Once their evening routine was over, Jin and Jungkook found themselves on one of the two beds in the bedroom, in the dim light of the bedside lamps. Faced with the younger's silence, Jin felt he had to speak first.

     "Jungkook, the letter you wrote to me..." he began.

     "I hadn't planned on giving it to you," Jungkook cut in hastily, embarrassed, "I just felt like this was my last resort..."

     " I know. You did well to give it to me. I shouldn't have needed it to come back to you and agree to be reconciled. I called you an immature kid a short time ago, but I was the one who displayed the immature behavior, I'm sorry. From the two of us, it was you who behaved mature: you put your pride aside and gave me this letter. If you hadn't, I would have remained in my darkness and accepted no help."

     "Hyung, that darkness you talk about ... Namjoon hyung made me aware of it by making me read your song. I know it was supposed to be a surprise for the gig but if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to take the plunge today because I thought... I thought you were happier far from me."

     "I thought I would be," Jin confessed, "I thought that as I moved away from you, I would feel less weak, stronger. on my own, I hit rock bottom and drowned in stress, fear and depression. I never want to be alone again." 

     "I'm sorry I left you alone. As for me, I had no idea what you were going through, I swear, otherwise I would have stayed with you. I thought you suddenly became close to Lee and... that you'd rather spend time with him than with me because you hated me."

      At this, Jin looked shocked:

     "Never in my life would I have replaced you with Lee! He's the one I hate for the hell he put me through. He was never a friend nor a brother to me!" 

    "I'm so sorry hyung, believe me, but you kept going to his game nights, even with the others, and during the day, you were so close to each other that I ended up really thinking it, whereas at first I refused to believe it. If only I had been more careful..." 

        Seeing Jungkook on the verge of tears, Jin relented and said:

      "I know what it looked like, it's not your fault. He was the one who made it look like that and forced me to keep up appearances. And I admit that at times, I was myself convinced that he wanted me well because he was playing with my head and manipulated me. But the more he pulled away from me and left me alone, the more I realized that I had to stay away from him and stop protecting him because he was destroying me. However, the loneliness did not really allow me to get up contrary to what I had hoped and finally, I did nothing to get up and fight." 

        "No, hyung, you are wrong, you didn't stop fighting." 

        "How can you say that so confidently when I told you how much I gave up?"

       "Lee caught me in the bathroom earlier and we had, uh, a chat, when you went on stage, that's why I wasn't there when you were looking for me," Jungkook confessed, and at Jin's anxious gaze, he continued without telling him what had happened between them there, "He told me what he did to you and he showed me a picture of you that he used as a way of exerting pressure." 

     "Oh God, no..."

     Jin's eyes widened in horror before hiding his face in his hands in shame and whining : 

    "Why did he show you that, why does he have to disgust me from myself more and more..." 

     Jungkook hugged him comfortingly, suffering to see him in this state and he whispered :

     "Hyung... don't say that, you are not disgusting, he is. I know it's hard beyond my imagination but it's not for you to be ashamed, it's him who should be ashamed of what he's done to you." 

     "My life is ruined, he even dirtied me in your eyes," Jin sobbed. 

     "No, don't think that!" Jungkook exclaimed, "He can never make me think badly of you, hyung ! As soon as he told me what he did, I knew he was lying and you didn't want any of this. He manipulated you, you were afraid of suffering, afraid of being publicly humiliated... that doesn't make you shameless and depraved, I won't let you think that!

      "But it's the truth!" Jin protested, "I stopped resisting, I let him do what he wanted and I did what he wanted.... He said I can't go back now and I became a rent boy without any pride... he said that he would let everyone know if I said otherwise. I was so-"

      "Hyung, nothing true comes out of his dirty mouth," Jungkook cut understanding that Jin was not going to stop blaming and denigrating himself, because Lee had persuaded him that he was shameless and that he had no honor. "I said I knew you hadn't stopped fighting, and you know how I know that ? 

     "H-how?" 

     "I know because you never stopped fighting for me even though it was me who promised to fight for you. Lee told me you hated me and that was what scared me more than anything but then I figured out that wasn't true because you kept protecting me from him without me knowing, even though he tried to make me believe otherwise."

     In the arms of Jungkook Jin sat up sniffling and wiping his tears before looking at the maknae in the eyes:

     "I can't hate you, Jungkook. I couldn't hate you no matter how hard I tried. The only person I hated was myself: I hated myself for being so weak and having to rely on you to get better."

     "Hyung," Jungkook shook his head, "it's Lee you should hate, not yourself. I never thought you were a weak person when I asked you to rely on me. I've always relied on you and yet you think I'm stronger than you. You have the right to have your moments of weakness and you have the right to let others take care of you, even if you are the eldest. If I could give you back even a tiny fraction of everything you have done for me, trust me, I would gladly do it. Even though I don't think it's possible, I want to do my best."

     The words of Jungkook's letter resurfaced in Jin's mind.

     "You have nothing to return to me, I assure you and if there was anything to return, well it would be a long time ago. You've already become the shoulder I can rest on when things go wrong, the person who makes me smile when I'm sad and not only. Didn't I just have one of the best party of my life tonight thanks to you?"

     "It's mutual, so... does that make us equals?" Jungkook laughed, ready to receive Jin's scathing reply about respecting the elders. Instead, the older one remained serious:

    "No, it's not yet a peer-to-peer relationship. When I wanted to face my problems alone I failed miserably. Without you I have been miserable, and terribly unhappy. Have you been too? If not, then your strength is infinitely greater than mine and that will not make us equals."

     "Hyung," Jungkook murmured, "without you I was just a wandering shadow, I think I explained that well enough in my letter even if it was just supposition at that time. If you were gone for real, I don't know what would have become of me, but not much good. I'm both mortified to know that you couldn't flee the company because of me, but I'm also deeply relieved that you stayed with me. It was me who was selfish from the start.  During these last weeks away from you, nothing was going well for me, I became a hateful person and the others couldn't stand me anymore. Even I couldn't stand myself anymore! "

     The two laughed but then Jin confessed :

    "I was no better and I imagine they hated me too for not being up to it..."

     "No, it's the opposite. They finally realized how important you were not only to me but to everyone, to our group and how your departure would be a disaster for our unit. Hyung, do... do you still think about leaving?"

     Jungkook waited apprehensively for the answer but Jin reassured him with his comforting smile:

    "No, that's a thought that's behind me now. I discovered what true happiness is like tonight after losing it for a long time: my happiness is to be alongside you guys, to be by your side, JK. Maybe in time I will find another hapiness later, but for now, this is the one and it is more than enough for me."

     "Hyung, that happiness is enough for me too," Jungkook assured.

     "So, am I really... hum... your everything?"

     Jungkook blushed at his own words spoken in Jin's mouth, but he nodded unconditionally. Jin was his universe, the moon of his dark sky, he didn't need to hide it behind his pride when it was time to declare in the secrecy of this closed room everything he had on his heart. Well, almost everything.

     Jin didn't laugh at him with a joke as he expected. The older one pulled the maknae close to him and hugged him in a affectionate embrace. Jungkook huddled happily in his arms for a long time, happy to have his hyung back. 

      He would have liked to add a thousand and one things to this discussion, but he thought he had a lifetime to do so and preferred to take advantage of this moment when the comfortable silence that had settled in spoke louder than a thousand words.

     Fatigue was felt and they decided to go to bed and continue to experience this happiness the next day and all the days that followed. They fell asleep in the same bed, seeing no point in separating again after doing so for so long.

     Jungkook was a deep sleeper, it was known, and Jin, his opposite, was a light sleeper, it was known too. When the eldest heard the maknae growl vigorously in his sleep, he half-awoke, aware that it was still too early to get up. He wondered if he might not have to change bed so that he could end the night in peace.

    However, one thing alerted him: Jungkook was really restless in his sleep, more than usual anyway, and even seemed to have difficulty breathing. In fact, he was suffocating.

    Jin was quite frightened and was about to wake Jungkook up shaking him to calm him down and get him to resume normal breathing  when he saw in horror, a shadow appearing in the partial darkness of the room. And that shadow was over Jungkook.

    "Geez, there's always some ambiguous stuff going on behind the door of the oldest and youngest members of BTS when we let them stay together," the shadow said, tightening its grip around Jungkook's throat, "when I think it's me you call pervert,  what hypocrisy Jungkook! Weren't there two separate beds for two people?"

________

Author's warning: The 3 other chapters of the series "The chamber of secrets" are chapters in which the inhuman violence may shock you. By republishing the book, I decided to censor a big part of the terrible chapter "The chamber of very dark secrets" but it remains very hard to read, you can move on to the medical dispensation chapter. There, you'll have informations about what happened anyway, so don't force yourself to read, okay?