Every Heartbeat | Taekook

03 ; Soul Mate

03 ; Soul Mate
“We’ll fall deeper in love every day
From life unto life and for always,
I’ll be there when you need me around.”

Taehyung stared at me for a long while, studying my face as if memorizing every nook and corner. His bright eyes, there was something in them, an emotion I couldn’t put a name to as they regard me like I was the only thing they could see.

However, my worries increased when tears started streaming down Taehyung’s face, wetting his cheeks and lashes that sat prettily against his tan skin.

“Mahal, w-why are you crying?” I asked him and was about to pull my hands from his, but he was the one to hold them tighter now. “Tae...”

He only shakes his head with a tight-lipped smile, while rays of the sun glittered his tears making them appear as shiny as crystals. Now, his tears looked even more precious than it is. “D-don’t worry, I... I’m okay, I’m just...” He sighs, gulping as tries to find his voice and his words. “Thank you, Guk. For everything, as always.”

I felt his hesitance. And these words of thanks, I know he means it but I also know how he’s just stalling. It was my turn to hold his hands and squeeze them as an act of encouragement and assurance. I looked at him while smiling, patiently waiting until he was ready to say what he's been meaning to.

“Hmm... I...” Taehyung looks at me anxiously, swallowing. “E-earlier, I... I told you I’m going to tell you something important.”

I could only nod as a response, a little confused about what this was all about. Important, something important. Just what could it be?

“My... my leukemia, it came back.”

The words struck me with weight, ringing inside my head again and again and again. It felt heavy inside my ears that I wanted to throw it back and hope to never hear it anymore.

I stood in front of him, unmoving while I stared straight into his eyes with disbelief. I didn’t want to believe what he just said. It was too... too overwhelming, too painful. I didn’t know what to say. All I could see now was his crying face and that’s what made me move.

Without a word, I pulled him closer and wrapped him in a warm embrace while he buried his face in my chest, wailing, as if mourning another loss after his parents left him. He was repeatedly mumbling something but I couldn’t hear it clearly.

“I...” Taehyung pulls away from me a little and now I can understand him better. “I’m terrified, Guk. W-why do I have to suffer again?”

My heart wrenches for him as if something pressed it down and made it impossible for me to breathe smoothly. I couldn’t bear to hear the wracking pain in his voice when he speaks, I couldn’t bear listening to it. Because it breaks me thousand times more seeing how ruined and torn he is like this.

I may not exactly feel and know what it was like since I have never experienced what he has gone through the last time, but I was there. I saw how hard he tried to fight and beat his illness. I saw how determined he was to be able to live as normal as he could once again.

I thought it was over and so did he.

“Shh, you’re not okay now but you’ll get better, mahal. I know it, you will.” I said and kept on whispering sweet nothings into his ears, all the while holding him close. “I will always be with you, Tae.”