An Ode to Maehwa | kth

Chapter 26: The Sanctuary

As soon as you realised you were in naked (half) man's arms, every red blood cell in you rushed to your cheeks. You quickly pulled away, shifting your eyes away to anywhere but the person in front of you. You recalled how the man looked slender in clothes, but he was truly finely built.

Taehyung, who also realised that you were only wearing your undergarment, now completely soaked wet, revealing your figure more than usual, looked away, his cheeks growing red not only because of the heat of water.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with a slight frustration evident in his tone.

You were silent. You were flustered and you felt like you were in trouble.

"...It's Jungkook isn't it?"

You didn't answer again, but your loud gulp was the same as giving away.

"I thought so."

His low voice was chilling, and you couldn't help but defend Jungkook.

"He was only being nice to me! I told him I wish to take a bath, and he told me I could use this place because everyone was out of the city. So please don't scold him because it's my fault and...!"

Sneeze!

You both were standing in the middle of the bath, both your wet upper body exposed in the air. It was only natural that you felt cold, but your sneeze was so out of place and you felt embarrassed.

Taehyung sighed. "Let's just get dressed first."

Getting up on the deck, you two chose a private space for the both of you to get dressed. Then you realised that you had forgotten to bring a new set of undergarments, meaning there was one less layer for you to wear. Everything seemed to be against you today.

Coming out to the middle of the room, Taehyung noticed and asked.

"What's wrong with you?"

Insecure with a layer less, you were holding yourself closely, looking strange.

"...I forgot to bring some clothes," you murmured shamefully.

Taehyung gave out another loud sigh. You shrunk a little as you felt his approach. Soon enough, you felt a warmth and a slight weight on your shoulders. You were wrapped in Taehyung's purple outer robe.

"No, no, I'm fine!" you tried to remove the robe and return to him, but he snapped back, "are you shameless to walk around the palace looking like that?"

And so you humbly took his kind offer.

"...I thought you were out of the city?" you asked, adjusting in his purple robe so huge for your figure so that you wouldn't drag while you walked. God, the robe looked far more expensive than anything you could ever own. Completely embraced by his robe, the scent mixed with musk, wood and floral brushed your nose making you feel ticklish inside.

"I was. I just got back," he replied as he collected his other belongings from the shelf.

"...Did something happen on your trip?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you looked like you were crying."

Taehyung paused, and slowly turned to look at you. His eyes examining your motive.

"...What did you say?"

"I...I just thought you looked sad...like you were lonely."

He didn't answer. Intimidated by his silent stare, you soon shoved it off, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just imagining things."

Feeling the atmosphere building in awkwardness, you turned, hoping to leave the bath house as quickly as you can. But before you could take another step, Taehyung opened his mouth.

"What would you do if everything you believed was a lie?"

You slowly turned around, facing the person who stood there unmoving. His eyes were dark with a flash of nudity, but they were too complex for you to discern.

"...What?"

"What if one day you realised that the love you've been receiving, that you never doubted its genuineness, was actually underlying with another motive—was all a lie?"

As much as he tried to suppress, his trembling voice was laced with pain from the betrayal, disappointment and hollowness.

You didn't know what he had gone through, you were clueless of what he was asking. But...

"...I would believe in my past self."

"...Past self?"

You nodded. "What happened in the past, is in the past. The feelings that I felt back then were genuine and true. Rather than scanning through every past with doubt and smudging them with pain, I'd keep my good memories that my past self felt as they are...because otherwise that would be like betraying who I was, and isn't that too...bitter?"

Taehyung was silently staring at you without even a flinch, and you added, "the past memories are to be cherished. Rather, it's more of what you will do in the future, no?"

Your words sounded too optimistic to Taehyung's ears.

The new found realisation in the Western State had engulfed him in murky fog, coiling in his heart heavily. But your stupidly merry words casually slapped at the fog, chasing away from where it was sure to stay.

So what if it was a lie? Sure, the stinging pain can't be ignored.

But the warm feeling that he once felt, the bright smile that came from the bottom of his heart—those, too, were nothing but the evidence he lived to the fullest.

He wasn't going to snatch those away—those were to be safely sealed with his inner child.

Taehyung felt his weight lifted.

At the back of his mind, he knew that coming to the royal bath was the right choice he made. Not because of the hot water that relaxes muscles, not because of the beautifully allocated natural sceneries pleasing to the eyes—but unexpectedly because of this person standing in front of him.

A/N:

I had this emotion and feeling in my mind that I wanted to express, and GOd, it was so hard to put down in words...I'm not very sure of how I did it, but I hope you get a fragment of it ;_;