Game Over

The night was electric, full of celebration and hope. Graduation had come, and with it, the promise of new beginnings. Friends were toasting to their future, their bonds stronger than ever, but for Taehyung, the world seemed to have come to a crushing halt.

His eyes scanned the room from the corner, unable to truly focus. His friends laughed and cheered around him, but all he could think about was the void where Jungkook should have been. The seat next to him remained empty, a reminder of what he had lost. Jungkook had slipped through his fingers, and now, the silence felt like a deafening roar.

Sitting beside Yoongi and Namjoon, Jimin couldn't keep his thoughts in check any longer. His face was pale, his mind in turmoil. He had to tell Taehyung the truth, even if it meant breaking him further.

He turned to Namjoon first, his voice barely above a whisper. "Jungkook's leaving tonight."

Namjoon's eyes widened. "What? Leaving where?"

"He's going abroad… for his family. I—I didn't want to tell anyone, but he's already gone. He didn't even say goodbye to Taehyung." Jimin's voice cracked, and for the first time in months, he allowed himself to feel the weight of the moment.

Yoongi, usually so composed, looked at Jimin with concern. "Jimin, are you sure? Taehyung needs to know. This isn't something that can stay hidden."

"I know," Jimin whispered. He stood up abruptly, his heart pounding as he walked toward Taehyung.

Taehyung felt the pull in his chest, a deep ache he couldn't name. He knew Jimin was going to tell him something that would hurt. He knew it even before Jimin opened his mouth. The moment Jimin's voice reached his ears, Taehyung already felt his heart shattering.

Jimin knelt beside him, struggling to find the right words. "Tae… Jungkook is leaving tonight. His flight is soon, and… I don't think he'll be coming back."

The words hit Taehyung like a punch. The world around him seemed to vanish, fading into a blur. His hands trembled as he reached for his phone, his fingers fumbling to dial the number he hadn't called in weeks. Jungkook's number. But it was too late. The call went straight to voicemail, and it felt like a knife in his chest.

"Please, please don't let it be true," Taehyung murmured to himself, voice shaking. But deep down, he knew. He knew it was the end.

Taehyung wasn't thinking. He didn't have time to think. He rushed out of the room, his legs moving before his mind could catch up. His heart pounded in his chest as he ran to the nearest taxi.

"Airport," he gasped, voice choked. "Please, I need to get to the airport now."

The driver didn't question him. He just stepped on the gas, the tires screeching as the city lights blurred past them. Every street felt like it took too long to pass. Every second felt like a year.

Taehyung's mind raced with thoughts of Jungkook, and how he had never even had the chance to say sorry. How he had lost the one person he cared about more than anyone.

He needed to fix it. He had to.

When Taehyung arrived at the airport, panic set in. His heart hammered in his chest, louder than ever before. His hands shook as he asked the attendants, the security staff, anyone he could find.

"Where is Jeon Jungkook? Is his flight still here? I need to see him. Please!"

The staff shook their heads apologetically. "We can't disclose passenger information, sir. You'll have to speak to the airline."

But Taehyung couldn't stop. He couldn't accept that this was the end. He rushed to the departure gate, breathless, and then—he heard it.

A voice.

A soft whisper in the crowd. Jungkook's voice.

"Taehyung..."

But it was too late. Taehyung turned around too slowly, too desperately, but Jungkook was already walking away, disappearing through the gate, leaving Taehyung standing in the middle of the terminal, unable to move.

"Jungkook!" Taehyung screamed, his voice breaking. He ran, but the doors closed behind him. The plane had taken off. Jungkook was gone.

He crumpled to the floor, his knees buckling beneath him. The people around him stared, but Taehyung didn't care. The ache inside him was too much. His chest felt tight, as though someone was squeezing the very life out of him.

This was it. This was the end.

Taehyung clutched his chest, gasping for air, his tears falling freely now. His body shook with the weight of everything he had lost. Jungkook was gone, and it was his fault. He had pushed him away, betrayed him, and now, he would never get the chance to make things right.

"I—I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Jungkook..." Taehyung whispered, his voice barely audible, carried away by the noise of the airport.

As the plane ascended into the night sky, Jungkook stared out of the window, watching his home country slowly disappear beneath the clouds. His heart felt like it was breaking in two, but he couldn't bring himself to look back. He couldn't return to the place that had been his heart and his home.

It was over.

"Not every story ends with a happy ending," Jungkook thought to himself. "Some stories end in pain. Some end with the love we can never have. But that's life. It's not about what we want. It's about what we need."

And what he needed now was distance. Space to heal. To forget. To move on.

The silence in the room was deafening, thick with the weight of regret and anger. Taehyung sat slumped on the couch, his hands clasped together tightly, as his father stood across from him, his eyes cold and piercing. Every word felt like a blade cutting deeper.

"You know, Taehyung," his father began, his voice shaking with both frustration and disappointment, "I did what I thought was best for this family. I let things go that should have been dealt with long ago. I let my pride slip, I allowed feelings to cloud my judgment because I wanted this business alliance to work—wanted this union to happen."

Taehyung's heart beat faster, the dread growing within him. He knew his father wasn't just talking about the failed alliance with the Jeon Clan anymore. His father's voice dropped, as though the next words he would say were the hardest he'd ever had to speak.

"I know you don't like the idea of a marriage arrangement, Taehyung. Especially with someone like Jungkook, of all people," his father said, his words deliberately slow, careful. "But you need to understand. It wasn't just about business. It was about the future of this family, of the Kim legacy. You don't understand how much weight I carried when I agreed to this—when I agreed that you would marry Jungkook. I did it for you. For us."

Taehyung froze. His breath caught in his throat as his father's words shattered everything he had been holding onto. His eyes widened in disbelief, his stomach sinking into his gut.

"What?" Taehyung whispered, voice raw. "You—You were going to make me marry Jungkook?"

His father nodded slowly, his expression hardening. "Yes. Even though he was from the Jeon Clan. Even though he's a man, I didn't care. He was the heir, the one who could ensure the continuation of this legacy, this business that we built. I let it happen, Taehyung, because it was what was best for the family. For all of us."

Tears welled up in Taehyung's eyes, the harsh reality of the truth weighing on him like a thousand-pound stone. His heart beat erratically, unsure of what to feel. Betrayal. Hurt. Confusion. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He couldn't form a coherent thought.

"You could have been happy with him, Taehyung. We could have had everything. But you—" His father's voice broke for just a moment before he steadied himself. "You couldn't even control your emotions. You ruined it. You let your pride, your feelings for him—your selfishness—destroy everything."

Taehyung wanted to scream, to lash out, but his voice failed him. The realization hit him like a freight train. The person he loved, the one he had betrayed, was meant to be his partner. And he had destroyed it, not just for himself but for the entire family.

"And now look where we are," his father continued, his voice growing more bitter. "Jungkook is gone. Our alliance with the Jeon Clan is shattered. You'll never fix this. You'll never be able to undo the mess you've made."

Taehyung clenched his fists, the pain in his chest unbearable. The weight of his father's disappointment felt like an anchor, dragging him deeper and deeper into his own guilt. He had been so certain that what he was doing was right, that his feelings were justified. But now, in the cold light of his father's harsh words, Taehyung realized just how far he had gone astray.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Taehyung finally managed to croak, his voice breaking. "Why didn't you tell me it was Jungkook all along?"

His father's face twisted in frustration, but beneath that frustration, there was something more—something almost like regret. "I never told you because I didn't think you would understand. I didn't think you would be strong enough to see beyond your own emotions. But now, look at the mess we're in."

A silence fell over them. Taehyung's mind raced, unable to process everything. His father, the one person who he had thought would always support him, was telling him that the most important decision of his life—the person he could have married, the one who was supposed to help secure the family's future—was Jungkook.

It hurt more than anything else ever had. The betrayal he had felt was one thing, but this… This was a revelation that broke him. The person he loved was never just a game to his father, and yet he had treated it as one.

"I never wanted this," Taehyung whispered, barely audible. "I never wanted to hurt him. I just… I didn't know how to handle it."

"You should have known," his father snapped. "You should have put your personal feelings aside for the good of this family. We don't get to choose who we love, Taehyung. But we do get to choose how we protect the family name."

Taehyung stood up suddenly, his legs trembling. "I can't believe you're saying this. All this time, you let me think that it was just about the alliance… that it was about the business. But now… now I know it was about control. It was about using me to get what you wanted."

His father took a step back, looking almost surprised by Taehyung's outburst. But then his expression hardened, his eyes narrowing. "You will learn, one day, that this was for your own good. And when you finally grow up, you'll understand why I did what I did."

Taehyung's heart broke into a thousand pieces as his father's words echoed in his mind. He had never felt so alone. The weight of his father's expectations, the pain of his betrayal to Jungkook, and the loss of everything that once felt familiar—it all crushed him, suffocating him in the darkness of his own guilt.

"Maybe I'll never understand," Taehyung murmured, his voice shaky. "Maybe I'll never be the person you wanted me to be. But what I do know is this… I'll never forget him. And I'll never forgive myself."

His father stared at him for a moment, his expression unreadable, before turning and walking away, leaving Taehyung standing there, broken and alone.

THE END.