Starlight and Petals (taekook)

27: Snivel

Author's pov: 

Jungkook knelt by the bed, his trembling hands wrapped tightly around Taehyung's limp fingers as if holding on was the only thing anchoring him to reality. His gaze never wavered from Taehyung's face, pale and stained with tears even in sleep, each fragile breath a reminder of the pain that had brought him here.. After hours of crying and screaming, Taehyung had finally passed out, collapsing into Jungkook's lap as the overwhelming trauma and exhaustion took their toll.

Jungkook's breath had caught in his throat when it happened, panic flooding his system, but Eunwoo had calmly assured him that it was the body's way of coping—a temporary reprieve. Now, Taehyung rested, though his sleep seemed far from peaceful.

Jungkook's own wounds had been tended to in the meantime—his bloodied hands and the gash on his forehead now wrapped in clean bandages. Jaehyun had forcibly snapped him out of his hysteria, going so far as to slap him across the face to bring him back to reality. 

Still, Jungkook had refused to leave Taehyung's side, adamant that no one else could take his place here. He had watched silently, seated on the chair beside the bed, while Eunwoo carefully dressed his wounds. But his focus never wavered from Taehyung. He couldn't look away. Not anymore.

Carefully, as if afraid his touch might break Taehyung further, Jungkook brushed his fingers along the curve of his cheek. His lips quivered as he pressed kisses to Taehyung's palm, over and over, as if trying to pour every ounce of his regret into the touch.

"I'm---I'm sorry, I am so s-sorry" he whispered, voice cracked and raw, barely able to escape his throat. The words were inadequate, mere fragments of the storm raging within him, but they were all he had to offer.

"I'm so sorry, my love... I failed you. I didn't see... I didn't hear you screaming..." His chest heaved, tears streaming freely as a sob broke through his composure, jagged and heart-wrenching.

"You didn't deserve this... none of it. And I swear, Taehyung, I'll spend the rest of my life making it right... " he choked out, his forehead pressing lightly against Taehyung's hand. But Taehyung remained silent, lost in a world that Jungkook couldn't reach—a world with doors he had unwittingly locked himself.

Jungkook seethed with a storm of emotions—a searing rage directed both at himself and at Daniel, the man who had dismantled their lives so completely that they now felt irreparable. Daniel had stolen everything, leaving scars so deep that no amount of retribution could ever mend the damage. Jungkook's fists clenched at his sides as he imagined delivering the kind of pain that would make Daniel's soul writhe, but he knew, deep down, that no punishment, no agony, could ever undo what Taehyung had endured. 

The cruel truth of it all mocked him—how could the world allow such suffering to happen to someone so pure, so undeserving, and yet offer no way to erase it?

Swallowing his tears, Jungkook kept his gaze on Taehyung's sleeping form. His body felt heavy, his limbs numb, and every step felt like walking through quicksand. Yet his heart ached so profoundly, so relentlessly, that he wanted to rip it out of his chest—anything to stop the unbearable weight crushing him from within.

He pressed a kiss to Taehyung's knuckles, his lips trembling against the delicate skin. Then, slowly, he leaned closer, his breath shaky as he placed a soft kiss on Taehyung's forehead. The moment his lips touched the warm skin, a sob broke free from his throat, raw and unrestrained. Tears cascaded onto Taehyung's peaceful face, as if Jungkook's anguish might somehow wake him, might somehow bridge the chasm that now separated them.

Jungkook's trembling lips found Taehyung's closed eyes next, another kiss—gentle, reverent, aching. But even as he kissed away invisible tears from Taehyung's lashes, he knew it wouldn't be enough. Taehyung was locked away in a world of his own making, unreachable, untouchable. How desperately Jungkook wished he could follow him there.