Strings of Fate

Chapter 6

Taehyung ended up crying long before they reached the rooftop. Jimin hugged the younger trying to console him but there was little he could do without knowing the situation. He made Taehyung sit down once they reached the rooftop and he sat down in front of him. He leaned closer and wiped at Taehyung's tears shushing him.

"Shh, it's gonna be alright. Whatever Yoongi did, we'll get back at him for it." Jimin assured and Taehyung shook his head.

"I-it was m-my fault!" Taehyung insisted even when Jimin tried to say it wasn't, and tried to convince the younger that whatever happened, that Yoongi shouldn't have let his anger get out of hand.

"N-no Jim-Jiminie! I-I-" Taehyung continued to cry harder and all Jimin could do was hug him, rocking him softly as he whispered words of comfort. After a while of crying Taehyung finally calmed down. He wiped away at the last of his tears with his sleeves and sniffed a few more times before just sitting there quietly, head bowed and eyes rimmed with red.

"Tae?" Jimin called out softly as he held the younger's' hands in his own and rubbed at them soothingly. "Are you ready to talk now?"

"Yea...thanks for bringing me out here," Taehyung said while nodding a little.

"Of course. You know you don't need to thank me for something like that." Jimin replied and Taehyung nodded a bit more.

"So..what happened?" Jimin dared to ask after a few moments of silence.

"It...it was honestly my fault...I didn't listen when Yoongi hyung told me to stop...I shouldn't have pushed him..I-I knew he was upset b-but I still d-didn't stop..." Taehyung began his bottom lip trembling as he did.

"Shh, it's ok Taehyung. Breath...what were you trying to get him to tell you?" Jimin asked when Taehyung had calmed down a little bit.

"He...he had brui-bruises on h-his stomach...and I w-wanted to k-know h-how he got th-them... bu-but he wo-wouldn't tell me...and so I k-kept as-asking e-even when he t-told me to s-stop." Taehyung managed to get out his eyes brimming with tears once more. Jimin hugged Taehyung again and ran his fingers through the younger's hair.

"It's ok Tae-ah...you were just worried about him. There's nothing wrong with worrying. Hyung probably just needs some time to himself before he talks about it." Jimin whispered in a calm voice though he was honestly worried about Yoongi now. Why would Yoongi have bruises on his stomach? Was Yoongi in some sort of fight? But why just the stomach? Or maybe they were elsewhere too? After all, he was wearing long sleeves, maybe it wasn't because it was cold but rather to hide other bruises? How had Taehyung even noticed them? Thoughts like these and many others ran through Jimin's head as he continued trying to convince Taehyung that he hadn't done anything wrong.

Eventually, Taehyung believed him and stopped crying completely. But since first period was pretty much halfway done, the two decided to stay on the rooftop and enjoy the cool autumn weather. They talked about other topics not related to Yoongi and Jimin managed to get Taehyung to smile again before the end of first period. When they heard the bell ring, they went back inside and snuck back into their classroom before the next teacher arrived to start second period.

Jungkook glanced over at Jimin and Taehyung as they took their respective seats and gave Jimin a questioning look. Jimin shook his head indicating it was better Jungkook not ask what happened quite yet and the younger seemed to understand as he nodded.

Classes continued as usual until lunchtime finally rolled around. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook walked to the cafeteria together and talked about the assignments they'd been doing in class. While they talked they grabbed their trays and stood in line to get lunch. Jimin listened to the other two talk while scanning the cafeteria for their other friends. He spotted Jin and Namjoon at their usual table and he saw Hoseok further up the line, but he couldn't locate Yoongi anywhere. Jimin frowned wondering where his hyung had gone. He wasn't close enough to Yoongi to know where the elder would go but he did know someone who would know. So once they got their lunch and sat down at the table with the other hyungs, Jimin turned to Jin and asked, "Jin hyung, where's Yoongi hyung?"

"He didn't show up for class today. So I'm assuming he's not here." Jin replied not looking at Jimin. Jimin frowned at the answer, if Yoongi hadn't even gone to class, did that mean he went home? Yoongi wasn't known for skipping classes or avoiding situations. The fact that he and Taehyung had fought should have been enough reason for Yoongi to stay and apologize at lunch because Yoongi hated being on bad terms with Taehyung.

"I guess he's really upset with me." Taehyung murmured quietly as he picked at his food.

"No, I'm sure that's not it Taehyung...I think he just feels bad for scaring you like that, after all, he's never done anything that extreme before." Jimin reasoned and Taehyung just nodded, but Jimin knew that the younger didn't believe him.

Lunch went by relatively quickly and soon they were back in class, listening to another boring lecture. Jimin wasn't paying much attention as he looked out the window and out into the school grounds. As he was watching the leaves of the trees move in the wind and orange string caught his attention.

Jimin blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but there it was an orange string going through a tree near the edge of the woods that surrounded their school. And since the string was going through the tree, Jimin knew it was something he could only see. He wondered who it was attached to and was curious as to what this new color could be. He also thought it was strange that ever since Jungkook had appeared things had been changing. It had only been two days but now Jimin had two new string colors to figure out, white and orange. Also, Jimin realized that his own strings were somehow a little more vibrant and he could feel emotions of others much easier. He hadn't paid attention yesterday, but he had kind of known even before Jihyun had entered his room that something was off with his younger brother. And then this morning he had been able to feel the fear that had shot through Taehyung for a second right before he'd heard the crash.

So many things were changing and Jimin knew somehow all of this was related to the white string and Jungkook's arrival. But he was unsure as to what these changes meant. As Jimin was thinking he noticed someone coming out of the woods and was surprised to see Yoongi. And attached to Yoongi was the orange string. Now Jimin was even more curious as to what that string could mean.