THIRD PERSON POV

Jimin had observed Taehyung's expressions closely. Very closely.

He had seen how the boy had barely spoken during the whole day, how he had been wearing a blank expression all the time, how he had seemed to be doing his best to distract himself by practicing as hard as he could but his preoccupied mind made him unable to concentrate.

And he knew the reason, but he had no idea how to help. How could he when Taehyung was ignoring his attempts at talking to him?

Earlier during the day, right after breakfast, Jimin had gone into Taehyung's room to check up on him, knowing he wouldn't be feeling too well about this sudden announcement. Though Jimin had a feeling that it wasn't that sudden at all for Taehyung since the boy hadn't displayed any signs of being shocked.

He had a neutral expression, almost as if he had seen it coming. His face had been stoic but Jimin knew that it was hurting him so bad inside.

However, when he had tried speaking to the younger, he had been brushed off as Taehyung had stated that he had to get ready for practice. Later at the studio, Jimin had tried talking to him again but this time, Taehyung had plainly ignored him.

Jimin couldn't comprehend what was going on with him. Usually, when any such thing happened, Taehyung would vent his feelings out to Jimin, grateful to have his friend listening to him and lending him a shoulder to cry on. But now, the younger was shutting himself completely and it worried Jimin a lot.

Nevertheless, the short brunette figured that he should give his friend some time before trying to speak to him about the issue again and that was why he hadn't brought it up at all during the rest of the day. He merely watched over Taehyung from afar, making sure he was relatively fine.

And so, it wasn't until 2 days later that Jimin decided to touch the subject. He went into Taehyung's bedroom only to find it empty. Puzzled, he looked around the house, still not finding him anywhere. Had he gone somewhere?

A little alarmed, Jimin almost ran to his room to tell Hoseok that he couldn't find Taehyung anywhere but then one last spot he hadn't checked flashed in his mind. Taehyung had to be there.

Jimin climbed up a flight of stairs, internally praying that he would find Taehyung at the end of those stairs. He finally reached a door and cautiously pushed it open. The hinge creaked a little as it moved and Jimin saw Taehyung sitting on the edge of the roof in the distance.

The younger boy didn't seem aware of the elder's presence despite the noise made by the door. Jimin stood there for a few seconds, observing him. He heard the low sniffles coming from him and he saw how his hand went up to rub his eyes which were presumably flooding from tears.

"Tae?" He called out finally, seeing the aforementioned quickly wipe away his tears before turning to him with a smile.

"Yeah?" Taehyung replied, trying to appear as normal as possible but the slight cracking of his hoarse voice gave away that he had been crying. However, his smile didn't falter.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Jimin asked softly. It was really late, nearly 1:30 a.m.

"Oh, nothing. Just stargazing," replied the younger. It was so evident that he had been crying but Taehyung still tried his best to hide it from Jimin, not knowing that the latter had seen him already.

Jimin sighed. "Tae..." he started. "Tell me what's wrong. I'm here for you, you know that," assured Jimin as he walked closer to the boy, taking a seat beside him and gently rubbing his back.

Taehyung was about to start shaking his head and say that everything was fine, but the gentleness of Jimin's words was all it took to make the brunette start sobbing again. Jimin hugged him and patted his back, whispering comforting words to calm the younger boy down.

After a few long minutes, Taehyung's sobs reduced to sniffles. He was still breathing heavily from all the crying and his eyes were bloodshot, cheeks stained with tears which got soaked in Jimin's shirt.

"I-I lo-lost him a-again, Jiminie," Taehyung whimpered. Before Jimin could say anything, Taehyung went on, his voice occasionally breaking in the middle of his sentences. "I-I just ca-can't do anything ri-right," he sniffled, taking in a deep breath before speaking again. "E-even when I was given a sec-second chance, I-I wasted it and now it's too la-late. I couldn't do anything. I'm s-so useless!"

Jimin shook his head, tightening his hold around Taehyung. "No, you're not," he quickly assured the latter. "You're just scared and it's okay. I get it. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't meant to be, you know? Sometimes you have to accept it and move on."

Taehyung knew that Jimin was probably right but he still felt that tightness in his chest. Nonetheless, he ignored the horrible feeling inside of him and nodded faintly.

Jimin just held him for a while longer, knowing that it was what Taehyung needed right now. Though he feared Taehyung might fall asleep right there and he would find himself with a sleeping Taehyung in his arms on the edge of the roof and they could fall off and oh my god-

Jimin shook the thought out of his head and cleared his throat. He was a little hesitant about what he was going to ask but went ahead anyway. "Other than that, is there any other reason that you have not been speaking to Jungkook lately?"

Jimin felt Taehyung get tensed in his arms, so he pulled away from the embrace to take a look at the younger. Taehyung was biting his lip, as if debating on his answer but he ended up sighing, deciding that it would be better to be honest about it.

"Actually, I... I think it'd be best for me to stay away from him," Taehyung stated, briefly glancing at Jimin to gauge his reaction before going on. "He, for sure, will be getting engaged and ultimately married, so I- I'll have to erase those feelings for him. And if I don't interact with him, they will go away, won't they? And- and I have the perfect excuse to not talk to him too, I-I'll just need to avoid him until he moves and then ev-everything will be o-over," he explained, voice cracking.

The whole time, Jimin kept a straight face, not showing any emotions about what he thought of Taehyung's idea but once the boy was done with his stupid reasoning, Jimin was ready to push him off that roof!

"That's ridiculous!" Jimin exclaimed, clearly exasperated. "In case you forgot, you're in the same band as him, you're a team. You can't possibly ignore him all your life! And even if you could, how would you feel knowing that you left Jungkook alone when he clearly is closest to you and is feeling so sad about you not speaking to him? Do you even know how many times Jungkook came up to me during the past 2 days only to ask how you were and if you wanted to talk to him again?! It literally broke my heart to see him looking this disheartened!"

After Jimin's little outburst, Taehyung was looking down at his feet, feeling rather stupid and sad. Now that he had said it aloud, his idea didn't sound like a great one after all and remembering how Jungkook had been longingly gazing at him with those melancholic eyes of his made Taehyung feel even worse about himself.

"Stop being so selfish, Tae. I know you're heartbroken after everything but you think avoiding the situation is easier than facing it? It's not! Do you realise that staying away from Jungkook would not only affect him, but us all as a group? How are you going to do that when your job literally requires you to interact with him at all times, during practice, on stage and you literally live in the same house! And even if you somehow still manage to do that, don't you think our fans are going to notice the sudden change? Aren't they going to notice how the two members who used to be closest to each other are not even sparing each other a glance now? Have you even thought about all that, Taehyung, or have you only thought about yourself and what's easier for you?!" Jimin sternly reprimanded, tone rather harsh and eyes blazing.

A short silence followed until it was broken by Taehyung's low sniffles. "I-I'm sor-sorry...I-I don-don't know wha-at to do," hiccuped Taehyung as he let tears escape his already swollen eyes.

Jimin gave him a sympathetic look. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh. After all, he knew how the younger boy was feeling. He was lost, confused, hurt, heartbroken. But Jimin also knew that Taehyung would have to adapt himself if Jungkook was really getting engaged. Taehyung would have to cope with it and avoiding the situation was not the solution to it. And so, Jimin wanted to build Taehyung strong. So that he could face anything ahead of him.

"I know," Jimin said gently, feeling a little bad for speaking so harshly to the boy even if it was for his own benefit. "Come here." He engulfed Taehyung in another hug, telling him not to worry and that he would be alright eventually.

Minutes later, when they had both pulled away, Jimin decided to add something, "you should talk to him, Tae. Tell him the truth about your feelings. This way you won't have any regrets about moving on, you won't wonder what would have happened if you had told him everything truthfully."

Taehyung opened his mouth, about to protest, but Jimin knew exactly what he was going to say and spoke before Taehyung could. "I know for a fact he won't hate you, Tae. Jungkook could never hate you, he loves you too much for that. Maybe he'll just take a while to digest this confession but I believe he would be thankful to you for being honest to him. Don't you think it would be better to just tell the truth instead of pretending everyday?"

Taehyung thought about Jimin's words for a moment before slowly nodding. "Y-yeah, you're right...but can I not tell him now? I think I... I need some- some time," he replied.

Jimin nodded. "Take as much time as you would like, I know it's hard. But make sure to stop avoiding him now at least and start talking to him," advised the older.

At that moment, Taehyung thought about how wise Jimin could be sometimes. Jimin was always a bubbly, carefree and cutesy type of person but he could be really serious and give helpful advices at times. He was truly thankful for having Jimin as his best friend, he had no idea what he would do without him!

The two of them remained on the rooftop for some more time, just enjoying the cool air and comfortable silence while gazing at the star-filled sky before going back to their rooms to catch some sleep.

Meanwhile, in another room in the very same house, another boy lay awake in his bed, one arm under his head while the other lay beside his body as he stared up at the ceiling. He seemed to be in deep thought.

Suddenly, the boy got up, deciding that his mind was way too cluttered and he needed answers. And he was going to get them.

He walked out of his own room as quietly as possible, making sure not to wake up his roommate, and made his way to another member's room. As he pushed the door open, a small grin formed on his lips.

"I knew you weren't asleep yet," said the boy as he looked at the other younger boy who sat on his bed in the dark.

The black haired boy looked up, looking a little startled by the sudden voice. "Jin hyung?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion, asking himself what the eldest was doing here at such an hour.

"I wanted to talk to you about something, Kook," stated Seokjin as he closed the door and made his way towards Jungkook in the dark. The lights from outside the house shone into the room, making the outlines of furniture and other forms visible.

"What is it, hyung?" enquired Jungkook when Seokjin sat down beside him.

The older sighed. "Please answer me truthfully and don't hide anything. You know you can trust me, right?" He asked, staring expectantly at the younger.

The latter gulped on hearing the word 'trust'. It didn't really bring good memories to his mind. And once again, he found himself thinking back to Taehyung's words again. Well, it's not like he could stop thinking about it during those two days. All day everyday, it was the only thing that resonated in his mind and he busied himself thinking about whether Taehyung would forgive him or not, and what could he possibly do to gain that forgiveness.

"Jungkook? Are you listening?" Seokjin asked after having not received any sign of acknowledgement. Jungkook snapped out of his train of thoughts and absent-mindedly nodded.

"Kook, you know I care for you a lot, right? So, tell me, this engagement, did you willingly agree to it?" Seokjin asked softly.

Jungkook nodded, squeaking out a small "yes".

Seokjin glanced towards Jungkook, trying hard to judge by his reaction whether or not he was telling the truth. He then sighed, deciding to ask the same question in another way. "And why did you agree to it?"

Jungkook stilled momentarily but he composed himself. "Be-because I love Hae-Haesoo noona," he muttered.

"Jungkook, don't lie to me. Tell me the truth, why did you agree?" Seokjin demanded a little sternly, clearly not buying his reason.

Jungkook remained silent, staring down at his lap while playing with his fingers anxiously.

"Listen, Kook," the older boy uttered softly. "I can tell something is not right. I've known you and practically raised you for 5 years, I can see it in the way you behave, little one. I can also see you don't love Haesoo like that, sure enough, you're close friends with her but you don't love her, do you?"

Jungkook shook his head, feeling tears prick his eyes.

Seokjin continued, "from a few weeks, you've seemed stressed and rather gloomy too. I thought it was some personal issues at your parents' residence but now you come and tell us you're suddenly getting engaged? Kook, I know very well that getting married so early is not something you've ever wanted. So tell me, what's wrong?"

The softness and concern in the older boy's tone prompted Jungkook's tears to begin flowing down his cheeks. He let out a low sniffle and Seokjin placed two fingers under his chin, tilting the younger's head up slightly. His eyes widened upon seeing tears streaming down Jungkook's face.

"Oh Jungkookie..." he trailed, bringing the boy in a tight hug. "It's okay, everything will be alright," he soothed while rubbing the boy's back gently.

Jungkook gripped the back of the elder's shirt tightly, ugly sobs leaving his lips as he hid his face in the crook of Seokjin's neck, crying his heart out, letting all the overwhelming emotions he had been feeling in the past month out.

It was at that moment that Jungkook realised he had kept it all to himself for far too long. He couldn't take it anymore, he needed someone by his side, he needed someone to talk to, to comfort him.

And so, when he finally stopped crying and Seokjin released him from his embrace moments later, he decided to pour his heart out, reveal everything he had kept hidden for so long. And it felt good. It felt so good to finally share his deepest secrets with someone willing to listen to him and help him.

>>>>>♡<<<<<

Btw do you think we're getting JK's mixtape soon??? And we also got more spoilers of Tae's mixtape during In The Soop omggg

Lastly, sorry that the chapters are so boring lately but I'm just kinda building up the action so it doesn't seem too rushed (tho I feel it's way too slow than it should be) just wait a little everyone! I'll do my best to not disappoint! 💜

And thx for reading. I hope you're doing fine and healthy. See you next week and in the meantime, don't forget to vote!