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We may have our differences,

but we all are just troubled teenagers in an adult costume.

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A cold sigh brushed past his lips as his feet stamped their way to the only place he could retire to. Autumn was finally settling in after the last few days of monsoon ended.

The trees were beginning to reign the warm colours and lay as a carpet on the seemingly desolate pavements of Seoul. His boots trod on the soggy red leaves as they became moist after a light afternoon rain that day.

Due to a collaborative project with a company he actively despised, his boss managed to hold him back to do overtime. As a result, he missed all of the buses at this hour and the cab service was shut down.

But at least he got some time alone to reflect on these past few hectic days. His mind was occupied with the project and a certain girl who created a turbulence in his life as soon as she entered.

Frankly, he didn't even know why she was staying at his house. He could kick her out for all he cared but for some unknown hesitance, he couldn't bring himself to do that just yet.

Maybe he wanted to make sure her mental health was all good before she left? Yes, that was it. He just wanted her to leave his house as a normal person.

As he clapped his hands in excitement of having found a reason, his gaze drifted towards a big LED screen on the most expensive building in the district he was residing in. The tiring brightness wasn't what caught his attention but a face of an unequivocal person did.

And that smile immediately morphed into a frown.

His fists clenched at the sight of him smiling so perfectly, as if he had no care in the world. His perfect features and proportions, his ability, everything was faultless. His life was so smooth while he had to walk on burning coal for most of the time, and he had to witness all of this simply because he was the youngest one.

Because...

Taehyung was always envious.

Envious of his surroundings, his friends, his brother. It was just a silly act at first when it first surfaced as a teenager. Taehyung brushed the feeling off and kept it bottled up inside for most of the time. But, every bottle has a limit to what it can store and just like that, the jar of ill feelings finally broke loose.

He was tired being constantly compared to his siblings. First up was his sister, and the second one was his brother. His parents weren't so much proud of his sister because she chose not to follow the old customs of their family and walk on a separate path herself but that was fine, because the line she chose paid well.

But his brother was a goddamn hindrance. An obstacle that changed its difficulty level every time. Somehow, he'd always be better than Taehyung, in every aspect. Even at an early age, his brother excelled at everything and Taehyung was left at scraps to survive. In order to stay and earn his respect in the house, he had to surpass his brother which was next to impossible.

Why?

Because they absolutely detested each other.

They both studied in the same school. Competed for the same spot and moreover, they wrestled each other for being the sole heir of the buisness.

But deep inside, under all those unspoken speeches of equality in their family, he knew his brother would get the spot no matter what. Frankly because, he was elder and was...better than him. Doesn't matter how much he tries to fight that. He would always be running on a path with no destination seen for miles at end.

When the realisation of defeat was finally settling inside the young Taehyung's mind, he found his solace— Park Jimin.

The only friend he got by accident but stayed till the very end.

Jimin succoured Taehyung just because of his status, everyone did. It was all fun and fine in the beginning but then things started to take a turn for the young and gullible boy. He witnessed all of his friend's stages. From aiming to get back at his brother with flourishing rage behind his eyes to his gradually crumbling stupor. And that's when Jimin decided that he'd be the one Taehyung could rely on. He hated himself in the past when he approached him just because he was a chaebol, but somewhere he also thanked himself because he was even able to befriend him.

Senior Kim didn't take much favour to Jimin at first. Solely because he thought he was deviating Taehyung from achieving his life goals which was just endlessly competing for a spot he could never have. But that was not the truth.

Not even an ounce.

He was slowly leading Taehyung on a road where he knew he would end up somewhere, atleast not nowhere. And on that road, they would travel together. Hand in hand with mutual emotions tangled. It was a rough job, assuring Taehyung that contending with his brother would lead him to nothing. The whole South Korea knew that the eldest son of the Kims would snatch the throne, despite of the battling rows of distant generations writhing underneath.

Eventually, his brother would be the heir to the company and Taehyung would land a job in the same company under him and Jimin knew that his friend's ego wouldn't allow that.

Taehyung's brother was incendiary, and Jimin was aware of that.

"Taehyung?"

A feeble voice brought him out of his state. Familiarity gushed through his body as he pivoted back to face a petite woman carrying a bag full of grocery. Shoots of celery peeked out and a lot of other things that were blackened due to the dim streetlight.

Taehyung's eyes widened when he recognised the same smile, body posture and clothing style. The woman was waving back with a smile of mutual recognition and he couldn't help but feel that fate was working under his favour because he was able to bump into her out of all the people at the most improbable place— the streets.

"Mirael?"

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Even though Younggeum wasn't used to cooking by herself, Younha's tutorials were indeed helpful. To be honest, it gets quite lonely after Taehyung departs for work and Younha wasnt always here to accompany her.

Her 'productive' day includes messing about the house, cooking things that only she would end up eating by herself, endless unnecessary cleaning and wandering around along with occasionally piquing out of the window because of her never-ending curiosity about this new world.

It was eleven in the night which was supposed to be Taehyung's bedtime but today, he was nowhere to be seen. Younggeum was perched on one of the seats in the dining table, her one hand supporting her face while the other clutched onto a rusted watch that only she could decipher.

The longer hand of the clock arrived on a grotesque picture of a snake that was supposed to be considered as magnificent in terms of power but the young woman never really preferred the way her people told the time. The smaller hand then displaced bit by bit and her tired pupils couldn't help but insinuate that midnight was slowly approaching.

A click of the door followed by a creak and a voice was what brought back Younggeum from her trance. Her hand slipped off her face and she was just a few inches from smashing into the table.

Thankfully, nothing happened of that sorts. Younggeum's jaw was perfectly fine.

"I'm bac-, uh I think you could really use some sleep right now," was Taehyung's first sentence as soon as he stepped into the kitchen. Her lips curled down in an instant at the response she was not at all expecting from him.

"What about dinner, Mister Kim, should I heat it u-"

"No need," he interrupted whilst swinging his trench coat on the coat hanger, "I had it on my way here with one of my old acquaintances. I'll directly hit the hay now. But thank you for staying up so late for me...even though there was no necessity to do so." He answered and walked to his room without even sparing any glance to the disheartened soul behind him.

As soon as the door shut close with a bang, her shoulders slumped down immediately. She wasn't alone but alone at the same time and she didn't quite get this idea. With a sigh, her feet dragged over the counter as she grabbed the pot which contained Taehyung's favourite food. She specially learnt this from Younha but he didn't even take a look at it.

Younggeum had no choice except to put it into the fridge half-heartedly. Her chest tightened on its own accord when she stared at her time, hardwork and determination sitting in the cold, untouched.

Another sigh escaped past her lips as she closed the door and let her feet pave their way to the only place where she considered it to be her safe haven.

Loud gongs interrupted the serenity that overlapped the house, indicating that midnight had finally arrived. The whole city was in the state of half unconsciousness except one.

Lee Younggeum.

Her upper body leaned against the railing as the land breeze ran past her locks, evacuating any sort of strands from disturbing her. An old clock in hand, Younggeum seemed tranquil on the outside but a raging turmoil was slowly resurfacing within her. The unspoken nudges of her mind had resumed once again and she couldn't be more helpless in that situation.

She couldn't, or wouldn't dare, to speak about this with Taehyung. The latter would only assume she was lying and would even raise peculiar speculations about her instead. She couldn't speak this with Younha as well. She had her own problems to deal with rather than listen to hers.

As a conclusion, Younggeum was left to rot with her problems. She couldn't say it to someone else and burden them and there seemed no reasonable solution to end this as well.

Her eyes fell on the clock as she took in a deep breath. This simple object has been causing so much trouble since the day she found it in the laundry room. She was certain that her memories were fine until this damned object came into the picture. Without her realising, her recollections were slowly slipping away like grains of sand and she was just left with the only memory of who gave her this clock back home.

This word shouldn't get out to Taehyung, lest she wouldn't have a roof above her head until she found a way out.

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Beams of sunlight cascaded through the seemingly bright tents of the local shops and vendors. Hawkers were yelling at the very top of their voices which evicted the probability of the Saturday market to become monotonous. Games that were only won by chance and not wisdom were sprawled out at every corner along with a huge sea of crowd surrounding each booth. Scents of different food items wafted into the air as the loud chatter of the people dissolved in this whole ordered chaos flawlessly.

Amongst the hefty crowd, was a girl wandering about the whole land and was occasionally piquing at the items that were meant for buying. But it wasn't what had drawn her interest, she had them all. Ranging from the finest craftsmanship to the second to none dining obliterating her taste buds every day. However not all of the people go to the market for their needs despite of the inflation in prices touching the ground, some pass by just for a diversion.

Even though all the materialistic things were in her possesion, she wasn't what exactly defined a happy person. Flowers from around the country were just away from a call but she preferred taking them from the royal garden where she was prohibited to, only to escape from the pensive atmosphere engulfing her house.

All of her friends were getting married off and the girl couldn't help but feel a sense of dread approaching her gradually. It was about time when she would be presented with a similar choice and she wouldn't have it the other way than to accept to save her family's face.

Family. This word alone eft a bitter taste in her tongue.

Disguised among the commoners, a male sauntered from shop to shop, asking the shopkeepers about how financially stable were they, though being very subtle about it. A mutual smile appeared on his face when he heard a positive response from most of them but it kept faltering from the very little in number but prominent negative answers.

During his expedition, he stumbled upon a figure which seemed too familiar for his liking. It felt odd knowing that he was not allowed to be in touch with women unless and until his older brother claims the throne but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to swat it away with just a simple self-made excuse.

The girl was ambling back and forth between a particular shop but the crowd hindled his view and before he knew it, she vanished right then. He let his gaze run through the sea of crowd and hoped to see the familiar head poking out amongst all but alas! The market was much crowded than the other days.

His body moved itself on its own and he found himself at the very spot where he had last seen her. His eyes darted at every corner and he prayed to have found her but just then, his line of sight met with the vendor of the shop.

"Excuse me, do you know the lady who was here just a few moments ago?" He inquired, hoping that he didn't come out too strong to be deemed suspicious.

The old lady's eyes looked up, partially hidden behind her fold over wrinkled skin, and smiled. Numerous lines making themselves visible at the corner of her eyes as she did so, "She was looking over these flowers for a while but then left in that direction," a finger rose up shakily to her left as she replied.

Flowers.

And that's when it clicked.

She was the same girl who was stealing the flowers from the royal garden a few days back.

His attention then drove back to the flowers to hide his shock from the old lady. A stem tangled itself on his fingers as his gaze rove over its intricate yet solemn pattern and without his will, his lips curled up on their own.

Guess she escaped this while too.

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A/N: I guess I lost the only readers I had after not updating for like...20 DAYS

ImsorryIswearonholydoughnutsIwoundntdarecommitsuchcrimeonceagain