AREY

It's one in the afternoon.

I check the clock again, a tray of food in my hand for Jungkook. With a light heart, I almost skip the way there.

But the excitement on my features are dashed down the moment I open the door, and realize that Jungkook wasn't alone.

"Who—"

Princess Camille turns on her high heels, and I bite back from throwing a curse at her as she scans me with a scornful gaze. She sees the lunch tray, and my face— and sighs hatefully.

"I see. You have to eat, don't you." She says to the prince she'd pinned up against the wall. "Well, I'll leave you to it, then."

Jungkook looks half-dead.

He crumples to the floor as soon as Camille brushes past me, slamming the door shut behind her. Rough coughs wrack his body, and his eyes are squeezed shut from pain.

I abandon the tray on the ground, rushing over to his side.

"Hey, Kook." I say, voice both soothing and rushed as I pull him to my chest, rubbing circles against his back. "Breathe."

"Princess." He says weakly, releasing a shaky sigh. I let him as he desperately connects his mouth with mine, kissing me deeply.

His soft taste has a tinge of perfume.

"She kissed you, Jungkook?" I say, my voice slightly sharpened after he breaks away. He nods, breathing with a slight hitch.

My lip twists.

That damn girl. She liked to satisfy herself with him, but was too ashamed to show him off proudly.

"I'll get you out of here soon." I whisper into his ear, and his eyes widen.

"You— You can't do that."

"Trust me, I can and I will." I say, hiding a small smile at his confused expression. "You just need to deal with this a little bit longer, and then you're out of here. With me."

He tugs self-consciously at the neckline of his shirt, which had been pulled down to show his collarbone. The skin there is littered with red kisses, and I press down a hiss.

"I don't understand, Princess."

"You will." I promise, and motion for him to get up from the floor. "Sit on the bed, Jungkook. I brought food for you. And we can read a few more pages together, yeah?"

He chews on his lip.

I smile, knowing exactly what was going through his mind. He hated to be babied, but I just couldn't help it sometimes.

And he was probably thinking of just letting me.

"Here."

"Thanks." He smiles, starting when he looks up curiously. "What about you? Did you eat already?"

"Of course." I say proudly, holding up my fingers. "So first I had some chicken, and then some potatoes, and after that some salad, and after that some red velvet cake—"

He laughs.

"Okay, okay. I won't worry anymore."

A pout pulls at my lips. "What? But I like you worrying about me, Kookie. I like it."

He pats the top of my head. "Then I'll keep worrying about you, Princess. Don't worry then."

Then he suddenly smiles into an angelic smile, motioning secretly towards the place I'd skipped the book hidden.

"Will you read to me now?"

__________________________

I glance up, watching him chew on another one of the painkiller tablets as my lips continue moving.

"One day, the butterfly didn't come."

I stifle a giggle, glimpsing Jungkook's eyes flash upwards in attention. He hadn't even finished taking his painkiller yet— he just was into the book so much, wasn't he?

"The boy waited, with his windows both thrown wide open. He waited, even if it was past the time that he should've been in bed."

Warm evening sunlight washes the room in a golden hue of color. It all feels so surreal, from the interested look Jungkook is giving me to the soft wind grazing against my skin.

"He waited until daylight."

I take a deep breath, moving to the next page with a soft flick of my wrist. Jungkook's eyes are full of worry, his features slightly tense.

"He was devastated to find that it hadn't came. He'd waited the whole night— waited, until he'd nearly collapsed asleep. He'd never imagined that something so small as a butterfly could make him feel like this, until he realized that— without realizing, he'd made this butterfly his world."

"He cried."

Then something warm clasps my hand, and I look up when Jungkook brushes his fingertips across the underside of my eyes.

"Princess, you're crying." He says, and my face goes taut with surprise. He tilts his head when I touch my cheeks, and realize that I really am. I hadn't even realized.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah— yeah." I say, my cheeks kind of flushed. "I'm fine. I don't know why— I didn't even know."

He looks at me with his doe eyes, looking confused and curious. But he lets it go— thankfully. I was dying because of the embarrassment.

I look back down to the pages, quickly rubbing at my face. I'm blushing all the way to the tips of my ears, because I didn't even know you could cry without knowing you were.

"It's alright if you stop today." Jungkook suddenly says, and I look up in surprise. He never said that.

Then he shifts over a little bit, reaching for me with his eyes crinkled into two beautiful crescents.

"Come here, Princess."

I chuckle. Tucking the unfinished book back into the little slit, I slide into the covers next to him. His hands instantly wrap around my waist when I lie down, breathing in his soothing scent.

"So tell me." He whispers, pressing his face into the crook of my shoulder. "Tell me what you meant by yesterday. That you were going to take me away from this place."

"Would you not like that?"

"I'd love it." He says, laughing quietly before suddenly turning all serious again. "But it's impossible. This is my prison."

I kiss his pouted lips. "You'll just have to wait until I show you. Every prison has a lock, and every lock has a key."

He smiles. "And you're that key?"

I nod, a stupid smile on my face as he weaves a lock of my hair into a thick braid.

"Yes."

_________________________

I wake up during the night.

My eyes just snap open, and I'm surprised to find that it's still dark outside— the moon shining brightly. I usually never woke up until daylight, and now somehow that had been broken.

There's a strange feeling at the end of my spine.

Climbing out of bed, I slide my feet into slippers and quietly walk out of my room. The halls are dark out, the silence almost choking.

And my feet take me to Jungkook.

I follow the pathway, softly wrapping my hand around his doorknob. The door swings open, and my eyes go wide when I see him coughing on the floor.

"Kook!"

He gasps, and I roll his shaking figure to his back. His eyes widen, but they struggle to focus on me. It's almost like he can't.

"Hey, hey." I say softly, when I'm really panicking like wildfire inside. His cheeks are flushed, dark locks matted with sweat as he wraps a trembling hand around mine.

"Here." I say, quickly reaching for the painkiller tablet on the nightstand. I slip it into his lips, kissing his cheeks as he breathes in torn, uneven bursts.

"Princess...."

"What happened?" I whisper, my heart racing because of the adrenaline. "Jungkook— what happened. Did your heart act up?"

He starts to shake his head, but stops himself as he pulls me towards his chest.

"I just had a nightmare." He says, tucking my body into his arms. "About you, Arey. And it scared the hell out of me. You know how my heart is when I panic."

"About me?"

He nods, chewing on the bottom of his lip. When I press him gently, he finally gives in.

"You died saving me."

I smile, ruffling the top of his hair. He looks at me when I let my fingers drop to the side of his face. "You know, I'd honestly do that."

He frowns.

"I won't let you."

"I know. I wouldn't let you either, honestly." I laugh, and he presses his mouth in a cute grin at me. "Are you feeling better now? Wanna read?"

He nods, brushing his lips against the curve of my face when I bend down to get the book out.

"Hm— so what page..."

"Seventy six." He reminds me quietly, and I smile at him amusingly as I flip to that page. "It was page seventy six."

"Almost done, aren't we?" I say before sinking into my usual chair, getting ready to read. He nods, leaning the back of his head against the headboard of the bed as well.

"By the end of that day, he had cried so much that he could only get dry tears from his eyes. The sun sank down to night, the beginning of twilight."

"It was beautiful. But when he looked at the setting sun, the only thing he could see was gray. The hues and colors faded and swirled into darkness."

"Color. The butterfly was color."

"He watched the gray fade away into black, and waited again. He had nothing else to do but to hope, something he knew he shouldn't be doing. Hope was unfaithful, after all."

"There was a flutter of wings."

Jungkook breathes in a bit more sharply, and my heart warms as I continue along the line.

"The boy looked up, and suddenly he could see. Colors rose, but the only thing he could see was the butterfly, fluttering into the open window."

"It perched on the sill."

"He presses down the urge to rush to it, his eyes wide and body frozen. He was afraid it would fly away if he scared it. He was terrified that it would leave."

"But then it tilted its wings towards the outside of the window."

"Outside the window, where there was freedom."