V.A.N.T.E (Sequel To: Two Sided)

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Jungkook stared into Namjoon's eyes with a sort of hopelessness, wanting to have his head in denial to say it was impossible. His shoulder slumped and his head hung down, hand squeezing Namjoon's tighter, making his face contort in a quick flash of pain. "I can't do this to you, Joon," he almost sobbed. "I can't be with you if I love him. I can't- it's not fair to you. I'll never stop loving him-"

"I'm not saying you have to stop," Namjoon cut him off with a gentle tone, thumb rubbing the outer part of his hand. "You don't ever have to stop loving him. You just need to leave him. Leave him here."

Jungkook's doe eyes stayed wide as he breathed in shakily, nervous. He didn't have the confidence he'd be able to do that. Who was he to think he could just leave him in Korea along with everything else bad? "Joon-"

"If there ever comes a day you'd have to pick between us, I'd expect you to pick him," Namjoon spoke. "He's gone, yes, but there will be difficult choices ahead in life. Keep loving the memory of V for however long you have to. But if you hold onto it, we can't go. Letting someone go doesn't mean forgetting them."

A panic rose inside of Jungkook. He wanted to leave so bad, he hated it in Korea where everything bad happened to him, where he lost everyone he cared about. He just wanted a place to call home and feel safe without fearing for his life. And home was in an entirely different country, different continent. Miles and miles and miles and plane rides away.

Everything left would stay. He wouldn't be getting rid of them. He'd just be...putting them in storage.

And hopefully that storage would be forgotten in the long run-

"I'll just have to try my hardest in making you the happiest man in the world," Namjoon grinned.

"Why..???"

Namjoon kissed Jungkook's hand. "Because I need to make sure you don't leave me to go back to Korea because your little storage compartment will still be here. And you'll be allowed to love him again. You should always love him. I just need to keep you away so you don't hold onto that hurt."

Jungkook hitched a breath as Namjoon leaned over the table and captured his lips in a sweet and gentle kiss, lips lingering around each other for some minutes before they both fully pulled away, not bothering with the people giving them odd stares.

Jungkook sighed in relief, nodding. "Okay," he said, looking at Joon with some hope. "I'll love you like I've never loved another so I'm never tempted to come back. We'll leave everything here. The agency. The coffee shop. Yoongi. Hoseok. V......Jin.."

Jungkook's confident voice grabbed Namjoon's attention and he smiled lovingly, his dimple appearing as he nodded. "And I'll leave everything here. Jin. My past. The company. Taehyung. V. It'll all stay."

"We can both move on, Joonie...right?"

"We can." Namjoon walked around the table and kissed Jungkook's forehead, rubbing the top of his head. "And we'll be happier than we ever were here. Living a new life. With each other. One day, we'll say that we loved these people. Now, we love them. But in the future, it'll be past tense. And we'll be happy."

Jungkook couldn't show Namjoon the confidence that was slipping, the doubt in himself to leave his memories in the place he grew up. Love came at a price, and it could either be from death or pain.

And apparently, Jungkook had to experience both.

The pain in watching the love he was fond of die, and the pain of forcing himself to leave that love as a memory in a country he'd no longer live in. He smiled reassuringly to Joon even though his reassurance vanished, leaving him to feel like an empty shell.