Alone (Taekook) ✅

Twenty Four

“Taehyung?” Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows as the man got into the car without saying a single word. Jungkook had noticed the gradual change in him.

He was reverting back to his old self.

How he used to be.

Yoongi had said that there would be relapses. Jungkook had spent countless hours with the elder man, asking him questions and trying to get a better idea of how to help Taehyung and help him to recover.

It seemed to be working, and Taehyung did have some off days, but this had been going on for awhile and Jungkook was starting to become more suspicious as the days passed, wanting to know what was going on with his love.

“Taehyung?” He asked again, leaning forward to get his kiss.

But Taehyung turned his head, making Jungkook’s lips hit his cheek, instead.

The man frowned, falling back into the driver’s seat. “Love, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just a bad day. Can we go home?”

“S-sure.” Jungkook bit his lip, sighing and turning to the road, shifting the gear to drive and heading home.

As soon as he pulled into the garage, Taehyung got out walked inside, not saying another word to him.

Jungkook felt lost, not knowing what to really do in this situation. He slowly got out of the car, following Taehyung inside. He walked to their now shared room, finding the door firmly closed.

Jungkook sighed and walked back into the main living room, finding Yoongi and Hoseok sitting there, lounging around.

“Hey...Taehyung just came and walked past us. Didn’t say anything. Did something happen?”

“No. Well, actually I don’t know. I know you said that there would be off days, but this off day has started to turn into an off week. And I’m starting to get worried. It gets worse every time he comes back from vocal therapy.”

“Do you think something is happening?”

“I don’t know. His excuse is always that there’s a note or something that he can’t hit, and I know that that’s something he’s always been hard on himself for, when he sings, but it’s starting to get old and I just...I don’t know anymore.”

“Maybe you should go and try to talk to him.”

“You don’t think I have? He won’t say anything to me, or he’ll brush it off as ‘just another note’.”

“Than sit him down and demand to know what’s wrong. Maybe you’ll break the dam open if you’re more forceful. I know you want to tread lightly with him and baby him, but sometimes he’ll need a stronger fist to get him to crack.”

“Okay. Okay.” Jungkook sighed, walking from the room and going back to his own.

He knocked on the door, something that was uncharacteristic of him, but he did it anyway, trying to give Taehyung some common courtesy over whatever was going on with him.

He entered the room, looking around, but not hearing anything. He saw the light under the door to the bathroom, however, and he knew that Taehyung was in there.

For a moment, a spike of fear hit his chest, making him remember the last time Taehyung had locked himself in the bathroom when he was upset. But Jungkook shook his head. Taehyung was getting better and hadn’t lapsed that hard in a long time.

He silently walked towards the door, heading the water for a shower turning on. He cracked the door open, not saying anything, peeking in, just to make sure that Taehyung was okay.

When he saw the man simply stepping into the shower, he relaxed.

But then tensed up when he caught a glance at the man’s bare torso.

Because there were angry purple marks, littering his chest.

Jungkook felt anger start to creep in, and he quickly stepped out of the bathroom, closing the door silently behind him. He knew for a fact that those had not been there the other day.

Someone was hitting the love of his life.

And Taehyung wasn’t saying anything about it.

Which either meant that he was scared or was trying to keep the pain to himself.

Or both.

But Jungkook wouldn’t stand for it.

He knew that if he were to bring it up to Taehyung, that the man would simply deflect it, come up with some excuse or simply ignore the problem, maybe even become defensive and push Jungkook further away. So the man decided not to say anything for now.

He would do something, when the next therapy session was scheduled.

-

Jungkook waved Taehyung off, seeing the man disappear into the building.

Instead of driving off like usual, he parked the car and entered the building himself, a few minutes after Taehyung had walked in.

He came up to the woman at the front desk, smiling down at her. “Hi!” She said, smiling back. “How May I help you today?”

“Kim Taehyung, he just came in for his session? He forgot something in the car that he needs, and I was just wondering if I could drop it off for him real quick.”

“Of course!” The woman walked around the desk and opened the door that led to the back rooms. Jungkook stepped through. “Kim Taehyung is with Dr. Eun, I believe, right now. Just head down the hall, turn left and it should be the first door on the right.”

“Thank you.” The woman smiled and bowed, Jungkook turning and walking down the hall, on his way to his destination.

Once he reached the door, he slowly opened it, not wanting to announce his presence.

But he only had to look in for less than a second before his blood started to boil.

And he didn’t care if he was just trying to observe right now.

Because he had his answer as to where the bruises were coming from.

He swung the door open, letting it crash against the wall with the force he pushed it open, staring down at the doctor who had just backhanded Taehyung across the face.

Jungkook was about to step forward, feeling every bone in his body scream at him to move forward and strangle the life out of the man who’d dared to raise a hand to the man he loved, but a soft hand on his shoulder stopped him.

He turned, staring at Taehyung, whose head was down, staring at the ground. “Please don’t.” He whispered. “It’s not worth it.”

“He hit you.” Jungkook seethed out. “And you’re sitting there, telling me it isn’t worth it? I should kill him right here and right now.”

“No!” Taehyung exclaimed. “No violence, you promised me!” Jungkook inhaled slowly, closing his eyes, trying to calm himself down.

“Taehyung, he hit you—“

“I don’t care. We can take this to the proper authorities.” Jungkook grit his jaw, but backed down, scooping up Taehyung into his arms.

“Okay.” He finally whispered. “Okay, we can do that.”

“Thank you.”