𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 || 𝐉.𝐉𝐊

11• 𝐈𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞

“Why didn't I die instead?” Jimin was met by the sight of his best friend on the hospital bed, awake this time. The words that left his mouth hurt him.

“Jungkook, it's not your fault, stop blaming yourself!” Jimin yelled but instantly regretted it.

“Please Jungkook, please don't blame yourself.” He sat down on a stool near Jungkook's bed and took the younger’s hand in his own.

“How do I? My parents are no more, my father will never take me on a trip again.” Jungkook began tearing up, the tiny droplets flowed down his cheeks before he said something that shattered Jimin.

“And my mother will never hit me again, I’ll never have her bruises again.” Jungkook's eyes were a bright red, the bruises he gave himself had turned bluish and more sensitive, but the most sensitive of all was his heart. A broken heart that could perhaps never be pieced back together.

“Jungkook…” Jimin failed to say anything else. How hurt was the guy in front of him to be willing to be abused? Just for a chance to see his mother again? How hurt was he to blame himself for something he had no control over? How hurt was he to wish pain and death upon himself?

“Hyung, did anyone get any clue on the killer?” Jungkook asked, dried tears shining on his dull face.

“Kook, it's not the time to work-”

“I’m not trying to work, it's not work anymore Hyung. It’s revenge. I’ll not leave the one who killed my parents so brutally,” he said, his voice fading as he said the last part. He was so hurt that he couldn't feel anymore. The point of pain where one goes numb.

“Take your time to heal first, then we can handle it,” Jimin reassured him, pressing his hand in a gentle manner.

“And let another innocent person be prey to that psychopath?” Jungkook scoffed, he felt rage burning within. If only the killer was in front of him, he’d kill the psychopath so brutally that even he would shudder. Jungkook didn't care anymore. If his thoughts and actions from that day on weren't lawful, then so be it. When was revenge lawful? When was vengeance peaceful?

“Jungkook, you're a human, not some God that all you think about is the other people. Think about yourself for once,” Jimin said, his voice a plea and his eyes holding immense pain.

“If I thought about myself, I’d have killed myself by now, Hyung.” Jungkook smiled. The same smile he always used to hide his pain. The same smile he gave people he saved. The same smile that screamed at Jimin to save his best friend.

But now, there wasn't his mother that he needed to be saved from. It was Jungkook himself.

“I really don't know what to say, Jungkook, you are so harsh on yourself.” Jimin’s voice was a little above a whisper. A whisper of a promise to save him.

“Let me be harsh on myself, the regret fades a little if I hurt myself,” Jungkook said in a low voice, trying to convince Jimin that what he was doing was okay when it definitely wasn't.

“Just heal, I’ll hit you hard if you try to hurt yourself.” Jimin smiled through tears that turned his vision translucent, trying to make a joke when all he wanted was to hug Jungkook till all his pain vanished. That wasn't possible, so he resorted to joking.

“Okay shortie,” Jungkook responded. He chuckled but tears were streaming down his face. All he needed was love, and Jimin was ready to give it, but he couldn't make his best friend his personal healer. Jimin had his own life too, and he couldn't burden him. So he resorted to joking.

The next morning, Jungkook was discharged from the hospital. Jimin was the one driving this time. He decided that he won't leave Jungkook alone for a moment and took him to his own house. Jungkook groaned at that.

“I can take care of myself,” Jungkook said in order to be left alone.

“No you can't, and I won't leave you alone now. You're staying with me from now on.” Jimin held his hand and dragged him inside. Jimin's mother welcomed both of them with a bright smile. She encased Jungkook in a warm hug, one that had his tears drenching her shirt. That warmth was something his own mother lacked, but it never hurt to imagine how her hugs would've felt like. But he'd never see her again. And he imagined a knife slicing his chest open, exactly like he saw his mother's’.

“No more tears, my baby.” She hugged him like he imagined his mother would; in another universe. It felt like he got her back, even if the feeling lasted only a moment. And so, just for the sake of feeling his mother again, he stopped crying. The smile on Jimin's mother's face was priceless.

“Kook, you're staying here now, my brother.” Jimin hugged him too. Though it was the first time he knew Jimin did. The countless times he was hugged while unconscious remained out of his mind's reach.

The three of them sat together for breakfast. Jimin and his mother talked casually, but they were careful not to talk about anything that could trigger Jungkook.

It had been more than twenty four hours since he lost his parents. Death was natural, and maybe he would’ve had a hard time accepting that in case of his parents, but he would know they died naturally. But what happened was the total opposite of this. They were murdered in a way he could never even imagine.

The marks of soot and dried blood on the mirror pieces he had found earlier formed the letters for ‘home’. If the killer always left those mirror pieces, it meant they must be there in his ‘home’ too. The home that witnessed such a gruesome sight because of some
psychopath.

Wait.

If the killer always left mirror pieces for Jungkook to find, or just as a mark of him being the murderer, there must be broken mirrors in his house too. All over the place. All over that bloody room. He had to go. Before they swept away those pieces, he had to. But he had been in the hospital for a day, would the scene still be untouched?

“I need to go,” Jungkook said, more to himself than to Jimin. Before the mother and son could even react, Jungkook was dashing down the stairs; grabbing Jimin's car keys on the way.

“I'll be back, mom!” Jimin shouted from a distance as he ran after his best friend. He grabbed his bike's keys, having the hanger come crashing down, but he didn't have a second to spare. Jungkook was a trouble magnet, it wouldn't be nice of him to land in the hospital again.

“Yah Jeon Jungkook!” Jimin screamed in vain, Jungkook was far ahead and had started the car's engine when Jimin got down from the long staircase. The cop had no time to spare now. He hopped on his bike and started following Jungkook. It was like the two were having a race; unfair at best because of the vehicle differences.

It has been nearly an hour since the two started driving. The destination was still not in sight and Jungkook refused to stop and go back home. Jimin refused to stop following him. If there was trouble waiting for them, they'll face it together.

This time, however, trouble awaited only Park Jimin.

We'll welcome a new character, and more danger of course.