"What's up, my Queen?" Taehyung smiled at his sister as she rolled her eyes at his antics. Rei bowed respectfully and tried not to make eye contact with her, still kind of scared of the girl.
As soon as Taehyung saw the text on his phone first thing in the morning, he woke up Rei and drove to see his sister about the matter. Taehyung made sure Jungkook was in good hands with the guards before they left and now there they were, anxious to know what Queen CL has found.
"Taehyung. And Rei, was it?" She turned to look at Rei, the girl nodding with her eyes glued to the floor as Taehyung sighed loudly.
"Why are you like this?" He glared at his sister as he went closer to Rei before he raised her chin to make her look at him. "Don't mind her. She's just kidding. Right, Sis?" He raised a brow at CL.
"I-It's fine, Tae." Rei stuttered before she cleared her throat.
"You know it takes me some time to form my impression of someone, Taehyung. I know you love her but that's what you said about the others and where are they now?" CL spoke as she waved her hands matter of factly.
Taehyung narrowed his eyes at her before he sighed again, dropping the subject which was probably the best because he was going to answer some questions about the others when they'd leave the penthouse.
"Whatever. What was it that you found about Jungkook?" Taehyung said, moving to look out the window at the crowded streets below them.
"Yes. After some chats with Chanyeol, I've found out that there are some artifacts that might help bring back Jungkook's sanity." CL looked through the stack of papers in front of her, searching for the piece that held the names of the items they'd need.
"Chats? He just happened to tell you this willingly?" Taehyung chuckled bitterly, looking at his sister.
"Not willingly, but let's not get into details." She waved him off, clearly not pleased to reveal her methods of persuasion. "Ah, here it is." She said as she pulled a piece a paper from the stack, handing it to Taehyung.
"What is this?" He questioned as he turned the paper in his hand to read the names. "The Sword of Manitu and the Twin Mayan Mirrors." Taehyung looked at her confused. "Where are we supposed to find these things?"
"I will have someone to search for them and when they'll find them, you'll be the one to escort them back home." She announced, standing from her chair. "Now, go home and try to keep Jungkook from hurting himself any longer."
"How are we supposed to do that? He won't listen to anything I say and he only wants to be with Rei." He looked at the ground in front of his sister's feet, sadness clear in his voice.
"He needs you as much as he needs Rei. Don't show him your sorrow and try to be more active with him. I don't know, go on a vacation or something." She shrugged.
"I don't know about that. I'll think about it. Just call me when you have the artifacts." He sighed, taking Rei's hand into his and heading for the elevators.
The whole ride back to their home, all Rei could think about was the vacation CL talked about. It was summer as well and it would be nice to go clear their minds and relax after everything that happened even though they weren't free of worries. But she wanted to be alone with her boyfriend to get to knew each other better outside the vampire world. She knew how selfish she sounded but it was true. Rei loved Jungkook as her best friend and she hated seeing him the way he was but that didn't change the fact that she needed some alone time with Taehyung, her actual boyfriend.
For the last three months, all she did was watch Taehyung spend every little second with Jungkook and when he wasn't with him, he'd talk about him. Rei wanted that vacation now that she thought about it but how will she convince Taehyung to come along without Jungkook?
"Let's go check on Jungkook first and then we'll do whatever you want." He said once they stepped through the door. They climbed the stairs to the second floor and entered the room after they took some distance between them because the last time they were too close, Jungkook punched the hell out of Taehyung. Call him possessive. He just didn't like the closeness between them.
They walked in to see Jungkook dancing to the instrumental of a ballad song as he sang the lyrics he remembered from the last couple of days he kept listening to the same song for hours. Rei had to admit it was addictive but the performance the maknae was presenting was so beautiful and breathtaking that if you didn't know about his state of mind, you'd never guess.
Taehyung and Rei walked behind the boy to sit on his bed and enjoy the performance. Taehyung had a dumb, proud smile on his face as he watched the younger and his eyes were sparkling with unshed tears and she didn't know if they were of sadness or a result of the beautiful sight in front of them.
The song came to an end and Jungkook collapsed on the floor, panting for a couple of seconds before he stood up to fetch his bottle of water, not even noticing the couple in his room.
"Jungkook, baby, that was beautiful!" Taehyung said as he headed towards the younger to envelop him in a hug.
Ever since the incident, Taehyung hadn't stopped calling Jungkook with those stupid pet names and when Rei asked him about it, he said that Jungkook was his baby and now he felt like he needed to give the younger more attention than ever which annoyed Rei even more. Another reason for the vacation.
"Hyung." He returned the hug and Taehyung felt like melting because this was the first time he responded to his affection. But it didn't last long because Jungkook spotted Rei on his bed and he quickly jumped from the hug towards the girl. "Rei! Where were you, honey? I've been looking for you for hours." Jungkook pouted as he kissed her cheek, affectionately.
"I had some things to do with Taehyung. Don't worry about it." Rei tried to fake a smile and hugged the boy to stop his doubtful, broken mind from thinking.
But all she saw past his shoulder was Taehyung looking so broken and the tears that he'd been trying to keep to himself finally shed, trailing down his cheeks but he wiped them off as quickly as he could. Jungkook pulled back, frowning as he turned around to look at Taehyung again.
"Hyung, why does my heart ache?" The maknae clutched his chest, stepping forward towards Taehyung.
"You must be tired. Get some sleep, Jungkookie." Taehyung went to the younger's side to guide him back to the bed. What he really wanted to say was, That's because I'm hurting, too, but he didn't want to make things harder then they were already.
"Okay. But can you make it go away, first?" He asked in a soft voice. He looked so vulnerable and hurt that Rei couldn't help the tear that went down her cheek. Taehyung bit his lip to focus on not letting the younger's words get to him but it was hard.
"I can't, baby. But sleeping will." Taehyung kissed his forehead after he tucked him under the blankets. "Here," He said, stretching to grab the orange stuffed fox plushie he got for the maknae when he started asking for either one of the to sleep with him, "Vick here is going to keep you company." Taehyung smiled sweetly as he ruffled the boy's fringe.
Jungkook hugged the toy to his chest, turning on his side to look at the sun rays that went past the curtains. Taehyung left his side and when Rei stood up from the bed, Jungkook called her name and ushered her to come closer.
"I love you, Rei." He whispered, smiling up at her.
"I love you too, Kookie." She whispered back and the maknae pursed his lips, cue for her to kiss him and she did, swallowing a sob. If only he knew how much it pained them both to watch the same sickeningly sweet act every day.
Jungkook closed his eyes after getting his sleep well kiss, even though it was nearly noon, and slipped off to dreamland as the couple tiptoed their way out of the room, carefully not to disturb the maknae.
They reached the kitchen, trying to make themselves something so eat when Rei's phone rang shortly with a text notification. She pulled the phone out of her pocket, leaning her weight on her hip against the counter, facing her boyfriend who was washing some vegetables over the sink. She opened the notification and to her surprise, it was Aotaki, who avoided her for the past couple of months.
From Aotaki:
I'm leaving Seoul for a couple of weeks. If you need anything from the apartment, I left the key to Hobi.
And that was all. No how are you or how's everyone, just a quick heads-up she was leaving everything behind for an unknown period of time. It might've been permanent but there was no way in hell Aotaki was going to drop off of college after working so hard to get into a highly viewed university. Maybe she just left to clear her head and come to her senses that it wasn't smart to push everyone away after all they've been through. And by they, she means Taehyung, Jimin, Jungkook and Aotaki because Rei was still so new to their group.
"She's leaving town." Rei looked up from her phone to give the news to Taehyung.
"What?" He asked surprised, putting the vegetables away on a plate before he dried his hands on a paper towel. "This group fell apart so quickly." He shook his head, coming behind Rei to look at the text. "And since when is she so close to Hobi-hyung?"
"I don't know. This is all my fault. If I hadn't come to this stupid city you wouldn't have found me and none on this would've happened." Rei lowered her head in disappointment and shame. She felt guilty for breaking up the powerful relationship they had in only a couple of months.
"Stop! You're not at fault here. Stop blaming yourself for everything that goes bad in the world." Taehyung wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her close to his body as he kissed her cheek gently.
"But it is my fault." She huffed, dropping her head on his shoulder with a loud sigh.
"Babe, you know I hate it when you do this. I said, stop it." His voice became more serious with a glint of danger at the edges as he tightened his grip swiftly before he turned her into his arms. "I can't handle you being sad as well. You keep me together through all of this. And I don't want to see you sad because I love you too much." He looked into her eyes as he cupped her cheeks, leaning in to place a soft and affectionate kiss on her pink and pouty lips.
"I love you, too." Rei whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him tightly.
The warmth of Taehyung's body was making her feel safe and protected and she missed being with him like she was just then. Every time they would be having a moment or some alone time, something would happen and she hated the fact that she couldn't even make out with her boyfriend ever since the accident. It was stressing and it was hard, being so close yet so far from the one she loved to show her affection through more than just some innocent quick kisses.
They needed that vacation, just like Aotaki, to clear their heads and think things through properly to make sure any mistake will be avoided and return Kookie back to them safely.
_______
A/N: I actually teared up at some point while writing this. It's so painful to write about Jungkook and Taehyung. I don't even know why I made him go through all of this T-T
Don't forget to vote and comment ^-^