The Ugly Duckling [Jinkook, Minjoon, Taegiseok]

35: Hoseok's Birthday

Ages at the moment:

Seokjin: 22

Yoongi and Hoseok: 21

Namjoon: 20 (Not me writing about how I forgot to fix an age, only to miss that I forgot to change another one smh it's now sometime in February)

Jimin and Taehyung: 18

Jungkook: 16

~~~~~

Jin and Jungkook continued to discuss possible plans with Namjoon over letters passed between birds every few days.

Yoongi continued to stay in his room depressed all day, but he ate twice a day as Jin had asked.

Hoseok bounced between staying outside Yoongi's door and following Jungkook to Seoul.

About a week prior to Hoseok's birthday, Taehyung had shown up at Seoul one day. He went in and demanded to talk to Jin, wanting to know what was going on.

Jimin had been reported missing mid January and Taehyung was going crazy without his best friend.

He knocked on the bedroom door and was let in.

Jin gave him a short hug and pulled him into the room.

"I'm so sorry about you finding out about Jimin's disappearance at such a horrible time. Don't worry, he's safe in China with Namjoon," Jin pat his back.

Taehyung heard commotion and looked up, noticing that Jungkook was present, and then locking eyes with Hoseok.

Hoseok, clueless to what Taehyung knew, smiled brightly and stood up to greet him.

"Hello, Prince Taehyung! It's been a long time since I've heard from you." He bowed slightly and sat back down.

Taehyung glared at him coldly, not responding.

Hoseok's face slowly faded into a confused frown.

"Why is he here?" Taehyung asked.

"He's our friend, Tae," Jin hesitantly touched Taehyung's shoulder.

"That traitor is no friend of mine," Taehyung spat, crossing his arms.

"What's going on with you?" Jungkook frowned, getting off of the bed. "You aren't normally hostile like this, Tae."

"What did I do?" Hoseok asked. "I don't remember trying to upset you in any way."

Taehyung wiped his eyes, not wanting to cry in front of his friends. "I think I'm just going to go. Thank you, Jin, for inviting me."

"You just got here," Jin frowned, brushing his fingers through Taehyung's hair.

Taehyung smiled and pulled Jin's hands away, making his way to the door.

"What did I do?" Hoseok pleaded, touching Taehyung's shoulder, only to be harshly shoved away.

"You stole the heart that belongs to me!" Taehyung stared down at Hoseok. "But it's okay. You can keep him. I don't want someone who doesn't want me back."

Taehyung stormed out of the room, leaving Hoseok horrified. Now he knew why Yoongi was so upset. Now he knew why Taehyung was angry. And now, he felt the confused and horrified eyes of Jungkook drilling holes in his back.

"What does he mean?" Jungkook asked softly. "Don't tell me he means what I think he means..."

Since that day a week ago, Hoseok stopped going with Jungkook to Seoul. Jungkook was avoiding both Hoseok and Yoongi for a while to cool off, unable to believe what they had done.