lie; kv

chapter twelve.

Jeongguk turned on Taehyung's bed tiredly, frowning when he noticed that Taehyung wasn't on the bed. He slowly sat up with a confused face, relaxing when he heard the sound of a shower running.

He let out a tired sigh and leaned against the bed, looking around the room which was bright with sunlight pouring onto the floor. His eyes landed on Taehyung's desk which was still in the same mess since he had last seen it.

I wonder if it's stayed the same since before the accident. Jeongguk took in the detail of Taehyung's room which was suited for the old Taehyung's style, and it felt strange knowing that the boy no longer liked it.

Jeongguk decided to get out of bed and take a tour around the room, to take in the remaining presence of the Taehyung he knew.

The first place he looked at was the boys desk that had pens scattered all over it and some open textbooks. When he noticed that it was open on the page they last learnt about before the boys accident, his heart dropped.

His journal. Jeongguk suddenly remembered and he quickly opened the drawers, stopping until the right one finally opened to reveal a purple book laying there with some paper around it.

The brunette carefully picked it up, hiding it behind his back when Taehyung stepped out of the bathroom.

"Oh you're awake," Taehyung spoke after briefly glancing up at the boy, he was too busy ruffling his hair with a towel to see the suspicious boy, "Are you going anywhere? It's only 10."

"Um, yeah I need to go back home and help my dad out with some stuff," Jeongguk lied, "I'll leave later though, we can eat together since there's still leftovers from last night."

"Yeah okay, I'll be downstairs then." Taehyung nodded and shortly left the room all to Jeongguk.

A sigh escaped Jeongguk's lips and he hastily walked into the bathroom, kicking the door shut with his heel. His hands brought forward the book and instantly he began to flip through it.

Maybe he planned it all in here or admitted it. Jeongguk flipped to the most recent pages, heart sinking when he saw a ripped out page. It belonged to note Taehyung had given him what he assumed was the day before the accident had taken place.

He then read the last diary entry in there, running his fingers over the crumpled parts of the page from dried up tears.

3 days before the accident.
Everyone's against me now and I can't go to class without someone saying something and calling me names. I hate it so much I don't know what I did to deserve this? Why wont anyone listen to me?

I've tried everything to help but I can't get rid of this feeling in my chest it's getting worse everyday. Nothing works it doesn't matter how many times I take pills it won't work I'm stuck here.

I'll fix it tomorrow I just need to give Jeongguk the note first so when I go at least he'll have an explanation and maybe believe me and I can rest peacefully.
- 04/02/2023

Jeongguk shut the book with a heavy feeling. He got into one on purpose?

Taehyung sat at the kitchen counter with a bored face, playing with his spoon that mixed around food. He let his cheek rest against his fist as he waited for Jeongguk to get down and eat with him.

His sharp eyes shot up when Jeongguk made his way down the stairs, and then frowned when he noticed that Jeongguk's eyes were red and he was breathing strangely.

"Are you okay?" Taehyung worriedly asked the boy sat opposite him and nodded.

"How'd you sleep?" Jeongguk asked with a raspy voice, eyes not meeting Taehyung's once.

"It was okay, I just had this really weird dream." Taehyung mumbled and Jeongguk hummed to show he was listening, "I was walking home in the rain and crying really hard, I was calling you and kept crying and crying but you weren't picking up- I woke up because it felt really real."

Jeongguk sucked in a breath when he remembered that it was raining hard the day Taehyung was found to have stolen his scholarship and had been calling him continuously to deny it.

"It was probably just a strange dream because you're stressed and stuff, don't worry about it," Jeongguk replied to him, "Do you...think about that accident a lot? Like how it happened?"

Taehyung was beyond grateful that Jeongguk brought up the topic because all he had been feeling was confusion around it all.

"Yeah, I just remember that I was driving my dads car and I took a really sharp sudden turn- I don't know if there was something opposite me that I tried to..." Taehyung hummed as he tried to think of the right word.

"Dodge? Like move out of the way?" Jeongguk's voice shook.

"Yeah! That!" Taehyung clapped his hands once, "That's all I remember and then I woke up in this dumbass body," he huffed.

Jeongguk forced a smile but let it drop once Taehyung looked away. Guilt and agony filled him knowing that Taehyung might've tried to end his life because of the accusations. If that was the case he felt like he was the sole reason why Taehyung was going through so much trouble now, and it would hurt more if Taehyung truly was innocent.

The thought of Taehyung being innocent pained him. A type of pain that made him want to throw up and hurt himself out of punishment. All those months of ignoring Taehyung and arguing with him, along with the amount of bullying he had received from other students would've ruined his life for the wrong reasons.

Jeongguk began to pray that Taehyung did steal his scholarship and he didn't hurt someone that was once his best friend for no reason.

Please, please don't be innocent. I don't know what I'll do to myself. Jeongguk felt his bottom lip quiver but he covered it up by shoving food in his mouth.

Taehyung however, he could notice his shallow breathing and teary eyes that would start leaking if anything triggered him further.

What the hell is he hiding from me?

Btw the reason jk isn't telling tae the truth is because Taehyung's lawyer can say that jk manipulated taes memory and created a false memory of something that didn't happen or tried to get tae to admit he did something he didn't do

AND YEAH that means jk shouldn't be talking to tae and be his friend but he wants to get info out of tae secretly 💪 just thought I'd remind u guys