Exchange student - one year ᵗᵃᵉᵏᵒᵒᵏ

25

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In the days that followed, an icy silence fell over Jungkook and Taehyung, so thick and cold that you could almost cut it. The older boy no longer went to college with the blond, but had instead chosen the bus connection to avoid him. He had also moved his seat in the reading room, far away from Jungkook's seating area.
Every time Jungkook entered the room, he could feel the tension in the air left by the older man as he left the room to avoid being in the same one with the blond. The only moments during the day when they were in the same room were at the breakfast and dinner table, in the college reading room, and the inevitable closeness during the night when they slept. But even in those moments, Taehyung was as distant as could be.
The blond was confused and hurt by Taehyung's behavior. He could sense that the older man was angry with him for some reason. But he didn't know what he had done wrong, which was why this rift between them was growing even wider. But he just accepted it: there was nothing else he could do anyway.

That Friday morning, they sat across from each other at the breakfast table. Jungkook kept glancing at Taehyung, but he was focused on his breakfast and seemed to be completely lost in his own thoughts. The blond sighed softly and just stabbed his fork into his scrambled eggs, which were getting cold on his plate, just like his hope for a reconciliation.
"Oh yeah, before I forget," Taehyung suddenly began, snapping Jungkook out of his thoughts. Taehyung turned his gaze to his host mother, who was in the process of putting fresh orange juice glasses on the table. His voice sounded distant as he continued, "I won't be back until Sunday evening. I'll be staying somewhere else."
Jungkook felt his heart skip a beat as he tried to grasp the meaning behind Taehyung's announcement.
Why did he want to stay somewhere else?
What was the meaning behind it?
Was it another punishment for something Jungkook didn't even understand?

Jungkook's mother immediately got a glow on her face, as if the sun was coming out from behind the clouds. "Have you met someone? Is that why you've been coming home so late at night lately?" she asked excitedly, sitting back in her seat and looking at Taehyung with shining eyes. "Yes," Taehyung answered curtly. "I'm going to spend the night with her."
The brunette-haired woman sighed contentedly and clapped her hands happily. "All right, then I know. Have fun and be sure to introduce us to her if it turns into something more serious," she insisted and then turned her attention to her food as well. The older man smiled weakly and continued to eat in silence, while Jungkook felt like his heart was breaking into a thousand pieces.

Jungkook's appetite, which was already non-existent, suddenly turned into an unpleasant feeling of nausea that almost made him vomit. 'You'? So Taehyung would spend the night with a woman? The idea left a bitter taste in his mouth. "Gotta take a shower," the blond pressed out between clenched teeth, his voice sounding rough and brittle. He simply stood up to leave without exposing himself to any more questions or stares. He no longer wanted to sit at this table and be tormented by Taehyung's presence.
He did as he said and stood in the shower. He let the cold water run over his body while his mind wandered. He tried to suppress the feelings that rose up in him, but it was useless.
Why did it bother Jungkook so much that Taehyung was staying with a woman? Was it Yeji who Taehyung was sitting next to in the reading room? If the blond thought about it more carefully, they had always been together in the past week and Taehyung had always been home very late.

Jungkook's heart contracted painfully as if an invisible hand was squeezing it. For some reason, he didn't want Taehyung to stay with her. In general, he didn't want him to spend the night with another woman. He tried to organize his thoughts as the water lapped at his skin and tears gathered inexorably in his eyes.
He couldn't understand why Taehyung's decision bothered him so much. They weren't even real friends, the older one was just someone who was staying here for his academic year, nothing more, nothing less. But then why did it feel like something was breaking inside him?
He knew he had no rights to Taehyung, but he couldn't help how he felt. He felt like he had more feelings for Taehyung than he wanted to admit, and the idea of him being with another woman made him freeze with jealousy and pain.