⑯You Think You're Better?

 
The meeting room of Songpa Police Station resounded with Jungkook’s potent voice, which gave instructions about the incursion in Ung Seo’s lab to his team and a few extra officers. 

It had been six days since he received this intel from Taehyung, and it was time to deploy it after their meticulous exploration of the unfamiliar area. 

He had no other contact with Taehyung the last six days; he only called him yesterday to check if he found anything about Jin Mo, but Taehyung didn’t pick up his phone. Both times Jungkook called. 

Needless to say, he was vexed. Infuriated. He nearly went to his house. But after what happened to him the last time he saw him, he was quite reluctant to meet him again for no solid reason. He just... didn’t want to deal with him.

After soaking in all the instructions, the team nodded and headed outside, then got into two sprinter vans. 

The twenty-minute ride was mostly quiet, and they soon parked the vans outside of the building. They moved quickly; they hopped off and bolted for the door in the formation Jungkook had given. 

Jungkook attempted to open the door, but found it locked. “Namjoon,” he said, and Namjoon knew exactly what to do. 

He came forward with the Halligan bar in his hands, and Hoseok followed him with a hammer. Namjoon struck the metallic door at the lock and positioned the claw between the door and its frame. Hoseok pounded the back of the bar thrice with the hammer, shoving the claw as deep as it could go. 

Then, with a violent wrench, Namjoon burst the door open, and they scrambled inside, only to find the building... throughout empty.

Jungkook slowed to a stop, an ocean of disbelief crushing over him, as his hand with his leveled gun descended until it dropped to his side. “What the fuck? He lied?”

Hoseok swept the place with an investigatory glance. “It seems like this place was used as a lab, though. There’s powder almost everywhere, and the smell...”

Jungkook sniffed, drawing in a pungent smell of something burned. “Then what the hell happened?”

They searched the place for a bit more and reviewed it thoroughly, as it was the only thing they could do.

The ringing of Namjoon’s phone echoed through the empty room a short while later, and he slipped it out of his pocket. “Yeah?”

“Kim Ki Han is in Gangnam right now.”

Namjoon noted the address of the house in haste and thanked his informant before ending the call. “My informant called. He said Kim Ki Han is in the neighborhood at a house close by. Let’s get him at least.”

🥀

Taehyung faked a laugh at the rather lame story Ki Han once again recounted, barely able to keep his facade. 

The dingy room reeked of weed and booze, causing Taehyung to feel a sort of mild high as well. There was a whirl of packs of cocaine on the table and prepared lines, ready to get sniffed.

It was supposed to be the last time he had to hang out with Kim Ki Han, just to confirm what they already knew about him, and then Jin Mo would decide what he wanted to do with him. 

But what Taehyung didn’t expect was to see Ung Seo hang out with Ki Han and five other guys when he first arrived. Their “friendship” seemed to be new, and by a couple of surreptitious, whispering words they shared throughout their gathering, Taehyung knew they were cooking up something together. 

Despite his skilled, tactful attempts to make them share their plans, the two laughed him off. And since Taehyung couldn’t push them more because they would definitely suspect him, he let it slide for the time being. 

A phone ringing passed unnoticed by the seven intoxicated men as they were currently laughing their heads off, but Taehyung nudged Ung Seo’s shoulder, drawing his attention. “Your phone.”

Ung Seo, still chuckling dumbly, slanted forward to grab it from the table. “What’s up?”

“Man, cops are in the neighborhood. They’re looking for you. Hide your stuff.” 

Ung Seo’s brain took a moment to assimilate the information, but he snorted once it did. “Thanks, bro.” He dumped his phone onto the table. “Wow. Thank God I moved my lab to another place.”

Taehyung froze up at his remark, his insouciant veneer cracking with surprise. “What?”

“My buddy said that cops are in the neighborhood and they’re looking for me. But they won’t find anything because I moved my lab to Guro-gu.”

“Oh,” he chuckled to secrete his startle. “When did you do that?”

“About two weeks ago.”

Three bangs on the door had all of them turning into icicles, destroying the carefree atmosphere.

“Open up, Ki Han. We know you’re here.” 

The said man’s eyes popped and flitted to Ung Seo. “Why did they say my name if they’re looking for you?” he whisper-yelled, but Ung Seo was in a similar state of bafflement. 

More pounding boomed across the room, and Ki Han flew off his seat at once, knocking over some bottles of beer, as he dashed towards the back door. 

The door flew open, and everyone scrambled away, some tripping over their feet by the high level of their inebriation. 

“Arrest every motherfucker in here!” Jungkook vociferated as he halted for a second to scan the place. He caught a figure running upstairs and hurtled forward, chasing it at full speed. 

He flung a door open and staggered to a stop as he spotted a man standing still at the center of the rooftop with his back turned to him. He drew out his gun and aimed it at him. “Put your hands behind your head and turn around slowly.” 

The man maintained his utter stillness for a few more seconds before his head dropped. 

“Put your hands behind your head and turn around slowly!” he ordered again in a rumbling, callous voice. But fuck, the more he dissected his physique, the more his rage boosted, because right then, he knew. He ended up in the same situation again — in the same maddening, mind-bending situation. 

He was pointing his gun at Taehyung. Again. 

Jungkook holstered his weapon and charged towards him headlong, his hands shaking with a tide of enmeshed feelings. He swiveled him with a rowdy yank and grasped his collar, cruelly pulling him forward. “You lying piece of shit!”

“Calm down,” Taehyung said as he gripped his wrists, but didn’t attempt to free himself. 

“Calm down? Really? How can I calm down when you fucking lied to me again?” He ground out each word, which grew more ferocious and hoarse than the previous one. His one hand lurched back, his fist trembling in the air in the immense need to bash it against him. But Taehyung’s face didn’t shed its mask of repose even when his eyes locked on his fist. 

He instead jostled him to the side with such force it made him fall in a heap onto the ground. 

Taehyung grimaced the moment his side slammed against the cement, swallowing his cries of exasperation, and he heaved himself to a sitting position. “I didn’t lie,” he spoke in a low, still placid timbre. He dusted his slightly scraped hands and let them collapse onto his crossed legs, his chin hidden in his chest. “I just found out that Ung Seo moved his lab to Guro-gu.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you’d be here then? Since when do you hang out with Ung Seo, huh?”

“I’ll only talk if you stop screaming.” A glint of sternness burned in Taehyung’s gaze as it climbed up his form and landed on his face in a glare. 

Jungkook hadn’t seen this side of him before. While he would usually lash out at him or project his justifiable annoyance or fury at the way he treated him, Taehyung seemed apathetic and disturbingly... calm. As if he were disinterested in everything Jungkook had to say to him. Disinterested in his entire presence. 

They hadn’t met or talked in the last six days. And it really made him wonder what could have happened in those six days that stirred such a change in Taehyung. 

As though his body took the lead and concurred his sense, Jungkook neared him with a long stride and extended his hand towards him. 

Taehyung’s darkened eyes, which looked fiercer from the sharpness overlying his features, stared at him in condescending bewilderment, as if unable to digest the irony of the situation. A quiet huff spewed from his lungs, and he propped a palm on the ground, pushing himself to his feet. “Are you ready now to talk like civilized people?” 

“Let’s go to the station.”

Taehyung broke into a derisive smile as a blaze of snickers simmered in his chest, and he tipped forward when it erupted from his mouth. “Ah, Jeon. Are you serious right now?”

“I’m doing this so the others won’t suspect you. If you’re the only one who got away, it’ll seem suspicious.”

Taehyung reflected on his words and found a fair amount of logic in them. “Fine.” He outstretched his hands, waiting for him to handcuff him.

Jungkook locked the handcuffs around his wrists and nodded towards the door. “Let’s go.” He trailed behind Taehyung once he began trudging away, his eyes lingering on his back. “I called you twice yesterday. You didn’t answer.”

“I was busy.”

“With what?” 

“Detective Jeon,” he sighed, stepping into the house. “I’m not obligated to tell you that.” He suddenly spun around, catching Jungkook off guard. “I’m not obligated to tell you what I do in my free time. Or who I hang out with.” He rotated and resumed his way down the stairs. 

“If you ever ignore my calls again, I’ll come to your house. If you’re not there, the next time I see you, I’ll lock you up. Understood?”

“You know what?” Taehyung stopped once again as he found the room empty. “I’m tired of you already. When can I quit being your informant? Or more accurately, how can I do that without going to jail?”

“The moment you quit being my informant, you are going to jail.” He set a hand on his back and guided him forward, but Taehyung whirled to face him at once.

“I think you forgot what I told you the last time we met,” Taehyung uttered in his deep, husky voice. “I don’t want you to touch me.”

Jungkook mulled over his arrogant but poised facade, and something inside him just snapped. “What the hell is wrong with you, seriously? Why aren’t you getting angry at me like you always do? Why aren’t you yelling at me? Why are you... so fucking calm?”

Taehyung fought to suppress his smirk with a vengeance. The strategy of ‘the more you ignore them, the more they seek attention’ seemed to work on Jungkook perfectly well. He first realized it during his interrogation when Taehyung had said he didn’t care about what he thought anymore and Jungkook snapped at him. 

It was entertaining, really, to see how much his behavior or words affected Jungkook. How easily they sparked a reaction from him. 

“I told you before.” Taehyung couldn’t fight it anymore; a small, mocking smile tugged at his lips as he decreased the gap between them. “You’re not worth my time to argue with you. Or even talk to you,” he added with a snicker. 

“Jungkook,” Namjoon called as he entered the house. “Are you ready?”

Jungkook’s gaze held fast to his smirking countenance, feeling pure rage course through his veins, but he didn’t let it consume him. He instead smirked back at him. “Yes. Take him too. And lock him up for a day to see if he’ll continue mocking a detective like this.”

“Yah.” Taehyung’s eyes bulged at his remark as he automatically backed away from the two. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh? You’re not calm anymore. Look at that,” Jungkook sneered, but his face became steely again in the blink of an eye. “I wanted to remind you I have the power to throw you in jail at any moment. So you better be more careful from now on.”

Taehyung was left glaring at his back as Jungkook marched out of the house, and he strangled an urge to chase after him and slap his stupid face. 

“Come on, Taehyung,” Namjoon said as he beckoned him to follow him. 

“Did he just play me?”

Namjoon chuckled upon detecting the angered pout on his lips. “Yeah, I think he did.”

Taehyung approached him. “How long have you been partners?”

“About two years. But we’ve been friends for a lot more years.”

“How can you stand working with him? He’s so obnoxious.”

Another chuckle flowed out of Namjoon. “He’s not that bad if you get to know him. Let’s go now.”

Taehyung exited the house, with Namjoon walking right behind him. He put him in the sprinter van with the others and headed off to search for Jungkook. 

He located him talking with Hoseok and Seung Ho and neared them. “Did Taehyung really lie?”

“No. He said Ung Seo moved his lab to Guro-gu,” Jungkook responded. “He’ll tell us more at the station. Let’s leave.”

. . .

They returned to the station soon enough and took off their gear, placed their guns in their lockers, and then began with the interrogations. But it was irritating and practically impossible to interview intoxicated suspects. All of them were unable to put two sentences together, and although Ki Han and Ung Seo seemed to be in a better condition, the communication was still challenging. 

They resorted to locking them up at least for a few hours so that they could regain their lucidity and instead focused on Taehyung.

The violent crimes unit one trod into the room. “Taehyung. Do you mind if we all sit here? It’s not an interrogation, but you can still feel pressured with four detectives in the room, that’s why I’m asking,” Namjoon said with his signature affable smile. 

“I don’t mind.” Taehyung shrugged as he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. 

The four detectives sat across from him. “I’m Jung Hoseok. We haven’t met properly before.”

Taehyung had read so much information about Jungkook’s whole team he felt like he knew each one of them inside and out. “I’m Seon Taehyung, as you already know. Detective Yoo, how are you?” A kittenish smile took over his traits as he laid his eyes on him. 

“Enough with the introductions and greetings,” Jungkook cut in before Seung Ho could react. “Tell us why you were in that house with them.”

“Not that I have to tell you this,” Taehyung sneered, “but anyway. Ki Han called me over to his house. I met him through a friend, and we hang out sometimes. I didn’t know Ung Seo would be there. They didn’t seem like they knew each other long. But they were whispering things to each other, so they must be planning something together. That’s all I know.”

“How did the conversation about his lab come up?” Namjoon asked. 

“Someone called Ung Seo, and when he hung up, he said, ‘Thank God I moved my lab to another place.’ I asked him what happened, and he said his friend told him cops were in the neighborhood, but they wouldn’t find anything because he moved his lab to Guro-gu about two weeks ago.”

“So you really didn’t know,” Seung Ho commented. 

“Yes, I didn’t know. Why would I give fake information? I’m not that stupid.”

“Okay then,” Namjoon said. “I think that’s all we need...?” He threw a glance towards their leader, who kept his gaze anchored on Taehyung. “Kook?”

Jungkook maintained his silence for a few more seconds as something faltering crept into his eyes. “Sorry. You can go now,” he said in a hasty murmur and sprang up, rushing out of the room. 

A sound of surprise tangled with disbelief erupted from Taehyung at his lame apology and elusive manner, and he jerked up as well, making haste to catch up with him. He discerned him still scuttling towards his desk and followed him until he reached his destination. 

“Are you avoiding me now?”

Jungkook sorted through the pile of files on his desk for no reason, an indifferent countenance sprawling over his face. “No.”

“Then why did you run like that? You can’t look me in the eyes and apologize sincerely as you should?”

“It was the most sincere apology you’ll hear from me, so take it and leave.”

Taehyung watched him, mute and motionless, as he continued organizing his desk. “Can you stop pretending that you’re busy for a second and look at me?” 

“I am busy and you’re disturbing me. Leave.”

“Jungkook.”

His liquid voice, which carried with it a low tune, velvety but nearly imposing, curled around Jungkook’s ears in mesmeric fumes, ceasing his unnecessary movements stepwise. That voice called for his eyes in the most bewitching of ways, and he almost, almost surrendered to its unspoken command to lock eyes with him. 

But he instead drove his chin deeper into his chest and sank down in his chair. “What?”

“Can you tell me something? Anything. I can’t read you. What are you thinking? Are you mad? Annoyed?”

“I told you I’m busy.”

Taehyung’s chest fluttered to a fall with the dejected sigh that passed through his mouth. “Fine.” He pivoted, but his muscles contracted with startle as he bashed against someone. “Sorry,” he muttered, his gaze flying over the woman’s face. That one glance at her appalled expression, though, was enough to reel in his full attention. 

Sa Rang? Why is she looking at me like that? 

“Mom, what are you doing?”

Jungkook’s voice sounded before Taehyung could analyze his thoughts more. He stepped back and bowed his head, then disappeared without a word. Why was she looking at me like she... knew me?

Jungkook scrutinized his mother’s bizarre look and had to shake her to pull her out of her stupefaction. “What’s wrong?”

Sa Rang cracked an uneasy smile. “Nothing. Who was that, Jungkookie?” 

He couldn’t help but notice her quivery voice, as though she was nervous about something. “Just a guy I know. No one important.”

“Why was he here?”

Jungkook’s face warped in mystification. “Why are you asking? Do you know him?”

“What? Of course not.” A half chuckle jumped out of her mouth as she glanced away. 

“Mom,” he sighed. “You’re acting weird.”

“I’m not. I was just surprised because we bumped into each other. That’s all.”

Although she wasn’t that much convincing, Jungkook brushed it off. “Why are you here?”

“You told me we’d go for a walk around this time, Jungkookie.”

“Oh.” His eyes grew rounder, as he had completely forgotten about this. “Sorry, but we made a lot of arrests today and we have a lot of work to do. Another time.”

“Who did you arrest?” she asked with a sweet, nonchalant smile, but a defensive expression burst onto her face at her son’s disapproving look. “I’m just curious! I’m always like that. You know me.”

“Fine, whatever. Kim Ki Han and a guy named Ung Seo. Now leave. We’ll reschedule our walk for another time.”

“Okay.” She bent to kiss the crown of his head. “Don’t overwork yourself. Bye, love.”

“Bye.”

🥀

An icy breeze scraped Taehyung’s frame as he sauntered along the dully illuminated street, the lowering skies threatening rain. 

Since workout was something he didn’t — couldn’t — enjoy in the slightest, he preferred to take long walks. He rarely exercised, even though it was necessary for his job. He was in complete rest for three days because of his injured knee, and he had to regain some of his stamina and strength somehow. 

And walking was a great form of exercise, if you asked him.

He spent his time chatting with Jimin on the phone during his wander, who was always a good, pleasant company. Except for the times he nagged him like there was no tomorrow.

Like right now. 

“I’m not letting you go on another mission without a helper on standby! And I’ll bug your phone to listen to everything you do from now on. You’re unbelievable, seriously. I can’t believe you went there without an escape plan! And Jungkook caught you. Again!”

Taehyung tore the phone away from his ear with an irritated grimace as his blaring voice at last was too deafening to endure. “Yah. He didn’t catch me. I just didn’t run away.”

“Why?”

“Because the whole point is to meet him and get close to him. I—wait, I’m getting another call.” Taehyung glanced at the screen and snorted on the spot. 

“Who is it?”

“Jungkook.” 

“You won’t answer?”

“I’m talking to you. I’m busy.”

Jimin snickered. “Didn’t you just say that the whole point is to meet him and get close to him? Talking to him on the phone is another way to get close to him, you know.” 

“Yeah, but I want to annoy him a little too.”

“Didn’t he tell you he’ll come to your house if you don’t answer?” 

“As if he’ll do that,” Taehyung scoffed. “He said it just to make me answer my phone.”

“Tae. You asked him to be his informant. Don’t be an ass.”

“I asked him because he’d put me in jail otherwise!” 

“At least try to be cooperative. Why can’t you do that?”

“I don’t know. There’s something about him that makes me want to just... annoy him.”

Jimin broke into giggles. “Well, I think you’re doing a great job at that, from what you’ve told me.”

“You’re doing great, Tae!” Yoongi’s voice was heard in the background, pulling a chuckle from Taehyung. 

“Thank you, Yoon. We should take a day off sometime and go out! It’s been so long since the last time we did that.” Taehyung turned right into the alley that would soon lead him to his house. 

“We have a lot of work these days. Maybe next week,” Jimin said. 

“Well, I don’t. I’m surprised Jin Mo didn’t give me another mission already. I only have two now. Ki Han and Jungkook.”

“The demand for violent videos increased the past week, and he’s carefully picking out the women he’ll use, so he’s focused on that.”

Taehyung sighed in opprobrium. “Why is he doing this to those poor women? Actually, the right question is why are there people who enjoy watching other people getting beaten to a pulp?”

“I really don’t know,” Jimin uttered. “I feel guilty sometimes. I know what Jin Mo is doing, and I hate it, but I can’t say anything.”

“Same,” Yoongi put in.

“Yeah, me too. But we should focus on our job only. We knew who we were working for when each of us joined. There’s no point feeling guilty.”

“Kim Taehyung.”

Taehyung’s muscles clenched with startle, rendering his body frozen stiff. His heart thrashed against his ribcage at the sound of his full name that was wrapped around a gruff, orotund voice. Jimin’s next remark buzzed in his ears in a distorted, cloudy murmur as his brain had stuttered to a halt along with his body, too befuddled and sunk into dread to process anything. 

Somehow, Jimin’s persistent voice managed to pierce through the fog of his trance, bringing him back little by little.

“Tae? Tae? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Taehyung gulped, his lips trembling as he unfolded his mouth to respond. “I’ll t-talk to you later.” He terminated their call.

“Kim Taehyung?”

That same voice rang again, but something mocking slithered into its timbre this time, and it sounded much closer than before. 

Taehyung clenched a hand into a fist and rotated at a creep. Although he strove to keep a neutral expression, his restlessness was too intense to hide. 

The stranger’s lips twitched in an amused sort of smirk upon studying his tight features. “Don’t look so scared, Taehyung. I’m not here to kill you. Yet.” 

His stomach lurched and knotted with something disgustingly appalling at the vaguely familiar semblance of his face. “Then why are you here?” 

“To have a little fun scaring you. And see you up close finally. You changed so much. I wouldn’t recognize you if we didn’t have so many photos of you.” 

The detestable smirk on his lips and his sneering tone as he spoke gave Taehyung a sudden boost of confidence. “Why do you have my photos? In case you’ll miss my handsome face?” 

The man chuckled — the sound was gruesome, just like everything else about him. “You’re funny. I like it. You don’t know how much I want to wreck that handsome face of yours, though.” 

“You’re the one following me around, aren’t you?” Taehyung espied the jeering lift of his brow and figured he wouldn’t answer him. “Why? I don’t get it. What did I do wrong?” 

“You got away. You should have died with your piece of shit of a father and your slutty mother. And our lives would have been so different now.” 

“Yah!” he growled and lunged at him in a spurt of uncontrolled rage, grasping his jacket. “Watch your mouth.” 

The man jostled him easily. “Don’t get so angry. You’ll die as well soon. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about you. Don’t think we’re so nice that we just let you live your life peacefully. You’re only alive today because you’re being protected—” 

“I’m not being protected by anyone.” 

“Don’t interrupt me, bitch,” he spat out, his voice significantly harsher and lower than before. “You’re working under him. That’s why you’re protected. But when we take him down and kill him, you’re going to be next.”

“You will never take him down. You don’t have what it takes. Or else you would have already done it.”

“We have to take out some other scumbags to get to the “king”, don’t you think? I can’t wait to smash his “crown” with my own hands.”

“Fuck off. You’re just a puppet. And useless,” he hurled the insults at him contemptuously and whipped around. 

The man gritted his teeth, his brows sinking low over his darkened eyes like stormy clouds, and he clawed at his hair, yanking him back. 

Taehyung staggered by the force but kept himself on his feet and pressed the secret button on his bracelet to get a needle with a sedative substance; he always wore it and it had been very helpful when he wasn’t carrying his gun. 

Taehyung held the thick needle by its base and swiveled, his hand flying towards the man’s neck, but he grasped it and jabbed his thumb into a spot on the underside of his wrist that rendered it immobile. 

“You think I don’t know about your little tricks?” The man pressed harder, making him wince and drop the needle. “I know everything about you. You’re just like your father. And we had studied each one of his moves.” He ringed his neck in a brute hold and swung his fist back, but the approaching booming noise of a motorcycle brought his movements to an abrupt halt.

The man released Taehyung and stepped back as the motorcycle stopped next to them. He watched with simmering fury as the rider slipped his helmet off, though the said fury soon switched to startle. 

“What’s going on here?”

Taehyung’s head dropped in frustration at the sound of the familiar voice. 

“Nothing,” the stranger said. 

Jungkook’s eyes scanned Taehyung’s figure meticulously, detecting a mild redness around his neck. “It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“We just had an argument. I’ll be leaving now.”

“No, you won’t.” Jungkook flashed his badge, but the stillness of his expression told him he already knew who he was. “Look what you did to his neck. You’re coming to the police—” 

“Just... mind your fucking business,” Taehyung murmured. “You did worse to me.”

A gyre of gloomy confusion eddied in Jungkook’s gaze as he held it locked on Taehyung, missing the stealthy departure of the unnamed man. “I thought we were cool.”

“We will never be.” His voice was small, with an undertone of loathing, as though he had no more strength to fight him. 

“Why?”

Taehyung’s only answer was a rotation in the opposite direction, but Jungkook was fast enough to spring up in front of him, cutting his way. “Why?” 

“Because you’re a cop. I don’t trust you. And you don’t trust me either.” 

“I... trust you. I mean, not completely, but after today, I trust you.” 

“Don’t.” The words seemed to tumble from his mouth thoughtlessly at this point. What the fuck are you saying, Taehyung? That’s the whole point. He has to trust you. 

“But why?” 

“Because I’m a whore, as so many times you’ve called me.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t trust you. I work with and trust many—” He hushed up then, swallowing the callous remark he was about to blurt out. 

“What?” Taehyung stared with a surging torrent of fury. “Many whores? That’s what you wanted to say?” He noticed his mouth open, probably to defend himself, but he shut it again with a sigh. And Taehyung could only huff in the absurdity of his insentient persona. “You’re truly such a jackass. You don’t care about other people’s feelings at all. Your parents didn’t teach you anything, huh? They only gave you money and turned you into this fucking empty shell because you had everything easy almost all your life! No matter what you went through, you don’t have the right to be so heartless to others. You don’t have the right to treat them like they’re nothing!”

Jungkook received the scathing criticism resignedly, with no traces of rage threatening to blur his sense. “You’re right about that. I don’t have the right to do that. But is it wrong that I was born into a rich family? Yes, I had an easy childhood. Yes, I had everything. I was happy. What’s wrong with that? I was just born with good fortune. Why should I be ashamed? Why should I feel bad about it?”

Hearing him, Taehyung’s rationality returned in its full ascendancy, making him realize he shouldn’t have brought up his parents. But he couldn’t stop himself now. “You shouldn’t feel bad about it. I’m just so glad I wasn’t born with your good fortune. Because then I would be this superficial jackass. I would be so empty inside. And I would feel sorry for myself.” His shoulders sank with weariness as he trudged past him, but he was stopped by a hand that gripped his forearm.

“You think you’re better?” 

“Why? Because I’m an orphan? Because I work for criminals? Of course I’m no better. I’m just a scumbag who’s only alive until now because I have to find answers. But at least I’m not heartless. At least I helped every person I met when I was living in the streets, when I had nothing! I had nothing, and all I did was give. And you know what I got in return? Genuine smiles and hugs. And that was enough for me because it filled me with warmth. Something you can never give to others because you don’t have any inside you.” Taehyung whisked his hand away with a vicious tug and stormed off. 

Jungkook remained at a standstill as each one of his words roiled in his head, emptying him out of any emotion and leaving him in a haze of nothingness.

───⭒───༺🌑༻───⭒───

So they're fighting again, hehe😅 Thoughts on this chapter? I really hope you enjoyed it💜

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