Seoul City

Ch. 28 - The Ring

"Do you wanna see the ring?" Jimin asked with a proud smile, putting down the firewood he'd gathered to rummage through the pocket of his jeans.

That morning, Taehyung had reluctantly followed Jimin into the forest that surrounded the house. Jimin was more than capable of gathering firewood by himself, so Taehyung knew he was being dragged along for an ulterior motive. His suspicion was confirmed when he saw the turquoise box Jimin held in his hands.

Taehyung grunted as he made his way towards where Jimin was standing in the forest, a heavy stack of wood in his hands, "Ahh, so that's why you brought me with you?"

Jimin laughed, "I didn't know if I'd get another chance to show you."

"So, you're seriously going to do this?" Taehyung asked with an incredulous grin, "do you even have a plan?"

"Of course, I have a plan," Jimin scoffed, "and it's going to be romantic as fuck."

Taehyung gave him a doubtful look, before nodding towards the ring box, "show me the ring."

He opened the iconic teal-coloured Tiffany and Co. box with extreme care to reveal the diamond ring that rested within it.

"Holy shit, Jimin! It's huge," Taehyung couldn't help gasping as he stared at the huge, emerald-cut diamond that was surrounded by dozens of smaller diamonds on a magnificent white-gold band.

"It's 4 carats," Jimin boasted, "I had it custom made with one of the designers at Tiffany and Co."

"It must've cost a fortune," Taehyung observed, as the ring caught a ray of sunlight and sparkled blindingly.

"$150,000," Jimin shrugged. That was practically nothing to Jimin whose yearly salary always exceeded millions, but to any normal person, it was an unfathomable price for one piece of jewelry.

Taehyung grinned and shoved him playfully, "As expected of Park Jimin. Where are you proposing?"

"I'll show you," Jimin said with an excited smile as he gestured for Taehyung to follow him through a winding path through the tall trees.

Eventually they reached a large willow tree that stood in the middle of the forest, the only one of its kind amongst a forest of pine trees. Taehyung's brows furrowed in confusion as he followed Jimin, unable to grasp the significance of the location. As they neared the tree, though, Taehyung's eyes focused on the bark, and he finally understood the relevance of it. There, carved onto the pale bark in large, bolded English letters, were the words: Jen + Chim, surrounded by a large heart.

"It's where we had our first kiss," Jimin revealed with a reminiscent smile, "I'm going to carve the words 'marry me' on the other side of the tree and propose."

Taehyung tried his best to control himself but eventually, he burst out into laughter, "Oh my God, that's so cheesy."

Jimin growled at him before trapping him in a headlock, "it's not cheesy, it's romantic. Watch and learn how it's done, boy."

Just as Taehyung unlocked himself from Jimin's hold, heavy drops of rain started to pour down on them. Cracks of thunder rang in their ears and lightning lit up the sky as they rushed towards the lake-house. They quickly ran through the trees and hastily picked up the wood they'd gathered. Not knowing how else to keep the wood dry, they both took off their shirts and wrapped it around the logs before sprinting towards the campsite.

It wasn't a race ... but if it was, Taehyung had won. He reached the campsite (which was understandably empty) first, and transported the logs to safety, inside the house.