a / n : haneul means sky, heaven.
DOWNPOUR | IOI
"after i met you, i haven't lost
the happy memories to the rain"
jungkook focus
he drives past several cars, vans and trucks on the highway before turning onto a winding road lined with evergreen trees. lush green flits by outside the window as jungkook drives down the empty road leisurely (the road lead to the muddy countryside so not many people drove down this particular road). windows are rolled down to let warmish air flow in and caress both jungkook and taehyung's skin, the weather lightening up now.
speaking of the latter, taehyung stirs in his sleep, mumbling incoherently before snuggling back against the leather seats. jungkook watches him do this through the rear view mirror, eyes watching his every move.
affirming that taehyung wasn't going to wake up, jungkook looks away and out of the driver's window, brown irises flitting over the emerald trees outside his windows, shaking slightly due to the slight wind.
thinking it was a serene sight and needing to urgently stretch his stiff legs, jungkook pulls onto the side of the road, parking his car with ease and pulling the key out of the ignition. he pushes open the car door and yawns loudly, standing up out of the car stretching his sore limbs.
he closes the car door with a backward glance to taehyung, assuring that the annoying older wouldn't wake up and disrupt the peacefulness with his demanding questions and whiny wails.
jungkook walks round the car to the bonnet, sitting against the navy metal casually with his palms on either side of him to prop him up.
inhaling the fresh air, jungkook tips his head back slightly to fully admire the view; majestic trees were lined up on either side of him, acting as a sort of grand pathway for him and him only.
haneul would've loved this, jungkook thinks subconsciously, riding down here on her motorcycle with-
. . . what the fuck, jungkook? he stops himself quickly, why're you thinking about her for? he asks himself, sitting upright and rubbing his temples as if he was currently experiencing a headache.
he removes his hand from his face and sighs deeply, hand snaking round to his back pocket to pull out his worn wallet.
he runs calloused fingertips over his old wallet, opening the half broken clasp to reveal several credit cards sitting in their allocated space, money notes peeking out from behind a half opened zip. instead of tucking the notes away by pulling at the zip, jungkook stares at the tiny photograph placed behind a plastic cover, distaste swirling inside his stomach as he continued to stare.
a girl with a blunt bob cut stares back at him, her dark fringe almost concealing her almond shaped eyes --almost concealing the scowl in her eyes. her lips were fixed into a prominent pout and jungkook sighs at her facial expression; she had hated taking photos and when jungkook had proposed the idea of taking a snap, she had sulked like a tiny kid, complaining that she looked too ugly. jungkook had thought otherwise at that time.
"girlfriend?"
jungkook's head shoots up at the sudden sound of someone's husky voice besides him. it was taehyung.
"that was a short sleep." jungkook comments. "and ex-girlfriend." jungkook corrects, hastily tucking the grainy photograph back into the clear folder of his wallet.
"why is she in your wallet then?" taehyung asks curiously, not thinking if it was something he was allowed to ask about or not.
listening to taehyung's words, jungkook abruptly pauses his actions, staring at the photograph sitting behind the plastic cover of his wallet.
"ah sorry, you still love her - right?" taehyung assumes out loud as he brings his hand to his face, rubbing his puffy eyes with the back of his hand.
with anger bubbling up in his stomach, jungkook looks up sharply, glowering darkly at a still sleepy taehyung, "what did you just say?"
love? what the fuck is he on about?
i don't love her. not anymore.
"why is she in your wallet if you don't love her?"
"why can't she be in my wall-"
"'cause it's awkward." taehyung cuts in simply, "does your ex still have a photo of you in her wallet or purse?"
no, she left me, why would she have me in her wa-
jungkook looks away.
"if you don't love her, you should just let her go. why're you still carrying her around?" taehyung says quietly, fiddling with the hem of his shirt whilst standing there, in thought.
"look," jungkook spits, "just shut up and go sit inside the car-"
"in fact, don't just let her go." taehyung, oblivious to jungkook's growing anger, slowly says as if tasting his words, "you, you should throw her away." taehyung says, a plan forming inside his head.
"excuse me?"
taehyung warms to his plan and walks round the bonnet of his car, standing in front of jungkook who sits there, watching him carefully.
"did she break your heart? did she make you sad?" taehyung suddenly asks, clutching his shirt where his heart would be, with one hand dramatically. "did she make you cry?"
"what the fuc-"
"she made you hurt right?" taehyung asks almost sympathetically, making jungkook's eyes flare with anger.
why hell is this idiot pitying-
"you should get your revenge! free yourself and your love for her!" taehyung exclaims, pity disappearing to reveal only enthusiasm, his brown eyes lighting up as a smile makes its way on to his face.
"do you have her number?"
"deleted it." jungkook growls, still annoyed at taehyung for pitying him.
"do you know it?"
"no."
taehyung's enthusiasm drains a little but soon reappears.
jungkook watches with confusion and slight annoyance as taehyung outstretches a hand towards him, smiling beatifically, "that's okay, get your lighter out."
"what?"
"do you wanna get rid of her or not?" taehyung asks impatiently.
and although he kept his ex's photo in his wallet, jungkook does want to get rid of haneul, has wanted to since they first separated but never mustered up the courage to throw out her photo in his wallet, or the beauty products nestled in the back of his bathroom cupboard or her scarf hanging off his house door. he'd convince himself he was too tired or it was too bothersome to deal with and ignore haneul's belongings but in reality, he just didn't want to throw her stuff out yet.
but he really does want to get rid of her from his mind, his life. he really does.
so with a mild glare sent to taehyung, jungkook rummages inside his jacket to find the familiar plastic object, handing the green coloured lighter to taehyung.
"great, stand up and take your ex's photo out." jungkook does as he's told - he doesn't know why he's listening to his captive, but he does, slowly pulling out haneul's photo.
taehyung hands him his lighter.
jungkook stands there in front of taehyung, one hand seats a lighter, the other seats haneul's photo.
"burn it." taehyung says simply. jungkook raises an eyebrow.
"when you burn it, think about her and think that your burning your memories with her as well. get it all out of your system."
what the fuck, he regards taehyung.
taehyung doesn't miss jungkook's raised eyebrow and smiles in response, "just do it, you'll feel better."
with an unconvinced sigh, jungkook lights up his lighter, flame flickering in the wind a little. with a glance at taehyung, jungkook brings the flame to the corner of the tiny rectangle imprinted with haneul's face.
his jaw clenches as the flame catches onto the edge, burning and blackening part of the photo already. he drops the photo on to the tarmac road below, all the whilst thinking about the best memories he made with haneul. choi haneul who was difficult, cold and harsh, personality resembling hell than 'haneul', but who jungkook piteously still loved with all his heart.
memories of smoking and laughing whilst sitting on a roof, watching the moon go down and watching haneul do her makeup the next morning, admiring her as she applied lip tint only for him to kiss it off.
he smiles fondly at the memory.
best memories hurriedly flit to worst memories though, and scenes of yelling and slamming doors now stayed on his mind, scenes of haneul leaving him and him pathetically crying after her, flashes behind his eyes. and instead of feeling sad or angry, he feels nothing. no emotions hit him as he watches the orange flame swallow up haneul's photograph; no happiness, no anger, no despair - he's devoid of any emotion or feeling as haneul burns silently.
and he's fucking relieved.
+
once haneul's photograph is reduced to nothing but wedges of blackened crisp paper, jungkook looks up to see taehyung sitting on his car's bonnet, happily munching into a brunch bar with his ankle crossed over his other ankle daintily.
unsure about what to say to taehyung an his method of letting someone go, jungkook just asks, "where'd you get the brunch bar?"
"from your backpack - sorry, i got a lil hungry." taehyung says, not looking at all apologetic as he digs further into the bar.
"you didn't try to the escape?" jungkook asks as he looks back at the black flakes now littering the road.
"nope, your phone's freaking dead, i can't drive and we're on a deserted road so no help there either." taehyung hums nonchalantly.
"oh." jungkook doesn't say anything further as he eyes the remains of the photograph.
"so. . .?"
jungkook looks up again, "what?"
"did it work or not then? do you feel free, at peace, relieved etcetera etcetera?" taehyung asks, finishing his brunch bar.
jungkook shoves his hands into his jacket pocket, walking over (and purposely over haneul's photograph) towards taehyung who watches him warily.
"at peace wouldn't be the word for it but i do feel kinda better in a way." jungkook scratches the back of his neck and musters up a tiny smile, feeling slightly awkward talking about feelings.
burning his ex's photo didn't exactly banish the painful longing his heart had but it quelled something inside of him, liberating him and making him feel more at peace with himself than before.
taehyung focus
as jungkook climbs into his seat, taehyung smiles to himself, remembering what his father had once said to him when he was young;
"taehyung, rather than sit there and do nothing whilst someone hurts, you should always help them, show them that they'll move on and get better." taehyung's smile widens as he remembers what his father had said afterwards as well,
"and you know, kid, if you help someone who's unhappy become happy again, you feel a little bit of happiness too."
i don't know why i 'helped' my kidnapper but im glad i did, taehyung thinks as he jumps off the car bonnet, brushing off any dust or dirt and straightening his shirt in the process.
seeing a smile on jungkook's face is better than seeing that death glare -- it suits his features, makes him more good looking, taehyung muses as he rounds the bonnet, heading towards the passenger seat.
he stops walking abruptly, right foot hovering mid air.
more good looking? did i just say that about my kidnapper?
what the hell, taehyung?
he shakes his head in disbelief and opens the passenger door, climbing in.
_____
there'll be more of haneul later on,,
also the whole burning a photo to get rid of a pesky ex was inspired by an indian film called 'jab we met', doubt any of you guys know the film but lol, fun fact [!1!1]