Seokjin and the heirs of the korean miracle - BOOK 2

Chapter 17 : I'm going to protect you from me

Namjoon looked at his brother's angry face and replied.

"I know that, okay? I freaking know!!"

Taehyung seemed alerted by Namjoon's insulting tone, who wasn't used to speaking like that.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked abruptly. He felt a lot of anger and uncertainty in Namjoon who nevertheless had always had the art of self-control usually.

"I hate you, that's the thing," Namjoon said.

"Do you think I don't know that?" Taehyung retorted glaring at him.

"No, you don't know how much I've hated you these past few weeks."

"I barely saw you those days, I don't see what could have made you hate me even more than before!" Taehyung replied.

"And yet! Since the beginning of the summer, I've avoided you as much as possible. I couldn't bear to see you."

Ever since he returned from the high school dorm for summer vacation, it was true that he had been very distant then even though he could have taken advantage of the fact that he was finally at home to spend more time with Seokjin. Instead, he had let Seokjin stay with Jimin and Taehyung most of the time without really trying to join them, pretending to have too much holiday homework.

"Why?" replied Taehyung who had not been unhappy about it and hadn't really questioned it.

"I don't know what I would have done to you if I had been near you when I found out what you were guilty of," Namjoon confessed.

"What are you talking about?" Taehyung replied, irritated, "and since when have you ever stopped yourself from attacking me when you wanted it? I don't understand anything!"

"Do you remember, one day I told you that if Jin had to die because of you, I would kill you too?" Namjoon said. 

"Yeah, I remember that and what I also know is that it didn't happen so why are you talking to me about this again? On the other hand,  tonight, it was you who almost killed him and you deserve that I kill you for that!" Taehyung replied, beside himself.

Namjoon sighed and walked over to his desk, opened the drawer and took out a partially crumpled piece of paper.

"You want to kill me, I get it well. I felt exactly like you when I read that."

Ever since he had read that letter from old Choi, he had avoided Taehyung as much as possible to avoid giving in to his violent instincts and to know what to do with that letter. He gave it to Taehyung who didn't seem to want to read it at all.

"What is that?"

"Read it and you will see that the hatred you have for me can also be turned against you. It's a letter from old Choi, do you remember him? Jin and him spent a lot of time together and I never really understood how this friendship between them started. I didn't imagine the reason was so dramatic. Read !" Namjoon ordered again, more imperious. 

Taehyung looked at the paper in his hands.

"Ever since I read it," Namjoon continued, "I haven't been able to think clearly and I keep lacking judgment in my decisions because I don't know what to do with it! I can't take it anymore, it's burning me from the inside so read it and tell me what I should do with it!"

Reluctantly, Taehyung immersed himself in reading the letter with his eyebrows furrowed. When he found out that Seokjin had attempted suicide and almost succeeded without ever telling him about it, he immediately raised his eyes to meet those of Namjoon who said to him:

"I guess you didn't know."

"N-no... I didn't... If only I did, I... I..."

"What? You wouldn't have hurt him so much? Don't underestimate your old jealousy, it was pretty tough back then. I think at the time it wouldn't have changed anything for you to know, you would have just continued to act the way you did because Jin wasn't just going to forget what you did to him and you, you weren't just going to accept that he turned his back on you."