cherry blossoms || ot7 [#Wattys2017]

[lie]

"I've been meaning to tell you something..." Jungkook trails off as he makes eye contact with the boy he's known for almost two years now. Seeing him shattered like that breaks his heart and he knows that he should've been honest with him right from the start. "I don't know how much you heard but—"

"Please, don't lie to me. You've done it once and I thought you wouldn't do it again," his voice cracks as he tries to raise it above a whisper, but his fragile being doesn't allow him to. "I just want the truth, which is apparently something you've been wanting to tell me." He crosses his arms in front of his chest.

"Right, well I don't know how to put this any other way..." After all these months spending time with Taehyung and Jungkook wanting to tell him, he can't seem to find the words he wants to say. It's like all of them have escaped his mind. "I'm not really who you think I am."

"What do you mean?" Taehyung immediately interrupts the older boy, extremely impatient by how slow Jungkook is going.

"I'm not actually your brother." He lowers his gaze as the guilt starts to override everything in his body. He finally said it.

"Kookie, what do you mean? Are you adopted? Because that's fine by me because then, we'd still be brothers by legal means. We're still...brothers..." Taehyung tries to reason with this new piece of information. If that's the big secret, Taehyung could live with that. It wouldn't be such a big deal; that wouldn't change anything between them. He loves Kookie and having him around again just makes Taehyung happy because he's missed his hyung for thirteen years.

Before Jimin came around, Taehyung had no one. He couldn't confide in anyone about anything. He felt alone at home; he had his eomma, but she would side with his appa a lot to avoid an argument. He hated when appa came home drunk, but there was nothing he could do except remain quiet and not get in the way because he knew what that would lead up to if he did.

Jungkook interrupts Taehyung's thoughts. "That's another thing: my name isn't Jungkook either... I'm not your real brother; I'm not even an adopted brother. We're not related, but I wish we were..." Tears form in the wells of "Jungkook's" eyes. "My real name is Byun Baekhyun."

"No...this can't be," Taehyung backs up into a wall. "B-but how do you know so much about me? There's things that you know that Jimin doesn't even know about! How can you know so much about me?"

The man in front of Taehyung that claims his name is Baekhyun takes a small earpiece out from his ear. "Someone's been feeding me information from here. Look, Taehyung, I never meant it to go this far. I'm an actor and I got a job as an agent for a man to scope you out and—"

"Who's this man and why does he know so much about me?"

"It's...it's your actual brother. Your real brother is alive and well. He just sent me out to do a job and see if—"

Taehyung cuts him off again. "If he's alive, then why didn't he do it himself? Why'd he have you do it? After everything we've been through?"

Baekhyun sighs impatiently. "Tae, can I explain before you ask all of these questions?" He rubs a hand over his face. "Look, when I started this job, I thought I was just observing you, gathering information, but then Jungkook told me that I had to get close to you. I was confused at first, but he's paying me real well so I didn't question it. But then I started to get to know you and I started convincing myself that you really are my brother, my flesh and blood. I wanted to tell you so many times, but my job was on the line. So I kept going, but I felt so guilty and I had to tell you. I didn't care at this point."

"And the other hyungs?" he mumbles.

"What about them?"

"Did they know who you are?" Taehyung raises his eyes to meet with Baekhyun's gaze.

He hesitates. "Ye...Jungkook asked them to act like I was part of the group, but they never really paid attention to me. They would always sit with each other. They didn't want to partake in it, but they were inadvertently dragged into it when I mentioned the group. I got reprimanded that day, but we had to keep rolling with it. They didn't know about the plan at all. And everything they did for you? That was genuinely them."

"And Jimin?"

"He knew nothing, I swear."

Taehyung remains silent for a couple of seconds which feels like hours to Baekhyun. He just wants Taehyung to know that he never wanted to hurt him; that was never his intention.

"I just want you to know that everything I said came from me. All of the times we hung out: that was me. All the facts about myself...those were things Jungkook would tell me. Anything about your past and his past, that's all of his. But anytime we hung out, that was me. That was Baekhyun. You became the closest thing to a younger brother that I've ever had. I knew it was wrong to keep going but I wanted to be there for you no matter what. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Well you did anyways," Taehyung lashes out. "You wanted to protect me? You never wanted to hurt me? Then you shouldn't have taken the goddamn job! You should've said no once you heard what he said." He refuses to use his own hyung's name now. "You should've stopped him. You should've told him to meet me himself instead of doing this whole thing! Do you know how fucking stupid I look now? Do you know how idiotic I feel? How naïve? I believed you... I loved you like...like..."

"Like I was a brother," Baekhyun mutters. "I know Tae and I'm sorry—"

"ANIYO! What's sorry going to do? Erase two years that I thought I spent with my long lost brother?" Taehyung pushes Baekhyun.

"Listen, Taehyung, please. I was only doing my job..."

"So what? I was just part of some assignment? I never meant anything to you?"

He winces. "Of course you meant something to me! You meant everything to me. I never wanted to hurt you or anyone. I just wanted to see you happy."

"Do I look happy?" Taehyung starts heading for the door. "I never want to see you ever again Kook— I mean Baekhyun," he says his name maliciously as if he's a disease, a leper, a parasite. "And you can tell Jungkook, I never ever want to see him. I don't want to meet him and if he tries, I'll hurt him." He turns around and slams the door.

Taehyung rushes down the stairs because he can't deal with other people in a slow moving elevator. He bursts through the front doors and starts running. He takes his phone out and calls Jimin, the only one who's ever truly been there for Taehyung.

On the first ring, Jimin picks up. "Hi TaeTae!" He bubbles with happiness.

"Hyung..."

Immediately, noting the tone of the younger boy's voice, Jimin asks, "What's wrong?"

Taehyung ignores his question and responds with a question of his own. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the house."

"Don't leave. I'm on my way home." Taehyung hangs up and continues to run down the streets of Seoul with tears mixed with betrayal falling down his face.

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