The Nerds

70: Returning to Seoul

Taehyung's hands on the wheel is firm, staring out to the street ahead with calm eyes. The Seoul weather feels a little more gloomy than before, but that didn't bother Taehyung one bit.

He likes this type of weather when he reads or paints.

Especially when he use to do it a lot with Jungkook when they were together.

Taehyung's eyes slowly drifts to the silent man beside him, who's staring out the window with his wide doe eyes. He looks physically better now; his lips are back to its plump pink state, his cuts and burns have healed successfully, even the ones on his wrist. His anus is also completely healed and his ribs won't be as a problem anymore as before.

Physically, he's entirely better.

Emotionally, that's still a process.

Taehyung had to come back to Seoul because summer break has finally ended and he has to go back to college for his classes, that starts in two weeks. So clearly he couldn't leave Jungkook behind, so after more trust building -getting Jungkook more comfortable speaking and how to control his anxiety while in public- Jungkook felt sure about leaving the four walls of Taehyung's comfortable room.

The plane ride wasn't as bad as Taehyung expected. Jungkook fell asleep throughout the whole flight, but sometimes would get fidgety with troubling eyebrows ever so often. One thing that Taehyung has noticed, that raised his hope and nearly made him burst out crying on the spot, was how Jungkook would clutch onto his ring to his chest while he was sleeping. It's almost as if it was his clarity. His guidance. His hope.

And that alone was enough for Taehyung to know his emotions are still intact but his memories are still fuzzed up. From time to time he would start to remember bits and pieces of his memory. He began to remember his main five slowly. Only the faces but the names are blurred. Sadly, nothing of Taehyung yet and the older suspects Jungkook is recovering old memories first before remembering the recent ones.

And he didn't mind that at all.

Taehyung just wanted Jungkook to be okay, even if he remembers him or not.

"All of this seems familiar," Jungkook whispers, making Taehyung snap his attention to him for a second, "I know every corner, convenient store, street name..... it's so familiar."

That's another thing, when he sees anything familiar, it's almost like his subconscious keeps it intact with his memories. So if one day he were to get lost here, he would somehow find his way back to his apartment or Taehyung's apartment. It's almost like an instant. For example, let's say one is good at drawing but loses their memory and is in the same mental state as Jungkook through the memory process. They would be able to draw perfectly like how they once did before but won't remember how they knew how to draw or the techniques they used.

It's almost like an instinct, and in this case, Jungkook recalls specific things but can't trace it back to how he knows it. He just knows it.

"Yeah, this is Seoul," Taehyung sighs lowly, looking out the window before taking a turn and slowly eases in to his apartment complex and parks the car, turning to the other, "This is my apartment..... Now, I don't know if you would like to stay here with me or go to your-"

"Don't leave me please," Jungkook says instantly, his voice quivering slightly with his fearful eyes, "P-Please....... Don't leave me a-alone."

That hurt more than Taehyung expected.

He's so scared....

To this Taehyung frowns painfully and lets his eyes fall to his gloved hands, taking a deep breath and slowly nods, "I won't, I promise. Let's go settle in, yeah?" He says with a small smile, making Jungkook return it forcefully as they walk out of the car and grab their luggages. Taehyung offered to carry Jungkook's duffel bag but he denied it, in perfect conditions to carry it himself. Taehyung leads them inside, through the lobby and up the elevator. They stayed in complete silence through the ride until the elevator arrives to Taehyung's floor. He leads them down the hallway and into his apartment, carefully opening the door and goes to turn on the lamp that's next to the tv. For a moment Jungkook stands frozen by the doorway, taking in the small apartment with perplexed eyes that made Taehyung grow slightly worried.