The One He Tried To Forget | 18+ |

8

Jung Kook sat in the back seat of the town car and tried not to stare at the driver. His head was spinning. He couldn't believe it. Jin was here. He was really here. All Jung Kook had to do was lean forward a little and he would be able to touch him. Touch Kim Seok Jin. Touch the man who tore his heart to shreds. The one who broke him.

What the hell was he doing here? And why did he come when Yoon Gi called for a driver? Could Jin be Yoon Gi's new driver?

A grim look settled over Jung Kook's handsome face as he considered the possibilities. Maybe now he can finally ask Jin what happened that night. Why he left him without warning. Why he disappeared without a word.

To this day, Jung Kook still wondered what he might have done that day to set into motion the chain of events that took place after the graduation ceremony at their secondary school. Everything had seemed fine between himself and Jin earlier in the day. They had both been flying high because they had won many awards between them. But more importantly, they were happy because they were headed to the same university together.

Unknown to Jin, Jung Kook had a surprise for him. He was going to formally ask for Jin's hand at their celebratory party. Jung Kook understood that Jin did not want to get married while they were at uni but he had indicated to Jung Kook that he was not opposed to a long engagement. They would marry after getting their degrees because they had promised each other.

Both Jin and Jung Kook knew that they were it for the other, and that they were not interested in being with anyone else. They had already tried that in their early school years, and both had found their previous partners lacking as well as not satisfying. Meeting one another three years ago was like finding their missing half. They felt whole. Complete. And Jung Kook was going to cement the relationship by proposing to Jin in front of their friends at the graduation party.

But things turned out differently because Jin had failed to appear at the ballroom where the party was being held. He did not answer calls nor text messages from Jung Kook; and Jung Kook had made and sent many. Hundreds.

Yoon Gi, who was hosting the party at the hotel, had offered to drive Jung Kook to Jin's home to see what was keeping him. Though he'd never met Jin, Yoon Gi felt like he already knew him because he was all Jung Kook ever talked about. Furthermore, Jung Kook's room was filled with pictures of Jin, taken with and without Jin's knowledge. So Yoon Gi was looking forward to meeting the boy who had captured his young relative's stubborn heart, and getting to know this remarkable individual.

Yoon Gi knew Jung Kook was planning to propose to Jin. Heck, he had even accompanied his cousin to pick up the engagement rings the weekend before. But Jung Kook couldn't lead him to Jin's home because he had never been there. In the three years that they dated, Jin never once took his boyfriend home.

When Jung Kook asked, Jin would always fob him off by saying that he lived quite far and that his house was off the beaten path. Jung Kook had not pushed but after their second anniversary, he'd asked again. After insisting that he wanted to meet Jin's parents so he could introduce himself properly as their son's future life partner, Jin confessed that his father was homophobic and would never accept Jin's choice. Jung Kook had felt remorse and never asked to meet them again.

Jung Kook tried for days to contact Jin after his no-show but was never able to locate nor speak to him. Each time he dialled his boyfriend's number, his call went straight to voicemail until he could no longer leave a message because he had filled up Jin's mailbox. This ultimately made Jung Kook accept with great reluctance that Jin had cast him off for good, probably too ashamed to tell Jung Kook that he was leaving him to be a dutiful son for his father.

The realisation tore a huge hole in Jung Kook's chest where his heart was, and he allowed it to fall out, never to be seen again. He went abroad to further his studies and stayed there until Yoon Gi demanded that he come home. Though the cousins never spoke of it, both knew that Jung Kook stayed away because Jin had broken him.