THIRD PERSON POV

Jungkook had finally left and the boys felt empty. "He's really gone, huh?" Hoseok asked in disbelief. It was only one of them that was not present yet it felt like a big part of themselves went missing.

"Yeah," Namjoon replied, looking down. They were all gathered in the living room. Actually, none of them moved from there since Jungkook left. The house had been plunged in a heavy silence before Hoseok broke it.

"I always tell him that he's too noisy but the house really feels empty without him," Yoongi sighed and the others agreed.

"Okay," Seokjin stood up, clapping his hands together as he spoke, "we're all behaving as if we won't be seeing him again! We'll be meeting him everyday at the company and studio, cheer up!"

"Yeah, but it's not the same as having him around in the dorm," Jimin sulked.

"True but we still can't act like this. It's a happy moment in Jungkook's life. Do you think he would be pleased to hear that his hyungs are sad about the start of a new chapter in his life?" Jin tried reasoning with the boys. These were the moments where he would prove that he really is the oldest hyung.

He may come off as childish and easy going on camera but in reality, he is someone really practical who is always there to reason with the boys when something's wrong. Looking at their guilty faces, he sighed, "good, now I'm going to make dinner. We're gonna have a nice meal and go to bed early so that we don't look like zombies at his wedding tomorrow!"

"Hyung is right! We can't keep sulking over it like that, we should be happy for him!" Namjoon exclaimed, getting up to follow Jin in the kitchen. "Hyung, wait! I'll help you with the cooking!"

"Yah! Kim Namjoon! You're not going anywhere near that kitchen!" Yoongi warned, running after the leader to make sure he doesn't end up burning half of the kitchen and Jin's favourite pan like the last time he decided to 'give a helping hand'.

Hoseok laughed at his reaction and followed suit to help Jin with preparing dinner. Only Taehyung and Jimin remained in the living room, the former blankly staring down while the latter made his way towards him.

"Tae," he called out, receiving only silence as response.

He did so a few more times and even waved his hand in front of the younger's eyes but the response remained the same.

"Hey," Jimin said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. The latter immediately stood up.

"Tae, wait! Are you okay?" He asked, worried. The question was a stupid one, obviously he was not okay! But Jimin still asked because Tae was acting different.

He was neither crying nor displaying any kind of sadness. His eyes were void of any emotion and that scared Jimin. Taehyung was acting almost lifeless since Jungkook's departure. He had not even uttered a word to anyone.

"Yeah, I'm just going to sleep. Tell the others not to prepare dinner for me," he replied monotonously.

Before Jimin could say anything else, the ravenette had already gone up to his room, closing the door shut behind him. The shorter male wanted to go check on him but decided to drop it when Yoongi called him from the kitchen. Maybe he just needs some time alone for now? I hope he'll be alright.

"Jimin, where's Tae?" Jin asked, noticing the absence of the ravenette.

"He went straight to sleep, saying he didn't want to eat," the boy answered.

The oldest simply nodded, not pushing it any further or asking to call him since he knew how Tae must be feeling right now. They all knew that Taehyung was the one who was most attached to Jungkook and they knew that among them all, he was the one who was the most affected by his departure but to which extent he was affected, they had no idea.

"Okay, so I'm taking Taehyung's plate away and wait- we still have someone missing. Who else is not having dinner?" Yoongi asked, looking at the other four boys around the table. "Where's Jung-" He stopped himself mid-sentence, realising that the youngest was not living with them anymore.

It had become a habit to set plates for everyone. "Sorry hyung, I took seven plates out, out of habit," Hoseok apologised.

"It's okay, let's just eat," Yoongi said. And the dinner went on quieter than usual. No one cracked a joke, no one started a stupid debate on something that didn't even make sense and no one even tried stirring up a conversation.

Jimin was the first one to finish eating, quickly putting his plate away and he made his way towards his best friend's bedroom. He knocked on the door a few times but received no response.

Assuming that Taehyung was sleeping, he opened the door as carefully as possible. When he walked closer to the bed, he saw the boy lying there on his back with an arm under his head, fully awake, staring at nothing in particular. He seemed lost and as lifeless as before.

Jimin lightly shook him. "Tae... don't be like that. Please talk to me. Cry if you want to, scream if you want to but please don't stay silent and emotionless like this! I can't tell how you're feeling when you're like this and I can't help you. It hurts me to not be able to help you. Tae, you're my best friend, you know I can't see you in this state," Jimin let out, his eyes becoming teary and his voice cracking a little as he spoke.

"Ji-jiminie... I can't even fall asleep without him. What am I going to do?" Taehyung said, bringing the arm that was beneath his head over his face to conceal his glassy eyes but that was of no use as the tears fell down his cheeks, staining his pillow.

"You'll get used to it eventually," the shorter boy stated as he sat on the bed.

"I won't Jiminie, I know I won't be able to," Taehyung sobbed and Jimin pulled him in his arms.

"It's okay, Tae, you will be fine. You have to," he tried comforting his friend whose crying only intensified. But Jimin was relieved to see him crying. For a moment, he had thought Taehyung became depressed or something, that he had become completely void of all emotions and it made him worried. But now he was displaying a more normal reaction and it was better than him remaining motionless and expressionless.

Jimin kept stroking Taehyung's hair as he lied next to the younger, hugging him close to himself. The older thought about how his friend would be feeling at the wedding if this was his current reaction to even thinking about Jungkook getting married. But one thing for sure, he knew Taehyung was good at hiding his feelings. He's proved it so far but he also knew that it was going to hurt the boy so much that he preferred not to think about what might become of him.

He let that thought aside and kept hugging the wailing boy who had seemed to calm down a bit. Right now he had to focus on making Taehyung feel better and his constant reassuring words and warm embrace seemed to be doing the job.

"Tae, do you want me to sleep here next to you?" Jimin asked, knowing that the younger always needed someone or something to hug to be able to sleep well. Jungkook used to do that but he was not here anymore, so he thought that's why Taehyung said he couldn't sleep.

The boy remained silent for a while, thinking about whether he should tell Jimin to stay or go. He decided on the latter, claiming he would be just fine. He knew Jimin wouldn't sleep until he stopped crying and fell asleep but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to do that. So he didn't want to tire his best friend out or bother him by making him stay up with him all night.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Tae? I can stay with you if you want," Jimin anxiously asked, just to make sure that his friend would be really alright.

"Thank you, Jiminie, but I'll be okay. You can go," Taehyung replied, forcing a smile to appear believable.

If he had to be honest to himself, him not wanting to be a burden to Jimin was not the only reason he asked the boy to go. He just didn't want someone else, even if it was his bestfriend, to take his Jungkookie's place, at least not so soon. He had not yet fully processed the fact that the younger boy, who he had practically raised, got so comfortable with and eventually fell in love with, was going to belong to someone else in some hours. So he wanted to be alone to think about everything again.

When Jimin left the room, he grabbed his biggest pillow and held it close to his chest, just the way he would have held Jungkook if he had been the one with him right now. If he was not about to get married so soon. He allowed his tears to silently fall, not bothering to wipe them away as he reminisced every moment that made him fall for Jungkook.

These eventually led to him blaming himself. He thought about all the times he could have told the boy about his feelings. Who knew? Maybe Jimin was right. Maybe, before he met his fiancée and started liking her, Jungkook also had some feelings for him buried deep inside his heart. He wished he could go back and tell him everything. But it was too late for that now.

If he had told Jungkook how much he loved him since the beginning, would things have been the same? Would he have reciprocated those feelings or would he have hated him? Would Taehyung be crying his eyes out about the younger's wedding or would he have been holding Jungkook in his arms right now?

These questions revolved around Taehyung's mind as more and more tears flowed out of his eyes. Contrary to his expectations, they didn't keep him up all night. Instead, with his cheeks still stained with tears that he had not bothered wiping and his body weak and shaking lightly from all the crying, he fell into a troubled slumber which he didn't want to wake up from because he was not ready for the day that would be awaiting him once he would wake up. For the first time, he wanted this night to carry on forever.

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Early morning update today! I know this chapter was kinda sad but it's the last one that will be sad for now, so cheer up baby and get ready for what's coming up! In fact, the real story and all the interesting stuff begin in the next chapter ;)))

Anyway, you guys might not believe it and I can't believe it either but I've already written up to the 10th chapter!! At first I was thinking of updating twice per week but I decided against it coz I have to catch up with my school work (I'm getting really lazy because of online classes so I need to work out everything I missed. I guess I won't be writing for a whole month)

Since school won't be resuming until August, I have full time to dedicate to this story. Once I'm done catching up with my school works, I'm going to either start updating twice a week or maybe start writing another story. But I think I'll go for the first option, I tend to lose focus when I try updating 2 stories at the same time, so I guess I'll just complete this one first before embarking on a new project!

Please don't forget to vote and comment! Love you all ♡♡♡