𝙐𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 ❤ (𝙹𝚒𝚔𝚘𝚘𝚔 💜)

9)Cracks in the Armor

The hospital was quiet now.

Too quiet.

He sat alone on a bench near the vending machine, half a stale chocolate bar in one hand and his phone untouched in the other. The cold fluorescent lights above made everything look a little too real, too sharp, too unforgiving.

Just like today.

A marriage.

To Jeon Jungkook.

He let out a short laugh under his breath. It didn’t sound amused. It sounded like disbelief wrapped in exhaustion.

"How the hell did I get here?" he whispered to himself.

This morning, all he had planned was moving into his own apartment—a little slice of independence, a reward after years of loss, sacrifice, and quiet resilience. And now, here he was, tangled up in the life of the very person he least expected… or wanted.

Professor Perfectionist. Cold. Calculated. Condescending.

But... also human. A grandson who almost broke apart seeing his grandpa sick. A man being pushed into choices he clearly didn’t know how to handle.

Jimin sighed.

He hadn’t offered to marry him out of some noble fantasy or secret affection. It wasn’t like the romantic novels he hid under his mattress.

No, it was instinct.

That part of him that couldn’t sit back and let someone suffer—especially not a kind old man who reminded him painfully of the family he lost too early. It wasn’t love. Not even close.

But it was something.

Still… now that the adrenaline had settled, fear began to creep in.

What if this ruins everything? What if I lose myself in someone else’s script?

What if… he was actually the only one who would get hurt in the end?

He rested his head against the wall behind him, eyes staring blankly ahead.

“I just wanted a peaceful life,” he murmured.

But life—his life, at least—had never been peaceful. It was messy, unfair, unpredictable.

And maybe this was just another chapter in the storm.

He took a slow breath and whispered, more to himself than anyone else:

“Let’s see how far I can survive this time.”

.

.

.

.

The hallway outside his grandfather’s room was quiet. Too quiet.

Jungkook leaned against the wall, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his coat, staring at nothing. Nurses passed by. Machines beeped. The world moved on, as always.

But something inside him didn’t.

He had always believed in control. In logic. In things that could be measured, timed, perfected. He’d built his entire life around it—routines, deadlines, boundaries.

No space for chaos.

No room for emotions.

No tolerance for love.

And yet now, the man who raised him—who never once asked for anything more than his success—was suddenly tying his life’s work, his inheritance, his entire identity... to marriage.