Broken & Ruined | TAEKOOK

twenty-five

The next morning, Jungkook arrived at the MTC with heavy shoulders. Seemed like nobody noticed but he felt the difference in that time from the previous days they'd been training together. Juseok arrived earlier while Pax was still sleeping when Jungkook left. The atmosphere between them changed. Juseok would even make an excuse just to avoid him.

Pax arrived while everybody was doing sit-ups. The coach was counting but was distracted by his arrival. "2 laps, 5 push-ups, and 10 squats, Yoshida," Mr. Park instructed him. Pax and Jungkook had a look and he did what he was told.

Coach started counting again, not until saying, "Jeon, make sure he will do it properly," and gestured Jungkook to get up. He was surprised at first and his lips opened to complain. Yet he had nothing to do but obey when the coach began instructing the team to continue working out and counting.

He got up and followed Pax upstairs to make a 2-laps run. Pax looked at him and before he could speak, Jungkook immediately told him, "Don't worry, I will not tell him if you skipped a count."

Pax scoffed and squinted his eyes at him, "You don't have to tell me. And I will not skip counting— what am I? Weak?" He added in a low voice, "Worry for yourself, you gay," and then he proceeded to a warm-up.

Jungkook's jaw tensed and breathed, "For goddamn sake, Pax Yoshida. I am not gay," he firmly stated. Pax was stretching his arms when he turned to him with a mocking smile.

"Now, we got an answer," he commented.

"What is your goddamn problem?" Jungkook asked, his brows connecting and face frowning.

"You," Pax replied. His arms rested back on his sides as he turned his body towards him. "You arrogant, greedy, and careless fool who only thinks about yourself and it's fucking infuriating," he pointed out.

He stepped closer, his eyes glaring at his as his jaw was tightening in spite. "I'm done acting to be close and friends with you, Jeon. I don't care anymore if you speak with your dad and unqualify us to play in the next games. Besides, the trophy, the certificate, the recognition, whatever you do, will still be yours. Because you're that ambitious. You're that greedy. You're that crazy. You're that asshole."

"It was never my intention to claim the prizes."

"Yeah, whatever. No matter what happens, they were bound to be yours though, weren't they?" His brow raised. "Can you be honest? Since I am now being honest with you," he asked, "Can you give us this chance? Can you at least be humble and let us win this time?"

"We almost always win, Pax. Our team is competitive and strong enough to make it happen." The crease on Jungkook's forehead did not even fade a bit. He didn't have a good feeling about what he was trying to request.

Pax rolled his eyes, "No, I'm not referring to us as a team, Jeon. I meant us, without you," he clarified. "You can give the next trophy to us, right? And allow others to experience aiming it and winning it. Let another athlete step on that stage, Jungkook," he said, "Let them stand on it too."

Jungkook couldn't answer. And he thanked Mr. Park for whistling because he didn't know what to say next. Both of them looked down to the ground floor where everybody else was looking up at them. Mr. Park yelled, "Are you fighting?!"

Jungkook realized that Pax was too close to him as he was trying to intimidate him. Pax wanted to fight. He was holding his anger in. He looked back at him and smirked, "Just think about it, Jeon." Then he intentionally nudged his shoulder as he walked past him and began to run.

Break time came and seemed like everybody noticed that something was definitely happening between Jungkook and his roommates. How could they not notice when Juseok became distant from him? Nobody had ever eaten alone during breaktime, except this time. They used to eat in a group since they were a team.