BROMANCE | VKOOK - Chapter 32: Chapter 32

The clock almost stroke 4 o'clock when Taehyung finally got to his room after having a long, exhausting business dinner with his father and some colleagues of him. He had truly tried to focus on those talks, tried to take notes but in the end he still had no clue what this conversation had been about. All he heard was that it was about some products being shipped to Japan, but that was about it.
Maybe he stopped listening halfway through because he knew for a fact that he would never own up to what his father had planning out for him these past few weeks. Not once in his life would he even dared to dream about taking over his family's company. He was too used to being called the dumb kid, the one that would never get anywhere. Taehyung had always been the disappointment of the family, meanwhile Jimin had been the last spark of hope for his parents.
It all changed when his parents realized that they could get him married to a rich man's daughter.
That's where everything went so damn wrong.
Now he stood in front of his desk, his school bag on his chair in front of him. He went through his books, looking for the one he was supposed to read for English class. It was a drama of Shakespeare, another thing that would end up giving him headaches for the rest of the night.
There it was, he grabbed it and pulled it out when something small fell out of it.
A tiny, pink paper landed on the floor. Taehyung had never seen it before, curiously he bended down and picked it up, unfolding it carefully.
There was written down just one thing, "remember where we watched the sky full of stars when it all began? see u there at midnight xx"
Taehyung's heart dropped, he knew that handwriting and he knew the place that was described here. It gave him memories of when everything felt so good. Just laying next to Jungkook in the park, watching the stars and fantasizing about falling in love with him-, those were the times Taehyung missed by the bottom of his heart.
"Hey, what are you looking at ?!", a low voice made Taehyung freeze in every move, looking up slowly. "Nothing", he quickly said and tried to hide the small note behind his back.
Mr Kim walked closer, reaching out with his hand, "Give this to me."
"No", Taehyung squeaked out, "It's nothing, Dad. What are you doing up here?"
"Just wanted to check up on you", the man lied, "And tell you that we have another meeting with those guys from earlier, tomorrow evening. Tzuyu and her father will be there, I expect your best behavior. Or else-"
"Or else what?!", Taehyung snapped. "You're going to beat the shit out of me again? Go right ahead, Dad. The school will love to see me and my brother both covered in bruises", he said bitterly.
"When will you ever stop disobeying my orders?"
"Your orders? God, who are you? My teacher?", Taehyung gasped, arms crossed.
His father simply grabbed the boy by his hair and pushed him backwards until he had a pretty harsh meeting with the wall, groaning out in pain. His head felt a little dizzy after getting it slammed backwards against the wall. "Oh fuck, what did I do now", he whined.
"You disrespected me, as always", Mr Kim said sharply. "Give me the paper right fucking now."
Taehyung let out a sigh and handed the man the paper, eyes glancing down the floor.
The man wasn't even bothered reading it, he just ripped it apart and left the room angrily, rushing to his office.
Taehyung left behind, as always. He held his head, still whimpering in pain until he realized that his hand was full of blood. Great, his father got him bleeding once again.
That seemed to be a daily thing by now.
*
"Jungkook", Mr Jeon let out the biggest sigh as he entered his son's room this evening. "What are you being so loud for?!"
The boy looked a little startled, quickly pulling out his hand from under his blanket. "Why do you never knock the door before you come in", he asked bluntly and then turned the music down which he had playing from his phone. The use of this was to be louder than he himself while doing things he didn't want his parents to know.
"Because I'm your father and I don't need to knock the door", the man hummed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. Kook lifted an eyebrow, "Dad, that's literally the reason why you should knock my door."
"Sorry", Mr Jeon said, "Just wanted to see if you're alright, you usually don't turn your music up that loud at 9pm."
Kook shrugged, "I'm fine. Are you though? You look stressed out-"
Mr Jeon only gave his son a weak smile, "There's nothing you need to worry about, buddy. Your Dad's a strong man."
"What do you have to be strong for?", Jungkook asked, sitting up in his bed now with anxiety crawling up inside of him. "Dad, is everything okay?"
His father let out a sigh, then closed the door behind him. "Your mother doesn't know yet, so don't you dare run to her again and spill my secrets." He said before he sat down next to his son on the bed. Kook nodded, "Promise."
Mr Jeon bit his lips, "I don't want to worry you, Kook. It's really nothing, I'll sort it out as quick as possible, so promise me not to worry about me, okay?"
Jungkook shook his head, "I only have you and Mom, of course I worry. Don't tell me you're dying-"
The old man chuckled softly, "Oh no, no. Not yet."
"Did you cheat on Mom with a dude then?!", Jungkook asked with big eyes.
"No! Jungkook!", his father gasped in shock. "Are you out of your mind?! I love this woman, I-"
"Fine, then no matter what it is, it can't be that bad", Jungkook said calmly and patted his father's shoulders. "Now spill the tea, daddy."
His father let out the biggest sigh, "I lost my job this afternoon. My company got sold to another company and the new owner wanted me out of my position so he fired me."
Kook's throat went dry, "What does that mean?"
"It means that I'm going to find another job. Which I will, so no need to worry."
The old man smiled, but his eyes weren't smiling along. There was no spark of joy and no hope in them, he just looked so tired and worn out. For the first time, his age was visible on his face and that scared Jungkook so much that he just wrapped his arms around his father and hugged him tightly.
"Okay but Dad, you're amazing. You will find another job so quick!"
Mr Jeon nodded, "I hope so, buddy."
Jungkook gave him a kiss to the cheek, "Why do you look so worried then?"
"I have no idea how to tell your Mom", the man admitted in the smallest voice, "I don't want her to think of me as a loser who lost his job."
Jungkook giggled a little, "But Mom loves you so much, no matter what happens she will still love you."
"How are you so sure of that?", Mr Jeon sighed.
"Because when you love someone, you don't just stop out of nowhere."
Jungkook kept hugging his Dad who just sat there with his shoulders hanging and his forehead in wrinkles, "What if she will think I'm less hot?!"
"Dad!", Jungkook exclaimed, "I don't want to know those things about my parents, ask your friends or something-"
His father looked down, "You're kinda my best friend-"
"Dad", Jungkook rolled his eyes, "Seriously? I'm your son-"
The man shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed, "I'll tell her tonight, hope it goes well."
Jungkook winked at him, "It will. Oh and by the way I'll be out around midnight, don't be surprised when you catch me sneaking out."
"You're not going to go out at midnight", his father said strictly. "Where do you even want to go?!"
"Meeting up with Tae", Jungkook said in all honesty. "If you forbid me, I'll sneak out anyway. Don't even try, Dad."
His father just got up, head shaking, "How turned my way of raising you out into you being such a brat?"
"You should ask that yourself"; Jungkook hummed and then laid back down on his bed.
"Oh", his father said and pulled out a letter, "I found this at our front door by the way. It's addressed to you." He hummed and handed his son the letter before he left the room and headed downstairs to his wife.
Kook was left with the letter. He opened it up confused and just found the ripped note he had sent to Taehyung earlier this day.
What did that mean?
Why would he rip it and send it back? Taehyung would just throw it to the bin if he didn't want to come. This behavior was so not like him that Jungkook immediately questioned if he even sent it.
Then he turned the paper around and saw the signature of Mr Kim on it.
Damn.
That fucker.
"Dad!", Jungkook screamed out and ran after him, "Dad! Who's the owner of this company you talked about earlier?!", he yelled out and got a warning glare from his father because his wife was right next to him.
"It's Taehyung's Dad's firm", the man replied shortly and Jungkook realized one thing;
Mr Kim made him choose.
Either he saved his father's career or he'd save Taehyung.
He wouldn't let him have both.
"Kook?!", his mother asked worried because the boy went pale. "Hey, Kookie, are you alright!?", she asked again and then everything went black and Jungkook passed out on the kitchen floor.
*
Jungkook sat down on a bench right next to the place they had laid down back then, it was a little freezing out, a cold night breeze brushing along Jungkook's sensitive skin. It was already past midnight and he doubted that Taehyung would even show up anymore, but he wasn't ready to already give up and go back home.
He thought of all those happy days where no one knew about him and Taehyung.
One thing he learned from all of this was, that the less people know that you're happy, the happier you'll be.
Because somehow everyone always tries to take happiness away from you, if they see it making you glow differently. Maybe out of jealousy, maybe because they think taking it away from others will make them happier themselves.
Jungkook wiped away a small tear that escaped his eyes.
He hated to cry, he hated it so fucking much.
All he ever tried to be was strong, cool and not emotional. Always being called a kid made him want to seem more confident and more mature from an early age on.
Which was also the thing Taehyung had always seen in him, the maturity that others didn't always see right away.
But even for this small boy with the strong heart, sometimes it got a bit too much as well.
Like right now.
"Hey", a soft voice appeared from behind him and a boy appeared out of the dark, looking down on Kook for a while before sitting down next to him.
It was Taehyung.
"I thought you wouldn't come", Jungkook admitted quietly, heart speeding up like a racing car.
"Took me a while to get out", Taehyung chuckled sadly. "What do you want? Why was I supposed to come here in the middle of the night?"
"I know what happened to you", Jungkook blurted out, "I know it all-, and I'll save you."
Taehyung shook his head, his whole expression seeming frightened by Jungkook saying that, "I don't need you to save me, Jungkook. Whatever you heard isn't true, I'm fine and nothing bad happened to me."
"Stop pushing me away", Kook pleaded, "Both of us know that we're meant to be together. And your father won't separate us."
"Jungkook, I don't feel this way for you", Taehyung sighed heavily, "I never did. It was just my delusional mind confusing me. All I wanted was to break up with Lia, and I think I somehow projected my broken heart onto you being able to heal it. I had issues before you became such a part of my life, y'know. I was a cheater and I didn't treat my girl right. You can't just come into my life and mess everything up", he explained firmly, voice distant. "Do both of us a favor and give up on me."
"No"
"I'm not worth it, Jungkook", Taehyung said sternly, "I'm not going to make you happy. I won't be fulfilling, trust me."
"Yeah, obviously. It's my own job to fulfill myself and be happy, not yours or anyone else's", Jungkook snapped at him, "What's that?", he asked bluntly and pulled down Taehyung's shirt a little, there was a new huge red-ish bruise all over his chest, it seemed as if someone would have attacked him with something sharp.
"A wound", Taehyung said, pulling his shirt back up.
"Another one of the thousand scars you will have to explain to your future partner someday?", Jungkook laughed out, "You're crazy."
"Tzuyu knows about them", Taehyung said numbly. "I'll marry her someday."
"Oh bullshit", Jungkook rolled his eyes, "You're not Daddy's little boy, you won't be that forever. One day you will break up with her and do your own thing. And what then? How will you explain all those scars to your future husband or wife?"
"Those scars are only proof that I healed."
"Healed from what?"; Kook asked speechless. "That's a thing people say who did that to themselves, those scars won't be from yourself. Your own father did that to you. How will you explain all that to your child? God, don't be stupid. Let me help you, for fuck's sake!"
"Healed from loving you", Taehyung said calmly, ignoring the rest of the sentence.
"Is that what the people in military school taught you? That loving a boy is something you need healing from?", Jungkook said bitterly. "God, they brainwashed you."
Taehyung remained silent, "Jungkook, please. Just go home and stop trying to be a part of my life. I don't want you in it anymore."
"Why are you here then? Why the fuck did you come here?!", Jungkook yelled out, "If you truly wanted me to stay away from you, you wouldn't be here. Do you want me to save your ass without your permission? Do you want me to do it on my own? 'Cuz fine, I will! I don't give two fucks about the shit you're saying right now. One day, I don't want our son or daughter to see all those scars and ask me why I didn't help."
Taehyung sighed, "We're not going to-"
The younger cut him off by pressing their lips together, gasping in the kiss when Taehyung slowly started kissing him back. It only lasted for a few seconds, but when they pulled apart, Taehyung's expression was changed.
"Oh fuck", he let out weakly.
Jungkook only gave him a wink, "Realized what you're missing?"
Taehyung gulped dryly, got up and just walked away, rubbing his head for the whole way home to get rid off the feeling that left behind on his lips.
They felt so soft and he could still taste Jungkook's strawberry flavored lipbalm he always had on.
Oh, sweet sweet memories.