|Ch.124

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Jungkook opened his eyes feeling a wave of dizziness hitting him like a brick to his head. Cursing out loud,he groaned clutching his head while rolling on the sheets.

"Ouch!"

A voice of a kid startled him. He seemed to be confused for a second before rasping out a name,"Gabriel?"

The kid from his temple when he was a high priest. It's been almost an year since the war ended. During the past year,everything felt like a rush of wind to everyone. Everyone has been busy,building up the kingdom from the scratch. Man,was it such a hassle. Pendragons were the busiest or atleast that was what it seemed to be. A new Pendragon king was appointed and the house of Pendragons naturally had to sponsor and support the kingdom.

No one shed a tear after that day. No one showed a hint of emotion in their daily basis when they deal with each other. And everyone took a complete change during this time. Like how Jungkook went out of his way to adopt the kid Gabriel. He took the kid with him and built a different mansion for himself to live. Thus,he no longer lived in the main Pendragon house,leaving it for Seokjin. The rest of his brothers also had built their own houses in the capital or far away from the capital or wherever they desired. Jungkook honestly did not know where were they. He did not have a mindset to go looking for them.

For the time being,he only cared about Gabriel's well being and dragon he received from Cenise as a gift. He was happy he did not have to part ways with Venus.

During this time,he spent a lot of his nights in taverns getting drunk to his heart's content. Once in a while,he would spot Jimin or Hoseok but never really had a conversation. He just wanted his time alone.

This was,one of his mornings after getting drunk but how in the world did he return home? He normally spend the night there because apparently he drinks until he knocks himself out.

"Gab,what....what are doing here? Wait,how did I —"

"Someone brought you here last night!",Gabriel answered as he stood up from the ground.

"Who —wait why are you standing up from the ground? Don't tell me you slept there!"

Gabriel sent him an adorable glare,"...you are the one who pushed me when I just tried to wake you up"

Jungkook chuckled in a raspy voice before removing his sheets revealing his bare upper body. "I'm sorry little buddy. But again,who brought me here?"

"A gentleman. He is waiting for you at the dining table. You better hurry up"

"Urg,why is he here? Did the butler not send him off yesterday",Jungkook got up from the bed before reaching out for a glass of water.

"No? He was drunk too. So I told the him to sleep here",Gabriel looked so proud after saying what he did.

Jungkook raised an eyebrow with a blank face,"So....you were wide awake past the mid night.....again?"

"That's not the point!"

"Oh it is little young man! As your 'guardian', I need to make sure you get your good night sleep well"

Gabriel scoffed looking away with crossed arms.

Jungkook,"Gab,look",he sighed as he put away the finished glass. "I know you are worried about me. Just......give some time alright? I need some....more time"

Gabriel looked down with a sad face. It stabbed Jungkook's consciousness. The little guy was worried sick for him and is doing his best to take care of Jungkook.

"But then what should I do? I feel.....so useless. You took me in but I can't even give you any comfort. I just.....I want to help you. I don't know what else to do than these simple tasks"

Jungkook knelt from one knee infront of Gabriel and held his shoulders. "Gabriel Pendragon. Look at me. I didn't take you in because I want you to comfort me or help me. I took you in because I.....care about you. You....You probably don't know this but your simple existence just gives me a reason to look for another day. Whenever I feel like giving up,I think 'ah Gabriel must be waiting for me'. That's the presence you have in my life. Just live in this luxury however you want. That's all I want from you"

Gabriel choked up in his emotions as he looked at Jungkook with big tears rolling down.

Jungkook chuckled wiping his tears,"Well,I am your 'dad' now. I have to be responsible. I promise you,I will definitely try my best. So you also try your best....to call me 'dad'. No rush,let's take things slow. If you don't like it,just call me by my name"

Gabriel pouted childishly feeling flustered.

"Alright,now wait for me till I wash up. Let's go down to greet the guest together"

After a refreshing bath,Jungkook got dressed and went downstairs,holding Gabriel's hand. On the way,he teased Gabriel for his reddened eyes and nudged playfully. Only if Gabriel knew that Jungkook was only showing his smile to him,until now Jungkook had never had a proper conversation with anyone except for him.

But today,there will be one more exception. Because infront of him,at the dining table,was someone familiar to his eyes. "Noah?"

Noah stood up from the dining table and greeted him. "Sir Jungkook"

For an year,they did not see each other. The war ended ruining their lives along with their loved ones. But somehow,this war brought some strange friendship between them? Was it even a friendship?

The breakfast was awkward.

Gabriel was the only one who was out of this awkward bubble.

Jungkook took few glances from Noah here and there but did not initiate the conversation. He kept cutting his steak without eating while Noah calmly had his meal.

When Noah felt his little stares,he stopped eating and looked at him before lowering his gaze to the plate. "Is food not to your liking?"

Gabriel also took a look and made a weird face,"What's with you? You usually gobble up all the steak like you were starved for hundred years",the brat was genuinely and innocently confused.

Jungkook went red from the embarrassment caused by his adopted son making him rethink the life decisions,like choosing to adopt this ignorant brat. But again,he is cute.

Noah was calm as a river without a wave. His eyes were sharp as ever. And the siren eyes seemed to be assessing everything Jungkook did making him self conscious.

"I'm fine. I'm not hungry that much today",Jungkook managed to fabricate a lie after giving a small glare at the innocent Gabriel.

Noah,"....maybe you should have the hangover soup herr instead of steak"

Jungkook did not like hangover soups so he ignored the soup almost every day. Maybe because he liked the headache so he would not drown in the mental pain like whenever he was sober.

Jungkook,"...I don't like them"

Noah took the Jungkook's steak plate and pushed the hangover soup towards him. "It's not like you are going to eat it. Just drink this since you are not that hungry"

"....fine",Jungkook sighed and started drinking his soup.

Gabriel opened his mouth but Jungkook put a finger infront of him,"Not a word from you"

Gabriel sealed his lips.

Noah smiled slightly at Gabriel,"Gabriel right? Thank you for letting me stay the night"

Gabriel looked so proud as he puffed out his chest,"You're welcome sir"

"Gab,if you are done,could you go and help the butler to feed Venus?"

Gabriel,"Sure! I'd love to!"

With that,the kid ran away with happy giggles. He was way interested in the dragon than the boring adult talks. And Venus also loved the kid just like she did for Jungkook.

Jungkook cleared his throat,"So,uhm I heard you helped me at the tavern. Why were you there?I mean—I've never seen you there before"

Noah shrugged his right shoulder,"I was out of the capital helping other villages. It was late at night when I finally got back to the capital after an year. Just wanted to get myself wasted for the night. Unfortunately,I met you"

Jungkook was offended,"How was meeting me was unfortunate? Hey,for someone younger than me,you are awfully rude"

Noah took a 'so done' deep breath rolling his eyes,"I could have respected you if you acted a little more mature. You know,you were getting alcohol poisoning to the point you needed medical attention. I had to bring you here and have your doctor look at you. Luckily,your son did not seem to catch what was happening so I had to lie about me being drunk too to stay here"

Jungkook was given a brutal reality check. He was getting sick day by day. He felt bad for Gabriel thinking about what would happen to him if something went wrong.

"You didn't have to stay though",Jungkook mumbled feeling flustered about the whole situation.

A violent creaking sound of a chair took his attention and next second he blinked,Noah was right infront of his eyes as he turned Jungkook's chair to face him. Noah placed his hand on the headrest of the chair beside Jungkook's left ear.

"You freaking idiot! Are you trying to kill yourself?! Is that really what you want?! She did not give up her life for you to do these dumb shits!"

Jungkook lowered his gaze as his bangs covered his eyes hiding his expression.

Noah was even more agitated seeing him like this. The Jungkook he knew was not like this. The dude was a jerk and a carefree goofball. And when he is angry,he would go for his violent behavioural patterns. But now,what is this calmness?

It's destroying him without even knowing. Someone needs to point this out or he would not get his head out of his ass.

"Jungkook",he called out softly. It was a call to wake him up to reality. A plead to open his eyes.

"...It hurts"

Finally,a whisper of helplessness.

"I thought I'd move on. I thought I could forget everything like this",Jungkook's voice broke. A tear rolled down but he immediately raised his hand to wipe it but Noah caught his wrist.

"I don't want to cry",Jungkook rasped out.

"Maybe all you need is to cry out loud",Noah's softened tone was bringing Jungkook to the edge.

The tears could not be stopped at the moment. "I –I did not tell her how much I loved her. Even when I had the time before killing her,I did not. I –I thought if I said that,it would weight her down emotionally"

Noah placed Jungkook's head on his torso letting Jungkook cry his heart out. He took more than an hour to calm himself down. And Noah did not utter a single word during this time. But when Jungkook calmed down,he spoke.

"....your sister definitely knew that. I mean,everyone could see how much of a fool you were to your sister. If that's not love,then what is it?Actions speak out loud more than words",Noah said.

Jungkook,"...it's not enough. Actions mean nothing if you could not speak out loud. We use words to give the confirmation of our feelings. Words and actions are both important. And I learnt that in the hardest way"

Noah smiled patting his head,"oho,you've grown up"

Jungkook looked up with a swollen face,"I'm a grownass man. And I'm older than you"

Noah raised an eyebrow before pinching his swollen cheek,"Whatever helps you sleep at night"

With that Noah turned around and started walking away with a wave. "Then see you later sir Pendragon"

"You are leaving? Like that?"

Noah did not even turn around,"Yes. Just like that"

"Wait,I could take you home with Venus"

"No need. Tell Venus I said hello. And...",he finally looked over his shoulder,"You won't mind if I come over here to visit Gabriel again,right?"

"Only Gabriel?"

Noah smiled and walked away.

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