A Remedy, A Melody

CHAPTER 14

"W-what do you mean?" Taehyung stuttered out as they all watched Jungkook with shocked expressions. Jungkook took a calming breath before answering him.

"Oleander is an extremely poisonous and deadly flower, not only because its venom kills people in the first few hours after any type of contact is made with the plant, but it is also very difficult to spot. A person affected by the poison will have symptoms but these symptoms are subtle like a small headache or slight sleepiness. The most dangerous part of the plant is that healers actually can't heal or diagnose a poisoned person unless they know that the person had contact with oleander." Jungkook took a pause to let the others process everything. "The venom of the pant disguises itself so healer won't find it with a slight touch, this also includes healers. I didn't know I was infected until I actually went out of my way to find it in my system. This is why it's so painful during the process of removal."

Jungkook looked down and fiddled with his hands and when he lifted his head to look at them in the eyes, the 6 men were shocked to see tears in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry for hurting you," He whispered painfully, not being able to keep eye contacting with them. Immediately they all went to him and enveloped him in a group hug.

"Don't apologize," Jin ordered fiercely. He carefully grabbed Jungkook's face and made him look up at his eyes, "You saved our lives. Thank you." Jin softly kissed Jungkook's cheek making the healer's eyes tear up even more.

"We understand. We would never blame you. It never even crossed my mind." Taehyung promised as he kissed the back of his neck, causing Jungkook to shiver.

They stayed there for a few minutes, still processing all that happened before Jungkook cleared his throat.

"You three have to stay over so I can observe you and make sure that all of the venoms left your system," Jungkook stated as he looked at Taehyung, Namjoon and Jin. He then turned to look at the other three, "You three are also invited to stay over if you'd like."

"Sleepover!!!" Hoseok and Taehyung yelled happily, making all of the others chuckle and the sombre and tense mood melted into something much warmer and intimate.

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After eating dinner and changing into sleeping clothes (boxers and shirts), they all set up a sort of bed on the floor so that they could all cuddle together. Jungkook was obviously in the middle with the others cuddling him and touching him in some way.

Jungkook was joyfully listening to Taehyung and Jimin recounting the first time they met on a mission and how they hated each other at first glance. It was amazing to see them be able to laugh at these past events, especially when now that they are so close. It made Jungkook's heart melt and he didn't know how to react.

"Is that your mark?" Yoongi asked curiously. Jungkook was in the middle of stretching his arms which lifted his shirt so high that if showed off his chest where his mark laid in the middle. Yoongi softly touched the mark making Jungkook shiver, immediately grabbing the attention of all the others.

"It looks different from other healers' marks," Namjoon pointed out, also reaching up to touch his mark. Jungkook felt himself turn different shades of red as they all started to try and touch his chest.

"M-my mark has a-always been d-different," He stammered out as he squeezed his leg together. The feeling of all the men touching him made him feel weird and he didn't know what to do.

"How is it different?" Jimin gently inquired as he traced the koi fish that surrounded the traditional water lily.

"Healers are all born with the water lily, but I was born with a koi fish surrounding and protecting the flower," Jungkook explained as he tried not to purr at the sudden feeling of Jin petting his hair.

"What does it mean?" Hoseok asked as he stopped tracing the mark and instead started drawing patterns on the healer's stomach.

"It means that my job is not only to heal but to protect." Jungkook murmured distractedly as the 6 men put their hands on his mark, their hands one over the other. Jungkook put his right hand over all of their hands and looked at each one of them in the eyes, "I promise I'll protect you."

Jungkook watched in amazement as the others all started blushing bright red and they all retracted their hands from his chest in a shy manner.

"S-same," Jimin stammered.

"Ditto," Taehyung mumbled.

"M-me th-three," Namjoon squeaked.

"L-likewise," Yoongi stuttered.

"A-agreed," Jin coughed.

"Count me in!" Hoseok said confidently.

Jungkook giggled at their cute reactions and felt the similar feeling in his stomach come back in full force but this time it didn't bother him, instead, it made him smile. They're so cute...

After this, they all decided that they should go to bed. One by one, Jungkook observed as their breaths evened out and he decided to wait an extra 20 minutes to make sure they were all asleep. When he was sure that they were sleeping, he carefully snuck out of bed and went to the store downstairs with a box full of books.

I haven't seen oleander in a long time, Jungkook thought to himself with a frown. The healer chose not to let the others know but oleander was extremely dangerous as it could be used for much darker forms of arts such as possession. The fact that Jae-Seong and the doctor that is helping him are using such a plant shows that not only are they planning something really dangerous, but the doctor must be skilled is dark arts.

Jungkook spent the next few hours looking through all the books he had on poisonous flowers and dark arts, but could not find the information he needed. However, as he reached his 30th book, he suddenly found a page that looked promising.

Chapter 52: The True Potential of Oleander... A very poisonous flower... deadly... blah blah bla-... ashes of a healer... black hole... Jungkook stared in horror as he realized what Jae-Seong was trying to do.

"He wants to open purgatory..." Jungkook said out loud, the words filling the silence and the words seemed to echo.

Jungkook's breath started to quicken. He quickly read through the rest of the chapter. A solution! There must be a solution! Jungkook scrambled to look for a sign of hope and in his panic, he didn't even notice he started crying until one of his tears hit a page. Jungkook looked at his tear stain the book and lightly smudge the ink. The healer took a calming breath to try and contain himself and when he looked at the page again he suddenly noticed something.

There is only one way to prevent such a thing to happen...

Jungkook read through the page and made careful notes before he ripped the page from the book. He sneakily went back up the stairs and folded the page. He gently walked in his room to put the page in his bag with all his other precious tools and notebooks.

After putting the page away in a place where he knew that the others wouldn't find it, he made his way back downstairs to research more. Before he left the bedroom however, he looked back at the 6 men sleeping on the floor and smiled at the adorable image of them sleeping and cuddling together.

I'm sorry... But I promised to protect you... I hope you'll understand...

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Hey Babes! How was your week?

What do you think Jungkook is hiding?

How are you guys liking the story so far?

I think we've reached halfway through the story and all the next chapters will be important to build the eventual ending of the book. I'm so excited for you guys to see what I have planned!

I hope you have an amazing week! Love you~~

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