sᴀᴠᴀsᴀɴᴀ│ᴛᴋ [complete]

.14. ɴᴀɴᴊɪ ᴘᴀʀᴋᴀsᴀɴᴀ

The sun was shining. The flowers were blossoming. The birds were chirping and the bees did their thing. Kids were having fun riding slides and swings on the playgrounds and their parents were content simply watching. This was most definitely a happy kind of Sunday morning at Nanji Park, which was getting busier every week, what with the mild spring weather pushing the remnants of winter back into the past season's closet. Despite the early hour, many were already out running, cycling, or walking their pet.

This lovely postcard would have been perfect were it not for Jeon Jungkook, the young man presently tossing a purple rubber ball across the lawn for his dog to go fetch it. He watched with a smile as Fifi hurried in search of the colourful toy. She was quick to pluck it off the ground and return it to Jungkook who was more than happy to shower her with compliments. "You're such a good girl, Fifi. I hope you know that!"

Fifi loved the attention and yapped, asking for another throw. Jungkook could not deny her this simple fun and pitched the ball once more. Rays of sun bounced off the nearby water, blinding him briefly. He let his gaze rest upon the sparkling Han River, mulling over the current oddity of experiencing such a perfect morning, yet somehow be deprived of the cheerfulness that was very much in the air.

YAP

Jungkook jumped at Fifi's yelp. How long had she been sitting there, at his feet, without him noticing? He crouched in order to pet her but she promptly avoided his hand, turning antsy and throwing glances left and right. It didn't take long for the young man to understand what was going on. He sat cross-legged on the grass and called after her. After some hesitation, she jumped onto his legs and finally settled down, thanks to her owner softly rubbing behind her ears. "I get it. You're waiting for Tannie to show up, aren't you?"

YAP

Jungkook's smile vanished, soon replaced by a rather sombre expression. "I don't believe Tannie is coming today."

He didn't want to tell her that he figured they would in fact not see Yeontan ever again. The thought itself was painful enough, uttering this truth aloud was beyond his strength at this point.

Fifi whined.

"You miss him?"

Whether she understood that or not he couldn't say, but the next moment, she curled up closer to his chest.

"Yeah. I miss him too."

Something heavy clogged his throat as he realized he meant Taehyung and fuck, were those tears rolling down his cheeks?

The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. The children were playing and Jungkook was hurting. So much for the happy Sunday morning vibe.

Wiping the chagrin from his face, he pondered for the umpteenth time the events of last week, trying to figure out when, where and why everything had gone to shit. A pained grin showed up amid the sadness as he recalled his hangover session with Taehyung. He had let his guard down once and Life had jumped at her chance to teach him a lesson in the most unforgiving way.

Something had happened the day he fell asleep in Taehyung's arms. What exactly? He didn't know. And Jungkook was almost afraid to find out. Had he acted inappropriately? If that were the case, he wouldn't hesitate to kill himself. The idea that he had done something really, really stupid like try to kiss the boy — or worse — made him feel sick to his stomach.

That's why he hadn't contacted Jimin on Friday. Jungkook was never letting one drop of alcohol into his system ever again. Yet what good would it do if Taehyung were gone? The other hadn't returned any of his calls and Jungkook's Kakao messages were left unread.