[3] Code: REBIRTH || KTH

Ch2: Saying Goodbye

Taehyung is staying.

It's one of those thoughts that make me smile whenever they cross my mind. And it does a lot. After crying in his arms yesterday, Taehyung stayed for the night. In his bedroom. When I woke up this morning, he was nowhere to be found. Anxiety spiked through me as all kinds of thoughts busied my mind. Where is he? What if he never comes back? What if he doesn't want to stay as much as I want him to?

It wasn't until noon that I realised I was acting like an obsessive paranoid idiot, so I took a deep breath and headed to the kitchen to make something to eat. If he wants to come back, he will. If he doesn't... then I should let it go and move on.

I'm still deciding what to cook when someone knocks on the door and I open it to find him standing there. He walks in, taking off his coat nonchalantly and I feel like a complete moron. Of course he was running some errands, and I panicked over nothing.

"Where... where were you?" I ask, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Job interviews."

"Oh. Any luck?"

"No," He lets out a sigh before heading to his bedroom.

I walk back to the kitchen, stand there for a few minutes trying to find out what I should cook, then I walk to Taehyung's room, knocking on his door. He tells me to come in, and I find him sitting on his bed, phone in hand. The phone that I bought him last Christmas.

"Did you have lunch?" I ask.

He looks up at me. "No."

"I was about to make lunch," I say, leaning on the doorframe, "I'll cook you something nice if you promise to cook me something nice for dinner."

He furrows his eyebrows. "I don't know how to cook."

"So?" I scoff. "Neither do I. Just google a recipe, it's not that hard."

He sighs. "Fine."

I nod, taking a quick glance around the room, and my eyes fall on a folded paper on his bedside table, with Taehyung written over it. A letter, maybe?

Taehyung notices me staring and quickly grabs the paper, shoving it in his drawer. He looks at me for a second then looks back at his phone. It's definitely something he doesn't want me to know about, whatever it is, so I don't say a thing and make my way back to the kitchen, but a knock on the front door makes me stop in my tracks. I walk towards it and open it to find Jimin with a suitcase behind him and a polaroid camera in his hand.

"Hey," He says with a small smile, "I came to say goodbye."

My heart skips a beat. "Where are you going?"

"I'll stay at my parents' for a while," He pauses, "I've been having dreams and... thoughts. I just don't want to be alone right now. I think mom and dad need me too these days, you know."

"Yeah," I say, nodding before reaching forward and wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I found his polaroid camera," He mumbles as he hugs me tighter, "The one he lost two weeks after I got it for him. It was in my bedroom all this time. I don't know why we never thought about looking there."

He ends it with a chuckle, and we stay like this for a while, holding each other silently.

"You know you can come to me if you need anything," I whisper in his ear.

He nods. "You too."

Jimin pulls back, his eyes fixated on something behind me, so I turn around to see Taehyung standing there silently. Neither of them says a thing, and they just stare at each other silently. They were never really that close, but they did get along. Until the riot, of course.

"I'm sorry," Taehyung says hesitantly, "For your loss."

Jimin's expression remains unchanged, and instead of replying, he looks at me, gives me a smile and says goodbye.

"Jimin," I call after him as he walks down the hallway, "It's snowing heavily. Drive safe. And text me once you arrive."

He grins, nodding once before walking away. I close the door and turn to Taehyung who stares at me blankly.

"He blames me, doesn't he?" He says.

"I don't think so," I lie, shaking my head, "Jimin is not like that. He just hasn't seen you in a long time and the last time you guys met wasn't exactly a pleasant memory."

Taehyung looks at me quietly, and I know he doesn't believe me, and the more I think about it, the more I don't believe myself either. Maybe Taehyung is partially responsible for the riot, but he doesn't have anything to do with Jungkook's death. Jungkook's time was soon anyway, as much as I hate to admit. Surely Jimin doesn't blame Taehyung for this, right?