He was well enough physically.

But on other levels, Taehyung didn't feel near stable enough to leave his apartment. Not for a few days.

Three days, in fact. Three days of missing classes, and calling out of work by convincing his boss he was sick. It didn't take a lot of effort, honestly, and his boss was more concerned and sad than he was disappointed.

The only lucky break. His part-time job performing at that café was his only lucky break.

But he didn't feel up to it. Not now, after his secret had been revealed to a small group of people, who he knew would spread their discovery to other ears.

Just like what happened in high school.

It was around twelve p.m. now, and Taehyung had himself bundled up in a coat of blankets, sitting in front of the tv screen, starving from having skipped meals for the past twenty-four hours at least.

SpongeBob Squarepants reruns were all he had to get him through right now. Until he could find the will to leave his apartment again.

Pulling his blankets closer to his chest, Taehyung suddenly heard his phone buzz several times from notifications. If he hadn't set the device on the coffee table where he could see who had texted him, he probably wouldn't have bothered to pick it up.

But it was Yoongi. And Taehyung couldn't live with the guilt of ignoring his only friend.

His hand emerged from the blanket coat and latched onto the phone, slowly drawing it in towards himself like a rod with a fish.

You have 4 messages from Yoongles 💕

Yoongles💕
hey tae hows it going?

Yoongles💕
u haven't texted me in a couple days...

Yoongles💕
don't make me worry about u, tiger, i have a job i need to manage

Yoongles💕
how's my best friend on this horrible planet doing?

He could already feel himself on the verge of sniffling. "I miss you, Yoongi..." Taehyung whispered in a broken tone. "Why couldn't you come to Busan with me?"

Truthfully, he didn't wish that upon Yoongi. Although he would have absolutely loved to go to college with his best and only friend, to have Yoongi, his guardian angel, with him at every turn, to comfort him when hell sunk deeper, he knew that Yoongi had always wanted to become a part of the official cooking staff at his family's restaurant.

Rightfully so. The man had a talent in the kitchen.

Which reminded Taehyung of his food deficiency at the moment. Yoongi would kill me for this.

Fighting back tears, he urged himself to reply to the messages.

Taeger💛
i'm not good yoongi

Taeger💛
but please don't worry, i know you're a busy man ;-;

Yoongles💕
i could never be too busy for u tiger

Yoongles💕
what's wrong? bad day? not feeling well?

Taeger💛
i don't wanna say, yoongi...

Yoongles💕
well i won't force u...

Yoongles💕
whatever it is, take it easy okay?

Yoongles💕
as soon as i get a vacation i'll make a trip up there to see u

Taeger💛
i'd love that ☹️

Yoongles💕
as would i

Yoongles💕
as much as i love my job, my sister drives me crazy

Yoongles💕
still love her tho

Yoongles💕
but i miss your smiles tiger

Taeger💛
miss yours too...

Yoongles💕
[Attachment: 1 image]

Taeger💛
...there's no photo

Taeger💛
u literally just typed "attachment: 1 image"

Yoongles💕
the image shall appear once u send ur smile

Taeger💛
why must u do this to me...（；＿；）

Taeger💛
[Attachment: 1 image]

Taeger💛
this is the best i can do right now

Taeger💛
yoongi...please...

Taeger💛
i just need something to get me thru the day...

Yoongles💕
say no more

Yoongles💕
[Attachment: 1 image]

Yoongles💕
hang in there tiger

Yoongles💕
the world's got nothing on u that i can't beat with my bare knuckles

Taeger💛
thank you yoongi...

Yoongles💕
i'll talk to you later okay?

Yoongles💕
take care

Taeger💛
bye...

It took more strength to set his phone down than to pick it up. If it weren't for Yoongi, Taehyung truly believed he would never have survived high school. And now he was beginning to feel he would die before he could accomplish his goal of achieving his degree.

It wasn't even this specific university that drove Taehyung to leave Daegu - it was his paranoia, his reputation in Daegu that gave him that push to attend college away from home.

To get away from people who knew him. Who knew his bizarre secret, who knew of his harrowing fear of going to the hospital because of what he might discover about himself. For that reason Tae believed he had made people even more wary of him.

Halfway through the tenth SpongeBob episode that day, Taehyung heard a knock at the door. He sighed deeply. "No one's home," he called out as loud as his voice could manage.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll leave this outside for you then."

Again, that familiar voice. Jungkook. "G-...go away."

"Oh, so someone is home?"

"No."

"Oh, okay..."

Taehyung remained quiet for a time. He listened, simultaneously lowering the volume on the tv, to check if he could still hear anyone outside. He heard footsteps that sounded to be walking away from the door.

Slowly, Taehyung rose from the couch, still holding on to his blankets. He stood in front of the door. And after several long seconds of staring at the doorknob, he eventually unlocked and opened it.

There was a basket on the floor. From his current standpoint, Taehyung could see that it had been filled with fruit, packaged meats, some snacks, and poking out the back of it was a stack of papers that looked like they could be homework assignments. Stunned by the sight of it all, Taehyung hesitated to reach out to pick up the basket.

"Ah, Taehyung-"

He jumped. Out of nowhere, the voice seemed to come from, when in reality it had merely come from a short ways away. Jungkook came walking up to him with his hand outstretched.

Taehyung dropped the basket and darted inside.

"Taehyung, wait, at least take it with you-"

He heard Jungkook release a heavy sigh.

"You've missed a couple days," the boy said softly, but loud enough so that Taehyung could still clearly make out the words. "I took some notes for you, and the professor said we're going to have another assignment coming up so it's...you know, it's probably best if you're caught up or whatever..."

He stayed quiet still. He couldn't open the door while that boy was still there. I can't let his behavior from yesterday fool me. He's a stalker. That's the only explanation.

So he waited. He waited, and for a few seconds it appeared as though no sound, not even breathing could be heard on the other side of the door. Taehyung prepared to open it again.

"Please, Taehyung."

He froze.

"Please don't do this to yourself forever."

It was then Taehyung heard the footsteps again, once again departing from right outside the door. This time he heard them begin to go down the stairs, so he saw it safe to check outside.

Jungkook was there. Those footsteps he had heard belonged to one of his neighbors.

Evidently, by the look of shock in the boy's eyes, Jungkook hadn't expected the door to be opened while he was still standing in front of it. But he was also relieved, because he didn't realize the only reason it had been opened was that Taehyung thought he was gone.

"Taehyung, have you not left your apartment at all?"

The boy in question could only stare. To unexpectedly discover Jungkook at his doorstep several times mere days apart wasn't something he couldn't mentally handle at this point. "I haven't," he said, in his tired, gravelly voice. Jungkook noted the blankets tightly wrapped around the boy's entire body.

"...have you eaten?"

"...yesterday morning."

"It's 3 p.m."

Offended in some strange regard, Taehyung's nose twitched, and he glared down at the assorted basket still at his feet. "Don't tell me this is yours."

"Well, it's from me," Jungkook said as he glanced at the basket. "But it's...yours. I kinda had a suspicion you might not be eating well. Overeating or undereating...it's usually one of those when someone locks themselves away."

"...I'm not giving you a blood sample to study."

"...I...I'm sorry-?"

Taehyung hadn't been entirely serious when he said this - it had more or less been the first cold, defensive remark to come to mind so he just let it out. But perhaps it hadn't been the right thing to say, he considered, right before snatching the basket and slamming the door in Jungkook's face.

He didn't counter by apologizing or saying 'I'm just kidding', though - after all, Taehyung wasn't foolish enough to fully trust anyone too quickly, especially someone who knew about his 'condition'.

He heard Jungkook let out another sigh.

"You can call me if you need anything. I'll be going now. Please come back to class soon, Taehyung."

Taehyung furrowed his brow at the first comment the boy had made. Acting on a not-so-far-fetched idea, he took out the papers from the basket and discovered a sticky note attached to one corner.

Reluctantly, he flipped the note over. Surely enough the boy had written his phone number there. In purple ink. As was the small note beneath it.

It troubled him. Those words. Because Taehyung had grown to despise the color, the mere sight of purple, all because of his blood, he made sure nothing in his apartment had the same color, none of his clothes, nothing. He thought it hideous. But truly, his strong feeling of self-loathe was the only reason for it.

"The prettiest color..."

He wanted to scoff at it. He wanted to crumple up the paper and throw it away, but he couldn't.

"It's not pretty...there's nothing pretty about it..."

His throat tightened, his hands started to shake.

"Jungkook, you're a fool..."

*
*
*

end of chapter three.