Infatuation | JiKook

서른아홉

—
He felt heavy.

Jungkook's whole body felt as if it were made out of steel, slowly sinking into the ground he was lying on. He knew that there were people around him - someone right beside him actually - but at the moment he couldn't find himself caring.

He just wanted to keep lying down for awhile.

His skin felt hot and clammy everywhere except for his shoulders. His shoulders were screaming, a searing pain tearing its way across his shoulder blades. That was another reason he didn't want to get up or open his eyes - he really just didn't want to move, scared that he was extremely injured after what had just happened to him.

Being alive, actually surprised him. After Jimin left him, it seemed like everything started down a downwards spiral that ended with him dead.

-

"Archangel Jungkook, you have two options here."

Jungkook was kneeled in front of God, shimmering tears still streaming down his face as he tried to choke back the sobs that were still building up in his aching chest.

He looked down at his hands through blurry eyes, clenching them into fists and then relaxing them again. They didn't feel like his hands.

His hands wouldn't have let Jimin slip through them.

"I'm genuinely surprised you came back willingly." God continued, His words not being spoken, but simply being heard within Jungkook's mind. "Considering how rogue you went, I was planning on bringing you back forcefully before you could give us a bad name."

Jungkook sniffled. Why did he come back? It was for Jimin and him to be happy. He was so blind, and so naive as to how he would actually be welcomed back, that he believed it would have been okay.

Jimin thought that God wouldn't have even let him in, imagine if Jimin learned that Jungkook might not be let in either.

"What are my options?" Jungkook's voice quivered. His throat was raw from crying and so his words were muffled by a thick raspiness. He cleared his throat.

Jungkook looked up, but there was no one to even look at - just a blinding light that forced his gaze back down immediately. "I'm surprised I'm even getting a choice in my fate here."

The clouds beneath him lost footing for a second, causing his heart to drop as the nearly felt himself drop through. God had obviously not been pleased with his retort.

"You're lucky to be getting a choice right now." God's voice boomed. "I'm not even giving you the option to explain yourself, just the choice to be punished less severely. There is no way you are getting out of this unscathed." Air felt thick around him, ironic given that they were sitting atop clouds as they spoke.

Jungkook opened his mouth to talk, but quickly closed it. It was probably best for him to stay quiet until told otherwise. His whole body felt like it was tingling, but not in a pleasant way. In a way that told him that this body did not feel like his own. This body wouldn't have let him fail this badly, not when it had fought and fought for so long.

"Now. Either you lose your archangel status and I reassign your elsewhere, with no contact to earth whatsoever." Jungkook gulped, curling his hands into fists. "I think this is pretty fitting, considering that the issue I had with you is how tainted you became when you were sent down there." More tears slipped down his face, droplets of tears shining against his lashes like dew.

He had messed up so bad. He wished that he had Jimin's mind sometimes, to realize that this wouldn't have worked out so much sooner. "Or," God continued, "You just leave."