paralyzed | taekook

seven

past

nobody said a word after taehyung finished his anecdote.

it was clear that both shock and confusion were written all over yeowool's face, but for ahro, it was a whole another story. she was a physician — an occupation that relies on logics, and logics only. it would be hilarious if she ever put her trust over something superstitious. no science could explain how people traveled through space and time in such a short, painless episode, let alone a quick confession that was spoken without proof. 

minutes passed in pitch silence until taehyung grabbed both of ahro's hands, a slight hint of fear was hidden behind his eyes. at times like this, he realised that his love for her was like a brother and a sister, a man and a best friend. though she would be an extremely hard shell to crack, no matter what, her opinions mattered too.

"noona," he breathed unevenly. "do you believe me?"

she only stayed quiet.

though yeowool didn't exactly understand what taehyung was saying, not wanting his favourite prince to get hurt even more, he then emphasised, "ahro-yah . . ."

"i cant believe it," ahro stopped on her track. she tightened her grip on taehyung's long fingers, as if trying to get the consciousness back into his system. "no, i refuse to believe it. prince taehyung, time traveling is impossible!"

"but it's not!"

"are you still saddened over the king's recent death? should i give you some medicine to relax your nerves and anxiety-"

"noona, i'm fine," taehyung looked away. 

all he wanted right now was to see jungkook and drowned himself in his arms. to have him pat his back, making sure that somehow, at the end of the day, he would be alright. it was amusing how the forthcoming ruler of a kingdom as big as silla could find comfort in the shape of an art student whose presence was only there as a fake boyfriend, rather than the friends and family he had known for the rest of his life. 

but regardless,

wasn't it the least thing he deserved, after losing a part of himself?

"you know what? forget it," he paused to look at yeowool's worried face. "and hyung, the same thing goes with you too. just forget that this conversation ever happened and stop overanalysing everything. maybe, i shouldn't have expected you to take this seriously. this whole accusation is mine to blame . . ."

and with that, taehyung stood up from his bed and left the bedroom, leaving a contradicted ahro and disappointed yeowool to make rooms for their hearts.

present

"jeon jungkook, you're pathetic."

same restaurant, same boring outfit, just a different date. shaking his head in absolute disgust, jungkook could only wish for jimin to stop matchmaking him with literally half of the women's population of their university, and for him to stop saying 'yes' just because he was horrible at rejection. though it had been awhile ever since he last saw taehyung, his mind was still set on the man whose body was covered in traditional clothing and the strange smell of herbal perfume. 

today, jungkook was lucky that the girl who was sitting before him was none other than kang ahreum, a third year architecture major whose interest was pretty much similar to him.

same sex.

"i know that we're both only here because our stupid friends wanted us to," ahreum opened his mouth to take a small bite of the complementary bread. "but at least we can eat dinner and talk like normal acquaintances?"

jungkook almost got startled by the fact that she was showing such maturity over something so childish. she was definitely better than him. "y-yes . . ."

it didn't take long until ahreum called for a waiter, reciting at least two pasta menus and another pan of small pizza, completed with booze and dessert. most women he had been with would — ten out of ten — order the most basic kinds of salad and sparkling water. 

i mean, what are they? horses?

"so, jungkook," ahreum continued as they start eating, the garlic pesto sauce dripping from the edge of her lips. "do you have a boyfriend?"

"uhuk, uhuk!" jungkook immediately choked on his second slice.

"here, here . . . drink your beer."

"thank you," he nodded after gulping down the bitter liquid. "and n-no, i'm currently not in relationship with anyone, though i already h-have someone in mind."

"oh, really?" she raised the left of her eyebrows, as if signalling him to proceed.

"y-yeah, um, his name is kim taehyung and i've only met him once. the whole interaction was funny, precisely. it was when jimin-hyung forced me to go on another date, the one before this-" he stopped to point at their table. "-and the woman was annoying — definitely not the kind of a person i'd like to hang out with for more than an hour — so i asked for a strange passerby's help to escape, and turned out . . . the passerby wasn't as strange as i thought he would be."

"so, it was love at first sight," feeling somehow invested over the story, ahreum gushed and pulled a big smile before chewing down her food. "how adorable."

"but there's one problem with that."

"huh?"

"the day after the incident, we promised each other to meet again — fuck, i should've asked for his number — at the bus stop near our campus, which was the last place we visited before we parted ways," jungkook looked down, his appetite already lost in the gutter. "but sadly, he never showed up."

"oh my god, i'm so sorry to hear that-"

blurring out ahreum's condolence for a second, jungkook moved his gaze toward the window and felt their short-lived memories flashing before his eyes. from stepping out of the restaurant to curse on his phone, realising that his taehyung had been eavesdropping his conversation the whole time, staging a fake relationship to going on a simple arcades and convenience store date. the plans were nothing majestic from what he could have done, but the most important part of the date . . . was the fact that he was happy.

it was until he accidentally saw hanbok man wandering in front of the restaurant again, that jungkook realised, 

coincidence was only fate in disguise.

they meet again! i'll tell you in the next chapter how taehyung managed to travel back to the future and jungkook accidentally saw him through the window. but for now, i hope you enjoyed chapter seven ♡ 

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