health | jungkook

xvi.

"What took you so long?" Jungkook asked his nurse when he entered with his lunch.

"Just got held up with someone," Jimin said lowly, cursing himself for not clearing his throat before entering. He set Jungkook's tray down on his table and let the younger begin eating, not looking him in the eyes. "I'll be back later, okay? Eat up."

Jungkook lifted an eyebrow. "Hyung, are you okay?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Jimin answered as he turned to walk out the room.

"Then why aren't you looking at me?"

"What do you mean?"

"You always like to make eye contact with everyone when you speak to them, heck you even walk backwards sometimes just to look at me when I talk."

"There's noth-"

"Did you see Jihye?" Jungkook said with a quiet voice. Jimin didn't say anything, he couldn't say anything. He knew that with a confirmation of him speaking with the nurse, the boy would ask a million questions that he just couldn't answer.

"Hyung, answer me," the younger spoke again, this time his tone coated in worry. "You can't lie to me, I know you."

So, Jimin only exhaled and lifted his head to look at his patient with his red eyes, quietly mumbling a "I did."

"Jimin, what's wrong?" Jungkook felt his breathing grow heavy in fear. "Is everything okay? Is Taejin okay?"

"Jungkookie," Jimin cleared his throat as he walked towards his patient. He sat down in the empty chair that Taejin would usually occupy and grabbed his hands in his.

Jungkook began to tremble. "Jimin...you're scaring me."

"I wasn't going to tell you this because Taejin should be the one," Jimin began. "But I need to so that you can go see her one last time."

"What do you mean one last time? Jimin, you can't tell me things like that, you know how I get," Jungkook felt an anxiety attack starting to settle in.

"Hey hey," Jimin squeezed the boy's hands. "What I'm about to say will be scary, but you have to stay strong. Not for me, not for you, but for Taejin. She's going to need all your support."

"But what is going on, hyung? Stop dragging it out!"

Jimin swallowed and felt his eyes begin to burn, not loosening his grip on Jungkook's hands. "Taejin's cancer has gotten worse, Kook. She has developed a case of metastasis, where her tumor has spread up towards her upper abdomen area, bordering her rib cage."

Jungkook's eyes widened. "But...but she's going to be okay, right? You guys can keep treating her and she'll be getting better and better, right?"

The nurse's vision was blurred as he continued explaining the situation to his patient. "She has been fighting, but her body is growing weak rapidly. Taejin-ssi can no longer stand up on her own and has lost so much of her long hair that Jihye told me she always wears hoods over her head. She can't eat more than a quarter of a meal before throwing up...and," Jimin squeezed his eyes shut to prevent the tears from falling and managed to choke out, "She only has two weeks left."

Jungkook froze for a few moments before taking a hand out of Jimin's grasp. "You're lying."

"Jungkook-"

"No," Jungkook felt his eyes grow glassy. "No, thats a lie. You're lying. Taejin was doing just fine. She's just sick and you don't want me to see her."

"Koo-"

"It's not true! Because she is supposed to be my forever," Jungkook said, voice breaking and the first tear falling down his face.