chicken noodle soup || sope

sixteen

The next morning, Hoseok- the certified early bird- was having trouble getting out of bed. 

When he finally managed to stand up and stretch himself out, his legs wobbled a little, weakened by his lack of nutrition in the past week. He ran a hand of his abdomen which was now concave. Empty. At least his apartment wasn't completely dark anymore, the sun's illuminating rays lighting the room well enough for Hoseok to languidly get ready for work.

Seokjin's black car pulled up to Hoseok's building, where the red head was waiting as usual by the front gate. The older immediately noticed the deflated air around his best friend as Hoseok slipped into the passenger seat.

"Is something wrong Hobi?" Seokjin asked as he shifted his Tesla into drive.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all," Hoseok managed a little half-smile.

"Alright," Seokjin replied, throughly unconvinced. Hoseok was almost never this tired, he was always charged to 100% like the energizer bunny. They drove the rest of the way in silence, Hoseok resting his head against the cool glass window watching the cars driving by in the opposite direction.

Life was becoming draining. Hoseok was just surviving each day. He told himself "just get through today, Hobi" and "everything will be okay", but he was fully aware that one day things just wouldn't be okay anymore, and that day seemed to be fast approaching.

When they arrived at work and began preparing orders for the lunch shift, Hoseok managed to sneak some bits and pieces of what they cooked- just a little extra taste testing. It was just enough to keep him on his feet, but not nearly enough to satisfy his rumbling tummy.

The restaurant wasn't that busy that day (it wasn't usually on the weekdays), so the kitchen staff were a little more relaxed than usual. Jungkook was busy telling the chefs about his brand-new crush. 

"I'm in love with Taehyung," Jungkook proclaimed.

"Um..." Seokjin stared at the boy as if he had just grown a third arm. "What happened to Jimin?"

"Hah," Jungkook rolled his eyes. "That was just a childish musing. I'm over it. I love Taehyung now."

"Wow-" Seokjin didn't really know what else to say as he tried not to laugh. The young brunette certainly changed his mind quickly.

"But you guys can't tell him!" Jungkook went wide-eyed, once again swearing the chefs to secrecy about his love life. "He doesn't know!"

"Alright Kook don't worry. Hobi and I won't say anything." Seokjin gave him a reassuring grin, then turned to Hoseok to make sure he was on the same page, but Hoseok was staring off into space. "Hobi?"

"Huh?" Hoseok blinked back to reality. "Oh yeah sure Kookie."

"You good?" Seokjin asked him again, watching as his best friend went back to chopping carrots. "If you need a break, I can take over for a bit."

"It's alright Jin, I'm perfectly fine," Hoseok lied. He very much was not fine, he was incredibly weak from not eating properly for weeks, but Jin couldn't know that. Hoseok felt a wave of guilt wash over him after lying to his best friend. He hated lying and he had been having to do it a lot recently.

And his day went from bad to worse halfway through the lunch rush. 

He was working at the stove, frying various meats and vegetables that Seokjin was passing him. It took only a moment of distraction in his dazed state for the red head to slip up.

As Hoseok turned to plate his freshly cooked steak, he placed his other hand down on the stove. 

Directly on the scalding hot burner.