Rosy ashes [j.jk ff.]

e i g h t

"Fuck!" Jungkook's voice bellowed through the silence in his chambers, as he threw yet another flowerpot against the wall, the pot shattering into a million pieces upon contact with the unforgiving wall. Amidst the dirt lay just another dead seedling. The last days, desperation had kicked in for Jungkook. He didn't seem to make any progress at the rose front and now to top it all off, his mother caught wind of the situation as well. 

She didn't know that he had hurt the princess, Yeri hadn't broken her promise of staying silent, but the queen had noticed, that the girl had built up walls that weren't there before and that she and the prince didn't talk anymore. She had tried talking to the girl before, but Yeri always politely declined, saying that she was awfully busy. Busy doing what, she could never answer, though. That's why she approached Jungkook now.

"Is everything alright with you and the princess, Jungkook? She seems to avoid everyone and she looks unhappy" her mother had asked him when he was walking by the library, where she often read with Namjoon. Jungkook flinched at the question, but he nodded lightly, reassuring his mother with a forced smile and a lie, before quickly walking off. As Jungkook stared down at the broken flower pot, remembering his rather one-sided conversation with his mother, he could only think of one more solution. He could not give life, only destroy. He could not even grow a single flower. 

So with his fire, he began to shape a single rose out of a pink candle that he found lying around. He tried so hard to make it perfect, to make it look like her roses. He knew he could not make his deeds undone that way, he could only hope that the princess saw his efforts. Jungkook felt lighter when he held the cold clump of wax in his hands, he felt a little more at ease and the first smile since that dreadful day crept on his face when it was finally to his satisfaction.  He was determined to give it to the princess immediately, but when he found her in the gardens, sitting with his head-guard in the grass, his determination wavered. She looked happy, Hoseok forging beautiful shapes out of metal, which he let the princess play with. 

Jungkook didn't want to disturb her peace, didn't want to see her smile fall from her face when he appeared in front of her, so he retreated. For the first time ever, he noticed how close Hoseok and the princess have gotten. He had mixed feelings about their friendship. On his way back to his chambers, he walked past her door and after a moment of hesitation, he opened it. The absence of flowers felt like a kick in his crown jewels. He just stood there for a second, before he slowly made his way over to her bed, placing the rose on her pillow. It really stood out in between the silk light blue sheets and he smiled a little before he tiptoed out of the room. 

Yeri was more than tired when she finally returned to her chambers. She waddled to her bed immediately, not caring about the dirty dress she still wore and flopped down on her bed. Her eyes shot open in confusion, however, as she felt something poke her belly and she rolled around to look what it was. On one of her pillows was a little wax rose and Yeri stared at it in confusion. Did Hobi make this? Yeri carefully examined the intricate pink rose, a small smile playing on her lips, as she realized who it must be from. Hobi is bad with anything that isn't metal, he once told her, so this could only leave- 

A big grin stole itself on her lips and she carefully put the prince's little wax rose on the nightstand. As she stared at it, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was actually sorry for what he did. Maybe he actually had a heart after all. Yeri didn't know what this meant and she didn't want to interpret too much into his action, but she just hoped that there would be progress and that they could at least develop a friendship if they had to stay together forever. The small glimmer of hope that had almost been stomped out by Jungkook, grew a little bit in size again and soon enough Yeri fell asleep. At least for now she was a little happy. 

The next morning Jungkook ran into the princess in the stables. She was just coming out of Nix' box when he entered. Both froze when they saw each other, an awkward and tense atmosphere hung heavily in the air. "G-good morning" Jungkook mumbled before he escaped into the box of his own horse. Yeri was shocked as she heard the prince greet her for the time. The princess hesitated when she reached the door, turning around again to stare at the closed box where she could hear Jungkook talk softly to his mare. 

She stepped closer timidly and pushed the door open a little, finding Jungkook on the horses back, braiding her forelock. He looked up in surprise as the princess awkwardly shuffled inside. "Did you leave the rose on my pillow?" She asked, straightforward and Jungkook froze. He nodded curtly, not giving any verbal answer. "Why?" she asked quietly, silence once again settling in. The only noise came from the black horse for a while and Yeri was just about to turn around and leave, when she finally received an answer. 

"I didn't want to be a monster in your eyes, that's not what I am, Yeri."

This was so hard to write, I was having a little bit of a writer's block, so I'm really sorry if this chapter isn't that great. I still hope you liked it tho and please comment and vote if you did! I'll try to update faster next time, I promise! Goodbye, my lovelies!