Princess Eunbin had not been wrong with her statement. Her and Taehyung were really getting married in few weeks. Three to be exact, as the King and Queen of Elysium cheerfully announced at breakfast the following day.

This announcement made Taehyung ultimately lose his appetite and want to slam the golden spoon on the table, throw his silver plate on the shimmering marble tiles and leave and never come back. But since he could not do that, he had to calm himself by glaring holes into his buttered waffles.

Later that day, he ended up weeping about how unfair his life was, hugging his pillow, or more like strangling it, and his feet thrashing around in the air wildly. Jungkook and Jimin found him in the middle of his little breakdown and were extremely shocked because they had never seen Taehyung like this. While Jimin rushed off to make him a nice cup of hot chocolate, Jungkook sat by the edge of his bed and wrapped his arms around him and patted his head softly without saying anything, already knowing what this was about. And surprisingly, that helped a lot.

"I-I will have to share a bedroom with her. A-And I am expected to sleep next to her! Be a husband! Have a son with her! A-And I don't even know how that is done yet...," he exclaimed, grabbing a handful of his blueberry-coloured hair in frustration and about to pull it harshly when he felt a warm hand enclose his own and softly drag it away from his head.

Shocked, Taehyung momentarily stopped his crying and simply stared, he stared at the hands that were holding his own and he felt his insides go warm, as if those hands sent rays of warmth through his entire body. Despite of how miserable he felt, he felt very comforted by Jungkook's presence and his hands holding his own and his arms wrapped around his middle.

He liked getting comforted by Jungkook, it didn't make him feel awkward nor did it make him feel sorry. He simply felt completed, like the position they were in was somehow meant to be. And over and over, he wondered what made the brunette so special.

These days, Jungkook wasn't always the one comforting Taehyung. One night, the prince had found Jungkook outside in the middle of the night, standing in the rose garden and silently staring at the silver moonlight. He did this as tears streamed out of his eyes, down his cheeks and dropping onto the ground. It was one of the days where he missed his family especially, his mother and father, friends and relatives. He feared that he might forget about them since he had accommodated to the castle life so much. What if he forgot all the beautiful memories with his loved ones?
It terrified him.

Jungkook had a very different way of crying from Taehyung. While Taehyung was the type to sob loudly, furiously wipe his eyes and sniffle with trembling shoulders, Jungkook had a very tranquil way of crying. Tears just came and went and no other part of his body reacted to their coming and going at all.

That night, the prince had woken up in the middle of the night, not knowing why. Perhaps it was how empty the room felt, like something was missing. He did not dare share his bed with Jungkook, but even so, the boy sleeping on the soft mattress a few feet away from him filled the usually so empty room with his comforting just-being-there. This had been the first time he had left it.

At first, Taehyung had panicked and assumed the worst. Maybe the other getting dragged away, maybe him running away without a word and leaving him behind alone. In fact, the latter was probably what he feared most: to be left behind alone.

The window had been opened and wind from the outside was blowing which made the temperature in the bedroom sink significantly. Knowing that Jungkook must have opened it and climbed the golden ladder downstairs, Taehyung had sighed, warmed himself with a fluffy bathrobe and followed him out of the window, feeling anxious and fearing what might have happened.

And just as he was about to check the horse stables to see whether the boy had borrowed one of them, he saw Jungkook's back profile in the middle of the rose garden, the moonlight reflecting him beautifully, and simply that one image filled him with utter relief and at the same time, sadness and worry. Because he knew the other hadn't come out of happiness.

Since he didn't want to be loud, he had quietly approached him and was just about to tap him on the shoulder to ask him what was going on when he saw the tear streaks on his face and pretty much froze. He had never seen Jungkook cry and he didn't know it would make him feel like this to see him do so.

Jungkook had seen him cry a few times, mostly due to the pressure of having to get married at a young age, to someone he didn't even feel remotely attracted to. It just hit him then that it had never been the other way around.

He had felt quite helpless, never having seen a crying person before. Jungkook always seemed to know what the right thing was to calm someone down. Had he dealt with crying people often? Or maybe he just had a special effect on Taehyung.

Deciding to act according to his gut feeling, the prince had simply taken a few steps forward so they were facing each other, raising his hands so they were now cupping the brunette's face and his thumbs wiping away the tears softly.

And when he carefully asked what the matter was, Jungkook had simply smiled and the glassy eyes, that were previously gazing into the round moon looked into his own.
"I'm confused," he had then answered quietly. "I miss them so much and I want to see them again, so badly. I shouldn't get attached, I can't."

And Taehyung was still trying to understand what exactly he had meant with those words.

°○●○●○°

As soon as Yugyeom and Yoongi entered high school that Wednesday, they immediately noticed that something was wrong. Wronger than usual.

Actually, no. In fact, they had realized something was wrong already earlier this morning, the uncomfortable and deafening silence surrounding the breakfast table making them wonder if something had happened. And as soon as they walked along the hallways of their usually so loud and wild high school, they got their answer.

Something had happened, an abundance of students were standing around one of the lockers in silence. Few were whispering, others simply looked shocked.

With confused faces, the two boys had looked at each other and walked towards the crowd to see what was going on there. And when they did, both of their hearts dropped and they almost lost their balance.

The students were standing around what had previously been Jeon Jungkook's locker. Candles and little sticky notes were now decorating it, and right in the middle of the locker hung a huge picture of Jungkook's face.
And underneath, there was a huge banner with the words "R.I.P Jeon Jungkook, you will be missed!" written beautifully on it.

"Wh-Wha..." Yoongi didn't get any further, covering his mouth in shock and feeling a huge lump forming in his throat. Multiple emotions started corrupting his brain and he felt like he couldn't breathe. He was too shocked to even cry. And same went for Yugyeom.

Yugyeom, who was usually so tall and stable felt as if he was going to crash onto the ground any moment. He started feeling dizzy. There was no way this was actually happening, was there? He must be having the biggest nightmare of his life!

"J-Jungkook is wh-what?," Yoongi then whispered, his eyes now filling with tears and his lower lip trembling. And just in that moment, one of the kids surrounding the allegedly dead boy's locker turned around and faced him. He looked quite familiar, bright and fashionable clothes and his hair a flaming orange.

"I'm so sorry about this. Your friend was on the news this morning. The police found his bicycle in the middle of the woods this morning, it was completely trashed. There wasn't a body but judging by the state of the bicycle, there's no way he survived a fall or an accident like that." Yoongi had heard enough. He dropped onto his knees and, with both hands covering his face, sobbed violently.

"No! He can't be dead! He just can't!"
More students started turning around in shock, looking at the grieving boy and giving him pitiful looks, some of them still whispering. Yugyeom was also crying but tried to hold himself back, as much as he wanted to follow his friend's actions and drop onto his knees, violently sobbing.

The orange-haired boy widened his eyes at the redhead's reaction, smiling a smile full of empathy and understanding, not pity. He patted the boy's shoulder soothingly and rubbed his back. "It's okay to be sad. People come and go, sometimes they leave just when we need them the most. It's a part of life and someday, you'll be able to cope with it. But for now, it's okay to be sad. If you guys ever need someone to talk to and let your emotions out on, I'm always there. I'm really sorry for your loss, by the way. He was such a nice guy."

Yoongi was still too preoccupied weeping to say anything, although he would've appreciated this words in a fully conscious state. Therefore, Yugyeom responded for him with a little "Th-Thanks," also crying softly. He was also starting to think about Jungkook's parents. How horribly devastated they must be over their only son's death. The boy was their everything, and just without a word, he had gone.

There was no hope of him still being alive, was there? If he had been, they would've already been informed. It was only a matter of time until the police would find Jungkook's body. Why didn't they keep searching for it and just automatically assumed his death? Were they too lazy to continue the search? But then again, the forest was big and it was not guaranteed you'd find your way there. There also wasn't any phone signal, so no point tracking anyone or anything.

Yugyeom really wanted to lie down, all these thoughts running through his head along with the shock of losing a loved one were starting to hurt and make his vision blur. For a moment, he thought he was going to panic but a reassuring hand on top of his shoulder snapped him back into reality.

"My name's Jung Hoseok, by the way. In case you didn't know. I'll ask for a teacher's permit for you guys to leave school and drive you home, you really should rest as much as you need!," the orange-haired boy said, dashing off towards the teacher's room to inform the teachers of current situations.

One thing was for certain, Jeon Jungkook would be missed indeed.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: hello there, it's 1am and i should sleep soon but i'm caffeinated and nervous for the exam tomorrow dammit😔

also i wanted to thank you very much for over 6k reads on this book💜💜 i have no idea how these things happen but just know that you're amazing and i hope you're having a nice day/night🥰🥰 i love you all very much💜💜)