The following days, Taehyung was highly cautious. And that for a reason, obviously.

Luckily, his notorious ex-boyfriend Lee Ruo had not tried to start a conversation with him yet which had been a huge relief for him. However, the brunette could feel his stares on him every time they were in the same room and that did not make him feel all too good. In fact, he could shake with fear every time he did, standing up against him would take him some time.

And despite him telling Jungkook not to worry about him, the ravenette kept sending him daily texts, clearly worrying about him. Like right now.

Jungkook(💘?!)
Taehyung!
Did he try to talk to you? Did he make you uncomfortable in any way?
I know it's Sunday, but still...
If he texts you again, give me his number and I'll destroy his ass, anonymously!
Sent 11:48 PM

He couldn't help but laugh a little.
"That's so cute... kind of," he mumbled, deep in thoughts.

"What is?," someone asked next to him.
Taehyung smiled brightly.
"It's Jungkook, Minnie! I told him not to worry but he keeps checking up on me. Normally, I'd find it annoying, but in this case, it's super cute of him! He just has that... Jungkook-cuteness." Obviously not noticing the frown forming on Jimin's face, he typed a response. And to avoid any spelling mistakes or typos, he double- and triple-checked it.

You
sweet of you, but nope!
he still hasn't tried anything yet,
and didn't i tell you not to worry?
i'll tell you when he does, i promise...
Sent 11:51 PM

Jungkook (💘?!)
But still, how could I not worry about you?!😣😣 It's dangerous!!
Thank you for trusting me, though...💞
Sent 11:51 PM

You
thank YOU for being a trust-worthy person💓
Sent 11:51 PM

"Hey! Who do you keep texting the whole time?!," the silverhead snapped, grabbing Taehyung's wrist and removing the phone from his hand.

"Uh. You can text him later, pay attention to the movie now," he spoke, placing the phone on the other end of the couch with an annoyed glare on his face and motioning towards the TV screen on which the iconic teen movie 'Mean Girls' was currently playing.

Taehyung shrugged and focused on the movie, grabbing a handful of popcorn and laying his head on Jimin's shoulder. Feeling overly giddy, he needed to feel his best friend's warmth to handle all the confusing turmoils going on inside of him. Whereas Jimin obviously wanted him to feel more than a best friend's warmth. Which was evidently not possible.

"Taehyungie, you know we worry about you, right? I'm so scared something's gonna happen to you again... I don't even want to know what could've happened if I wasn't there," the older boy mumbled truthfully.

"The past is in the past, we need to put this behind us and not get hung up on it. And I'm avoiding him as if he were... a killer virus so I doubt he'll be able to corner me or talk to me alone," the brunette answered, his eyes still glued onto the screen.

"Put this behind us? He didn't even apologize to you! Don't you remember what happened when you tried to get him to apologize? He told you he didn't regret it! And what happened when you broke up with him? He threw a fucking vase at you! He needs to feel the pain you felt, you deserve justice!," the silverhead suddenly exclaimed with a quite intimidating glare on his face, making Taehyung open his mouth briefly, only to close it again after a few seconds.

He felt highly conflicted, now even having to remember the breakup.

-

"You wanna talk? I'm feeling generous right now, so here I am. You have five minutes before I leave you here, bloody and bruised." An ash grey-haired male stood in the doorframe with his arms crossed, not trying to show it but actually terrified to death. But somehow, the anger inside him made it easier for him to maintain that intimidating posture.

"I don't know what's your problem, honestly. Did I do something wrong?," the other asked. Taehyung gasped in disbelief, trying to find any sign of irony or amusement on his face, but said other just looked at him questioningly.

"You--" he took a deep breath, feeling the air leave his lungs. He felt enraged, saddened, frustrated. All at once. "You ask me... what you did wrong? You should be begging for my forgiveness right now! You forced yourself on me, and if Jimin hadn't been there in time, you would've... just-- what the fuck?! Were you drunk?"

"I was sober, duh. You're my boyfriend, I can do with you what I want. Why are you being so stuck up?" The taller frowned, evidently still not understanding the consequences of his actions.

"That's-- that's not how a relationship works. And from now on, I am not your boyfriend anymore. I don't want to see you ever again, rot in hell, Lee Ruo." Taehyung felt like he couldn't breathe, he wanted to scream or cry and his palm was just itching to slap the consciousness out of his now ex-boyfriend. But he knew better than that.

So he just turned around and wanted to leave the house when he, all of a sudden, felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him into the other's house forcefully. The ash grey-haired boy had been to that very house many, many times and it had always given comfort to him. But now, he felt sick of it.

His first relationship, his first love, everything, felt like nothing but a single lie. No, it was nothing but a single lie.

"You are not breaking up with me," the other hissed, turning him around and grabbing his collar, nothing but fear and unshed tears glistening in Taehyung's eyes.

"Let go of me, asshole. We're over! Do you seriously expect me to be in a relationship something like you? An assaulter? A rapist? You thought wrong! You deserve jail," he hissed, trying to remove the other's hand from his collar but gasping in shock as he saw said other grab a vase from a little stand positioned just a few feet next to them.

"You are standing in my house right now. Have some fucking respect or I'll show you some." Taehyung felt every single cell in his body scream at him to run away with all the strength he could muster as he saw his crazy ex-lover's arm take a swing and the pearly white porcelain vase come closer towards his face.

So he did exactly what his instincts told him to. He mustered up all the strength he could gather inside his body and ripped himself out of the older boy's grip with a shrill scream, missing the hit by just a mere centimetre.

And then, he started sprinting left the house as fast as he could, panting heavily and not even looking back once.

-

"I've never talked a single word to him ever since. And I'd like it to stay that way. No more drama, please, I just want to forget." The brunette sighed.

"Why do you think he came back? I don't think he simply wants to go to school here, Taehyung. He's a motherfucking psycho, he belongs locked up in a mental institution," Jimin mumbled.

"Who knows? Maybe he's chan--"
"No, people like that don't just change! Remember the text messages he sent you? Once a fucked up person, always a fucked up person. He's still dangerous."

"Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?," the brunette asked quietly, Jimin looking over to him with a sympathetic gaze and hesitantly putting his hand over the other's.

"Because that's the way the universe works. Some people get what they want, some people don't. And some people get what they don't want or need. There's no justice, and there's never going to be." At that, Taehyung slightly smiled.

"I... I guess that's true. But please-- let's talk about something different. Jiminie, random question. Do you believe in fate?," he asked, the other shrugging in response.

"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I do think it's a nice thought. What about you, Tae?" To that, the younger smiled.

"Yes, I do. I believe that we were fated to be platonic soulmates. I used to think Ruo was my destiny, turns out he was the bane of my existence. But... do you think Jungkook and I could be destined? Maybe, he's my destiny?"
The silverhead stayed silent for a while.
As much as he loved Taehyung, he wanted nothing more than to shut him up in that exact moment.

Well, of course he wouldn't have minded shutting him up with his lips on his best friend's lips. Oh, to feel those beautiful lips on his own, to hold him in his arms as he could feel the brunette's pretty fingers entangled in his hair--

No. This was wrong. He shouldn't be like this, he should not be getting inappropriate fantasies about his best friend.

He just shrugged again, forcing a little smile on his face. "Who knows, maybe? I mean, we're still young. Things can change?"
And Taehyung was too focused on the TV screen to see how faked it was, giving a shrug aswell.

Jimin was truly afraid. He was afraid of going insane, of getting depressed, of getting lovesick.

Normally, he should be turning to his friends and asking them for advice, but ironically, his friends were the absolutely last people he would reach out to. No, worse than that, they were the actual problem.

He felt truly trapped inside, like somebody had locked him into a cage and was preventing him from being himself, from being free.
Like a bird in a birdcage.

And everywhere he looked, all he saw were the bars restricting him.
Taehyung was the little bit of sunlight shining through and giving him hope but unfortunately, the sunlight was something he could never have for himself. And every time he realized that, he felt the cage enclose itself around him even tighter, how long until it would tear him into pieces?

Jimin did not know. And he did not want to know, either.

Because he hated to admit it, but Taehyung was slowly, but surely destroying him.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(A/N: a little filler and now y'all finally have the whole backstory uwu and another wall of jiminie's emotions poor baby

it's currently 1:16 am and i have school tomorrow... you can imagine how my sleep is going lmao

btw i can't believe it but i got 40k reads?!?!?!? what the hell y'all😭😭😭 thank you so much this is amazing and this book is my baby💜💜 i love you and i'm very very grateful y'all are beautiful goodbye💕💕)