broken ghosts

part twenty-five

However, when Taehyung entered his room later that night, what he found was far from the euphoric state Jungkook was in.

When Taehyung entered his best friend's room, his nose was immediately attacked by a strong scent of alcohol. His eyes landed on Jungkook lying in bed, a smile on his face despite the tears running down his face endlessly. He looked like a mess, staring into space next to him as if there was something worth looking at there.

Taehyung walked to the bed, doing his best not to break any of the bottles covering the ground. He shook Jungkook carefully, flinching when his best friend stopped staring into space to glare at him as if he had just killed someone he loved right before his eyes.

But as Taehyung ignored his glare and tried to make him stand up, wanting to make him shower, Jungkook started crying out loud suddenly. He was mumbling incoherent thoughts, gripping on Taehyung's clothes, almost panicked.

The older decided he should just let him sleep, giving up on trying to get him out of bed. He tucked him in bed, brought him water and cleaned his room while Jungkook started snoring quietly, a few tears still flowing from his eyes somehow.

And as Taehyung did all this for his best friend, he didn't even realize tears were streaming down his own cheeks.

Because he knew why Jungkook had lost control that night. He knew why he had had to carefully put back pictures of you in a box hidden at the back of his best friend's closet. He knew what Jungkook was painfully whispering in his sleep.

And even though no one was there to see it, Taehyung was just as broken, and he was hurting just as much on that day.

-

— back to present

Knocks on your door made you flinch as you were focused on your makeup. Today was your birthday and you had planned to spend the night with Sunhi and some other friends, but you weren't supposed to meet each other before later that day so you were surprised when someone knocked in the middle of the day.

You went to open the door, and a second later your ears were filled with screams and you found yourself engulfed in a giant hug, several pair of arms wrapping themselves around you.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y/N !" Taehyung screamed in your ear and everyone started wishing you a happy birthday, smiling faces surrounding you everywhere.

"What are you doing here ?" you asked once you were finally able to breathe when they all let go of you.

You looked around you and your heart filled with joy. Everyone was here : Jimin, Taehyung, Namjoon, Sunhi, and even Jin. And obviously Jungkook, who was looking at you with a soft smile you hadn't seen in a long time. A smile that seemed made just for you.

"You're not going out, the party is here with us !" Taehyung said happily, and you let out a chuckle, looking at Sunhi expecting her to say he was kidding. However, she looked at you with an apologetic smile as everyone started preparing your apartment for the party without even waiting for your agreement.

And that's how in less than an hour, everyone was ready to party in your living-room as if they hadn't arrived just an hour ago. But you'd be lying if you said it wasn't the best idea they could have had on your birthday.

-

A few hours later, your apartment was somehow way more packed as other friends had arrived, and everyone was already pretty tipsy. You could hear loud music playing, laughters echoing around you and Taehyung hyping everyone up at times.

You decided to go lie down in your bed for a moment as you started to feel a little sleepy. However, your nap was interrupted a few minutes later when someone opened your bedroom door and stumbled to your bed before lying next to you, not noticing you were there.