Blood Tie

Chapter 46

1 Week Later

Jungkook's POV

It's been a week since the party, a week since I lost her. I've seen her in the halls and she would sometimes catch my eyes only to glance away just as quick but not before I saw the sadness flash through them. Each time the ache echoed in my chest and each time I forced myself not to run to her. The first time I did run though, I ran to her and pulled her against my chest in a bone crushing embrace. I reveled in the scent that was purely her and the softness of her hair, her small, soft body pressed against mine, feeling like a home. I never expected her to push me away with force and run away from me, but she did and that isn't even the worst of it. I found out the next day that Elena had noticed my affection for her and had taken it out on Rox. I only realized after noticing the bruising along her cheekbone and her black eye as she scuttled as far away from me as she could the next day in the hallway. Rage boiled through me as I spent the day hunting down any information as to what happened. I got my information from Kai who was surprisingly not as angry at me as she was at Elena. Elena sent one of her many minions to 'teach Rox a lesson', the minions in question being Gideon and Khan.

I barreled around looking for Elena, she couldn't get away with it. Unfortunately when I found her, I found I could not raise even a finger with intent of harm in her direction. Though my mind screamed for revenge, my body refused to obey. Only then did I realize how right everyone was when it came to the situation I was in. I couldn't care for Rox without hurting her, so therefore I needed to stop caring for her. Easier said than done, most days I could pretend as classes droned on and Elena clung to my arm like a leech. Rox seemed to be in a majority of my classes, making the struggle harder but still possible. Today though, today was a different story, today I could barely contain myself.

Rox sat two seats ahead of me today in our Mythology and Hybrid Origins class. The class itself was interesting, making it easy to ignore Elena who plastered herself against my left side trying to fiddle with unbuttoning my shirt. I was enraptured in learning about the Japanese Kappa until I heard Esme shyly ask Rox about her date with Yoongi. My attention was immediately diverted to their conversation and I heard Rox's soft voice reply that the date was tonight. My heart clenched painfully in my chest at the mention of this and I found myself struggling to breathe as Elena noticed my predicament.

"Baby are you okay?" Her voice was sickeningly sweet as her hands stopped with my buttons, only to slide up my neck to hold my face. I could feel her nails pressing into my skin as she forced me to look at her, a particular thing I preferred to avoid. Her green gold eyes always muddled my mind, making it harder to remember Rox and making me want to focus on Elena even more. I looked away from her eyes quickly and pulled her hands off my face, her nails scraping down my cheeks in the process. I could feel the anger rolling off of her in waves as I removed her touch and set her hands in her lap. I raised my hand and Mr. Theopolous stopped speaking momentarily to nod in my direction, giving me permission to speak.

"Mr. Theopolous, may I please go to the infirmary, I'm feeling sick." His hooved feet shuffled a little as his eyes scanned the room. Scratching around his horns absentmindedly he nodded briskly.

"Yeah, I'll send someone with considering you're still pretty new so you don't get lost." Elena's hand might as well blazed fire in the air with how fast it shot into the air.

"I'll take him Mr. Theopolous, I really don't mind."

"No, you won't, you think I don't notice how you seem to be a permanent decoration on him? I'll send someone who isn't troublesome, um Roxana, you take him." The class began chuckling at his words and I could feel Elena bristle next to me as I saw Rox tense up, making my chest hurt in the process.

"I really don't mind Mr. Theopolous, I really think I should be-"

"I said no Elena, Roxana is taking him and that's final, now go you two." Mr. Theopolous's goat eyes hardened and narrowed as he pinned Elena with a disapproving stare. Feeling the heat from her rolling off towards me, I stepped away quickly as she dropped into her seat angrily. Rox slowly rose from her seat and quietly made her way to the door, standing silently with her head down, gaze focused on the floor. Elena's head shot in Rox's direction, eyes glowing a bright pink and flames sparking at her fingertips. I moved briskly to the door, hoping to get Rox out of the room before Elena got carried away. I got to the door and opened it, without any preamble Rox moved very quickly out the door and into the hallway. The door closed behind us and I noticed Rox was at the far side of the hallway. I moved to walk over to her only to have her hand shoot out in the air, shocking me to a stop. Her small hand shook in the air as she finally met my eyes and held eye contact fro more than a few seconds. For the first time in a week I got a clear look at her blue and gold eyes, though red was now brimming around her pupil, interrupting the beautiful gold.

"Please stay on that side of the hallway and I'll stay over here, it's better this way, better with distance." Her voice was soft and trembling, eyes now filling with unshed tears. It hurt to hear her request but I backed slowly to the opposite side of the hallway and looked away from her small face. I heard a small, shaking sigh drop from her lips before she began walking on her side of the hallway, me following on my side. I watched her small frame as she was a bit ahead of me and noticed her hoodie seemed to hang looser on her and her pants no longer with stretched tight across her thighs, but now had enough room to shift around loosely. Looking at the side of her face, from what I could see, her cheeks appeared to be more hollowed out and dark circles rested under her eyes.

I realized with a shock how much weight she had lost and how unhealthy she looked, her skin no longer a healthy pale but now a sickening deathly color. I felt my stomach drop as I quickened my pace and strode across the hallway to her. Before she could react I covered her mouth with my hand and wrapped my other arm around her, holding her back gently against my chest as I pulled us backwards, into a closet and shut the door.