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Let bygones be bygones.

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Kim Taehyung was fired.

With no medium for earning a working capital, the figure long stood on the grey pavements as his irises darted around the skyscraper. With blue windows reflecting every part of the Seoul skyline, Taehyung hesitantly stepped into the building with a right foot. He was never superstitious but what harm does it do to give it a try?

Never in his life had he had ever imagined standing on the doorstep of his father's office with his resume. His hand arose to knock on the wooden door but it stilled before even making the first knock. That was until, his father beat him to it and opened the door himself when he sensed a commotion outside.

"Taehyung?" The old man inquired as his eyes trailed up and down his figure. His curiosity was fueled when he spotted a fluttering sheet of paper in his hands.

"I— uh, can I step in first?" Taehyung requested politely to which the old man hummed and stepped aside to let his son come in.

Taehyung's eyes morphed into large basketballs as he witnessed his father's office for the first time as far as his memory cooperated. He possessed blurry recollections of his childhood when his little form came into the office and would only leave until dusk but now it had changed so much. He loved it so much back then but as he grew, an ill-feeling acquired his heart and Taehyung swore he would never step into this knockoff-version-of-hell, but that was until now.

"Get to to point, you said yourself you hated conversing with me." The man advanced towards his table calmly as if he hadn't just plunged the country into an economic crisis.

"I'm in a dire need of a job." Taehyung hated himself for sounding so desparate because he had made up his mind to only face his father to send an earful about the whole 'Dohui Catastrophe' but he knew better than to provoke him if he was the one who needed the favour.

He watched in worry as the features of his father lightened up almost instantly, "Goodness Taehyung, you don't know how long have I yearned to hear this from you. Finally you've come to your senses!" The slouched figure stood up and engulfed the latter in a big hug.

"I mean, I was compelled to," Taehyung couldn't help but retort at last.

"What do you mean, son?" Taehyung watched again as the please look on his father's face changed into a confused one.

"Dohui, you never really cared about it, did you? You made the stock prices rise up to almost two-hundred dollars a month and made more small shareholders belonging to the middle class invest in it so you can dilute all that and make money out of it? Isn't this what you envisioned before suddenly paying attention towards a false paper company after an astonishing five years! You thought I wouldn't be able to catch on but you know father, I've been paying attention towards the market recently and it was quite odd that an almost abandoned company had a stock rise." Taehyung parted with the man as the figure in front of him barred his teeth at him.

"If you want this job to sustain, shut your mouth and do as you're told. There are millions of people willing to get exploited over small wages, so don't think that you're irreplaceable." The old man spat and hobbled back to his seat.

Taehyung just sighed, as if expecting such response, and went over to the blinds and opened them, "You see the revolting tumult down there? I really hope that you fix it father, do it and I won't tell a soul about your blunder."

"You have the audacity to command me when you're in need of a saviour, son? I acknowledge your bravery is quite remarkable." The man squinted his eyes at Taehyung as he shut the blinds and ambled towards the door to get out of there but not before shooting him another irritating smirk of his, "I'll be closer to you father, meaning, I'll be closer to the monstrosities you committed."

And before the snappy old man could throw his paperweight at him, Taehyung fled the office and exited the building with an undifferentiated smile on his face.

His gaze fell upon the crowd still protesting, then onto the resume in his hands and then back at the building. And strangely, Taehyung was never this excited to go to work.

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Younha was bedazzled.

From finding her own brother delivering Younggeum last night to the state of mess she was in.

"When did you return to Korea?"

"Two days ago? Didn't father inform you?" The man quirked an eyebrow, "Anyways, I have a weird girl in my car claiming to know you, personally. Should I disperse her off as a psychotic fan?"

"What is her name?"

"Geum something, I didn't really pay attention."

And that was the moment Younha felt like cursing his brother out, "Do you know how dangerous it might've been if she wasn't a girl I recognised? You can't bring a completely unknown person into your car and expect them to not be a serial killer! Gosh, what's up with both of you bringing unknown girls near you."

"Uh, but she didn't recognise me? So I though it was fine."

"I can renounce you as my sibling right now if I could but sadly, I can't. Hand me over the car keys and get the heck out of here before the paparazzi could even catch a wind of this." Younha expectantly unfurled her hand in front him and the man hesitantly dropped his car keys into her hands. Without further ado, she stormed outside and within seconds, she brought the girl inside who was clutching onto her for dear life.

"Get lost, you stale snot. I've already informed Taehyung about your arrival so don't, please don't, aggregate him by popping in front of his doorstep. You know he hates your guts." Younha dropped back the keys on the palms of its original owner as the man saluted her and got out of her house.

Sighing to herself, Younha then averted her attention to another figure staring blankly at a white wall with her eyes, nose and cheeks flushing red.

And that is how she found herself listening to Younggeum rant about another of her brother's idiotic acts.

She was curled up like a cocoon with a duvet as she sobbed whilst drinking a herbal tea whom Younha didn't know the name of. It was probably chamomile or chrysanthemum or something of the sort. It could possibly be expired for all she knew, for she recieved as a gift from some kind of ceremony she attended.

"Are you even listening, Your Highness?"

"Ah- yes, I'm listening." Younha was half inclined to tell her the truth that she was not listening but chose that it was better that she should know nothing about this. The poor girl had already gone through so much hassle just for her one, single white lie.

"And then he yelled at me and commanded me to get out of his sight! Can you believe that, Your Highness?! His Majesty asked me, the Queen to get out! On the street! I don't even recall this place very well, and yet that inconsiderate human being disgraced me!" Younggeum blew of the steam from her cup and her mind as she sipped gingerly as her lips contorted into mild distaste.

"You know you shouldn't badmouth the King," Younha lazily replied as her head slumped on the bed, "That's not true!" Younggeum sat straight at once, "I wasn't badmouthing him, it is just that, that ugh- I'm so furious! I don't even want to see his face right now! Gah, I hate him!"

"I'm sure Taehyung doesn't feel the same way towards you, maybe he's just...upset after a long day of work?" Younha tried to reason but when she saw her raging expression, she knew right away that her trials were futile.

"But still, Your Highness! If he loved me as you claim to say so, then he wouldn't drive me out of his house! I can't help but feel that...His Majesty is being distant lately. We even sleep in different rooms. If only I remembered our marriage and our meetings then I'd be sure it wouldn't turn out this bad. Why do I feel that His Majesty doesn't prefer me as his partner? Do you think I'm not worth it, Your Highness?" Younggeum placed her cup aside and held the latter's hands much to her surprise. She could still feel the warmth of the tea radiating off of their palms as Younggeum stared deeply into Younha's eyes. The number of insecurities and questions that stayed afloat in her irises made Younha feel so much guilt that she even considered throwing herself off a building.

Why did she have to lie?

Why did she take advantage of Younggeum's faulty memory?

Why did she say that...she was married to her brother?

Why does everything she said is tacenda?

"I'm positive that there is no match, except for you, who is suitable for Taehyung," now Younha was the one who clutched their hands tightly as she held a firm gaze with her, "Don't you ever feel that you're not for him. If anybody's lacking, then it's him, not you. You were not designed to fit somebody. Your significant other was made such that you two would fit perfectly, like the yin and the yang. And if there's somebody that'd be Taehyung's yin to the yang, then it'd be, undoubtedly, you. So don't you ever, ever, forget that you're a person of your own. You're a completely different being," Younha said as she retracted her hands back because Younggeum fell silent at her explanation.

"I- I have no words, thank you, Your Highness. I am sure His Majesty wouldn't do anything reckless without a reason. He is the King after all." A smile graced her lips as she looked about the grassy meadow that overlooked the room she was temporarily staying in.

Hearing the word 'King', Younha felt a pang of sorrow hit too close to her heart but she didn't let her evergreen grin falter, "Do you want to stay outside in the lawn while we wait for my brother to come pick you up?"

Younggeum nodded slowly after a short while before she spoke again, "Can you please ask for his forgiveness for talking rudely to him when he gets here, Your Highness? I am so sorry I was not aware that he was related to you."

"I am sure he wouldn't mind. It has been a while someone gave an earful to him." Smiling, she retreated back to the kitchen where her gaze tripped over a small, opened box on the dining table.

Seemed like the chamomile tea wasn't expired after all.

Staring at the wintry clothes the trees adorned, Younggeum eased herself on a chair as she waited for Her Highness' brother to come pick her up so that she could take some of the weird new clothes here for a temporary stay of one or two nights.

Younha had told her the strange, polished box with lights was called a 'car' but even so, she had insisted on calling it as a 'modernised chariot' and Younha couldn't argue because the name was actually fitting. She also mentioned that her 'modernised chariot' was out for 'servicing', apparently hence her brother was going to drive them both to Taehyung's house.

Frankly, the excitement that she used to feel earlier at the mention of Taehyung's name was diminished. Now all she felt was a bizzare emptiness. Like she was clasping onto the weathering rocks of the edge of the cliff to get back up but she didn't know for what reason she was trying to get up. If she might, she could let go of the edge and fall into the depths of serenity or she could struggle and get back up, alive, but she wouldn't have any goal to achieve. She would just be like an empty can.

Suddenly, everything looked dark.

The pitchy sound erupting from a distant bird's syrinx seemed monotone and all the naked trees in the yard turned from a shade of brown to charcoal black. The green grasses changed into a colour of gray and the cerulean blue sky was dipped in a tint of light gray.

Younggeum looked at her hands and found out that she, herself was the only thing that wasn't discolored in this whole scenery. Even the light brown fences appeared to be a dark grayish colour.

Was she hallucinating?

Just as she was about to get up, a shrill voice called out to her and suddenly, everything turned back the way it was before.

"My brother's here!" Younha yelled out before dissappearing behind the glass doors.

Maybe, she was hallucinating after all.

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His father said he'd start working next week.

And it has only been a day and Taehyung has never felt so useless in his life before.

Switching channels from one to another, his irises soon got bored from the amount of depressing news exposure he got today. Almost everyone in the channels was talking about the crisis and he couldn't help but feel that the whole city has gone to sleep. There wasn't a single soul admist the vast stretches of monochrome pavements. Even the golden popcorn seemed sad.

Was everyone unemployed just like he was?

Taehyung heard from Jimin that their company had gone bankrupt the minute Dohui Life Sciences was liberated. Apparently, one of their higher-ups handling the finances advised the head to invest in as stock prices broke the sky limit just in a month after being re-introduced in the market. But none of them forecasted that the stock prices would plummet so vigorously.

There goes another popcorn in his mouth.

It felt weird, not doing anything for once. He didn't have to wake up at a designated timing and get ready appropriately before rushing to his workplace and stay there till the owl calls out to him. He briefly glanced at the grandfather clock and a tired smile overtook his lips when he realised that he would be working so damn hard had it been another normal day.

But it couldn't be a normal day in the life of Kim Taehyung.

The repeated ringing of the doorbell caused him to get up unwillingly as his drowsed figure ambled towards the doorstep. He clicked on the little screen beside it and on the screen, he saw the one he was waiting for all the night. Even if he stayed at home alone, he can't disagree it got a bit lonely without her.

With an excited smile on his features, Taehyung swung open the door with full force only for it to crumble as fast as it came.

Because there stood a man he despised so much.

Every microscopic hair stood out in full rage as soon as he caught a sight of him smiling so generously. He literally felt every millilitre of his blood boiling like an angry witch's cauldron before his gaze fell onto another petite figure hiding behind him. His eyebrows furrowed as his lips twisted in great fury.

"What is she doing with you?" He spat ferociously. He was the last person Taehyung ever thought she would be with.

"Well, hello to you too little brother," and the man tipped his black hat, further provoking the man by the doorstep.

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A/N: DO NOT FRET FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER IS ALREADY WRITTEN AND IS UNDER EDITING! But I'll not post it right away, hehe— I am trying to prewrite a lot of them before April starts because I'll soon be shifted to a higher class and studies do demand a lot of attention (lmao plej smone kill moi)

PS. WE'RE IN THE SECOND ARC OF THE STORY!!!!! YEH—