ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴀss ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡ ☑

Meme

"Who is Namjoon?" Jin asked, seeing the meme that he had sent on Jungkook's phone. 

"Why?" The boy lurked his head out from the kitchen to see. 

"He has sent you a meme. And I don't like it."

Jungkook heaved a big sigh and washed his hands before coming back to the living room. "He is just a colleague, Hyung."

"Then why is he sending you these sexual memes?"

"I don't know," Jungkook mumbled, taking his phone off Jin's hands and deleting the meme. "Maybe because it's funny."

"No," Jin tsked. "You don't know how to make people respect you, Jungkook. If you keep flirting around, they will feel led on."

"What flirting?" Jungkook intoned. "I don't flirt. I only talk to them in the office too because I want to be polite. You know it's difficult for me to strike up a conversation with strangers. If anyone talks to me, I just reciprocate. It doesn't mean that everyone is flirting with me and I am flirting with everyone who talks to me."

"My sweet boy," Jin laughed. "You are naive. You don't know these people. You aren't flirting, but you aren't letting him know that you didn't like it either. He'll take it otherwise. In my brother's lab-"

"I am tired of hearing about your brother's lab and the people who work there. I told you I am not flirting with anyone. Don't you think you should trust me? I trust you. I never doubt you. I know you are loyal to me."

"Tell me one thing, Jungkook," Jin said calmly. "Do you enjoy this attention you get from people?"

"Of course, not."

"Then tell Namjoon that you don't like such innuendos. Tell him so that he doesn't feel encouraged to send you anything like that again."

"I'll just ignore him. I am sure he'll not send me anything if I just don't react to it," Jungkook hated being told what and how he should act around other people and in certain situations. Sure, he was also learning, but he knew that he didn't want to ruin his professional relationships by being so upfront with people like Jin.

"Are you perhaps thinking of something? Are you interested in him?" Jin prodded on, knowing well how much uncomfortable he was making Jungkook, not to mention, stressed even though the doctor had clearly cited that the teen needed to be in a stress-free environment. 

"You do it," Jungkook put his phone back in Jin's hand and returned to the kitchen. 

Hours later after cooking and showering, when he came to bed, he saw Jin still doing something with his profile. "Can we eat, Hyung? I am hungry."

Jin smiled, pulling the boy down in his arms and kissing his neck. Jungkook moaned softly, but shook his head. "No, I am hungry, please..."

"Okay," Jin smiled brightly. "Let's eat."

The older stood up and set the table. He brought Jungkook to sit there and looked like nothing had happened, which was rather odd because if the past was any indication, the whole day would have been downhill after the arguments. 

"Do you want to go and buy the gift for your secret Santa thing?" Jungkook asked, seeing that Jin didn't look edgy or grumpy. 

"I don't know," he said. "I was thinking to buy those small snowglobes from the convenience store." 

"You can't buy those," Jungkook chuckled. "At least spend some money so that it doesn't look like a freebie."

"Oh, Jungkook. Who cares? It's not like I am here to build a relationship with this person. I am sure I won't ever see them face to face. I'll go with what I considered."

"Fine," Jungkook felt bad for whoever would get the gift from him. He nodded nonetheless. "I'll go to the jewelry store and pick up something."

"Where did you get the money for jewelry?" Jin asked instantly. 

"I asked my friend to lend me. I'll pay him back the moment I get paid."

"Hmph."

Jungkook discerned the silence between them, but he stood up and grabbed his coat after he was done eating. "I'll be back soon." He announced and didn't wait for Jin to answer. 

Walking for about thirty minutes, he entered the store and looked at many accessories. What caught his eye was a star pendant in a chain. He loved it and immediately bought it for the girl whose name he had picked a few nights ago. 

After having the gift wrapped, he began walking back to the house, but his eyes fell on a cheesecake place. He knew that Jin loved it, so he stopped and picked up one lemon-flavored cheesecake before resuming his walk. 

When he entered the society gate, he looked around to see if Jimin was around, but the man wasn't. The boy indifferently got in the elevator.

After unlocking the apartment door, he walked into the bedroom to place the cake on the nightstand along with the gift he had bought. 

Jin stared at the nightstand, but then when Jungkook jumped on the bed and hugged him, his eyes averted to the younger. Jungkook kissed the older's cheek. "We are fighting a lot. It's your birthday tomorrow. Can we please put this behind us and start fresh."

Jin nodded, sliding away from the younger. Jungkook pounced on him again, but this time, Jin got off the bed. "You have bad breath, Jungkook. Go brush your teeth."

Jungkook bit his lips together and looked down, suddenly feeling completely valueless and humiliated. He walked into the bathroom and started brushing his teeth, smiling to himself sadly with tears in his eyes. He felt unappreciated so many times.

Jin never made him feel worthwhile. All the things that Jin did or said, it made or broke Jungkook. Every time he walked into the room after a hard day at work, and saw Jin pouting and contemplating, he couldn't help but be affected by it too. And if he saw the man cheery, he also felt the positivity and enthusiasm coursing in his body. 

The fear that if he was left alone, he wouldn't be able to survive alone made him think that he needed to make it work, but every day, it was as though Jin was sabotaging their relationship. It was as though the man wanted him to end things. He didn't know his future, but the present wasn't giving him any hope. He knew he might not be able to survive without Jin, being used to sleeping with him while hugging him in bed, but he knew that he was feeling suffocated and inferior living with the man right now. 

Could he think of ending things? Would Jin be able to take it? Would he be able to take it?