Tough Love

I: Weight is on You, Weight is on Me

Unpredictable and fast as the strike of lightning, accidents happen. Tragic and unforgettable, they can take away the people we love the most from us. It is only a matter of seconds before everything is destroyed and lives get damaged beyond repair. Everyone thinks they are safe, that it won't happen to them until it does. Until the glass of a windshield shatters and a car gets sent off the road due to the irresponsibility of a drunk driver. As easy as that, accidents happen. As easy as that, a soul goes to heaven where a new star is born.

It is common knowledge that a call in the middle of the night is never good news, yet no one ever expects to receive such a tragic one. To be told that someone they knew and loved is no longer around. That destiny has played its cards and a life has been lost. That life as they know it will be no more. A few seconds and a mid- night call, that is all it takes to ruin someone, to ruin it all.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Jungkook asks as he and Yoongi slowly walk into their apartment dressed in black suits and black ties. Returning from a service that shouldn't have taken place so early, not for someone so young. "No" is everything Yoongi replies before taking off his shoes and walking straight into their shared bedroom.

Jungkook doesn't know it yet, but this is the beginning of a downward spiral that will ruin the person he loves the most.

All thanks to a drunk driver, a few seconds and a mid- night call.

°°°

Yoongi lays down, Jungkook works late today and that means that he'll have some time for himself. Not that he feels bothered by his boyfriend of four years, is just that he doesn't understand the world anymore. Everything and everyone moves exactly the same way. The bus stops by his house at exactly the same time, just when Yoongi is getting ready for work. He sees the same red car pulling out from the parking spot next to his, he sees the same people driving it. Sees the same mother waiting for the school bus with her children. Sees the same youngster waiting nearby for the tram, earphones in his ears, not a single care in the world. He sees the same secretary greeting him when he gets to the company, hears the same laughs from his workmates outside his studio. It is all the same.

Day after day, he sees the same people doing the same things. Following the same usual routines that had ultimately turned their lives mundane. Yoongi used to have one too, a routine. Wake up early, have breakfast, drive to work, do what he needs to do, go back home, cook dinner, wait for Jungkook, eat, get in the shower, watch some TV, sleep and repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Day after day after day. Always the same.

So now he just wonders how can the world move on like this? Like nothing ever occurred, like there isn't anything wrong? How can the world function normally after what happened? After he died? How can the world even rotate without Hoseok?

Yoongi doesn't understand, because his world apparently stopped. Hoseok was- still is- his best friend. For as long as he remembers, Hoseok's been by his side. He was like a brother to him, has always been and now he was gone for good. It was merely a week ago, after having met with Yoongi at a café, they have been talking about their current works, Yoongi telling him about this new project he's got in the company and Hoseok speaking about the new intern he had met. They talked, laughed and had fun for a couple of hours. Later, when they parted ways, Yoongi had asked Hoseok to text him when he arrived home, needless to say, that text never arrived and was replaced by a late night call from Hoseok's crying sister.

Everything seems awfully surreal now, like it is not happening. Like it is just a nightmare but no matter how many times Yoongi tries to wake up, reality doesn't change. He opens his eyes to be faced with the same white of the same ceiling of the same room. Is torturing, numbing and it makes his heart ache. Ache in a way he hasn't ever felt before. Yoongi has never been one to cry, but whenever he does, is in this kind of settings. Alone and in a place where he feels safe. His mind still can't wrap around the thought that Hoseok, Hobi, his best friend, is gone and the only way he has to battle those feelings is by crying, so he does. He cries, curls up on himself and cries with his heart pouring out in every tear that falls from his eyes to the soft silky fabric of the pillow.