Before you disappear

Chapter 9

"One and two and three and four. Now, left, arms up, stomp your foot."

Drops of sweat trickled down Jungkook's face as he tried to keep up with Hobi's instructions on their dance routine. Frustration rose in him as he stepped wrong–again.

"Stop, stop," Hobi said, holding his hands in the air. He turned to Jungkook. "What's up with you? You usually pick up routine easily. This isn't like you."

He came to stand next to him. "Okay, let's do it together." He pointed at his left feet. "This one first." He slowly did the movements again, and Jungkook followed him, this time doing it right. "Yes, that's it!" Hobi held up his hand, so the youngest could high five him. He then turned to the other members. "Let's take a five minute break."

As he walked out of the dance studio, Jungkook stared at himself in the mirror. A dull pain was throbbing at the side of his head. It was the same headache that had bothered him since last night. Even though he had taken an Advil after breakfast this morning, the headache hadn't lessened.

He blinked at his reflection, then forced himself to do the steps again. One and two and three and four, arms up, stomp foot. And again. One and two and three and four, arms up, stomp foot.

Jin held out a water bottle. "Take some water, JK."

Jungkook shook his head. "I'm fine. Just let me get this straight." He tried the steps again, but this time, Jin stepped into his space and blocked him from finishing.

"No. Take it." The authority in his voice was clear.

Jungkook heaved a sigh and reluctantly took the bottle from the eldest member. Two quick sips and he continued practicing the dance steps.

Jimin looked at him from a distance. "What is up with him?" he said to himself, but RM overheard him.

"I think he hasn't been sleeping too well," he said. "I heard him pacing his room late last night."

Jimin turned to look at him. "Heard him?"

"Yeah, we have connecting rooms. There's only a door between his room and mine."

"He's been working on a song," Yoongi said as he watched Jungkook do the whole dance routine from start to finish, only to misstep once more. "It's something he needed to get off his chest."

"What's it about?" Jimin wanted to know, but Yoongi didn't reply. So, Jimin stood up and walked over to Jungkook. "Take a break, JK. You've been working hard enough. You need to give yourself some time for rest as well."

"I can do that later. We have a concert tonight and I want to make sure I get everything right."

Jimin grabbed JK's shoulders and came to stand before him. "You get it," he said, tapping against his forehead. "It's all in here. You just need to stop overanalyzing the moves. This isn't our first time practicing this dance routine. We're only rehearsing now to stimulate muscle memory."

Jungkook gave Jimin a desperate look. "But what if my muscles can't remember? I always get this right, why not today?"

"You might be too tired," RM intervened as he came to stand next to them.

Jungkook rubbed his forehead, exposing the cut above his eyebrow.

RM took his wrist and pointed at Jungkook's forehead. "Did you get that cut on your eyebrow checked out?"

"Yes," Jungkook said impatiently, removing RM's hand from his wrist. "It's just a little cut. Don't make a big deal about it."

RM frowned. "What's with the attitude, JK?"

Jungkook sighed. "No, I didn't mean it like that," he replied quietly as he looked down. "I just want to get these steps right. We don't have much time before the concert."

RM placed a hand on his shoulder. "As Jimin said, you have the steps in your head. Don't make a big deal about it," he said, then changing the subject. "Look, we still have an hour before we need to go to the venue, so perhaps you should take this hour to get some rest."

"But"

The leader shook his head. "That wasn't a request, Jungkook. Take some rest."

Jungkook bit on his lower lip. Even though he was an adult, his band members could still treat him like the 15 year old he was when he debuted with them. "Fine," he muttered and walked out of the hotel's dance studio.

As he made his way up to his hotel room, several thoughts swarmed through his mind. Some were attached to anger or frustration, but none made much sense and Jungkook was too tired to try and make sense of them. On top of that, his headache – seemingly guided by his rising frustration – had worsened.

When he entered his hotel room, locking the door behind him, a wave of nausea hit him. He barely made it into the bathroom, where he threw up every bit of the breakfast he'd consumed that morning. Shaking heavily, he washed the sweat off his face and fell onto his bed. Within minutes, he dozed off.

Back in the dance studio, Jin had walked up to RM. "I'm worried about him."

RM looked at him. "Yeah. Me too. He seems... more on edge. We need to keep an eye on him."

Jin nodded. "It might just be that he's frustrated and we're reading too much into it," he said, though he didn't sound too convinced. "I'll ask Tae to check up on him later. Best to give him some space right now."

Jimin's laugh sounded and both Jin and RM looked to see what was going on. Tae lay on top of Jimin, tickling him. "You can't stop the tickle monster!"

"Shall we continue practicing?" Hobi said as he walked back into the dance studio, looking at every member. "Huh? Where's JK?"

"He needs some downtime," RM said, then signaling the other members to stand up. "Let's continue the dance routine, guys. Come on." 

***

Author's note

There's definitely something off with Jungkook... but what is it? What will happen next?

If you want to know... head on over to the next chapter!