BREAKING BOUNDARIES (An RM Fan-fiction)

Chapter 46

ONE WEEK LATER

The flight leaves before Namjoon has time to change his mind.

He watches Korea disappear beneath the clouds and tells himself this is necessary. Work. Obligation. Distance that might stop him from saying something he can't take back. He doesn't text Brianna. Not because he doesn't want to—but because if he does, he knows he won't be able to stop.

The schedule is relentless.

Cameras, questions, laughter on cue. His body moves without him. His mind doesn't. Every quiet moment is filled with the echo of her voice, the way she didn't stop him from walking out, the way her hands stayed curled into fists like letting go might break her.

His phone stays silent.

He hates that most of all.

It's Hoseok who notices.

Hoseok always notices.

He catches it in the rehearsal room first—the way Namjoon stares at his reflection like he doesn't recognise himself. The way he zones out between takes. The way he checks his phone and locks it again without reading anything.

Later, in the hotel lounge, Hoseok sits beside him without ceremony.

"You're spiralling," he says gently.

Namjoon lets out a tired breath. "I know."

"Want to tell me why?"

He hesitates. Then the words spill out, messy and unfiltered. The rumour. Brianna hearing it from someone else. The fight that wasn't really a fight, just two people bleeding in different directions. The way she looked at him when he tried to hold her. The way she let him leave.

"I didn't betray her," Namjoon says, voice rough. "But I still feel like I lost her."

Hoseok listens, quiet and steady. "She's scared," he says finally. "Not of you. Of everything that comes with you."

"That doesn't make it hurt less."

"No," Hoseok agrees. "It doesn't."

Namjoon stares at the floor. "I don't want her thinking I chose this. That I chose someone else."

Hoseok is quiet for a moment, then: "Do you want me to talk to her?"

Namjoon looks up, surprised. "She shouldn't hear this from you."

"She knows me," Hoseok replies softly. "She trusts me. And sometimes hearing the truth from someone outside the situation helps."

Namjoon exhales, defeated. "Just... don't pressure her."

"I won't."

When Hoseok steps into the hallway to make the call, Namjoon stays behind, heart pounding like he's already said too much.

Brianna knows Hoseok's voice the second she answers.

"Hey," he says warmly. "You got a minute?"

She almost laughs at the normalcy of it. "Yeah. Of course."

There's a pause, gentle and careful. "I heard what happened," Hoseok says. "And I just wanted to check on you."

Her chest tightens. "He told you."

"He did."

She exhales slowly. "I didn't want to doubt him," she admits. "But the rumour... it felt believable. And that scared me more than anything."

"That makes sense," Hoseok says. "Anyone would feel shaken."

"It wasn't just the rumour," Brianna continues, voice quiet. "It was everything it represents. The world watching him. Watching me. I don't know how to exist in that without losing myself."