As he finished his meal tray brought earlier by a nurse , Seokjin looked at Taehyung who had barely touched his when he had a whim to get the hospital to provide him with a tray as well when he wasn't even a patient.

"Why aren't you eating?" Seokjin asked.

"It's disgusting, I'm going to talk to the director to get this dog food changed."

Seokjin rolled his eyes.

"You are too picky. Just order food from outside if you don't like the hospital food."

Now that he was hydrated, full and clean, Seokjin felt better. He'd taken advantage of the locked bathroom door earlier to take a quick shower despite Taehyung's ban and shake off the sweat from the game. As he had no other clothes as all his things had remained at school, he had been forced to put on a new hospital gown but he was going to have to slip back into the unchanged sheets. However, he felt likewise better with a clean body.

Of course, he pointed out to Taehyung that now he was the stinker of them - a disgrace to his preciousness - and that he had better go wash up, but Taehyung, to annoy him, decided not to wash up and go back to bed with that smell that Seokjin hated so much.

Before eating, Seokjin was able to call his mother with Taehyung's phone and reassure her about his condition, telling her that he would be discharged the next morning from the hospital after seeing the doctor. She had told him that she would pick him up with clean clothes and that she would pay the hospital bills. He could then spend a day at home or go back to school if he felt able.

Since Seokjin already felt capable and didn't want to miss class to avoid falling even further behind than he already had, he told her that he would go straight to school when he left the hospital in the morning. Yoko had also told him something that had been running through his head throughout the dinner.

"Taehyung, thank you for worrying about me, mom said you were really scared and she hopes you're feeling better too. To be honest, I didn't realize you could be so worried about me after... after everything that happened between us. So thanks," Seokjin thanked, pushing away the moving table that had his tray on it and curling up comfortably in bed, while Taehyung, on his side of the bed, concentrated on his phone.

Unlike Seokjin, he had a state-of-the-art Samsung smartphone and spent a lot of time on it. Yet he didn't seem to be enjoying it, always frowning as he stared at the screen, as if everything he saw on it annoyed him. What he was doing on it was still a mystery to Seokjin who wasn't the least bit interested in it though.

He probably had to scroll through the social media profiles of other heirs, sometimes jealous of them and hurrying to also buy the latest fashionable clothes they wore, other times mocking them, badmouthing everyone with his gang of rich mean people and planning the next bad things he would do to someone. Especially if that someone was Seokjin.

"What makes you think I worried about you?" Taehyung replied without looking up from his phone, his fingers tapping furiously on the touchscreen.

"Well first, you said it yourself earlier!"

"I didn't say I was worried or scared, just that I cared. It's very different."

"Yes, but you stayed there with me while I was unconscious instead of going to your evening classes," the footballer said simply, deeming that sufficient proof.

"Why would I prefer to go to my evening classes? Why anyone would want to go to evening classes voluntarily? You are so weird," the other pointed out.

"Then, can I take your place in evening classes from now on if you hate them? I could pretend I'm you and your parents wouldn't know," asked hopefully Seokjin who could have needed some school reinforcement given his cultural backwardness compared to his classmates.

"In your dreams!" Taehyung shattered his hope with a sharp tone.

"I thought you had finally become nice," Seokjin pouted, scowling.

"That's what I'm saying, you dreamed it."

Seokjin glared at him. He lived surrounded by capricious and possessive teenagers but of all of them, Taehyung was the worst. If he had something he didn't need, he would rather keep it or throw it away than give it away to someone who needed it more, Seokjin for example.

"Mom said you worried about me so I thought you got nice, I was wrong," he lamented as he turned to the side of the window again to turn his back on Taehyung.

"I didn't worry," Taehyung denied, detaching from his smartphone and straightening up to look at him.

"If my mom said so, then I believe her," Seokjin stubbornly added before turning his face to Taehyung again and adding hesitantly, "and... I think I heard you screaming my name not too far from me before I passed out, right?"

"You were wrong," Taehyung replied, "I wasn't next to you."

"Ah okay, I wasn't sure, I thought you screamed very loud," Seokjin said thoughtfully, "it must have been Jungkook then, but I don't know how wrong I could have been when you don't have the same voice at all : your voice is deep and cold while his is soft and warm."

A threatening gleam crossed Taehyung's gaze and Seokjin pulled the blanket up to his nose, as if to make it a shield, without taking his gaze away from Taehyung's.

"It wasn't him, so stop praising him to put me down," he growled.

"How do you know it wasn't him if you weren't around?" the footballer wondered.

"You're bothering me, stop asking the question, I've been told that, that's it," replied the other, annoyed.

"I know it was you, I would recognize your voice among a thousand," Seokjin muttered who no longer had any doubts: it was indeed Taehyung's voice that had called out his name and made him feel like after all at least one person at school cared about him, made him understand maybe, he could be safe. He then had a thought that he had already had in the past: how could Taehyung both be the one who hurt him the most, and the one who took care of him when he was sick? It was absurd. "It was definitely you."

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"Yes. I mean no... But thanks for worrying."

"I didn't worry," Taehyung repeated.

"Okay. But my intention was not to worry you or my mom, I hope you know."

"Perfect, because I wouldn't have worried!" the other exclaimed, exasperated, snatching a smile from Seokjin which was thankfully hidden by the blanket still over his face.

"Taehyung," Seokjin said suddenly in a serious tone, attracting the attention of the other. He was suddenly thinking back to those few minutes before he passed out: "you know, I'm not insane, I know my limits, I perfectly realized that I couldn't continue at some point. I really wanted to get out of the field I swear, and I guess you saw me waving at the coach, everyone probably saw it, but he ignored me. I'm sure he did it deliberately."

Questioned, Taehyung who frowned and looked strange but Seokjin couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"Why would he do that?" Taehyung asked in a tone that he wanted indifferent but which betrayed a certain restlessness in him.

"Maybe Dae-Ho asked him to do this for revenge?" Seokjin ventured, "he wasn't happy before the game when I told him he was the captain and it was up to him to set the game strategy."

"Did you really tell him that? Wow, about time!" Taehyung said with a proud smile.

"Are you suddenly encouraging me?" Seokjin smiling back.

"I'm not encouraging you to stand up to me, I won't let you anyway, but I despise that sucker Dae-Ho so I'm on your side this time. But where did you find the courage or rather, where did your cowardice go today?" Taehyung wondered, remembering that Seokjin also stood up to him before the match.

"It wasn't courage, it was quite thoughtless and spontaneous. I was just thinking about what you said to me before the game, that's all," Seokjin replied.

"About what? About the fact that you will never have enough money and power to be the captain or a medalist?"

Seokjin's face twitched slightly as he heard Taehyung repeat what he said to him before the match that made him feel so sick.

"Not only, but in part, yes."

"I wasn't lying to you, you know? I told the truth," Taehyung assured him bluntly.

"I know, and that was the worst thing for me. It's really too unfair."

This time, Seokjin buried his face entirely under the blanket, to hide his eyes shining sadly but Taehyung abruptly pulled it away from him, squeezing a cry of protest from him.

"No one said life was fair. It was so unfair that it made you my property."

"I am not your property, stop saying that! I am a free boy and anyway, slavery does not exist in this country!"

"Think and say what you want, it won't change reality," Taehyung shrugged.

"The same for you!" Seokjin pouted, sticking his tongue out at him.

The day when he would take his independence and Taehyung could no longer have a hold on him and would have to treat him as an equal, it was going to be funny to him. Seokjin was looking forward to this day. In the meantime, he would let Taehyung think and say whatever he wanted.

"Ah, and I want you to return my letter immediately, please. You promised me that you would return it to me," he said suddenly, holding out his hand.

"I didn't promise," Taehyung denied.

"Taehyung!"

"Yeah, I will give it back to you, but who says I have it with me now?"

"You have the same clothes as before, I know it is still in your pocket," Seokjin said, pointing to the pocket in question.

"Do you ever let go?"

"No, I need to know now if the response from the school is positive otherwise, I won't be able to sleep," Seokjin stubbornly persisted.

"And if the answer is negative? You're gonna cry again all night and it's gonna piss me off, better wait until tomorrow."

"It will be positive," the footballer said.

"Jin what if..." Taehyung began.

"No, it will be positive," Seokjin cut off, not wanting to imagine otherwise.

"Fine, you're the one looking for the stick to beat you, here's your damn letter."

Taehyung wasn't happy to hand him his letter but Seokjin didn't care. He held his letter again with a trembling hand. Without waiting for Taehyung to snatch it from him again, he hastily opened it and read its contents, under the attentive eye of the other who watched for the slightest change of emotion on his face.

Mr Kim Seokjin,

I am pleased to inform you that following the first administrative procedures successfully completed, your application to join the Whimoon high school has been accepted.

Our educational and sports team was particularly convinced by your sporting abilities and encourages you to seriously pursue your training and your physical preparation despite the end of the junior championship. Nevertheless, taking into account your school results, a refresher course will be developed to allow you to catch up before the start of the next school year. These summer classes are compulsory and you are not allowed to dispense with them.

You will be able to complete the second stage of the administrative registration process when you obtain your results for the end of middle school final exams. However, I would like to point out that it is essential to obtain satisfactory results and an irreproachable behavior report for the end of your school course in middle school, in order to be definitively accepted within our school.

Wishing you good reception of this letter, please accept, Mr. Kim Seokjin, the expression of my most distinguished greetings.

Mr. Kim Jung-Hwa,

Vice Principal of Whimoon High School

Seokjin heaved a very long sigh of relief. He was so relieved and happy that Taehyung didn't need to read the letter to realize he had been accepted.

"Happy?" He asked, in a bad mood that escaped Seokjin.

"Oh yes !! I am accepted Taehyung, do you realize? I succeeded!! Oh my God, I am so happy!" Seokjin exclaimed, clutching the letter to his heart, eyes shining with tears of joy that would flow from one moment to another. "Mom, Ji-chan, Baek and Mr. Choi are going to be so happy too!"

Taehyung noticed that he was not in this short list, which meant that Seokjin did not count him among those who were happy for him and he was not wrong. The heir absolutely forbade himself to congratulate him, knowing that he did not want him to go there.

"Oh, and I think Namjoon too would be happy to know it, I should message him to tell him, as soon as I'll have my phone," Seokjin mused aloud, before remembering that it was ill-advised to talk about Namjoon in front of Taehyung. He mumbled: "Or maybe not..."

"Namjoon?" Taehyung repeated, upset, "have you spoken to him recently?"

"Yes, he was home yesterday, didn't you know?" Seokjin asked.

"No, I never know anything about what's going on in this house and if you don't tell me, I can't guess," Taehyung said, annoyed. "You know very well that Namjoon doesn't tell me when he comes home, you're the only one he wants to see."

"If you two don't want to see each other, then what's the point of me telling you he's at home?" Seokjin asked, confused.

"Well, so as not to leave you alone with him to speak ill of me and make plans to get revenge on me!" Taehyung said like it was obvious.

Seokjin rolled his eyes.

"You have a real problem : the world doesn't revolve around you and not everyone hatches revenge plans like you! But anyway, I don't really talk to Namjoon anymore because of you, so you don't have to worry about that."

Reassured, Taehyung replied however:

"I'm not worried about your spirit of revenge, but I still want you to tell me when the other jerk is home."

"I don't see why I would tell you anything, especially if it's for you to be mean to Namjoon like you are to me! Yes, yesterday, Namjoon was at home when I came back from school, and he was nice to me while you, you had been horrible like usual, when you let the other laugh at me and the teacher think I was smoking when you know perfectly well that it is false. And now, my mom also has to pay the school desk and she had to sew up my holey pants because she can't buy me a new one. Oh, and it's because of you that Jimin took his math textbook away from me after giving it to me. That was really hateful of you," Seokjin summed up, without catching his breath, which left him breathless.

Taehyung shrugged, meaning that it didn't move him.

"This is just a part of your punishment for choosing Namjoon over me, did you forget?"

"How could I forget when you've been telling me this for two years?!" Seokjin exclaimed, straightening up to face Taehyung. "You did something really wrong back then, and I was mad at you. I'm still mad at you!" he corrected himself, as if he had finally decided to settle accounts with the other, "and then when I had to choose between you and Namjoon, I was supposed to choose you?! Know that if I had to do it again, even knowing now the hell I was going to live, I would do it again! Because at that time, Namjoon deserved my friendship while you didn't!"

"Do not speak to me like that ! You know nothing, stop believing that Namjoon is better than me!" Taehyung snapped, clenching his fists in anger.

"But he is!" Seokjin couldn't help saying, because that was his conviction. "I'm sorry if it hurts you but it's the truth!"

"You don't really know him, otherwise you would have noticed that he was worse than me!" the other replied.

"Please don't," Seokjin said, shaking his head, "don't try to make other people look like bad people after all you've done to me. That won't make you a better person."

Taehyung glared at him.

"I have nothing to prove, I didn't say I was a good person, only that Namjoon wasn't. You think he is because you have no idea what he did in your back and I will gladly tell you!"

"Taehyung, Namjoon never did to me what you did. He never made me suffer ! In fact, it's the opposite : he has always been nice to me but I walked away from him and it was probably I who made him suffering at the end."

Taehyung burst into a mirthless laugh.

"Oh stop, Jin! In this game of bad guys, he and you are clearly not playing in the same division so don't start making yourself the bad guy for him, it serves no purpose, it's just funny to me!"

"It's not funny!" Seokjin replied, upset, "None of this is funny Taehyung. I got on well with Namjoon, I got on well with you. We were all together and it was supposed to be perfect. We were supposed to be happy together. But you ruined this friendships we had."

"I ruined it?!" Taehyung exclaimed, "you're the one who started, not me! It is you who abandoned me. Twice! It's all your fault I had to do what I did, you just didn't have to look for trouble! So now, blame yourself for your suffering, not me!"

Seokjin's eyes widened, and even though he firmly believed it was true, Taehyung regretted what he had just said and cursed his tongue when he saw Seokjin's reaction.

"Y-you really are the worst," Seokjin stammered, eyes shining with tears of pain that, this time, he refused to let fall. "Earlier, I thought... I really thought you were ready to... I thought you and I, we could finally..."

Unable to finish his sentence, he closed his eyes and gave up. Finally, he said:

"Just, forget it, it was a mistake. Instead of apologizing, you'll always say it's my fault. And in the end, you must be right, it must really be my fault because I shouldn't forgot : it's always my fault and never yours when you hurt me." He was mechanically stroking his abdomen and Taehyung caught his gesture. "I should have learned my lesson the first time, so as not to suffer a second time by your hand. I should have known that we actually never had any chance of being real friends."

Taehyung remained silent with stupefaction. Neither he nor Seokjin ever talked about this and he always felt that it only weighed on his own conscience, not on Seokjin's.

"That's... not what I wanted to say," he said, seeming to be searching for words, because he hadn't been prepared to have this discussion. He didn't know if he would ever be ready.

"Then what did you want to say?" Seokjin said, "tell me, because to me, that is the logical conclusion I am forced to reach. I don't think we can be friends anymore, I tried but it was doomed to failure. I don't know why I gave you my trust again, I must really be an idiot, you were right. You didn't want a friend, you wanted a robot that obeys your commands and that's what I should have learned to be. I hope I learn the lesson this time and stop hoping that you will become a real friend to me. It is impossible, now at least I know. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore since I'm leaving. You are Kim Taehyung, and I am only Kim Seokjin who had the misfortune to cross your path. A rich boy in a big house and a poor boy who lived in his property. This is what we have been and this is how things will stay between us."

"No. You are wrong," Taehyung said in a blank voice, short of words. He had never been really good at dialogue and it had never mattered to him because his power did not come from there, but today he would have liked to have this talent, eager to convince Seokjin because coercing him would have taken away any possibility of reconciliation with him. He wanted Seokjin to be friends with him willingly. "You are wrong, okay?"

"Am I?" Seokjin asked, skeptical. "I don't think I am."

"Yes you are, so don't ever say again that we can't be friends."

"But-"

"We could start all over again, you know," Taehyung said briskly, as if it meant more to him than to Seokjin himself.

"How?" Seokjin asked dubiously, "it's too late, we can't go back!"

"It's not too late, otherwise I won't offer it to you."

"It's easy for you to say, it's not you who suffered. How can I forget what you did to me? And what you will do to me again in the future? I don't want to have to fear your future anger. It's too hard to live like this."

"I'm not asking you to forget but to give me a chance to do things better now. I want that so you should give me a chance. And after all, you're supposed to be the nice guy between us."

Seokjin frowned sulkily. He felt like he had already been very patient and had already given Taehyung endless chances to change his attitude towards him. But now, his remark had just plunged him into great guilt. What kind of person was he if, faced with someone, the one he had once considered his best friend, who finally wanted to repent and become better, he turned his back on him?

In addition, he could see that Taehyung was making the effort trying not to impose on him but to leave him the choice. It could only be hard for the heir who was used to having everything he wanted, he was aware of that.

He ended up saying:

"Taehyung, I wish things were better between us, I really do, but-"

"Thank you, I knew you were the nice one of us two."

"You didn't let me finish!" Seokjin protested. "Taehyung, you have already made my life hell and turned everyone against me! How are things supposed to be better if you're only nice to me when we're alone together?"

"Nothing simpler, I would ask the others to stop playing tricks on you and be nice to you. Thus, you will be able to study in peace and may even have student tutors to help you catch up. I will also tell them to pay for what you owe to school because of them. And because of me, " Taehyung admitted. "Is that enough?"

"Of course it's more than enough, but why would you do that?" Seokjin asked suspiciously, even though Taehyung's proposal made him want to accept immediately. He wanted to concentrate on his studies for the last two months of the year and no longer be judged guilty of bad behavior, but he could only do this effectively if he did not have to always look behind him to avoid mischief by his classmates.

"Maybe just because I miss my friend ?" Taehyung said.

Seokjin almost let himself be fooled by this sentence as he wanted to make peace with Taehyung but it seemed suddenly too easy to him.

"I would like to believe you Taehyung, sincerely, but I know you're not that nice, I'm sure you expect something in return. What do you want from me in return ?"

"Come with me to Eunma High School next year," Taehyung told him without any hesitation.

Seokjin's jaw seemed to drop.

"Absolutely out of the question!" he exclaimed vehemently.

"You will have valuable degrees that someone like you would never dream of having, all the prestigious universities will prize you and then all the top companies will fight to hire you. You can even change social class and stop being the beggar on duty!"

"I do not want all of that!" Seokjin immediately stopped him, "Taehyung, what I want is to play football, only that, and if that makes me a beggar in your eyes, so be it, at least I will be happy!"

"You can be happy in Eunma too!"

"Eunma is a high school with an economic and artistic focus, not sports, that's not where I want to go!"

Actually, that wasn't the only reason he didn't want to go to Eunma, but he preferred to stop there if it was enough to convince Taehyung

"Why are you like that?!" Taehyung asked harshly, who thought that anyone other than Seokjin would immediately accept such an offer.

"And why can't you just be happy for me and let me do what I want? Why do you have to get angry like that?" Seokjin asked, worried to see him on edge like this, unwilling to see him try to sabotage his plan to join Whimoon.

"Because I offer you the possibility of succeeding in your life and you refuse, you are only a little ungrateful!" Taehyung snapped, getting it wrong again in what he really wanted to say, because of his pride from which he could not free himself.

"The problem is that you see it as a gift that you give me while I don't," Seokjin explained in a small voice.

"What did you just say?!"

"I don't want a prestigious study setting, I just want to play football, that's what success in my life is for me, I want happiness not money!"

"Oh don't start with this debate, you know very well that money makes people happy giving them everything they want," Taehyung retorted,  unhappy that Seokjin is not interested in his money.

"Then why don't you look happy, Taehyung?" Seokjin asked. "Why are you always angry and mean when you have everything you want?"

"Because you're trying to leave me!" Taehyung snapped, "all you want is to be away from me, just admit it!"

"Yes," Seokjin immediately replied with sincerity, finally giving up hiding it. "These three years of middle school with you have been hell Taehyung and I don't want to go through that again in high school. Of course I want to get away from you!"

Taehyung's gaze hardened but he managed to keep his composure and spoke slowly, his voice quivering with an anger he was struggling to control:

"I told you I was going to suspend your punishment, you won't have to be afraid of me or others anymore, neither in middle school nor in high school!"

"But for how long? Until you decide to punish me again because I didn't respect one or the other of your wishes? because I would have made friends that you don't like?" Seokjin shook his head frantically. " No, I do not want. I'm grateful that you worried about me today and want to lift the punishment and be my friend again, but this time it's up to me to tell you that my decision is made: I want us to go to different high schools. I will not go to Eunma with you, I will go to Whimoon. If you want to be my friend, you have to accept my decision. Please. If you're stopping me from going to Whimoon, then you will never be my friend again."

Taehyung stared at him for so long that Seokjin felt uneasy. The heir seemed to care about their friendship but Seokjin wondered if this friendship meant enough to him for him to agree to give up for once in his life to have what he wanted. He wasn't sure but he hoped so. He promised himself that if Taehyung agreed to let him go to Whimoon and gave up trying to stop him, he would consider becoming friends again.  But he bet that Taehyung was unable to put their friendship ahead of his personal desires.

"If you are so determined in your will not to go to Eunma with me, fine, don't go, I won't try to persuade you anymore and I wouldn't force you either," ended up saying Taehyung, unwillingly, after a long reflection.

"R-really?" Seokjin wondered. He had lost his bet against himself.

"Yes," Taehyung nodded reluctantly.

"Oh thank you, Taehyung!" Seokjin exclaimed, grabbing his hand, grateful.

"You're welcome. Since you really don't want to follow me, then don't. I will follow you, I'll go to Whimoon with you."

"Eh?! NO, PLEASE, NO!" Seokjin pleaded, on the verge of despair, immediately letting go of Taehyung's hand.

"If you go, I'm going too," Taehyung replied, "it's like that, take it or leave it."

Desperate Seokjin suddenly realized something that reassured him :

"I am sure your parents won't let you anyway. They absolutely want you to enter Eunma, like the rest of your family, your dad told me."

"Fuck him, I do what I want, he don't have to decide for me," Taehyung replied harshly.

Shocked to hear the heir talk about his father like that, Seokjin paused before composing himself:

"And then your dad says I'm the one being bad-mannered," he quipped.

"He said that?" Taehyung wondered.

Seokjin cursed himself for not knowing how to hold his tongue. Taehyung was never around when his father summoned him to his office. As he had evening classes, he was never there to see Seokjin get chastised for the stupid things he did himself even at school and Seokjin had always wanted to hide that from him.

"Yeah, he did," he mumbled simply.

"He's not wrong," Taehyung scoffed, "you never really learned how to behave respectfully towards people above you, you just pretended to bow down to better rebel behind."

"That's not true, it's because of you that your dad thinks I'm bad-mannered, he said that when the school called him to tell him that I defaced my desk, smoked in class and stole the book of my classemate."

"Oh I see, so I assume that I'm the real bad-mannered one then. Poor you who always receive in the place of others, but you're the beggar of us and you don't want to do anything to change that, so you deserve it. Fortunately for you, I'm coming with you and I will prevent others from treating you like one."

"Please Taehyung, don't come to Whimoon," Seokjin tried one last time, feeling suddenly very tired, "you have no interest in going there, it will be a loss for you! Besides your friends aren't even going there, you'll lose your network of influence that you have built so far."

He knew how important it was for the heir and he thought that would be the best argument.

"I don't give a damn about them : it's with you that I want to be. I will call Whimoon tomorrow to tell them that they will have the immense privilege of counting me as a student at the start of the next school year. End of discussion."

Seokjin wanted to push him out of bed so much he hated him at that precise moment but he didn't and they were silent for a while.

"I hate you," he finally said in a whisper.

"No you don't."

"You are not in my head, I'm telling you that I hate you."

"You hate me now. It will be better tomorrow, you'll see."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Jin!"

"Taehyung?" Seokjin asked.

"What?"

"There are so many people who want to be friends with you so why are you so attached to me that you care if I despise you or not?"

Taehyung didn't answer. He didn't have the answer. It was like that, that's all, there was no explanation. Seeing that he didn't answer, Seokjin thinks in turn about the same problem that he himself was facing.

"I don't know why either, maybe because I know you care about me in your own way, but... despite everything you've done to me, even though I hate what you do and that I should hate you today and forever, I don't think I hate you. Not really."

At these words, Taehyung smiled so spontaneously that the anger Seokjin had felt towards him instantly melted away. Taehyung was not a boy who often smiled with his heart. But it was one of those smiles he had had and which he hastened to hide behind his usual morose expression. That meant he was genuinely glad that Seokjin didn't hate him. It was precious to him.

It was such a rare thing to see Taehyung happy for something good that Seokjin didn't try to take that pleasure away from him and didn't add anything that could hurt Taehyung. Because deep down, he still hoped to go to Whimoon without him and he had decided to do something that Taehyung was not going to like: he was going to ask Mr. Kim to intervene to force him to go Eunma with Namjoon and stop him from following him when his place was among the other children of the elite, not with him.

Feeling that his breathing was getting labored and wheezing, Seokjin applied his protocol of crisis and took a few puffs of Ventolin to widen his bronchial tubes and allow air to flow properly again.

"I hate being sick," he whispered.

"It sure sucks," Taehyung remarked, who would much rather have Seokjin hate his illness than him.

"But I will still be successful in my sports career, no matter if you despise my choice," Seokjin replied. "Then I will get scouted internationally and I will go to Europe, to an English or maybe an Italian or Spanish club where I will earn millions. And I'll reimburse your dad for school fees to never owe anyone anything again."

"Nobody asks you to do that, you don't owe him anything, he did it for his own sake, not out of kindness," Taehyung replied.

His gaze mechanically fell on the half-open collar of Seokjin's hospital gown from where he could see part of the large scar that had barred his upper body since childhood, from his left shoulder to his opposite hip. He hated seeing it. That ugly huge scar reminded him of a feeling he desperately wanted to forget. He immediately raised his gaze to Seokjin's when the other spoke again.

"You think I don't know that?" Seokjin protested, "I know he doesn't like me and he's not doing this out of the goodness of his soul. But everyone keeps throwing it back at me to remind me how lucky I am, and how much I owe your family so much, I can't take it anymore! Finally, from now and forever, I want to owe my success only to myself, no one will stop me, believe m-!"

"Okay, you got excited enough for today. You talk too much,  calm down now and sleep," Taehyung ordered, cutting him off and slamming a large hand on his face to force him to close his eyes. "You need to rest."

Seokjin took his hand away from his eyes and glared at him. But Taehyung was right, he needed to rest so he closed his eyes and soon started sinking. As he was exhausted, he didn't take long to fall asleep.

Taehyung saw his fingers clutching his Ventolin slowly release their grip on the inhaler and soon, his sleepy breathing, so characteristic to Taehyung's ears, was heard. The footballer being asthmatic, he had trouble breathing only through his nose and kept his mouth open most of the time to breathe better.

At night, his body mechanically reproduced this breathing mechanism and as he breathed with his mouth wide open, his deep breathing was particularly audible to Taehyung's ears. By dint of having slept so long with Seokjin, he knew the least of his habits and he was always ready to wake him at the slightest change in his breathing, if he felt he was beginning to suffocate in his sleep.

As it had been a long time since they had slept facing each other, Taehyung took the time to observe Seokjin's sleepy face. He was much more relaxed than earlier, his eyebrows having relaxed and he was breathing well. The news of his acceptance to Whimoon must have really reassured him, even if the rest of his conversation with Taehyung had angered him.

After carefully examining his face, Taehyung again let his gaze descend to his scar and with one hand he spread the collar of his shirt to get a better view of it.

Seokjin hated that scar as much as Taehyung did and made sure to never show it to anyone, even in the locker room with his football team. This scar was for Taehyung the scary memory that Seokjin almost died. For Seokjin, it was the memory of horrible suffering that he had to keep to himself, forced into silence by people who didn't care about him at all.

This event should have separated them forever, but Taehyung had done everything to cling to him and force him to stay close to him. And yet, it had not been an easy task.

Slowly, Taehyung let himself be overwhelmed by his memories...