PETIT | taekook ✓

nineteen

something as simple as uninvitedly stepping into taehyung's empty house immediately sent chills down jungkook's spine — after all, the boy could only imagine the numerous scenarios that could've occurred here which finally lead to taehyung's disappearance.

jimin, being the older one, volunteered to venture inside the flat first to see the condition of things, but of course, everything inside the house remained as it was when jungkook entered it the previous day.

there was still the lack of an inhabitant.

jimin inhaled a deep breath as soon as he closed the door behind them to make sure that no one else could enter or think of them as intruders. jungkook frowned as he knew, deep down, that jimin was only pretending to be calm for both of their sakes. in fact, jimin most likely would've broken down by now if he was the one who found out that taehyung was gone.

cautiously stepping further into the residence, jungkook tensed up when he noticed the furniture that still remained strewn across the floor, and tensed up even more when he saw that jimin was trying his hardest to keep his posture when he realized the messy state of the place.

they looked around the house, checking the kitchen, bathroom and the living room space, but came out of it with nothing. the last remaining place they haven't checked was taehyung's bedroom.

while trailing down the corridor to the bedroom, jungkook stopped in his tracks when he no longer heard jimin behind him, and instantly turned around. to his surprise, jimin had his feet planted right in the middle of the living room with his fists clenched, head hung and legs shaking.

concern began to rise within jungkook and he quickly walked back to the elder. "hyung?" he said softly. "are you okay?"

jungkook's breath hitched in his throat when he started picking up on light sobs and soon spotted drops of water staining the carpet below them. he's actually breaking down.

"i-i can't do this anymore, jungkook," jimin choked out. "i'm so scared. i don't want to lose tae, i really don't. b-but we don't even know where he is or what happened to h-him. i'm so fucking scared."

the ravenette's eyes enlarged in shock at jimin's confession. so it was true, he was simply pretending to be strong all this time. yet, a part of jungkook was somewhat relieved that jimin managed to spill his feelings out instead of continuing to bottle it up.

"jimin-hyung, how about you stay down here and i'll go search tae's room?" jungkook suggested, figuring that the orange-haired male probably wouldn't be able to handle it if he saw something he didn't want to see in taehyung's bedroom. jimin didn't trust his voice anymore, so he wordlessly nodded in response.

jungkook threw a reassuring smile to the older male and disappeared down the hallway again. within seconds, he had reached the door to taehyung's room.

despite sounding so confident back there when he was trying to comfort jimin, now that he's right in front of taehyung's isolated bedroom, he started to feel his heart nervously rising up to his throat. taking steady breaths of air, he slowly turned the doorknob and swung the door open.

the warm spring winds that entered through the opened windows welcomed him. taehyung must've liked gazing out of here, jungkook pondered as he traced his finger along the frame of the window.

tearing his attention away from the windows, he started looking around the room to see if anything's out of place or suspicious. however, it turns out that everything looked normal as if the struggles happened in the other areas of the house, and the perpetrator, if there was one, never reached the bedroom.

"strange," he mumbled to no one in particular before he proceeded to rummage around the shelves and desk to see if he could find at least something.

not before long, he heard subtle footsteps coming down the hall and approaching the room he was in. "jimin-hyung?" jungkook called out, surprised that jimin recovered from his breakdown that fast.

when he received no reply, he grew curious and stood up from his crouched position in front of the shelves to check what jimin was doing when the noise of footsteps faded away.

standing in the doorframe, he peeked into the corridor to find no one there. what the hell? "jimin-hyung? can you come here for a moment?" he exclaimed as loud as he could, but once again, got no feedback. "seriously, what the actual—"

jungkook's eyes widened as he felt a hand suddenly fall over his mouth, effectively silencing him, followed by a strong grasp locking his own arms behind his back. "we got the other one, boss," he heard a distinct and far away voice announce.

the black-haired boy tried his hardest to rationally fight his way out of the unknown person's hold, but the attacker was so strong that it caught jungkook off-guard, causing him to accidentally hurt himself in the process of attempting to get away.

"look at how hard you guys are trying to find taehyung," a low voice then spoke from behind jungkook's ear right before he wore himself out. "why don't i just take you to him instead, jeon jungkook?"