Jeongguk was a wreck. Not because of what Taehyung said to him that day. It was nothing new to him, although it did hurt greatly to hear these words from him. He was a wreck because he had pushed him away. He didn't mean a word he said that day, but he had to say all these things so he could hate him.
Inguk was right. Their worlds were too different, and Taehyung was indeed too precious. He shouldn't interact with him at all. Jeongguk was no good for him, and he knew it.
The fact that he hadn't spoken at all to the black-haired boy for a week now bothered him more than he thought. He went to the cafe for his takeout every day, though. Every time Taehyung noticed him, he immediately called Inguk and stepped away from the bar. And his behavior stung him more and more as the days rolled by.
But he couldn't say anything because he had brought this to himself.
He had hurt Taehyung on purpose so he would stay away from him, and Taehyung did. He didn't even glance at him in the past week as far as he knew. And all the younger wanted to do was wipe his pout off his face and replace it with a smile. Nothing suited him better than that.
He wasn't talking much to anyone, really. He had closed up to himself throughout, and no one could reach him. His hyungs tried to talk to him about what happened, but he didn't want to listen. He talked to them only about work-related things.
He was more bothered by the situation rather than sad. And although he had managed to do what he had to do, it wasn't what he wanted. And for the first time in his life, he didn't try to get what he wanted, which was to interact with Taehyung and make him smile. Maybe annoy him a little bit as well. But he didn't try anything because he didn't want to hurt him again.
Taehyung wasn't doing that well either. After what Jeongguk said to him, he didn't want to see him ever again. He was beyond mad at him, and honestly, he thought his fury would never go away. Although it did rather fast, and instead, he found himself regretting what he had said to him.
As Taehyung mused over what happened for hours, for some reason, he found it hard to believe that was the only reason Jeongguk wanted to help him. He was harsh, he was an asshole, but he was never planning on asking credit for making Inguk give him his money back as a bonus.
That day, Taehyung had asked what could he get from helping him out with his whole plan about the bonus thing, but Jeongguk talked about the time he found out that he had paid off his hospital bill. He didn't actually answer his question.
Taehyung wasn't supposed to know that the bonus Inguk would give him was actually his money back from Jeongguk. So what could Jeongguk gain from this if Taehyung wasn't supposed to know that in the first place?
Something didn't seem right.
Even though he wanted to talk to him, he was scared. Scared that Jeongguk hated him after everything he said to him. So he avoided him at all costs because he couldn't stand the idea of getting yelled at by him again.
Inguk, of course, could see how Taehyung's behavior changed in the past week. He didn't talk much, he barely smiled, and he seemed zoned out most of the time. He felt bad because he was the one who told Jeongguk not to interact with him at all. But, to be honest, he didn't believe that Jeongguk would listen to him.
Jeongguk never listened to anyone.
🥀
Taehyung had one hour left to finish his shift. He didn't get much sleep the night before, and he could barely keep his eyes open by now. He just wanted to go home and drop dead in his bed, but he still had one hour.
As he was sitting on a stool, he closed his eyes for a while since he didn't have any customers, feeling the burning sensation decrease as he kept them gently closed. But that short moment turned to minutes, and the next thing Taehyung knew, someone was poking his shoulder.
His eyes popped open as he flinched at the contact, and he would have fallen off the stool if he hadn't held onto the counter. In front of him stood a familiar young CEO with a blank face and idle but piercing eyes. Wordlessly, he jumped to his feet and rushed to the kitchen to call Inguk.
After Jeongguk placed his order, Inguk asked to talk to him, so they receded to the storage room.
"You need to do something," Inguk stated.
"What do you need?"
"I don't need anything. I'm talking about Taehyung."
Jeongguk released a deep sigh as he fixed his gaze on him. "What do you mean?"
"He isn't talking. He isn't even smiling that much. He wasn't that perky and outgoing anyway, but he was at least smiling almost all the time. Now I have to try really hard to get him to smile, let alone laugh."
"What do you want me to do? You said I shouldn't interact with him."
"And now you decided to listen to me? Do you want to not interact with him?"
"No, but—"
"Great! Then do something about it."
"You were right, hyung. It's better if he stays away."
"No, it's not. Maybe you guys bicker all the time, but at least Taehyung was happy before. He isn't anymore."
"I can't do anything, hyung. I told him everything. He knows, and he hates me. There is no turning back now." Jeongguk chuckled bitterly as he knew how bad he had screwed up everything.
"I'll talk to him first."
"Not today, though. Let him go home. He seems exhausted."
"Okay." With that, they walked out of the storage room.
As Jeongguk was sitting in front of the bar, Taehyung was nowhere to be found. But when a customer appeared, he leaped out from the kitchen in a heartbeat, something that made his brows bump together. So he's just staying there only to avoid me? He thought as he dragged his head down. There's really no turning back now.
After a while, Jeongguk took his package and left without talking to the black-haired boy at all. He arrived at his house fifteen minutes later and wilted on the couch. With everything, he didn't really have an appetite, but he had to eat something at least.
Taehyung finally finished his shift, and after saying goodbye to Inguk, he went to the bus stop, wanting nothing more than to go home as soon as possible so he could sleep.
Once the bus arrived, he got on and sat at the back. Two minutes into the ride and his eyes fluttered closed, his mind emptied of any thought, and just like that, he fell asleep. Maybe one of the biggest mistakes he could ever make.
He woke up when his head banged against the window and blinked in a daze, trying to understand what was happening. He felt his heartbeat hammer in his chest and an ocean of terror engulf him as he looked out the window.
He had no idea where he was.
He fumbled to get a hold of his phone and glanced at the time, his eyes enlarging in a split second. He was sleeping for over forty-five minutes.
Panicking, he sprang up from his seat and got off at the next stop, completely forgetting to ask where the hell he was. It was already dark outside and there wasn't even a store or something close by to ask for help.
A stream of tears pooled in his eyes as he thought about who to call. Inguk was still at the cafe and his friends didn't know how to drive. So he called the first person who came to his hazy mind.
"Taehyung?"
"J-Jeongguk," he uttered through his heavy breathing, his whole body trembling. "Can you, um, c-can you come and pick m-me up?"
"What? Why aren't you home? Where are you?"
"I don't k-know." His voice cracked as tears rushed down his face. He was all alone in a place he didn't know, and it was dark, without a store or anything close by. He was terrified to the bone.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Jeongguk asked intensively as a wave of worry pierced through his chest.
"I fell a-asleep on the b-bus," he choked out, feeling wholly drained and hopeless.
"Hey, listen to me. You'll be okay. Can you send me your location?"
"How can I do that?"
"Turn on the GPS and go to maps. Somewhere it's supposed to say share your location or something." Jeongguk was already in his car with the engine on.
"Wait." Taehyung did what the other said and sent him his location a few moments later.
"It will take about an hour to get there."
Taehyung could only cry harder at his words as he really didn't want to be alone there for another hour.
"Hey Tae, I'm already on my way. Can you find a place to sit? What do you see around?"
Taehyung resumed to sob as he glanced around with blurry eyes, and the only thing he could see was a croft with trees and flowers on both sides of the road. "There's n-nothing around. Only trees."
"Can you get away from the road and sit by a tree? It's better if people don't see you alone there, right?"
Taehyung sniffled once and twice and wiped his tears as he walked further into the croft.
Jeongguk listened to the boy's muffled cries, and he wouldn't lie, it truly wrung his heart. The boy was lost and helpless, and all Jeongguk wanted at the moment was to cocoon him in a warm, tight hug. "Did you get away from the street?"
"Yes."
"Can you do one more thing?"
"What?"
"Can you stop crying? I'll be there soon. You're gonna be okay, Tae," he said, voice soothing and gentle, and he sped up even more.
Taehyung stayed silent for a while as he brushed off his tears with his sleeve. "You called me Tae."
"It just came out. Does it bother you?"
"No, it's comforting."
I know, that's why I did it. Jeongguk couldn't help the mild smile that swept across his lips. "Good."
They continued talking on the phone vaguely, and Taehyung was thankful that he kept him company as he waited.
After fifty-five minutes give or take, Jeongguk arrived and waited for Taehyung to get in his car.
"Are you okay?" Jeongguk asked in a rather velvety tone as he scanned his face.
"I am now," he breathed out as he sank back into his seat.
"You can sleep if you want. I'll wake you up."
"I'm too tense to sleep now." He aimed his gaze at the window, but a frustrated sigh escaped his mouth. "You and your stupid tinted windows."
"Hey! My windows aren't stupid," Jeongguk pouted.
Taehyung snorted at his remark and let the silence overtake them for a while. "Is it sad that I didn't have anyone else to call than you?"
Jeongguk cast him a baffled look as a gloomy frown spread on his traits, and before he couldn't reply, the other spoke up again.
"I mean, you have treated me so badly. You tried to help me many times, and you did, and all I was saying was that I don't need your help. And look at me now. I reached out to you for help. How pathetic am I? I'm such a hypocrite."
Jeongguk was at a loss by his quiet outburst. Why did he feel like this just because he asked him for help? Taehyung needed help, and he could help him. Why was that so bad?
"You're not pathetic for asking for help, Taehyung."
"I'm pathetic because I asked you for help. I repeatedly said that I don't want your help and I treated you badly too. And now I asked you for help. If that's not pathetic then what is?"
"Can you stop calling yourself pathetic?" Jeongguk raised his voice a notch, startling him. "You're anything but that," he added in a whisper.
Taehyung laid his now doe eyes on him as a mix of surprise, confusion, and disbelief flashed up onto his face at his words.
"Stop staring," Jeongguk hissed as he shifted in his seat.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? It's a little uneasy when someone is staring at you."
"That's not what I mean. Why would you think I'm not pathetic? I thought you pitied me."
Jeongguk grasped the wheel a tad tighter. "I don't," he spat out in a low tone, his face stiff.
"You said it yourself."
"I didn't mean it. That day in my office I said what you wanted to hear. That was what you believed and that was what you wanted to hear, so I said it. I didn't mean it."
"But you said—"
"Tae," he cut him off with a sigh. "I didn't mean anything I said to you. I had to make you hate me so you would stay away from me and don't ask why. I'm just no good for you."
"Shouldn't it be the other way around? Why a rich CEO would want to talk to me in the first place? I'm nothing but a burden. My own parents even left me."
"My dad never said a good word to me. He was always harsh and always dismissive when I talked to him. From a young age, I wished I didn't have a dad. And I really don't know what's worse."
His sudden confession brought astonishment to his features once again as he didn't think the younger would open up to him like that. "What happened to him?" Although he already knew since Inguk had told him, he had to ask.
"He died in a plane crash."
"I'm so sorry, Jeongguk." Taehyung finally got to say the words he needed to the boy who had lost his father.
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