Purple Death | A BTS Murder Mystery ✔

FOURTEEN

"Of course he didn't say it back, he was dating Yoongi," Namjoon stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jungkook didn't move from his place on the carpet, he kept his eyes focused on the ground and pretended that Namjoon's words weren't pushing him off the cliff he had been pushed down from too many times before. 

When he had fell in love, he had been pushed down the cliff when Hoseok wouldn't look at him the same way, and had crashed painfully at the bottom of it. But he had survived, and weeks later he had managed to climb the mountain again, painfully and forcefully and knowing that Hoseok was up there, on top and overlooking the world. 

And once on top, he had been pushed down again, this time by Hoseok not returning his love as he confessed. But the bruises weren't as bad as the way it hurt from seeing Hoseok so far away from him, and so Jungkook had gathered his last strengths and climbed the mountain again. He had climbed, had made it to the top, and suddenly the mountain top was empty, and Hoseok was laying at the bottom of the cliff, dead.

That time, Jungkook hadn't been pushed off, he had jumped. 

But Hoseok was gone, and the investigation had forced Jungkook to pretend that everything was fine, that he was on top of the mountain. But, again, it hadn't taken long before he had crashed down.

"I - I know," was all he could murmur as an explanation, as an excuse, as a reason for his broken heart.

A silence followed, none of the members knowing what to say or what to believe. Namjoon took it upon himself to investigate some more, because right now it seemed like Jungkook had or hadn't killed Hoseok, and he needed to find out the truth.

"Look, Jungkook... I believe you, okay? I don't think you killed Hoseok. So I - we need you to tell us everything about that night, okay? You're the last one who saw Hoseok alive, you need to tell us everything that happened." 

Jungkook met his eyes.

"Everything?" he whispered in a fearful tone.

Namjoon nodded. "Everything."

Jungkook swallowed thickly, tears still making his cheeks shining. 

"Okay." 

Namjoon nodded sternly and sat down on the couch, grabbing Jungkook to sit him down beside him. He put his arm around the boy and patted his shoulders awkwardly. It was hard to believe that a week ago they would hug all the time, and now Namjoon couldn't even look at Jungkook without wondering if he was a killer.

"You saw Hobi for a while, that night, right? How about you tell us what you did exactly?" Namjoon asked in a soft tone, as soft as he could manage under the circumstances. 

Jungkook stared ahead of him emptily. 

"Yeah, I - I don't know," he said silently.

Namjoon put his hand on Jungkook's back, smoothing over it slowly.

"I'm sure you can remember some parts of it. For example, when you went to his room, did you confess right away?"  

Jungkook blinked.

"No. No, we talked for a bit about the concerts that were coming, and about this new restaurant down the street, and he - he said we should try it together sometimes. That he'd pay for me and that it would be only - only the two of us... Only the two of us."

Namjoon nodded like he had expected that answer all along, and like Jungkook's voice didn't hold all the pain of the world. 

"And that's when you confessed?" 

Jungkook closed his eyes but nodded. 

"I see. And he said that he didn't love you? That he was with Yoongi?" Namjoon pressed on. 

Jungkook opened his eyes back up, brows furrowing as he did so. 

"No... He just said he didn't - didn't want to talk about it." Jungkook paused, taking a nervous breath. "It's - it's imprinted in my mind, how he said it, because it hurt so fucking much, you know? It killed me, how he said it. He said - he said 'Let's not talk about that, Kook, okay?' That's the only thing he said. And I nodded, because what else could I do? And that was it." 

Namjoon looked at him questioningly. 

"That was it?" 

Jungkook nodded slowly but didn't go on.

"That's when you left his room?" Namjoon pressed him on.

"Yeah, I - I nodded, I fucking nodded because I didn't know what else to do. And then I turned around and I looked at him one more time as I left, but - but he wasn't looking at me. He was never looking at me. It hurt so fucking much, Joonie. I told him that I loved him, and he couldn't even spare me a glance as I was leaving. And I was so fucking hurt, and I still am, but fuck, that's the last time I saw him, that's the last image I have of him in my mind. Him denying me, saying my feelings aren't even worth talking about, and avoiding to look at me."

Another sob escaped Jungkook, and Namjoon nodded slowly, trying to take in all of Jungkook's words.

"I see. And when you left, you went to your room?"

"Y-Yeah. I wanted to cry, I wanted to cry so bad, but I didn't want Hobi to see me cry, because I didn't think he deserved it. He deserved to have me cry for him, but he didn't deserve to see me cry for him, you know?"

Namjoon nodded some more and smoothed over Jungkook's back, patting softly.

"I - I thought this would be the most painful thing I'd have to live through, you know? I thought nothing could be more painful than having him deny me. And when I got to my room, it's so dumb, but I thought, 'How will I face him tomorrow?' I thought that the next day he would look away again, but deep down I also had hope that maybe - maybe the next day he would look at me, instead of looking away. But then, Hobi didn't have a next day."

Jungkook raised his eyes from the carpet he was staring at to look at the members, eyes wide and fearful. His gaze went over the members, one after the other. 

"One of you killed him, I know it. One of you put the belt around his neck and tightened it until he couldn't breath anymore. One of you hated him, you hated him so much that he had to die." Jungkook closed his eyes and his face twisted in a painful way. "Why, why, why did you do it? Why couldn't you love Hobi, why couldn't you see the amazing Hobi that I saw? Why did you have to kill him? And why, why did it have to kill me at the same time?"

Another sob escaped him. And when the only thing that answered Jungkook's cries was silence, when the only thing that answered his questions was stillness, when the members stayed unmoving and frozen, Jungkook finally understood. He understood that, no matter who killed Hoseok, perhaps they were meant to stay there, there with the other members. The perfect picture of innocence standing tall in the middle of innocents that would forever be seen as suspects.

And perhaps now Jungkook would be convicted because he had told the truth, and perhaps he would be forsaken because he had loved. But no matter what would happen, he knew it would all happen with the eyes of the murderer staring at him like they were right now. 

Cautiously. 

_________

A\N - THE REVEAL'S COMING. (It's too soon, right? *sobs*) 

Fun fact: when I first planned this story, the murderer wasn't supposed to be who it is now. But I love plot twists too much and so here you go. Who do you think did it?