𝔇𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔭𝔲𝔟𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔥𝔢𝔡: December 10th, 2019
𝔚𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱: 4130
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𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐏 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐅 𝐎 𝐔 𝐑 𝐓 𝐄 𝐄 𝐍
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(pst. anyone who can't see the title, it's just fancy letters that say the number of the chapter. don't worry, I wont put anything super important in font that isnt supported with all devices.)

The world around Jungkook feels like it is spinning the moment he steps up to the front door. Coming home after a night out on Halloween would be so trivial for most, but he knew it was only a matter of seconds now that he would come face to face with his, undoubtedly, fuming uncle - and this terrified him.

Regrets begin to flood his mind the moment he reaches for the handle, and surprisingly, he had been so scared to open the door that his hand was visibly shaking. He knew it was ridiculous to be this scared over something so small, but his uncle being the way he was, Jungkook feels he has no other choice than to worry about these types of things.

A couple seconds pass and Jungkook finally gathers up the courage to try the handle - it was unlocked. He takes in a deep breath and slowly starts to open the door - his heart, once again, dropping the moment he sees his uncle stand up from the couch.

"Where have you been?" Is the first that comes out of Yunseok's mouth, but Jungkook doesn't initially respond - first walking inside and quietly closing the door behind him.

"Jeon Jungkook, you better start explaining yourself right now. Where were you, and where is Kyu?" Yunseok says, though bit louder this time.

(his uncle's name was Yunseok right, or am I just going crazy?? 😂 *cough* when the author doesnt even remember the name of their own characters)

Jungkook starts to open his mouth to say something, but his uncle stops him. "You better think long and hard about your response before you say it. I would strongly advise you tell me nothing but the truth, because if you don't, they'll be even more consequences to pay."

"We went trick or treating, sir.." Jungkook admits, taking the mask out from under his jacket that he had tried hiding before walking inside. He knew he wouldn't be able to get away with anything other than the truth.

"In other words, you went against my rules and decided to do what you wanted to do instead?" Yunseok says, his arms crossed over his chest. His girlfriend was sitting on the couch a few feet away from him.

"I'm sorry, sir but I just...I felt it was unfair for Kyu to have to stay home on Halloween. He's a kid, and being a kid goes by fast so I wanted him to experience as much as he can before he gr-" Jungkook says, but was cut off midway through.

"Where is he? Don't tell me you lost him."

"No, he's at Minnie's house. Her dads are watching him."

"I'm VERY disappointed in you Jungkook." Yunseok says, shaking his head back and fourth. "Kyu is at the age where he needs to start learning discipline and rules, he-

"He's FIVE, Yunseok." Jungkook says a little too loudly, letting out a sigh. "And...and he's a great kid. He deserves to have fun...trick or treating is not going to hurt him."

"It's not the fact that you were just trick or treating, aside from all of the toxic sugars you're letting him put into his body, it's the principal- if he doesn't start learning rules now, he never will!"

"I'm sorry sir, but I feel like you're overreacting...I know how to raise my brother."

"No...you don't, Jungkook. I know what's best for Kyu, so you will be leaving the raising to me. I don't understand how having the father that you did, that you would still disobey your elders the way that you do. So it looks like to me, you still need to learn how to abide by the rules given to you!"

"Yunseok...a little bit of candy isn't going to hurt the child, I don't think.." Yunseok's girlfriend finally chimes in.

"No. It's not about the candy. Now please, let me raise my nephews without your input." Yunseok says, then cups his hand over his mouth. "Junha!"

The second Junha's name left his uncle's mouth, Jungkook's entire body immediately cringes and his heart beat starts picking up in pace. "No...please..!"

"Junha!"

"What?!" Junha's muffled voice could be heard coming from upstairs.

"Get down here!"

A few seconds later, Junha comes slumping out of his room and he makes his way over to the top of the staircase. "What do you want, man?" He says, looking over the railing.

Yunseok reaches behind and pulls his wallet out from his back pocket. After pulling out an unknown amount of money, he holds it up to him. "Jungkook is in trouble. He needs to learn that, while he lives under my roof, he is never allowed to break the rules I have set for him." He holds the money up higher.

From the money, Junha looks over to the visibly distressed Jungkook, who was still standing near the door, holding tightly onto the bottom of his shirt - looking down at the ground in pure terror. Junha stands there for a few moments, deep in thought before saying anything.

"Oh, Jungkook, I was waiting for you....did you get the candy that I asked you to go out and get for me?" Junha asks, prompting Jungkook to look up in question.

"Junha, I am speaking to you." Yunseok says, but it goes ignored by the teen.

Jungkook wipes his teary eye. "K-Kyu has the bag...but I have a couple pieces in my pocket.."

"Ah, man...thanks for doing that for me." Junha looks over at Yunseok. "Oh, uh, sorry for asking him to do that. I know you told him no, but I was really craving some chocolate and Jungkook was cool enough to go out and get some for me." He looks back to Jungkook. "Sorry for putting you and Kyu through all that trouble. It's just, you know...it'd be kind of weird if I went trick or treating without a kid."

Yunseok slowly lowers the money down, then looks back over to Jungkook, who was now staring up at Junha, looking a bit shocked. "Is this true? You went because Junha bugged you to?"

Jungkook blinked a couple of times, caught off guard by everything that was going on. He slowly nods his head. "Yes, I did...?" Though his answer came out more as a question.

Yunseok bit on his lower lip and Junha cleared his throat. "So, uh...anyways, you need me still, or...?" Junha asks.

"No. Just go back to your room." Yunseok waves him off, causing Jungkook's body to immediately relax. "And you too...get upstairs." He says, pointing to the staircase.

"Yes, sir..!" Jungkook says and with no hesitation, starts practically running to the staircase. But he stops when Yunseok says his name once more.

"Just don't listen to Junha anymore - you're going to end up getting into a lot of trouble, do you understand me?"

"Yes, I understand.." Jungkook says.

"Now, I want you going straight to bed after you get cleaned up. And I don't want to see any lights on, if I do, you're going to be in big trouble." Yunseok says, and Jungkook nods.

After Jungkoon hurries upstairs, Yunseok plops back down onto the couch and he lets out a loud sigh. He reaches over and brings the glass of wine that was sitting on the end table up to his lips, taking a long sip. "You really need to do something about that son of yours. He's setting a bad example for him."

"You know how hard Junha is to control." Yunseok's girlfriend says.

"Yeah, and I don't need another person like that under my roof." Yunseok says. "......I just wonder why Jungkook didn't tell me that Junha was the one who convinced him to go out tonight."

"Maybe he didn't want to be a snitch? You know how teens are."

"Maybe.."

-

"Jungkook, let go of me." Junha says

"Thank you, thank you so much, Junha...you don't know how much this means to me." Jungkook says, the side of his face squished up against Junha's chest.

"Okay, sunshine. You're getting my chest all wet with your tears, now let go...you're gonna squeeze me to death."

"Oh..! Sorry.." Jungkook quickly unwraps his arms from around Junha and wipes his tear stained face. "I just...i just can't believe you did that for me...."

"Aren't you overreacting just a bit there..?" Junha raises his eyebrow and let's out a chuckle.

"Well...you've never been so nice to me before...I wasn't expecting that.."

"I have my moments." Junha shrugs his shoulders. "But you owe me a lot for saving your ass back there." He says, pointing his index finger towards him.

"Anything, anything at all!"

Junha looks down at Jungkook's pocket, then back up. He put his hand out. "You said you have some candy?"

Jungkook nods and quickly reaches into his pocket, dropping the couple bars of kitkat that he had into his palm, to which Junha hastily starts to unwrap and take a bite of.

"Mmm, Kitkat. Good choice." Junha says, plopping down onto his bed.

"That's...all you want?" Jungkook asks.

"Hmm...I'm good for now." Junha says, putting his arms underneath his head.

After a couple of seconds, Junha opens up one of his eyes and he looks over at Jungkook who was standing by his bed, looking down at him. ".......um, why are you still in here?"

"I just...I don't understand why you did that for me."

"Is it really so hard to believe that I'm not just some evil person that isn't capable of doing anything nice?"

"That's, uh...that's not what I said.." Jungkook says, rubbing the side of his arm.

"Just get outta here, Jungkook. You're making me uncomfortable when you just stand there."

"O-okay...I'll leave you alone, then." Jungkook says.

"Good. Shut the door on your way out." Junha says, shoving the rest of the chocolate into his mouth and Jungkook nods.

"Oh, wait. Jungkook?" Junha says.

"Yeah?"

"Try not to get into anymore trouble. I'm not gonna save your ass every time, I hope you know that." Junha says, twirling his unlit cigarette around with his fingers.

"I know." Jungkook says.

After taking one last look over at Junha, Jungkook turns around and quickly heads out of his room - doing as Junha said and closing the door behind him.

. . .

After Jungkook pulls the blanket up around him, getting ready for bed, he lays there for a few moments, not able to stop thinking about Junha's kind deed. He had never once seen that side of the older before, and needless to say, it didn't go unnoticed.

. . . . . . . .

"Taehyung? Is that you, dear?" An older lady's voice calls out into the dark living room as she was walking up the stairs.

"No, ma'am. It's Soren."

"Oh....I see he didn't take his medication.." The lady looks down, holding onto the railing. "Where have you all been? It's nearly midnight, I was getting worried." She looks over. "And...my, dear...what on God's green earth are you wearing..?" She asks, trying to hold back a giggle.

Soren looks up at the top hat above his head and touches the brim. "I was told that one of Taehyung's friend asked him out tonight. Trick or treating and a carnival, it sounds like. And this...this must be the costume he wore." Soren says, setting Taehyung's shoes in front of the front door before walking further inside.

"A friend, you said?" The lady's voice went up in pitch, sounding almost excited.

"Yes, ma'am. A boy."

"Have you met this friend? I hope he isn't the same as his last 'friend'..." Ms. Hyerin asks with hopeful eyes.

"I have only seen him a couple of times, but Taehyung seems to have very nice thoughts of him. Very close in age to Taehyung too, I'd imagine."

"Oh, that's so lovely..." She smiles. "Does he know about you and the others yet..?"

"I'm not sure, ma'am. But, I don't believe so."

"Hmm...well, I suppose that's a good thing. "

"We're trying hard not to raise any suspicions, but unfortunately...I was told the little one was able to slip out tonight after Taehyung managed to get his hands on some sweets."

"Oh dear...that doesn't sound good."

"From what I can tell by his thoughts, it doesn't seem like he told anyone. But I can't 100% confirm that he didn't."

"That's quite alright. Accidents happen, and I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later. May I ask why Taehyung didn't receive his medication, though? I'm sure that would've prevented that mishap."

"I attempted to, but...there was a bit of a disagreement."

"Not again..."

"It seems he is getting a lot stronger. Even I am finding that it is getting harder to control him."

"Oh no, that doesn't sound good at all.."

"And not only that...but I'm beginning to suspect that he has taken an interest in Taehyung's new friend. He thinks about him often."

"Soren...you have make sure you get those pills down. You know how he can be...and I don't want a repeat of what happened before.."

"I promise that I will do everything in my power to do what needs to be done, ma'am. As long as it is in my power, I won't let Taehyung down."

"I'm happy Taehyung has someone like you to watch over him. Thank you, Soren, for easing my mind." She says, and Soren gives her a bow.

"You're welcome. Now please, get some rest, you look tired."

"I will, thank you. And you as well."

"We will be heading to bed shortly." Soren replies. "Sleep well."

"You too, dear."

After Ms. Hyerin made her way up the rest of the staircase, Soren listens as her bedroom door shut and he heads towards the utility room - flicking the light on when he gets inside.

He gets undressed and starts putting the costume into the washing machine, along with the rest of the dirty clothes that had been laying in the basket nearby. After starting the load of laundry, he folds the clean clothes and puts them into a neat pile.

Shutting the light off with his elbow, Soren carries the pile of clothes upstairs and places Ms. Hyerin's pile on a table next to her bedroom door, then makes his way into Taehyung's bedroom, closing the door behind him, then putting the clothes away in it's corresponding drawers.

After putting some of Taehyung's favorite comfy clothes on, Soren walks over to the bed and checks the nightstand for the pills that Ms. Hyerin leaves every morning and night for him. Acting quickly, he scoops up the pills and swallows them without water.

. . .

NOVEMBER 1ST
8am

Jungkook is opening his locker when he notices a small, folded piece of paper fall out of it, causing him to look down in front of his feet where it landed. Curious, he leans down and picks it up.

"Got a letter from your secret admirer?" Minnie asks, startling Jungkook.

Jungkook grabs onto his chest, then looks over at Minnie who was leaned against the locker beside his. "Geez, Minnie, you scared the crap out of me. I didn't even hear you walk up." He looks down at the paper in his hand. "And I highly doubt that."

"Well, let's see. Open it, open it!"

"Not even a 'hello.'" Jungkook shakes his head. "Calm down, I'm going to." Jungkook says as he begins unfolding the piece of paper, but before he was able to open it all the way, he feels a presence stop behind him and he stops midway.

"Hello, Jungkook."

Jungkook turns around and drops his hand with the note in it to his side. "Oh, good morning Mr. Choi." He says. Usually, the elder would have a smile on his face when the two greeted each other, but this time, Jungkook could feel something was off - he almost looked angry.

Mr. Choi looks from Minnie, back over to Jungkook. He clears his throat before speaking. "May I have a word with you?" He asks. "Alone."

Jungkook peeks over at Minnie and motions her to leave with his eyes, to which she catches his drift and turns around to walk down the hall, though, she stops just behind it - peeking at them from afar, unbeknownst to them.

"So, um...what did you need to talk to me about, sir?" Jungkook asks, clutching onto his backpack strap tightly.

"I noticed that you didn't come to the Halloween party last night...the party that I and many others worked hard to fix up for students like you."

Sensing the tension in the older's voice, and under his strangely intimidating gaze, Jungkook feels immensely uncomfortable, and even begins to break a sweat. He tugs on the collar of his school blazer. "Oh, yeah...the party. I was going to come, but my friends decided they had other plans..."

"Jungkook, you promised you were coming.." Mr. Choi's voice is low and harsh. "I never thought of you as a liar."

"Well...I'm sorry Mr. Choi, but...I don't know what else to tell you." He straightens his posture.

"You couldn't have at least stopped by to see m- the decorations?" He corrected, clearing his throat afterwards. "Would 10 minutes of your life really have killed you to do that for me?"

"Sir...I'm not obligated to go anywhere that I don't want to go..." He says.

"You are when you make a promise to someone.." Mr. Choi says in almost a whisper, and Jungkook's gaze fell onto his balled up fists that were completely white.

Not really knowing what else to say or do, Jungkook wipes the sweat from his brow. "Well...I...Is there anything I can do to make it up to you..? Maybe I can help put away the dec-"

"Tell me you won't ever lie to me again." Mr. Choi says, causing Jungkook to swallow his saliva. When Jungkook had fallen silent for a moment too long, Mr. Choi repeats himself, but this time sharper. "Tell me you won't ever lie to me again."

"I won't lie to you again.." Jungkook says, his entire demeanor practically screaming that he was weirded out.

"Good." Mr. Choi says, his body relaxing a bit. He fixes the glasses atop his nose. "So...will you be staying after class for some extra credit, today? It seems you didn't do too well on your last assignment."

"But...I thought I got an A on it." Jungkook asks.

"Are you calling me a liar now, Jungkook?"

"Um...no, sir."

"Okay then. So I'll see you after class?" Mr. Choi asks once more, and Jungkook quietly nods his head. "Great. I look forward to it." Mr. Choi smiles. "Then if you'll excuse me..." He says, then turns around to walk leisurely back to his class, his hands held behind his back.

After Jungkook had turned back around, Minnie comes running back up to him. "What was that about?" She asks. "Did you get into trouble."

"Hm..? Oh, no.." Jungkook lies, elbow deep into his locker.

"Then what did he want?"

"Um...he just wanted to talk to me about an assignment."

"You're not a very good liar, Kookie. Is something going on between you two??"

"What? No! What could possibly being going on between us two?"

"I dunno. It just always seems like there is something there when you two talk." She says, earning a roll of the eyes from Jungkook.

"You need to stop assuming stuff, Minnie. Nothing is going on, now stop nagging me to tell you about something that's not even going on."

"Fine...." Minnie's eyes drop back down to the note that was still clutched In Jungkook's hand. "Anyways, aren't you going to read your note?"

"Oh, ye-" Jungkook starts to say, but was cut off again.

"Hi, J-J-Jungk-kook..."

Jungkook looks over and gets an instant smile on his face. "Oh, goodmorning Taehyung." He says, turning to face him. Subconsciously, he shoves the note back into his pocket.

"Oh, hey there Mr. Meaniepants." Minnie says.

".....Hi.." Taehyung says, earning a small gasp from her.

"Did you hear that Kookie??" Minnie nudged Jungkook with her elbow. "He said Hi!" She whispers, though it wasn't quietly by any means.

"Yes, I heard that, Minnie." Jungkook says, chuckling, then returns his focus to Taehyung. "I'm glad to see you made it home safe last night." He says.

"Y-yeah...j-j-just like I p-p-promised.." Taehyung says and clears his throat. He leans his face in closer to Jungkook, though, he won't make eye contact with the younger.

It only takes Jungkook a couple of seconds to get the hint, and his eyebrows pop up. "Oh..!" He says and quickly leans forward to give Taehyung a kiss on his cheek.

Shyly, Taehyung pulls away and reaches up to touch his cheek where Jungkook had kissed.

"Hey, hey, hey...don't I get one?" Minnie says, frowning.

"Of course!" Jungkook chuckles and he leans over to give Minnie a kiss on the cheek too.

"Thaaank you~" Minnie says.

"So, how was Kyu last night?" Jungkook asks. "Was he okay?"

"Yeah, he was just fine!" She says. "He did get a bit scared last night, so I let him sleep in bed with me and he was sooo happy. I read him stories, we watched a movie. Ahhh it was nice, like a sleepover!"

"Oh no...I hope he didn't give you a really hard time.."

"Not at all! Kyu's great!"

"Okay, good. Thanks so much for doing that, again. And I hope you thanked your dads for me."

"Yup! They said they'd watch him any time you needed."

"Gosh, I love your dads. They're seriously the best people ever."

"Oh, that reminds, they felt bad that they didn't really introduce themselves properly to Taehyung, so they were wondering if you two wanted to come over for dinner sometime?" She looks over at Taehyung, but Taehyung only looks over at Jungkook for an answer.

"Do you wanna go, Taehyung?"

"Are you g-g-gonna go..?"

"Yeah, I'll be there too."

"...wherever you g-g-go, I'll g-g-go." Taehyung says.

"Great!" Minnie says. "I'll let them know, and then we can decide on a good time!" She jumps up and down. "EEP! I'M SO EXCITED! It's gonna be so much fun! We can stuff our faces with dad's yummy food, watch movies, eat ice cream!" She says.

*ring*

"Oh, shoot, class already?" Minnie says.

After the bell rings, Jungkook scrambles to pull the rest of his textbooks out and he quickly shuts the locker. "We can continue this conversation at lunch, I gotta hurry."

"Yeah, yeah! We'll meet at the regular place, right?"

"C-c-c-can I c-come..?" Taehyung asks.

"Of course, Taehyung." Jungkook says. "We usually meet at the vending machines on the first floor, so meet us there, mmkay?" He says, and Taehyung nods.

After waving goodbye, Jungkook and Minnie both scatter off in opposite directions towards their classes, leaving Taehyung just standing there awkwardly. He looks from classroom to classroom, having no clue where to go.

. . . . . .

9:30am

With his elbow propped up on his desk, Jungkook rests his head in the palm of his hand, nearly falling asleep during one of Mr. Choi's long, drawn out lectures...as usual. He yawns and pats his cheek with his other hand, hoping that it will keep him awake until lunch comes around.

Feeling a slight chill, Jungkook shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls his coat tighter around himself, and that's when he feels the piece of paper. Oh yeah.. He thinks, remembering he hadn't yet read it.

Quietly, while Mr. Choi was facing towards the chalkboard, Jungkook pulls the piece of paper out from his pocket and moves it underneath his desk, out of view in case Mr. Choi happened to turn around. Very carefully, he unfolded the, now, slightly wrinkled up paper.

For Jungkook

I had a dream about you last night. You were singing to me...it was so peaceful. I could never admit it to your face, but I have dreamt about you every single night ever since the day I met you. I feel sad when I wake up alone, and I find myself laying there wondering...do you dream about me too?

Jungkook stares down at the piece of paper in his hands for what seemed like an eternity before flipping it around over and over again, hoping to find a signature. But there was none. With goosebumps covering his entire arms and legs, Jungkook slowly peeks up at Mr. Choi, who had set his piece of chalk down and turned towards the class.

"Jungkook, is something the matter? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Mr. Choi asks, raising his brow.

a/n: an update again so soon?? I bet you didnt see that coming 😌 well, there's a reason for it. today, I woke up to some of the kindest messages on my last chapter, that I have ever received on any of my stories from some truly amazing people. these people took the time out of there day to let me know what they thought about my book, and it honestly couldnt have come at a better time. I was so down, but now I feel so grateful and happy all because of their kind words. so because they took the time to let me know what they thought, I thought it would only be fitting to thank them from the bottom of my heart by giving them a little shout out, it's the least I can do🤗

444JoJo444
LOVERSGGUKIE
LazilyLiyah
grayfady
Liv0505
nongnongenthusiast
orli2703
Rose_on_a_moon

oh, and I wanted to give a big thanks to dottae as well. your message awhile back on my board was a big factor why I decided to continue writing too, so i thank you for that. not sure if you are still around, but if you are, thank you for making my day ❤💚

I know that there have been many other people who have said kind words to me about this story in the past, and I am still so grateful for that, so if you were one and are not tagged, please know that I am still so grateful to you.it's just, I have so many comments and I cant go back and read all of them. but I still want all of you to know how grateful I am for you. and i also wanted to let the quieter voters know as well. I see a lot of you pop up in my notifications every time I post, and dont think you have gone unnoticed because I smile every time I see you, even if you dont comment all that often! just the fact that you have stuck around for so long means so much to me, and you know who you are 😁