Worlds Apart - Taekook - Book 2

Chapter 256 - Ameliorate

Jungkook was sweating! His muscles were complaining after the very thorough workout that he was very much in need of. When will all of this end?

After they'd left the hospital, Tae was so concerned about how Jungkook was doing that Jungkook didn't push him to talk. They went their separate ways from the brothers. Kyong was desperate to speak to Jara, given that the last phonecall was very brief, just to tell her that Ryan had passed, so he went straight back to the Paradise.

Neither Jungkook or Kyong waited for Han-Shik who didn't exit at the same time. Jungkook thought it was plausible that the middle brother had had second thoughts and decided to return to Nuri. He wasn't going to hang around to find out... he'd reached his tolerance limit of his brother and his concern was for his husband...

... the one who was quiet and deflecting at every opportunity.

Yesterday, Jungkook met Kyong for coffee while Tae answered some business calls. The brothers hadn't heard from Han-Shik and the group chat was being ignored. They knew he was okay because Emi sent Jara a message but nothing else was said. They'd mostly spoken about Kyong's call that morning with Jara, she was seeing the boys off on a trip with Smiler and Phoenix, then she was due to go to Ara's.

Jungkook was pleased that his family were rallying around Jara and he thought it was funny that Sukmin and Ash were gate crashing the girls lunch. He was sure that Ash suffered from FOMO, but he doubted that his best friend would admit that. Kyong told him that no-one could refuse Sukmin... Jara took him with her to the park yesterday and he'd accompanied Heeju and Ash on their date night. Jungkook was surrounded by people who operated to extremes... some of them with money and some with love and kindness... there didn't seem to be an inbetween.

If Sukmin needed anything, it was love and to know that he had people he could rely on and he'd embedded himself in everyone's lives.

Jungkook was surprised that Kyong was only flying back for two days so he could get married. Kyong received a call from Ho-Joon that day to request his help with the business so leaving Busan was unlikely until everything was running smoothly.

Jungkook asked if postponing the wedding would be better and Kyong told him that Jara had mentioned that but he didn't want to postpone it after all of the hard work that she'd put into it... but Jara was in charge and this had to be what she wanted.

The two brothers spoke about Ryan and how strange it felt now that he was gone. The short coffee meeting gave them the chance to go over the memories they had, with some confusion as to what was real and what was really going on?

Jungkook was satisfied that there were things that they would never know and questions they didn't get to ask. He could ask Ho-Joon if there was any burning questions that he was desperate to get the answer to but he doubted there was anything he would need.

Jungkook agreed to stay for at least one day of the funeral which would begin tomorrow. He would rather not have to deal with anymore guilt and he knew that he'd feel guilty if he abandoned his brother. They weren't prepared for a funeral but Seongkwan arranged suits for them so they could pay their respects. Originally they'd anticipated making it in time to say their peace but they hadn't thought beyond that.

The gym was his next stop after coffee. Jungkook considered a run along the icy sea front but he didn't want to broach that subject with Taehyung as he was sure he wouldn't happy about that prospect. The dancer didn't share his husband's concern that Nuri was dangerous and could harm him in some way but he also was realistic that he didn't know his mother at all so he was happy to allay his husband's fears.

Going to the gym was a good move. He could run for miles on the treadmill and exhaust himself on the rowing machine.

"Wait until I tell Tae how distracting his husband is." Seongkwan said as Jungkook passed him on his way back to the room.