The Tomorrow Of Us - Taekook

already too late

Song: Sunsetz by Cigarettes After Sex

The water of the bathtub has turned cold a long time ago and still Taehyung does not feel like leaving the water hugging his naked body just yet. His skin is all wrinkly and gross by now, but he feels oddly content looking at himself, feeling like this is an authentic representation of who he is.

He leans back, his head resting against the hard porcelain, feeling it pounding as if someone has pressed it into a too small helmet which is now stuck on his head. The run-in he had earlier with one of his former classmates stills captures his mind, leaving him feeling slightly nauseous.

It happens every so often that he meets people for his old school at a concert or event. They all greet him politely now, asking him what he is up to these days, pretending like they did in fact know each other back then. But even though Taehyung remembers the name of every single one of his classmates and they all probably remember his, he does not consider any of them his friends.

He used to ask his mother if there was something wrong with him, if there was anything, he could change about himself to make people his age wanting to talk to him, and her answer was always the same. She explained to him how they were all just jealous of him being the youngest yet the one with the most talent. That their parents probably told them to try and be more like him.

"You don't befriend the once you want to surpass." she used to say.

Now she doesn't say anything, and Taehyung doesn't ask her anymore. They both seem to have accepted that this is just how it is, how Taehyung is. And even if she were, Taehyung would not believe her, just like he did not back then. There must have been a better reason as to why the hole class collectively decided that he was not worth talking to.

If he would have been bullied, teased or badmouthed that would have made more sense. That would have been a more fitting reaction to jealousy. But instead of giving him bullshit, he wasn't acknowledged at all.

So, what does that make him?

A deep chuckle leaves his mouth although there is no smile on his lips. It seems about time to get out of the bathtub or else he might keep asking dumb questions with no real relevance to them for the rest of the day. He should rather be practice, rehearsing his songs once more before tonight's concert. But as he pads himself dry with a towel his eyes fall upon his soft and wrinkled fingertips and he catches himself wondering if he'll even be able to play properly with those.

* * * * * *

The tie around his neck feels tight and so does the white bottom-down and the dress pants his mother has bought for him. It might seem like a nice gesture of her, thinking of her son who's studying hard because his parents pay a lot of their hard-earned money so he can attend a university as prestigious as his. Like she knows how busy Jungkook is with attending classes during the day and working all night, like she knows he hasn't been able to sleep properly, at least not more the 4 hours in one go.

But Jungkook knows that this isn't the case. The clothes were picked out like any other decorative object, his mother wanting this wedding to be the one she has dreamed of since she was a child. She's always talking about how the one with his father was rushed, everything being organized last minute, with Jung-hyun already in her womb.

There is a sting in his chest, and Jungkook shudders. Concentrate on why your here, he tells himself. He was told to greet all the relatives which he has not seen since --

well, here he is anyway. Smiling and shaking hands, eyes wandering over the crowd to his mother and her newlywed husband every now and then. They are sitting at a large table at the end of the big room, likewise, smiling and greeting people as well as taking picture with some of them. The ceremony has taken place without his father making an appearance even though he was invited.