Seokjin and the heirs of the korean miracle - BOOK 2

Chapter 59: Who is it?!

"See?! He doesn't deny it, he's a fucking racist!" Taehyung exclaimed, pointing at Jungkook triumphantly, convinced that Namjoon was finally going to be definitively convinced that he was the culprit to be punished.

"You piece of trash!" Jimin spat, following Taehyung's words, advancing near Jungkook menacingly.

"Yeah, that's probably what I am," Jungkook said with his throat dry, "I have always hated the Japanese without ever having met one, promising to make everyone I meet pay their debt and at a high price."

"That's why you wanted to scare Jin by pushing him into the pool, right?!" Taehyung wanted to make him confess. "To make him pay for being Japanese?! And next time you'll let him drown?!"

"Taehyung, let him talk," his brother rebuked him, seeing that Jungkook, far from being satisfied with the situation Seokjin found himself in, looked crestfallen.

With a gesture, he invited Jungkook to continue.

"When I found out that Jin was Japanese, it shook all my certainties. Indeed, he is not detestable as I imagined the Japanese to be, he is in fact quite the opposite and much more honorable than I will ever be. So I told myself that Jin was just not a Japanese person like the others, that I could hate everyone else but that I didn't have to hate him. That's why I wanted to see him this morning: to tell him that I didn't hate him. Not to hurt him."

He looked ashamed of himself and looked at Seokjin briefly.

"But why didn't you respond to Seokjin's messages yesterday and get him to ask you to meet him to discuss it face to face?" Yoongi asked in his newfound neutral voice.

Jungkook was tempted to believe that this time, Yoongi wasn't trying to make him seem guilty but was trying to push him to be innocent. After all, Yoongi had just proven his attachment to Seokjin in front of everyone, putting his pride and reputation aside and perhaps he perceived that Jungkook was trying to do the same thing? So he said, nervous abandoned by his legendary confidence:

"Because I... I needed to clarify what I believed in and then, I knew that I had hurt Jin with my words in class; I needed to take a step back before talking to him. And also, there was one thing I didn't want to tell him over the phone or he might have thought I wasn't sincere."

"What is this?" Namjoon wanted to know.

Instead of looking at Namjoon, Jungkook stared at Seokjin's face and in an unsteady, almost whispered voice, he said:

"I'm sorry."

"It's hard to say sorry, huh?" Taehyung taunted.

But this time, Jungkook didn't respond, Jimin didn't support Taehyung and Hoseok didn't make a joke to make fun of Jungkook. Jimin elbowed Taehyung in the ribs to silence him because everyone could see that Jungkook was sincere in his words. His eyes were wet and Taehyung was amazed because he had never seen his cousin have even a tear in his eye.

Even when they were children, Jungkook never cried or complained. In that way, he was a lot like Namjoon and Taehyung had often wondered why Jungkook seemed more like Namjoon's brother than himself. They were both obedient sons, intelligent, ambitious and resilient boys while he was the opposite: he was the capricious, angry, impatient and stupid child who had no use for family duties. 

He and Jungkook had hated each other their whole lives, following the example of their parents and not once in his life had Taehyung felt close to his cousin. But something had changed. Someone had suddenly brought them closer and this someone was Seokjin. 

However, it wasn't because Seokjin had asked him the day Jungkook got injured. It wasn't because Seokjin had forced Jungkook's presence to many meals or study sessions either. And it wasn't because Seokjin played on the same football team as him and clearly took pleasure in playing this stupid sport with him. It was none of that.