𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐒 | 𝐊- 𝐏𝐎𝐏

𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗂𝖿𝗍𝗒 𝖾𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍

Five days. That's how long you had been in "hiding". Five days was how long it had been since you last took a shower, eaten an actual meal, or actively talked to someone. You had told your boss you were too sick to work and spent your time curled up in your bed with your face shoved into your pillows.

Seokjin was worried about you, and when Seokjin was worried, no one was safe. His mama-bear instincts went from zero to one-hundred so fast it almost gave you whiplash. Whenever he wasn't working, he was by your side, stroking your hair, drying tears, singing soothing lullabies and trying in vain to get you to eat something.

Of course, the boys and your mother wondered what had driven you into such a state, but you never said. If you dared let spill the real reason, there would be a hunting party sent out after Taehyung and your recently placated brothers would be leading it all.

When they asked questions, you only gave them one-word answers, mostly: "Yes", "No", "Nothing". They refused to leave you alone, and while the company was nice, it also made you a little sad. You didn't deserve to be pampered and taken care of after you had left Taehyung so nastily. You felt horrible, cruel, embarrassed.

Taehyung called, and called, and texted, and called ... just like your days in university. The unwelcome deja vu made you sick to your stomach. Hoseok took notice of you staring at your screen one day, Taehyung's caller ID filling up the screen, and began interrogating you until Yoongi and Jeongguk forced him to back off by muscling him out of your room.

On the second day of your wallowing, the boys had to go back to Busan. They were all reluctant to return, but your brothers promised to call if there was any development. Hoseok tried his hardest to take a few more days off work, but the dance studio needed he and Jimin back as soon as possible – they couldn’t afford to let their best teachers take any more time away.

You felt alone in your apartment, Seokjin off at work and Jeongguk at his classes a few days during the week and, of course, because someone up there just loves to tease you, Eomma was bedridden with the flu. You didn’t have the heart to contact Jamie or the boys, and you just felt lonely. You did it to yourself. This dark, thick loneliness was all your own doing.

Taehyung's calls and texts were easy to ignore, but it was harder when he actually came to your house. To his good fortune, Seokjin was the one who answered the door and not Jeongguk. He told you that Taehyung looked like he had been crying, and judging by the dark bags under his eyes, he had been for a few days. He begged to see you, but Seokjin reluctantly turned him away, knowing you weren't ready yet. It broke your heart to know that he was suffering too, but you couldn't face him yet – you had been such an ass.

Dark voices in your mind kept on telling you how awful you had treated him and how you didn't deserve to be his partner if you couldn't even handle something like that. You heard him telling Sangmi that he loved you and he didn’t want her, but you could only focus on the bad. You just had to ruin everything you loved. Everything good turned sour the moment you touched it, like a troll with a black thumb.

But didn’t he hurt you first? He went to Sangmi. He betrayed you ... didn't he?

Then again, you weren't dating at the time when he slept with Sangmi, but he was still pleading with you to talk to him and telling you over and over again that he needed you. Had he turned to Sangmi because you ignored him? Would it have been different if you had answered his calls or even answered just one text? If you ever fixed things between you, could you trust him not to do it again?

These thoughts brought on a new wave of tears. You sobbed into your pillow, staining it with tears and snot. Everything ached from crying so much and lying dormant for the past few days. Your body had grown so used to lying motionless that every move had your joints creaking and cracking. You wailed, knowing you were hurting yourself and everyone else all because you were so stupid and stubborn!