The Jester | K.TH

Chapter 18 "I Love You"

Our lips touched and suddenly I had forgotten about the hell I had just lived through.  It felt like the world stopped spinning, like time was standing still, just for the two of us.  I swear at that moment I could fly. 

He slowly pulled his lips away and rested his forehead on mine. 

"You're so beautiful." He whispered as he gently kissed me again.

No earthly words can explain how my soul felt. His warm embrace quieted any fear I once had.  I.....I felt....complete. 

The fire began to slowly die and the cave grew darker. 

"I'm going to go get some more wood. I'll be right back, ok?" Taehyung said to me as he walked towards the entrance.

I nodded in response.

I walked around the space in which he had been calling home for so long, taking it all in.  As I passed the pile of blankets he used as a bed I saw a small fabric doll with red string hair, wearing a pink flower dress with a little blue apron. I bent over and picked it up and slowly looked it over. 

"What are you doing?" He said in his deep voice. 

"What is this?" I said with a smile on my face while turning around to look at him. 

"Oh. Um.  That was.."

"Lilly's, wasn't it?" I cut him off. 

"Yeah." He replied shyly. 

"I had one just like it when I was a little girl.  My parents didn't have much when I was growing up, so one year for Christmas my mom made a doll, just for me, with the random scraps she had around the house.  I cherished that doll.  I took her everywhere." I remembered fondly. 

"I'm sorry, Tae, for what happened to Lilly." I said to him. 

I could see the pain on his face. 

"Yeah. Me too."

We sat in silence for a while.  I could tell he was thinking about her.  He still yearned for her, but he had me in front of him.  I didn't know what I was to him, but I knew that Lilly wasn't all he thought of anymore.  He saved me, protected me and called me his.  Somewhere on this road he found a new direction.  Maybe it would only last for a little while, but for right now I had everything I didn't even know I needed.  But In that moment I realized someone else didn't have everything......

"I need to go see Jin.  Eric....he called him. I, I just don't want him to worry anymore." I said to Taehyung. 

He seemed taken back by my statement.

"Why would you need to do that?" He asked defensively. 

"Tae, he's a good man and he doesn't deserve to wonder what happened to me.  He's in pain.  You of all people should understand that."

"So you're saying he loves you?"

Loves me..... I was taken back by his words, but I could feel my face turning red. 

"I don't know how he feels anymore. But regardless, I need to see him."

"Ok, I understand." He replied, still unhappy with my request. 

"I'll be back. I promise."

"Ember!" He called out to me as I was walking away. 

"Yes?"

"Just..... Be careful." Tae said.

"I will."

~~~~~