[A/N] He's so cute, I can't-

After returning to our cottage-like home, I began preparing dinner for everyone. I totally forgot how to cook some things, so I had to pull a lot from my memory. It reminded me of life back in my town, where I would make food with my mother and help hunt for food with my father. Those were some of the most memorable moments I had with my family.

I bit my lip, missing my family and Seulgi. Although I could've gone to see them, I wasn't allowed to for the protection of the Order's plan.

Turns out, my cooking endeavour wasn't a complete disaster, for Jimin decided to help out - though he demanded it no matter how much I protested.

From the warm feeling in my chest, I could tell I was beginning to build a friendship with him. He was kind to me the whole time I've been here, not treating me like a slave at all - but more like a person.

Jimin watched with fascination as the animal roasted to a delicious brown over the fire, and I smiled at the innocent sight. But I could see the hurt in his eyes, perhaps recalling what he saw when the poor thing was slaughtered.

"What happened earlier?" He asked gently, turning to face me with worried eyes.

My chopping of vegetables halted. "What do you mean?"

"You were different...panicked almost."

I gulped, and my gaze hardened knowing exactly what Jimin was referencing. I cleared my throat to dissolve the uncomforted feeling in my chest, as I had no interest in bringing that up at the moment. "Oh, it's nothing,"

Jimin raised an eyebrow at my me. "Are you sure?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Jimin." I mumbled sending him a glare over my shoulder. He nodded and backed down, heading to the other room. Although Jimin was kind to me, he didn't understand the pain buried within me.

No one truly did.

He wanted to help, and that was clear, from his worried expression and gentle demeanour; but there was nothing Jimin could offer - it was far more complicated than many realized. There was so much pain and suffering that was swelling my mind that was impossible to fix.

I gulped, heading over to the roast and cutting up the pieces for everyone to eat. Before I could call everyone for their readied dinner, they came storming into the room, sitting down and diving in immediately. I blinked in disbelief at their speed and chuckled at their stuffed cheeks.

"Jeez, I don't know if I made enough food." I muttered.

As my eyes scanned the table, I rolled my eyes at the one empty spot.

Taehyung.

He'd been avoiding me for the past week, and it wasn't hard to see he thought I was guilty. I bit my lip in impatience, his childishness pissing me off even though I gave him ample space.

Clearly, his cold isolation were what was dragging this out, so the only other option was for me to talk to him. No matter how much I hated that thought...it needed to happen at some point.

I sighed, grabbed Taehyung and I's plate, and stepped outside.

The sky was approaching an indigo colour now, casting a strangely warm dark blue hue on the tall evergreens and overgrown grass in the distance. It was a stunning view; the clean air, unlike in Onavale and my town - it almost felt like an escape from all of it.

I gently put our plates on the doorstep and looked out into the dark evening. I watched as Taehyung stood in the centre of the field, hair gently blowing from the incoming wind and eyes gazing off in the distance.

When Taehyung glanced me, his gentle aura completely changed into the same one he usually adorned when around me - angry and disgusted.

"Dinner is ready," I mumbled, not even sparing a glance at him.

"I'm not stupid." He replied bitterly, putting a piece of food in his mouth. "I think I can see that."

I scoffed, and rolled my eyes. "Asshole, you're welcome."

The silence lingered between us for a moment, our arms crossed, and neither of us offered even a greeting. We didn't even know what to say to each other, clearly too enveloped by anger to even utter a word without sparking the other.

So instead, we sat in silence, while the loud owl calls echoed through the field.

That was until Taehyung sighed, with a hard and unchanged expression.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and groaned with irritation. "Why are you here, Juliana?" he said with a small scoff.

I raised an eyebrow, my gaze turning to meet his. Taehyung's deep eyes gazed into mine, waiting for me to speak. I observed the bored expression in his eyes, almost as if he already knew why I came here.

It was like he could read my mind, the feeling eating away at me since we arrived here. I sighed. "The attack at the gala...had nothing to do with me. I didn't start the attack, nor did I know that would happen."

I shook my head. "I know everyone thinks I'm guilty." I said, fiddling with my fingers. "But I wanted you to know that avoiding me based on that is unfair because I am legitimately innocent. I never expected my people to do something like this." I breathed, wanting him to believe me.

"I know," he replied softly.

My breathing faltered, and my eyes flickered up to his. "What?"

"I knew it wasn't your fault," Taehyung said, taking another piece of food in his mouth. "But everyone else did. That's why my father sent Ryujin and Lisa - not because you are suspicious, he thinks it was your fault."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Then why were you avoiding me if you didn't think I was guilty?"

"I knew that if the Order, especially my father, found out that I trusted you or was having anything to do with you, I can't even imagine what he would've done to me - and or you." Taehyung said the gentlest I've ever heard him speak. The deep growl he had when around me was gone. Now, his voice almost reminded me of velvet. "I wanted you to avoid me too, thinking I hated you."

My eyes softened, "so, you protected me?" I breathed with surprise.

Knowing Taehyung for the past couple of weeks, all I could use to describe him was 'arrogant asshole' and nothing more. Now, seeing this side of him made my brain believe the complete opposite. He avoided me so that I'd stay away from him, which, in turn, kept his father out of it.

I sighed at the brilliance in his plan - though it pissed me off a bit too.

"I guess, but it doesn't matter now, since my plan flopped." He chuckled lowly. "You're still talking to me."

I chuckled, and shrugged.

"But seriously, I didn't want you getting into shit with my father and the Order because you spoke to me. I thought it would be unfair considering what you did at the gala."

I glanced over at him, and smiled lightly.

"I don't know what it was, but when you saved Jimin, and I saw you almost dead...I felt so guilty about how I treated you, and I had the urge to...I don't know, make up for it." He said seriously.

My eyebrows raised in surprise, remembering Taehyung there as I was carried on the stretcher. It was foggy, but I recall his eyes observing me worriedly.

"I was a jerk, and I didn't trust you. But I was wrong...you risked yourself for Jimin and that's probably why he's still here - alive." Taehyung smiled in admiration. "That was incredibly ballsy."

"That's me," I replied, making Taehyung shake his head in amusement.

"But seriously, I owe it to you," he said, eyes gazing into mine as if begging for an apology. "Please forgive this asshole."

I sighed, "Well, you were an asshole a few seconds ago..."

Taehyung groaned with annoyance. "I'm sorry, I'll be kinder from now on, because my original plan wasn't the best anyway."

I chuckled.

"But you are still irritating sometimes," he countered with a smug smile.

"I feel the same way," I returned the smile. "And I forgive you - for now."

He rolled his eyes while I turned to eat a piece of my food for the first time. As the piece of veggie entered my mouth, I gasped. "Damn, this shit's good!"

Taehyung shrugged, "it could be worse."

"Like you could do better," I challenged, raising an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged in response, not even meeting my stare. "I can't cook for shit, so no, I can't." Taehyung replied, trying to hold back his smug smile.

I shook my head playfully, noticing how quickly Taehyung's attitude changed within the few minutes we were talking. I could see how he slowly became more comfortable with me, which made my insides twist. I definitely wasn't used to it.

I turned to look at the sky, now noticing the stars beginning to surface and glow as the night grew deeper. More calls from the owls echoed through the field, and I sighed in relief, watching more stars glitter and creating gorgeous shapes.

"It's so beautiful," Taehyung whispered gently, eyes wandering across the stars.

"Yeah," I said with a smile.

"Look," Taehyung pointed up at a particular cluster of stars. "That's Calen," he said, eyes watching the stars as if it held utmost beauty.

"What's that?" I asked, eyes trying to uncover the constellation he was referring to.

"It's a constellation meaning 'light'. The constellation is a symbol in Onavale that the star would bring light on our city and hope." Taehyung explained, tracing the star-like shape with his finger.

"We have something similar here," I replied with surprise, gazing up at the same star he was, "we call it Byeol, meaning 'star' or could be interpreted as 'light'."

"They're the same." Taehyung muttered with a small smile. "That's nice to know - we've named stars the exact same thing, but in two different languages."

I scoffed, "lack of creativity is what I call it. Once one person gets the idea, the other takes it and changes it into something else. It's like cultural appropriation but on a larger scale."

He snorted with laughter. "I just thought of the Greeks and Romans,"

"Literally the prime example!" I replied with a cackle, and Taehyung nodded, laughing along with me.

"The Romans thought they were so much better than the Greeks, yet they proceeded to have the same architecture, gods, and styles of buildings - but with different names."

"Exactly, the Greeks were probably so confused,"

I looked over at him with a curious smile. "You know so much about this stuff. How'd you learn about it? I did through my parents."

Taehyung leaned back onto his hands, looking up at the sky in thought. "Well, my dad had a lot of books. I had nothing else to do with my life, so I read them." He said, but his eyes didn't appear fascinated. "being the next-in-line was not easy. I had to constantly tolerate the paparazzi, artificial kindness, and people who want things from you. I've been so done with it. Everyone's so worried to offend me as if I'm some kind of special thing..." he said with saddened eyes. "But I'm not."

I watched him carefully as he gazed into the dark trees, thinking about his next words. "I want to be treated as normal, like I have morals and opinions. Like I'm not some object, and I found that through books. Although some were boring as fuck, but I had to find an escape somehow."

I nodded, the exact same thought running through my mind, except my escape from my struggles was risking my life, and acting on impulse. "For me, my only escape was doing something risky, like stealing food. It seemed to be the only positive thing I could find in the hellhole that was my town."

His eyes narrowed in thought. "It's weird, everyone says we're so different...but, why are we so similar?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps someone thought DNA, and appearance was the determining factor of what makes two things different," I bit my lip in thought, eyebrows furrowing. "But they disregard the soul, and beings themselves. They're the same, yet separated by categories."

"Categories. I was always taught they were a good thing, to keep everyone in line and out of trouble." Taehyung whispered, as if questioning himself. "Like girl and boy, left and right, always separate."

"Maybe categories aren't always a good thing." I finished, as both of us looked up at the constellation again, taking in the beautiful glow the star radiated through the dark, black trees. "Maybe they were meant to be broken."

[A\N]

Ayo wassup

I struggled a lot writing this chapter, so if it's shit, please bear with me-

FINALLY Taehyung and Annie aren't trying to kill one another, and we're on chapter 18! They've been hating for 12 chapters...damn. Ngl, they're hilarious and an iconic duo periodt. I don't ship 'em yet, but their relationship is a mood.