Starlight and Petals (taekook)

23: Plaintive

Author's pov:

Day 27

Taehyung lay on his bed, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, though his mind was far from the present. The shop had been closed for the day, and he hadn't left the house in two day, yeonjun and Wooyoung has been taking care of shop. His body ached, fever coming and going in waves, as if his very soul was giving up on keeping him alive. He could hear his grandmother bustling around in the kitchen—her movements so familiar, yet heartbreaking. Despite her Alzheimer's, she hadn't forgotten a single ingredient, making each dish with perfect precision, as if time had not touched her cooking abilities.

But in between the cooking, her memory faltered.

"Call Jungkook," she would tell Nancy, her voice shaky but determined. "He knows his name, the boy who hurt Taehyung. Jungkook will beat him. He's a hero."

She repeated this almost daily, her fragile mind stuck in a loop that broke Taehyung's heart a little more each time. His grandmother, the only family he had left, couldn't even recognize him half the time. Yet, she remembered Jungkook as the boy who would save him, the one who would fix everything. Every time she asked for him, it was like she was drawing lines in Taehyung's chest, cutting deeper into wounds that had long been left to fester.

Despite his clear instruction to Nancy not to call Jungkook or any of his friends, they had still been coming by—at least twice a week. They'd sit with his grandmother, talk to her, help her cook, and sometimes even video call Jungkook.

But Taehyung? He stayed locked away in his room and once they leave---he looks for his Journal and have not found it yet and in between all the chaos he hadn't seen Jungkook's face in weeks, only hearing his voice faintly through the door when they Face Timed, that too was enough to send his heart spiraling into chaos. This house, once filled with warmth, now felt like a stranger's place—cold, unfamiliar, and suffocating. He was done crying, done with the sleepless nights spent wondering what had gone wrong, what he had lost. He had to stop making those "shitty decisions" that had led him here, broken and lost.

In the quiet moments between his grandmother's rantings and Nancy's soft steps through the house, Taehyung had made a decision—one that had taken root in the last two weeks and now felt like his only way forward. He couldn't keep living like this, waiting for something to change. He had to draw the line, cut off the thread of hope that tied him to Jungkook, to the life they once shared.

Whatever this plan was, it had to happen soon—before Jungkook came back. Because even though the idol had promised to stay away, Taehyung knew better than to trust that promise. Deep down, he feared his own weakness. He feared that if he saw Jungkook again, all the walls he'd built to protect himself would come crumbling down, leaving him vulnerable and shattered.

Two more days. He just needed two more days to carry out his plan. Then, maybe, just maybe, he could find some peace.

Taehyung lay in his bed, motionless, as Nancy's voice drifted in from the hallway.

"Taehyung, we have guests."

He didn't bother responding. The dull ache in his head had turned into a throbbing pain, and the mere thought of getting up made his body feel like it weighed a thousand pounds. He heard the distant sounds of laughter and cheerful voices, voices that he recognized immediately—Eunwoo, Jaehyun, Mingyu, Jimin, and Seokjin. A part of him wanted to be glad they were here, but another, larger part, felt suffocated by their presence.

He knew what it meant.

Seokjin and Jimin being here, is really odd, jimin has been here but seokjin is for the first time here. The very name made his chest tighten with pain he couldn't even name. He shifted under the covers, pulling them tighter over his head, trying to drown out the sound of their voices.