winter bear || k.th

• 14 •

Yoongi arrived at the table exactly ten minutes later, two mugs of steaming coffee in his hands.

He sat down, placing one mug in front of Jungwon and one in front of himself.

"Thank you," Jungwon whispered quietly.

Yoongi sat back in his seat, arms crossed at his chest.

"Explain to me why I should even give you the time of day," he said coldly.

Jungwon sighed. "I don't want anything. Not from you, not from Taehyung. I just want to apologize for my actions back in high school. The things I did... they are unforgivable. And I don't expect him to forgive me at all. I just want to let both him and his brother know that I am truly, truly sorry."

"And you take eight years to decide to apologize?" Yoongi asked with a raise of his brow.

Jungwon sighed. "I'm... I don't know what to say. I just know that my life has been horrible these last eight years, I want to change that, and apologizing to Taehyung is the first step."

Yoongi nodded. "Okay, so you want to change and you regret your past actions. Now, this may not be right of me to ask, but there's one thing I want to know before I give you any kind of information: what did you have against Taehyung that made you decide to treat him as you did?"

Jungwon didn't immediately respond, looking down at his hands.

"I... to be honest, I was jealous. I was at my lowest point in life, and-"

Yoongi suddenly laughed loudly, startling Jungwon.

"You were at your lowest point? Are you serious? You beat up and tormented an innocent person for eight months, and you have the guts to say you were at your lowest?"

Jungwon squeezed his eyes shut, his voice heavy with tears. "I know that's selfish of me to say, but it's the truth and that's what you asked for. Being the son of a wealthy family, it was expected of me to have high grades. But it was difficult to get those when your father was abusive. And not only abusive to me, but to my mother too. I couldn't concentrate when I could hear my own mother's pained shouts from the living room. And when I got a low grade, he would do it to me. He would slap me until I couldn't hear my own cries.

At that time, all I knew was violence, so I'd... I'd use it to get the things I needed. T-Taehyung was the smartest in the whole school, so of course he was my target. Because back then, someone else feeling pain was worth me being able to go home with some sort of peace of mind. I'm sorry. I'm s-so sorry... I-I don't know what else to say."

By now, Jungwon was a sobbing mess. And despite his previous aversion to the man, Yoongi felt somewhat sorry for him. It seemed as if Jungwon had been a product of his environment back then, though that was far from an excuse for him actions.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. But you have to understand that Taehyung was also struggling. Him and his brother were struggling so much - for money, for happiness. They were just trying to live, yet you had to cause Taehyung so much pain. For that, I don't know if I can ever forgive you."

Jungwon sniffed and swiped at his puffy eyes quickly, his expression full of guilt and shame.

"I u-understand. I really do. And like I said, I... I don't expect anyone to forgive me. I just want to apologize. I don't know what more I can say other than please. Please just let me speak to Taehyung and his brother." His voice broke with the last few words.

Yoongi lowered his gaze, his voice going soft. "I... I can't promise that. Whether Taehyung will hear what you have to say or not, I'm not sure. You'll just have to go to him and hope. But... you see..." Yoongi didn't know how to finish. He hadn't been made to describe the situation with Seokjin out loud yet, and that made it all the more painful.

"Wh-what? What is it?" Jungwon asked, confusion in his red rimmed eyes.

Yoongi was silent for a moment before looking solemnly up a the man in front of him.

"There was an accident about six months ago. Seokjin... he's been in a coma ever since."

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