Paper Planes (Taekook)

Chapter 11

The stress and pain caused him to forget everything, Jin understood that. But that didn’t help anything.

There were times when Jungkook remembered only Taehyung and no one else. Oh, how Taehyung’s eyes lit up during those hours.

Other times, Jungkook would get faint memories of Jin, Mr. and Mrs. Kim and the other children in the orphanage. But during most times, Jungkook retreated to his bed whole day and stared out the window. He rarely touched his drawing pad anymore and very seldom would he play with the paper airplanes that Taehyung had made long ago.

Retracting from a sudden pain on his thumb, Jin rushed his finger to his mouth. Well, that was what you got for spacing out in the middle of peeling a fruit with a very sharp knife.
 
 

Jungkook stared at the hyung’s reaction. He couldn’t help but feel familiar at the sight.
Noticing Jungkook’s stare, Jin answered that it helped from blood clotting and further infection. Jungkook nodded with a clueless look on his face.
 
 
Later that afternoon, Mrs. Kim dropped by to check up on Jungkook. She was a little pleased with the results.

“You cold seems to have vanished completely, Jungkook,” she said and wrote something on her clipboard. Jungkook just stared out the window lazily while hugging his knees.

Mrs. Kim noticed the boy and sat down beside him. “Do you want to go out?” she asked. That caught his attention. “There’ll be snow everywhere soon. You want to see that, don’t you?” Jungkook’s face lit up by a 0.1 percent.

“Okay,” Mrs. Kim said with a tender smile on her lips. “You can go out later with Taehyung. If you’re lucky, maybe you can catch the first snow.” Mrs. Kim reached out for Jungkook’s cold face.

“But you have to promise to get better soon, okay?” she continued. Jungkook nodded, his lips parting to say something. But the words never came.

“Did you know, watching the first snow with someone you love makes your love eternal? I learnt that from Taehyung’s dad. It’s cheesy right?” Mrs. Kim smiled.

Unknowingly, Jungkook’s face too twitched into a tiny, almost invisible smile.

Jungkook’s smile faltered to see Mrs. Kim’s eyes growing teary. But he still didn’t make any noticeable reaction.

Please don’t die, she pleaded with all her heart. You’ve brought so much happiness to us. So please, Jungkook.
 
 
Before leaving, Mrs. Kim asked if he would want freshly baked cookies with milk to warm up. Jungkook smiled a little wider this time and nodded.

“Okay. I’ll bake you some. It’ll be our little secret,” she winked and left the room.

Jungkook clutched his stomach. He was hungry. Maybe that was why his stomach suddenly did a somersault when he heard the word “Cookies”.

 
“Jungkook?” Taehyung called out slowly and pushed in the door. But Jungkook was asleep.

Taehyung looked at the clock as he placed down the tray which contained plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of warm milk.

4:00 p.m.
Taehyung noticed the lock of hair covering the younger male’s eyes so he sat beside the bed and removed it.

He smiled a little at the sight of Jungkook’s flickering eyelids. His face seemed to welcome the small smile with open arms as he felt his whole body become ten times lighter.

Then a soft whisper followed from the sleeping male’s lips. “Hyung?”

Jungkook opened his eyes lazily. His eyebrows furrowed due to the light but he rubbed his laziness away. Now that his vision was clear, he saw his beloved hyung seated beside him on his bed.