⊰ chapter fourteen ⊱

Only a week later, Jungkook found himself standing in front of a two storied wooden built house, the door of the house open as men kept on loading the goods and furniture inside. He clearly noticed the broken wooden panes at the windows, wondering if Namjoon could fix them later on. The house looked like it needed cleaning but it was going to adjust all of them if considerations were made. He sighed, looking down at the letter in his hands.

The leaving letter from Jeon's residence.

Wineri placed a hand on his shoulder, "Why make the glum face reading that letter again and again, son? Forget it, come inside. Dara made tea."

"Tea?" Jungkook couldn't help but grin, "Who is teaching her these? Madam Koveski doesn't even know how to boil water and you are teaching her how to make tea?"

"She insisted!" Wineri laughed, cheeks red against the snow today, "She is keeping the children on their toes. They were upset about moving into a smaller house and no backyard to play, so she decorated the attic with them in the morning. Adona is adjusting in the smallest room―I insisted on taking the bigger one with the child, but she said she wanted to be in silence in the corner of the house. Me, Sam and the older girls will adjust in the second bedroom. The soldiers are cleaning the master bedroom for you and Dara, can't let the newlywed into anywhere else―,"

"Mama," Jungkook was holding Wineri's hand when he cut her, "That's all great. But what about you?"

"What about me?" Wineri questioned, frowning with confusion.

Jungkook sighed heavily, "I don't regret the decision I made at all, you know it. But you. You have done so much for West, this is your second home, my first home―I grew up here, you sculpted the ministry everytime it fell―,"

"And Dara will sculpt you every time you fall, Jungkook," Wineri said, eyes pleading and lips smiling, "Let the fortresses ever built fall. But the fall of the blood heir will be the fall of zisk. And the fall of you, will not only break me, but provoke Dara to lose herself―,"

"It's not like that―,"

"Not like what?" Wineri asked, "That woman came back for you, Jungkook. She keeps coming back from the doors of death for you. You think you don't realize how she looks at you? How it feels so real, so pure despite of the murderous things she is capable of?"

"Please," Jungkook pleaded this time, "Do not interfere with our things, mama. Our relationship goes deeper than the wounds I or she has ever endured."

Wineri looked disappointed.

"If anything I am sure of," Jungkook continued, "It is that I wouldn't be contended with any other women. I am fond of her."

"That does not look like the only reason why you have turned down the Winters," Wineri stated.

"It is," Jungkook shrugged, "She used to be my Queen. Now she is my wife. We are unhappy. But we can survive. Till she and I get what we want."

Wineri did not want to question his adamant self.

She got her answers at the Court that very day.

So she smiled and dragged Jungkook inside the house, "Go help her set up your chambers. Try buying her new dresses. I can't bear to see her wear our old dresses."

"I don't mind," Dara scared the two mid the hallway as she popped in out of nowhere once the two entered the house, leaving their conversion outside in the snow. Dara smiled widely, a tray with two tea cups on her hands, "One for Wineri. And half a cup for my husband."

"Half a cup?" Jungkook raised a brow, "Why do I get half a cup?"

"Today is not a very convenient day to tell you why you get half a cup but," Dara watched Wineri sip from her cup and smile widely while Jungkook took his half cup of tea, "You will be getting half a cup of tea everytime you ask for it."

"Makes no sense," Jungkook took a sip before raising his impressed eyebrows, "You are getting good at household chores."

"Trying to outrun Era here," Dara and Wineri laughed out at the silly joke, Dara did not stop though, "What if she drags me for not being able to cook or clean?"

Wineri laughed out loud, balancing her cup of tea as quickly as she was about to drop it. Dara was red from all the laughter while Jungkook eyed her down as he hid his smile behind the cup, drinking from it. Wineri caught her breath and snatched the tray away from her hands, "Give me that! You both, get working! Arrange the rooms!"

Dara giggled, still settling from the heavy laughter before turning away to find the stairs upstairs. She heard Jungkook's uninterested footsteps walk up once she had opened the doors to the biggest chamber in the house, "I insisted Wineri to have the room with the rest of the girls. She is so stuck up with the customs of your realm!"

"She worried about your comfort too much," Jungkook glanced at Dara's dress, "How are we doing in that dress?"

"I definitely feel poorer than Era but," Dara nodded with a pure sarcastic look at Jungkook, "Your woman is actually having fun looking like a cinder. Considering that her very own banter relapsed back to her. How does Cin-Dara sound? This is why Arver always asked me to not make fun of people at Meyrem. Era cursed me into this after that joke―why can't I keep my mouth shut?"

Jungkook rolled his tongue against his inner cheek to help himself prevent the laughter. Before he could roll out into a laughter, he looked away to pretend to examine the walls, "Same question."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing," Jungkook cleared his throat, "This is the best we could afford. The bigger houses aren't ready for selling. We should get a bigger place soon. They stopped the rice and farm advantages too, we cannot even help the poor with the first quarter of our food anymore―,"

"You should have done what i suggested," Dara said and it made Jungkook immediately look at her across his shoulder, "Don't give me that look. You know what I am talking about. Marrying Era would have not only saved you from being the unlucky king who has no children but also have Wineri stay in the ministry."

"Unlike you, I have to be very fond of my partner to get married," Jungkook made the statement harshly.

Dara grinned as she closed the gap between them, her hands finding its way towards the closed buttons of his poet's shirt, pulling him closer by them. Jungkook frowned at her actions, confused but tempted―oh, he is always tempted. Dara titled her head playfully, "You are fond of me?"

"So fond of you that every time you open your mouth, I want to seal it close," Jungkook gritted his teeth, "I forbid you to bring up Era to your lips ever again. Her chapter is closed―it never began to start with."

Dara unbuttoned the first button, "I am confused."

He paused.

"I am confused. Why are you so desperate to keep me with you? Is this another secret ploy?" Dara asked, unbuttoning another button, "If it is your coitus with me that you are worried about..then you know how good of a concubine I will make, Jungkook. You can still see me behind closed doors despite being married to Era."

Dara let go of him.

Jungkook seemed offended. But defeated with his patience too.

"Kings usually have a dozen concubines," the woman shrugged playfully before turning away.

Dara grinned when she felt Jungkook's hand grab her arm and twist it behind her back before pulling her against him, his mouth smashing against her jaw as his right hand grabbed her face from behind. Dara's grin turned into a wave of fright―excitement when Jungkook's furious breath trailed down her neck, "You never learn."

"You never teach," Dara struggled in the grip but realized how much she wanted to be in touch with Jungkook. So she settled there, in there, in those forceful arms. She wanted to wither.

Jungkook inhaled her scent. God, did he miss this. This lavender smell that was slowly wearing off her body, it's been way longer than imagined that Dara had left North or bathed in her very own lavender tub. He bit his lower lip, then pressed them against Dara's skin, "If it was about a coitus, Koveski, you wouldn't be able to walk the grounds of earth. Let alone ruling."

She could hear her heartbeat on the drums of her ears, her hairline sweating, "You sound too confident―,"

"Swear it. You were only trying to be the bigger person by asking me to remarry," Jungkook spun Dara around and grasped her shoulders once more, closing the gap between them as he dived into her nervous eyes, "You do not want it―,"

"You have no business knowing that―,"

"I do," Jungkook remarked, "You live under my roof, Koveski. You will answer me the way I answered you when I lived under your rule. You did not want me to marry her―,"

"You are daydreaming again," Dara stated as Jungkook's arms loosened and she stepped back, "As King, you should have thought about your reign, your heirs, your centuries on the throne. What do you want from me?"

As provoking as the questions seemed, Jungkook seemed to know what those questions were trying to get anything out of him. So he shook his head, "Are you saying you want nothing from me?"

"This is not about me―,"

"Now it is," Jungkook took a step forward, his head tilted as his eyes shined against the morning sunlight peeking into the chambers, "Why are you impressing mother so much? All the house chores, spending time with my siblings, defending me at the Court and against the Winters. You seem to be very involved―,"

"I like Wineri," Dara fought it, her cheeks blushing red, "I relate to her. She is sensible. I truly am sorry for whatever your family is facing because of me. I will return the debt once..,"

"Once?" Jungkook raised a brow, "Once you conquer your Curve or come to the North as my wife?"

"You should be worried about your throne and let me worry about the Curve," Dara whispered, "There are things to be discussed regarding the Curve and the Blood Throne. They are interrelated. One's freedom depends on the other's since the Curve is placed in the same place as the blood throne in the parallel realm―,"

"I am worried that my dreams are no more about the throne like it used to be but you," Jungkook volunteered with his secrets, "I see you unreasonably and your hair in my dream...is very long."

Dara smiled, upsettingly, "Does my short hair upset you?"

No. Her smile was wicked actually.

He didn't answer. He stared at the cut edges.

Suddenly, the tension in the air was lifted. Even though Jungkook did try to divert Dara from the topic of the Curve―something about the Curve did not interest him or ever will to speak about it to Dara. Dara being a candidate of the Curve wasn't a very appealing idea to him either.

"What else do you see in your dreams?" Dara breathed out once Jungkook held her hand and sat on the bed, pulling her closer until he made her sit on his right thigh. Dara found herself losing her guard.

"I see us giving up," Jungkook looked between her green eyes, back and forth, "I see us falling apart. I see you and I, wrapped in the sheets just for the sake of it―as you keep telling me. Maybe it's true. Maybe the dreams are only to come true. Because we aren't good enough for each other."

Dara's face fell. It was something Jungkook was dying to look at. Her lips parted and her eyes wore off the excitement completely.

"I see you leaving, I see myself giving up and looking for newer interests," Jungkook kept on lying until Dara's brows arched into a crown and her siren eyes narrowed at him as she slowly removed herself off his thigh, sitting on the bed, "Because we aren't good enough for each other―,"

"If we aren't good enough for each other then go fuck Era," Dara blurted.

And Jungkook grinned.

He caught her. By her words.

So he kissed her, forcing his lips against hers as he grabbed her jaw quickly. But when he pulled away, Jungkook wasn't wearing the mischievous smile anymore. Instead, he said, "Since when did you start going against your words?"

"What?"

"You felt like a different person at the Caucus," Jungkook stated, "Everyday, you feel different. As if you are trying to be someone you are not. You are not as generous as you are trying to be, Koveski―,"

"Since when did you start liking my non-generous side?" Dara frowned, the taste of his lips still fresh on hers.

Jungkook sighed heavily, "Your words are contradicting your actions."

"What do you mean?" Dara whispered.

The Prince smirked lightly, "I got my answer."

"What answer?" Dara watched Jungkook get off the bed, fixing his shirt. Dara stood up too, making haste after him, "What do you mean? What answer?"

Dara bumped into Jungkook when he paused his way towards the door and turned to face her. Jungkook's strict eyes found her confused as he said, "Koveski."

She wanted to disappear right then.

"I will see you tonight. Coitus."

\\since the last chap and this chap was one, heres a little short darakoo angst hehe