Aftertaste ‖ Minjoon

Chapter 1

Jimin woke up alone and cold. The silence surrounding his small apartment was deafening as he laid in bed replaying the previous nights events. With tears pooling around his eyes, he tightly shut them as if to stop the memories from flooding in, yet it only seemed to amplify them tenfold.

-

Taehyung had finally come home, seemingly in another one of his horrible moods. This was bad news for Jimin, considering the small red haired boy was always on the receiving end of Tae's pent up frustrations. One wrong move was all it took to send the tall male into a blinding fury when he was like this. Flinching slightly when the front door was harshly slammed shut, he scrambled off the floor to greet his boyfriend.

"W-welcome home TaeTae, I missed y-" was all he managed to get out before being roughly pushed to the side and ignored. By the time Jimin finally regained his balance, Tae was already walking into their room, promptly shutting the door behind him. It was a clear indication that he didn't want to be bothered. Not wanting to anger the boy further, Jimin did his best not to disturb him.

The sun was beginning to go down and Jimin had finally finished making dinner. Tae had yet to come out of their room. "Tae didn't eat breakfast before he left today," Jimin said to no one in particular. "I should tell him the foods ready." He reluctantly walked to their room and placed two soft knocks on their door. It was eerily silent as he patiently waited for his boyfriend. After a couple seconds passed and Jimin heard nothing, he assumed Tae had fallen asleep. Just as he was about to turn to leave, light shuffling could be heard coming from the other side of the door before it was finally yanked open, revealing Taehyung.

"What do you want!" He harshly spat.

"I-.. I just wanted to let you know that dinner was ready." Jimin mumbled softly with his eyes downcast, clearly afraid of upsetting the boy further.

Taehyung stood silently for what seemed like eternity before nodding and making his way into the kitchen and taking his seat.

Jimin trailed behind him and began making their plates, a habit he picked up that neither of the boys seemed to mind. Just as he was about to set the both on them on the table, he tripped over the foot of the chair, spilling the contents all over the boy in front of him.

By the time Tae registered what had happened to him, when he looked up all he saw was red. "T-TaeTae, I'm s-s-sorry! It was an accident p-please!" The boy begged as his small figure was thrown onto the ground, his head slamming against the hard tile. When Jimin opened his eyes, he saw nothing but stars. The tall boys' usual endearing boxy smile had turned sinister as he dragged him to their bedroom with his fingers tightly locked in his hair. "Jiminnie," he said with a voice full of malice, "You're gonna regret that."

Jimin was violently thrown onto the bed as Tae looked at him through cold, unfeeling eyes. "You make me sick" was all he had to say before Jimin was scrambling to the corner and cowering in fear; his tears already threatening to spill. He shut his eyes, bracing himself for what he knew was coming next.

On the opposite side of the room was Tae. His icy gaze remaining on Jimin as he slowly inched his way back to the bed.

"Jiminnie, why are you crying? You know exactly what you did. You deserve to be punished."

"H-hyung, I didn't m-mean to. I promise I-"

"SHUT UP! You know I hate when you do that shit! You're always crying and acting helpless like a fucking baby. Are you really that fucking useless?" Jimin flinched at Tae's harsh words and cried out in pain as his large fist came in contact with his face.

Blow after blow came down onto Jimin's body. His once unmarked skin was littered with a plethora of forming bruises, a satisfactory smirk forming on Tae's face as he continued his assault on the poor boy. Broken sobs escaped Jimin's lips, tears and blood freely running down his face as he felt the bile rising in the back his throat. He was now covering his head laying in a fetal position as he waited for the darkness to overcome him.

"I'm sorry..."

-

Jimin slowly sat up in his bed, wincing as the pain shooting through his body intensified. He stared at his reflection in the mirror across the room, taking in his appearance. A large purple bruise adorned his right cheek though it was nothing compared to the ones that took up most of his chest and back.

How did it come to this? He reflected. There was a time where Jimin believed him and Tae were soulmates. He never thought there would come a time where they would rarely talk. He certainly never thought Tae would start putting his hands on him. The beatings became regular occurrences and Jimin was at his breaking point. It was almost comical how quickly Tae's love for him turned into pure hatred. It's almost like it was there the entire time. Why doesn't anybody love me?