he reached the car, he suddenly got an idea and stopped, his lips pulling up in a mischievous smile. "Do you wanna learn how to drive my car, Ggukie?" 

Jeongguk's eyes widened and he stumbled as he got into the car, losing his footing and hitting his knee to the base instead. "C-Car?" he asked hesitantly. 

"Of course! I can't let you learn right away in my car, but I'll buy a small car for you. I'll teach you how to drive that first and then we can move to this one, okay?" Taehyung said as he got behind the wheel and handed Yeontan to Jeongguk. 

"Really? Wouldn't that cost you too much?" Jeongguk asked. 

Living so many months in the future had taught him many things, but the biggest of them all was the fact that money was very precious in this century. Nothing happened without money being involved. It wasn't like the fourteenth century anymore where people often did huge things for others just from the good of their heart.  

"Of course not. I can buy you ten cars if you want, so don't worry about that. Just worry about not killing both of us whe-"

"Stop! Don't speak such things. Don't you know what you speak manifests?" 

Taehyung stole a quick glance to check if Jeongguk really was as serious as he sounded, gulping when he realized that he was. "Sorry," he whispered. "But didn't you think of this when you said you'd boil me in a-"

Jeongguk shut his eyes and Taehyung shut his mouth.

Of all the things he knew regarding Jeongguk, the biggest was when to not push his buttons. 

"So where are we going?" 

"I'm not gonna tell you, stop trying!!" 

"Yeontan is curious!" 

Taehyung scoffed. "Then tell him he needs to guess when he sees the place," he said.

Jeongguk frowned. "How am I going to guess any place in this century? Did you lose your mind again?!" 

Taehyung whipped his head towards Jeongguk at that, looking fairly offended. "What do you mean 'again'?!"

Jeongguk took a deep breath and looked out of the window. "Nevermind," he said, his fingers unconsciously going to stroke Yeontan's fur. They stilled after a while when he realized what he was doing, but after realizing that Taehyung wasn't looking at him but at the road instead, he continued his actions. 

It took them quite a while for Taehyung to park his car. A gasp left Jeongguk's lips right as he got off the car and let his eyes wander. 

"What is this?! It looks...it looks...like..." he didn't know how to word it. It neither looked like the buildings he always saw in modern times nor did it look like the buildings that he had grown up seeing. Semi-old maybe?

Taehyung smiled fondly at him before locking the car and joining him. He hooked his arm around Jeongguk's arm and led him in. He didn't say anything. He just let Jeongguk take everything in slack-jawed. 

Jeongguk didn't react too much for the gardens that they passed by, just that they were beautiful, but when they entered the building, a very loud gasp left his mouth. "This is...it's...it's my..."

Taehyung tried very hard to hold his tears in. "It is," he nodded, his lips stretching wide as he watched realization dawn on Jeongguk's face. 

"It is Jeonkungjeon. The Jeon Palace."

Jeongguk almost stumbled as he all but threw Yeontan at Taehyung and ran towards the throne that sat majestically at the end of the hall. 

With his doe eyes as huge as his love for Taehyung, and with tears already flowing down his face, he slowly stroked the handle of the throne and turned around to look at the palace. 

Taehyung didn't know how to describe the pretty stars that shone in Jeongguk's eyes as he slowly stepped up and sat on the throne before letting both of his hands stroke the ends of the hand rests. 

Sitting where he belonged, he looked at Taehyung and gave him a very wet smile before breaking into a new set of tears. This time, Taehyung ran up to the throne and engulfed his lover in a warm hug. Even Yeontan, who was now on Jeongguk's lap, yipped at him, staring up at him with huge sad eyes, manifesting the exact puppy-eyes expression. 

"This is m-my home," Jeongguk cried. 

"Show me around, then," Taehyung said. 

No King ever dared to renovate the Jeon Palace even after the Yang Dynasty conquered the Jeons after Jeongguk's disappearance. The beauty of the palace was such. The palace was preserved as it was for centuries and thus, nothing could have changed much except for the outer compounds and the gardens around the palace. 

Jeongguk sniffled and snuggled deeper into Taehyung's arms. "Thank you for bringing me h-here," he said, more tears flowing down his face. 

Taehyung moved away from Jeongguk and cupped his face, gently wiping his tears off with his thumbs. "What happened to 'men don't cry'?" he asked teasingly, but his voice had enough affection for Jeongguk to not misunderstand. 

"Shut up. All kings bow naked to their queens."

Taehyung chuckled at that and knocked Jeongguk on his head, disturbing his bun slightly. "Are you calling me your queen?! I am your King!!" 

"Sure, Your Majesty," Jeongguk chuckled and got up. "Come on, let me show you around my home," he said and held his hand out for Taehyung to take. 

Taehyung looked down and looked back up with a smile before taking the hand happily. 

"Let's go," he said.