When Jin awoke in his bedroom Jungkook was still holding his hand. He was relieved that he was no longer in Jungkook's bedroom but seeing the maknae filled him with two conflicting feelings.

     On the one hand, he remembered only too well what had happened the day before and the resentment he had felt towards the younger one. But on the other hand, he also clearly had in mind the relief he had felt this morning upon seeing him, as if not seeing him by his side would have plunged him into the deepest despair.

     "Hyung, are you awake?" Jungkook asked when he saw him blink.

     "Mmmm..." Jin only mumbled in response.

     Because of this absence of words, Jungkook hesitated to continue, wondering if Jin was still as reluctant to speak as he was the day before. He cleared his throat:

    "Namjoon hyung came to bring water earlier. Do you... do you want some?" he asked hesitantly, grabbing the carafe of water and one of the glasses on the bedside table.

    Realizing he was thirsty, Jin nodded and accepted the glass of water gratefully and drank two more which Jungkook gladly served him. Finishing his third glass, Jin licked his split lip and a painful memory flashed in his mind, making him flinch.

     "Jin-hyung?" Jungkook called worriedly, snapping him out of this cruel flashback.

    Jin blinked his eyes as if to get these horrible images out of his head and looked up at him without saying anything and nervously Jungkook asked:

    "Do you... do you remember what happened this morning?"

     "I do..." Jin said placing his forearm over his eyes, remembering only too well what had happened that morning and how he thought he was going to die. "I remember this morning... and also last night..."

     Jungkook stared at him, waiting for Jin to explain what had happened, but he didn't, so he just asked:

     "And... are you okay now?"

      "Yes... no... I really don't know, JK," Jin was genuinely confused.

     He was sure he was going to get the worst of it again this morning, and he would never be able to get up again. But seeing Jungkook arrive this morning, he had felt this relief he didn't understand: he felt... safe, protected. When he started to breathe again, he desperately wanted to see him, he feared that he had abandoned him to his fate, that he had left him alone as when he had asked him to leave the room.

     He never wanted to have to tell him to abandon him again, he couldn't go on walking this path of suffering alone. And he understood the feeling of abandonment that Jungkook must have felt when he learned that he was leaving for military service. It was too hard to bear.

     "I get it, hyung and if you don't want to talk about it yet, I'll wait," Jungkook said before adding in a small voice, "I'll wait until you don't hate me anymore."

     Jin looked intently at the maknae, the boy he had always wanted to protect and had always loved more than anyone since their beginnings. How could he have blamed him for what Lee had done to him? How could he combine Jungkook and Lee in the same thought? Besides, if he pushed Jungkook away, who would he have left to share his secret and get better?

     "It was nothing like what I imagined," he whispered suddenly in pain, without any form of introduction, finally feeling the need to externalize what he had felt the night before, even if it was only by whispering. "It was brutal and painful. And unhealthy. I don't ever want to do this again. It didn't make me a man, it made me feel more helpless than a child and less considered than an object which he used at his convenience. He just had fun with me without considering my pain for a moment..."

     Jin started sobbing softly and Jungkook was heartbroken. He hugged him but quickly released him when he saw Jin's grimace of pain and then he remembered the wounds he had seen the night before and he hastened to apologize.

      "Hyung, Lee revealed he was a real freak yesterday, but it's not the way it should be, I promise," Jungkook tried to reassure him, knowing that Jin must be traumatized by the brutality of which he had been the victim and that he had to be reassured as soon as possible before he closed himself forever to the idea of ​​having relations with anyone. He was sure of one thing: "He is a monster, he didn't want you anything good. He just wanted to make you suffer and scare you."

     "H-he succeeded," Seokjin sobbed, who shuddered in horror every time he closed his eyes and saw Lee's face again. "I... I don't know if I'll be able to look at him the next time I see him... He scares me so much..."

     "Can you show me your wounds hyung?" Jungkook asked with an extreme gentleness. "We have to look if you need to be treated."

      Jin hesitated a few seconds, not really wanting to expose his body to anyone's eyes ever again.  He seemed to strain his ears to check that no one was coming near the bedroom. Then, he nodded and with extra precaution, he lifted his t-shirt up to his neck, revealing his torso, his abdomen and his flanks covered with bruises but also with traces of nails which had pierced the skin wildly in several places. 

     His back probably had similar marks and the lower part of his body must have been in the same state if not worse. The redness around his wrists had lessened but the skin remained irritated there.

     But the worst was the bite marks that followed the line of his collarbones. Even though the blood had been washed away, closing the wounds had left scabs of blood behind it and now there was nothing to do but wait for the skin to regenerate itself, hoping that the marks would not be permanent.

      Jungkook narrowly suppressed a cry of horror which would not have failed to attract others. He had already had a few seconds to see the damage Lee's brutality had caused the night before but taking the time to look made him want to destroy everything around him because he knew he could have, he would have had to prevent that from happening.

     "He-he... he's an animal..." he stammered.

     "Yes he is..." Jin whispered, lowering his t-shirt and avoiding meeting Jungkook's gaze, for fear that the other ask him for details about what had happened between Lee and him behind this closed door, which he would never have had the strength to tell. "He said every time I made a noise he would bite me, but I couldn't help it..."

     "We absolutely have to expose him for what he did to you. We can't go on living with someone like him. Who knows what else he might do in the future if we let him?"

     "No, we can't denounce him!" Jin immediately cried straightening up.

     "But we can't do nothing after what he did to you! He has to pay dearly for it!"

     "I said no..." Jin replied with force, disgusted with himself despite everything, "I couldn't stand it so that he finally denounced us anyway. I- I understood what my life will be if he denounced me publicly just before I left for the military service. My life will be a hell. I don't ever wanna go through something like that ever again and even less, live it worse. That's why I put up with it last night, so that he would leave us alone."

     "But nothing says after that he's going to leave us alone after wh..."

      "Please Jungkook, don't... don't do anything," Jin cut him eagerly, "or he'll punish me again."

     Jungkook fell silent, racked with guilt. Jin had just pointed out a terrible truth he had been punished in the most cruel way when he had done nothing: he had been punished for the actions of the youngest. And he was so traumatized by what had just happened that he wanted to prevent Jungkook from acting such a fate that the manager got angry again. 

     Realizing what he had just implied and seeing the maknae bow his head guiltily, Jin immediately regretted.

     "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it was your fault, I just mean I don't want to go through this again and we should lay low for now."

     "Hyung, why are you apologizing when I should be? You're right to think I'm responsible because I am. I'm sorry I got mad because you were leaving and to have tried to stop you by all means, I never should have done this, none of this would have happened if I hadn't. I... I'm so, so sorry..."

     Jungkook burst into tears before the sad eyes of Jin who also poured their stream of despair.

     "How could I blame you for wanting me to stay with you?" Jin asked in a whisper.

     The younger raised his head quickly and plunged his moist gaze into that of the older.

     "Y-you don't blame me for what I did?" he stuttered, incredulous. "Don't you regret agreeing to protect my reputation and suffering because of me?"

     "Do you really think I regret protecting you? I thought you knew me better," Jin said in the tone of reproach.

    "No, I know you always wanted to protect me, but I thought you changed your mind after what happened... just before Lee, I was the first to coerce you and forcibly kiss you. I made you suffer too, and..."

     "No, you're nothing like him and you didn't hurt me," Jin cut him as he put a hand on Jungkook's tattooed arm. "Sure you didn't do well and scared me for a while, but you regretted it. And looking at what Lee did next, I understood the difference between you two: you love me while he despises me. It makes a big difference for me. I... I want to believe that you would never have me treated the way he treated me."

     Jungkook opened his eyes wide, horrified to realize that his attitude had led his beloved hyung to believe that he was truly capable of harming him.

     "Hyung, I would never, never have done this to you, you have to believe me."

     "I know, JK," Jin said, however reassured, "and I hate myself for thinking about it for even a second."

     "You're not to blame for this, I'm the one who hates myself the most for what I've done," Jungkook replied.

     "It's not a competition, JK ," Jin pointed out to him.

     Unexpectedly, the two chuckled.

     Jungkook was happy to see Jin being able to laugh after what happened, even a little. He didn't forget that his hyung was a person who knew how to hide his suffering very well and that he would have to be there next to him to support him when he had trouble dealing with his suffering.

       "Jungkook, do you remember when after the TV show you told me that you needed me and that I shouldn't leave your sides?" Jin asked.

     "Of course I remember," Jungkook responded.

     "Well I realized that I needed you by my side too, even if before, I did not realize certain things," Jin admitted.

     "What do you mean?"

     "When Lee left last night, I thought I would never get up and didn't want to. After all, how fight against such a monster? I was sure I didn't have the strength. You see, yesterday I didn't even have the strength to stand up or face your gaze, so fight him? I'm so weak on my own..."

     Jungkook opened his mouth but immediately closed it, letting him continue without interrupting, even though he was burning with envy to contradict him.

     "But now you are here by my side and when I saw you arrive this morning wondering why to go on living, whereas I thought for a brief moment that you had abandoned me, I remembered why I had to get up and I know where I will continue to draw my strength. I have always drawn my strength from others, that's how I am. And the one who has always been by my side to pass it on to me in difficult times is you, more than anyone else. So it's my turn to tell you: I need you, so never leave me. Alone, I am incapable, that is why I fell this morning: because I was alone in front of myself."

     "Hyung, that's wrong," Jungkook finally protested, "you don't realize how wrong you are. You are the one who gives strength to those around you – and I am the first – not the other way around. You always have and if now you don't have the strength, it's up to me to fight for you. If only I had been less selfish and had agreed to let you go, you would have escaped this suffering, you would have been saved as Yoongi hyung said, I blame myself so much... "

     "No Jungkook: if I had gone selfishly the way I wanted to, he would have found other ways to make you suffer and I would have blamed myself for leaving and abandoning you. You were right to want me to stay and I was wrong to want to leave."

     Jungkook's eyes shone at the light Jin was giving off again. How could he forgive him so easily after what he had done?

     "So... don't you hate me at all?"

     "I don't hate you JK, I love you, I don't know how I could make you think otherwise."

     Jungkook's eyes moistened again and soon tears rolled silently down his cheeks.

     "Jin hyung? "

     "Jungkookie, don't cry anymore, you know it makes me sad and I don't want to be sad anymore."

     "But hyung, I always thought we were soulmates and now... now I realize your soul is too beautiful to be associated with mine and I feel miserable."

     "Idiot," Jin breathed, he straightened up, suppressing a grimace of pain, and hugged the maknae who he squeezed with all his might ignoring the pain that radiated from his whole body, "we are soulmates, there is no doubt about that."

     Jungkook desperately wanted to protect Jin's beautiful soul now, allow it to continue to shine and pour its rays of light on him, in a comforting aura that he cherished more than anything. He no longer had to fight for Jin to stay with him: he had to fight for his happiness again.

     "Hyung, after this time, I won't cry anymore. I'll be strong for you, you won't need to be strong for both of us. I will fight for you."

    "That's cute of you but I told you not to do..." Jin began.

     "Yes, don't worry, I won't do anything stupid against Lee," Jungkook cut, smiling to reassure him.

     Jin had told him that nothing should be done against Lee and it was not like him to let things go without saying anything. But Jungkook understood that after this traumatic experience, he was afraid of suffering again and no longer had the strength to counterattack to make his abuseur pay. So it was up to him to do it and be strong for both of them. It was now up to him to protect his hyung. Yes, Lee was going to pay it, he promised himself.

      Nevertheless, he shouldn't be thinking of revenge right now, he should be thinking about mending his hyung's heart. Sure, he had managed to keep him close to him, but at what cost? His first fight would be to first make Jin feel safe and thrive by his side again.

     During the day, when most of the members were out to carry out the activities planned in their schedule under Lee's supervision, Jin received a visit from Han because Namjoon had warned him that Jin was not able to carry out his activities because of his state of health. He came to make sure he didn't need a medical examination but told him that he would still have him prescribed a vitamin cure to get better.

     Jin had put on lightly tinted lip balm to hide his split lip as best he could, and he had hidden the bruise on his forehead with his long locks of hair, but he wondered if it made sense: Han was probably in cahoots with Lee if he was the one who sent him to the dorm to punish Jungkook. He had to pretend to care about his health in front of Namjoon and the others to keep their secret. In any case, Jin had no desire to argue with him to make sure.

     In his eyes, Lee was Han's shadow enforcer, while Han was the deceptively more civilized figure. They appeared to him like acolytes who had from the beginning agreed on the best way to make them suffer in order to make them obey. The two men were so close that it seemed impossible to him that Han didn't already know what had happened the night before.

     Lee, on the other hand, did not point the tip of his nose in the dorm but Jin received a message from him on his phone which seemed to him to be a sufficient threat. it was about the photo of Jungkook and him in bed with the mention "Ready to make the headlines ? 😆 If not: 🤐".

     Receiving the photo on his phone was like proof that now this threat was permanent and that he would have to live with it. And receiving the mocking smiley from the manager showed him how much Lee didn't care about his distress and wouldn't hesitate for a second to destroy his life or that of the other members. He had to shut up at all costs, keep this threat a secret.

     However, when Namjoon had came to see him to bring him food and check on him, Jin had sincerely wondered for the one and last time if he shouldn't share everything with him to free himself from this pressure which was perhaps going to kill him little by little. After all, Namjoon was his leader and Jin had always trusted him to handle crisis situations as well as possible and to confide in him when things were not going well.

     But they had never experienced such a situation and Jin felt absolutely undecided as he didn't know how Namjoon would react, nor how he would make sure that Lee didn't destroy the whole group out of revenge.

     And above all, he was afraid at the thought of taking a wrong step that would get him punished before anyone could protect him. Even though he had Jungkook by his side, he couldn't help but think back to what Lee had done to him, it refused to leave his mind and several times during the day he started crying to himself in thinking about it.

     It was ultimately this fear that had made him decide not to say anything and that had pushed him to force Jungkook to be silent as well. As the eldest, he had the responsibility to protect the group and for that, he had to keep their secrets secrets. The others were innocent and had to be preserved.

     Jungkook had been allowed to stay home with him in the afternoon thanks to Namjoon's persuasion with Han but had to promise to make up for his undone work. It was a good thing the others weren't there because when Jin got up to go to the bathroom, Jungkook noticed in horror that he was limping.  While Jin, still in bed, ate the meal tray that Namjoon brought earlier, Jungkook went to retrieve his songbook and sat down in front of Jin's desk.

     "Is it a song book or a military strategy book?" Jin asked, in a joking tone while he had his mouth full of rice. "You didn't let me read yesterday."

     "It's because these are strategies that must be kept secret," Jungkook chuckled.

     "Even for me?" Jin pouted.

     "No, from now on we can do them together. It will be strategies to protect us, okay?"

     Jungkook had specified that not to give Jin the impression that he was going to attack Lee or the company because he knew that the other was anxious about this idea. And anyway, that was now his primary goal. He had to protect Jin and not do anything that would get him in trouble.

     "Okay," Jin nodded, still eating.

     He took a new page and began to wrote a new title which he underlined:

   "The Art of War, by Jinkook."

     When he showed Jin with a bunny smile, the latter threw him a pillow which he avoided with ease and made him lauged.

      "Yaaa, you know I don't like that nickname! Are you looking for trouble?"

      "But it's funnier like that hyung!" Jungkook laughed, glad to see that he could have some fun with Jin again. "We should come up with a pretty humiliating nickname for Lee, too, in case he hears us talk about him."

    "Let's see... he's the antithesis of cute, he's a horror of nature... let's call him cutie no... Cookie! We can always pretend it's you, even when it comes to muscles. Cookie and Kooki: undetectable. For him and for the other members."

     Jungkook laughed.

    "Noted!" he said, quickely writing the new strategy, the first that they had established together. "Hyung? " he asked then.

    "What? "

     "I'm happy to finally be able to strategize with you."

      "Me too, JK," Jin smiled. "and I'm glad we can both protect each other."

    And Jungkook smiles heartily. Because he thought back to a certain letter he had written one evening, and in which he wondered if his soulmate could write that kind of strategy, like him. Jin was that soul, without a shadow of a doubt.

      And at one point, when Jin would be better, they wouldn't just defend themselves they would fight together against their vile manager and win. In the meantime, it was Jungkook the maknae who would protect his hyung, as his hyung had always done for him.