Falling for Your Lies(sope)

A Truth Too Painful.

Authors pov

The cold air inside the mortuary felt suffocating as Hoseok’s friends walked through the sterile, unforgiving hallways. Their footsteps echoed against the stark walls, each sound a reminder of the grim reality they were about to face. Every step they took felt heavier, as if the weight of their grief was pulling them down.

They finally reached a door, and one of the police officers opened it. A chilling sight lay before them: a body covered by a white sheet on a cold metal slab, a haunting stillness surrounding it.

Jungkook felt as if the floor had dropped from beneath him. He stumbled forward, heart racing as he reached for the sheet. With trembling hands, he pulled it down just enough to reveal the familiar face they all knew too well.

The room fell into a deafening silence. Jimin gasped, hands flying to his mouth, his eyes wide with disbelief. Namjoon turned away, choked sobs escaping him as he fought to breathe. Taehyung stood frozen, eyes glued to Hoseok’s lifeless body, unable to look away. Jin squeezed his eyes shut, a single tear slipping down his cheek.

Then it hit Jungkook—a wave of realization and horror crashing down on him. He screamed, his voice filled with anguish. “Hoseok!” He fell to his knees beside the metal table, grasping Hoseok’s cold hands, shaking his head in frantic denial. “No! No! This can’t be real!” His cries echoed off the walls, raw and heart-wrenching.

“Please, wake up!” Jungkook begged, pressing his forehead against Hoseok’s motionless body. “Hyung, I’m so sorry! I should have been there for you! I should have listened!” His body shook with sobs as he grasped Hoseok’s hands tighter, desperately seeking warmth that would never come.

Jimin rushed to Jungkook, his own tears streaming down his face as he knelt beside him. “This isn’t right! Hoseok wouldn’t leave us! He… he was supposed to be here!” Jimin’s voice broke as he squeezed Jungkook’s shoulder, feeling the anguish radiating off him.

“Why didn’t we go after him?” Jungkook’s voice turned to a guttural sob. “He told us he needed space, but we should have known better! We should have fought for him! He was in so much pain, and we… we ignored him!” The guilt gnawed at him, consuming him from the inside out.

Namjoon’s shoulders shook as he finally turned back, the tears spilling freely down his cheeks. “We thought we were giving him space, but we let him slip away! We should have seen the signs!” He took a shaky step forward, his heart breaking all over again as he looked at Hoseok. “How could we not have known he was suffering? We failed him… we failed our friend!”

“Hobi…” Jungkook gasped, his voice choked with despair as he clutched Hoseok’s lifeless hands. “You were always the strong one. You were our light. How could you leave us like this? We need you!” He pressed his face against Hoseok’s cold hand, his cries turning to desperate pleas. “Please, just come back. I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to do this without you!”

Taehyung, finally finding his voice, spoke through his own tears. “He was always the one holding us together… and now we’re lost without him. I didn’t realize how much he meant to us until… until now. It’s too late!”

Jin knelt down, his heart shattering as he looked at the boy who had always been the first to comfort him. “Hoseok… I should have been there. I should have seen the pain in your eyes. I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to leave you alone.” He broke down, his cries filling the room as the weight of regret pressed down on him.

Jungkook’s heart raced, each beat a reminder of the warmth they had lost. “I’ll never forgive myself,” he sobbed, his hands shaking as he held onto Hoseok’s cold ones. “We could have saved you, hyung. If only we had listened. If only…”

Realization struck Jungkook as his voice rose, raw and broken, filled with a rage born from an agony too vast to contain. “This… this is because of Yoongi! He’s the one who hurt Hoseok. He made him feel like he was nothing. I swear… I’ll make him pay.” His fists clenched, his body trembling as he poured his grief into his words. “I’ll make him understand what he did to Hoseok. He will pay I swear he will regret this forever." Jungkook's voice broke.

Jin pulled Jungkook close, holding him as he trembled with both fury and sorrow, his fingers gripping Jin’s arms tightly as if he might break apart without something to hold onto.

The reality of the moment crashed over them like a tidal wave, a suffocating sadness enveloping them. The silence that followed was deafening, each friend lost in their own turmoil. They had taken their friendship for granted, thinking they had time, and now it was gone, slipping through their fingers like sand.

Jungkook looked up, tears streaming down his face, his voice a whisper filled with despair. “You were supposed to be our forever… and now… now we have nothing.”

The words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. In that moment, they realized they had lost more than just a friend; they had lost a part of themselves.

As they stood in that cold, sterile room, one truth resonated in their hearts: They should have fought harder for Hoseok. They should have stayed with him when he had pushed them away but it was too late now, and now they were left with nothing but the haunting echo of their failure.