drown for you | jjk

26

You manage to sleep until ten a.m., the rays of sunlight hitting your face and waking you up. As soon as you sit up in your bed and stretch your body, those butterflies are quick to resume their obnoxious activities.

What if it doesn't go right? What if it goes wrong? What are you going to do then?

Your thoughts and feelings keep switching between excited and scared shitless as you approach the front doors of the lab. You note that the thick metal doors have been fixed, now looking even more secure than before. Walking through the halls, you decide to change into your wetsuit before visiting Jeongguk's room.

As always, you struggle a little bit with the zipper but managed to pull it up to your neck after a few attempts. You try desperately to disregard your nerves, whatever happens now, at least you're back.

Just as you're about to click yourself into the room, someone grabs your wrist, halting your movement. Startled, you turn around to find Tae looking down at you. Is he... angry? Definitely annoyed, at least. Why?

"You shouldn't go in there," he warns, voice low.

"What? Why?" you ask, severely confused. Immediately, your thoughts go to the siren.

"He's okay, right? Right?"

Taehyung nods. "But you should go and see Namjoon. Did you not get his text?"

You're quick to fish up your phone from your bag, nearly dropping the device to the floor. Namjoon must've sent it when you were still asleep, and you missed it because you opened the phone to turn off your alarm whilst being nowhere near awake. But going into your text messages, there it is. A text from Namjoon, saying to meet him at his office as soon as you arrive.

"Yeah, okay... I'll go there in a minute, I just wanna see Jeongguk first," you say, trying to pass Taehyung.

"You should see Namjoon first," he speaks sternly, blocking the monitor to which you need to press your card against to gain access.

"Fine," you accept and turn on your heel, heading towards Namjoon's office. Taehyung's choice to follow surprises you, and you wonder why he seems so upset. It's not Jeongguk, is it? Your heart races as you think about Jeongguk doing something, anything that would result in a reaction like this. You just can't imagine it.

After placing a few knocks on the door, the two of you wait outside it. When a 'come in' is heard, you're quick to grasp the cold handle and enter. Your worry grows even more, seeing Namjoon sitting behind his desk. His expression visibly turns to one of... defeat, and his sigh makes you draw your eyebrows together.

"Uh... I'm glad you came here first... There's really no easy way to say this..." Namjoon starts, sounding more hesitant than you've ever heard him.

"Go ahead," Taehyung urges from behind you. What has Jeongguk done?

"There was a minor incident... if you can call it that, yesterday—"

"Jeongguk's fine, right?" you repeat your earlier question, worry lacing your features. As long as he's fine... He has to be fine.

"Uh, yeah. It's just that... he's not here anymore," Namjoon reveals slowly, looking at you with sadness in his eyes. "He was released yesterday."

"What?!" you ask in utter disbelief. This isn't happening. They're kidding, they have to be.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know he meant a lot to you and that you wanted to attend his release... but he requested to be released yesterday..."

You feel tears threaten to fall from your eyes. He's gone? It's as if time has stopped, and you're witnessing your world fall apart. Your mind struggles to comprehend what Namjoon meant. What it means for you.