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Nani’s horrified question was still ringing in Jimin’s ears.

“You’ll have to leave your friends behind?”

Jimin nodded at her.  “Yes.”

“But…you can’t separate from the other six!” she gasped.  Imagining BTS no longer.

He glanced down at her.  “It’s all right, you know.  We’re friends, but we’re not all that close.”

“You’re not?” She sounded oddly disappointed.  “But…haven’t you always had each other’s backs?”

He chewed on his lip as he considered her question.  “I suppose that’s true.  Especially of late.  As the court became a more dangerous place to be.”

“And you trust each other unswervingly, right?”

He sighed.  “I did entrust my life to them all.  As did they to me.  But I’m not really close to anyone but Jungkook.  And Jin.”

“You and Tae aren’t close?” she queried.  Disappointed to find her earlier suspicion was correct.

Jimin glanced at her sideways then.  “Tae isn’t an easy person to get close to.”

“He isn’t?  He wasn’t your first friend among the group?”

He shook his head.  “That was Jungkook.”

“But he’s two years younger than you.  And you and Tae are the same age.”

“How could you possibly know that?” he queried in astonishment.

“The band, remember?”

“Ah, yes.  Really?” he stared down at her.  “Our ages were even the same?”

“Are you twenty-six?  Or is it twenty-seven?” she asked, still confused about the age difference between American and Korean ways of counting the years.

But Jimin’s eyes grew round then.  “No.  I’m only seventeen.”

“Seventeen!” she gasped.  “What?”  She thought for a moment.  “So that means Jungkook’s only fifteen.  And Jin’s twenty?”

He nodded.

“The same age as you all were when you debuted,” she mumbled.

“Debuted?  What does that mean?”

“Your band.  When you all began to perform as a singing group.  You were seventeen.”

“Ah.  I see.”  His chin bobbed up and down then.  “Some of us were supposed to be married soon.  Jin would have married next year, but…”

“…what?” she queried when he failed to finish his sentence.

“His fiancée died.  From a fever.”

Nani gasped.  “What?  That’s horrible!”

He nodded.  “It was.” 

“Did he love her very much?” Nani inquired, imagining Jin with a broken heart.

Jimin gazed at her, almost in confusion for a moment.  Then he began to speak slowly, as though weighing his words.  “He wasn’t in love with her if that’s what you mean.  Love has little to do with most marriages.  For us anyway.  His was to be an arranged marriage, of course.  But he’d developed a fondness for her.  They’d been friends for a while.”

Nani felt her heart shift violently in her chest as she glanced up at the man striding across the field several yards ahead of them.  Jin was still leading them all to safety.

“An arranged marriage.  How strange that must be.”

He shrugged.  “It’s simply the way it is.”

“Are you to endure an arranged marriage?”

“I was.  But I won’t now.  Not since I had to flee.  She’ll marry someone else.”

She eyed him closely.  “Does that make you sad?”

He blinked.  “Not particularly.  I haven’t even met her yet.”

“What?” she asked, aghast.  “When were you to marry her?”

“Not for several years yet.  She’s still a child.”

Her mouth fell open.  “A child?  And you’ve never even met her?”

He shook his head.  “No.  She lives in the east.  With her mother.  Her father came to court a year ago.  The king wished to give him a favor, so he pledged me to the girl.  I was…one of the king’s favorite scribes.  Until treachery began to tear the court apart,” he muttered bitterly.

“What about the rest of them?  Were they all pledged to a girl?”

“All but Jungkook.  He was but fourteen when all the drama began to infiltrate the court.  The king hadn’t gotten around to finding him a wife yet before he was distracted by treason.”

Nani swallowed.  What a strange world she’d woken up to!  And all these boys were boys again!  Jimin was but a year older than she was!

They walked on silently for a few minutes.  His hand still comforting her own.  Warming her in the chill air swirling around them.  However, the rest of her was growing quite uncomfortable despite being embraced by his coat.  A violent shiver rippled through her a moment later.

Jimin felt its vibration through her fingers.  And glanced sharply down at her.  “You’re cold, Nani?”

She nodded.  “Freezing,” she whispered through chattering teeth.

Abruptly, he released her hand.  And reached out to slide his arm around her.  Drawing her into his side.  “Is that better?”

Was being held by Jimin’s arm better than walking alone?

“Yes,” she breathed.  And leaned her head against his shoulder. 

Quietly, they wandered across the meadow as Jin led them forward under a moon that was quickly being overcome by its crimson curtain.