Chapter 30

"Stuck in my own paradox"
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The Three cursed sisters is a classic dark fairytale, parents usually read this story to lull their children to sleep, or use it to scare them so they quickly go to sleep.

But it was all just a fairytale, right? There's no reason to be scared.

"Y/N!"

Y/n snaps out from her thoughts and looks around, she is still on the same spot on the couch and still in Yoongi's office, nothing different except there's also Hoseok in the room.

"My goodness, you scared me!" Hoseok exhales a sigh of relief and he has his hand on his chest.

"Sorry...what was I doing?"

"You were staring at nothing for too long! You didn't even hear me coming in." Hoseok places his palm on Y/n's head and he caresses her hair.

"What were you thinking, love?"

His touch sends a shiver but also a comfort towards Y/n, Y/n enjoys his touch but there's another part of her that wants to stay away from him if only that part was louder.

"Nothing...just..." Y/n doesn't even know what to say.

"I'm not going to push you to say whatever it was in your mind, but I know you have a lot of things going on there." Hoseok goes behind her and starts messaging her shoulders, which makes Y/n relax.

"How did you know I'm here?" Y/n asked after a moment of silence.

"It was always easy to find you, love."

"What does that mean?"

"Whatever you think what that means." Y/n is confused by his words but decides not to ask further cause it will add more thoughts to her head.

"I forgot to ask you, why are you here?" Y/n close her eyes and let the relaxing feeling consume her.

"I should ask you the same thing."

"I was going to ask you what you want for dinner, then we can eat together since the others are busy."

"Dinner? What time is it?"

"6 pm."

'I was in my head for that long?' Y/n asked herself in her thoughts.

"Did Lana come here?" If Lana was here, Y/n would probably not zone out for that long.

Hoseok takes a moment before answering her question, he didn't like the way they become closer.

"I suggest you to not grow attached to her, and no she didn't." Y/n is wondering why Hoseok and Yoongi don't trust Lana, she has proven herself to Y/n that she is an obedient girl and she earned her trust, though she doesn't know why others don't like her, Even Marilyn seems to don't like her.

"About the Kings, what are they busy on?" Y/n changed the topic as Hoseok sits behind her and starts playing with her hair.

"They're busy trying to find Kim Namjoon." She could feel the hatred Hoseok has, there was no sympathy when he spoke that sentence, Y/n remembers Namjoon and her concern for him crawling back.

"Aren't you supposed to help them?..."

"I've done my part, now I want to spend some time with you." Hoseok sounded calm, way too calm when he is supposed to be worrying about his missing best friend, this makes Y/n suspicion of him grow, and she slightly twists her spine to face Hoseok.

"Hoseok...he's your best friend, do you not worry about where he is right now?"

Hoseok sighed "I do feel worried about him, and I will try my best, but for now I just want to overcome my stress by having dinner with you."

"So, what do you want for dinner?" He continued.

"I'll just have anything that the chef cooked." Y/n said, though she kinda doesn't have an appetite to eat anything.

"Well then, let's go."

Hoseok stood up and offers his hand to Y/n, Y/n stares at his hand as she debated whether she should stay here or not.

"Why?" Hoseok asked after he notice that Y/n is hesitant to take his hand.

"Yoongi told me not to come out until he comes back..."

Hoseok slightly pouts "Since when do you care about what people told you?"

Hoseok grabs her hand and pulls her out of Yoongi's office, they passed some people along their way, their heads were down as if they don't want to meet Hoseok's and Y/n's eyes, usually, people would greet her if they passed her, but now they are afraid to lift their necks.

Y/n is confused, she was never being treated this way and she doesn't like how silent the Palace is, it's almost like she is in a cemetery.

So she decides to greet the next person that crosses paths with her, lucky her she sees Jake, Marilyn's assistant.

"Good evening Jake!" she said and give him a little wave.

Jake is surprised by her greeting, a genuine smile crept up his lips and he was about to greet her back but his eyes go to Hoseok who is staring at him with an emotionless face.

And Jake knew better.

Jake gulps the lump of saliva that was stuck in his throat as he lowers his head, he quickly bows and continues walking to his destination, Y/n is once again being ignored.

"He usually greets me back..." Y/n whispered but that doesn't go unheard by Hoseok.

"Do you want me to get him back?" Y/n notice his tone was gruff.

"N-no, let's go." Y/n said and let Hoseok pull her to walk again.

They walk through some more hallways before they stop in front of the doors that Y/n recognizes.

Hoseok pushes the door open and lets Y/n get through the doors first, as soon as she looks at the sight in front of her, a memory rush through her mind.

This is the same place Jimin had shown her when she came here to deliver the cake he ordered.

The water is still clear like she remembered but this time pink rose petals are floating on the water, and the moonlight did a good job making them shine, not far from them there is a boat, the boat is beautifully decorated with flowers and white see-through fabrics, inside the boat there is a small table and two plates of food, along with a candle on it.

A tint of blush appears on Y/n's cheeks when she realizes that Hoseok has set her up for a candlelight dinner, which couples usually do.

"Do you like it?" His voice is right beside her ear and she could feel his body heat.

"U-um yea.." Y/n said and take some steps forward to create a space between them.

"Come." Hoseok offers his hand and Y/n grabs it, he gets on the boat first and helps her.

"Thank you." Y/n then takes a seat on the velvet sofa, instead of sitting across her, Hoseok chooses to sit beside her, there is only a little space between them and Y/n feels a little uncomfortable and nervous to sit so close to Hoseok in this intimate moment.

The boat starts to move by itself and Y/n looks to the side to avoid a pair of the lovesick's eyes on her, she gulps when he places his hand on hers.

A weird feeling starts to spread all over her body, she suddenly feels warm and more relaxed after he placed his hand on hers, but she still refuses to look at him, and Hoseok doesn't like that.

"From what I remembered, you told me you like grilled salmon." Y/n turns her head to the side to look at Hoseok, his eyes were not on her anymore, they're now looking at the plate of grilled salmon in front of her.

Confusion and excitement mixed into one inside Y/n, she does like grilled salmon but didn't remember telling Hoseok that.

"You're right but...I didn't remember telling you that."

"You have a memory span of a cow, love."

Tints of blush appear on Y/n's cheeks as she feels the embarrassment creeping up her throat, she doesn't even try to deny it. Cause it's true.

"Let's eat before the food gets cold." Y/n said after she cleared her throat.

Y/n picks up the fancy utensils that were on the side of her plate and starts cutting the salmon before putting it inside her mouth, the taste of the salmon is perfect for her, and Hoseok knows she likes it when he sees her cheeks bloom like flowers.

He just sat there while watching her eat, not even touching the food in front of him or even sparing a glance at it because what he craves, is her, the person in front of him who he desires so much.

He didn't know how she had become the most important person in his life, from the first time he met her, he already felt his soul attached to hers, he didn't even know how's that possible.

All it took was just one kiss.

For him to be so addicted to her.

Hoseok knows she did that just to save him, not because of romantic intentions and they were just kids back then, but that kiss meant more to him.

Those lips had saved him, those air in her lungs had saved him, and they had become his.

'My savior

My angel

My love

My everything

Mine.'

"Are you going to eat that?" Y/n's question brings Hoseok back to reality, away from his toxic thoughts.

Y/n's eyes are on the plate of grilled salmon that belongs to Hoseok.

"No, you can eat it," Hoseok said and push his plate in front of her.

"Are you sure?" Y/n is hoping that he doesn't change his mind.

Hoseok nods "One hundred percent sure."

"Okay." With no hesitation, Y/n digs into the food.

The boat moves softly on the water and the atmosphere feels calm, the moon and stars shine brightly making the water glimmer in sparkles.

Hoseok loves this. No disturbance, no work, no enemies, just him and Y/n.

He wants to feel this forever, and that's a sign for him to extend his plan again and eliminate his enemies, he doesn't care who's blood to spill just to spend another moment with Y/n, and whoever is standing in his way, he will label them as his enemy.

"I've been stressed out these days."

Y/n stops chewing on her grilled salmon and focuses her attention on Hoseok, she gulps the salmon and some water before asking him.

"Why?"

"Work, meetings, and I have to deal with my people's complaints, those are just some and I still have a lot to do for my Kingdom." Hoseok said as he caresses his forehead with his fingers.

Y/n noticed that Hoseok now doesn't look like he used to, before, he was a cheerful person, he was the epitome of sunshine and everything about him was positive.

But the Hoseok beside her wasn't the cheerful sunshine she knows, his usual smile was replaced with a sad one, he looks like he just spent a week without getting proper rest, and he looks skinnier than before which made Y/n feel guilty because she ate his food.

"Then...why don't you just go back to your Kingdom?"

Hoseok looks at her straight in the eyes without saying anything, his mouth is sealed but there are so many words coming into his thoughts.

'Because if I do, they will have more chances with you than me.'

Jung Hoseok is ready to give up his Kingdom, he doesn't care about the people that are waiting for him, he doesn't care about the letters that were sent to him, begging for him to come back to his Kingdom.

Because what matters is Y/n, it will always be Y/n. She is his Kingdom, his world.

When Y/n didn't get a reply from Hoseok she began to replay her words in her mind, then she realize that her words didn't help his problems and sounded rude.

"T-that sounded rude, wasn't it? I'm sorry for my words, I didn't mean to-"

"No, your words are perfectly fine." Hoseok sighs then he continues.

"And my most recent problem, Namjoon has gone missing."

"I...I remembered you are the last person who had seen him."

"I did, we had a small talk in my office after that he said he wants to finish his work but then he was gone."

Y/n gets a flashback where she thought she saw Hoseok and Namjoon in the garden, she wants to ask Hoseok about it but her gut is telling her the opposite, she could be wrong and it wasn't Hoseok and Namjoon in the garden.

"I hope we can find him soo-" She was going to comfort Hoseok by taking his hand in hers, but when her skin touches his, everything she sees becomes black.

Colors start to appear and everything starts moving, Y/n feels like she is falling, and she was right.

She is falling deeper into the ground that is swallowing her, the light above her becomes smaller by seconds and she notices the hands that are desperately trying to reach for something to hold, are bigger than hers.

She sees a silhouette of a person that stood still above and just looking at her that is falling deeper, she tries to see the person's face but it's difficult because of the darkness and the light above her becomes smaller like a dot of white ink.

"Y/N!"

Y/n opens her eyes upon hearing Hoseok's voice desperately calling her name, she soon realizes that she's laying down and her head is on Hoseok's lap, she quickly sat up and tries to recall what she saw.

'Was that a vision?'

Y/n wants to think furthermore about it but Hoseok grabs her shoulders and turns her to face him, his face shows worry and frustration.

"Y/n are you okay?! Can you hear me?" He asked as he cups her face.

"I-I'm okay..." multiple questions start to appear in Y/n's head, and she feels her head is starting to hurt.

Y/n hissed in pain as she grab her head due to the pain, seeing her like this made Hoseok panic.

"Y/n, don't close your eyes, I'm going to get you inside." Hoseok quickly scoops her in his arms.

Y/n could feel how Hoseok's frantic heartbeat as she rest her head against his chest, she is trying to stay awake and not let the darkness take her away, but it was getting difficult by the time they get back into the Palace, even the sound of Hoseok's footsteps are getting blurry in her ears.

"Y/n! don't close your eyes!" he shakes her shoulder as he continues to run into the infirmary.

Hoseok gets even more panic when Y/n eyes are halfway closing, he runs faster and not caring the people that he bumped into.

Y/n couldn't bear the antagonizing pain in her head, so without her consent, the darkness finally takes her away.

but before she was fully unconscious the last thing she heard was a deep loud voice calling out Hoseok's full name.

Y/n slowly opens her eyes and the first thing that greets her is the beautiful ceiling of her room.

Y/n continues to stare at the ceiling as her mind process everything, how she came here or what happened when she was unconscious.

But she doesn't want to think about it further and closes her eyes and sinks deeper into her soft mattress.

"Is your three days nap wasn't enough for you?"

A soft voice beside her bed spoke, Y/n opens her eyes again and looks to the side to see who was the owner of the voice, even though she already knew who it was.

"I was unconscious for three days?" She asked in her raspy voice, her throat is sore due to dehydration.

"Yes." Taehyung answered as he help her to sit.

He then grabs the teapot that was filled with water and a cup that was placed on the table beside Y/n's bed, after he was done pouring the water he stares at Y/n as he is about to give her the cup.

Y/n didn't pay attention to what he was doing, she is too busy in her head wondering why and how she fainted, what was the cause? for now, she couldn't remember what happened before she was unconscious.

a soft hand land itself on your head, breaking her chain of thoughts, and it slowly glides down to her hair ends.

"Don't think too much, don't be stressed out." Taehyung then hands the cup to Y/n who gladly accepts it and finishes it all.

"What happened to me? and why was I unconscious for three days?"

Taehyung smiles "I'll tell you after you got your tummy something to eat."

Taehyung fed Y/n until she was full, he doesn't let her waste anything on the plate, at first, Y/n insisted that she doesn't need help and can eat by herself, but she can't even hold a spoon due to her weak muscle that she hasn't moved for three days.

"So?" Y/n asked again after she was done drinking the water Taehyung gave her.

"The doctor didn't find anything strange, he said you were probably just stressed out or you haven't gotten a proper sleep."

"But..." Y/n said as she looks down at her lap.

Taehyung tucked Y/n's hair that was covering her face behind her ear and said.

"Don't worry, just drink your medicine and rest, you'll be fine."

"From now, I will limit your activities, I will make sure you will never get stressed out or tired again." He continued.

"But I never did anything heavy."

"Hmm? are you sure?" Taehyung asked and raise one of his eyebrows.

"One hundred percent."

Taehyung chuckles as he finds her cute, "I know you secretly helping the maids to do their stuff, and you were always exploring the Palace trying to find new things."

"I was bored, I didn't have anything to do here." Y/n said, trying to justify her action.

"Aww, so that's why you're always exploring the Palace like a dumb person that lost her way." Taehyung teased.

"Hey! what am I supposed to do then?"

Taehyung slightly pouts his lips as he is thinking, he then smiles as he got an idea.

He gently grabs her hand and places his other hand on top of hers.

"How about you become my assistant?"

"Assistant? I thought you already had one."

"One more wouldn't hurt." He said as he shows her his cute smile.

"What am I going to do? I don't know anything about being a King assistant."

"Don't worry, I'm going to teach you everything newbie." Taehyung softly pats her head as he rests his chin on his hand.

This is what Taehyung needs after a full day of loads of work and stress, he hasn't been able to sleep, eat, or even work properly since Y/n fainted.

And all of the weight on his shoulders was instantly gone when he saw your eyes open after three days, those three days felt like hell to him, but now he's more than glad to see you awake.

Taehyung moves closer and wraps his arms around Y/n's shoulders and rests his chin on the crook of her neck, he was careful not to put too much weight on her cause he sees her as a fragile thing, for now.

Y/n is a little bit surprised when Taehyung suddenly hugs her, but a smile creeps upon her lips and she wraps one arm around his shoulder.

No words are coming out of Taehyung's mouth, but with this simple gesture, Y/n knows that he missed her.

"Thank you, Taehyung."

Taehyung and Y/n talk until midnight, from sitting side by side to laying side by side, Taehyung talks about what he was doing while Y/n was unconscious, what social gathering he was visiting, what he ate, and he even goes into very little details about which socks he wore at that day, apparently, he always chooses the color of his socks as a representative of his mood of the day, and Y/n find that habit of his is so cute.

It was Taehyung that realizes that it was already very late, so he sat up and get off the bed.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my room, both of us need to rest Darling." Taehyung then pulls the blanket to cover Y/n.

"Oh please, I was asleep for three days."
Y/n said as she rolled her eyes.

"I still think you need to sleep." Taehyung placed a light kiss on Y/n's forehead and gave her a cute smile before turning around and walking towards the door.

Y/n could feel her cheeks getting hot, her heart beating faster than normal and her stomach feels weird, and she blames Taehyung for it.

"Tae." Y/n's soft voice stops Taehyung who was about to step out of her room, he looks back and gives her a 'hmm?' as a response.

"Is everyone know that I was awake?"
Y/n asked out of her curiosity, if everyone indeed knows that she was awake, there would be a lot of people that will come to see her.

"No."

"You didn't tell them?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be able to spend time with you."

That was the last thing Taehyung said before he steps out of her room and closed the door.
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I'M BACKKKKKKKKK

so, after a very longgggg time, I finally decided to continue the story, but I will change some parts and one of them is the background of the three cursed sisters.

Your girl just got into high school and it's been stressing me out. My school ends at 3 pm, then there are days that I will have to attend extracurricular that ends at 5 pm, then I have to attend my tutor at 7.30 pm :"

And I still have to do homework after all of that.

Soooo, I don't know if I will be able to upload new chapters often, but when I will, I will give you guys a long chapter, maybe 5000 words or more.

Love you, miss you, mwah.

Published:12/09/22