BOXER'S BALLERINA | KOOKV

Ch 16. Warned

It's heavy on the cushion. His body and time seems pointless. It's a venomous moment and Taehyung feels numb. From the past few hours, he's seen all sorts of conversations go in and out of his room. All while never leaving his sheets, all prettied up and dressed for school.

But in the end , he never went.

His phone ring, and it takes a while before he feels himself slowly getting up. Taehyung blinks, rubs his eyes and then blinks some more because maybe he really have just been sleeping it all off at last.

"Hello?" Taehyung finally manages to to greet but it all sounds wrong in his mouth as if everything that leaves feels forced.

"Tae-" Jimin splutter out instantly, but falls to a painful stand for a moment, and it takes to long before his next words "Hyun is in the hospital"

Sometimes Taehyung forgets no one knows.

"Oh really?"

Taehyung says and stares down at his hands, flinches at the way his voice sounds so unconvincing. He's not sure anymore if he will ever feel anything for that name again. Because right now, he can't really feel anything.

Jimin must sense a change in mood because he's quiet for a moment. But it's as if he isn't thinking like him. "Did you- did you hear about who caused it?"

"Caused it?" Taehyung asks a bit more prepared this time.

But now, it's as if Jimin is the nervous one clinging on his toes.

"There's rumors going around that Jeongguk was the one who messed him up. And-"

"And what Jimin?"

The heaviness grows in his voice when the words reach his ears. It aches. Hands gripping the phone, knuckles turning white. Why would Jeongguk do that.

"Hyun said it's all because of something you did"

---

It takes only more than one hour until Taehyung finally gets it. That Jeongguk may know, jeongguk may know everything and Hyun was the one who told him. And he was so scared of just that, but what is fearing him now isn't that.

It never was when it comes to Jeongguk.

So he doesn't realize he's already here, with the weighting down of his heart and low breathing.

In front of the glowing signs of boxing matches and the familiar underground hoarse where he watched Jeongguk's first match. The only difference now is that it's so quiet, and not a single soul corrupted the entrance and the main venue.

His fingertips feels warm even when the dread of summer tugs had disappeared and the chill of fall should feel cold.

Taehyung doesn't know what he's feeling, all he knows is that being so blatantly mad for the first time like this and it makes his insides crawl when he steps inside the main venue, and he sees him.

He sees Jeongguk

And he can see the sweat glistening on his back and shoulders against his black shirt where he stood, in front of a punching bag. And he stops his blows against it just as Taehyung steps inside.

It's as if he can instantly sense the ballerina is there when he turns around.

The moment their eyes meet Taehyung regrets it. Regrets it because he knows he could never look away when Jeongguk meets his gaze.

Jeongguk stares right back, doesn't know how to stop when there's a shift in his eyes when he sees him. Taehyung makes his brain turn shut.

He stares back with such intensity for a long moment, expression still so unreadable and Taehyung hates it.