ᴀʙᴏᴠᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴇʟsᴇ || ᴍ.ʏɢ + ᴘ.ᴊᴍ ✔️

chapter twenty-one .

He narrowed his gaze at Jungkook, then swallowed his breath, subconsciously knowing exactly what this person was referring to, but not wanting to admit it. "Avoid who? I don't know what you're t-"

"Yoongi. I'm talking about Yoongi, Taehyung." Jungkook squeezed his arm again. "You need to talk to him."

Tae turned his head away, a little stubborn, a little overwhelmed by this sudden demand. It came off a bit forceful, but more than that it was meant to be encouraging. It struck Taehyung even harder than Jungkook expected it to.

"Talk...to him?" The words fell out of his mouth and hung in the air around his ears. Then they met his ears, and Taehyung let out a ragged breath. "Talk to him..." He hung his head. "But what am I supposed to say?"

"What you're feeling," Jungkook answered simply. "I mean, I know you want to apologize, but it's more than just that, isn't it? There's nothing I can tell you specifically, just...whatever you've been keeping inside. It's not good to bottle things up, ya know."

"I know." Tae looked shamefully at the ground. "I don't typically bottle things up. There's someone I always talk to when I'm upset."

"Jimin?"

"No, not Jimin." He shook his head. "Someone else. Someone I've never met before."

Jungkook let go of Taehyung's arm. The brown-haired boy's face had suddenly grown solemn again, but for a reason not even Jungkook knew, despite being this "someone" Tae was referring to.

"I'll talk to Yoongi. Thank you, Jungkook."

He was gone for about twenty minutes--that was how long it took to not only find Yoongi and Jimin, but also to wait for the right opportunity to approach and speak with Yoongi. Jungkook didn't move from his spot. He wanted to be there for when Tae came back. If Tae came back. And he did, visibly a bit teary-eyed, but the weight of his mind had grown less, and for that, Jungkook was happy.

"Feel better now?"

"To some extent, yeah," Taehyung replied, offering a slight smile. "Although..." He paused. "Jungkook..."

"What is it?"

"Would you mind if I came over your house tonight?"

Jungkook had been in the middle of drinking a lemonade he'd purchased while Tae was gone, and he nearly spat it out due to this unexpected request. His face turned a little red. "W-why, all of a sudden?"

"You're allowed to say 'no'," Taehyung whispered, sticking out his bottom lip. "It's just...there are still some things--well, one thing in particular, that's been weighing on my mind lately, and I feel like I need to talk to someone about it."

"What about that person you mentioned before? You know, the one you've never met-"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Jungkook's heart dropped like a rock. Oh, crap. That doesn't sound good at all. Does he know? How could he know?! I've done all that I could to prevent him from finding out, so how could he possibly-

"Is it okay?"

"Hm?" Act cool. Act cool. Don't turn him down, it'll be extremely suspicious. "Y-yeah, that's fine."

"Do you need to tell your parents first or something?"

"They're actually on a trip right now. It's just me and my sister at home."

Taehyung quirked an eyebrow. "You have a sister?"

"Yeah." Jungkook nodded. "She's a couple years older than me, but we're pretty close. Do you have any siblings?" Even though I already know the answer to my own question.