seen

1.

30 Dec
Taehyung

I wish I was a girl.
I wish I was healthy.
Oh Lord, please make it true.
So that in the next life, I can live happily to the fullest.

Sighing, he closed the diary.
The pain had become unbearable lately, draining the last bit of hope he had for staying alive.

Heart failure had been his constant companion since he was three. Thanks to his family’s wealth and being the only child, the treatment had continued despite the hellish number of hospital bills. Going to the hospital had practically become half of his childhood memories.

Still, there were things Taehyung cherished.
Even though his beloved mother passed away when he had just turned six, he held on.

Kim Hanuel, his father, had a bond like brotherhood with Jeon Jihoon and Min Seokmin. Naturally, their children—Jeon Jungkook, Min Yoongi, and Kim Taehyung—grew up as best friends, inseparable from the day they were born.

But their bond grew into something more—something Taehyung never expected.
He had always loved Jungkook. Maybe it started as admiration, maybe something deeper.
When their parents arranged an engagement between them at eighteen, Taehyung thought it was fate.

But the day the promise was made, Jungkook shut him out completely.
No words. No explanation.
Just silence.

Taehyung was left confused, hurt, and endlessly questioning if it was his fault. That thought haunted him every single day.

Still, despite the cold stares and the indifference, Taehyung tried to make things right—just like before.

“Hi, Kook. I made your favorite banana pancakes today,” Taehyung said cheerfully, holding the lunch box up to Jungkook’s eye level.

“Save it, Tae. I don’t want it,” Jungkook replied blandly, barely sparing him a glance.

Taehyung’s smile faltered for a second, but he quickly fixed it, unwilling to give up.
“Please, Kookie. I made it especially for you,” he insisted, his soft eyes hopeful.

Jungkook let out an irritated sigh before finally taking the box.
“Just leave me alone,” he muttered, staring down to meet Taehyung’s height.
“You’re acting like an obsessive stalker now, Taehyung.”

His words stung like glass.
Taehyung's grip tightened around the straps of his backpack. He forced a smile.

“I’m sorry, Kookie,” he mumbled softly, summoning courage from deep within.

Jungkook walked away without a second glance, heading straight for the campus gate.

Taehyung watched him leave. A sigh escaped his lips before he managed another weak smile. He hugged his backpack close to his chest and continued walking into the campus.

The lecture hall was unusually loud that day. Laughter and chatter bounced off the walls, but Taehyung heard none of it. All the noise blurred into white static as he quietly took his seat at the far end of the row, near the window.

Yoongi slid into the seat beside him, eyes narrowing with concern.
“You okay?” he asked.

Taehyung nodded too quickly. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Yoongi wasn’t convinced, but didn’t push. “He was cold again, wasn’t he?”

“…More like ice,” Taehyung whispered, eyes fixed on the blue sky outside.

“You don’t have to keep doing this to yourself, Tae,” Yoongi said quietly. “You’ve been nothing but kind to him. If he doesn’t see that—”