Unpunished/Vkook ff

Chapter 46: A Tale of Moon and Sun

Jungkook's P.O.V

"Congratulations," Mrs. Levi said to Taehyung and me with a warm smile. She passed us our marked sheets, the final math exam, the hardest we'd ever had. "Perfect score, both."

We stared at each other in disbelief, then at her, before reaching for the pieces of paper at the same time and re-checking the numbers in complete shock.

"We did it!" I high fived him. "I think I'm no longer grounded. My parents don't stand a chance against this bad boy."

Although in private Taehyung and I didn't regret a single one of them, the decisions we'd made during prom night left us needing to prove ourselves to some anew. For Taehyung, it was his brother. For me, it wasn't family, but somebody who sat on the other side of the classroom.

Robert had received a grade as well, and since we hadn't exchanged a word after he lectured me, I was dying to know if he, too, was satisfied with the test.

I planned on asking Robert about it at the break. When the bell rang, however, he was already with Erica.

I was following them, waiting for an opportunity to start a conversation. Yet, they seemed so engaged in their little discussion, and I was afraid to interrupt. They were hopping from subject to subject while circling the school, giggling and chuckling, and I felt out of place, moving along with them, quiet as a mouse.

At last, they'd parted ways. She continued forward, and Robert began making his way backward. "Boo!" I jumped from behind a tree.

"Kook, what the hell?!" he uttered, flinching.

I hit him playfully. "You and your girl are such easy prey. I've been stalking you the entire time!"

As I was laughing, he turned around, ready to leave. "You've been following us? That's creepy..." Robert murmured.

I grabbed his arm. "I didn't mean it like that, sorry. I just wanted to ask about the exam, and we haven't done it for a while, so can't we chat?" He took his arm away and returned to face the opposite direction. "Robert?" I hurried to tap on his shoulder, and he pushed me further from him.

"No."

"I-I only needed... You don't want to talk to me?" I tried catching his arm again.

"What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

Taking a few steps back, I let go. "Alright... If you need space, no problem. You can tell me what's wrong when you feel like it."

"Kook... It's not 'gonna happen," he said.

My chest tightened, and a sudden chill was crawling down my spine. "W-what do you mean? Why?"

"I don't want to speak to you. I don't want you to touch me. What is there to explain?"

"What are you saying?" I struggled to breathe. "You can't cut ties with me out of the blue!"

"Out of the blue?!" Robert snapped. "Are you joking? I refuse to believe you didn't see it coming, and you've left me no choice!"

"Please, Robert," I begged with a sob, "I'm your best friend. We can figure whatever this is out..."

"But you're not..." he said. "You've changed."

I gulped. "Robs, I haven't—"

"You have, and I feel uncomfortable with you... You didn't want me around for months, and your presence is extremely unpleasant now when you act like a shell of the caring friend you used to be."

My eyes started shifting around, my palms were sweating, and I inhaled as much air as I could, my throat signaling I'd suffocate otherwise. "You've got it all wrong!" I shouted. "I care about you more than anything."

"It doesn't matter anymore, and I know it's bullshit regardless..." A tear rolled across his pale cheek. "I tried to let what you've done to Kim slide, but I can't." Robert wiped it away, harshening his expression. "Not when you're fucking obsessed with your once victim. It's gross. You disgust me."

I wished to clench my fists, yet my palms weren't strong enough. "I told you, our relationship isn't the same anymore! Why didn't you tell me...? I would have explained... I would have let him explain..."

"You weren't even trying to keep in touch with me!"

Liquid began blurring my vision. "No... Please, Robert..." I cried. "Don't leave me!" I fell on my knees. "I don't know how to live without you. Tell me what I've got to change, and I'll do it for you..." I hugged one of his legs. "I'll do anything for you..."

Robert could do nothing more than to stare, more of his tears running down. "I wanted to stay friends, I really did, and you meant a lot to me, but... I'm sorry, I don't feel that way anymore." Now, when he tried wiping his face again, he failed to keep up with them. "I miss my friend just as much. I didn't choose for this to happen, Jungkook."

"No, don't go... I beg you..." I watched my friend's figure drifting further and further away. "Please... Stay..." He could no longer hear me, and I could no longer talk; every sound I let out made the pain in my stomach grow.

I forced myself back on my feet. My body was too heavy, or perhaps, my limbs were too weak. Then, I carried myself to a bathroom, had to wash my face, and calm down. In that environment, staying on the ground was not an option. Yet I yearned for it to be.

I was staring at a mirror. The headache became worse. My reflection was red, my expression distorted, my appearance deformed, and the crying neverending, the salty taste of tears remaining despite the countless attempts of removing them with water. All of the memories we've shared, the jokes, advice, were floating to my mind's surface. I refused to let them drown.

A group of guys, one grade underneath mine, entered the bathroom and passed behind me. One of them pushed me forward, cackling, and caused my chin to hit the ceramic sink.

I ran into one of the stalls and hid, shaking, gasping for oxygen. I was too afraid to get out, too terrified to move even. Within my head, I asked only one, pathetic question. A question to which I knew the answer.

Why is this happening to me?

The bell rang once again, and the guys had finally cleared the place. I got out of the stall, craving to go to class and see Taehyung. My body was not cooperating.

I crushed onto the floor instead and wasn't able to get up. I hugged my knees, buried in my face, and let my hysterical cries echo through the walls, mourning the loss of the one person I could call a brother. I'd spent the rest of my schoolday inside that bathroom, screaming, holding in vomit, suffocating on tears.

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