FACING THE SAME FACE | JINKOOK

CH16

JungKook entered his brother's room quietly. The door creaked slightly as it opened, as if the house itself were feeling his pain. It was a place frozen in time, a space full of memories that now weighed him down more than ever. The air was dense, impregnated with the nostalgia of the moments they had shared. The unmade bed, the light off, the desk lamp that never quite turned off. Everything was the same, as though JungHyun were still there.

His heart pounded harder in his chest.

"Why did you leave?" The words escaped unintentionally, so quietly they were barely heard, and the same questions that had tormented him all this time flooded his mind again, like a torrent of despair.

The silence surrounded him, heavy, and his breath became irregular. The walls, witnesses to so many shared laughs, now only returned empty echoes. JungKook moved closer to his brother's bed and sat on the edge, looking at the spot where his figure used to be. He closed his eyes, and in his mind, he saw JungHyun's face again, so full of life, so full of dreams...

"I promised you, remember?" he whispered, trembling from the weight of his own regret. "I promised I'd always protect you... And I didn't. I couldn't. I ruined everything." The guilt overwhelmed him like a torrent. Why? Again and again the same question hammered in his head, with no answer. How did I not see it? If only I had been there to save him, to stop him from making that fateful decision.

He looked at the photo on his brother's desk, the one they had both always liked. JungHyun smiling, hugging him, looking at the camera with that mischievous expression he always had. JungKook raised his hand, as if he could touch it, as if that simple gesture could bring back everything he had lost.

"I ruined everything..." he repeated, this time with more force, as though those words could purify his broken soul.

With his eyes closed, the vision of JungHyun filled him again, this time more clearly. He could see him so vividly, so real, as though he were still there, with that gaze full of light and hope. In his mind, JungHyun spoke to him, just like in those old days when everything seemed possible.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered, his voice cracking. "I failed you. I failed you... and now I don't know what to do." The room was so silent he could hear his own crying, the tears he had not allowed to fall until now. They came, uncontrollable, as though the wall he had built with his hatred, his anger, and his guilt was finally crumbling.

"I loved you so much, JungHyun... I still do. I don't know if you knew, but I had to tell you..." The words choked in his throat, but they came out, painfully, with that need to reach his brother, even if only in spirit.

He looked again at the corner where they had spent so many nights talking, sharing secrets, and he could still feel JungHyun's presence, as though his soul was still trapped in that space, in that place they had shared.

"Forgive me, brother. Forgive me for not being there... Forgive me for not saving you..." The air around him seemed to grow thicker. The sensation of being in the same room with his brother, even though he was dead, intensified. In that moment, JungKook felt a desperate need to believe that the words of forgiveness would come, that the echo of his regret would be enough to heal what had already been broken. But something inside him told him it wouldn't be that easy.

"What do I do now, JungHyun? How do I live with this? How do I go on without you?" The question floated in the air, but there was no answer. He couldn't expect the silence of the room, so relentless, to give him any clarity. He couldn't expect the emptiness he had created to be filled with simple words.

"If I could turn back time..." he murmured, feeling the knot in his throat. "If I could do things differently... If I hadn't done all this..." In his mind, Jin's image appeared, painful and clear. Jin's pain consumed him too, for he knew his brother would never have wanted to see him like this, torn apart by remorse. But what weighed on him the most was the truth: "I destroyed it. Not just him. Me. Everything. And I don't know if there's a way back..." His body collapsed onto his brother's bed. He couldn't get up. The tears kept falling, one after another, as if he couldn't contain them any longer. JungKook hugged himself, seeking some comfort, even though he knew nothing would ever be the same again.