fallen dynasties ➶ bts.

five.

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

               HIS HANDS HESITATED sending another message towards Jeongguk. Calling the younger didn't seem right, yet messaging him too many times didn't feel right either. Seokjin sighed, sliding his phone across the kitchen counter as he opened the fridge.

               Hoseok also echoed a sigh as he leaned against the counter, eyes gazing over the elder as he frantically ducked and leaned through the insides of the fridge. Seokjin had cooked enough for the night, yet decided he'd want more. Not for himself, but for everyone who had been through a rough time for the night.

               Seokjin finally grabbed the tupperware where the kimchi was stored. As he turned, he flinched at Hoseok's sight by the kitchen. Instead of laughing it off, Seokjin sadly smiled, knowing the latter was there to either be his shoulder of comfort, or is the one seeking comfort. Hoseok tapped his fingers against the counter's marble 'til he had gathered up the courage to break the silence.

               "You're cooking too much for the night, hyung. You sure you're alright?" Seokjin sighed at Hoseok's question. The younger knows him way too well, as he'd spend hours in the kitchen cooking anything he could if he has been worried about something. And he has been. His mind lingered back towards the fight that happened almost an hour ago. 

               His eyes grazed over Jimin by the couch who had fallen asleep with puffy eyes, hair caressed by Namjoon. Taehyung has his body leaned against the edge of the couch, sitting by the cold floor while playing with the seashell, like he always did. Seeing them like this pains him, and looking by the six dishes he had prepared, he guessed it was safe to say that he wasn't fine. At all.

               He tired to chuckle to lighten up the mood. "I guess I am." The clock ticked, and it has been an hour since the fight. His fingers itched to call Yoongi, to ask him if he's fine, if he needed someone to lean onto. Yet, he didn't. Seokjin knew much better; Yoongi would prefer spending time alone until he could face them once again. That's what he'd always do, and it was nothing new for them anymore.

               Seokjin walked out of the kitchen, held Hoseok's wrist and pulled him towards the sala where everyone decided to stay. Hoseok sat beside Taehyung by the floor, while Seokjin stood in front of them across the center table. Jimin was still heavily asleep, and he had no intentions of waking him up. Seokjin sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to find the right words.

               "I..." He stuttered. "I'm sorry."

               Those two words were enough for Taehyung to break, tears once again falling from the darkness of his eyes. Things made him emotional for the past few weeks, and Jeongguk's distance towards them worsened the piled up emotions inside him even more. They all knew something was wrong with Jeongguk the moment he received a package from Busan, yet they never paid the change any attention.

               Seokjin did. His eyes followed every step Jeongguk took, every sigh he heaved, every blink of his lids. And he's sorry for not doing anything. He was used to having Jeongguk open things up first to them. He shouldn't have been complacent. Seokjin's fists curled around his sweater's hem. 

               I should've done better.

               Namjoon shook his head. "No one's at fault here, hyung. No one is if everyone's driven by their emotions." Namjoon's voice was convincing, but not enough to convince Seokjin that it was fine for him not to be sorry.

               "I should've talked to him. Jeongguk wasn't himself and I saw it, yet I did nothing. I waited, and things got riled up when it would've been fixed from the very start. Everything would not have ended this way."

               "Nothing's ending this way, hyung," Hoseok flashed his encouraging smile. "We can still fix it. We just need Jeongguk and Yoongi hyung to come home, and everything will be fine. We can talk things out. That's what we always do, right?"

               Seokjin realized how Hoseok was right. Everyone just needed to come home safe, and they'll talk things out. Hope fueled inside Seokjin, dashing his way towards the kitchen counter to grab his phone. As soon as he leaned in to reach for it, a sharp pain stung his elbow, and a lard crash echoed around the four walls of the apartment.

               He tried eating his gasp as his vase fell from the counter. The others ran towards the kitchen, including Jimin who seemed to be waken up by the fall. Seokjin shifted his gaze back towards the fallen vase. Its ceramic was broken enough for some of its debris turn into ashes, some even almost pricking Seokjin's toes. 

               But it wasn't the vase that bothered Seokjin frozen. It was the tiger lilies that Jeongguk had bought almost a year ago. The youngest had expressed how much he adores tiger lilies because he sees himself in them. And now, those lilies fell—some of its petals detaching itself from the stems. The image of the tiger lilies fallen with the vase gave the apartment the gloom and worry. No one dared to pick up the vase nor the tiger lilies; everyone was frozen from where they stood, eyes pinned on the fallen.

               As if someone knew, Seokjin's phone rang. 

               Seokjin's hand was shaking as he flipped his phone, the screen brightening with Jeongguk's caller ID. Yet, instead of feeling relieved, his heart sank even more. As if it's been anticipating something bad.

               No one attempted to ask anything, so he pressed the phone against his ear, insides shaking with what he might hear.

               "Good evening, is this a relative of Jeon Jeongguk? He was involved in a hit-and-run incident near Hannam Bridge. Please proceed to Soonchunhyang Hospital immediately."