Love Story Short | Jikook/Kookmin

Chapter 20

[A/N: It has been FOREVER since I made such a speedy comeback and I'M PROUD yall! Surprise surprise! New chapter is out! I'm so excited for you guys to read this. Letme know what you think cuz your comments make me dance! Muah!]

On their thirty-second hour in Italy, the trio finally gets close to a breakthrough. Following Yoongi's quiet footsteps through the piazza bustling with sounds, colors and people, Jungkook feels it in his bones: something is bound to happen any minute now.

Perhaps that's why he is not startled when Jimin squeezes his shoulder. His eyes follow the direction which Jimin is staring at: the canopy of a café umbrella at the farthest corner of the shop, a perfect spot overseeing the rest of the piazza without many distractions. Standing under it, with sunglasses perched like a shield across his face, hands clasped formally in front, is Sang Du's butler.

It's either luck, or a well-made guess, but one thing is clear. They are in the right place.

On Jungkook's other side, Yoongi comes to a stop, stilling them both. Jungkook notices that he is preoccupied with a different figure, indeed, the other companion who hiked with them earlier. He sits at a chair of a different café, surveying the alternate routes leading into the square. He hasn't ordered anything yet, but Jungkook knows that's not why he looks so alert.

The presence of the bodyguards is only a giveaway, if not, confirmation that the real deal is not far from sight... and sure enough... amidst the crowd enjoying their lunches and afternoon coffees, Jungkook spots Sang Du and Hoseok sharing a table. He makes a high-pitched sound — quickly shut down by Yoongi who seems to have noticed at the same time as him, and Jimin not long after, three deers caught in headlights. As if they have an unspoken agreement, they huddle closer and face each other in hopes of blocking the views of the bodyguards of their faces.

"The moment I catch him," Yoongi exhales sharply from his nose, his lips spread into a grim frown. "Okay so the plan," he blinks fast, trying to collect himself as he stares at a tense Jungkook and Jimin. Then, he pauses, as if something hit him. "Listen—you two are free to leave. This is my shit, and I don't want to drag you into it, alright? I appreciate—"

"Hyung!"

"—everything you guys have done so far—

"I'm not going anywhere!" Jungkook hits Yoongi's chest, an out-of-character move which successfully gets Yoongi to stop. The movement turns a few passerby heads, a clear sign for Yoongi to stop provoking him.

Yoongi is looking at him with a slightly shocked expression. Jungkook feels like a kid in a boxing ring, trying to prove himself to a real fighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off disrespectful," he apologizes, flustered, rushing his words. "I want to help. I really do. Whatever bothers you, bothers me, hyung. Allow me to be there for you," he holds Yoongi's shaky gaze, and it seems, slowly but surely, Jungkook's sincerity strikes a chord in Yoongi's fragile heart, a single tear drop threatening to breach his eye.

It's not really how Jungkook expected this moment to play out.

Caught off guard by his own emotionality, Yoongi stares away, accidentally at the figure of Hoseok with that man, then abruptly at the sky, looking but not really, brave but not so much. He is struggling. He is worrying. He is losing a mental battle. And fuck, Jungkook realizes, he is afraid. This is not some revenge plot Yoongi played in his head, and even if so, being here, so close to the truth and the man who shattered his heart into pieces, must not feel the same as imagining it.

Yoongi is not the lion in the ring, and Jungkook is not the kid on the sidelines. They are two heads in a storm, built and brought up differently, but prisoners of that same damned flight response. But it won't take over now, it wouldn't dare, Jungkook promises, because any flighting in this hell would be a fight in itself.