Reluctant Hearts ✔️

Chapter - 38

☾⋆⁺₊🎧✧ lıllılı.ıllı.ılılıı

playιng: [Eyes, Nose, Lips] - [Taeyang]

˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･˚₊ *˚˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･˚₊ *˚˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･˚ ‧₊ .:･˚₊ ˚ ‧₊ .:･

As soon as Taehyung steps inside the apartment, after telling Leo to cancel all his meetings for the day, he knows something is wrong. The air feels heavy, tense. He looks around and spots Jungkook sitting on the sofa, lost in his thoughts. The sadness etched on Jungkook's face hits Taehyung like a punch to the gut. His heart tightens painfully in his chest. He wants to rush over, to hold him, but something holds him back.

Instead, he walks over carefully and sits beside him. His eyes flicker with worry, and his voice comes out softer than he intends. "Kook... are you okay?"

Jungkook looks up at him, his eyes searching Taehyung's face for answers, for something. But Taehyung can't tell what. After a long pause, Jungkook's voice cracks the silence.

"Did you believe it?" he asks, his tone flat but heavy.

Taehyung's brows furrow in confusion. "Believe what?" he asks, his voice filled with genuine concern.

Jungkook looks down, swallowing hard before he says quietly, "The article... Did you believe them? You must have, right?"

For a moment, Taehyung just stares at him, trying to comprehend. "What? No," he says, his voice firm, laced with disbelief. "I know they're lies, Kook. Why would I believe something like that?"

Jungkook lets out a bitter sigh, standing up as if Taehyung's words don't reach him. His voice, when he speaks again, is laced with old wounds. "It wouldn't be the first time after all..." Jungkook's eyes flicker with a pained glint. "You've believed lies before too. You even accused me of cheating... remember?"

At those words, both of them go still. The memory hits them both at once, like a cruel echo of the past: "Was he there to fill your lonely nights when we were together too?"

Taehyung's heart shatters, but not for himself— for Jungkook. For the pain laced in his voice, the way he seems so resigned, so defeated. The fact that Jungkook even thought he would believe those articles over him, that he could still hurt him like that after all these years, it wrecks Taehyung. And worse, Jungkook has every reason to believe it—because Taehyung had once made that mistake. He had believed the worst.

Regret surges in Taehyung's chest. He watches as Jungkook looks down, turning to walk away. Panic rises in Taehyung's throat. He can't let him leave. Not like this.

Taehyung quickly gets up, rushing forward and wrapping his arms tightly around Jungkook from behind, holding him as if he's afraid Jungkook will slip through his fingers. His breath trembles as he whispers, his voice broken and raw, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I really didn't mean it... I'm so sorry..."

Jungkook stays frozen in his hold, his body stiff. After a long, painful silence, he speaks, his voice tired, worn down by years of pain. "I'm just curious," Jungkook begins, his words sharp but laced with hurt. "What exactly are you sorry about? The first time you forgot our date? Or the countless times after that?"

Taehyung tightens his hold, his chest pressed against Jungkook's back, his face buried in the crook of his neck, tears brimming in his eyes. He can feel Jungkook's pain with every word, every breath.

Jungkook continues, his voice growing softer, but no less heartbreaking. "Or maybe you're sorry for how you stopped asking me how I was... how you started growing distant. Or..." he pauses, his breath shaky, "or for the time you forgot our anniversary?"