King's Corp

Chapter 31 - E N D

A/N: I used to do weekly updates, can you believe it?! Neither 😅 

Last chapter guys ❤️

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2 months later

Patches of green surround the grey stone and the sun reflects of the granite on the floor. Jungkook stares at his mother's gravestone and finds it to be rather beautiful. Not per say what it represents, but rather, he admires the white roses that surround it. Even the patches of green grass that sprout from its corners are rather pleasant to see. He runs his hand over the block and sighs, not so much in sadness, but rather nostalgia. He feels the wind against his face and exhales before placing his own flowers next to the stone.

"I'll see you next week, Mama," he smiles. "I love you."

Jungkook then slowly retreats from her grave and walks over to the distant figure who's clad in a black hoodie.

Taehyung barely acknowledges him as he steps next to him, his eyes looking a little dazed as he stares at the two gravestones below him. Jungkook crouches down and places a single white rose on each gravestone. Taehyung watches him in silence.

"I miss them." Taehyung whispers. The utter fragility of his voice makes Jungkook look up.

"What were they like?" Jungkook asks, a little hesitant, feeling like he's treading on thin ice.

Taehyung smiles although it looks rather sad. "Wonderful. Dad was the funny one who would mess around and make jokes and mum would pretend to be unamused as she hid her smile. We...we were always so happy, the four of us..." Taehyung trails off, looking down at the stone. His voice is barely above a whisper as he speaks. "But look where we are now." He mutters.

Jungkook watches as a million emotions run past Taehyungs eyes and a twin feeling of sadness and realisation strikes him. He feels sad seeing the hurt beneath his eyes and it's moments like this where he realises how wrong the world makes Taehyung's character out to be. 'A big shot CEO' 'A cold hearted man who only cares about money' 'The king of the business world' 'A ferocious lion". Taehyung isn't any of those things. Under grey clouds, stood over a gloomy gravestone, Taehyung is painting of loneliness. A black smear across a grey canvas. He doesn't stand out and he doesn't blend in. He simply just exists in isolation. A man that was forced to age too quickly and forced to carry a burden too heavy for his shoulders. 

Jungkook takes a small step forward and carefully wraps his hand around the older man. They share a moment of silence, listening to the thrum of their pulses and the soft puffs of breaths from their mouths. Jungkook doesn't have words to offer him, there's nothing he can say that can plaster the wounds of a grief struck heart. He simply holds him tighter, hoping the touch transcends the comfort he cannot give with words.

Taehyung burrows his head into his neck and sighs against the soft skin while gripping the boy tighter. Staring down at his parents tomb stones makes the harsh reality that he pushes to the back of his mind a little too real. Taehyung knows that the world is cruel. The universe is unforgiving and life...life itself is unfair.

Once you realise that loss is spelt with the same 'L' love is, the notion of loving becomes a mere aching idea. You realise that maybe it's not such a great thing. Maybe it's something to fear, to run away from, to hide and store away in the deepest burrows of one's heart.

Having lost all that he loved, Taehyung was young when he realised all this. He was young when love wasn't chocolates and roses but rather a bitter taste in the back of his throat. And so Taehyung never really understood why people were so quick to chase love, so reckless to open their hearts and harbour deep feelings. He just didn't get why they would search so hard for that hurt rapped in gold foil.