Jungkook’s features were tight with dismayed gloom as he sat bolt upright to glance at the two, who took their things for their shower. “Did something happen?”

“With Taehyung?” Hoseok asked and mulled over it when he received a nod. “I don’t know. He was fine minutes ago.”

Jungkook’s lips flattened into a frown. He flopped back down and set his eyes on the ceiling, delving into his brain to find a reason for his weird behavior.

The two left the room and even returned under thirty minutes freshly showered, but still Taehyung didn’t come back. His chest singed with bitter anxiousness, for some reason. And he couldn’t take it any longer.

“See you later, hyung,” Jimin chirped and headed out to meet Yoongi after the other said his goodbye as well.

Hoseok peeked at Jungkook’s fretful state. He expelled a long breath, letting his eyes rest on him. “You were right. Something did happen. But Taehyung doesn’t want to talk about it with us. I think he’s just sitting in the shower doing nothing.”

Jungkook’s restlessness bristled. “Thanks.” He hurried to get out of his bed, sloppily wore his slippers, and bolted out of the room. He scurried along his way to the bathroom and only slowed when he arrived. He tracked the sound of the running water to his left and pattered to the last shower. He attached his palm to the navy plastic door, and the next sound that pierced through his senses dug holes into his heart.

A choked sob. A single choked sob dropped his stomach to the ground and gashed through his chest.

“Taehyung.” He sucked in a jerky breath that soon exploded out of him in a sharp outflow. “Talk to me.”

Taehyung palmed his mouth, teeth clamping on his lower lip to silence himself. He didn’t know why he was crying so much. Everything felt too much for his fragile heart to handle. He just sat there in a deep squat with his back leaned against the cold wall and let all his convoluted feelings out in surge after surge of tears.

Jungkook pressed his quivering fist against the door, barely able to lease himself from banging it. He instead yanked it open and closed it behind him. Taehyung’s head shot up on instinct, and the heartbreaking sight of his wrecked face left Jungkook in torture for a while.

He neared him without giving a damn about the springing water that drenched his right side and fell to his knees in front of him. His eyes gloomed and sank with poignancy, just like his heart. He couldn’t control it. He couldn’t hide how much Taehyung’s state affected him anymore.

“Baby.” He slid his mask to his chin, then held his wet cheeks in two tender palms. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Taehyung’s tears carried on falling over his forcefully poised expression. “Get out. You’ll get drenched.”

“I don’t care. Just talk to me.”

“Jay.” He removed his hands from his face with a faint push. “I’ll come to the storage room when I finish, okay? Leave.”

Hearing him call him Jay again when they were alone bothered him more than he thought. Pained him even. And he hated it. “Fine.” He respected his wish and rose to his full height. He wore his mask and got out, then slouched to the storage room.

He shed his soaked shirt, not caring enough to go change his clothes. And he waited. He felt like he waited for hours when it was barely twenty minutes.

He spurted to his feet at the click of the door opening. And there was Taehyung, with the same painful melancholy in his eyes and his droopy lips, standing in front of the closed door.

Jungkook buried him in his embrace, his firm hold conveying his nervousness. But Taehyung didn’t hug him back. His body didn’t melt in his arms as usual. Instead, it was more rigid than ever. “Please tell me what’s wrong. What happened? Did you get bored of me or something?”

Taehyung’s chest bloated with a deep inhalation as he steeled himself to ask that damn question that tortured him. “Why are the police looking for you?”

Jungkook’s brain staggered to a pause. The blood in his veins turned to ice, glaciating each one of his muscles. “What?”

“The police. We ran into two officers on their way out of the hostel. They showed us a picture. A picture of you. With your name. And they said you’re wanted. For murder.”

Jungkook’s grip loosened as the tension ringing his form petered into liquid numbness. A mixture of world-weariness roiled in his gaze as he maintained it fixed on him. He couldn’t grasp what Taehyung’s eyes projected. They were just hollow and shadowed by that familiar sadness. But he couldn’t see past them. Couldn’t read him this time.

“Does this change what you feel about me?”

The unforeseen question made his heart leap, then slam against his chest. “If you’re just a cold-blooded murderer, yes. It kinda does.”

“Then leave,” Jungkook said, his voice traveling in a low, grave tune by the heaviness squeezing his throat. “Because I’m wanted for the murder of a thirteen-year-old girl.”

A galaxy of tears flickered in his sockets at once, but he kept his eyes unblinking in his exertion to fence them in. His chest burned as he swallowed. “Did you do it?”

Jungkook tipped his head to the side a notch. “What do you think?”

The line of Taehyung’s mouth grew thinner as his bottom lip threatened to tremble. “I think you didn’t do it.”

Jungkook stroked a finger under his chin and lifted his head with a gentle push of his knuckle. “Then why are you crying?”

The question tore apart any kind of self-composure Taehyung strove to keep, and his face contorted with the rapid effusion of tears that poured from his eyes. His fitful breaths swamped the room as he attempted to calm himself enough to speak. “Because I’m scared,” he choked out. “I don’t want it to be true. But you keep dodging to answer me. Please tell me it’s not. You didn’t do it. Right?”

Jungkook skimmed his cheeks with soothing thumbs to collect the hot wetness. “What are you so scared of? That you’ll have to live with the memory of having sex with a murderer?”

Taehyung smacked his hands away in an upsurge of fury. The same emotion etched into every crease on his face, hardening them. “I’m scared of losing you. I’ll keep our memories, no matter who you are. Because I only care about what you showed to me.”

A doleful smile framed Jungkook’s mouth. “You’re leaving in two days, Taehyung. You’ll lose me, anyway.”

“Just tell me,” he growled, harshly wiping his wet cheeks. “Why are you wanted for a murder you didn’t do?”

“Isn’t it better not to know if I did it or not?” A tremoring exhalation shook his form. “Maybe you’ll forget me easier this way. Because I think you forgot we have no future together.”

“We could if you wanted to try,” Taehyung spat out through clenched teeth as pain and rage melded into one, gut-wrenching infusion. “If you were honest with me. If you explained what happened. If you told me where you come from and why you’re hiding here. We could have a future. But you don’t want us to have one.”

Jungkook’s shoulders slumped as he drove his chin into his chest. “Our lives are too different. You wouldn’t stand being with me even for a day.”

“I told you. Let me make that decision for myself. Tell me your story and let me decide if I can stand being with you.”

“Taehyung.” A frosty rumble tinged his voice, eyes flashing with momentary annoyance. “You’re leaving in two days. I can’t come with you. And you can’t stay. So it doesn’t matter what my story is. We won’t see each other again in two days.”

Another mask of devastation rippled across Taehyung’s face, that brought along an avalanche of tears. His heart drowned in despondency, and every stifling feeling inside him mounted so high he couldn’t stand being in the same room as him. He lurched and stormed out of the room, banging the door closed and leaving behind the echo of his suppressed sobs.

Jungkook’s chest fluttered to a quivery plod as a poignant pother blanked out his gaze — such a heart-shattering emotion it scorched his eyes with a dampness he had shed rarely in the past. But he blinked it away before it could escape.

He wore his shirt and mask. His steps as he followed him were ponderous, shoulders still droopy. He observed the room was empty of his friends’ presence and took off his mask and wet clothes.

He swiftly dressed himself with Taehyung’s suffocating sounds drilling into his senses like spikes. He climbed up to his bed and slithered into the inner side, then fastened a secure arm around his convulsing body.

Taehyung’s crying slowed to a stop in puzzlement at his actions, and he regarded him through his blurred vision, sniffling.

Jungkook pulled his form flat against his and passed his fingers through his hair in a slow, constant motion. “I haven’t killed anyone in my life.” He pressed a feathery kiss on his nose and sensed Taehyung’s body melt in his embrace this time. The palliative flood that simple fact brought within his chest sewed all his bleeding scars created by Taehyung’s gnawing sorrow. “I was framed. I had arranged a meeting with a client at an abandoned building. But before I tell you this, I should probably tell you what my job is.”

Taehyung wiped the remaining wetness from his eyes with his shoulder and clawed at his waist.

“I’m a businessman. I own a nightclub and a casino. I also have a drug manufacturing business. I’m a drug dealer, Taehyung.”

“Drugs?” Taehyung whispered, voice hoarse and wrecked. “What kind of drugs?”

“Marijuana pills. My father started the business. And I’m handling it. With Seokjin, Namjoon, and Yoongi.”

Taehyung soaked in the new information with surprising serenity. “How does the pill make you feel?”

Although Jungkook was a tad bewildered and surprised at his calm reaction, he didn’t let it show. “Like when you’re smoking a joint. The effect just lasts longer.”

“I’ve never smoked a joint.”

Jungkook broke into a mellow smile, still caressing the back of his head. “Why are you so cool about this?”

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal. Like you said, you’re a businessman. You just happen to have a business with drugs.”

“It’s illegal, you know.”

“So what? I bet it’s fun. You’re making a shitload of money.”

Jungkook snorted, unable to believe he was having this kind of conversation with him. “I’ll go to jail if they catch me.”

“Then make sure they won’t catch you.”

A fond smile tugged at the corner of Jungkook’s lips. He planted a long kiss on his mouth, followed by a chain of pecks. “Are you really okay with me dealing drugs? If your father finds out you’re fucking with a drug dealer, he’ll disown you.”

“He never accepted me, anyway.” He shrugged an indifferent shoulder. “And I make my own money.” His eyes enlarged with the amazing — as he thought — idea that flashed up into his head. “I can get into the business too. I’ll make a shitload of money in no time, and I’ll be able to expand my business.”

Jungkook chuckled lowly as he cupped his adorable face. “You’re crazy. I thought you wouldn’t want to talk to me again if you found out what my job is. But you instead want to get into the business.”

“Why would I say no to easy money?”

“Right,” Jungkook snickered, then claimed his lips. Now that the darkest secret of his was out there, he felt as if a burden were lifted from his existence. The unyielding turbulence in his chest found reprieve at the simple confession and any constriction was forgotten in the homely feel of his embrace.

“So you said you were framed?”

Taehyung’s velvet voice reeled in his full attention. “Yes. One of our men told me about an acquaintance of his who wanted to buy a big amount. He was trusted, so I arranged a meeting with him and that guy. But when I went to the location, I found a little girl on the floor, covered in blood. The police raided the place minutes later, and I fought with one of them to escape.”

Taehyung processed the words behind a wall of silence, but the conclusion soon came to settle over his shoulders like a veil. “That guy framed you then.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I asked my men to find him since I had to hide, but he had disappeared. A week later, he was found dead.”

“Oh...” Taehyung nodded slowly, gouging into his brain for a possible reason for his sudden death.

“Hmm. He was shot to death. We found out he had died three days after the meeting. And another guy was with him. We believe that was the guy who wanted to buy our drugs.”

“And you don’t know who killed them.”

“No. I’m sure it’s the one who framed me. He used them to create the perfect opportunity to get me involved in this mess.”

“But why would someone do this to you?”

Jungkook carded his fingers through his locks, loving their silky, slightly wet texture. “I’m in a type of business that everyone wants to be on the top. And to achieve that, they attack their rivals or kill them. This was their attack towards me. They had tried to kill me a bunch of times in the past but failed. So they chose to take me out in a different way.”

Taehyung despised the sound of that. The thought of Jungkook getting hurt ground his chest so deeply it bore holes into it. “And now? You’re looking for the one who framed you to clear your name?”

No, actually. He was looking for the one who framed him to kill him. After getting his name cleared, of course. Whoever did this to him would be the first and hopefully last killing he would do. But Taehyung didn’t have to know that. “Yes. I don’t trust the police. They’re sure I did this because they found me there. And we’re talking about the death of a young girl. They want to throw someone in jail for the murder as soon as possible. They’ll never believe I’m innocent unless I give them the one who did this.”

“You’re right,” he sighed, fingers milling up and down his brawny arm. “Why did you come to Jeju Island? Or you’re living here?”

“I live in Seoul. I came here—”

“Me too!” he exclaimed in utter excitement, despite the grave conversation.

A fond chuckle tumbled out of Jungkook’s throat at his cuteness, and he pecked his lips, unable to resist them.

“Sorry, continue.”

“I came here to find Ji Hoo. It’s the guy who was wandering around the hostel. He’s the son of our biggest rival. His father had made the most attacks on us. He hates my family.”

“Because he wants to be the best?”

“Hmm. We believe he framed me to weaken us and our businesses.”

“And did you talk to Ji Hoo?”

“Yes. The night you saw blood on my hand. I beat him.”

Taehyung’s brows pulled together. “Why?”

“That’s how you get information from someone in our business, Taehyung. It’s a cruel world. That’s why I don’t want you in my life.” The volume of his voice plunged into a heavy whisper at his last statement as his eyes crept away from him.

Taehyung’s features darkened with sullenness. “Don’t say that...”

Jungkook painted a kiss on his forehead, disregarding the sudden weight on his chest. “Anyway. Ji Hoo said his father didn’t do this, of course. But we’re still looking for him.”

Taehyung hummed and focused on their conversation again instead of the despondency that nestled against his heart. “When did you come to Jeju Island?”

“The same night. I had to leave before they ID’ed me.”

“And how did you know so fast that Ji Hoo was here? That’s amazing.”

“Yeah, it would if it were true,” Jungkook said with a coil of bitterness wrapped around his timbre. “The information was wrong. He wasn’t on Jeju Island. He instead came here to find me.”

“Why? To tell you his father didn’t do it?”

“Yes.”

“What if his father really didn’t do it?”

Jungkook released a long breath and shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. Everything is possible. But we have to find Kang Soo, his father.”

“Kang Soo?” Taehyung repeated in a murmur as his eyes rolled in a circle of consideration.

Jungkook’s view narrowed on him, creases of mystification budding on his forehead. “Yeah, why?”

“Nothing. My father has a friend with that name.”

“Do you know his surname?”

“It’s Han.”

Restlessness instantly raged in Jungkook’s gaze as every movement ceased. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. They’ve been friends for years. I heard my father talk to him on the phone every other day in the past. I moved out about a year ago when I had enough money, so I don’t know if they’re still talking. I haven’t seen my father ever since. Every time I visited my parents, he wasn’t there.” He examined the ferment in his expression and frowned. “It can’t be the same guy, right? How would my father know someone like him? He only associates with other doctors and lawyers and stuff.”

“What’s your father’s name?”

“Kim Mi Sung.”

Jungkook hummed. “I haven’t heard of him before. Have you seen Kang Soo’s face?”

“No.”

Jungkook chewed on his lower lip. Disappointment seized him, as the idea of Taehyung drawing him was useless since he hadn’t seen him before. But then another question leaped in his head that brimmed him with a new mayhem. “Have you ever heard the name Hyun Joon before?”

“Hyun Joon?” He flicked through his memories fast at the repetition of his name. “No, I don’t think so. Why? Who’s this?”

Jungkook glimpsed away, hesitation clawing up his throat. “My father.”

“Why would my father know your father? He doesn’t use drugs. I would have known. I lived with him my whole life.”

Jungkook cocooned him in his embrace and planted a row of kisses on the top of his head where his lips lingered. “I just wanted to check. I can’t do anything else, anyway. I’m trapped in here. But it’s so weird...” He withdrew enough to merge their eyes into a tender view. He took his time to absorb his stunning characteristics, getting more and more enchanted by his beauty. “This room doesn’t feel like a prison with you in it.”

A smile spread across his cheeks, so fond and bright it turned his eyes into little crescents. “Then keep me here forever.”

Jungkook witnessed the magic of his smile as it reigned over his traits, and he copied it without realizing it. He wished he could do that with all his heart. Or even better, he wished he could take Taehyung away from everything and live with him in a city no one would know them.

But the merciless reality soured each dreamy thought sooner than expected. It dimmed the spark of bliss in his eyes and leeched every fragment of brightness off his smile, leaving a wistful contour around it.

Jungkook clasped his nape and attached their lips, hoping he could drive from his heart that prickling feeling of misery and replace it with Taehyung’s warmth. He rolled their mouths sweetly as their tongues clashed in savory caresses. He hummed in content at each slow grinding of their bodies, his mind constantly getting clouded with the thought of feeling more of him — every single thing.

“I want to fuck you,” he rasped against his mouth and devoured it again, but only fiercer.

Taehyung moaned at the rousing words. His cock already ached by its distention, and he kept rolling his hips against him in need of friction. “Fuck me.” He plunged his tongue into his mouth for a brief brush against his. “I’m already yours. But I want you to make me yours over and over again.”

Harsh breaths spewed from Jungkook’s throat as he gripped his hair and stared at his eyes with such intensity and want Taehyung could even feel them sear his sensitive skin. “Yeah, you’re mine. You’re mine,” he murmured, as if wholeheartedly drunk on him. And I’m yours. He crushed their mouths together in a kiss that stole all the air from their lungs and left their cocks dripping.

They forcefully ended the kiss to move to the private bathroom. They spent plenty of hours fucking and relishing each other’s company, with Jungkook completely forgetting about the usual gathering with his hyungs, and Taehyung about the plans he had made with his friends for drinks.

───⭒───༺🎭༻───⭒───

Jungkook’s reason for hiding is finally revealed! Had you guessed it?

Also, do you think they will confess before Taehyung leaves?