ᴄʜᴀsɪɴɢ ʀᴀɪɴʙᴏᴡ

Prologue

Trying my best - Anson Seabra

As Jimin waited for his wedding ceremony to start, an unsettling feeling scorched deep in his chest. The bride was not coming. "Taehyung, please buddy could you bring her in already?" He asked, losing a shine on his face with each passing moment.

"Give me a second," Taehyung seemed lost and his attention was divided. He hastily ran down the altar while talking to someone over the call through his Bluetooth earphone.

Suddenly, they cued the music and the violinist, who was sitting on the stage in his all-white suit, began to play. A cute girl in a yellow gown walked in front of the bride, holding a nautical basket filled with white rose petals and sepals, splattering them on the long rug for the bride to walk over it. She earned awes, even more than the bride. Her parents pulled her away to make a pass for the bride as they approached the altar.

Jimin looked at his bride, mesmerized by her smile and beauty. Her white sheen veil dangling from her floret bun pin, her strapless bridal gown fitting her hourglass body, her long and thin neck adorned with a bright diamond solitaire with matching top stud earrings, and her airbrushed make-up made her the most beautiful bride.

In her white heels, she still was a few centimeters shorter than Jimin. She smiled with a thin layer of glimmer in her eyes and Jimin shook his head as he escorted her to the top of the church altar.

"Where did Taehyung go? Where is he?" Jimin whispered to Hoseok who stood behind him.

"Don't worry about him. I have the ring." Jimin relaxed a little bit before cocking his head to look at one empty seat in the crowd before his gaze averted to his bride, Rosenow. He sighed to keep the ambiguous feelings at bay and happily looked at his bride-to-be as the priest started the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Taehyung ran frantically, crossing the road so he could get to the church parking where he'd parked Hoseok's car.

"Where is he?" He asked on the call and pressed the car key remote to unlock it. Getting inside quickly, he drove away from the church and missed the wedding of his best friend in the whole wide world.

"Ulrich, please talk to me! I am on my way. He is going to be okay, you hear me? Jungkook is going to be okay." He assured himself as he haphazardly wiped his tears with his sleeves and floored it.

Germany was not a big country in terms of population as compared to an Asian country, and there wasn't much traffic, but today, Taehyung felt that the roads were so packed with vehicles at the worst time. It was Hamburg to be precise, a small, beautiful, and safe haven and their second home for the last few years.

It did not look safe anymore to Taehyung who managed to reach the hospital and ran without a breather. The white walls of the hospital were screeching in despair. The excessive smell of disinfectants and medicines made him nauseous and compelled him to want to puke but he endured it for his junior.

He pressed the elevator button in the lobby on the ground floor, but that was taking too long for his consideration. He abandoned the idea to wait and ran upstairs on foot. After ascending three sets, he finally found Jungkook's best friend, Ulrich.

"How is he?" Taehyung's mouth uttered desperately while he ran to the younger and Ulrich stood up. Clinging on Taehyung's blazer collar, he cried.

"Th-they flushed his stomach once but he was still not stable. Now they have given him activated charcoal. Please, sir... Please tell me he is going to be okay." Ulrich broke down and Taehyung was withering away inwardly himself. He wanted to say something but nothing came out of his mouth. He patted the boy's back and sat him down on the bench outside the ICU.

His legs shivered when he stepped closer to look through the fiberglass door which had ICU written in bold and red. Never has he ever imagined that this day could come or did he really not think it could be a possibility? He couldn't tell anymore.

His shaking legs and trembling body caught a heart-wrecking sight of Jungkook. The ever-so innocent and beautiful boy in ruins with his mouth covered with equipment and a thick plastic tube inserted through his throat into his stomach to flush out the poison he took.

Taehyung fell down on the floor and his lips quivered. He could not control it anymore as he curled himself, bringing his knees closer. He lamented with cries that shattered the silent atmosphere of the hospital.

Holding his forehead with his big hand and clutching his chest with another, he tried to lessen the pain which threatened to kill him, but it only worked as a drop of water on a burning building. He could not worry about his surrounding, nor could he remember his best friend's wedding. The only thing he regretted was not staying with Jungkook.

Ulrich picked the older up from the ground and walked him over to the bench. "We-we have to tell him..." Ulrich uttered after they had cried themselves to numbness for hours.

They both stared at the big glass pane windows blankly and no one spoke for some time until Taehyung replied.

"It's too late now."

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5 Jan, 2022

A/N: There are two ways to read this story once it is finished. 

1. You read all the past chapters first and then read the chapters running in the present timeline after the prologue.

2. You read the chapters in sequence how I wrote them.