137 Of Stolen Time Pt.3

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"I will get Madam Zhou to prepare your room," Minseok concluded as Namjoon joined him. "You must be weary from your travels. Come, let us continue our conversation after you are settled."

"It is good to see you, cousin," Namjoon spoke sincerely as Minseok led the way. "We have much to catch up on."

Seokjin offered a quick smile in reply. "Indeed." He straightened his back as if to measure himself against Namjoon. "I can't believe you're taller than me now."

Namjoon chuckled. "I was always taller than you."

Seokjin was about to refute his cousin's remark when he suddenly heard two people bickering in the distance. He stopped in his tracks. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted a young boy standing beside the drenched maid he was with earlier. Seokjin noticed that the boy was dressed in dark, embroidered clothing which was far too fancy for a servant. And if he wasn't a servant, Seokjin deduced that he was of noble birth. He blinked.

Could that be—?

"Yes," Namjoon affirmed, answering Seokjin's question before he could even articulate it. "That is him."

Seokjin turned to face his cousin.

"He was only an infant when you saw him last." Namjoon gestured to Taehyung, who was walking alongside Gyuri. "Now, he is almost a man."

Seokjin observed as his younger brother chatted animatedly with the maid. When he smiled, it surprised him to see how much Taehyung resembled their mother.

"Indeed, he has grown a lot," Seokjin murmured, his eyes forlorn at the sudden thought of the past. Seeing his younger brother grown served as a reminder of the decade they had spent apart; ten summers of stolen time that he could never reclaim. "It is a shame that I was not there by his side to witness it."@@