>>> Chapter 21 <<<
"Kookie..." Taehyung sighed untangling Jungkook's arm from around his waist.
"I would love to, but" Taehyung bit his lip deep in thought.
There are two reasons as to why he's hesitant, and he's contemplating which one to tell Jungkook.
"But..?" Jungkook awaits Taehyung's answer.
"I won't be able to afford it, my dorm is free, it's part of my scholarship," Taehyung answered choosing the second reason, the practical one.
"What are you even talking about?" Jungkook raised his brow not getting what Taehyung is saying.
"I can't ask my Hyung for rent too, he is already giving me an allowance, extra money for school that my scholarship doesn't cover," Taehyung tells Jungkook.
"What rent?" Jungkook's brows furrowed confused.
"Well if I move in with you, I have to pay half of the rent," Taehyung states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Who says I'm gonna make you pay even a single cent? This place is not rental, I own this place baby." Jungkook chuckled at his boyfriend.
"It's not fair for me to live here for free." Taehyung pouts, he doesn't want to just let Jungkook pay for everything.
"And why not?"
"Because Kookie, if we're going to live together, I need to give my share," Taehyung explains, Jungkook nods getting where he's coming from.
"Fine, you can get groceries?" Jungkook comes up with a solution, Taehyung doesn't know how to feel about this.
Don't get Taehyung wrong, he loves spending time with Jungkook.
Ever since he came back from Japan he only slept in his dorm twice, but actually moving together still scares Taehyung.
Actually having to share his space, his life, with Jungkook?
He loves his boyfriend so so much, but the commitment this move entails scares Taehyung.
Taehyung knows that Jungkook promised on making things work between them but it still haunts him, that night before he left for Japan.
Taehyung looks at Jungkook, the way Jungkook's eyes are full of hope that he will say yes.
The way he is looking at Taehyung guarantees him that if Taehyung still said no after this, they might go back to zero.
He doesn't want that, he and Jungkook have been doing really great ever since their trip to Busan, and Taehyung doesn't want to destroy that in any way.
Still, with conflict in his heart, Taehyung smiled, he will do this for Jungkook, for their relationship.
"Okay." Taehyung nods with a small smile.
"Okay? As in okay you'll move in with me?" Jungkook's eyes widen, he grins pulling Taehyung on his lap, his heart overjoyed.
"Yeah, I'll move in with you Kookie," Taehyung answered with a smile.
~~~
The couple is on the couch watching some TV show with Jungkook laying on Taehyung's lap, Taehyung's hand combing Jungkook's hair gently.
Jungkook loves the feeling of Taehyung's hands playing with his hair, it's so relaxing and comforting, he feels at home.
"Kookie..." Taehyung softly whispered brushing his hand along Jungkook's hair.
"Hmm?" Jungkook hummed in response.
"Tonight Jiminie might be coming to the bar, you don't mind if I go down for a while right?"
"Yeah, of course. Why though?" Jungkook wonders, Jimin doesn't usually go to the bar, he either meets Taehyung somewhere else or just drops by when Taehyung will be hanging out there.
Sometimes Jungkook can't help but think that Jimin isn't very fond of him.
"He's going through a tough time." Taehyung sighed, he doesn't like the thought of Jimin being alone with his thoughts and struggles.
"Oh? what happened?"
"He's having problems with his boyfriend," Taehyung tells Jungkook briefly.
"What time will you go down?" Jungkook asked.
"Jiminie said he'll be over around 8? are you sure you're feeling better?"
"Yes baby, don't worry," Jungkook assures his boyfriend, he truly feels better, he can even work again if it wasn't for Hoseok and Taehyung.
~~~
"Hey Tae, how's Kook?" Hoseok asked as he spots Taehyung in the bar.
"He's feeling better," Taehyung answered with a smile.
Before Hoseok can even ask as to what Taehyung is doing in the bar, "Tae tae!" Jimin walks into the bar wrapping his arms around his best friend.
"You missed me?" Taehyung chuckles hugging Jimin back until he felt his shirt getting drenched in tears.
"Jiminie," Taehyung whispered as he realized that he is now sobbing.
Hoseok and Mingyu's eyes widen in concern as they watch Jimin sob on Taehyung's arms.
Taehyung slowly guides Jimin to a table at the far corner as he looks at Hoseok and Mingyu, his eyes telling them not to worry, and that he'll handle it.
"Shhh, what's wrong?" Jimin shook his head refusing to lift his head as he continued crying.
"My lovely, lovely Jiminie." Taehyung hums rubbing Jimin's back in an attempt to comfort his best friend.
"Do you want to go somewhere else?" Taehyung offers knowing that the bar maybe not the best place for Jimin right now.
"No, no, I want to drink," Jimin says finally pulling away, wiping his tears off.
"Drink?" Before Taehyung can say anything more, Jimin is already on his way to the bar asking for Hoseok to bring them drinks.
Hoseok looked hesitant but Jimin was persistent so he gave in telling him that he'll ask Mingyu to bring it over.
"Jiminie, what's going on?" Taehyung asked when he sees Mingyu coming with the drinks.
"We're done, I broke up with him," Jimin tells Taehyung eyeing the alcohol.
Taehyung's heart ached at the sight of Jimin's tear-stained face as he downs a shot of what Taehyung thinks is vodka.
"What exactly happened?" Taehyung asked as Jimin downs another shot.
"Jiminie slow down." Taehyung's worried, he has never seen Jimin like this.
Yes, he knows Jimin drinks and he's got a good tolerance but he has never seen Jimin drinking while he is upset.
Jimin usually drinks during dinners or parties while Taehyung just socializes with their friends while drinking his soda or juice.
"He cheated on me, he's been cheating on me for a month now, ever since he came to visit," Jimin answered his voice shaking as he tries to stop crying but a tear made its way down to his cheek.
Taehyung's mouth gape, he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"Are you sure..?"
"I saw their pictures Tae, and he admitted to it so I couldn't be more sure." Jimin wipes away the tear that fell as he downs another shot.
Sure, Jimin was already doubting their relationship but he didn't expect that he was cheating on him all this time.
"He's really pretty Tae," Jimin mumbles as the alcohol takes effect, drinking on an empty stomach with little sleep isn't helping with his tolerance.
"Huh?"
"The guy he cheated with. No wonder he did." Jimin chuckles bitterly.
"Hey, don't say that."
"You know maybe I shouldn't have been too relaxed, I should've worked on my appearance more I was right," Jimin tells Taehyung.
Before Japan, Jimin was already talking about contact lenses, makeup, different types of clothing than what they're used to.
Taehyung didn't think too much about it, he even started wearing contact lenses since then, not as often as he does now.
Taehyung sighed, Jimin is beautiful but he understands where he is coming from.
Every night that Taehyung will see the failed attempts of gorgeous boys and girls at Jungkook he looks at himself and how plain he thinks he is.
"Jiminie, you're beautiful you know that right?" Taehyung assures his beautiful best friend.
"Not enough to keep him from looking at someone else though." And that's the sentence that watered the planted seed of Taehyung's worries and self-doubt.
~~~
(Mingyu texts the tiger flower group chat)
Mingyu: Kook do you know what happened to Jimin?
Jungkook: Why?
Mingyu: Well he got really drunk so Taehyung had to take him home.
Hoseok: He was crying too when he came.
Hoseok: What happened?
Jungkook: Oh I'm not sure. Taehyung told me he's having problems with his boyfriend.
Mingyu: Poor Jimin
Hoseok: Yeah he looked really sad
Mingyu: Btw bro we're still on for tomorrow right?
Jungkook: On where?
Mingyu: Did you really forget? Or were you not reading the gc I created?
Hoseok: A gc I'm not in? 🤔
Mingyu: It's for our batch. Hyung shhh
Hoseok: Ahhhh your batchmates
Mingyu: Yeah Yugyeom's back in town again and also Bam bam and Jaehyun
Jungkook: I'll tell Tae then
Mingyu: Okay just let us know 👌🏻
(End of conversation)
"Baby, what happened?" Jungkook eyes Taehyung worriedly as he opened the door for Taehyung.
"I had to take Jimin home and he threw up." Taehyung removes his stained shirt as he began walking to the bathroom.
"Hoseok told me he got really drunk." Jungkook follows Taehyung inside the bathroom.
Taehyung stripped down to nothing before stepping inside the shower, Jungkook leans on the door frame.
"Yeah, well he got cheated on so..." Taehyung turns the shower on.
"Really?" Jungkook asked through the sound of the shower.
He will never get used to seeing Taehyung's gorgeous body under the shower but Taehyung seemed upset for Jimin, so he decided to keep the sexy remarks for another day.
"Yeah, can't believe I actually thought he was the best for Jiminie." answered back as he washed himself off.
Upon hearing the shower turning off, Jungkook quickly grabbed a towel and bathrobe for Taehyung.
"Thanks, Kookie."
~~~
"Will you start to move your things tomorrow?" Jungkook asked as Taehyung snuggles up to his chest.
"Yeah, but I won't take everything yet though will probably just finish up moving next week," Taehyung answered.
"By the way baby, most of my batchmates are going to be in town tomorrow night, we're going out for some drinks." Jungkook casually tells Taehyung, expecting him to say no or at least be hesitant.
Jungkook's prepared to blow his friends off if Taehyung disagrees.
"Okay, Kookie," Taehyung answered simply surprising Jungkook.
"Who will be there?" Taehyung wonders.
"Mingyu, and some of my batch mates, you saw one of them before," Jungkook answered referring to Yugyeom.
"Oh..." Taehyung remembers Jungkook's ex fuck buddy.
"I'll still help you with your things in the morning, and I'll be back no later than midnight." Jungkook pulls Taehyung closer placing a kiss on his forehead.
"It's okay Kookie you can take your time, I'm sure you miss your friends." Taehyung sighed leaning to Jungkook's touch.
"I'll probably sleepover at Jimin's, he may be putting up an 'I don't care anymore' face but he's been with Hyung for almost 3 years, it's probably really hard for him."
"You'll be home the next day then?" Jungkook asked not wanting Taehyung to be away for too long.
"I'll see, but he also mentioned wanting to help the seniors for the welcome party of some sort if that's tomorrow too then I'll be back the next day," Taehyung answered.
"Welcome party?" Jungkook's brows raised.
"Yeah you know when the semester starts, each department welcomes its students, so for us business majors we'll welcome freshman and transfers," Taehyung explains as he runs his fingers on Jungkook's abs.
"When will this be?"
"Semester starts on Monday so Saturday night." Taehyung closed his eyes as he felt his eyelids getting heavier.
"Hmmm." Jungkook hummed, he didn't want Taehyung to go, he's still working on that part of him but he really can't be unfair.
Jungkook wishes that Taehyung would've said no to him meeting his friends so he can do the same.
Jungkook tries to push this out of his mind knowing that these thoughts will be just taking them steps back, he doesn't want that, not when they're already doing great.
~~~
"Stop checking your phone every 5 minutes man!" Jaehyun one of his batchmates complained.
"He's whipped whipped guys." Mingyu snickers his brows wiggling.
"He didn't give me a booty call when I announced my visit so I'm sure he is," Yugyeom adds to Mingyu's teasing.
"And so what?" Jungkook snaps at them playfully.
"Nothing man we're just telling you to enjoy, you're still allowed to have fun!" Bambam pushed a few more drinks on Jungkook's table.
A few drinks later, Jungkook can't seem to work his phone properly anymore.
It's only 10 pm and he is already beyond hammered.
Mingyu who promised not to get drunk and help him go home is also knocked down.
"Come on we'll take you home." Yugyeom puts Jungkook's arm around his neck as the guy can barely walk.
"For people who now work in a bar you two still have a really low tolerance." Bambam shakes his head as he does the same with Mingyu.
Jungkook's vision is blurry he feels heavy as Yugyeom guides him to the cab together with Bambam and Mingyu.
As the cab arrived in front of Jungkook's building, Yugyeom turns to him,
"Is your boyfriend home? Can I ask him to come down to pick you up?"
"No, he's at his friend's," Jungkook answered shutting his eyes closed due to dizziness.
"I'll take him upstairs, you can take Mingyu to his place," Yugyeom tells Bambam as he and Jungkook get out of the cab.
Jungkook chuckles as Yugyeom struggles with guiding him.
"I can walk you know, just a little bit impaired." Jungkook slurs, the alcohol really hit him so hard.
"A little? You call this a little? Fuck you, man." Yugyeom cursed at how heavy Jungkook is despite the other trying hard to navigate as well.
As they reached their floor, Jungkook hands Yugyeom his keys knowing well enough that he won't be able to open the door on his own.
Taehyung's head tilts as he heard the front door open, it's only 11 and he thought Jungkook will be back by midnight or later.
He wanted to surprise his boyfriend as he knows that Jungkook isn't expecting him to be home tonight.
He asked Jimin to do their sleepover after the welcome party instead since Taehyung wants to spend his first night officially moving in with Jungkook, at home.
He quietly walks to the living room, and to his surprise, he's greeted by Jungkook's ex fuck buddy guiding Jungkook to the couch.
Taehyung's stomach twists and turns, his heart falling out of his body seeing at how close Jungkook is clinging to Yugyeom.
"Geez, remember in college when you used to get drunk before we hook up? not the best sex to be honest." Yugyeom tells Jungkook who just laughed in response as Yugyeom made him sit on the couch.
Taehyung bit his lip, taking a deep breath he walked to the living room making his presence known to the two.
"Oh." Yugyeom steps back Taehyung's appearance catching him off guard.
"I thought he was alone." Yugyeom tries to explain why he didn't knock not realizing what those words sounded like.
"He's about to be," Taehyung answered his voice sounding firmer than he expected it to be.
"Tae?" Jungkook's head hurts as he opened his eyes squinting at Taehyung, the effect of the alcohol slowly rubbing off.
"Well, I'm gonna go..." Yugyeom trails off but was stopped by Taehyung.
"No, don't mind me, carry on with whatever you two have planned." Taehyung throws the key to Jungkook's apartment in front of Jungkook.
Jungkook panics as the realization of what's going on and how it looked like dawns on him.
If he had known that Taehyung was home he wouldn't even ask Yugyeom to take him upstairs, he would've called Taehyung to come down instead.
"Tae no wait." Jungkook tries to get up but his body felt heavy, everything around him spinning.
The front door slams closed after Taehyung took his bag and phone, leaving Jungkook and Yugyeom in the apartment.
"Fucking hell!" Jungkook cursed rubbing his temples, he wants to go after Taehyung but he physically can't.
"Do you want me to go after him?" Yugyeom offers, he really doesn't know what he will tell Taehyung as the situation really looked so bad.
"No, just go home man." Jungkook motions for Yugyeom to go away.
"You'll be okay?" Yugyeom asked.
"Obviously not Yugyeom my boyfriend just walked out of me thinking that we're gonna fuck." Jungkook snaps.
"Don't you dare snap at me be grateful I even took your drunk ass home!" Yugyeom snaps back before walking away slamming the door in the process.
~~~
The tears that Taehyung has been pushing back started flowing freely down his face as he pressed the elevator buttons.
As Taehyung waits for a cab he dialed Jimin's number.
"Tae?" Jimin answered in worry, it's almost midnight and Taehyung doesn't usually call this late.
"Ca-can I still sleepover?" Taehyung hiccups as he continued to sob.
"What happened?" Jimin's voice raising in worry.
"I'll t-tell you la-later." Taehyung continues to sob.
"Okay, okay, just come okay? I'll be waiting." Jimin tells Taehyung, his heart feeling heavy not knowing what could've happened.
Taehyung ends the call when a cab finally stopped in front of him, quickly he got in, between his sobs he gave the driver Jimin's address.
The driver sighed handing a box of tissues to him.
"Sorry, thank you." Taehyung took some of the tissues as he tries to calm down embarrassed.
"It's okay kid you can keep crying. Trust me, with my 10 years of being a taxi driver, you're not the first passenger I got at midnight crying their eyes out." the driver tried to console Taehyung.
Taehyung smiled at the driver's attempt as tears continued flowing from his eyes.
He wanted to trust Jungkook and leave his inhibitions behind, but tonight was a testament to Taehyung that he can't.
Taehyung cries harder remembering Jungkook asking him when he will be back, with this, Taehyung's convinced that what he thinks he saw, is really what he saw.
As Taehyung's sobs got quieter, he starts to wonder, maybe, maybe it was a wrong decision to come back to Jungkook.
~~~
(End of Chapter 21)