WHEN THEY CRY.

☤sixteen

"it's looking like it hasn't gotten worse," seokjin spoke to one of his assistants who wrote down his words on a clipboard. "but it hasn't got any better either."

the man adorned in his white doctors coat gently set down jimin's arm with his white gloved hands, taking a seat in front of the nineteen year old on a black wheeled stool chair. jimin had his head downcast, letting some strands of his faded blond hair act as a veil covering up his eyes filled with nothing more than despondency anymore. his bottom lip jutted out a bit in a natural pout, his legs swinging in small kicking motions since they couldn't quite reach the old light grey tiled floor from the examination chair.

"could you go add that to his file?"

the doctor asked the other people in the room, practically shooing them out and waiting until the door latched close before turning back to the problem at hand.

"jimin," seokjin called out the boy's name in a more hushed voice, scooting a little bit closer to his legs that were dangling off the large chair. "i'm going to be straight about this with you right now, and i need you to listen. when you leave this hospital, your wrist isn't going to be healed, especially with how early they've been considering letting you out. you're most likely going to be indebt for a long time when you go see another doctor about your arm, and not to mention when you're billed for your stay and treatment here."

"so what are you asking of me?"

hearing the patient's voice almost surprised the man, not expecting for him to actually engage in the conversation.

"just take better care of it. the more it heals while you're in here, the less you'll have to pay when you get out. okay?" the doctor placed his hand on jimin's shoulder, feeling the younger instantly tense up far beyond the point of it just being because the friendly touch surprised him.

"yes, sir." jimin forced a smile over his tightened lips, secretly pinching a portion of the skin on his thigh with his good hand, hoping somehow if he punished himself now on his own, that he wouldn't get hurt for it later. that maybe jungkook would understand that he wasn't fine with the touch himself, and that doing so would get him off the hook just this once.

seokjin gave him a small smile, thinking in his mind that this compliance and the manners the other was using was a good sign that he was finally warming up and settling down to being here. however in the back of the noirette's mind, he couldn't help but notice how the smile only affected the curvature of his mouth instead of his whole expression overall and how the index finger and thumb of his right hand slowly and painfully gripped and dung into the flesh of his thigh under the institution's required silk attire.

but of course, just like everyone always did when it came to park jimin, he pushed it out of his mind and played it off as something else.

"you're free to wait outside until the guards come to get you if you want, you know."

jimin lifted his head up, nodded at the words. he shoved himself off of the chair, walking with slow steps out of the doctor's checkup room.

it wasn't surprising that seokjin would allow him wait in the hallway simply just because there was literally no where to go. the doctor's wing was relatively small, just a long hallway filled with doors to different rooms for different procedures or supplies that all had staff keycard locks on them as well as the main two doors in front of where he was now standing outside of the doctor's office where you exit and come in.

jimin sidestepped a little bit away from the door, letting his back rest against the plain white wall as he slid down it to the ground to sit and wait. all you could really hear out here was silence, and jimin couldn't really say he was a fan of the complete and utter lack of noise whatsoever for once.

it put him on edge— the silence. it made him feel as though something bad was going to happen anytime now and he hated that feeling. he felt as though jungkook would show up any second to punish him for letting the doctor touch his shoulder. or that the shadows might just want to start annoying him again.

luckily before the boy could get too into all the bad possibilities waiting to happen to him, the sound of the giant two doors to the wing being unlocked brought him back out of his imagination.

the blond placed his good hand behind him for support as he stood up to go back to his cell, but as he looked towards the door, he couldn't help but freeze in his step.

"remember to take care of your arm, jimin!" seokjin's voice echoed into the hall, shouting his goodbye as he somehow managed to hear the door open up by what he presumed to be the guards coming for the patient.

jimin blinked repeatedly, staring at the figure in front of him in confusion until it made a motion with his hand telling him to come with it.

"hurry up!" the shushed whisper was barely audible to his ears, but the second he heard it, he quickly scrambled up to his feet.

the person held the door open for him to follow, allowing him to leave the wing and be out of sight of anyone for the moment unless someone decided to come into the little lobby area that separated the doctor's wing from the rest of the mental hospital.

grey hair flopped back and forth as it's owner looked around to make sure the coast was clear. finally the person let out a sigh, looking at the younger boy with worried eyes.

"what's wrong?" the blond cocked his head sideways, not understanding what was going on and why he was brought out here by the therapist.

taehyung bit his lip, debating whether or not he should tell him what was on his mind. as much as he knew he should abide by the confidentiality agreement he had signed when he first started working at the institution, this was something that jimin needed to know.

"jimin, the director is planning on giving you one final examination next saturday and if you pass it-" taehyung looked down, his frustration from just saying the words making it impossible to hold eye contact on the boy right now.

"if i pass it, what?"

"if you pass the examination, they're going to discharge you from here."