Once Again

46

Taehyung looked across the table at his friend grimly. He didn't want to be here but Jungkook had left him no choice.

They were at a chashitsu outside of Tokyo, but not for a tea ceremony. He had insisted on meeting here because he didn't want Jungkook anywhere near his home, nor near his husband.

"I'm here, Jungkook. What do you want?"

"I want Jin to know the truth."

"And what truth is that?"

"Who he was before."

"Why should he go back to a painful past when he has a happy present and bright future?"

"He needs to know his past. He needs to remember."

"Why?"

"So he can have an honest future."

"He already has an honest future. With a husband who loves him, a child who adores him, and another waiting to meet the wonderful person that he is."

"It is not honest when it's built on a lie!"

Jungkook's face was flushed with anger. This was not going the way he'd hoped. Taehyung was being irrational.

Taehyung observed his best friend. He could see Jungkook was losing patience. He was sorry for treating him this way but Jin comes first. He will always put Jin first, even if it means hurting someone he has known all his life who was like a brother to him.

"It is not a lie. And even if it is, whose fault is that, Jungkook? Who caused that lie?"

"You're being selfish, Tae. He needs to remember. He needs to know who he is. He needs to know the truth."

"And then what, Jungkook? What do you think is going to happen if you get Jin to remember his past? To remember you? What do you hope to achieve with your big revelation?"

Taehyung could see his best friend was thinking about it. He could see Jungkook was considering if things could be different this time, if he could have what he had with Jin once again.

"Do you think he will go back to you? He's married, Jungkook. To me. We have a child together. And we have another on the way. Do you want to break that up? Do you want to break up our family? Do you want to break Jin's heart again like last time?"

Taehyung was out for blood. He had come today with good intentions, to tell Jungkook to back off and leave Jin be. But the things that Jungkook was spouting made him angry.

"Do you think he will be grateful to you for reminding him of the lowest moment of his life? When he was in so much pain that he chose to take his own life?"

Taehyung knew he wasn't being fair to Jungkook by reminding him of the past, and for reminding him of the part he played in bringing Jin to this point in his existence but he was desperate. He didn't want to lose Jin when he loved him more than his own life. Plus, was Jungkook being fair to him? To Jin?

How dare he act all righteous when he caused Jin to be like this? How dare he try to break Taehyung again the way he did yesterday at the infirmary?

Flashback...

Jungkook stopped his pacing to look at Taehyung.

"Tae, how did you meet Jin?"

"What?"

"How did you meet Jin?"

"I told you already. I met him the night of your rehearsal dinner."

"That's not HOW you met him. That's WHEN you met him. I want to know HOW you met him."

Taehyung stared at Jungkook. He could see his friend was agitated by something. Did more happen at the pool that he did not see or hear?

"I heard what you said to my husband at the pool, Jungkook. Is that what this is about? Are you trying to get confirmation? Are you trying to find proof of who he is so you can take him from me? I know you want him but you can't have him. He's my husband."

"No, Tae, I don't need your confirmation. I don't need proof. The scar on Jin's back tells me all I need to know. I just want to know how he ended up with you. How my Jinnie ended up marrying you."

"Your Jinnie?" Taehyung scoffed.

"Taehyung, the man you married is my boyfriend. The one I've spoken of so many times in the past. The love of my life. The one I was going to marry. His name is Kim Seokjin. My Jinnie."

"You're wrong. Stop deluding yourself, Jungkook."

Taehyung turned away with disgust.

"February 7th. A week before Valentine. Five years ago."

"What?" Taehyung looked back and frowned in confusion.

"That was when he got the scar on his back. At a frat party in my final year at uni. He was trying to protect me from a drunk who had a beer bottle in his hand."

Jungkook took a deep breath as the memory of that night washed over him.

"You can try to deny that he's my Jinnie but I will never forget that scar because my Jinnie almost died that night."

Taehyung froze at Jungkook's announcement. It explained Jin's fear of beer bottles. Jin never stopped him from drinking beer but he always insisted that he bought cans instead of bottles. When Taehyung had asked why, Jin was not able to provide an answer. He simply kept insisting on cans, not bottles.

There was no getting away from it. His Jin and Jungkook's Jinnie were one and the same.

End of flashback...

But it doesn't matter. Jungkook doesn't get to order Taehyung into making Jin remember his past because Taehyung was going protect Jin no matter what.

Jungkook can try all he wants to make Jin remember, but Taehyung will stop him at all costs. If Jin is meant to remember, Taehyung will let it happen naturally. It will be Jin's decision, not Jungkook's, not Taehyung's, but Jin's.

Taehyung will not let Jin's future be decided for him again, the way Jungkook did in the past. Jin uprooted himself to move halfway around the world based on Jungkook's promise that he loved him and they had a future together. Instead Jungkook burned his future.