Forever By Your Side

12. Not you too!!

"Taehyung? Taehyung!! Are you alright?" Jungkook banged on the door of the only occupied stall in the washroom. He could clearly hear Taehyung panting inside, as if he ran miles without stopping for a single second. 

Jimin and Hoseok burst into the washroom, concern and worry written all over their face. "Where is he?" Jimin asked. 

Jungkook pointed to the stall from which the panting could be heard. "Ohh my god, what's happe-" "Shh" Jungkook silenced Hoseok by placing a finger on his mouth and concentrated on the faint mumbling coming from inside. 

".....twenty nine......thirty.........thirty one..........thirty two.........thirty three...........thirty four..........thirty five.......thirty six........" the voice was very faint, but they were sure Taehyung was counting numbers to calm himself down. 

Jungkook was worried sick and was growing more worried as the numbers soon crossed two hundred. 

But they silently decided to wait it out instead of trying to coax him out of the stall. Jungkook and Hoseok settled on the platform where the wash basins were present. 

Jimin squatted, supporting himself against the wall. They waited as Taehyung slowly stopped counting numbers. They could no longer hear him panting. 

They sprung to their feet the second they heard the door open. "Are you alright?" "You look pale" "We'll go back home. You take some rest" "Are you really alright?" they bombarded him with questions.

Taehyung went to the sink and splashed his face with a lot of water. He then turned to them and faced down, unable to meet their eyes. 

"I am fine! Don't worry about me! I am really fine" Taehyung said. "But still, let's go home" Jimin said. "No, no, it's fine! I don't wanna ruin your day! Let's go for the Dance Dance Revolution" Taehyung said, looking up and cracking a small smile. 

"No, Taehyung! It's really okay! You are not ruining our day or anything! Let's jus-" "Please...." Taehyung whispered, looking at Hoseok. 

There was no way they could deny him. Not when he looked so vulnerable. Jungkook looked at the other two. All the three of them looked torn. They really wanted Taehyung to rest. 

The numbers that he had counted were still ringing in their ears. They were worried sick about it. But the way Taehyung pleaded, it was as if he were afraid to go back right now. 

"O-Okay, then. Let's go" Jungkook said, taking Taehyung's hand and holding it firmly. "J-Jungkook-ssi, m-my hand" Taehyung said, trying to get his hand out of Jungkook's hold. 

Jungkook immediately let go of his hand even though he felt a bit sad at having to do so. Then again, he remembered that Taehyung did the same with Jimin and Hoseok as well. That lifted his spirits a little. 

"Hobi, you wanna start or what?" Jimin asked as they stood in front of the machine. "Nope. You go first" Hoseok said "Okaiie" Jimin said and got on, selecting the 'hard' difficulty level. 

"Is this level okay for everyone, though?" he asked. "Yeah" they replied. Thus hyped, Jimin started his game, neatly coming through all the complicated footwork. 

"Woohohooohoo, Jimin-ssi!! That was one hell of a footwork on your part!!" Taehyung cheered as Jimin got down. "Thanks" Jimin grinned. 

Even though everyone was acting happy and hyped, they couldn't understand how Taehyung could behave as if he didn't have a panic attack in the bathroom just a few minutes ago. 

But they decided to act the same way if that was what Taehyung wanted. He was trying his best to get things back to normal. They weren't going to destroy his effort by reminding him of it again.