pastel [3]

nine

Jimin's point of view

I parked in the drive way, frowning when Jungkook's car was not in its usual place. Instead Namjoon's car was taking up the second parking space.

Odd. He never leaves his car at work.

On the ride home from the local kindergarten I had managed to tune out Taehyung's never ending chatter, just responding with short answers that would be appropriate for any question. The lack of sleep was starting to get to me, restless at night trying to think of ways to solve this issue with the blonde being back from the dead. It wasn't as simple as telling Jungkook, but I knew keeping it from him was wrong too.

The little boy, Taehyung, was a frightening reminder, his playful questioning and love for games made him a spitting image of the person he was named after. Areum was sweet to let her brother name his nephew, a moment of importance for the man in his recovery.

I unbuckled the boy's seat from my car and lifted him into my arms, despite how big he was getting he was a sucker for people carrying him.

"You can rematch uncle Jungkook today!" He shouted happily, deafening me in my left ear. I smiled, fishing out the house key and unlocking the door.

"We'll see. I still have to repay my debt from the last time." Taehyung jumped down from my arms. Dumping his bag in the centre of the floor and running into the living room. I looked in the kitchen, seeing Namjoon standing in there. He shot me a glance, mouthing one word.

"Jungkook."

I dashed after Taehyung who had run directly to the lounge room in hopes of greeting his uncle. The moment I caught up to him I grabbed his arm and pulled back before he could pounce on the raven haired man sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV that wasn't even on.

"Now Taehyung. Leave uncle Jungkook alone. He has his wrist band on." Taehyung whined, staring down at his uncles wrist. Wrapped around it was a blue band. It was nothing special. But it had an important meaning. "Taehyung. Go upstairs and play with your cars. I might join you later." The younger nodded, bouncing away and up the stairs, out of sight. I turned to Jungkook. The raven having not made my presence welcome to him. "Hey Jungkook ah. You ok?" The band symbolised that he wasn't well. That he couldn't handle being around Taehyung. He usually wore it when something had happened that made him sensitive.

Jungkook finally looked up when I appeared in his peripheral, firstly nodding slightly, then dropping to a heavy frown of truth and shaking his head. The honesty brought a soft smile to my cheeks that pull up in hope, kneeling beside him on the couch.

"I saw him again..." My stomach dropped when he announced the reason for wearing his wristband. It was his tone that gave a pretty clear indicator of who the unnamed person was.

"Taehyung?" Jungkook nodded, rubbing his temples at the name. Whilst it was cute that he named his nephew after his first love, it was also an issue when the name brought a complexity to his emotions. It became a deterrent that meant he struggled to sit with the boy.

"When I was at the river with Sooyoung. He was sitting by the water..."

Shit he's seen him already.

The panic that was shattering my insides remained hidden, forced into a sweet smile of empathy.

"I'm sure it was just a one off. Maybe you just had a bad dream that caused you to think of him." But the younger shook his head.

"I don't dream. He was there I'm sure of it, but I-" a choke cut off his words, fraught with fear meshed with a deep longing for it to be true. The weight of the reality was already so heavy, and he didn't even know the full truth. "I can't fix my fucked up mind," he sniffled, dropping his head to my shoulder, shirt hanging loosely off him to reveal his collarbone. I leaned over him to brush my fingers along the scar. His was much deeper than mine had been, so it was still very visible and hadn't begun to fade. He did well to hide it, wearing high collared clothes whenever he was around people, refusing to go shirtless anywhere.