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"How is he?"

"He was still sleeping when we got there so I let him rest for a bit more. He seems alright, do not worry."

Taehyung didn't say anything and just gave him a silent nod.

Namjoon left, soon after giving him the information.

Being in a solace can help you find answers, it gives you more time and perfect environment to think properly without interruption but, sometimes a small interpretation from someone does wonders.

But Taehyung was alone and he had never trusted someone with his heart before, so he didn't know or even considered the idea of sharing his problems with someone. He was used to dealing with everything by himself and he had always had no problems whatsoever.

However, this time was different. He knew what he did was not completely right but did he have any other choice? Not at that precise moment. He couldn't even think properly when he saw Jungkook suffering and he was the one who caused it.

He wasn't trying to lie to himself anymore. It was obvious, not just to him but to others as well, that he had a soft spot for the boy. He was just confused and overwhelmed by those emotions and panicked which led to him running away from the situation which he had never done before.

It was shameful for his ego. He couldn't just sit there in Namjoon's room all day. He had to return to Jungkook at some point. There was no point in keep running away. One day, he will have to confront and answer the questions but for now, he needed to clear his mind.

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Jungkook woke up, groaning as his hand went straight to his neck as a reflex. It felt sore and stiff because he'd been too careful and conscious about it even in his sleep that he ended up not moving his neck at all until he woke up with sore muscles.

It didn't hurt as much anymore but it was swapped with the stiffness now. Same thing. He was still groaning in pain everytime he turned his neck too fast.

His mind was empty. He just looked around the gloomy room, sitting with his feet touching the ground.

It was huge, one of the reasons why it felt gloomy, and the windows were humongous, large curtains fluttering silently as the wind gushed through the gap at the opening of the window.

Even the curtains were a shade of faded white and the dull bedsheets were only making his head hurt more. He never paid attention to these details, nor did he felt bothered by it before this. He used to feel calm being in this room but, suddenly it became unbearable and scary.

Why was everything suddenly poking him in the eyes? He was annoyed.

"How could he just leave me here?! Ruthless!" a frustrated sigh was all he could manage to let out as he still felt weak. He was hungry too.

He threw another glance around the room, surprising himself when he found a tray of food sitting on top of the side table.

"Huh? Who put it here?"

Someone must have put it there while he was sleeping. This was the conclusion he came to. He didn't want to think about Taehyung, but who was he kidding? That was all his mind could think about.

He just ate whatever he could, put the plates aside and finally got up from the bed, now feeling better.

He figured that just sitting around in the room will do him no benefit. With that in mind, he approached the door.

He rattled the door handle, and for a second, it didn't budge at all but then, it suddenly opened with force so big that it yanked him out of the room. He was trying to open it inside but instead, it opened outside.

He fell down on a rough surface, scrapping his knees as he did so.

"Fuck-" he cursed at the sight of the wound on his knees. It wasn't too bad but, who likes getting scraped?

Between all of this, he had little time to look at his surroundings. And when he did, he realised that he was in the forest...!?

The trees stood tall against him, surrounding his crouched figure as he looked up to the clouds which hid the sun making the weather gloomy.

"Perfect!" the sarcasm was practically dripping from his tongue, "even the forest is gloomy."

He got up, still cursing at everything in his mind. Eventually, he got tired of cursing and just kept on walking towards nowhere.

He didn't know, nor he cared about where he was headed. He was just walking away from the room he just came out of. Although, the door disappeared as soon as he landed knees first on the ground, but he hated it. He hated being lonely.

He missed his friends. His hyungs. How Jin would take care of him like he was his own little brother or how Yoongi would drop everything he was doing to come and help him with anything. How Hobi would always play along with his pranks and they would laugh together. How he used to argue with Jimin and everyone had to interfere to make him make up with the other.

Taehyung, just a vampire, would never understand what friendship meant to Jungkook.

The thoughts coiled around his brain and just like that, he was standing in front of a river opening.

It was beautiful and calm, the stones scattered on the shore were glistening, even without any sunlight.

He sighed, finding a stable rock to sit down and dipped his feet in the flowing water. The cool feeling quickly relaxed his nerves and as if it spreaded all throughout his body, he couldn't help but close his eyes.

"Cool, isn't it?"

The voice made Jungkook snap his head towards the left. After knowing who it was, he rolled his eyes, trying his best to ignore the person.

"Come on! I'm just paying you a visit to see your wellbeing."

"I never asked you to." Jungkook snapped back.

"People don't ask for it, kid. I'm just so generous that I couldn't stop myself."

"Does Taehyung know about it?" Jungkook's words pierced Jiwoong's ears as if daggers. Jungkook's eyes glared at him, knowing that he had hit the spot.

"I'm here to see you, Jungkook. Let's not talk about him, besides, he probably isn't in a state to be present here. He's too shaken to be here, ya know?" Jiwoong strolled towards him, his pace slow and steady while his eyes observed the side of Jungkook's sullen face.

Jungkook was looking at his feet in the water as tiny fishes swam by him.

"Were you expecting him?" Jiwoong continued.

"I don't care about him,"

"But the mark on your neck says a different story, darling." he didn't waste a single second before saying it.

"Don't fucking use those nicknames." his voice was stern and the anger was visible on his face as he looked at Jiwoong.

"Oh my! Pardon me." Jiwoong quickly put his hands up in the air, surrendering but the smile on his face was enough to say that he was clearly having fun and creating a scene, "but I was really here to just check up on you."

"You don't need to, so you can go," he sighed, looking back at the water again, "please."

Jiwoong tilted his head in astonishment over his sudden change of tone. It was as if, getting angry for just a second at Jiwoong had exhausted him.

"What are you doing here?" Jiwoong was about to speak further when he was silenced by another, stronger voice.

"Oh, master, I was just-"

"He told you to go away." Taehyung kept his neck high, back straight as he looked at him with intimidating eyes.

"Alright..." Jiwoong said lazily as he vanished from there.

Now that he was out of the chapter, Taehyung's eyes were back to focus on Jungkook.

He sure did hear Taehyung but didn't spare him a glance, instead, he kept playing with the water as it splashed around his feet.

"Jungkook,"

His name coming out of the older's mouth gave him a weird tight feeling around his chest. He didn't want to be soft again just because Taehyung called him softly like that. He wasn't that easy.

"Why do you not look at me?" he was now standing at the base of the rock on which Jungkook was sitting.

Jungkook scoffed gently, "why should I?"

Taehyung had nothing to argue back.

"Why did you run away?" Jungkook looked up at him for a second and then looked back down. If he kept his eyes on Taehyung, he knew that his tears will betray him.

"I am sorry." Taehyung refused to explain the real cause of his actions and this pissed Jungkook off.

"That's not the answer to what I asked." he was trying not to appear weak in front of Taehyung. And he wasn't. That was the truth but everyone has a breaking point.

"What explanation do you want?"

Why was Taehyung dragging it?

"Why did you run away?" Jungkook then emphasised each word.

"Does that matter? I had promised not to lay a hand on you until and unless you lose the game. It was wrong of me to do what I did."

"But I told you to do it."

"That is what I am talking about. Why would you do that?"

"Do you really not know, Taehyung? I think I've been too obvious lately and you're smart enough to figure it out." he stood up, the water rolling down his feet as he jumped down the rock.

"It is only better if we stop this now." to make Jungkook even more flabbergasted, Taehyung decided to be straightforward as he ignored what the former said.

"What do you mean, stop?" his eyes were squinted in disbelief.

"Are we not here to play the game? Let us continue. If you win, you can take your friends and go back to Seoul." the way he only half heartedly glanced at Jungkook and then went back to looking at the river water, it was obvious that he was still not being honest.

"Is that what you really want?" Jungkook asked, taking a step towards him, "look at me, will you?"

"I let you do this," Jungkook continued, grabbing his hand and guiding it to his neck, "you can feel it too, can't you?"

Taehyung visibly stiffened at the small, rough elevation on his overall smooth skin.

"And you're still going to push me away? Behaving like nothing ever happened?!"

"Are you dumb?" Taehyung snatched his hand away, "I am only doing this for your own wellbeing. You can not handle it, Jungkook,"

There was a brief puase before he continued, "I can not handle it."

"What?" he shook his head, "but I don't get it. Isn't this all you wanted?"

"Not anymore. I do not want to have anything to do with you. So let us just continue with the game." Taehyung looked back at him, jaw clenched as his eyes were dull.

"You are lying." Jungkook shook his head again, gulping a thick lump of sob down his throat.

"I am not. Can you not see it?" Taehyung was stern and stood straight on his ground.

Jungkook's head was spinning; with various thoughts and angry rants but he kept it inside.

"You.. you have no right to decide anything for me." Jungkook refused to let any tear fall from his eyes.

"You're so full of yourself, you know that?" he put a finger on Taehyung's chest, poking it harshly, "why is it always you who decides the rules?! That's unfair. I'll continue to play the game but, on one condition."

"What is it?" Taehyung spoke without thinking much of it. After all, at the end of the day, he was the one with control. Or so he thought!

"I'm changing the rules. You have to agree first before I tell you, or I'm not playing anymore."

"Why are you behaving like a child?" Taehyung put a hand on his forehead, visibly tensed, "fine, go ahead."

"If I win, you let my friends go as promised but I will stay here with you and you're going to explain everything to me."

"That is nonsense. You can not be here." he didn't hesitate for even a second.

"Why not?! Are you scared? Make the game as hard as you can and if I still win, you do what I said. If I lose, I'll go away." the determination in his eyes made the older nervous for a moment there.

He was feeling things he had never before in just a short span of time all because of this one little human. He was going to have serious issues if Jungkook won.

"Scared?" Taehyung scoffed, "let me tell you, I was being lenient on you all this time but now that you have changed the rules, get ready to taste the real pain." as he spoke each word, his voice became lower and lower and his feet moved on its own accord, towering over the younger male.

"Because you are going to lose, sweetheart." he tapped Jungkook's cheek twice before he disappeared.

"We'll see that." Jungkook whispered to himself, angrily wiping away the tear that accidentally slipped through the slit of his eyes when he closed them.

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