🌿🍃  

The dry leaves were getting crushed beneath his feet as he kept running without turning back once.

Soon the two men were in front of a cruise ship which was setting off alarms, indicating that it's about to leave soon.

Jimin looked at the cruise with blank eyes, his hands shaking in nervousness which were still painted red.

"Go....And never turn back until it's time."

Hearing it, Jimin turned towards the man who had helped him from then to now.

"Felix-ssi, I'm really grateful for your help. If it wasn't for you then I couldn't ima—"

Felix shook his head in denial immediately.

"My majesty, it was my very duty to serve  you. I couldn't  let him ruin your life. You are the queen - oh, King of my actual motherland and I had to help you. Your husband had done a lot for me and many others like me. It's like I tried to pay off a little debt. Please go. The cruise is about to board really soon."

The royal staff of Elino bowed to the king of Silia, recieving the same.

"Please take care of yourself. I'm afraid you'll be punished for helping me." Jimin said with a worry filled tone.

"Do not worry about this servant and please just go from here. I'm begging you.... I can feel the guards must have been chasing us."

"Okay"

Jimin hurriedly climbed onto the port stage, walking inside the cruise and throwing a little bag next to himself. Just as he did, the staff of the cruise shut the door after him, locking it with a huge lock then pulling off the metallic shutter afterwards.

He hurriedly ran to the balcony to watch the other male who asked him to get a room instead and stay away from the other's visions.

"Get inside fast.. I can hear them coming for us."  The servant shouted while panting, worry swarming in his  magnificent eyes.

And it was true. Jimin looked behind Felix to see a troop of hawarangs with torches in their hand, coming from distance while shouting.

The cruise's captains shaking off hands with each other and the flag was hoisted up, the sign of the flag was very different from the one Jimin had seen in Silia or Elino but still it wasn't unfamiliar territory to him..He very well knew his destination.

He looked at the servant to see that Felix had just caught a small boat with a life jacket and sat on it, at the meantime, the cruise Jimin was in; gave off a horn and boarded off, sailing in the dark night sea which was lit with moonlight.

Jimin couldn't help but slide down to his knees, holding on the railings as his knees became jelly. He was afraid of seas and oceans after that night. The waves which once were breathtaking appeared scary and venomous to him, as if it wasn't happy by just engulfing his lover and wanted to swallow him too. His lover— Jimin was missing Taehyung terribly right now.

Tears started to blur his vision but he was alarmed when he saw that the guards have caught the servant who had helped him to escape from the palace after stabbing the king. He quickly stood up, gripping the railings to get a clear view of the unfair scene unfolding in front of his teary eyes.

"I w-wish he stays alive. Please God...save him." Jimin prayed but he knew what was the consequences of being a traitor and helping someone to kill your own king— death. Death was the only punishment for this.

He felt guilt settle into his chest and got off from there and moved towards one of the room in the cruise, pulling off the sticker and booking it as his. It was as if he didn't want to witness the  terrible scene cause he didn't have any courage left in him.

He was exhausted.

"Search him... He must be in any one of these rooms." A strange man's voice was heard and Jimin's eyes widened after hearing it.

Sweat started to trickle off his face as he took out a dagger from his bag which the servant had prepared with whatever stuffs Jimin could use on his journey.

He heard few footsteps coming in front of his room's door and the footsteps stopped there , instead there was a sound of low  whispers.

Jimin moved closer to the door to hear what they were saying.

"We've checked all other rooms on this storey while others are checking him on top storey. But can't you see the sticker he has put to reserve this room? I'm sure he is inside this room only."

A voice of a man, comparatively maturer than the previous one spoke and Jimin was worried as hell because he didn't have any idea about how many men were outside whom he had to fight with. They must be loaded with  enhanced weapons while he had smaller yet sharper ones with him.

A polite knock was heard on the door.

"My majesty, are you inside? We are searching for you. Do you need something?"

Hearing it Jimin's eyes widened, he realised the whole situation. He was so scared that he almost forgot that this ship was sent by Hoseok and there was no way any one inside the cruise had any sick thoughts against him.

"W-water please."  He managed to say with dry throat.

"Okay. Anything else? Why don't you try some of our special meals? I'm sure you would love it. Should I send it too?"

The man from outside requested generously and Jimin was also exhausted since day so he decided to have some food and agreed.

"Could you please open the door?" A lady's voice was heard this time and Jimin moved towards the door, slowly unlocking it.

The staffs bowed to him and he nodded. They looked at his disheveled state  and had a concerned look on their faces.

"Are y-you okay? My apologies to say this but I know which situation you're in. Please relax and don't be afraid. We all are trained warriors too and we'll protect you with whatever we have. Please take a bath... We'll arrange the bath and clothes for you."

The lady offered and Jimin just nodded.

·—_–—_–—🌿🍃_–—_-—·

After an hour, Jimin had taken a bath and even had his meal. He was feeling fresh not just physically but also mentally.

He had started talking with the staffs and they were really nice and he was highly impressed. They all were one of the best warriors from Water combat of Hoseok's kingdom which Hoseok has personally selected and sent for helping him.

"You are fine now, my majesty?" The lady asked.

"Jihye , please refer me as just Jimin for now. I'd appreciate that if all of you'll do so." Jimin politely said and the other's nodded.

"Are you sure that he was dead when you left that palace? If he is not, it's going to be a disaster."  Soojin questioned making the king sigh.

"I've killed him though and I'm sure he must be dead. If not just by my stroke then other way but he'll die. I've assured that. There was someone there too who had helped me a lot."

"Felix?"

"No...I mean of course Felix helped me a lot but I'd met a very nice person there. I'm sorry I can't disclose his name to you all but you can say he is a very nice friend of mines now."

Jimin said... Having full trust on his dear friend.

(A/n- ofcourse it's kook)

"That's really nice. So , are you planning to return back to Silia?"

Jimin clicked his tongue before speaking. "Not so soon... I'll have to wait until everything cools down. Namjoon was the husband of the first son of Silia's guardian King and Queen. I'm afraid of how Jin hyung is going to handle these all. I hope he remains calm and doesn't do anything absurd or -oh no. I'm really worried for him."

The others nodded, having a deep interest in the topic.

"We all hate him. Our whole kingdom hates Namjoon after he attacked us just because we didn't agree to export our spices to him. He offered a price which was one-fourth of the actual price and if we'll export it to some kingdoms which are lacking in producing spices, we'll get more than the market price and his kingdom was one of such yet he was offering such a low price. At last, he attacked us on the very night of chuseok."

When soojin finished off telling, hot tears were streaming down his face.

"Are y-you okay?" Jimin asked and Hyunjin—the oldest of them, shook his head .

"He lost his pregnant wife's everything. She's paralysed and could never bear children again. He lost his 5 year son and 3 years old daughter. It was his daughter's birthday that night and he came to surprise them from military only to see the burnt corpses of his own little children."

A wince left Jimin's mouth as squinted his eyes close.

"She was s-so tiny and would always keep poking for getting a frock like Rapunzel and I've bought that too but I could never deliver it to her. My son, he was so like me, my little version. I-I can't dare to look into my wife's eyes who always asks for her children."

Jihye immediately hugged her companion and Jimin could just squeeze his shoulder as he couldn't help him with what was already gone.

"What did he exactly do?" Jimin asked.

"He set all the fields and godowns of spices into fire. He sent troops of soldiers who started beating our peasants and harming our cattles. At last, we all took shelter in the safe house built by our king but he managed to sneak in and stabbed some of us and set all the sleeping lives onto a permanent sleep. I lost my parents while Jihye here lost her brother. Thousands of innocent animals were harmed . It was disaster everywhere as if something has possessed him." Hyunjin finished off telling but unlike Soojin, his eyes were burning with fire and hatred.

"I'm really sorry to say that but I'm too shocked that I knew none of them..An incident like this was unknown to me...I don't get it how?" Jimin voiced out his confusion.

Hoseok and Yoongi were Taehyung's friends and Taehyung must have helped them with whatever he could. Could it be that Namjoon has.....

"Namjoon has isolated us, especially from your kingdom since your husband was really strong and Namjoon is the son in law of Silia so of course he made sure that none of you all knew it."

"Oh" Jimin sighed. Everything made sense now.

"About your husband I th-" Jihye was about to say something but the other two warned her with their eyes and she shut her mouth.

Jimin was not a  fool to miss their silent communication.

"Do not hesitate and tell me." He insisted but the others just shook their head.

"She was speaking nonsense. It doesn't make any sense." Soojin stated but of course, Jimin wasn't going to buy that.

"Please tell me. C-could it be that Taehyung r-refused to hel-"

"No way. It's not like that. Last time, in the very same ship you all were having a party and it was somehow leaked to our kingdom too. I'm  talking about the same night, the king died by drowning into the ocean. Are y-you okay with talking about it?" Hyunjin asked with concern.

Jimin squinted his eyes, trying to remove the burning sensation from both his eyes and heart. He let out a shaky breath before muttering a 'continue' to the other male.

"We've sent a secret spy into the cruise. His motive was to anyhow inform your husband about our situations and help us out but it didn't go as planned. The king got drowned away and our spy never returned back. We kind of suspect that our spy had did his job and when the king would've tried to confront Namjoon and took the spy as proof to ask if it's all true... c-could it be that Namjoon killed both of them by any fraud or trap? See...it c-could be just a foolish assumption but technically it makes sense as your husband was the only one who could put Namjoon back to his place so m-maybe thats why...We aren't sure tho."

The new piece of information had Jimin's whole body have goosebumps.

As much as he didn't want to be delusional but everything the latter just told him , just fitted so perfectly and he was afraid that maybe it could be truth.

Maybe Taehyung wasn't accidentally drowned.

Maybe Taehyung was killed.

Maybe Namjoon had murdered Taehyung.

Among all these questions , one thing Jimin was sure about was that -

· he had permanently erased Namjoon's existence from this world.

· he had murdered Namjoon.

And this time there was no any 'maybe' in it. But the grief of losing his husband was too much for him and hearing these new possibilities made his wounds raw, pinching his heart oh so painfully , making him want to sob pathetically.

"And there is a possibility that some people claim that maybe your husband and our spy had managed to fool and escape from death. Maybe." Jihye added very quietly but it still managed to reached into Jimin's ears.

But he didn't say anything and got off , saying he feels exhausted and needed to sleep and excused himself to his room.

"I d-don't want to get my hopes high and get crushed so brutally that I could never breathe again."

He mumbled to himself and decided to sleep...all these he just heard was so brutal to his heart and he wish he could just erase all of it right now. He wished he could learn to stop loving Taehyung and stop depending on someone who is dead.

Yeah, Taehyung is dead and it's better if things are kept like these cause sometimes hopes hurt a lot than the reality.

Nothing which had happened could be changed and all he could do was — work hard and spread happiness into other's lives.

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Wow!!
And maybe Namjoon is still alive, maybe.

I want your comments else I'm literally dropping this topic of bringing Taehyung back and would just give a peaceful ending of vmin meeting in heaven and let Jimin suicide.

Sounds so good, does it to y'all to?

Date- 24th Oct 2023
Words count - 2755