ik you'll hate me after this but i warned in the beginning of the book so 

don't come  @ me <33 ily

***

"You have to take the next flight, Lyz. The doctors said it's unclear if they'll even wake up again. And just in case he doesn't make i-"

*

What happened earlier ..

4 hours ago.

"Can we finally go now? I'm starving!", Taejeon whined, jumping through the apartment while waiting for his father, Taehyung and Lili to get ready for the christmas market downtown. The little one was ready as usually, a cap pulled into his face and some baggy clothes on-, he liked it like that and he was considered cool and fashionable at his school. Sometimes Jungkook felt like forbidding him to walk around like some mini gangster, but then he didn't. He could've needed parents back then who were supporting of him expressing himself through clothes.
So he'd not do the same mistakes to his own son.

"Almost ready", Taehyung grumbled back, fiddling around with his scarf. The older had a hard time wrapping it around his neck, it was new and quite long.

"Babe", Jungkook giggled and grabbed the scarf, putting it around Taehyung's shoulders neatly. "That's how it's supposed to be worn."

The older leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jungkook's lips, "What would I be without you, huh?"

Kook giggled a little, grabbed some lip balm and some hand lotion to keep his skin soft when they got exposed to the cold winter air that hit them as soon as they left the apartment. Lili and Taejeon started holding hands, waddling happily in front of the adults. They were already planning what they'd eat first at the market and when they could sneak out, going somewhere where they could be by themselves and make out or something.

"Is your Dad the Mom or the Dad in their relationship?", Lili chuckled, eyeing Jungkook how he put the lotion onto his hands and tried giving Taehyung some too but the older denied it and scrunched his nose, saying it makes his hands icky. "He's the woman, obviously", Taejeon joked and grinned. "He also wears make up, just like you do", the kid grinned and Lili gasped. "Oh my lord, maybe we could have a girls night someday and just chill and talk about fashion and make up!"

"Yeah, I'm out", Taejeon laughed and shook his head, "I prefer boys night with action games and horror movies."
"Ew", Lili scrunched her small nose and tilted her head, looking at her best friend with big doey eyes, "Remember when we watched Paranormal Activity and you thought it'd be funny to record ourselves at night too?"

"And Dad found the tape where we were making out??", Taejeon blurted out and started laughing while the girl only blushed. "Exactly", she sighed. "Plus you were so scared when we watched the movie, I had to hold your hand as if I'd be the boy."

"Fuck gender rules", Taejeon said with a big smile on his face, intertwining their fingers so he could pull her hand up and press a little kiss to her hand. "I may be girly but I still have the dick", he stuck his tongue out. "Gross", Lili snapped.

"How can they be so straight", Jungkook sighed, "I could never hold hands with a girl and get excited over it, even kiss her hand randomly-"

"How can you be so gay", Taehyung questioned back, joking softly as he kissed Jungkook's cheek. "When he was a Baby I always assumed he's gonna be gay in the future but he's not and I love that he's just doing whatever feels right to him", the older explained and Jungkook nodded. "I'm glad he grew up in an environment where it was totally fine to love whoever you want."

"Even though you kept telling him to marry a girl when he was like 5-", Taehyung rolled his eyes. "I thought it'd be for the best. I had no idea I'd end up in America at an age of 25 in a world where he can love whoever he wants to."

"I know", Taehyung said calmly, "Wasn't meant to be offending, Darling."

They both smiled at each other and then walked in silence until they reached the entry of the christmas market.

"Where shall we go first?", Taehyung asked and the kids immediately turned around and shouted, "Crepes! We want sweets!", Taejeon said and Lili agreed, "I want one with chocolate cream!"
"Ew, it's better with jam-", the boy scrunched his nose. "Or with gummy bears."

"Who on earth eats crepes with gummy bears?", Lili grumbled and Taejeon pulled his hand up, "The love of your life", he grinned innocently, she only rolled her eyes. "I wonder where I got that bad taste from."

Jungkook nodded, "I want some too, let's go and get some."
They went to the next wagon that sold crepes and other sweets, ending up buying four, each for one of them. Taehyung had some jam on his, Lili chocolate cream, Taejeon gummy bears in vanilla sauce and Jungkook settled with white chocolate cream.

"Oh hello there!", a voice made Jungkook look up from his food, smiling brightly when he saw Minho walking towards them. He was the owner of his favorite coffee shop and somehow the best friend he had here so far, except for his boss. They were quite close as well.

"Minho", he said and embraced the boy in a big hug, nuzzling his head in his neck. "Long time no see my dude", Minho chuckled, "How have you been doing while being back in Korea?"

"It was.. Something", Jungkook hesitated to say, put on an even brighter smile and said, "I'm just glad to be back home."
Taehyung gulped and grabbed Jungkook's hand, squeezing it lightly to remind him that he was supposed to be his home.

Jungkook turned his head towards his boyfriend and pushed him forwards a little, "Let me introduce you to my boyfriend properly", he said to Minho and ruffled Taehyung's hair then, "This is Taehyung-, yes, that boy I always talked about."
Minho's smile turned into a smirk and he shook Taehyung's hands softly, "Nice to finally meet the one and only Kim Taehyung-"

"Mhm, yeah nice to meet you too. Never heard of you though, so you can't be that important", Taehyung hummed, earning a kick from Taejeon for that sentence. "Be nice to Minho, he's my homie", the kid snapped and Taehyung rolled his eyes, putting on a fake smile. "I'm kidding, of course I heard lots about you."

Jungkook sighed, "Sorry, his jealousy is undeniable", he said, pinching Taehyung's arm lightly to remind him to stay normal for once. But Taehyung didn't like the fact that Jungkook was close to someone else while he wasn't there. "Is he your best friend now?", he asked quietly and Jungkook let out a sigh. "No, you are."

"Oh, so I'm not your boyfriend, I'm just your best friend", Taehyung snapped again and pouted a little. "You're both-", Jungkook tried to defend himself but the older already lost it. "Mhm. Minho, it was nice meeting you but we're enjoying family time right now. You're quite disturbing. See ya."

Minho gasped a little, lifting his eyebrows, "Calm down-", he stepped back a little. "If I were you I'd better be careful with what I say after leaving Jungkook by himself for 5 fucking years."

"And if I were you, I'd go and stop talking to my boyfriend."

"Oh come on, Kook. I thought this Taehyung guy is cool and shit? What's that? You seriously gonna replace my dick through his?"

"YOU SLEPT WITH THAT PIECE OF SHIT?", Taehyung shouted and Jungkook could feel his cheeks heating up, "One time, two years ago-- Goddamnit."
Minho rolled his eyes, "Still better than that asshole. He's being way to possessive of you for someone who left you alone when you needed him."

"I left, Minho. I walked away, I wanted to get better on my own-"

Taejeon and Lili sighed heavily. "This is gonna be fun", the boy hummed and the girl agreed. "Adults can never be chill."

Taehyung was angry, fists balled and his heart aching a little, thinking of them together. "If you ever come near my Kookie again, my fist will meet your face", he hissed at the other, Minho only laughing absolutely unbothered. "Anger issues much, huh?", he grinned and Taehyung couldn't help himself but to get closer and throw his fist, meeting Minho's face with it.
"Taehyung, stop!!", Jungkook cried out in embarrassment, standing back. He saw people looking at them, judging expressions on their faces. Kids running away because they got scared, girls gossiping and most importantly, everyone went on distance.

Jungkook knew that.

That feeling of being the center of attention without doing anything wrong, he literally just existed.

"Taehyung, please-", he begged, tears coming up when he saw Minho grabbing Tae by his collar, punching his stomach and then throwing him away. The boy walked away, mad expression all over his face while Taehyung got back up, trying to reassure his clothes and his messed up hair. When he went back to Jungkook he tried to grab his hand but the younger flinched, pulling it free. "Don't touch me", he let out, tears still falling. "What was that?", he asked anxiously, walking away from the audience who was still looking.

It felt a bit like back then in the shopping center when he himself freaked out, yelled at Lyza and threw words at her that he still felt bad for. Just that this time, it was Taehyung who lost it.
"He was being an asshole, you don't need people like that", Taehyung excused himself but Jungkook laughed bitterly. "Right there, you were the asshole. All he did was saying hello. You snapped at him for no reason at all-, he was just being nice. He's a good friend of mine, goddamnit you can't yell at everyone who's close to me!"

"He's not just a friend if you slept with him."

"At least I haven't been married", Jungkook let out in a small voice. "I just slept with random people who didn't mean shit. I never agreed to someone to spend the rest of my life with them."

"You did", Taehyung said, voice sounding a little distant. "Remember the day of your own wedding, honey? You said yes. It was Lyza who had enough brain to end this shitty relationship."

"You know what? Fuck you. Maybe this time I should be the one ending a shitty relationship", Jungkook yelled out, tears bursting back out. "What do you mean?", Taehyung shouted back, tears coming up as well. "You're gonna break up with me after I came here with you? You can't fucking do that!! I gave up Jimin, I gave up everything I had to come with you."

"Stop pressuring me into something, you sound like Lyza's father right now", Jungkook whispered, turning away. "I'm going home, I don't want to be outside with you. Everyone is staring at us and it's embarrassing as hell!"

Taehyung stayed silent, head shaking, "Are you breaking up with me?"

"Let's not have this conversation right now", Jungkook twirled around and started running away, heading towards the next taxi cab to get home quickly. His son only groaned, let go of Lili and rushed after his Dad. "Well done, Taehyung!", he only snapped and then tried running as fast as he could, stumbling every two meters because he had no balance on his legs which just kept getting worse day by day, hurting with every step he took.

"Dad, wait!", Taejeon screamed in pain, trying his best to catch up.
When his father heard him he stopped immediately and waited for his kid, "Sorry", he let out in a small voice. "I needed to get away from there-"
"I understand", Taejeon nodded and took his father's hand. "Let's go home."

A taxi cab stopped next to them, the driver opening the door for them. "Good evening", he smiled softly, wrinkles showing up on his old face that was looking as if he had had a good life even though he probably drove taxi cabs all his life. "Hello", Taejeon said politely while his Dad stayed silent.

"Had a bad night?", the man asked calmly when he started the car, heading towards the address Taejeon had given him. The kid was sitting in the front seat while Jungkook sat in the back.

"Bad night? More like a bad life", Jungkook sighed quietly. "Oh gosh, I hear that quite often when drunk people get into my car but you seem sober my dear", the man chuckled sadly, glancing at Jungkook through the small mirrors. "What happened?"

"I think I need to break up with someone I loved all my life", Jungkook whispered, eyes sparkling in tears, "And I hate it, I really don't want to do it."
"Then don't?", the man softly hummed. "What's making you do it?"

"He changed", Jungkook said slowly, "I feel like everything that had been going on, it got into his head. It made him see everything in such a bad way, y'know? I'm trying to live with a positive mindset, I'm still trying to heal from all the shit I put myself through and since he's back in my life all he does is making me fall back into old habits-"

The man nodded slowly, he was used to that. People always told him their stories. Maybe that's what made his job so worthwhile. Hearing all those stories, some quite heartbreaking while others made him believe in fate, destiny and all that shit.

"It sounds like a toxic relationship to me", the driver hummed, looking at the kid next to him. "Is it yours or his?", he asked plainly.

"Mine", Jungkook replied, "I had a girlfriend for 5 years back in Highschool and during the first years of college."
"Oh gosh, sounds like something that made the whole thing even more complicated", the man grumbled. "I'm sorry to hear that boy, I wish life wouldn't be so harsh on you young people."

"Me too", Jungkook let out. "Me too..", he repeated once again, sighing to himself as he leaned back and his gaze shifted through the window. The streets were still full of people that walked under the pretty christmas lights that were put up everywhere. Kids playing around, couples kissing or going shopping for presents that late at night. Dogs waddling through the snow, there was even a guy helping an old lady to get over the street because the street was frozen. He made sure she wouldn't fall.

Everything seemed so peaceful, so alright.

"If there's one thing I can assure you, kid", the man said and turned around a little to get a glimpse of Jungkook, "Then that there's more to every story than just the love. Sometimes it's the circumstances that may end it, but besides from that endings aren't always sad even when it's not an happy ending, y'know? Life isn't just black and white, you gotta remember that the lightest shade of grey can still look pretty while dark shades of grey have something mysterious to them, something beautiful."

"What you're trying to tell me?", Jungkook asked a little confused.

"Just that, even if you think the world will end if you broke up with him. The sun will rise, the moon will shine and the earth won't stop spinning, but maybe, just maybe you won't feel stuck anymore."

"Stuck", Jungkook repeated slowly, "That's exactly how it feels when I'm with him."

"Stuck to a past you're already over with, right?", the man smiled softly and Jungkook couldn't help but burst out in tears once again. "How comes you know that much about love?"

"My wife and I were married for fourty years, she left me for herself. Told me she'd never stop loving me but she needs to be herself and she can't be that with me."

"Maybe you two just weren't meant to be", Taejeon suddenly interrupted, "Stop saying love isn't worth fighting", the kid sighed. "I think when you really love someone you don't give up on them. You are a better version of yourself when you're with the one you love."

"If you do it right, buddy, if you do it right", the man smiled.

Jungkook leaned against the window, eyes fixing to a car that kept rushing towards them and the world seemed to spin in slow-mo. "So what if Taehyung and I were meant to be, but we did it wro--", he let out and everything went black.

Squealing wheels of the cars surrounding them, people screaming out and the motor of the car that crashed into them blowing up in fire, making the cars that crashed into them burn as well.
Everything happened too fast, a man ran from the shop at the corner of the street towards the cars, phone to his ear while calling the ambulance first, then the police.
Another two men tried getting into the cars to pull out the bodies. Someone had to do something, at least that's what it felt like for everyone who witnessed the crash of a taxi cab with a huge range rover in the middle of the street.

The rover started to slither caused by the iced streets, drifting off its lane right into the taxi cab that did nothing wrong at this point.

The police arrived almost immediately after, running towards the cars together with some firemen to look for survivors in this crash. There was family with two kids and an old grandma in the back, they were the ones from the range rover.
While the cab held a driver, a man and his kid.

A woman waved one of the policemen over, a doctor coming with him immediately. "I got the kid", she cried out, holding an eleven year old in her arms. The kid's right leg was almost completely burned, skin ripped off thanks to that.
She layed him down and the doctors ran over, "He's not breathing", she said anxiously, voice cracking when she kept brushing through the boy's hair, holding his head while the doctors tried their best to press his chest and make him breath.

"He's not breathing", she repeated, panicking. "He's not breathing", the woman panicked more and more until one of the policemen grabbed her by her shoulders and dragged her away. She tried looking up, cried out that they should let her go because there was no one else left who could look for the kid.

They hadn't found the father yet.

"He needs someone he can wake up to!!", she yelled out but the police officer only looked at her, trying his best not to cry himself. When it was a kid, it was always a little harder.

"He probably won't wake up, Miss", he said, voice cracky himself. "I'm sorry, please go home for now."

"What do you mean?", she yelled out. "He's a kid he had his life in front of him!! What do you mean he won't wake up!!!"

"Miss, you said it yourself; he's not breathing .. "

***

double update today, yes or no?