fallen dynasties ➶ bts.

three.

THREE YEARS AGO
HANNAM-DONG, YONGSAN-GU, SEOUL

               Yoongi hissed as the liquor from the shot glass sharpened against the walls of his throat. His eyes were puffy and red after the incident at their dorm. He can still remember how fresh the incident was; how the crashes of wood and plastic keys creeped into his veins, a reminder of his world falling apart. How his deceased girlfriend's guitar hit his mother's piano, and all of it happened with Jeongguk's hands.

               Those two were the ones he treasured and loved the most. Those things were his happiness. Those instruments were his everything. He had lived his entire life with those instruments by his side, ready to be played whenever he needs to press keys or strings. Whenever a melody was stuck inside his head he couldn't seem to get it off, unless playing it. They were there when no one was. And now, they're gone. All gone.

               Yoongi tried brushing the thoughts off by drinking more than three bottles of liquor, yet the crashing sounds of the strings and the keys kept on ringing again and again inside his mind. Like an annoying bell, never having the intention to stop its own clang. He closed his eyes, fisted his fists, curled his toes beneath the leather of his shoes, yet nothing still helped. He needed peace, but life didn't.

               His grip on his shot glass tightened this time as his blood began to boil again. Yoongi wanted to understand what Jeongguk had been going through, he wanted to know why, so that he could forgive him. Never in their moments together did he ever kept grudge against the younger. He loved Jeongguk so much, he could never just turn his back on him.

               Yoongi clicked his tongue, starting to wonder where did Jeongguk's temper come from. Jeongguk was one of the most patient ones among them, and something bad could've happened to break the man Yoongi himself used to lean on. He tried remembering what had been the younger up to the past few weeks. Jeongguk's routine had oddly changed, he noticed, but he never took a big deal of it. He cursed at himself, knowing he should have. Paying attention to smaller details would've made things better.

               It would no longer matter if Jeongguk had destroyed his melodies. All that he cares for, right now, was to make Jeongguk talk and tell him what's wrong. With the liquor driving up his veins, he stood up, determined to fix their shattered bonds.

               Yoongi slid his tab towards the bartender and left the club, walking towards the closer steakhouse he could find. He had kiddingly thought Jeongguk would be bribed with steak, though he knows the younger would be fine with everything, a steak would make it much special than it usually is.

               While the house was preparing his purchase, Yoongi fished his phone from his pocket, turning in to dial Jeongguk's number. His thumb hesitated, and he caught himself staring at his screen photo: him, Jeongguk, and Hoseok's photo behind Seokjin's car. The photo was taken a year ago, by the sea. And up until now, he never had the urge to replace it with anything. Because in the photo, Jeongguk has his lips grinning wide, nose scrunching like a bunny, middling in the photo. Hoseok was laughing at the younger's left, while Yoongi himself was grinning.

               Months apart from when the photo was took, but the memories beneath it was something he cannot forget. Jeongguk cracked a joke and cringed, Hoseok tried suppressing his laugh yet failed, while Yoongi found himself amused by their antics enough to earn a grin from him. Jimin was holding the phone, and had clicked the capture button in the perfect time. It caught a masterpiece Yoongi has been silently keeping within his phone, only for his sight. He had treasured what they had so much, he can't just let anything screw it all up.

               A second after, the steakhouse echoed of Yoongi's phone as it rang, showing Seokjin's ID. The elder had never called him since he stomped his way out of the apartment, thus why it made his head tilt in wonder. All of a sudden, gloom creeped inside of him, tightening its grip to his heart. He wanted to turn it down, to just walk towards Jeongguk and tell him he could talk to him as his friend; his older brother. Yet, his thumb shakenly pressed the green button glowing by the lower right side of his screen.

              Pressing his phone against his ear, he answered. "Hyung? I'm on my way home." To no response, but utter silence. His chest maddened, beating against his cage as if wanting to come out and leave his body dying.

               Yoongi sighed. "Hyung, I'm sorry for what happened awhile ago. I shouldn't have lost my—" His tongue froze as a sniff buzzed through the lines of the call, followed by a grieving sigh. His grip around this phone hardened enough for him to hear a subtle crack on its edges. Silences followed, until Seokjin finally spoke.

               "Jeongguk."

               That was enough for Yoongi to rush his way out, trying his best to grip the bag of steaks tight as his feet led him to the hospital.