second choice. ʲʲᵏ ˣ ᵖʲᵐ

[07]

"this is my boyfriend, eunho."

jungkook was stunned. shocked, speechless, taken aback, astonished, everything all at once. he stood frozen in his spot, his mouth set in a hard line, not believing what he was hearing.

"it's nice to meet you," eunho said, his voice too deep for jeongguk's liking. in fact, the sound angered him, bringing back past trauma.

the guy in front of him, however, didn't really seem to recognize him as jeongguk did him. makes sense, jeongguk was only a child the last time he had seen him and grown a lot in the past few years.

but he was smiling. smiling at jeongguk, his hand extended for a handshake. how dare he? jeongguk just stared in response. he really hadn't changed much at all. he stood around 6 feet tall, dark hair, dark eyes, pin straight hair that he had attempted to style up, tattoos on his arms. memories flooded through jeongguk's mind like a train wreck, breaking down walls and boundaries, exposing things that jeongguk had took years to block out.

jimin cleared his throat, making jeongguk come back to his senses, glancing at jimin, wide-eyed. "jeongguk," jimin sounded concerned. "are you alright?"

"oh, yeah, sorry," he lied, his voice soft, "i just have a lot on my mind right now." he could feel the air closing in his throat, and knew he had to get out of here as soon as possible before it turned into a full-on panic attack. he whirled around, going to his desk, shoving everything in his backpack. he couldn't stay here any longer in the same room. "i have to go. i- i just remembered something i need...to do..."

"jeongguk?" jimin asked, worry creasing his eyebrows. "are you sure you're fine? you look pale." his boyfriend stood silently behind him, nodding in agreement. nodding. what bullshit.

"yeah," he waved him off, trying to pretend everything was okay so that jimin wouldn't follow him out in the hallway along with that...creature he brought with him. slinging his backpack on his shoulder, he made his way to the door, not making eye contact with either of them.

but still, in order for jimin to believe jeongguk was fine after all this, he had to say something to acknowledge the guy. painfully, he got out "it was nice to meet your...boyfriend." through the corner of his eye he saw jimin looking extremely troubled for a second before he left the room, running down the hallway, hoping they wouldn't follow.

his heart was pounding in his ears as he reached room 128, and not in a good way. he was sure there was a slight ringing in his ears, and the air in the room was getting harder to breathe.

the fact that jimin had had a boyfriend this whole time wasn't what was bothering jeongguk. of course, it did sting a little. but jimin was... jimin. of course he would be in a relationship, jeongguk couldn't blame him for that. he was so caring and charismatic. but it was with the person jeongguk despised. how could he? how could jimin be with-

he didn't even remember knocking. but suddenly the door swung open. "jeongguk! what's up- oh," his voice softened, "... what's wrong?"

jeongguk couldn't answer; but the tears threatening to spill and jeongguk's pale and distraught face and his slight shaking- was more than an answer that taehyung needed to see.

"buddy, you're about to have another panic attack. come in, come in. shhh, it's okay," he rubbed jeongguk's back as he guided jeongguk into the room and made him sit on his bed.

as much as taehyung could be annoying, he could also be sweet. he had been there for countless of jeongguk's panic attacks ever since jeongguk was young and knew exactly how to calm him down. taehyung sat beside him, continuing to rub small circles on jeongguk's back as he calmed down. "it's okay, i got you, bro," he would keep saying. as much as jeongguk hated admitting it sometimes, at times like these, he was grateful for his friendship with taehyung. at times, taehyung was like his brother.

"do you want to talk about it? or do you need a distraction?" taehyung asked carefully, trying not to upset jeongguk even further, the same way jeongguk's mom had taught taehyung to handle these panic attacks from jeongguk's therapist.

"i...i need a distraction right now. but i promise i'll tell you later tonight," jeongguk said weakly.

"okay," came taehyung's response. "wanna do a game night?" jeongguk smiled.

game nights had always been their favorite since they were children. jeongguk and taehyung would invite the rest of their school friends and pull out a bunch of board games to play. the more people, the more fun, taehyung used to say. jeongguk wasn't exactly in the mood to be with other people right now, but maybe it would help him take his mind off of the jimin situation for a few hours. and he realized that was exactly what he needed.

so he agreed. "yeah, sure."

an hour later, jeongguk sat alongside taehyung and few other people playing monopoly. taehyung had called over jenny, and so jeongguk texted lina to come over as well. hoseok, taehyung's roommate, had come back to the dorms before tomorrow's classes after spending the last weekend at home, and taehyung had forced him and sit join in the game as well.

"you owe me $200, jeongguk!" lina exclaimed, giggling, her eyes shining. "that's my property you landed on."

jungkook groaned, reluctantly handing over his last bills. "i'm literally broke now."

"sucks for you, my man," taehyung chirped, counting his own huge heap of bills.

"you're hoarding everything!" hoseok complained, eyebrows furrowed. jenny laughed, eyeing taehyung amusedly.

the night went by in a blur, the group of five talking and laughing together. they got along pretty easily, especially lina and taehyung, as jeongguk noticed, but he decided to keep quiet because of jenny. for a few hours, jeongguk did forget about his reality, as taehyung loud voice and hoseok's whines about him filled the room, causing more laughter to erupt from the girls. in the end, taehyung had won, as he always did, and everyone else complained.

"you cheated, tae!" lina exclaimed, hurt.

"i did not!"

"did too!"

soon enough, everyone was leaving, mentioning early classes tomorrow and an essential good night's sleep for the first day of classes tomorrow. taehyung, jeongguk, and hoseok waved goodbye to the girls as they left, claims of "let's do this again!" and "this was fun!" filled the room.

taehyung turned to hoseok as they left the room, trying to ask for a moment alone with jeongguk, so they could talk about earlier. "hoseok, i love you, bro, but could i please get a m-"

"save it!" hoseok exclaimed, rolling his eyes knowingly. "i'm going down to finish up a summer assignment real quick in one of the study rooms downstairs. i was gonna do it right when i got here, but someone forced me to play a stupid board game."

"ha," taehyung said weakly. "you had fun though, admit it!"

"yeah, yeah," hoseok mentioned, leaving the room with a few textbooks and notebooks in his arms.

"okay, bye!" taehyung called out as the door closed behind him. turning to jeongguk, he started, "do you wanna talk now?" jeongguk looked up at him, gulping, the anxious feeling swarming his insides once more. just say it.

"it's jimin."

taehyung blinked. "okay..."

"he's..." a pause.

"he's what?"

"...he's dating the guy who killed my brother."