"Hello Jimin." Part of him wanted to make some snappy comment about how he was currently at work, and how his life outside of it shouldn't be brought into this environment. But then he realized just what a giant hypocrite that would make him, considering how much time and Hoseok spent gossiping.
"Hi. I'm sorry, I know it's wrong coming to your work like this. But I didn't know how else to find you. This was all Tae was willing to tell me." Perhaps it should have felt like a betrayal. And maybe it would have six months ago, when he had still foolishly believed that any of Taehyung's loyalty's truly lie with him. And he guessed maybe some of them did. Out of all the little bits of information Taehyung could have given, this was, in all reality, the least damaging.
"It's alright." If this encounter that was surely to turn into an altercation had to take place at his place of employment, he was thankful it was at least happening on a Sunday. At a time when the after dinner crowd had finally cleared out and all that were left behind were those who truly had nothing better to do. "But I don't understand what you're doing here. I know Jungkook told you to leave me alone and if he finds out -"
"Because I have to warn you, Seokjin. You have to know what kind of person he is before it's too late. I don't want you to end up like me." Was that truly his destiny? To end up as the loser in this game with rules he didn't even understand? Had gone into blindly, had fumbled his way through and had only come out on top through sheer luck.
Ironic, considering he'd never had any.
"Jungkook already told me." And he had made his choice. Maybe it was the one that would lead him down the path of ruin. Maybe he was headed down the road where he would be in Jimin's position one day. Maybe in five years he would be the one desperately seeking answers.
But it was a choice that he had made. A chance he was willing to take.
"Did he tell you everything?" He almost said yes without even thinking. Almost just let the word slip right out of his mouth. Only to think better of it, realizing at the last second that his lips had already parted to let out the sound and closed them just as suddenly. "You can't be sure, can you?"
"There are some things in this life we're not meant to know." Those were the words he constantly repeated to himself. Over and over and over again. A mantra which played inside of his own mind until he believed each and every one of them.
"God, he really has you fucked up, doesn't he? Do you really think he loves you? Do you really think he's even fucking capable of it? Because believe me, he isn't."
"Yes." It came out instantly, and he didn't even attempt to catch himself this time. Realized that had been his mistake before and wouldn't allow it to happen again. "The answer to all of your questions is yes. He does have me fucked up. Yes, I really do think he loves me. Yes, I do really think he's capable of it. Because I feel like. All the time. In every thing he does. And there is nothing you can tell me that is going to change that."
"He's going to ruin you." But he realized within that moment that it wasn't Jungkook's love that was the infection.
It was Jungkook himself.
Jungkook was insidious. A slow onset of syptoms and by the time you realized what was happen it was already too late. The infection had spread so deep that there was nothing that could be done. The addiction had grown so wildly out of control that all you cared about what getting your next fix.
Jungkook's love wasn't the infection. No, it was the cure. A perfect circle that opened and closed entirely by it's self.
His love wasn't actually needed to end the cycle. His love was nothing more than a happy coincidence, and he wondered what would have occurred if it hadn't been returned.
Where did love go when it wasn't returned? Was it capable of bending back onto it's self? Could it transform into something else? Change and mutate until it was no longer recognizable?
His love wasn't the cure. It was the catalyst for it. Nothing more than a host that had caused the entire circle to originate.
Both of them had been infected. Like some sort of strange, messed up science experiment where only one of them received the antidote to the poison they had been given.
Seokjin had been the cause of the cure, and in return, had received it's healing light.
Jimin had suffered from the infection, but there would never be a cure. Would never be an end.
"Probably." Jungkook was going to be the cause of his destruction. He had always been so painfully aware of that. He was the foundation on which everything else now sat. And all it would take is one little shift for it to all come crashing down. "But I still choose him."
If he had to chose between accepting his own ruin and living a life without Jungkook, then he would chose the latter.
He would chose Jungkook.
Each and every time,
"So, now that you know my truth, I think you should also know this. That there is nothing that is going to make me change my mind. That I will choose Jungkook no matter what option you place in front of me. And all you are doing is wasting time that could be used healing. All you are doing, is letting him finish what he started. Don't let him destroy you, Jimin. You don't deserve it."
No one deserved to be brought to ruin by someone they had once loved. By someone they probably still loved. And he tried to hate Jimin. He did. Especially there, in that moment. But all he felt was compassion and empathy. And pity. He felt so much pity.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work." Pushing himself up and onto his aching feet like a victory he didn't actually deserve. Felt like he had won a battle without actually fighting. Because all he had done was add another bruise to an already battered person. And he felt the guilt begin to set in before he even turned away.
But that was the price he paid for the choices he had made.
And he would always chose Jungkook.
