Taehyung feels tense the entire way to the coffee shop. Seokjin drives and he sits in the passenger seat anxiously waiting to get there.

   "What's so great about this place?" Seokjin asks. "I've never known you to go to out of your way for overpriced coffee."

    "I guess I'm feeling adventurous," Taehyung responds. "Side effect of the crazy probably."

When they arrive Seokjin parks the car and follows Taehyung out. They don't walk two steps into the shop before they spot Jeongguk sitting at a booth in the back corner.

Seokjin's reaction is all Taehyung needs to know that he sees him to.

    "Do you see him?" He asks anyway. "Do you?"

    "This is a bad idea, Tae," Seokjin says, stopping him by the arm.

    "Why? Why is this bad idea?" He asks, facing him. "What aren't you telling me?"

    "I'm telling you everything you need to know," The older says. "You don't need this right now. We're trying to help you."

    "Help me how?"

    "Taehyung."

The two of them turn to Jeongguk who has approached them now. Seokjin immediately steps between them.

    "You need to back off," He says. "You had no right calling our house."

    "I need to talk to him," Jeongguk says.

    "You don't get to talk to him anymore," Seokjin says, trying to usher Taehyung out of the shop. "Let's go."

    "What is going on?" Taehyung asks as he is forced back out of the shop and into the rain without a chance to put his umbrella back up.

    "I deserve a chance~"

    "You don't deserve anything."

    "Taehyung~"

    "Don't talk to him."

Taehyung frees himself from Seokjin's grip. "Stop!"

    "Can I talk to you?" Jeongguk asks. "Please? I'll explain everything."

    "Who are you?" Taehyung asks. "D-Do I know you?"

    "Yes."

    "No. He's a stranger. A stranger that needs to get away from you before I call the police and have him arrested."

Taehyung looks between the two of them as they all stand there getting drenched in the rain—he didn't know what was happening.

    "Get in the car," Seokjin says, opening the door. "Now, Taehyung."

    "I know nothing makes sense right now," Jeongguk says in a rush as Seokjin tries to force him into the car. "J-Just know that I didn't leave. I'd never leave, I love you. T-They sent me away~"

    "Get away from us," Seokjin shouts. "I'm calling the police!"

Taehyung feels lightheaded and his breaths are shallow as he is shoved into the car once and for all. He can't fight back, he is too out of it from all the confusion.

    "Taehyung." Jeongguk knocks at the car window. "Don't believe anything they say. They're lying, they sent me away~"

Seokjin starts the car and swerves out of the parking lot, his breathing uneven and a panicked look in his eyes.

    "What's happening?" Taehyung asks, only becoming aware of the tears in his eyes as they fall. "What's he talking about?"

Seokjin swears to himself, not answering and instead focusing on driving.

    "What's he talking about?" He asks again, raising his voice to maybe get through to him.

    "Stop asking questions, Taehyung," He shouted back. "Just stop fucking asking, I can't answer them!"

Taehyung shakes his head. "I-I-I can't tell if this is real."

Seokjin glances over with an anxious expression. "I don't know..."

    "What?"

    "I just don't know."

He doesn't know what that means but he doesn't question him further. When they get back to the house he immediately goes into the guest bedroom downstairs and shuts the door. He engages the lock and slides down the door until he's sitting on the ground.

    "Come out from there," Seokjin says, trying the door. "You're freaking me out."

    "You're freaking me out, Hyung," He responds. "I have no idea what's happening."

    "I don't know what to do."

    "Tell me the truth."

    "I can't."

    "Why?"

"Because I don't want you to hate us."

    "Why would I hate you?"

Seokjin falls silent on the other side of the door for a moment. "...W-We love you, and we want you to get better a-and to...I don't~ to live a good life. You have to understand that. I-I mean, we're your family."

Taehyung's head throbs. "Okay?"

    "Do you understand?"

    "I understand, Hyung, but...what does that have to do with Jeongguk?"

    "...I-I think I need to call mom and dad."

Taehyung scrambled to his feet and snatched the door open. "Don't, Hyung."

Seokjin is already walking down the hallway to get his phone. "I have to."

    "Or you could talk to me," Taehyung says as follows him. "Tell me what's happening. I-I'll...Hyung, I'll understand."

    "You'll understand?" Seokjin faces him with a panicked expression. "You have no idea what you're even talking about."

    "If you don't tell me, I'll go find out from him," He says. "If you care about me, if you want what's best for me then tell me, Hyung, please. Please, I'm scared."

    "You won't understand," The older says with tears forming in his eyes. "You won't."

    "I'll try," Taehyung promises, stepping closer to his brother. "I-I'll try to understand, I will."

    "...They thought they were protecting you."

    "Who?"

    "Mom...m-my dad, they..."

Taehyung leads Seokjin into the living room and makes him sit down with him on the couch.

    "Try again," He encourages after a moment. "I'm listening."

Seokjin sighs and closes his eyes. "I don't know where to start."

    "Do I know Jeongguk?"

    "...Yes."

Although he tries to keep his expression neutral it's hard to combat the tears threatening to form in his eyes. Taehyung nods and waits for him to continue.

    "You met...I don't how many years ago~"

    "Three years ago?"

    "Y-Yeah, I think so."

He had gathered that information from the dates stamped in the corner of the documents in the study.

    "The file upstairs," Taehyung starts. "I-I think I saw some kind of police report or a-a restraining order?"

    "I can't do this."

    "Yes you can, Hyung."

    "I'm gonna trigger you again."

    "No~"

    "I will."

    "You aren't responsible for my triggers, Seokjin, for the love of god just tell me how I know him~"

    "He was your boyfriend! Okay?"

Seokjin stands from the couch and begins pacing. "You started dating him your senior year of high school and he wasn't any good for you. He was way older. Not to mention homeless, unemployed, covered in tattoos~"

Taehyung stands abruptly, his expression was blank but there was fury building behind his eyes. "What do mean?"

    "He wasn't any good. For you or for anyone, it wasn't your fault."

    "What wasn't my fault?"

    "...I-I don't~"

    "You know, you know everything!"

Seokjin flinches at his sudden outburst but tries to explain further. "When you started dating him you stopped caring about anything else. You completely iced us out and gave up on everything. Y-You told mom that you didn't want to go college because you wanted to go on the road with him. He didn't have anything to his name, he was living out of his car and he didn't have a job. He was a horrible influence."

    "So?"

    "S-So...So your mom and my dad had the idea to send him away."

Taehyung had to take a seat. He wasn't dizzy but he couldn't feel his legs—he felt numb.

    "They hired the private investigator to get enough information about him to warrant a restraining order—that's all they wanted. But the PI ended up finding out about the drugs he was distributing and they threatened to turn him in if he didn't leave you alone. They thought he'd finally go away and you'd focus on school and your future but that didn't happen."

    "What happened?"

    "Y-You...I don't know what happened. The doctor said it was some kind of psychosis or something. You weren't like yourself, you were paranoid all the time and depressed. You closed yourself off in your room one day and you tried to overdose on sleeping pills~"

    "No."

    "You were in the hospital for a week~"

    "No, no, no~"

    "W-When you woke up you didn't mention him or your relationship at all. It was like it never happened. The year you were together was fuzzy when you tried to recall it. But it was like you brain had somehow repressed everything."

    "They said that I had an accident and hit my head," Taehyung says, staring off with tears in his eyes. "T-They lied, you...you lied. All of you lied."

    "We were trying to protect you," Seokjin stresses. "We thought that if we told you you'd spiral again."

    "So you make up this entire story?" He looks up at him. "You lie to me for three years and make it seem like I'm unwell?"

    "You are unwell~"

    "What was real? Was anything real?"

    "Jeongguk never showed up in the library."

    "Oh god..."

    "When you mentioned his name I knew that it was starting again. I was too afraid to tell mom because I didn't want her to think you couldn't be on your own. S-So I didn't tell her or my dad. I wish I would've told them before it was too late and you were too far gone but I didn't and before I knew what was happening, you...you were too far gone."

It was all too much to process at once.

"We never expected you to slip back into psychosis. T-The doctor said that the high level of stress at university and the isolation must have affected you. They thought if they treated the psychosis again it would go away but then Jeongguk showed back up with his lawyers and completely invalidated the drug accusations. It was never supposed to go this way. You weren't supposed to get hurt."

"...I loved him."

"No. You had this, insane obsession with each other. It was unhealthy, the two of you together. They would've never sent him away if they knew this would happen. But you have to understand why they tried."

Taehyung felt sick, he was disgusted. "No, Hyung, I don't think I do."

Seokjin stopped in place. "They did it out of love."

    "...The pills. What are they?"

    "I can't..."

    "Please?"

Seokjin's tears fell and he released a short sob. "I'm sorry."

Taehyung stood. "What are they, Hyung?"

    "Nothing..." Seokjin confesses through his tears. "They're...placebos. Okay, they don't do anything."

It feels impossible to take a breath but Taehyung manages to. "Placebos?"

"Yes."

"From Dr. Yang?"

"No..."

"Then who?"

Seokjin cries, covering his face as if he was ashamed.

    "What's my diagnosis?"

    "Brief psychotic disorder."

He walks away with that, it was the last thing he needed or wanted to know. He wasn't sure if he was processing all the information but he wanted to get out of the house before it all hit him at once.

    "What are you doing? You can't leave. Please don't leave."

He ignored Seokjin's pleas as he grabbed the keys to his car and his phone. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to get away from there.

☀️☀️☀️