CHAPTER 6

-----

the boys of BTS were early to rise and late to bed on their work days. especially now that they had recently been preparing a new comeback with a difficult and unique style, needing them to oversee their work and make sure they made it to their studio on time. while it took a moment for them all to fully awake and dress for their long day at work, it was unexpected that taehyung would be the last out of bed. the last events on the house had been exhausting for taehyung, not only physically but also emotionally that he was drained from energy.

buttoning up his shirt, jeongguk was the one who witnessed the spectacle. he was planning to check on taehyung since he hadn't seen any signs of him as the elder usually pestered the hyungs to hurry up in the early morning, too excited for his age. he was used to taehyung jumping and force-cuddling the members and he'd eventually let them go after the victims give in. however, this time hoseok was the one to wake up taehyung, shaking the boy forcefully. the other groaned and attempted to stay in bed as long as possible, whilst hoseok wouldn't give up, not budging a bit. in a flash, a loud slap sound was heard. hoseok's hand had landed roughly against taehyung's cheek. stepping forward to intervene, jeongguk reached out a hand to hoseok's shoulder to pull him away from taehyung. sitting up from his place in the bed, taehyung held his throbbing cheek and stared at his hyung in bleary fear and teary eyes.

opening his mouth to shout a protest, jeongguk was shoved away from hoseok who looked not as shaken up as taehyung, but still shocked nonetheless. he didn't look any remorsefully guilty but fuming even more if possible. "i'm sorry but hurry up and get ready, taehyung," he stated coldly. "we don't have time if you decide to be a slob."

hoseok went to taehyung's closet and picked him out an outfit before throwing the garments at taehyung, who was still dazed, utterly confused with his early morning glory. "be out in five. jeongguk, namjoon said you need to get in the car. and you, taehyung. this is technically your first day to participate in the new album, do not let us down." then he left the room, leaving the two speechless.

unfortunately, the other members were out and too busy with their own morning routines to notice taehyung who was also joining them today. making his way next to taehyung who didn't realise had a few tears falling from his eyes, jeongguk cupped the elder's right cheek and tilted his head to check the left one. the skin was a shocking dark red. "what the fuck is wrong with that hyung?!" jeongguk exclaimed furiously, his fist was balled tightly ready to punch the bedside. taehyung flinched because of the surprise, looking up at the younger with fear vulnerably opened for anyone to witness.

"a-are we really that late?" taehyung whimpered, eyes wide and  teary, as he looked pleadingly at jeongguk like a lost puppy who had just got itself kicked out. "i-i'm r-really sorry, I d-didn't know I w-was keeping you all up..." he was trembling, still in shock, as he fumbled with the clothes offered to him. taehyung closed his eyes a bit to breath deeply as a few tears falling again onto his reddened cheek.  jeongguk followed him to calm himself, it was too early to be furious and he had tendencies in breaking things almost as high as namjoon when he was crazily mad. he didn't know what kind of demon just possessed the usually happy-go-man hoseok to be like that, had never once he lifted his hand in violence to scold anyone, especially taehyung as the boy had always been his favourite. they still had fifteen minutes to prepare and jeongguk thought hoseok was totally exaggerating just now.

"no, tae, we'll be fine... deep breath, taetae," jeongguk reassured him, taking in the way the elder's shoulders trembled slightly, his face was so pale, he had dark eye bags, and there were purples on the corners of his eyes. "he was probably just stressed with all the choreography. teaching six guys in a time isn't such an easy work."

taehyung stood up with jeongguk's help to change his old baggy pajamas into the clothes hoseok had thrown at him shakily. his hands still shook slightly but jeongguk didn't step up to help, already struggling from God knows what to control his breath as he saw taehyung's naked litthe milky pale back.

taehyung, now fully clothed, slowly turned to jeongguk and met his gaze, looking better. "yeah..." he smiled warmly, forgiving the elder boy almost immediately. "that must be it." bowing his head, he cantered to the bathroom to quickly clean his face and brush his teeth. jeongguk didn't miss the crestfallen expression that instantly covered the previous warm and cheery smile.

cupping his chin thoughtfully, jeongguk wondered if he should be worried about the behavior he just saw. perhaps hoseok really was just worried about taehyung's first day on working on the latest album and took his frustrations out on taehyung. his method of going about it was uncalled for, but jeongguk doubted his thought and let it go.

shirts soaked with sweat, the members finished up their practice session for the day. collapsing to floor, taehyung sat out when the song had finished, catching his breath with head bowed down and hands on his knees while his shoulders rose up and down as he tried to catch his breath. the new choreography was extremely difficult and took a lot of energy to perform.  some of the members shot him a glare because of him getting tired so soon.

"actually, I think I can keep going." jeongguk chirped, oblivious with the other members' glares thrown at taehyung. he was the most athletic and strongest of them all and sometimes it seemed like he had a bundle of everlasting energy.

"we all are just fine but taehyung looks so wasted," jimin chided, fanning his shirt to cool off his back and chest. "how about call it a night--"

"we can still keep going so taehyung should've been just fine," hoseok interrupted. "jin looks exhausted but he pulled the moves way better than him." all heads turned towards hoseok, their dance teacher was looking at taehyung with an indescribable expression, a mix of anger, pity, and disappointment, not a good view to be seen. he had been standing to the side watching their entire practice to correct some error moves from the members. "I think taehyung should stay behind and practice a little longer."

taehyung's face fell and he looked hesitantly from hoseok and namjoon. gaping like a fish, he couldn't come out with an excuse, he knew he was worse than usual today but it wasn't like he was exactly hopeless. he could remember the movements in two days if he tried hard enough and he was in the bridge of passing out right now.

holding up a hand, namjoon cut in Taehyung.  "you were definitely struggling a bit during practice. i've memorised how the choreography is supposed to look. we have been practicing it for few weeks and you just started today so i think some extra practices would do you any good."

"it's no big deal, he wasn't just used to the movements yet." jimin intervened, seeing the dejected look on Taehyung's face.

"exactly," hoseok added, staring sternly at taehyung. "he must get used to the dance as soon as possible."

"why are you acting so harsh to him all of sudden?" jeongguk spat poisonously. he was pissed because had it not been enough for hoseok to slap taehyung and add more into the poor boy's misery? taehyung almost passed out and jeongguk swore they all could guess it in a blink of eye.

"i didn't act so harsh to him," hoseok retaliated as poisonously. "there must always  be reasons why i get mad and he was just unfortunately one of the causes today. if he could work harder then i wouldnt have stayed mad at him. he even stayed late on the bed this morning! so much responsibility for him--"

"oh yeah? and you think you are the most responsible of all us--"

"hobi, jeongguk, stop." namjoon hissed harshly, intimidating the two boys who almost got into fight right when jin stepped in the middle of them to stop the fight. hoseok and jeongguk flinched and realised what they had done before stepping back, distancing themselves from each other.

the atmosphere in the practice room was intense. the choreographer teachers and managers were all out for dinner and there were only the group alone to solve the tense. no one dared to fill the silence, too afraid to anger their furious leader.

"...i-i'm really sorry..." taehyung whispered pathetically with head bowed down to face his worn down shoes. his legs were hurting so bad but he forced himself to timidly walk closer to where namjoon was. "m-my performance wasn't the best today and so i'm planning to fix it by training more. p-please don't fight because of me..." he whimpered the last sentence and jeongguk felt like hugging the boy right there.

jeongguk didn't have it. his hyung was tired, they should get it already. "but, tae--"

"no, he needs to work on it now while it's still fresh on his mind. everyone head home beside him." namjoon finished, not leaving the matter up for discussion.

im sorry for updating so late. im an active student in my school so i only have so little of time to write and all those fun things. as payback, im working with the next chapt and hopefully it can be posted faster than it is planned to be.