The Tail Of Taekook

18 - Awkward Moments

Jungkook's POV

It's safe to say that I don't ask Jimin to read Tae's mind again. I've realised now that it's not right, morally speaking, and that it just makes my mate uncomfortable. A situation I would never forgive myself for. Even if Tae turns out to be alright with it, I wouldn't want to repeat the experience of annoying him. It's not something that's particularly positive or fun for me. I hate it.

Jimin and Sapphire remain in a sort of happy daze for approximately twenty four hours after our last contact with her mother, before the gravity of what just happened sinks in, and they go quiet. Before that, they're focused on the fact that they've found each other, that they were able to be together without being stopped by any of her family members. And then reality sets in, and they realise what's going on.

It's not easy, for either of them. Sapphire, knowing that everything and everyone she's ever known has just been left behind. And, for Jimin, it's something he can't possibly imagine but probably doesn't want to - what's been going through her mind before and after this event, this essential abandoning of her childhood. He probably feels the strain of it all on his shoulders.

But he doesn't have to worry. We are all going to help him out, no matter what he needs from us. We will be the ones to support them, just as they would support us. It seems only fair to have it like that.

Taehyung is oddly quiet for the majority of the first day back in the open ocean, and he spends a lot of time with Yoongi and Hosoek. I end up on my own. I'd like to say that it doesn't bother me, that he's just being sociable, but I don't have the self confidence to back it up. I know that he thinks I'm intruding on his thoughts. But I knew that he wouldn't speak them.

It doesn't mean I'll do that again, of course I won't, unless he specifically asks me to. But I personally don't think it was the worst thing I could've done, in the grand scheme of things. And I think I reacted to his opinion quite calmly, better than he was expecting.

I don't know. I'm just defending myself from my own guilt at this point.

"Is he really that annoyed at you?" Jimin asks quietly, a sort of nervous expression on his face, and I realise that he's appeared to talk to me about it. I just shrug, looking over at Taehyung with a sort of half sadness half affection that makes no sense.

"I don't know. He has the right to be. I don't think he's too annoyed at you, though," I respond after a few seconds, knowing that my mate won't look back at us. He's perfectly happy where he is, which is fine.
"That's not what I'm worried about," Jimin says gently, and I glance at the sandy tailed merman, shrugging again once. "Do you want me to-"

"No," I say immediately. "He got annoyed the first time. Let's not make it worse. He will tell me when he's forgiven me. And he will say when he's willing to talk to me again. That's up to him. It's not my job to hound him until he says what I want him to. I don't want to let him down again. That's just not right."

Jimin smiles a little, nodding in understanding and respecting my logic, before drifting back over to Sapphire, who's already confused as to what's going on, and doesn't get why I'm so stressed and Tae's so oblivious to it. I know she probably expects us to follow the stereotypes of our roles, but I refuse to. If I've done something wrong, I need to realise that and do my best to improve the situation. Tae would have to do the same in my position. It's equal that way.

I decide to leave him be, give him time to decide how to proceed. It's stupid, I know, but I can't find it within myself to yell at him about it at all. I know that I shouldn't have done that. I hurt him. And I can't get over that. I don't know if he has. My mind is essentially tumbling over itself at this point, constantly worrying about how he feels about it, worrying about how our relationship will be after such a mistake.