Taehyung at the beach, 1978

♬ Like a river flows
Surely to the sea
Darling, so it goes
Some things are meant to be ♬

- "Can't Help Falling in Love," Elvis Presley

2nd of June 1978
Kims' Grounds

After a few more attempts and Jeongguk was finally able to execute the use of the bicycle. Of course, Taehyung was amazed at how the younger was a fast learner. He knew from the very beginning that Jeongguk was no ordinary boy. He is as skilled as he could get.

They continued bicycling, circling the whole Kims' ground until they were exhausted. Taehyung's butler called for them to have lunch and they no longer resisted because they were both tired and hungry. Taehyung and Jeongguk returned the bicycles to the basement.

"Hey, um, thank you for today," Jeongguk said, shyly smiling at Taehyung. The older chuckled at the younger's statements. "What's funny?" Jeongguk inquired.

"'For today'? The day's just getting started Ggukie. Anyways, you did so well because I am a great teacher. Don't mention it," Taehyung bragged, even waved his hand in the air in refusal of Jeongguk's statements. They both laughed in unison after that and then continued walking their way to the chateau.

"No joke, you're a great teacher. The next time I'll go here with a child, I'll let you teach them," Jeongguk said and Taehyung softly chuckled but it faded quickly, thoughts suddenly hovering inside his head. Jeongguk said he's going to bring his child? Does that mean he's going to marry a woman and have kids? The idea itself was heartbreaking for Taehyung, he doesn't know what to feel if that happens.

"Hey, are you alright? Why did you fell silent?" Jeongguk asked, slightly forming a frown. Taehyung just continued walking whilst Jeongguk chased him. Jeongguk clung his arm around Taehyung's neck while they were walking.

They went into the kitchen to wash their hands before they could eat their meals for the noon. Jeongguk just stared at Taehyung who walked away already, not speaking anything after he wet his hands and ridding the dirt he got from what they did.

Jeongguk silently joined Taehyung at the dining table, seating infront of him. He watched as the older started drying his hands using his tablecloth. When he felt that Taehyung is about to look his way, he imitated what the other was doing to avoid his glance.

They both ate silently until they finished their food. The other one confused why the older was silent and the other one wondering why the younger wasn't speaking. Honestly, they both were expecting each other to speak first but they don't know how to do it. When Taehyung called for a maid, Jeongguk stared at him and waited for what the older are going to ask.

"Could you get me a bottle of wine, please?" Taehyung asked politely. The maid bowed and then she was about to leave when Taehyung spoke. "By the way, where is Lady Prime? The last time I saw her was the time she accidentally spilled hot water on my hand," Taehyung inquired, curious as to why he hadn't seen that lady since she was the one in charge of cleaning Taehyung's room but suddenly she disappeared and another maid replaced her.

"Um... Young Master, I don't really know if I should say this to you and I am not in the position to request something from you, but please, help her get back. I still have her contacts and she said that she's still looking for a job since her mother was sick," The maid said and Taehyung was bewildered as to why he should get the maid back if she's already working for them.

"What do you mean? What happened to her?"

"That same day she accidentally spilled hot water on you, Master Kim scolded her and made her pack her bags. She was discharged of her work and was forced to resign by your father." When the words of the maid struck his ears, Taehyung immediately realized what was the problem.

"Please tell her to come back, as requested by me. I will take care of my father. If she really needs the money right now, we should at least help her by having her here. Alright?" Taehyung said and the maid looked exhilarated when she heard the good news. She immediately nodded and went ahead to get what Taehyung requested before she could contact Lady Prime.

"That's so kind of you, Taehyung. It's good to have a righteous man and a nice friend," Jeongguk smiled at Taehyung, completely admiring him for what he did. Taehyung just smiled back at him without uttering a response.

━━━

After they rested, they immediately went inside Taehyung's room to help clean up. "Wow, they almost took everything out. I think we should help to make things faster," Jeongguk decided to break the silence between him and Taehyung. The older just nodded and went ahead to take his things and place them in a box for easy packing.

Whilst they were both busy picking up things to empty the room, Jeongguk noticed a small picture frame atop a box that looked like a treasure chest. He took it and wiped the dust using his hand. There he saw an image of a woman carrying a kid in her arms. He thought it was a cute memory of someone's childhood. And since he found it under Taehyung's bed, he immediately assumed that he was that kid. He still asked Taehyung about it to be sure. "Yeah, that was me in our manor in Korea," The older replied.

"And I'm guessing this is your mother right? She's even more beautiful during her youth. You got it from her, huh?" Jeongguk smiled as he continued to stare at the image. He was painting Taehyung's childhood look in his mind. He noticed how silent Taehyung went. He looked at the older's way. "Hey, you keep on falling silent since earlier, are you really alright? Or you're just forced to say that my company was your delight?"

Taehyung awakened to his senses. "I'm sorry... It's not my intention for you to think that way. I fell silent because I just remembered my nanny. That isn't my mother, Gguk," Taehyung explained. Jeongguk's eyebrows almost met because of Taehyung's statements. The younger handed over the frame to the older. "Then who is it? What do you mean by nanny? The one who took care of you on behalf of your parents? She's a helper?" Jeongguk tilted his head to the side.

Taehyung chuckled at Jeongguk's questions. "I call my grandma by 'nanny.' She isn't a helper, Jeongguk. She's my mother's mom." After that, everything was now clear to Jeongguk.

"Oh," Jeongguk let out and then proceeded to take more things from under the bed and stopped to look at Taehyung. "By the way, I haven't seen your grandma in here. Is she perhaps in Korea?" He continued. Taehyung shook his head at him.

"I had an accident when I was a kid. My grandma was there when I almost fell off of the stairs and my mother saved me from falling. I didn't know my nanny's body will react that bad after that incident because I knew she treated me with so much love. She doesn't want to see me hurting. As far as I could remember, she was hospitalized days later but then she had another heart attack while she was unconscious. She passed away very distressed, Ggukie... And I feel like it is entirely my fault," Taehyung spoke, and then he looked down before anyone could get a glimpse of his tears.

"Hey, you don't like what happened right? Don't blame yourself for it. She's alright, and you are fine. She's far away but her worries were gone. And I know that she doesn't want you suffering, so don't be sad, Tae," Jeongguk convinced him. The maids who were inside the room helping them started to leave and let both boys be alone. They are very sure that they don't want to gossip about or listen to Taehyung's misery. "Come here, you're alright. Don't think about it that much. You're a big guy yet you're surprisingly a crybaby," Jeongguk embraced Taehyung in his arms, rubbing the older's back to calm him down.

Taehyung sniffed and started wiping his tears. "How dare you call me a crybaby," Taehyung choked those words and he received a chuckle from the younger. They both ended up laughing at each other. "Where did they go?" Taehyung asked when he finally noticed that they're both alone inside the room.

"They probably thought that right now isn't the time to be around that's why they left us," Jeongguk said and continued bringing things and passing them to the maid who just stepped inside the room. Jeongguk tried opening the treasure box but it was locked with a padlock. "Can I look what's inside?"

"I didn't know where I had put the key, but that probably contains some stuff from my childhood," Taehyung responded and Jeongguk just sighed. "Don't worry, we'll get to see what's inside when we found the key," Taehyung assured him and Jeongguk just smiled.

They continued bringing everything outside Taehyung's room until it was empty. Jeongguk noticed something shining on the floor when Taehyung opened the windows. When he went near to take it, he was surprised to see a key. "Is this the key to your treasure box?"

"Yeah! Where did you find it?" Taehyung said and dusted it off.

"It was stuck to the wall, probably it fell from your bed," Jeongguk rejoined and then smiled at him. "Anyways, let us look what's inside your treasure box later and start repainting your room or the sun will be down if we don't start now," Jeongguk added and Taehyung just nodded at him. The maids started putting different colors of paint cans inside the room.

"We have to put a primer first before we put the white paint and the other colors," Taehyung said and handed Jeongguk a roller. He held another roller in his hand and then poured the primer into the paint tray. He rolled the paint roller in it and started painting it on the wall. Jeongguk did what Taehyung instructed him to do.

It took them four hours to paint the whole room. Taehyung let Jeongguk what he wanted to paint on the other side of the room. When he got to see what Jeongguk did, he presented an ajar mouth. "That is fantastic, Ggukie. I didn't know you could also paint," Taehyung complimented as stars started to form in his eyes whilst he stared at the wall. Jeongguk painted a beautiful ocean.

"Honestly, I am astonished what I could get to do with you," Jeongguk said as he also stared at his art. "I just imagined how the beach would look like. It has been a while since I went to one. And I thought you would like the idea of having a painted sea in your room, so yeah, here it is."

"Wow, Ggukie. I am speechless," Taehyung said.

"You did well too, Taehyung. Now your room isn't as lonely as it is during the beginning," Jeongguk replied. They remained at that position where they both were just standing and busy admiring each other's masterpieces. But you couldn't really tell how Taehyung admired Jeongguk so much. Well, he doesn't have to say it. The way he looked at him says it all. The way he acted in front of him screams adoration. The way he spoke to him represents how eager he is at him. And when one's having a hard time putting his feelings into words, hearts shall speak what they wanted to tell.

"You haven't seen the beach for a while, you said? Then let me bring you there as a thank you gift for your help," Taehyung said, obviously happy for the outcome of their work. Jeongguk was surprised at what Taehyung had offered him.

"Really? You'll do that?" Jeongguk asked.

"Of course. We could go today if you want," Taehyung said. Jeongguk looked so happy. He really wanted to go see the beach with someone. He didn't expect that Taehyung would be the one to fulfill that.

"You know, I want to but I won't be going with this situation," Jeongguk said as he looked at his body. His outfit was stained a little with paint although he was wearing an apron. He felt sticky too because of the sweat.

"I could lend you my clothes if you want. I too wanted to see the beach today. There are no other days to travel since we'll probably get busy as exams are coming and classes were about to resume," Taehyung said. Jeongguk thought about it for a few moments until he finally agreed.

He let Jeongguk shower in his room and he proceeded to hit the bathroom too at the master's bedroom. They both cleaned themselves and changed their outfits. They both went out of the mansion and walk towards the direction of the garage. Taehyung said he will bring Jeongguk to the beach and after that, he will take him home. Jeongguk didn't refuse anymore as he liked the idea.

"I hope we could get there before the sunset or we'll miss out the beautiful scenery," Jeongguk said while Taehyung continued to drive. They are now on their way to the beach. Taehyung quickly took a glance at his wristwatch to caught a glimpse of the time. It is already four pm and the sun sets around 5:30 pm. Taehyung tried to speed up his driving.

They both arrived there at 5:20 pm and they didn't expect that the skies would be already in the palette of yellow, orange, and red. When Taehyung finally parked his car at the right place, he pocketed his keys and immediately took Jeongguk out of the car. He held Jeongguk's hand as they ran on the way to the seashore.

They both breathed and beg for air as they finally reached where they wanted to go. The sun was already ready to get devoured by the wide sea. Taehyung and Jeongguk sat at the beach sand, both using their arms to support their weight as they watched the sea.

"This feels so good. The cool breeze and the wonderful scenery," Jeongguk said and exhaled a large amount of air like he was able to get rid of all his problems.

"Good thing I also brought a wine," Taehyung presented him the bag that contained a box of wine with two glasses. Jeongguk chuckled at him. "Wow, how did you-" Jeongguk let out.

"Well, it just happened," Taehyung said and place both glasses on the sand. The reusable bag acting as a table cloth for the good wine. He uncorked the drink and poured the liquid into the glasses. He offered the other one to the younger. "Geonbae," Taehyung uttered before reaching the drink to his lips. Jeongguk smiled at him and finished his drink as well.

"I'm thankful that all I need is here. Great scenery, restorative wine," Taehyung held his glass in his hand and stared at Jeongguk's way before saying his last words. "And a beautiful company," Taehyung completed his sentence. That made the younger's cheeks turn into crimson red. Jeongguk can't help but stare back at Taehyung because he hasn't taken his eyes off of him.

"No. I'd be the one to thank you," Jeongguk said and smiled at Taehyung. The older suddenly felt a queasy feeling in his stomach. Probably the butterflies for the boy.

"Stop staring at me like that," he started. "Ages ago, I already fell deep with those glances," Taehyung spoke, not really wanting that moment with the boy to end. He then realized what he had accidentally said. Too bad it's too late to get it back.

A/N:

Hello, lovely people! I've decided to come back haha. I haven't finished the book yet, it was hectic since I announced I'm going to leave. Things started to feel cool here and finally, I finished writing Chapter Seven so I'm giving it to you guys. I miss writing so much and I miss my darlings so much ksjsksjs. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Things will start developing after this event so stay tuned! ♡♬