FACING THE SAME FACE | JINKOOK

CH15

JungKook's house felt empty, like an echo of what had once been home. Memories floated in the air, but none of that mattered now. Jin's footsteps echoed down the hallway like a farewell, though no goodbye had been spoken yet.

Jin stopped in front of the living room door, his trembling hand gripping a thick envelope. Inside, the money that JungHyun had spent to pay the debt. A symbol of everything that had been lost, but also an attempt to release the weight of what had been.

JungKook appeared at the doorway, his face darker than ever. His eyes, dull but full of a contained anger that refused to dissipate. Jin's presence, with that envelope in his hand, stabbed at his chest. He didn't want to accept it. He didn't deserve it.

"Are you here to give me this?" JungKook spoke in a hoarse voice, filled with distrust, but also with a sadness he couldn't hide.

Jin didn't respond immediately. He took a step forward, his eyes searching for JungKook's. Inside, there was a storm, but on the outside, there was only calm-calm that tried to disguise the pain.

"It's the least I can do," Jin finally said, his voice breaking. "JungHyun isn't here to claim it, so I'll do it. Because, in some way, I feel that this is also my responsibility." JungKook looked at the envelope with disdain, his heart beating with contained fury.

"Your responsibility... Do you really think that?" His tone was sharp, as if each word was painful to utter.

Jin looked at him, his eyes filled with deep sadness.

"I don't want to stay tied to you, JungKook. I don't want this money to be an excuse to stay in your life. To keep suffering for something that should never have happened." Jin's words were like a knife to JungKook's heart. For a moment, his breath quickened, but it wasn't rage that took over; it was a feeling of emptiness.

"Is that what you think? That everything we did, everything we... what we were, is just money?" The anger slipped out of his chest in a whisper, as though he couldn't hold it in any longer.

Jin shook his head, the pain evident on his face.

"It's not just money. It's everything that represented your lie. The time I lost, the trust you... you broke. I can't keep being part of this. I can't keep being part of you." Jin's words echoed in JungKook's ears like a thunderclap, causing his body to stiffen. The shadows of his vengeance rose again, wanting to consume him, but something inside him broke as he looked into Jin's eyes. That man he had loved and destroyed with his own hands was here, holding that envelope, closing a chapter JungKook didn't want to let go of.

"Why... why can't you forgive me?" JungKook whispered, his voice trembling.

Jin looked at him with pain.

"Because you never understood what you were doing. You never understood how much you hurt me." His words were simple, but they carried the full weight of his suffering. "And I can't forgive you for something you never even acknowledged. This... this isn't just about what you did to me, JungKook. It's about what you did to us." The air thickened between them, as though time had stopped. JungKook, unable to do anything, stood frozen, looking at Jin as though it were the last time he would see him. Because, in a way, it was.

"I just want you to move on, Jin," JungKook said at last, his tone not one of apology, but of defeat. "And find what you truly deserve. Something I couldn't offer you." Jin looked at him, and for a moment, his eyes softened. Part of him wanted to believe that, somehow, JungKook could still change. But the wound was too deep.

"It's too late for that," he murmured, placing the envelope on the table. "It's too late for everything." JungKook watched him leave, each step Jin took an echo of the farewell that had already been made. The sound of the door closing marked the end of an era, of a love that would never be what it once was.