withered || jikook [discontinued]

eight.

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"Jiminie hyung...?"

His doe eyes widened, probably not expecting to see me. I forced myself to not look away because I didn't want to be rude.

I was about to reply back when the air suddenly felt so thick and it was hard to breathe properly. Words were stuck in my throat, desperate to come out. Yet not even one was uttered. Tears were starting to cloud my vision but I didn't want to show that. So before a drop could fall off, I swallowed my own saliva and licked my lips, inhaling deeply before forcing a smile,

"Hey Jungkook."

It hurts, seeing him smile back and waving at me as he intertwined his free hand with Taehyung's. My chest hurt all of a sudden, a new unfamiliar pain I never felt before.

It was painful. It was hell. It was as if the inside of my ribcage was getting ripped apart.

I wanted to cry out. I wanted to scream. Hell, I wanted to drop myself because the pain was so strong. Butdidn't. Not that I could, anyways. I just smiled as I bit my inner cheek, hoping no sounds would come out.

"You guys know each other?" Tae looked at him curiously. "Yeah, he's my childhood friend," he grinned his bunny smile, "it's been a while huh Jiminie hyung? Two years is it?"

I could feel the metallic taste on my taste buds, figuring that I probably bit too hard making myself bleed. It didn't feel painful, however. The pain in my chest worsen, making me cough a bit.

How can you act as if nothing happened in the past? As if our relationship didn't happen at all?

"Yeah," is the only thing that I could say followed by a forced laugh. It was awkward, I didn't know what to say. All the things I wanted to ask him about was stuck in my throat, and I guess it was better that way. I mentally hoped that my laugh didn't sound too forced as I tried my best to laugh despite the pain.

Luckily, Taehyung seemed completely oblivious to how silent I became. I wasn't sure if Jungkook was, but even if he did notice he didn't say anything.

"So you're here for the interview?" I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly. I turned my head around and saw Namjoon hyung who was scanning Jungkook up and down.

Before Jungkook could even open his mouth, Tae had already answered for him, "yup! Namjoon hyung meet Jungkookie, Kookie meet Namjoon hyung."

"Nice to meet you, Jungkook. Now c'mon, follow me for your interview," Namjoon hyung gestured and lead him to where Jin hyung is, Jungkook following him behind after staring at the tall hyung for a bit.

Tae waved at him and wished him goodluck before turning to me, "so you're Kookie's childhood friend?"

I mentally cursed and groaned because out of all things, he chose that topic for a conversation starter. Nonetheless, I smiled and nodded, ignoring the painful sensation in my chest that was still there, "yeah, but it's been a while since we talked actually. I lost his contact two years ago and we haven't talked until just now."

"So, you want his contact?" Tae's question took me off guard that I accidentally dropped the all-happy appearance.

"...huh?"

The sound just rolled off my tongue before I could even comprehend it and I immediately froze when Taehyung's smile faded slightly.

"Don't you want his contact? I mean he's your childhood friend, wouldn't you at least want to keep in touch with him again?" Tae questioned, raising one eyebrow.

Panicking, I shook my head and laughed nervously, "sorry I spaced out a little. And sure, I'll have his contact."

Taehyung's deep voice filled my ears as he laughed, "God, Jiminie, you've been being an airhead lately. That's supposed to be my job!" As usual, his laugh was contagious and I emded up laughing along.

Just then, the bell of the front door jingled and Yoongi hyung came in. "Hyung, I thought you weren't feeling well," I somewhat greeted him as Taehyung turned around.

He just shrugged and was about to reply when Hoseok hyung ran to him, "Yoongi-ah, you came!"

Everyone turned to look at us because of Hobi's yelling as Tae and I laughed at Hoseok jumping onto Yoongi hyung.

"Yah, I can't even leave you for a few days and you're already whining! And stop it people are watching us, pabo!"

Hobi hyung just grinned and let him go. Yoongi hyung was about to say something when Jin hyung came out with none other than Jungkook. I could tell Yoongi hyung was staring at me, silently questioning on what the hell was going on.

All I could do was just smile sadly at him, hoping that he would get the signal that I would tell him later on since the pain from before had returned and I gripped my fists tightly.

I felt the short hyung's eyes studying me carefully as Jin hyung said a few words to Jungkook. I decided to blur out their conversation and face towards Tae instead, who was grinning from ear to ear probably from whatever Jin hyung was saying.

I then looked at the floor when I felt the pain getting worse. I winced a bit and gritted my teeth, hoping that no one would notice. But of course, with Yoongi hyung in here, it was hard to let things go unnoticed being the sharp observer he is.

"Jimin. Yah, Jimin!"

My head shot up as I heard my name being mentioned.

"Yes hyung?"

Jin hyung sighed as he looked at me, "you weren't listening, were you?"

I just grinned sheepishly at him. He sighed again and probably repeated his words from before.

"To put it shortly, Jungkook will start working here starting from next week and I want you to help him out. Is that alright?"

I froze upon hearing those words and I felt my throat going dry. But of course, I couldn't decline since he would be very suspicious. I decided quickly that I had no choice to accept.

But just as I was about to nod and answer, Yoongi hyung piped up, "yah hyung, don't you think it would burden Jimin more? I heard that he had been stressing over school lately and it would burden him more, you know. Let me handle the new kid, it'll be fine."

Now that shocked all of us, Jin hyung included, since Yoongi hyung was rarely considerate of people but he literally just said that.

At first I was relieved but then I remembered that Jungkook can be really shy around new people, especially someone like Yoongi hyung who has a cold aura around him.

My eyes flickered to the youngest who seemed to look at Yoongi hyung fearfully. Maybe I was exaggerating but he still looked a bit scared of hyung.

I felt bad to Yoongi hyung too since he still needed to manage his health. I couldn't afford letting him get sick again just because he wanted to help me out of this 'problem'. The said hyung was also a bit colder to new people so I didn't think it was a good idea as well.

So when Jin hyung was about to say something when I cut him off by saying the words I dreaded the most,

"It's alright, hyung. I can manage handling Jungkook."

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((sorry for late updates, really rushed the ending of this chapter so sorry if it's a bit eh. Also the new album is a bop and I'm so proud of the boys being in bbma rn uvu legends

Oh also I deleted the short notice before this))