DYING TO KNOW | TAEKOOK

36. I Run Empty

*content warning for adult / triggering themes and references. There are no graphic or actual depictions but there are references to trauma, adult language, and substance misuse*

♾♾♾

Jungkook got in bed early that day after walking around the house like a ghost. He curled up under the covers and stared into the half-darkness.

His mind wouldn't turn off, rotating around the past two days like the chamber of a revolver after being loaded.

That was exactly right, he thought, he was the loaded gun right now, hurting everyone and everything, including himself.

His phone would not stop lighting up. Like, at all.

He grabbed it angrily, with the intention of putting it on Do Not Disturb, but saw an email from his attorney and scanned it quickly, his eyes moving down to the only line that seemed relevant:

The new papers are attached. Mrs. Jeon is willing to cede her claim to any and all assets and finances on the condition that she is either given sole authority over the embryos, or that they are destroyed upon the dissolution of the marriage.

He sighed, feeling again like an elephant was sitting on his chest and the world was caving in. It hurt to breathe.

Without thinking, he wrote back: Destroy them.

That would be best anyways, he reasoned with himself. There was no sense in creating anyone or anything with his fucked up genetics.

His vision was blurry, but he could see briefly that the texts Taehyung had sent him were becoming more and more agitated, but he couldn't force himself to reply.

JUNGKOOK: Got the new papers

JIMIN: and???

Jungkook didn't reply, he didn't really know how. He felt like death. Like everything worthwhile inside of him had been ripped out and stomped on. And then shoved into the pits of hell to burn alive.

His phone rang.

"Chim?" he rasped, answering it, glad it wasn't Taehyung and he didn't have to hear the older's woeful desperation.

"Koo? What's wrong?" Jimin clued into his emotional state instantly, voice rising an octave with worry.

Jungkook sniffed hard but his words got caught in his throat and didn't come out right.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Jimin entreated, trying to make his voice sound soothing and calm to entice the younger to talk.

Instead, Jungkook burst into tears.

"I'm not okay, Chim," he sobbed into the phone, covering his face with his hand.

Jimin pressed his lips together, heart pounding. He didn't know what to do, after all, this was not what he expected the younger's reaction to be to new divorce papers.

"What happened? Kookie Koo, talk to me," he murmured into the phone, dread blanketing his stomach.

Jungkook hiccuped, hand still over his face, shoulders shaking.

"Can you come? I'm not okay. I need you to come here," he choked out between sobs.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Jimin agreed. He stood, finding a bag in his closet and began throwing clothes into it.

The younger made some odd, muddled noises into the phone.

"I'm going to be on the first flight I can find, okay?" He was aghast, haphazardly packing random stuff.