His Boxy Smiles

Chapter 18

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The silence of the night, accompanied by Taehyung's heartbeat, didn't fail to lull Namjoon to a sleepless sleep. It was like sleeping yet awake at the same time.

However, it was invaded with Jimin's voice then his sniffles. Later, it was joined with Yoongi's then Jin's. Soon after, J-Hope added to it.

Namjoon could by then recognize who was crying. They've been doing that for days and as the leader, you have to pay attention to your members, especially on crucial times like this. He could totally recognize who was crying by just hearing their sniffles alone.

He wasn't annoyed that their crying woke his sleepless sleep because really, he cared more about their well-being than his own.

Namjoon didn't say anything though. He just let them cry.

He read somewhere that crying helps to relieve stress, pain, etc. Hopefully, they wouldn't cry until they dehydrate themselves.

Namjoon's exhausted. They were all exhausted.

However, out of the six of them, excluding Taehyung, Jungkook was even more exhausted.

The kid practically cries himself to sleep then cries himself awake because of nightmares.

Yup! It was that damn video.

He hadn't raised up the idea of watching it to the others yet because he didn't know how. Little did he know that they had the same difficulties as him.

BTS mutually thought of watching the video. It was like their telepathy as a group.

'Taehyung...'

Namjoon couldn't even began to apologize. Not even within his thoughts because all of a sudden, Jungkook woke up crying from another nightmare.

However, this time, it had felt too real for Jungkook. He couldn't help but break down.

The others were alarmed.

"Jungkook, it's okay. Breathe. Breathe," Jin was the one who got to action first.

Namjoon and Yoongi was behind him, who squatted in front of the maknae, like a lightning, ready to help.

The younger just kept shaking his head 'no'. He tried to calm down but he couldn't. It was too real.

"Hyung died... Hyung died... He's dead..." he was suddenly bawling.

"No, no, no. He's alive, Kookie," J-Hope was now next to him.

Jimin just stayed where he was, frozen and eyes wide with fear, watching the maknae break down.

"Listen, Jungkook," Yoongi caught the maknae's eyes. "Can you hear the beeps? It's Taehyung's heart beat. He's not dead. He's alive. Breathe, Kookie. Calm down."

Jungkook did as told and sure enough, he could hear it. His hyung's heart beat.

Namjoon stepped aside from the maknae's line of sight to let him see Taeyung.

"See? He's alive. Breathe," Namjoon encouraged. "That's it. Just breathe."

Jungkook forced his shaking legs to get to Taehyung.

"Hyung, please wake up," Jungkook begged and before long, he was sobbing again, holding Taehyung's left hand tightly with his own.

The hyungs could only stand back and watch their maknae crumble. They felt like crumbling too but they figured, as the hyung line of the group, they had to be strong for their maknaes.

Jimin stood beside the maknae with his own tears rolling profusely down his face. He rubbed Jungkook's back as the younger sank to his knees, kneeling beside Tae.

Jungkook burried his face at the side of the bed, figure shaking with sobs. He was clasping Taehyung's hand to his forehead as he kept begging.

"P-please, hyung," Jungkook coughed then proceeded choking himself with his own tears again. "Wake up. I'm so sorry I told you to stop. I'm so sorry! We could hang out and eat together. So please just wake up."

Jimin's knees felt weak and so he squatted down, burying his face in both of his hands. He wanted to comfort Kookie but how could he if he can't even find peace in himself?

"Jungkook-ah," the leader tried to calm the maknae down but a wave of his own sorrow struck him in the face and before long, he was crying to himself too.

Even yoongi started sniffling along with J-Hope who had broken down first.

Jin just hugged himself as he closed his eyes, letting silent tears flow down his cheeks.

Everyone was a crying mess again.

It was suffocating. Way too suffocating.

For ten minutes, the room was only filled with the sounds of sniffling and gasping.

Silence was not like Taehyung. Taehyung hated silence. So why was he still asleep? The boys just wanted their Tae back. They needed him back. If Taehyung gave them another chance, they would never, ever, take him for granted, ever, again.

Never.

"So please, Tae, just wake up. Pl-please..."