Haunted?

28. Dirty

Pitter Patter Pitter Patter.....

Jungkook woke up to the sound of the shower. He lazily turned to his side and blindly patted the sheets on his side. He cracked open a single eye to check why the side was empty. He was still in a sleepy daze when he turned his phone on to check the time. 

1:04

'Where the hell did he go in the middle of the night?' he thought as he groaned and stretched his bones. And it was then that it hit him. It was then that he finally registered the sound of the shower in the bathroom. 

He jumped out of the bed and ran to the washroom, banging the door open in the process. He gasped as he took in his boyfriend's state. 

Taehyung was sitting on the stool under the shower that Jungkook had used for him for the past month. The water that fell from the shower let out heavy steam that completely fogged the whole bathroom. 

But somehow, the heat didn't bother Taehyung. He was busy scrubbing his body in a frenzy, with what looked suspiciously like the scrubber used for cleaning dishes. 

Jungkook gaped at him before shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, just to make sure he wasn't imagining that harsh scrubber in Taehyung's hand. 

But he wasn't imagining it. He realized that Taehyung really was using the scrubber to scrub his body frantically while sitting under a shower that gushed out boiling hot water. 

Jungkook snapped out of his shock and ran to Taehyung. "Tae!! What the hell?!?!" he yelled as he yanked the scrubber out of Taehyung's hands and threw it into a corner of the bathroom. 

Taehyung started fighting his hold, trying to get the scrubber back. "Dirty, dirty, dirty" he kept muttering as he tried to kick Jungkook. "Let go, let go! Soo dirty!" he yelled, eyeing Jungkook frantically as he tried to make him let go of him. 

"Let me gooo" Taehyung started crying loudly as he weakly pushed Jungkook away from him. Jungkook held Taehyung strongly against the wall, frantically examining all the bleeding bruises on his body. All of them looked fresh. 

A chill ran down his spine as he thought of the force Taehyung must have used to scrub himself. "Tae! No! You are NOT scrubbing yourself with that scrubber! What the hell?!" Jungkook asked. 

"No, no, no, don't stop me. I am dirty! Dirty, dirty" Taehyung said, his eyes frantically travelling from the scrubber to Jungkook and back to the scrubber again. "No, Taehyung! I will give you a bath, if you want! But you are not dirty, baby!" Jungkook exclaimed, not knowing where this was coming from. 

"No! You cannot see me! I am dirty!" Taehyung exclaimed, his eyes finally meeting Jungkook's eyes. "No, honey. You are not dirty! Stay here, okay? I will get a towel for you. Just stay here, okay?" Jungkook said and ran out of the washroom to get the towel. 

But Taehyung was back to scrubbing himself frantically when he returned with the towel. "Taehyung!!" Jungkook cried this time, tears falling out of his eyes. "STOP IT!" he yelled when he noticed more blood run out of the new bruises. 

He ran to him and yanked the scrubber away from him again. He picked him up and took him to the bedroom in spite of his protests. Taehyung looked manic with the way he kept insisting that he was dirty. 

"Kookie! Dae Shin hyung....I am dirty, Kook. I have to clean it! I am soo dirty!" Taehyung started breathing heavily as Jungkook sat him on the bed and returned from the washroom with the first aid kit. 

Jungkook froze suddenly, realizing what the whole scrubbing was about. "Tae! Baby, you are not dirty, baby. He was an asshole for doing that to you. You aren't dirty" Jungkook said, throwing the kit on the bed and cupping Taehyung's face gently. 

"Breathe with me, baby. Inhale....come on, you can do it. Inhale......good, that's it. Now exhale....perfect!" Jungkook said, placing a kiss on Taehyung's forehead. He kept guiding him to breathe deeply for a couple of minutes. 

When Taehyung's breathing finally sounded normal, he pulled him into a tight hug. He didn't know if he should feel happy that the withdrawal was finally done or if he should feel worried that he now had to deal with the mental damage, now that Taehyung's memory was back. 

"Kookie" Taehyung croaked and broke down. Jungkook braced himself and started rubbing Taehyung's back comfortingly. He knew the weight these tears contained. 

All these days, the tears that came from withdrawal did not hold any weight. Taehyung just cried without even knowing what he was crying for. 

But this was different. He knew why he was crying. He knew what had happened to him. He knew that things weren't the same anymore. That no matter how much Jungkook assured him that everything was going to be fine, it was not going to be fine. 

Taehyung's chest heaved with the pain that crushed him internally. He could physically feel his heart being crushed with the pain as he remembered every single day he spent in Dae Shin's basement, not remembering who he was or who the stranger who kept coming everyday to destroy him repeatedly was. 

But now that he remembered everything, the pain crushed him, threatening to bury his soul deep into the ground. He yelled and sobbed to try and let his pain out, holding on to Jungkook's shirt as if his life depended on it. But no amount of cries or yells could get his heavy pain out. 

He desperately wanted his heart to stop squeezing soo painfully. But it wouldn't. Seokjin and Namjoon barged into the room using the spare key that they had once they heard Taehyung's cries. 

Seokjin gasped as he turned the light on and noticed the blood and bruises on Taehyung's arms and chest. He looked at Jungkook with horrified eyes. "What happened?" he mouthed at him. "He tried to scrub himself clean using the kitchen scrubber" Jungkook said, his voice breaking heavily as he tightened his hold around Taehyung. 

"Oh my god" Namjoon whispered, realizing that Taehyung's withdrawal was done. "So he remembers everything now?" Seokjin whispered. "Yes" Jungkook whispered, rubbing Taehyung's back harder. 

Namjoon silently took the first aid box and settled beside Taehyung. Seokjin joined him immediately and the two of them worked on cleaning the wounds, while Taehyung's cries slowly turned from yells to howls to sobs to hiccups to snores, pounding all of their hearts into pieces in the process. 

"Thank you" Jungkook said once Namjoon and Seokjin finished treating the wounds. "No problem. Get some sleep. It won't get any easier now, even though the withdrawal is done. Stay strong, Kook. He needs all the love and strength now more than ever" Namjoon said. 

"Yeah. I will, hyung" Jungkook said. 

"Good. Good night" Seokjin said, turning the light off. "Good night" Jungkook said, turning to Taehyung and gently wrapping his arm around him and bringing him closer. He had half a mind to kiss every scar of his. But he knew this wasn't the time. 

So he just let himself drift into his dreamland, with the love of his life wrapped securely in his arms.