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

CHAPTER 129: An Empty Tree

“You’re not the only one at fault, noona. Not even close.”

Tae's still leaning against the edge of the wall, but his jaw tightens.

“You didn’t ask for this, Noona,” he says, his voice thick, slow, careful.

“You didn’t deserve to carry all of it.”

Joonie opens his mouth like he wants to reason, to break it down logically but even he gives up trying to intellectualize it.

He just sighs, hard. “We should’ve had your back without making it feel like a battlefield,” he says.

“We made you clean up a mess we helped make.”

From the corner, Yoongi doesn't say anything.

But his grip on his coffee mug tightens until the ceramic groans. He’s staring at the wall like it’s the only thing holding him together.

His silence is loud—and guiltier than anything.

And then…Kookie.

He looks like he’s been hollowed out from the inside.

Red-rimmed eyes, fists still clenched, but not from anger anymore.

From remorse.
From heartbreak.

From knowing he let something inside him win that shouldn’t have.

His voice comes out barely there.
Just a whisper.

“I…I don't deserve an apology from you, noona.”

The words almost break me again.

“Ofcourse you do Kookie, you all do."

I close my eyes for half a second.
Then open them.

"I’m so sorry for all of this. For not drawing the line when I should have. For letting things slip into gray when they needed to be black and white. For allowing any of you to feel uncomfortable in our own home.”

A pause.
They don’t look away.

“But I am allowed to have history,” I add, softer now.

“That history doesn’t erase what we have. It doesn’t dilute it. And it sure as hell doesn’t threaten it.”

I take a breath. One of those heavy, hollow kinds, the kind that drags through your ribs like grief in motion.

“But what will—what can—is not trusting each other. Not talking. Letting the silence grow so loud it drowns out everything good.”

Kookie shifts. I hear it more than see it.
His weight against the floorboards.
The ache in his silence.

He opens his mouth—but nothing comes out.

And something in me caves.
My hands tremble. My eyes blur.

“I love you,” I whisper. "so..so much"

“Each and every one of you.”

It’s not a plea.
It’s a vow.

Tired, maybe.
Bruised, definitely.
But still standing.

I look at all of them.

Jimin’s head bowed, eyes shiny and jaw tight.

Tae’s mouth parted slightly, like he’s trying to memorize every word.

Joonie’s expression unreadable but his fingers twitch like he wants to hold something steady.

Yoongi doesn’t move.
His eyes don’t shift.
But the weight in his silence is thunderous.