Jungkook
“Tae…” The sound escaped me, a fractured plea. I surrendered to the torrent of tears, letting them spill unchecked. My arms tightened around him, hands gripping his neck, face pressed against his shoulder. He stiffened, but I clung tighter, needing the solid weight of him.
“Taehyung,” I sobbed, the words dissolving into the damp fabric of his shirt.
His response was unexpected, a jarring shift in the fragile equilibrium we’d established. He placed his palms against my chest, pushing me away with a force that stole my breath. I stumbled back, disoriented, watching his own tears begin to fall.
“You left me,” he choked out, voice raw with pain. “Two years…and then nothing. You just disappeared. And now…this?” His gaze was fixed on me, desperate, accusatory. I averted my eyes, shame burning in my chest. I wanted to tell him everything—how much I missed him, how much I regretted the silence.
“I…I never wanted to leave you,” I whispered, the words barely audible.
He caught it, a flicker of hope igniting in his eyes. “Then why? Why did you do it? Tell me.” His voice cracked, pleading for an explanation I couldn't give. I wanted to scream the truth, to shatter the suffocating silence that had consumed us for so long.
For him to understand.
But I knew I couldn't. The consequences were too great, the damage irreversible.
I bit my lip, the taste of salt mingling with the metallic tang of fear. Tears continued to track down my face, staining the floor with my grief.
“I can’t.”
He scoffed, a sound devoid of humor. “Bullshit.” He rolled his eyes, the anger masking a deeper despair. He wiped at his tears, then turned, dragging his luggage past me. Without a word, he ascended the stairs and slammed the door to one of the rooms, locking it behind him.
The world began to spin, blurring into an indistinct haze. My vision swam with a sickening dizziness. I tried to brace myself, to remain upright, but my knees buckled beneath me. A desperate scream clawed at my throat, but my voice caught in my chest, refusing to obey.
The last coherent thought before darkness consumed me was an image of Taehyung.
The Taehyung with the crooked, boxy grin. The Taehyung who loved me with a ferocity that had once mirrored my own.
Then blackness. And the sensation of collapsing, of falling into an abyss with no bottom.