Stigma Love's Algorithm [ A BTS x Reader Poly ]

Chapter 128: A Glass House

Always one step ahead, always collecting data no one else sees.

His gaze slides from Yoongi hyung to Tae, to Kook, and finally lands on Gabriel with the kind of quiet analysis that makes you feel like you've just been measured, weighed, and documented in full.

He doesn't speak.
But he doesn't have to.
His presence alone holds the line.

And me?
I don't look at Gabriel.
I don't look at Noona either.

I watch Jungkook.
Because that's where the real story is.

He's sitting back in his chair, one hand resting over Bam's fur, the other drumming absently against the table.

His gaze never left the blueprint spread, but I know him.

I know that stillness.
It's not passive.
It's measured.

Controlled.
Waiting.
And then I see it-the moment it hits him.

That something's different.

That this isn't just about design anymore. That we're not just witnessing a creative consult.

We're watching a line get drawn.
Or maybe... redrawn.

And something in Jungkook's expression shifts.

Almost imperceptibly.
But it's enough.

Because when Kook shifts-it's never by accident.

And whatever Gabriel thinks he's part of...
He's about to find out that this house doesn't just stand on blueprints.

It stands on us.
And the lines we don't let anyone cross.

Not anymore.
Not here.
Not ever.

____________________________

Jungkook's POV

I felt it before I moved.

That pressure behind my ribcage, slow and suffocating. Like something coiled for too long just finally ran out of room.

It wasn't the way he touched her.
It was the way she let him.

Familiar.
Easy.

Like it used to be his place.
Like it still could be.

And for a second-for one awful, tight second-I forgot how to breathe.

The room was full of noise, but I heard nothing.

Just saw her-my noona-smiling at him like it didn't crack the sky in my chest.

Not because I didn't trust her. I do.
But because he touched her hair like it still belonged to his hands.

And she didn't stop him.

Not because she wanted it.
Because she didn't think it mattered.
Because she's kind.

She didn't realize she was watching me fall apart.

And for the first time since I found her... I realized someone else thought they could touch my soulmate like that and walk away whole.

So I stood.
Quiet.
Still.

My hands clenched at my sides, trembling with the kind of heat that doesn't come from rage, but from protection.

From instinct.

From love so old it might've been born before language.

And everyone in the room felt it.

The air snapped taut.
Breaths held.
Time slowed.