Love Undone

6. Backlash

"Something's weird." Jin states as he stares absentmindedly at the screen. Namjoon frowns. "What is?" Joon questions, taking his headphones off and looking away from his laptop. They're both in the studio. "I just have a bad feeling." Jin answers, still looking at his phone. Namjoon pushes his revolving chair back, it slides. He's now in front of Jin. "Is everything okay?" He questions his hyung and stares at him worriedly. "I don't know. I just feel uneasy." Jin's worried. His phone screen goes black, now locked, being untouched for too long now. He doesn't even notice it. "Where's Jungkook?" Jin asks Joon. "Maybe in his room..?" Namjoon replies, unsure. "Oh," Namjoon suddenly beams. "He said he'll do a VLive today. Maybe he's doing that." Joon grins. Jin smiles. The restlessness still doesn't fade away. "I'll go check up on him, I think." Jin says, more to himself than to Namjoon. "Want me to come with you?" Namjoon asks. "If you want to." Jin smiles. Namjoon grins and gets up.

"Hey," Joon calls. "let's see if he's on live or not, shouldn't disturb him. Yeah?" He asks, Jin nods. He picks up his phone and unlocks it. Open the app only to fine out that Jungkook certainly is on VLive and is reading Arabic. They don't understand it but still think it's hilarious. They way he tries so hard is funny and amusing to the hyungs. Jin bursts into laughter. Namjoon following suit. The restlessness eases for a bit. Maybe he's just being weird. He thinks. Maybe everyone and everything is okay. Jin convinces himself. He decides to let Jungkook be and not interrupt him.

_

It's 15 minutes after that, that the whole chaos happens. 15 minutes, it's such a short time; too short to be even noticed fully and yet, so much happened and changed in mere 15 minutes. Jin doesn't understand. Jeongguk was fine. Why did he have to include her in his live? Why? Maybe this is why he was feeling so uneasy. Maybe.

He wouldn't have ever found out if not for a message notification that dinged on his phone and then he check the live only to find Jungkook's head slammed on the table. Panic, Jin panicked. Immediately, he cut off the live stream so no Army's could see it, removing everyone except that one girl, the girl who seemed to keep Jungkook sane in a moment where Jin felt like he might lose it. Jin wanted to cut her off too. But he was scared that if he did, something might happen to his maknae. Why was JK listening to her? Why? Jin didn't understand and in that moment of extreme vulnerability, he wasn't even questioning it. If her presence helped him breath, so be it.

It felt too long: the 4 minutes it took to gather the boys and reach Jk's room felt eternal and torturous. So much was going on through all of their heads, it was almost impossible to function properly. Jin wondered how was she keeping it all together? She was primarily the sole audience, watching Jungkook as well as watching after Jungkook. Was she stressed? He thought that, maybe not, because she didn't care for him the way the members did. So she wouldn't worry. Maybe. Then why was she helping him? He didn't know.

He's amazed by her. She's impressed Jin. Not only did she keep herself calm but also managed to help Jungkook through her presence that was merely virtual, would've gone just with the click of a button. And right now, as he sits in the hospital chair besides Jungkook's bed, he's grateful. He was thinking all of these bad things about her, now that he's calmed down, he's nothing but thankful and partly embarrassed because he assumed thing about her that are too terrible to be said.

One thing still remains unclear, why did Jungkook not want her to be gone. 'let her stay.' Why? Even when the hyungs were there with Jungkook. He wanted her to stay. She had to tell him. "Jungkook, please listen to your hyungs. You want to get better. Right? Please go with your hyungs. Please?" She'd told him, her voice so soft and encouraging. It coaxed Jungkook, calmed him down and worked like magic. He agreed. "Bye bye," she'd smiled sweetly. Jungkook had melted, blushing down to his toes. "you're going to be fine, gukkie." She reassured him, so certain it had put Jungkook in doubt. He was gonna be better. He was certain too. He trusted her. He was gonna be okay. And then she was gone, the screen had become blank and Jungkook had closed his eyes.

Jin sighs, remembering the whole interaction. He can't pinpoint, but there was definitely something about her. And something about Jungkook as well that he might have been hiding. Did they know each other before? Was she friends with him? Why did he not tell his hyungs that she was his friend? She must be his friend, given how much he traits her and her words. Jin presses his lips together, staring at Jungkook's unconscious figure and the IV attached to his arm. It's been 3 hours since they're in the hospital now. If the media finds out about this, ugh, Jin doesn't even wanna imagine how things might proceed.

Namjoon had been worried too, Jin had to calm him down. Taehyung had become quiet, nobody knew what had happened and nobody knew what to think, how to react. Right now, Namjoon is out to but some coffee for Jin and himself. Taehyung went back to the dorm. They can't stay out here for too long or it might get crowded. Jin didn't want Namjoon to go grab coffee, fearing a crowd, but Joon had insisted.

What would she be doing right now? Jin wondered as he stared up at the ceiling, the only noise in the room being the drop that drips in the IV. Jin states at Jungkook's pale face. The boy had a terrible anxiety attack. The doctor had said that it was a wonder that he he stayed conscious for so long, and that it didn't go down a terrible road.

Jin felt thankful reminiscing all of this. Maybe, if not for her, something would have gone terribly wrong with Jungkook. Jin kept blaming her for Jungkook's condition but now when he thinks of it, maybe she prevented if from getting much worse. Still, Jin is unsure and doesn't want to think too much of it.

'It's going to be a long day.' He thinks and closes his eyes, trying to get some rest.

_

#ourpreciouskookie trends worldwide after the abrupt shutdown of the VLive. What happened to Jungkook? What caused things to go so bad? Is Jungkook okay? Did he become unconscious? Why was there no statement from BigHit yet? The controversy surrounding this whole situation grew by the second and all of it found one common cause to blame: Aquarius.

"It's because of you that our live ended like that. You did this to our Kookie. You selfish bitch!"

"He was fine before you intervened. Now we don't even know where he is and how he is. My poor baby 😭"

"You did this for clout, you made him so uncomfortable that something happened to him.😞🤬🤬🤬 I hope you die."

"If something happens my koo I will kill you aquarius and I don't even care if I have to go to jail for that."

"Honestly, you should just get off YouTube at this point."

"You're not worth the attention you're getting. Are you happy now? You've harmed our Jungkook. Please die. The earth doesn't need you. My precious angel koo😞😞😞😞"

And so much more. The violence and bullying Aquarius is subjected to is hateful, baseless, unnecessary and irrelevant in itself. But she can't do anything about it. It's Jungkook. And it BTS. She can't win.

And while a support hashtag for precious Kookie takes over the world.

#banAquarius becomes the world's 2nd top trend.