LOVE YOU TO DEATH | TAEKOOK

17. I Won't Be Left

*trigger warning for reference to unlawful behavior, substance abuse, language, mental health challenges, and other general bad behavior etc.*

♾♾♾

NYT Headline: Photos have surfaced of JJK and Kim Taehyung kissing. In the photos, the two are seen outside of the Slipper Room, pressed up against each other. Sources close to the two men say that they had a whirlwind romance and are on the outs, though just last night, Taehyung was seen leaving the building where JJK is rumored to be staying.

♾♾♾

"Yoongi, I don't want to talk. I'm sorry, I just can't," Taehyung hiccuped into the phone. He was a drunken mess, traipsing half-dressed around his suite with an empty bottle of wine.

"Please just leave me alone," he whispered, closing his eyes.

Yoongi exchanged an unhappy glance with Hobi, "Tae, can you just let us come over? This isn't healthy," he attempted, wanting to get a better view on exactly what was happening over in Taehyung's suite.

"No, I don't you want to. He said he didn't want to see my face. He told me to move on with my life," Taehyung blubbered, struggling to keep his head above water, "How am I supposed to do that?"

Hobi let slip a sympathetic hum, "Honey, this is a really bad day. And so was yesterday. I can't tell if you've slept or eaten, or if you maybe need to get a therapist or your own, but this is a temporary thing," he declared before pausing for effect.

"You aren't going to feel like this forever, and neither is he. So don't beat yourself up over it. Sure, it feels terrible, and it might feel like that for a while, but it'll get better," Hobi continued.

Taehyung put a hand over his face, shaking his head. He put the bottle of wine on a nearby table and lay down on the dark wood floor.

"You don't understand. He was right, he said all this stuff and he was right. I made him feel bad, I really fucked up," he whispered, paralyzed by grief.

"He saw right through me. He knows, he knows about me," Taehyung whimpered in a high-pitched key.

He put a hand over his face, shaking his head, "I have to go, you guys. I can't talk right now," he muttered, words coming out mushy, hanging up before he could hear anything else.

It was a welcome respite when he passed out. The adrenaline had worn off, allowing the alcohol to do him in.

♾♾♾

When Jungkook got out of the shower the next morning, his head was heavy. Not foggy; quite the opposite, in fact. Everything was way too clear. He was heavy with disgust, with nausea. So heavy with suffering that his head ached.

But, he ignored it and got dressed, toweling off his hair and going to find coffee.

When he walked by his mom's room, he couldn't help but see something peculiar out of the corner of his eye.

Jimin was laying face down on Soomin's bed. He looked awful. His eyes were red, and so puffy they were almost invisible. His hair was lank and messy; his clothes were wrinkled beyond repair. It looked like some of the buttons had been ripped off.

Soomin was rubbing his back. He couldn't hear much of what she was saying to him but Jimin didn't react; his face remained despondent.

Jungkook was almost out of earshot when he heard his name. Attached to the words 'will come around'.

He laughed through his nose, turning around to face his mom's doorway.