A Love That Will Last Forever || Taehyung x Reader

I

Taehyung left for two days. While you were a bit bummed out you understood why he felt the need to stay away. He had just learnt that a friend is diagnosed with leukemia. Not only that, but she has very little time left to live. And to put the cherry on top, his own sister died just over a week ago.

During the entire time you had been suffering through cancer, never had you once wished life could be different. You accepted it into your life and tried to live the days you had left as normally as you could. But now that had all changed. Now you would do anything to get rid of this deathly disease just so you could live with Taehyung. For Taehyung. He's gone through so much and the thought of him having to suffer through another death makes you want to tear your hair out.

The only person Taehyung would have left after all this would be Jimin. You could only hope he would be there for his best friend. You understood that Jimin needed time to mourn over Hyerin; he lost a friend and someone he saw as a sister. But Taehyung also lost his sister-his blood-related sister-and now he was about to lose a friend. He was going to need all the support he could get and you could only pray that Jimin would be there to lend him a shoulder.

"Hiya!" a voice chirped from the doorframe.

You looked up to see Taehyung standing there in all his glory. His hair looked well kept and his face had some colour to it. He had a beautiful smile on his face, yet, for some reason, there was something hidden in his eyes that made you worry about him.

"T-Tae, what are you doing here?" you asked.

"What do you mean? I'm here to see you, silly," he laughed, skipping over to the bed and flopping down on it. "Hey, it's a pretty nice day today. You want to go outside?"

"I...I can't Tae."

"Aw, well if you don't feel like it then I understand. We can do it another day," Taehyung replied.

"No, Taehyung I actually ca-"

"You know what we should do? Play a game! Do you know if they have board games here? Or at least a deck of cards?"

You knew what Taehyung was doing. He was acting as if everything was normal, as if he didn't just find out you've had leukemia this whole time. You weren't sure if this was a coping mechanism for him or if it was because you had told him you wanted to live a regular, normal life during whatever time you had left.

"I don't know, we could ask a nurse I guess," you answered.

"Alright, I'll be right back." And then Taehyung was gone.

He came back at least five minutes later with a deck of cards in his hand and a smile on his face.

"Guess they had cards?"

"Well it actually belongs to someone else. They found it in a desk at the front and let me borrow it," Taehyung replied. "So what do you want to play? Just warning you now, I'm, like, a master at Old Maid. So if you don't feel like losing today then I highly suggest you pick another game."

"Let's play it. I want to see your skills with my own eyes," you said, winking playfully.

You played through four games, Taehyung winning all. You had just started the fifth game when you noticed something was wrong with Taehyung. His hands were trembling uncontrollably and his lip was quivering ever so slightly.

"Tae-"

"I warned you (Y/n) but you didn't listen," Taehyung interrupted, voice wavering. "Told you I'd win. Should've picked another game."

You placed a hand gently on Taehyung's arm, halting his movements. He looked up at you with shaking eyes and the moment you gave him a sympathetic smile his facade broke.

"I can't do it." Taehyung's voice cracked and that was his breaking point. A tear trickled down his face as he averted his gaze up to the ceiling, a tremulous breath leaving his lips.

"Tae, it's okay."

"I tried acting like nothing was wrong, tried doing what you wanted. But it's too hard," the brunette sniffled. "I just keep remembering when you told me about the...the..."

You held both your hands out so Taehyung could grab them, which he did without missing a beat. You squeezed his hands comfortingly. "Thank you for trying, but you can let it out now. Don't hold it in."

Taehyung stared at you motionlessly for a moment before curling in on himself, head falling into your lap. He squeezed your hands tightly and brought them close to his head. Wanting to comfort him, you let go of one of his hands and began brushing a hand through his hair while leaving your other hand still linked together with his.

"Why does life have to be like this!? Why is it unfair and cruel!?" Taehyung cried out, voice muffled due to his face being pressed into the bed sheets.

"I-"

Before you could finish you broke out into a coughing fit. Immediately you brought the hand that was on Taehyung's head up to your mouth and in that same second Taehyung was sitting up, staring at you with eyes full of concern and tears. When the coughing had subsided, you brought your hand away to stare into it. There was blood, but you had been expecting that. Taehyung, however, didn't and it forced a broken sob out of him.

"W-Why?" he whimpered.

"I'm sorry," you uttered.