✔️ Unconditionally [Book 2] | Jeon Jungkook

• 72 • (18+)

This chapter will have a soundtrack
Surrender by Natalie Taylor
—— ∞ ——

When the morning sun hadn't succeeded in waking him, Jungkook's phone vibrating beside him on the bed did. Eyes still closed, he inhaled deeply and fished for it, answering after a partially opened eye saw that it was Taehyung.

"Yeah," he groaned. The sun was too bright.

"It's like 10 am," Taehyung chuckled.

The usually second earliest riser of the house didn't find the humor. "I'm tired. I had a long night, in case you forgot."

Taehyung ignored his crankiness. "How is Hedgie?"

Jungkook looked to his right to find her side of the bed vacant, and the smell of food in the air told him she was still home.

"Shaken up, but she's ok," Jungkook said. "I need to call her father and pray he doesn't actually go ahead and kill me this time."

Taehyung scoffed. "Kill you? You saved her."

"Yeah, but she shouldn't have been in danger in the first place."

"You can't control that, Jungkook. But you stopped it from getting worse. I think he'll understand."

"I hope so," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Then again, if he doesn't kill me, mom will."

"She didn't kill you when you saved me," Taehyung said.

The softness of his voice made Jungkook pause. Taehyung never directly spoke of his assault, nor of Jungkook stopping his attacker from committing one of the most vile acts against him. Not even Taehyung's thanks were spoken verbally. Instead, they were conveyed in a crushing hug that didn't relent for nearly a half-hour.

"Your parents will understand too."

Deep down, Jungkook knew they would. They didn't blow up on him when they found out what happened back then. They praised him for acting quickly and bravely when he saw his friend in trouble.

It still didn't help with the guilt he felt when they had to pay the price for his quick and brave actions. The only way he avoided imprisonment was with the help of a good lawyer and the fact that they had proof the boy was attacking Taehyung when Jungkook showed up. His heroism still didn't negate beating the boy until the point of seizure, causing an eye to rupture, and breaking the bone surrounding it. His parents paying for those damages is what kept the incident from showing up on a permanent record concerning him.

They never admonished him, but he still hated seeing them go through that because of him.

"I know," Jungkook sighed.

"Try not to worry," Taehyung said. "We're all right behind you. Things will work out."

"Thanks, hyung."

With a heavy heart, he ended the call and went to put his phone on the nightstand only for his hand to freeze when he saw what sat in the way.

A glass of juice, two painkillers...

And a letter addressed to him propped up against a red box with a white bow.

Its presence chased away the rest of his fatigue and made him sit upright, resting his back against the headboard. Moving required effort. His biceps and back were sore, each for an entirely different reason. The painkillers and sudden nervousness were washed down with half of the juice, and he reached over to retrieve the letter adorned with her small block lettering.