His Boxy Smiles

Chapter 33

The image of a patient and caring Bangtan was gone. The promise that they'd wait for Taehyung to open up himself while being understanding had been ruined. It was broken. And they were the ones that broke it.

The guilt of what they'd done only fully settled in when they found themselves waking up in the dorm, early in the morning. They struggled to knock themselves out last night and yet they were up so early after just three hours of sleep, beating themselves up for what happened.

They felt so guilty and stupid that they feared to face the consequences of what they had pulled in the hospital.

That was why all of them laid awake on their respective beds, unmoving, after being awake for two hours.

The first person to drag himself out of his bed was Jin.

He remembered that he needed to feed five equally guilty people and so, being responsible, he dragged his feet to the kitchen and lifelessly prepared brunch.

The second to gather up the courage to abandon his bed was J-Hope, helping the eldest in the kitchen.

Neither spoke a word. Not even the usual 'good mornings'.

They didn't need words to know what they felt. Their silence was their understanding and sympathy for each other.

The rest could say the same as the dreadful yet comforting silence enveloped the dorm even when one by one, the remaining few of them emerged from their rooms.

It was utterly quiet, almost defeaning but none had the energy to save themselves from it.

Even as they sat around the dining table after food was laid out, the only sound that could be heard was the clatter of the spoon and fork against the plates as they ate.

Each member tried not to look at the spot Taehyung usually sat at. It'll only remind them of what they'd said and what he'd said.

It'll only remind them how they screwed up. Again.

They hadn't even apologized for the things they've done to the boy before the accident and now this? How much more could they possibly make things worse?

Last night, they were set on going home to clear their heads then coming back the next morning to set things straight again. But now that morning came, they had no idea how or why they came up with that plan in the first place! How the hell could they possibly fix this when just the thought of facing the boy again breaks their hearts?

They didn't have the courage to see Taehyung. Not at all.

For the rest of the day, they moped around.

They stayed out of their rooms, fearing silence, so they accompanied each other in the living room.

Together, they found comfort in each other as they crowded the living room to watch whatever was on TV.

All of them stayed out of their phones too. Not wanting to be reminded that Taehyung was still in the hospital and the ARMYs were all worried because of the lack of updates on their well being, especially Tae's.

For the whole day, they were dying to know if Taehyung was doing okay. If he was drinking enough, if he was alone or if he was sleeping good but didn't actually do anything to find out.

Taehyung hated being alone. And he did especially so after his incident. They knew that too well so it haunted them how much they couldn't get their asses back to the hospital.

'For sure someone's there to accompany him. His mother or manager hyung should be there,' they'd thought.

Would Taehyung even want them there after what they said last night? For sure Taehyung was still mad, right? Or wasn't he? They didn't know anymore.

After the accident, everything's not so clear when it came to Taehyung anymore. And they needed clarity of some sort soon rather than later because they were about to go insane.

Ignoring the gnawing concern they have for the boy and the strange gut feeling (almost like a premonition) that something was wrong, they chose to stay in the dorms. Maybe a day or two. Just to get their minds off of things. Just so when they finally do see him, they'd know the right way to approach him and fix things.

Oh, but they weren't given a day or two. Hell no.

They were given days. Maybe even a couple of weeks. It was uncertain really.

Oh and how they regretted.

They'd soon find themselves in a bigger and deeper problem (if the problem at hand wasn't already big enough to crush them).