Being alone with Seokjin was more tolerable than having his parents breathing down his neck, monitoring his every move. Sure they removed his bedroom door (prior to his return from hospital) and strictly forbade either of them from leaving the house all weekend—but he felt less suffocated.

    "This isn't how I envisioned my weekend going," Seokjin complains from where he was sprawled out on the couch scrolling through his phone.

    "I'm sorry I roped you into this," Taehyung says as he clicks through Netflix on the tv. He wasn't exactly sorry. He was happy. "I won't say anything if you leave for a while."

Seokjin puts his phone down and narrows his eyes at his younger brother. "Is Jeongguk with us right now?"

Taehyung can't help but laugh. "Yeah, he's right here, Hyung. Say hi."

    "I'm serious," He says, sitting up on the couch. "Is the medicine working?"

    "It's working," Taehyung says, seriously. "I feel a lot better."

    "You aren't just saying that?"

    "I'm not. I'm okay."

Seokjin sighs, looking down. "I'm only gonna say this once and if you bring it up again I'll kick your mentally unstable ass."

Taehyung nods, smiling softly. "Okay."

    "I love you, okay?" He huffs. "I love you and if anything happens to you I won't be able to live with myself or look mom in the eye again. So don't try to convince me to leave. I'm not leaving."

    "I don't want you to leave, hyung."

    "Good."

He got up from the couch and went to the kitchen. "There's chicken for dinner."

    "I'm not~"

    "Yes you are."

Taehyung rolls his eyes and stands from the couch. "Hey, Hyung?"

    "Yep?" He asks as he puts the containers in the microwave.

    "You know what medication I'm taking, right?"

    "The bottles are unmarked."

    "But you know. Right?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, mom mentioned it, Tae, but we're not supposed to discuss it. Dr. Yang said~"

    "I know what Dr. Yang said," Taehyung says, leaning on his elbows against the island. "But it's just us...I won't tell anyone you told me."

    "...I'm not going to tell you," He says. "I think she's right."

    "How will knowing change anything?"

    "It's working. Let's just be happy about that. Okay?"

Taehyung forces a smile. "Okay."

Seokjin smiles. "Okay."

The smile on Taehyung faces drops as soon as Seokjin's back is to him. "I'm going to the bathroom."

    "Use the one at the end of the hall."

    "Sure."

He thought he'd escaped the feeling of being a prisoner, but the feelings were all the same now.

He's on their side.

    "No, no, no," He mutters to himself as he shuts the bathroom door. He leans back against the door and unlocks his phone. He searches the internet for small blue and white tablets with no markings. The only results he comes across mention vitamins or foreign drugs.

    "Tae?" Seokjin's voice calls from down the hall. "You okay?"

    "I'm okay," He calls back before flushing the toilet and turning the faucet on. After a few more fruitless searches he locks his phone and leaves the bathroom.

Seokjin's sat at the island with their food and Taehyung's medicine. "Two and two. You know the deal."

He sits down next to him, eyeing the four pills. "Yeah, I know the deal."

A phone rings and they both sit there for a moment.

    "I think it's the landline," Taehyung says, gesturing to the phone on the wall.

    "When did that get there?" Seokjin wonders before standing to get it. "Hello? Please don't call here again, we've been through this."

Taehyung takes one of each pill and pockets the others. He reminds himself that he's probably displaying some form of delusion but Seokjin is already hanging up the phone before he can backtrack and take the other pills.

    "Telemarketers," Seokjin says. "I thought it was the hospital calling mom back. They only have the number for the landline."

    "What makes you think that?"

    "Mom mentioned it before. She uses it for business."

    "The landline?"

    "Yeah."

They sat in silence as they ate, Seokjin sighing in boredom as he scrolled through his phone. Taehyung eyed the lockbox on the counter—they locked the pills up to avoid him flushing them or taking them all at once. It made sense, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was another reason.

The rest of the night drags by and soon Seokjin calls it quits.

"Go to bed," He says. "I can't wait you out any longer."

"Is that what you're doing?" Taehyung asks. He was admittedly exhausted himself, but he was waiting for Seokjin.

"Obviously I'm not going until you do," He says. "Go ahead."

"Don't boss be around like that," Taehyung says, standing with his phone. "I was going anyway."

"Good."

"Good night, Hyung."

"Yeah, whatever."

~

Taehyung doesn't get much sleep that night due to his pounding headache and the storm picking up outside. His thoughts are racing and he can't stop overthinking the unmarked bottles and the unmarked pills. Was he taking unauthorized medication? Or were they placebos? Was he being tested?

Maybe it was all in his head—Jeongguk and everything—and they were giving him placebos to prove to him that he could regulate those thoughts on his own.

"No, no, no," He repeated to himself. "Don't be ridiculous." But what if~

He threw the covers off of his body and got out of bed. It was still too early and he knew Seokjin wouldn't be awake for a while still, so he headed downstairs to get the day started with some peace and solitude.

He pulls a hoodie over his head as he leaves his room. He heads for the stairs but he stops short when he notices the door to his parents' study slightly ajar. He glances to the opposite end of the hall to see Seokjin's door wide open as the older lies in bed fast asleep. He weighs his options and debates if he really wanted to spend the morning explaining why he was snooping through his parents things.

He gives in to his temptations and walks into the study. He keeps the door open enough to look out of and directly into Seokjin's room—it was clear view.

He moved around the study quietly, using the flashlight on his phone since it was still barely light outside. He shuffled through some documents on the desk but nothing significant jumped out. He searched the desk drawers for any paperwork that may mention the medication or anything about his treatment whatsoever.

He moves on quickly from the desk to the filing cabinet in the corner, he has to look out over his shoulder for Seokjin—he finds nothing. He starts to give up and abandon his frantic search before he spots a file tucked between the books on the bookshelf by the door. He walks over and picks it out. He expects to find his name on it, instead he finds another.

Jeon Jeongguk.

His hands start to tremble immediately and he wants to drop it and run. Instead, he checks out the door for Seokjin before opening the file. He finds a picture of Jeongguk on top of the paperwork in the folder. It wasn't the Jeongguk he remembered, the perfectly kept version he created in his mind—it was the Jeongguk he remembers meeting in hospital. The one with messy hair and tattoos.

He was getting out of a car outside an apartment building with a phone to his ear. He didn't seem aware that the photo was being taken.

Taehyung frowned and turned to the next page in the folder. His heart began to race as he took in what he was looking at. They seemed to be an accumulation of investigative reporters and copies of paperwork for repeated requests for restraining orders—along with mugshots of Jeongguk. The most gut wrenching aspect of it all is the dates stamped on the corner of the pages.

They were all from years ago—before he'd even gone to college.

"What are you doing?"

Taehyung dropped the folder and faced Seokjin, his eyes wide and his voice caught in his throat.

"I-I was just~"

"You know you aren't supposed to come in here," Seokjin snapped, looking down at the papers now sprawled out across the floor. "Get out."

"I-I'm sorry, I was just trying to see~"

"See what?"

Seokjin shoves him out of the study, leaving after him and shutting the door.

"What was that?" He asks, desperately. "T-That file, t-the reports~ The investigations, Hyung, what was that?"

"You need to go back to bed, Taehyung," Seokjin says. "You're exhausted, and delirious~"

"No, I'm not~"

"You are."

Taehyung shook his head with tears in his eyes. "I-I-I saw it. I saw him."

Seokjin's eyebrows draw together. "Who?"

"Jeongguk," He responds. "In the file, I saw a picture of him."

"Tae," Seokjin says, concern etched into his features. "Do we need to call mom?"

"What?"

"You're being crazy."

Taehyung couldn't believe him, he couldn't believe that he was trying to make him out to be crazy when he knew what he saw.

The landline rang downstairs and they stood there for a moment.

"Don't," Seokjin says.

Taehyung could hear the warning in his tone but that didn't stop him from taking off down the stairs to get to the landline.

"Taehyung," Seokjin calls as he chases him after him. "Don't pick up the fucking phone."

He gets there in time to answer and brings the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

Seokjin tries to take the phone but he holds his arm out to keep him away.

"Taehyung?"

"Who is this?"

"It's Jeongguk."

"Wha~"

"Don't say anything."

Taehyung tries to keep his expression neutral, he couldn't tell if this was real. He couldn't tell if any of this was real.

"Yes, I'd like to know the changes made to my bill."

"Meet me at the cafe downtown, the one on the corner."

"When is it due?"

"Today. Noon."

"Okay, thanks."

He hangs up the phone, keeping his eyes trained on Seokjin.

"It was the hospital," He says. "Talking about the bill."

"Mom's gonna be pissed that you talked to them," Seokjin says. "First the study and now this? I'm screwed."

"Why is there a file on Jeongguk?"

"There is no file on Jeongguk. I think this is one of your delusions, Tae."

"I know what I saw."

"Can you just take your medicine and see how you feel after? I'm trying to help you, okay? I'm one your side."

He's on their side.

Taehyung nods, thinking that it's best to agree. "Fine."

Seokjin sighs in relief and goes to unlock the lockbox. He shakes four pills out and turns to him. "I'm gonna watch you take them, just to be sure."

He took them and scarfed them down, using an abandoned bottle of water to wash it down before sticking his tongue out.

"Good," Seokjin says. "Now can we please go back to sleep? I'm exhausted."

"I'm sorry, Hyung...I guess I got a little crazy for a second."

"It's fine."

"I'm gonna go downtown for coffee later," Taehyung says. "Will you come with me?"

"Sure," He says. "What time?"

"Noon."

"I'll be up."

He watches Seokjin drag himself back upstairs to his room. When he went back up to check, the study door was locked.

🌤🌤🌤