It wasn't until then, Yoongi began to ponder the thought further. He bit his lower lip in frustration until his mind was cleared from the constant static that kept ringing in his ears. Until he formed proper thoughts in his mind, his eyes widened at the guess he created in seconds.
"He didn't lose interest... he's hiding from the truth. He knew what he did wasn't right, he shot Jungkook! But in his eyes, it was the commoner that took Jimin away from him," Yoongi thought and turned around to head to the palace, leaving the crowd to murmur right behind him after. "That's why he hid away, guilt is eating him alive as it should, jealousy is a vicious monster hiding in such a benign word. But if he's such a nice man that would never wrong any living person, how could he come up with such a vicious idea? Could it be... that he was put up to this? Or was this his true intent?"
While Yoongi hissed those thoughts in his mind, he began to grow upset with his own ideas. Those words he formed into his mind was enough to make him think of the young king and hope to alert him about the issue at hand. Instantly, Yoongi raced to the palace, collecting his thoughts into simple words he could use to tell the king about the nobleman who shot him that morning; Jung Hoseok.
The words the man spoke earlier didn't seem to make any sense to the alpha, Yoongi knew by now how loved the nobleman was. By the way the man painted the noble was enough to create the idea that he is very much loved by the whole town! Yet, Yoongi knew something was off. There had to be an influence that burned through the alpha to shoot his arrow at the innocent king.
Eventually, Yoongi reached the palace and panted as he continued to push forward until he reached the king's royal throne room. The halls and royal staff were silent around the wounded king, hoping to avoid stressing the young alpha out over anything. But there Jungkook sat, having a gloomy look weighing in his tired gaze as his right hand fixed over his wound. A voice in the guard's mind told him to hold off the truth, but the Yoongi couldn't contain it any longer. He believed that Jungkook needed to take action.
"My King..." Yoongi spoke out of breath as he bowed and stood at the center. Feeling the many eyes within the room, lock onto him. "I bear news... news that you must hear, My King." As Yoongi's deeply toned voice pierced through the silence that filled the air, Jungkook's exhausted gaze slowly fixed onto the alpha standing in place before him.
"News... what of it?"
"Bad news that I believe you need to hear, My King..." Yoongi added on and looked around as he was kept in a bowing position. "If you could please..."
As Jungkook looked around for a moment, he raised his hand and dismissed the many guards and servants that stood within the throne room, protecting the king himself and ensuring that his health remained well. However, on the inside, Jungkook wasn't himself anymore. The pain doubled and his desperation only seemed to scream within the silent walls of his mind. Crying for Jimin, but he kept his patience in and remained in his room, hoping no one else could hear his endless cries.
The look the king had over his face was a blank and teary gaze that told endless stories of sorrow. His endless tears carried on to the point where Jungkook was silent due to how much pain he endured over his injury and his desperation not getting what he wanted. At the end of the day, what his desperate mind wanted was Park Jimin all along.
Once the king and his loyal guard were left alone, Yoongi looked up and stood before the king, noticing how emotionally exhausted he was after so much had happened to him. He too began to notice the torture, but did he do anything to stop it? No, Jungkook only allowed it to take over his well-being only because he knew it was the only way he could show Jimin that he was able to be patient.
"Jungkook, what have you done to yourself?"
"I've always looked like this, Yoongi... during my recovery, this was the same face I carried..."
"Why do I get the feeling that ever since you met that omega, your mental health has spiraled downhill? Jungkook, have you ever looked at yourself for once?!"
Instantly, Jungkook's eyes widened and locked onto the ground before him as he listened to the guard constantly scold him for being this way. However, Jungkook just couldn't help himself. He was madly obsessed with the omega that he couldn't stop what he was doing to check on himself. After all those years that slipped him by, love was something he refused to let go and once he had it with Jimin, he trapped it until it began to fight back.
"You don't know what you're saying, I-I have to be this way... I have no control whatsoever, I need Jimin!"
"No, you don't..." Yoongi added on and tilted his head before walking forward. "It's about time you asked yourself, is this how love feels? You need yourself more than you need him... without yourself, how will you live to have Jimin after?" Yoongi continued as Jungkook pressed his back against the Phoenix throne and fixed his eyes over the guard who approached him closely.
"J-Just tell me the news, Min Yoongi..." Jungkook hissed and looked away once the guard was close enough to catch his breath. Instantly, Yoongi leaned over, kept his gloved hands pressed behind his back as he looked at the king closely.
The bags under his eyes were a tone darker and his skin was as pale as a ghost. Yoongi took a moment to observe the king until he let out a sigh, running his hand up his own sleeve to then reveal the same arrow Jungkook was shot with. Jungkook kept his eyes shut and scrutinized his face helplessly until Yoongi held out the arrow and finally stepped back to let the king open his eyes and gaze at the item before him.
Jungkook's beady eyes then opened and locked onto the arrow in front of him. The windows to his soul blew wide and his heart raced, the sudden pain in his chest began to burn as his nails dug into the armrests of his throne. The young king couldn't bear to look at the same arrow that started the decline of his mental health; he was traumatized of what almost killed him.
"Y-Yoongi... g-get it away f-from... from me..." Jungkook whispered into a plea and ran his shaky hand over the many bandages wrapped around his wound. "How... how could you h-hold that before y-your King?"
"To prove something," Yoongi assured and finally fixed his posture as he looked at the blood stained sides of the arrow. "It's sad that you fear the arrow... when Jimin put you in this position."
Instantly, Jungkook looked up at the guard and bared his sharp fangs in anger, yet still avoiding to lock his stare onto the weapon.
"Jimin... Jimin didn't do anything! You're insane..."
"Am I, Jungkook?"
"What?"
"I said... am I? Am I the one who is truly insane in this room?" Yoongi replied into a softer yet hollow tone to his deep voice that sent a shiver down Jungkook's spine. "Jeon Jungkook, Jimin is killing you. Just admit it... you can't keep hiding this when he's killing you..."
"No he isn't... he's the one that's keeping me alive, you don't know how it feels... how it feels to love someone like this," Jungkook whispered and closed his eyes after. "To love someone when you're me..."
"Jungkook, I don't need to know how it is to love someone as you when it doesn't seem right in the eyes of others. Do you know why I'm holding this arrow, Jungkook?"
"To remind me that I'm dying..." Jungkook whispered as a tear escaped his eyes. The alpha was right, he was slowly dying through the pain he caused himself and the wound that just wouldn't go away. He acknowledged the way he was treating himself, but did he stop? No, Jungkook couldn't stop himself even if he wanted to.
"... To remind you that your omega is what's killing you. I found out who shot you and-"
"Don't say it! Don't you dare say it..."
"It was Jimin's fiancé, Jung Hoseok," Yoongi assured and watched the weak king let out a cry as he covered his sore eyes. "I told you this was going to be your undoing, if you hadn't given Jimin that choice, you wouldn't have been waiting for so long! You would have married Jimin there and you wouldn't have been shot! Waiting... that's all you've done and Jimin has only been putting off his answer. Not even after the incident did he give you his final words! Jimin is putting this off because when you give an omega a privilege as high as an alpha, they don't know what to do with it! Their minds are different. Jimin wants to be independent, why can't you get that through your head? He has always wanted to be independent, never marry."
"STOP IT!" Jungkook cried at the truth as the tears in his eyes rushed down his pale cheek. "Stop it... Jimin knows what he's doing... he knows! He wants to take time for himself before he marries me, I shouldn't rush him!"
"Jungkook, listen to me! YOU ALMOST DIED!" hissed the alpha as he dropped the arrow and held the king's wrists into his own hands. "Are you that blind? Blind to see that waiting for something like this is killing you? Jeon Jungkook, listen to me, I told you this was a bad idea and here you are, waiting for Jimin as if he's the only thing you need to survive! You need yourself first before you need someone else. You need to love yourself and understand yourself before you love and understand someone else!"
"N-No... no.." Jungkook cried softly and continued to look away as Yoongi held his hands. "You don't understand..."
"I've been the only one who allowed you to do this to yourself... if anything, I am the one who knows more to this than just understanding. If you wait any longer, who knows if you'll return to the river once more and actually get killed? There will be no second chances Jungkook! If you return in your disguise, you will be killed. Listen to me when I say you need to understand yourself when-"
"I CAN'T!" Jungkook shouted and left his guard silent. "No matter how hard I try, I will never understand myself... I tried to.. I tried to know myself and love myself when nobody else loved me, but that only caused me to hoard my feelings until it caused me to be desperate... I did this to myself... it wasn't that boy who broke me, I broke myself and I confess. I made myself into this desperate monster," Jungkook whispered in tears. "Jimin... Jimin, I can't be patient any longer for him... he's stubborn and I fear I will die if I wait any longer, Jimin has the choice, but as soon as I tasted cold death itself, I just knew it was my only chance I could get back to Jimin... there will be no other chance given to me, you're right, Yoongi..."
As soon as the guard heard the king comply to his words, Yoongi let out an exhale and stepped in to wrap his arms around the young man. Just then, Jungkook pressed his head against his older brother figure's chest and let out a shaky breath that carried only half of the many sorrows embedded into his soul.
"I should have l-listened to you... I'm sorry, Yoongi. I'm sorry, I was so blind..." Jungkook apologized and felt the older alpha run his hand down his back gently.
"I'll always be here for you, Jungkook. My duty as your head guard is to protect you, but I'll be here for you whenever you need me, only when you need me," Yoongi assured. Jungkook then opened his eyes slightly to stare at the ground, now understanding what he must do next.
Jungkook now knew of his suffering but couldn't comprehend the boundaries he had to learn. Patience was something he wanted to force himself to know, but through learning patience, he only became even more patient. He had no other way to understand it because his desperation got in the way and now, Jungkook couldn't wait any longer. If Jimin was truly testing his patience deep down, Jungkook wouldn't have learned a thing. But yet again, this was something Jungkook knew he had waited long enough to prove to everyone that patience was something that could kill him and his desperation altogether.
With that, the king emptied out his mind and listened to Yoongi's gentle breathing into the hug before he inhaled and prepared for his next demand. Just then, Jungkook's gaze returned to a blank stare as he pulled away from the hug and looked back at the older alpha with only determination burning through every turn to his broken gaze.
"Yoongi... I must ask you one last favor for the day..." Jungkook whispered and dropped his hands over the guard's shoulder to get his attention after.
"What is it, Jungkook? I'll do anything..." The loyal guard spoke. With those words falling out Yoongi's pouting lips so perfectly, Jungkook leaned in to softly whisper to the alpha's ear after.
"Bring me my omega."