cold feet [1]

forty one

yoongi's point of view

After Jungkook was treated and cleaned up, everyone left the room to let him rest. As I was packing up the first-aid kit and removing my gloves I felt his hand tighten around my wrist, halting the rest of my movement.

"Please," he cried out with gasps that were strangled by his challenge to breathe. "Don't leave me." He managed to add, hand grasping for mine. I placed down the kit and turned around so I could look into his eyes, dropping to kneel beside the bed so he didnt have to strain his neck. Staring at him now, I almost couldn't recognise him. Every bit of his strength and confidence had been stripped away, leaving him barely able to move between pain and the weight of his heartache. We had always described Jungkook as an immovable pride. He was unwavering in his determination to get what he wanted, and to build the power that had always come so easily to him. He was one of the youngest in his workforce, a star student in his studies, and a solid support for those around him. I saw none of that in him now. Buried beneath a heartbreak that had shattered his very soul.

"How did you get into this mess Jungkook?" I whispered, tracing the lines on his palms with gentle movements, using my other hand to cup his cheek and wipe his tears. "I'm sorry he hurt you..." There was still no reply since Jungkook looked too drained to move. I settled onto the floor beside my bed that had been destroyed, holding onto his hand and resting my head against the mattress. Left to listen to each hitch of his breath and periodic squeezes into my palm. "Get some rest Jungkookie. I'll stay with you. I promise."

I waited until his breaths settled into a shallow rhythm that indicated his sleep, nestling my head into the firm mattress to let my own eyes slowly close, sitting in the silent darkness until eventually sleep took hold of me.

---

I jolted up when I heard the door open to my room, eyes piercing toward the sound in fear that it would be Taehyung coming back to do more damage. Though my heartrate settled when I saw Jimin slip into the room with two mugs in his hands. 

"Hey," He whispered into the silence, taking a seat on the floor beside me and placing one of the coffees into my hand that had fallen away from Jungkook's own. I took the drink and gave a silent thank you before taking a sip. The warmth soothed my throat and settled comfort in my chest that had been missing these past twenty four hours. My mind had fallen apart and come back together so many times, each layer of complexity to this lunacy feeling like someone rewiring my brain. I was handling it better than the others were, being more receptive to the chaos this world tended to bring. Yet it still dazed me.

"Jimin." I began curiously, watching him sip his own coffee. Only looking up at the call for his attention. "Why didn't you react to what V did?" He clenched down on his jaw reactively, turning his body away slightly in a subconscious attempt to remove himself from his own discomfort. That reaction made me even more curious than before. "You've known V for... five years?"

"Seven..." He corrected quietly.

"Well, each time he has done something you threaten to hurt him, do in some cases. But this time you were just angry. Why?" Jimin lowered his head yet simultaneously lifted his hand.

"Let's just say, Jungkook isn't the only one." The answer confused me for a few seconds, until I looked down at his hand rubbing a certain spot just below his shirts collar. Without thinking I pulled his shirt away from his skin, revealing an identical mark. Except this one was messier, lines of the letter jagged and blurred to create a haze of the letter V. I stared up at Jimin who wouldn't meet my gaze, head lowered in shame. "He did it before he left me in my year with him, I believe I was his first victim. Then he continued to do it to anyone who tried to help him. I thought maybe he had changed, that maybe he didn't do it anymore. There had been so many positive changes in him thay I naively believed he could actually be humane. But today just proved me wrong." I slowly pulled my hands away from Jimin to let him readjust his shirt.