“Kookie.”

“Hmm?”

“He's here again.”

Jungkook sighed. He already noticed the presence following them from a distance. “Just ignore him, hyung.”

Jimin tried, he really did, but it was so hard. Especially when Taehyung didn't even try to be discreet. It was as if he wanted them to acknowledge his presence. Well, neither Jungkook nor Jimin had the slightest desire to do that.

“Why is he following you like this? What is he trying to do?”

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. For the past two weeks or so, he's been seeing Taehyung literally everywhere. Taehyung accompanied his father to work thrice, under the guise of having shoulder pain. One look at Namjoon's confused face was enough to let Jungkook know that it was a lie. But for some reason, Namjoon entertained it, all three times.

Then Taehyung was seen a few times with Seokjin, the local bakery owner, and also the unofficial owner of Namjoon's affection. Seokjin and Namjoon had been stuck in a silent courting-from-far process for god knows how many years now. A glance here, a little bit of flirting there, but neither daring to take the next step. As a part of this unofficial courting process, Jin delivered food to Namjoon's place, two-three times a week, and Taehyung had accompanied him in the last few turns.

Jungkook didn't ask, for he really didn't care enough, but Namjoon voluntarily provided the information that Jin and Taehyung are distant relatives. And that Taehyung never came to the medical center before.

Latest development was the following when Jungkook was coming back from work. When Jimin got to know that, he started to come to Namjoon's place in the evening.

Taehyung never bothered Jungkook, just silently made the former aware of his presence. Hence Jungkook couldn't complain, even though it was kind of starting to become uncomfortable.

The confrontation happened when Taehyung came to Yoongi's workshop, on a day both Jimin and Jungkook were helping there. Jimin saw him first, and hissed under his breath.

“For God's sake!”

Jimin slammed the tool he was holding on to the work table and took a step towards Taehyung but Jungkook was quick enough to stop him.

“Hyung.”

Jimin calmed down a bit with that whisper, and glared back at Taehyung. “What are you doing here?!”

“I-” Taehyung moved his eyes away from Jungkook, whom he had been staring at all this while, and looked at Jimin. “I came to meet Yoongi.”

“Yoongi-ssi is not here. So leave and come back later!”

“Will he be late? I think I'll wait for him here. It's not an easy distance to travel twice.”

“He will be very late, so why don't you-”

Jimin stopped what he wanted to say when Jungkook placed a hand over his shoulder again.

“Are you really here to meet him? Or someone else?”

Taehyung's answer came with a few seconds delay. “Yoongi.”

Jimin snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“That's the truth.” Taehyung shrugged his shoulders. “I don't have the courage to talk to either of you. Nor you are willing to listen, even if I had any.”

“Is that why you've been following Kookie around for two weeks? Because you're being a coward?”

“No, that's-” Taehyung paused for a second and gave a soft smile. “That's because I miss him.”

Jimin blinked a few times, as if he couldn't believe what he heard. He could hear the choked up coughing in the background too. “W-what?”

“I didn't mean to cause trouble, just wanted to see-.”

“Tae!!”

A loud call made everyone turn their heads towards the entrance, where a surprised Yoongi stood. “Uhh.. did I interrupt something? What are you doing here, Tae?”

Taehyung quickly walked towards Yoongi and gave a smile. “I came to see you, hyung.”

Yoongi shifted his gaze to Jimin, who's face looked hot enough for steam to come out of it. Jungkook was standing with his back to them so Yoongi couldn't see his expression.

“Uhh.. Okay. Just give me a second.”

He then walked towards the table and dropped the bag he was carrying on to it. “Jimin, would you mind stocking these supplies in the cupboard? I'll be back soon.”

“Sure.” Jimin's voice sounded natural, but Yoongi can clearly see the tightened fists and jaw.

“Uhh… Is everything okay? You know Taehyung, right?”

“Yes.” Jimin gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes. “Unfortunately, I do.”

Yoongi looked like he wanted to say something, but then he decided not to. He only gave a nod, before walking towards Taehyung and then accompanying him outside.

They silently walked for a little while, to be away from the hearing distance from the workshop.

Yoongi was the first one to break the silence. “Why do I feel like Jimin was seconds away from killing you?”

Taehyung chuckled a bit. “Oh, if he could, he definitely would.”

“Uhh.. lover's quarrel?”

“What? No!” Taehyung looked at the elder with wide eyes. “Heavens!”

Yoongi didn't comment on that, but his face seemed to have brightened up considerably after the exchange. “So why are you here?”

“No reason. I was in the neighborhood for some work and thought I'll meet you as well.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah.”

Yoongi stopped walking and turned to look at Taehyung with raised eyebrows. “Taehyung, I can count with one hand the number of times you've come to see me in the last year, just like that.”

“Yeah, well, like I said, I was in the neighborhood.” Taehyung didn't meet Yoongi's eyes as he answered. “Am I not welcome here anymore?”

“Of course, you are.”

They walked up to the house and talked some more while Yoongi made tea for them. After that, Taehyung left and Yoongi went back to his workshop.

On the way back, Taehyung thought about what he was doing. He had done a lot of thinking lately but there seems to be still more. And no matter how hard he thought, a remedy for his troubles was still far from his mind.

Jungkook may have left his house and his life, but the prince had never once left Taehyung's mind. His heart ached at the younger's pain, most of which was Taehyung's fault. Jungkook's words, which felt like a knife stab, left such deep wounds that kept Taehyung up all night from the pain.

For the first few days, Taehyung was drowning in misery and self loathing. He silently screamed and begged forgiveness for his wrongdoing, but the person who should have heard them, was nowhere near. He wanted to fix things to be the way it used to be, but he knew that was not possible now. Things will never go back to the way they were before.

So the next best thing he could do, was to give Jungkook the life he desired, the life he accepted and hoped to have, when he left the palace. Taehyung didn't know how long it would take, but he will extend his hand and wait for Jungkook to take it. He will earn that forgiveness, in whichever way Jungkook deems suitable, and wait till the prince feels ready to give him another chance.

And that's what he's been doing for the past two weeks. He slowly inserted himself back into Jungkook's life, so that he could find an opportunity to speak. But so far, Jungkook has been ignoring him completely. To tell the truth, Jungkook's indifference hurt Taehyung more than his anger. It's not ideal, but Taehyung could work with anger. Hell, he will take it with open arms, because he knows that he deserves that anger.

But Jungkook's indifference… It is scary. It was as if they were strangers and that Jungkook had no emotion, neither good nor bad, to spare for Taehyung. He didn't even look at Taehyung, never let his eyes get tangled with Taehyung's. And it made Taehyung feel invisible. Jungkook even refrained from speaking in Taehyung's presence, whenever possible, as if to not let the elder hear his voice.

It was as if Taehyung stopped existing in Jungkook's world.

For the next few weeks, Taehyung's spirits fell lower and lower, as Jungkook adamantly refused to acknowledge him in any way. Jimin stopped coming to pick the younger, which Taehyung thought was a blessing cause he was honestly starting to get worried about the guard's death glares. But no matter how many times or how long he walked next to Jungkook, the prince didn't even look at him once.

One day, when it got too much to handle, Taehyung stopped Jungkook who was coming back from work. The prince still refused to meet his eyes, but looked up when Taehyung pushed a small paper bag into his hands.

“I brought you something.”

Jungkook looked at the bag for a few seconds, before pushing it back to Taehyung. Then he walked around Taehyung, as if he was truly invisible.

“Kookie, wait!”

Jungkook didn't wait, and after a few steps, Taehyung blocked his path again. “Please, you don't have to talk with me. But at least take this.”

Taehyung tried to push the bag to Jungkook again, but this time, the younger was ready for it so he just let it fall to the ground. A bunch of small, dark purple colored fruits fell out of the bag and scattered on the ground. Both Taehyung and Jungkook stared at them for a few seconds.

“Blackberries.” Taehyung whispered. “You wanted to eat them.”

Jungkook smiled to himself. Yes, he did. He saw them on one of his explorations with Taehyung and wanted to eat. But the fruit was not ripened at that time and Taehyung promised to bring him some in the harvest season.

He looked at Taehyung with emotionless eyes. “I don't want them anymore.”

With that, Jungkook walked away, leaving Taehyung staring at his retreating figure, even after it went out of sight..