Author's POV: 

The look in his eyes, the firm face and the way his hands wrapped around your waist tightly, yet making sure it wasn't too tight. Just enough so you wouldn't get up and run away.

Everything right now made your heart race. You recalled the memories from today and looked down. He got to know, after all. 

"Why did you lie?" He asked, his voice soft. He didn't seem angry but he just... looked... so. Somewhat, normal. You didn't know why. Maybe he was faking it. 
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to know that." You spoke in a low voice as he took a deep breath, "You have every right to know though." 
"Huh?" Seeing your confused face, he said, "You're my wife, the princess of this country and the family. You can know and you should. It's just that we didn't tell you."
You let your hands rest on his shoulder, slowly wrapping them around his neck. 
It was as if this was the most natural thing to do. 

"Would you share your story with me then?" You asked as he stared at you, "You want to know?" 
You hummed, smiling softly at him. You smiled at him so often, all day. Whether it was a happy or excited one, a sad or comforting one, you always gave him your smiles. And he was grateful for that. Because it was as if you smiled the smiles for you and him together. 

And it made him want to smile more, with you, beside you, together. 

He sighed, "Do you remember the night we both got drunk on the terrace?" 
You nodded, "I remember the things when I was drunk too.." 
He hummed, "There was one thing I didn't tell you. When I pestered my father too much as a child or... expressed how I felt, he thought I was annoying. He used to say my smile is ugly and fake, like the internet later on said. He said I was a pest and if they didn't have me, they wouldn't have to worry about these... political things. I don't know how that's even relevant. He used my mother to get more political influence as my mother's family was the most powerful one after the royals. But after having me and when mother refused to arrange for me to be Mr Lee's daughter, the King got upset. In the end, his true colours got revealed."

He took a deep breath amidst all the talking as you slowly drew circles on his shoulder, soothing them while listening to him. He was telling you his story, sharing a piece of his life with you. And for some reason, you felt as if you could see those moments in front of you, flashing right in front of your eyes.

"Mother was depressed once she got to know that the King had been deceiving her. Later, he started being even worse. To the point, he brought women to the palace. Rumours were created, and his actions were exposed but he covered them up with all the political help. My mother's father... himself helped the King. After all, if divorced, my mother would go through a problem later on. She'd be tainted. Though it was the King's fault. Fearing this, my granddad helped him and thus, he was saved. But he didn't bother. He kept bringing women, even though I and Jungkook saw it ourselves. Mother tried to shape him like the 'perfect King who was busy working' to Jungkook but later on, he got to know." 

He was staring at something else as you were looking at him, leaning in closer. 

"And you?" He looked at you, something sad igniting in his eyes. 

"I've grown up seeing these since I was 5." 
"Taehyung..." You felt your heart crack with every word he just spat out. You stared at him as he continued, "I didn't get it at first. I thought father had numerous wives... and I had a lot of mothers? I don't know. I just thought that way but when I was 11, I got to know about some stuff and understood the point. One day, mother was scolding me suddenly, she was just... mad about things you know, she was mentally upset again. She told me I'd turn out like my father because I didn't know how to smile. I was just as cold as him and... heartless. So that day, I thought that I'd never marry someone and ruin their lives, turn them into what my mother had turned into like my father. That's why I never wanted to marry you either. And I always distanced myself."

He frowned when he saw tears streaming down your face. 
"Y/N?" He asked as you shook your head, wiping your tears. 
"I'm so sorry." You whispered. He looked at you, not understanding why you were crying. 
"What's wrong? Why are you-" 
You hugged him tightly, so tightly, you felt as if he'd break if he wasn't so strong. 
"Y/N.." He whispered as you buried your face in his neck, murmuring things he couldn't understand. 

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I swear... the King is such a douchebag I'm so sorry I..." You calmed down when you heard him say, "Shhh... it's okay. Why are you crying? Even I'm not." 
He smiled as you faced him. He pulled you closer, resting your forehead on his. Your eyes met as he wiped your tears, looking at your lips. 
"You're such a softie." He whispered. 
"I feel so bad for you.." 

He smiled, somewhat sadly, and closed his eyes. You felt as if he was holding back his tears but as he opened his eyes, you saw his teary eyes. Your heart skipped a beat in fear when you saw tears in his eyes. 
"You're going to make me cry for the first time in the past 6 months." 
"What?!" You almost gasped as he smiled through his tears. 
"I swear I'm going to feel weird if you cry for me. That's strange."

'It's not." You frowned, "I think I'm in trouble." 
He frowned when you cupped his cheeks, your forehead still on his. You closed your eyes and opened them, watching him. 

Just as if a miracle had happened. You wondered how your heart felt so full of him. And you wondered how just 4 months was all it took to feel so much for him. 

He made you so happy. And sad. And confused. And angry. 

And everything he had brought you in some sort of mixed emotion. And now, hearing his story like that, you could feel yourself breaking. And it might've taken a long time for this to happen but it took you just a few seconds to realize that, 

"I think I'm in love with you." 

His eyes almost widened as you smashed your lips on his, kissing him deeply. He seemed startled at first but his grip on your waist tightened as he pulled you closer. You were all cuddled up in his large body as he kissed you back, his eyes closing immediately. 
You almost gasped when he included his tongue in this. You could taste your tears. Oh no, you were crying again.

This feeling of loving someone was beautiful. 

It brought ecstasy and happiness but at the same time, it scared you and made you feel anxious. It hurt so bad, to the point, you'd carve your heart out and hand it to him, ask him to run away so it'd stop hurting. 

You both pulled away, your foreheads attached. 

But again, your lips met. His soft lips were almost swollen and yours too. He sucked on your lower lip making you bite back a groan. 

Your hands were playing with the short hairs on the lower back of his head, tugging at them softly, drawing circles on his nape. His hands roamed around your waist, one of them slowly reaching your neck as he pulled you even closer. 

Your bodies were quite literally attached to each other's as you both were kissing deeply. Pulling away once again, you both panted for air. 

You felt his hands softly trance your jaw, making you squirm a little, feeling tingly. You smiled, kissing his cheeks and his forehead, hugging him again. 
He didn't say anything neither did you. Both of you simply stayed in each other's embrace.

"Are your legs numb?" 
"No." 
"Can you forget what I said a while ago?"
"No."

You frowned, facing him as he smiled, "I don't want to." 
You tried to control it but ended up laughing, feeling embarrassed. Heat crawled up to your cheeks as you blushed, Taehyung's face heating up as well when he remembered whatever you had said earlier. 

"You're impossibly impressive." He whispered as you hummed, "Of course I am." 

You both stayed like that for some time as you said, "Are you okay?"
"I am. It's been a long time." He smiled. You hummed, patting his back. You felt so proud of him right now.
"I'll always be here for you... and love you."

And you loved him. 

And everything right now was something which would take some time to process but whatever that was, you were glad. He was here, at least.

—Next day 

"You're leaving tomorrow, pack your luggage." The Queen said as you smiled softly at her, nodding. Taehyung looked at you and then at his mother, wondering how you pretended not to know anything so well. 
You were in the library, reading books when Taehyung followed you secretly, hiding behind a shelf, hearing you speak to yourself.

He didn't know you were that talkative. 

Some things remained a secret in people's lives. Some little things were beyond what other people knew about them. 

He found you adorable more and more with every second spent with you.

He noticed that you were rumbling through the books aggressively, not finding anything. A sigh was dying to escape his lips but he controlled himself. You knocked out a few books on the way too, trying to find something as he stared at you with a soft smile. 
He slowly walked towards you while you were busy checking a book and hugged you from the back, his hands securing your waist. You gasped at first, flinching back but as soon as you saw him, you relaxed. 
"You... scared me." You said, smiling a little. He chuckled, resting his chin on your shoulder, "I couldn't stand seeing you be so adorable from afar."
"You do realize you say mushy stuff a lot." 
"I didn't realize it before either." He spoke, looking at the book in your hand.

"Romance books in the palace?"
"This is some political thing I'm guessing... romance is just a subgenre." You sighed as he replied, "I've got a lot of romance books in my room. Why don't you ask me?"
"I thought you read all political books."
"You always think everything on your own."

He was right about that. You thinned your lips as he turned you around, making your back hit the shelf. He caged you between his arms and tilted his head, "Why do I feel like I changed?" 
"I think you became more open about yourself. You're still warm like you were before."
"Corny." He retorted as you sighed, "You're weird.."
He stared at you for a moment, frowning a little.
"Why do you always frown when you look at me?" You asked as he gulped, "I frown?"
"You always do that..." 

He looked down, "I just... feel weird." 
He leaned in closer to your face, "You're pretty. I don't think I've ever said that."
You looked at him, quite shocked as he asked, "Can I kiss you?"
"You ask that for what -" 

He kissed you immediately, making you lift up a little. You wrapped your arms around his neck, melting into the kiss. You let him take the lead this time as you lazily kissed him back but he gently bit your lip, urging you to kiss him back properly. 
You smiled in the kiss, playing along with him. 
He pulled away and stared at you, something flicking in his deep brown eyes. He sighed, "I'm kissing you every single day from now on." 
"What?"
"I said what I said." 

You frowned but he backed away, "Come out soon. We're leaving tomorrow, the bags need to be packed."