WHEN THE SUN SETS [JJK]

06

PART SIX
OF RINKO & JEONGGUK'S STORY

Jimin would be confused. Questioning his existence until daylight appears in his eyes even but he only looks at Taehyung with tired eyes and nods at the bottle of beers held against the palms of his hand. Even murmurs a small thank you for letting the pain sink in for a while.

"You got any stories up your sleeve? Anything interesting that would much rather entertain me instead of put me to sleep?" Jimin asks with a bottle of beer on hand as he sips it figurously without second guessing himself to put the toxic substance down.

"Anything?" Taehyung wonders. Contemplates on whether or not he should spill his whole life story to the broken-hearted boy but as the boy insists with a shrug overlapping his tired eyes, Taehyung proceeds to the story telling of how his little brother died.

"I have a brother, but he's dead now. My mom didn't care enough to have his death looked into by the investigators, nor did my dad care about giving him a decent funeral but as the older brother I was, I did everything. From contacting his friends to looking over texts on his phone and I found nothing. No traces, nothing at all."

"Maybe he wouldn't have died if you answered that one last phone call, but you didn't and now you're miserable, right?"

It's fucked up. How Jimin could know so much and Taehyung so clueless of the things around him, but as the two submerge into regrets of their own—Jimin speaks up. By all means, he confesses the structure of feelings that hold up his broken heart alongside Taesung's.

"I have a friend that goes by the name Tae, he died at seventeen. Constantly roaming around for shelter, even wished I helped him but we were all struggling at the time. Always broke from constant chores ordered by the bullies of our highschool. If we didn't do what they wanted us to do, we'd be left with a broken face. Bruises, even. I know it sounds all too bad to be true, but that was our life back here. I promised myself to never go back to this place. But for Rinko, I came back and maybe reliving these memories again isn't so bad after all but just know that Tae, or Taesung called you one last time to apologize to you. He was having a rough time and there were instances where I did stop him from ending his life but it was that one time I couldn't. I was too late, Taehyung. I couldn't stop him. I'm sorry."

At a sudden loss of words, Taehyung covers his mouth with his trembling hands and the beer that slipped from Jimin's fingertips came back again. There's nothing special about this colliding of feelings because nothing ever is. It's just a matter of time before Jeongguk and Rinko would come back to find the two bundles of mess Taehyung and Jimin had become over the couple of hours they've been together but only the gush of wind moves against the two. Not even a single strand of muscle is moved because of the revelation of truth. Taehyung knows Jimin enough to know that he's had a rough past, considering the recurring dark blotches of scars still glued onto his porcelain skin and although no one noticed, Taehyung did. He notices everything.

"Your scars, Taesung had the same ones when he was still alive, but I didn't bother asking him because if I did, he would get mad and I didn't want any misunderstandings between us again. That was my mistake, I should've asked. I should've followed him when he came home that one last time. Maybe if I just—" Taehyung heaves a heavy sigh and listens to Jimin, only to close his eyes and relax along the wave of the boy's voice.

"Look, maybe we both made our mistakes but he's gone now. If he were to still be alive, he'd be going on and on about bringing us happiness so I think it's time we focus on that instead of all the things we could've done to save him. He's gone now, Tae and there's nothing we can do about it."

Maybe you're right, Taehyung says with one last heavy breath before he focuses on the two entering the empty Diner with bright smiles tainted to their heart's content. Rinko shyly unclasps her hand from Jeongguk's just to make it clear that she doesn't want Jimin seeing them together but the boy doesn't seem to care as he looks upon the darkness of the sky overlapping the hidden moon, stars and constellations up above because it takes a few seconds before Jimin gives his full attention at the three, seated beside him with questions running along the sidelines of Rinko's head but left unanswered before she can even wonder why. The stuffy air, though, gives her a chance to wipe the smile off her face as she sees Jimin and Taehyung's expressionless face, staring at the menu with nothing but regret seeping through the corners of their eyes as if to symbolize the tears they didn't have enough of.

There's not enough of a lot of things. Constantly refilling water bottles because the content always seems to wash down the calories you've just eaten today, the time you don't have enough of as you wonder how the fuck you're going to squeeze in enough time to be able to relax on the few days you're swarmed with homework. There's not enough time for a lot of things but maybe with the help of the sunset reminding them that there will always a reason to be alive, it may just end up being a temporary relief.