chapter 14 -
bruises ★彡
"how i wish i could choose between heaven and hell. how i wish i would save my soul."
☆*:.｡. o♢o .｡.:*☆
„Hey" the shallow voice brought Kook from his distant world, eyelids dropping slowly as he exhaled a sigh of reality. „What's up? You're so quiet."
„Nothing, feeling sick is all." Responded the boy curtly, holding onto the napkin in his hands as he shredded the corners so that their broken remains fell to the stained carpet. He felt cold when Taehyung slipped his hand around his waist, dropping his head against his shoulder and settling there. „Why are you worrying?"
„You're pale," Taehyung said gruffly, pushing around a piece of confetti on the bench top. „I don't like when you're pale. Reminds me of when you were dead." Kook stiffened at the response, nodding slightly as the memory of just moments ago evoked some unsettling hole in his stomach.
„I am not ... dead." He said nothing more, turning away with burning cheeks; the rest of him ice cold. The room held laughter and small conversation, music running through the sound system and deafening the ears of those who tuned to listen.
„No really, tell me what's up." Taehyung iterated eventually, sitting up and putting his martini to the side. Kook didn't answer. Instead studying the room with dark midnight eyes, an all too familiar glint in that powerful stare. Madness. Someone had provoked his wolf. „You are going to lose control."
„Not yet." He mumbled stiffly, tightening his jaw as he locked eyes with a male across the room. On that man's face, a wicked smile was displayed as he saw that mercurial suffering behind the daunting eyes.
„Who is that?"
„Do not know." Kook lied, pursing his lips and turning away, forcing a smile when he met Taehyung's warm chocolate irises. „I have never danced before. Maybe it will take my mind off of this." Without waiting for the other to agree to his proposition, he glided up onto his feet and took the older's warm caramel hands into his own ivory touch. Then he led the boy to the centre of the room as the last song ended and a gradual flow of soothing music flowed through the speakers.
„Why are all the songs so slow?" Taehyung asked, distracted by the music as he loosely held onto Kook's hand.
„Mama chose them, said you should teach me how to dance." With that he tugged gently at the older boy, bringing his chest closer until they touched gently. In that moment, with Kook standing under the bright blue white lighting of the room, Taehyung saw flawless beauty, his dazzling eyes alight with thrill and wonder, cherry lips agape in a silent awe at first listen of the piece that serenaded him into a spiralling dreamland. There was something about how the blue tint complemented his ivory skin so perfectly, bringing Taehyung's warm honey skin closer as he brought a thumb up to the boy's chin and tilted it back ever so slowly,
„May I have this dance?" He said smoothly, breath taken by his stunning partner.
„You shall." Kook responded behind a hidden smile, his bashful glow only adorning his beauty. With that Taehyung lowered his right hand to Kook's waist and adjusted the boy's own in his, extinguishing the space between their bodies so their noses touched and breaths entwined into one.
„So you have never danced before?" Taehyung quizzed, stepping forward slowly as Kook dropped his head to watch the steps; then he followed in sync, not breaking his gaze from then on.
„No. My parents would dance in the kitchen, it was when I first knew I wanted love. Sixteen years ago I knew you were the one. It just took fourteen years to finally meet you." It was as if the reminiscent words broke down some stronghold inside the boy, his heart pouring free as his head dropped down to Taehyung's chest and tears began to flow freely; without warning they gushed across his cheeks, filled with relief as he held onto his love tight. „I have waited so long for you, Tae." He choked out, still swaying to the rhythm of the song as Taehyung held his cheek tenderly, hand guiding his waist from side to side.
„I'm here now." Whispered his lover back, dropping his hand to his pocket as he stepped back to admire the beautiful mess his boyfriend had become. Kook looked up through glistening lashes, smiling weakly when he noticed the familiar red velvet box in his hands.
„Are you going to ..."
„No no. This is something you gave me as a sign of your love. It has been my biggest regret that my clouded mind broke it. And that in doing so I damaged your love." It gradually dawned on Kook what exactly was inside the box, his hand tracing his skin before resting over his lip, not blinking as he watches Taehyung reveal the bracelet, silver and gold chain with a small black heart pendant hanging loosely from it.
„You ... you fixed it." Taehyung nodded, smiling weakly when he saw the tears only continue to fall.
„Why're you crying? Don't cry." Kook shook his head, not able to answer as he pulled Taehyung into his arms, curled up in his radiating warmth. „I love you, baby." The words echoed in his ears whilst cheers sounded around them, the floor cleared so that only the two stood in serene comfort.
From afar, Sohyun stood with her back to the wall, head resting against the archway with pools of emotion in her eyes, watching her grown up son hold onto the boy he loved so tight. Nobody in the room cared that this was a so called act of obscenity; these two misfits had found love, and it was all that mattered.
„He's grown up." Murmured a deep voice beside Sohyun, she turned to see her husband who too was watching their only child kiss his boyfriend tenderly as they danced to the remnant of the song.
„He really has. Our beautiful boy." She admitted, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear before turning to see Shiwoo still staring fondly at her. „Why do you look so lovesick tonight?" She slight gasped in surprise when her husband pulled her closer, a mirrored action of their son and his partner.
„We stopped doing this when he left. You were never ... happy. You lost that spark in your eyes." He smiled, cupping his wife's cheeks as he kissed the tip of her nose. „But I see it now."
„Stop this nonsense and dance with me."
„Yes ma'am," Smirked Shiwoo, taking his wife's hand and leading her to the centre, winking at Taehyung who pulled Kook closer and grinned back. The boy looked shocked at the sudden possessive act, lifting his head to see the dominance in his eyes. He went to give a snarky response, but grew stiff when a cold hand touched his thigh.
It wasn't Taehyung.
Taehyung's hands were warm, and held his hips firmly. This feeling was like ice, seeping through the cloth of his jeans and freezing his skin. The hand did not move and Kook couldn't bring himself to look back with the fear that it would be him. Of course it was him, who else would it be?
„You've gone all stiff." Taehyung commented, loosening his grip to stare down into Kook's eyes. Fear. „Hey, what happened?"
„I ... I think I need to use the bathroom." He said unconvincingly, pulling away and briefly looking back to see the same man standing by the door, watching his every move.
„Why? Do you feel sick?" Yes. He wanted to say, but held his tongue and instead shook his head. Then he pulled away entirely, refusing to let the older touch him as his finger played with the bracelet on his wrist. „You don't look okay, Kook. What's happening?"
„NOTHING ALRIGHT!" He growled in frustration, realising what he had done and shooting his head up to see the shock etched on Taehyung's face. „Sorry I did not mean to ..."
„Fine then. Go." Taehyung retorted with spite, bitterness seething through in his tone as he turned away and walked over the the small alcohol trolley. The pile of overwhelming encounters reaching a plateu of chaos. Without thinking he pulled at one of the bottles of gin, pouring a blind amount into a glass and beginning to down it. The taste was disgusting, and it burned his esophogus. Yet Taehyung didn't stop, falling against the wall and cradling his head in his free hand.
Kook held his wrist and swallowed hard, feeling his eyes stinging with sorrow to see the state his boyfriend was in. It was like he was unravelling, turning on parts of himself until there was nothing but a shadow left. Because of me.
„Okay ..." he whispered, turning slowly on his heel and slipping through the people by the door to escape into the empty hallway. The light to the bathroom was seeping through the crack under the door, Kook knowing it was where he had to go as he took hesitant steps towards his impending pain.
He's going to kill me. Yet that didn't stop him.
。〜 ‥ 。。。‥ 〜。
The echoing recurrence of dripping water could be heard as the room amplified each small sound. Or maybe it was just Kook's senses that were blaring with warning signs. The small confined space felt cold and stifled, the boy slipping in with the door open at a meagre gap before shutting it behind him. This is what the man wanted. Them alone in a confined room. Where no one could hear him scream.
„Hello, Jungkook." Spoke a voice that belonged to the man sitting on the edge of the bathtub, his eyes boring into the boy who stood frozen at the entrance. He watched the water flow from the faucet, dripping down the side of the bath and into the pool of water that half filled the tub. What is he going to do? Kook looked down to see that his hands were visibly shaking, eyes squeezing shut whilst simultaneously fisting his hands.
„Mingyu." He exhaled slowly, refusing to look this man in the eye.
„Glad to know I made an impression."
„You have said enough for me to remember." Kook snapped, holding his words as he knew one slip up would elicit whatever it was Mingyu desired from him. „My babysitter. The night I ran away."
„The night you destroyed my brother." Mingyu growled, standing up and turning the flow of water off, Kook stepped back, his heel coming in contact with the door as he brought a hand to his racing heart. „You know how it felt? To walk into your room and see my four year old brother in his own pool of blood."
„You know how it felt? For me to see what I had done to the one person who accepted me. I never meant to hurt hi -"
„THEN WHERE IS HE NOW?!" Kook flinched as a fist came in contact with the plaster just millimetres from his cheek. The tanned skin a reminder of Taehyung as he swallowed and stared up into the only part of Mingyu that diversified him from his boyfriend. His scowl that showed absolutely hatred.
„Dead." He whispered in despair, dropping his arms so they rested by his side. „I killed him."
„Like I thought." Mingyu spat, the saliva landing just below Kook's left ear. „You deserve hell, beasts like you should rot in a prison."
„I know." Kook responded in surrender, looking away for one second to breathe before returning to stare up at his soon to be murderer's face. Without having time to blink, Mingyu had lunged for something by his side, pulling back a second later and shoving a rough dark grey towel over Kook's face. It muffled any attempt for him to scream. He stumbled over his feet as he was thrown against the bathroom vanity. A choked gasp escaped through the towel before his head was thrown back against the marble, a percussion of dizziness rocking his head from side to side.
„You fucking killed my brother!" He iterated with fury, dropping the material when he was satisfied with the boy's silence. Instead of using the towel, he shoved his hands forward and pushed on the boy's throat, strangled gasps slipping passed as Kook brought his own hands up to the lethal touch.
„P -please!" He choked, feeling his lungs constrict with desperation, needing air but unable to get it. Mingyu didn't care, this was what he wanted, to see the murderer of his brother be tortured until there was nothing left of him.
With a harsh shove and a large gulp of air, Kook freed his throat and started gasping for breath, sliding down the basin and coughing up dry saliva. „Stop." He croaked, dropping his head and trying to find anything that could keep him from passing out. Then he shot his head up when he saw that Mingyu had obtained a weapon from a bag in the corner of the room. It was a small bat. One made of thick iron that shone under the fluorescent lighting.
„I'm not stopping until your body moves no more." Mingyu snarled, and he brought the bat down with a force so strong, it made the bones in Kook's shoulder crack. The bat came in contact with the top of his arm, a jolting pain shooting through his body as he writhed at the agony, throwing his head back and shamelessly screaming.
Then the beating repeated, on and on with each hit being harder and with more power than the last.
Mingyu let out every bit of his sorrow in his swing, stopping at nothing, even when he heard Yugyeom's cry in the boy's own. For he had lost any sense of reason, only believing in one thing: revenge.
。〜 ‥ 。。。‥ 〜。
Taehyung stood in the depths of the shadows, the pooling chill from the lack of warmth soothing against his flushed skin. The alcohol had finally begun to numb his senses, every bit of anger towards his lover dissipated. Maybe it wasn't anger, but it was concern; concern for the boy who looked so terrified. What was going on behind Taehyung's shielded vision? Who was making this fearless boy so afraid?
He watched from a distance, every guest piling up their gifts for the returned boy onto a silken fabric table, all chatting happily in impatient wait. Where had the birthday boy disappeared to? Was what all of them seemed to wonder, occasionally glancing around the room expectantly. Taehyung stayed still, eyes glued to a stain on the wall with devoid emotion.
„You don't look so hot, how many drinks have you had?" Shiwoo approached his son's boyfriend with a frown, looking over his appearance sceptically.
„Enough." Taehyung mumbled incoherently, figuring the toxic drink was doing something to his throat as it was getting increasingly more difficult to breathe. He put down the drink almost instantly when blotches in front of his eyes started to swirl over his vision. „I think ..."
„Hey, what's up?" Taehyung shook his head haphazardly, lazily rubbing his fingers over his forehead as he forced a breath of air. „Do you want me to get some help?" Unable to reply, he nodded frantically, looking up through clouded vision in search of his connected lover. Could this be ...? He didn't need any further thought, the full force of pain jolting down his arm told him enough.
As Shiwoo turned his back, he tensed in a tremulous fear, perturbed by the shattering scream that erupted from Taehyung's throat. Like a ripple effect everyone turned and backed away, all eyes on the journalist who had collapsed to the floor, sobbing into his arm as he clutched onto his shoulder desperately.
Ten seconds later he cried again.
This time he writhed, body arching in attempt to escape the pain coursing through his bones. It looked like the boy was crazy, screaming in pain when really there was nothing to implement that pain. But Shiwoo still regarded the boy with trepidation.
„K -Kook." He choked in between strained gasps, holding onto his arm and twitching with each partial movement. Before Shiwoo could ask about the distressed call of his son's name, Sohyun appeared in the doorway, lip in between her teeth in stark fear.
„It's Jungkook. He ... He is in the bathroom. Screaming."
。〜 ‥ 。。。‥ 〜。
Kook laid on the dirty bathroom floor, the entire right side of his body wore purple-yellow patches of bruise. It hurt beyond the raw pain, he could hardly focus on the broken room all around him. His head pulsed with strain. His throat coated in lava. It seemed that everything hurt beyond what he thought was bearable. Bruises and fingers marked his imperfect skin. His eyes stayed drifted shut, not wanting to open them and see the torturer above him.
Because he knew if he did ... he would see himself.
„Does it hurt?" He nodded barely, adjusting his leg so it covered his stomach, feeling it ache with a piercing intrusion. „Good ." These seconds of grace were pushing him over the edge. He wanted to die, this cowering and crying did nothing but encourage the man.
„Make it ... stop." Kook weakly pleaded, eyelids fluttering up to stare into Mingyu's reflective eyes. He had that insane craze in them, that broken faith. The tall dark haired male snorted, turning away and bringing his knuckles to his nose before hefting the bat and dropping it to the tiles. The shattering of ceramic tore Kook away as he shut his eyes and listened.
„How did you kill him?" Mingyu said, turning away and walking up to the bath.
„I ... shot him." Kook answered remorsefully, tensing up when he heard a fist come in contact with the door. „Papa ..." He croaked, reaching out to the door but being promptly pulled back to the older male's firm chest. He gave up fighting, having no strength left, instead hanging his head and letting his pliant body be thrown into the tub filled with ice water.
The cold against his bruises numbed the pain. But as his head came in contact with the faucet, he crumpled into the depths of the shallow water and laid still. Head just millimetres from going under as he stared distantly at Mingyu. „He loved me."
„Yet you killed him ... you murdered him in cold blood. For that. You don't deserve to walk on this earth,"and he was pushed under, mouth filling with the cleansing water as he inhaled desperately. Then the screaming stopped, and the struggling ceased. Kook laid motionless under the surface, held by an iron grip, watching. It wasn't his life he had lived that he saw, more so the one he thought he may never.
He saw his father, holding onto his own frail body as he was told that his son was dead. That the child he had searched fifteen years of his life for had slipped through his fingers. He saw his mother, unable to say a word, lost in her hopeless reality.
The one who truly brought his mind caving in was Taehyung. The sweet boy who had given him life so many times, breaking down at the sight of his lost love. He would suffer too, feeling the impact of it all. But this reciprocal pain they shared was a one sided payment. Kook's life relied on the beating heart of his lover. Yet if he were to die, Taehyung would live on, free to go beyond this tormented life they had created. The thought of losing this connection, of leaving his love alone was what finally broke the fragile creation of his heart.
。〜 ‥ 。。。‥ 〜。
a/n:
do you think mingyu's reasons for attempting murder on kook are rational? what do you think of his character and would you like to see more of him?
i just wanna reiterate that i love every single character in this book even if they are based off real people and it in no way reflects who they are in real life. i need someone to be the antagonist, and these two have a strong connection with jungkook in real life, so it makes sense to use them as strong characters in the book.
so yeah, don't hate the characters.