What We Used To Be and Will Be

Chapter 17

The members were at their wit's end.

As the members got themselves thrilled over the idea of their maknae possibly slipping into Baby space, they crowded around Namjoon's laptop to go through the list of things that they needed to purchase. Meanwhile, Taehyung had been sitting quietly at the corner of the couch, seemingly deep in his thoughts.

"Taehyung-ah, what is on your mind? You have been so quiet." Worry tinged heavily in Jimin's question to his friend.

The members looked over to the second youngest in the group when they heard no response but when Taehyung finally spoke his mind, his words left the members thinking hard.

"Well, I was just thinking of one thing. Supposedly our theory of Jungkookie being a baby now is true, have it not crossed you guys' minds why Jungkookie had slipped further than his usual headspace? I cannot help it but feel that it is all our fault. Firstly, we shunned him away from us, then forced him to run away and seek comfort from his real family when he should have been the most comfortable with us. We acted as if nothing had happened when he came back from Busan and forcefully fed him with our own desires to mend things with him yet did not speak to him properly to address the real issue. Earlier on when Yoongi-hyung was not around, didn't the rest of us tried to pacify him but what we actually did only caused Jungkookie so much misery that he went hysterical. Don't you guys remember why Jungkookie had even slipped into Little space in the first place? He did it to distress himself but look now, we are the source of his stress! And here we are, getting all so excited over the prospective of having a baby in the house, which at this point of time, we are still uncertain of. What if all these were not what Jungkookie had wanted? Aren't we driving him up the wall again?! Don't you guys think we are too selfish!"

As though he had not just given the speech of the year, Taehyung sipped his tea elegantly. When he looked up from his cup, all his members were staring straight at him with hints of shame in their eyes.

"For once, I feel that you have gotten more philosophical and analytical than me. I guess what you said is right. We were too caught up with our own thoughts over how Jungkookie could be a baby and failed to recognise the real issue here." Namjoon said quietly.

Jin and Yoongi shared a look with each other before the eldest hyung eventually spoke, "I think all of us played a fair share in this entire episode. We denied his existence, not only as Jungkook but also as Kookie."

"I think there is no point in us blaming ourselves now. I am not saying that we should forgive ourselves easily before Jungkookie does so but what we can do now is to pull ourselves together and think of how we can rebuild our relationship with Jungkookie. For example, right now is a good opportunity for us to do so."

"Right now?" Hoseok challenged the oldest rapper. "Are you suggesting that we take advantage of his headspace now and manipulate him into accepting us back just because he does not have a choice since he is currently not capable of managing himself and had to depend on us entirely? Wouldn't that make us despicable?"

"Hyung! What you said is too extreme. I am sure that is not what Yoongi-hyung meant." Jimin chided his roommate.

Yoongi glared at the younger rapper, "I am merely saying we could show our care and concern to Jungkookie during this period. Let him know that we will always be there for him and he should not feel too burdened in front of us. We could regain his trust in us this way."

"Sorry, hyung. I jumped too quick into conclusion." Hoseok bowed his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I for one, agree with what Yoongi-hyung says. Let's use this chance to prove our worth to Jungkookie!" Jimin tried to cheer everyone up.