#jae-bam

Weirdly enough, your break-up with Jaehyun didn’t affect your relationship as much as you thought it would. It remained relatively the same, just without the labels and PDA. Though, to your slight dismay, the skinship remained.

The way you two behaved around each other was almost as if nothing had changed. People wondered why you two even broke up in the first place. But things were just more complicated than it seemed and you didn’t have the mental capacity to tell them your whole history with Jaehyun.

Not that it was any of their business, to begin with.

There was just this pull between the two of you that you couldn’t quite dispel, no matter how hard you tried. And frankly, Jaehyun didn’t try that hard either to make the boundaries clearer.

“We should stop this,” you muttered as you looked up at the ceiling while lying down on Jaehyun’s bed.

“Stop what?” he mumbled back as he flipped through his novel at his desk, where he was sitting.

You sighed and flipped onto your stomach before giving him a look. “You know what I mean.”

“Actually, I don’t know what you mean,” he replied back stubbornly, never meeting your eyes completely.

You opened your mouth, then closed it — there was no point in arguing with him when Jaehyun was adamant in not listening to you.

He exhaled sharply and got up from his seat before heading for his bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower now. We can talk when I’m done.”

You didn’t even bother responding.

You got up from his bed the second you heard the water from his shower and perused the numerous picture frames that decorated his bookshelf. Picture frames that consisted of you and him only.

Your heart tightened at the trail of memories in front of you, bringing you back slightly in time and leaving you wishing for things to be as lighthearted and easy as before.

But that was the thing about growing up.

Some people just didn’t grow at the same pace as you did and they ended up not being at the same stage of life.

You were too focused on the picture frames that you almost tripped over a small round box that laid near the bed, just barely out of sight.

Your brows furrowed and you wondered what it was. You didn’t feel shy about opening it up either since you practically knew everything there was about Jaehyun and you knew every crook and nanny of his room. So, where did this box come from, exactly?

So, you opened it, not expecting much. It probably just contained some random music memorabilia — he loved collecting those vintage collectors objects.

But to your utmost surprise, you found…

Museum tickets from your first date.

Plane tickets from your first summer vacation together abroad.

Polaroid pictures from your first road trip.

Random notes you once had passed to each other during class.

Receipts from all the restaurants you had eaten at with each other.

“What are you doing?”

Jaehyun’s voice startled you and you whipped your head around, your eyes brimmed with tears. But his expression didn’t reveal anything.

“Wh-what is this?” you asked, your voice barely a whisper.

“You weren’t supposed to open that,” Jaehyun answered briskly, but made no move to take it away from you.

“Well, how was I supposed to know not to open the box?!” you exclaimed. “And besides, you still haven’t answered my question — what is this?”

Jaehyun looked away from you. “Just a box with stuff that reminded me of you…”

You blinked in confusion. “Yes, but I don’t understand why you still have this — we broke up a while ago.”

Jaehyun remained calm, the complete opposite of you. “Do you want the truth?”

You gave him a nod apprehensively.

“The truth is that I miss you.”

But you began to shake your head and got up from the floor before you started to pace around his room. “No, you can’t do this to me, Jae. You just can’t– You broke up with me.”

Jaehyun followed you. “I know, I know! And every day, I wake up and regret ever making that decision. Why do you think I keep ignoring you whenever you bring up the fact that we’re too close for a pair of friends? It’s because I never wanted us to be friends and–”

“And, now what? You just want us to go back to how we were?” You scoffed and rubbed your forehead. “Jae, we broke up for a reason. We can’t just go back to how things were!”

Jaehyun managed to grab your hand amidst your turmoil and brought it to his heart. You could feel his heartbeat and how it got stronger with every second.

“I know, but all I’m asking is a second chance.”

You bit your lip as you could already feel your walls crumble.

Or at least, not as much as your predecessors did.

Your mother, who was the current queen, found your father the same way, and they fell in love. They had a love so strong and beautiful that it made you wish that you had something similar to what they have, or at least an ounce of what they have.

You once believed that the tradition wouldn’t be necessary as you already had someone in mind in regards to who you wanted to be your future spouse.

You stole a glance over at Prince Jeno, one of the oldest princes from the Dream kingdom. He was the one you had in mind as the two of you were once as close as your parents were. But something shifted in your relationship’s dynamics, one that you couldn’t understand and still couldn’t comprehend today. Ever since then, you two hadn’t had a civil conversation.

Even though it was a ball in your honour, you couldn’t help but feel the loneliness creeping up on you as the only birthday wish you had for the longest time was for Jeno to simply look at you again.

“May I have this dance, your Highness?”

You broke out of your reverie to only see Prince Haechan extending a hand for you. Your lips pursed in apprehension — you weren’t really in a mood to socialize even though it was your birthday party.

But a nudge on the part of your mother forced a smile upon your face and to nod reluctantly at Haechan’s request.

You and Haechan barely danced for half of the song when someone suddenly barged in between the two of you.

“Prince Haechan, mind if I cut in?”

Your eyes widened in surprise as Jeno glared at his cousin. They then went back-and-forth between Haechan and Jeno’s extending hand. However, you also didn’t miss the small smirk that appeared on the former’s face as he accepted Jeno’s request.

“Of course not.”

You curtsied just the slightest at Jeno’s small bow as the music restarted for a new dance. Jeno’s hand tightened around your hand and waist whereas his face remained as stoic as ever. You frowned in response, not liking his attitude one bit.

“That wasn’t very polite of you,” you muttered through gritted teeth as you two waltzed. “Not to mention how you basically ignored royal protocol.”

Jeno scoffed. “Since when do we have a royal protocol when it comes to waltzing?”

You were slightly taken aback. “Since you asked to waltz with the princess that’s about to get married off to some random dude, then yeah, there’s a royal protocol, alright.”

Jeno’s expression hardened at your words, almost as if he was angry at the thought of it — but that was impossible, right? Why would he be angry, anyway?

But he proved you wrong. “As if I’d let you marry some random guy that you don’t even like.”

“And why on Earth would you even care about who I marry?”

Jeno’s silence was deafening.

“Wait…” Your cheeks felt hot at his lack of response. “Are- are you jealous?”

The prince’s jaw slackened even more and he refused to meet your eyes as he gritted out, “I’m not jealous.”

You squeezed his hand in anger, but nothing in his expression showed that it hurt. “Fine, whatever! Let’s just pretend you’re not jealous — then how is it any of your business who I’m marrying? What if I do like Prince Haechan? Who are you to prevent me from marrying him?”

“Haechan?” Jeno snorted almost in amusement. “As if he’s your type.”

You rolled your eyes. “And because you know my type so well.”

But the look he gave you following your sentence was indescribable and almost challenging. It felt as if Jeno was able to see through you perfectly and it was a feeling that left you nervous because the last thing you wanted was for him to discover your feelings for him. You were intent on keeping your feelings locked away and bringing them with you to your grave.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

God, you simply couldn’t take this anymore. How long did the song last and why was it not over yet?

“And how exactly are you going to prevent me from getting hurt, then?” you retorted.

“By marrying me.”

You almost tripped but you took your revenge by accidentally stepping over Jeno’s feet. “Excuse me?” you spluttered.

Jeno tilted his head before giving you a smouldering smirk.