CONNECTED (Rewriting)

.Twenty.

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Author's POV

From that day on, all of them started suffering. The members were desperately searching for Jungkook everyday and always fought amongst themselves. Whereas Jungkook's depression kept getting worse.

He again had suicidal thoughts. He again started cutting. But shouldn't he be happy after leaving his hyungs behind? No. His mind may hate them but his heart still loved them. So damn much.

He still wanted to be with them, knowing that they were ok. But his mind kept reminding him of the abuse. The words they said to him. He was having some sort of an emotional conflict inside him which was again suppressing his little space.

The manager and the CEO? Well, they were happy and sad. Sad that the younger had to go through the abuse and happy that it was finally over for him. Obviously they were disappointed in the members but they knew that, at the end of the day, it was Jungkook's decision to stay.

The other members were pretty determined to find their missing member but their hopes were going down day by day. After a month, they were sure that they had searched almost half of Seoul.

As they days were going by, their desperation was only growing bigger. They were having a hard time with themselves too. Without having others to comfort them, some of the members were going too hard on themselves, while the others contemplated whether to help them.

Jungkook's absence was really taking a toll on them. SeokJin had almost lost all hope of finding him. Namjoon kept on thinking negatively and blaming only himself for all this. Yoongi started self-harming. Hoseok rarely talked. Taehyung kept spacing out. And lastly, Jimin kept on crying, out of nowhere.

If anyone was to see this state of the band, they would not be able to guess that these were the people who were happily messing around in v-lives or run episodes.

But destiny had other plans. After two months...

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SeokJin's POV

We have been looking for Jungkook for two months now and, as anyone can tell, we have not succeeded. Today, we are going to the outskirts of the city region, I hope we find him there.

We reached the place for today and started the usual. Looking around, asking random people and looking into hotels. This place was more of a residential area so I don't think he would be here.

After about four hours of looking for him, we were tired so we decided to take a break. We looked around a lot and saw a cozy cafe. So we decided to rest there for a bit.

We entered the cafe, which was almost empty, and were greeted by a woman. "Good morning sir! How may I help you?" She asked. "A table for six please." Namjoon said to which she nodded.

We all sat down at the table and decided our orders. The waiter soon came and I was going to place the order when, "what would you like, sir?" I immediately recognised the voice.

"Jungkook?!"

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Jungkook's POV

Today was just like others. I was working in the kitchen when noona asked me to get the orders from table 5. I didn't think much about it and went there. I asked the usual, "what would you like sir?" Not noticing the people sitting in front of me as my attention was in adjusting my apron.

Then I heard a voice. "Jungkook?!" I also unconsciously answered him,

"Hyungie?!"

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Author's POV

It would be an understatement to say that all seven of them were confused. Although all of them had masked on, their voices were enough for them to recognise each other. At the mention of Jungkook's name, every member looked up and indeed saw Jungkook.

He was a bit less pale than before but still as thin as ever. On seeing Jungkook, Jimin, Taehyung and Jin lunged at him, engulfing him in a bone crushing hug. While the other three were still digesting the fact that their two month search was finally over.

Jungkook, on the other hand, was frozen in his place. "So they did care?" He thought and voiced this out by mistake, making the others stare at him. He just gulped, thinking he said something wrong.

But to his surprise, the other three also joined the group hug. "We have been searching for you for two months, Kookie!" Hoseok beamed. "We were so worried about you." Namjoon said. "We are sorry, kook." Taehyung said as he broke the hug.

The other three were too caught up at the moment to say anything. Jungkook, himself was on the verge of tears. He was right! They did care! "B-but w-why?" He asked, head low and voice barely audible.

"Because we love you kook! We want to change everything! We... We want to apologise." Jin said. "But y-you h-have n-amjoon h-hyung." He reasoned. "I don't love him anymore." Jin responded, voice colder than ice. To which Namjoon almost cried.

"B-but...if he h-hit me when I e-even looked at y-you... he'd k-kill me i-f ..." He trailed off, his face was the defination of terror. Now Namjoon finally cried. And Jin glared at him with the "Look what you did" face.

Then he turned towards the youngest. "He won't do anything kookie." He reassured but Jungkook wasn't having it. "H-hyung... Why? Why do you want me? I-i can't take the- the beatings any-anymore. P-lease. L-leave me a-alone. Sorry." He said, voice cracking at the end.

No matter what he was saying out loud, he couldn't lie, he still missed his hyungs. He still had the same feelings for them as he had years back.

He did want his hyungs back but the abuse was literally intolerable for him. "We won't do anything, kook. See, you were supposed to be with us the whole time." Yoongi said as he showed the youngest his own crystal.

While doing so, Jungkook also saw his hyungs scares, decorating his wrist, but decided to talk about it some other time. He then looked up, questioningly. "It broke after you left kook. You were supposed to be with us." Jimin explained the confused maknae as he looked at them with doe eyes.

Namjoon finally composed himself. "We are sorry for what we did to you kook. We really are. Please forgive us and come back." He pleaded and everyone agreed.

Now it was Jungkook's decision to either accept the new hyungs or still grieve on the past monsters. So he chose...

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