The silence was unbearable. It suffocated him unmercifully and he didn’t understand how he could live through the vacuum that ruled the room, how he could still sit there and stare at the respected guy in front of him. He watched his lips move, creating words, sentences, but nothing reached him except of the ringing in his ears, and static that was making mush of his brain.

He felt like his body wouldn’t move no matter how he tried to command it to do so. His wrist burned like thousands of fires, scorching him through the skin and to the bone, putting up a brand on him that would mark him forever.

It must have been shock. There was no other explanation why he would be unable to comprehend reality now in such a big scale. He could hear nothing.

The headmaster’s mouth had been moving again. His eyes were keeping check on Seokjin, but no sound came. No meaning.

He just needed a moment.

Right, he just needed to… take a deep breath. He tried to, but his lungs failed, his body refusing to move more than necessary.

No, this was wrong.

“Professor Kim,” he heard suddenly. The headmaster stopped talking. It wasn’t his voice, was it? “Professor.” the deep but smooth tried again, voice filled with authority. Seokjin went blank but soon he finally found the strength to actually move. His body slowly eased off the tenseness and he felt his muscles working again, allowing him to look sideways from where the voice came from.

Oh. Right.

Jeon Jungkook was sitting next to him, crouched and looking seriously sick, his eyes dark and face pale and Seokjin could see the mark he left on his neck partly peeping from the back to the side where his fingers gripped him to stop him from fighting.

A mark. On his neck.

A soulmate mark. Like somebody attacked him.

The professor felt like throwing up knowing he's the cause of it.

Damn.

He averted his eyes again, looking back at the headmaster, and realized the white noise was gone and he heard the silence filling the room to the brink, only clock ticking interrupted it.

“Can you hear me now, Seokjin?”

He managed to nod, his head hurting like hell. It was like the the harsh fact about what happened a few minutes ago were slapping him non-stop.

“Jungkook?” the headmaster gave a stare.

“Yeah,” the brown haired boy nodded, making Seokjin frown a little. Jungkook?

“So how are we going to deal with this mess?” Kim Namjoon, the headmaster, intertwined his fingers together, looking at them over it like a shadow eminence. “I understand you both are really not in position to fire solutions right now, being shaken and all, but you do realize we have to deal with it.”

“How do you want to deal with this that I now look like I were being choked during ?!” the sudden strength in Jeon’s voice made Seokjin gasp a little. “And with him!”

Seokjin swore that the boy shouldn't pointed out his index finger to prove his words. Jeon's broken manner isn't a new thing anymore, but it isn't really pleasant for Seokjin to see. He wouldn't mind breaking the bones of the boy for talking bad in front of the elders.

“Keeping it secret is already not an option,” Namjoon didn’t react, but he glared at the boy, quieting him down. “It spreads through the school like a wildfire.”

No wonder. All of those that stood around them saw what happened. It couldn't be stopped anymore.

“Seokjin,” he heard his name again and glanced back up, not even realizing he had been spacing out once more. “How do you want to proceed?”

“Hell, I don’t have any word in it?!” Jeon retorted, and really, how vital he suddenly had been again. Seokjin couldn’t get past the border of an utter exhaustion, no matter how he tried.

“You've said enough, Jeon,” Seokjin hissed at the boy, receiving dead silence again. “And there is nothing we can do about it. Or would. Just ignore it.” he stated warily, seemingly uninterested with the sudden bond between them.

“Ignore it?” Jeon’s voice again. “It’s a soulmark, smartass, you can’t just ignore it.” he barked in irritation.

“I said silence!” he glared at him shortly and the boy shrunk back into his seat.

Good. He rarely made him show at least little of self-preservation, no matter how sharp he had been at him in the class. But again, his ego was boosted by the presence of other students; here he had no one to back him up. Not even Namjoon, as it seemed, since the headmaster was keeping quiet as well.

“It’s unheard of,” Namjoon commented when both of them remained silent. “Such age difference… I’ve never saw anything like that before. Seven years was the maximum and it got rarely reached anyway. This…”

“That’s why I’m saying it should be ignored,” Seokjin interrupted him and flexed his hand. The burning was still strong and it started to spread to the tip of his fingers. How must the mark on the boy’s neck feel?

“Of course, ignore it, you’re ing old anyway,” a snarl came from his left. “Who cares that I’m damn twenty and have to deal with a freaking refused bond!”

Seokjin’s breath hitched and the mark flared out as if in reprimand. It was like the mark also angered on both self.

“Seokjin,” Namjoon called him in a serious voice. “This is a serious matter. As much as I understand your reluctance to deal with him-“

“Don't tell me what I'm actually thinking you're going to tell me, Nam---”

“-you can’t possibly shut him out.”

Watch me, the professor wanted to say. The defiance rose up in him like a tsunami wave, just to get the boy off of his high horse, to snatch away the upper hand. With this, he would be able to control Seokjin, even in a small way. A string was connecting them and he was sure this little bastard was going to pull at it whenever he was going to get a chance.

Seokjin didn’t want to. He wasn’t interested. He was twice of his age – a soulbound like that had no purpose. A thirty-eight guy with a kid aged twenty. He's nearly forty, heck no. Fate? What a joke. People were supposed to be compatible, but this was like the universe was laughing at him – at both of them.

Of course, he wasn’t the only victim. It would be selfish to consider himself such – it wasn’t like Jeon could affect it anyhow, or do it only to enjoy Seokjin suffering of hating it. Neither of them did, and neither of them wanted to be stuck together in an unbreakable bond.

Nobody could choose their soulmate. No matter how hard they wished for it.

“Broken bonds ,” he heard the delinquent boy mumbling next to him. “They hurt and they drive you mad. I don’t want that.” Jeon's voice are getting sadder as he said the last words. There was something raw in his voice and Seokjin didn’t like it.

“I don’t want lots of things,” Seokjin uttered coldly to shake off the feeling of actually pitying this boy. “One of them is dealing with you more than I have to, but we both can’t have everything, can we."

“Being a selfish prick suits you,” came a nasty reply and Seokjin felt strength returning to him, as if only by the power of his sheer will.

This little-

“Stop!” Namjoon raised his voice threateningly. “Both of you.” Seokjin glad he didn't slam the desk because that's just too epic and neither of them will actually listen to him.

The silence got sharper now, almost painful. Jeon was breathing hard like he was holding back from a panic attack, or maybe just kept himself from hitting him, and Seokjin’s headache grew into monstrous proportions.

He just wanted to get out of here. Fast.

“I’m sure you know, Seokjin, that conscious denial of the bond is immoral,” Namjoon broke the vacuum with a renewed calm.

“As is guilt-tripping.” the guy elaborated.

“Touché,” the headmaster nodded, but corners of his mouth quirked up anyway. Seokjin didn’t like the expression, it reminded him of a winning dance. “I can’t tell you what to do. But be reasonable. Don’t shut him out.”

“Or you know what,” the dark brown haired boy suddenly spoke up, grumbling a little. “Do it. We will see who out of two of us loses it first. Wanna bet?” he challenged. And Seokjin thought he was being childish. Who's playing the stupid bet these days? Not Kim Seokjin obviously.

“No,” he said resolutely and took a deep breath, gathering all the strength left to stand up. His legs felt weak. “This conversation is over. Go home to sleep. If you feel the same way I do, either of us may throw up soon.” the mark are flaring from his wrist and it's obvious from the pain expression on Jeon's face. Both of them needed to get out from the room, quick.

“What a joyous occasion,” Namjoon said rather unhappily and Seokjin thought it fitted.

***

His answering machine was beeping continuously for about three hours now. He didn’t understand why he still owned that piece of crap, but it was probably his heavenly punishment for being such a bad person.

“Seokjin, call me, I heard you got bonded?!” another message beeped. He wasn’t sure who called. The voices were slowly sounding like one chaotic noise.

A wildfire. That was an understanding. Tomorrow was going to be a disaster. He could already see the shocked faces of his students, maybe some mocking ones.

With Jeon Jungkook out of all possibilities. Hoseok was going to jump out of the window. Seokjin was probably going to follow him.

But no. Namjoon was right – denying already known bond was immoral and cruel to both parties. The fact refused bonds hurt wasn’t scientifically proven, but at some point Seokjin believed it, at least a little. It wasn’t like he meant something bad for the boy. He said it himself – he was twenty. It was like closing the whole life for him with playing it stubborn and making him suffer.

But, on the other hand, there wasn’t anything else he could do. There was no them. No future. A pointless bond was a useless one.

Unheard of.

“How should I deal with this?” His voice sounded hoarse and raspy. His wrist still hurt, like somebody dislocated it and then forced it back. If Jeon were here, obviously he'll say something like 'it hurts like a ' at the pain from his neck.

He still had it in front of his eyes – the moment he took off of his hand and saw the dark colour pooling around the contours of the mark, filling the previously skin with darkness, seizing and marking, leaving an ugly scar that ought to remind both of them of what they had done.

The gasps that sounded through the hallway, the wide eyes and hushed whispers engulfing them, as if the time froze and the reality shattered into million pieces. Jeon’s shocked expression when he had seen the mark on Seokjin’s wrist, the sudden revelation and a hasty touch at the back of his neck where he knew lied his mark. And then there was only the white noise, the static that drown everything else.

Was it the same for Krystal? She was so overwhelmed, so happy. When his soulmate grabbed her by her elbow, had she felt like the world fell through?

Or were they just wrong? A mistake?

Might be.

***

The class was silent. Unnaturally quiet. He heard somebody cough, disturbing the fragile balance until it died out again. His eyes watched a row by a row, looking at their hands scratching against papers, filling the questions, until he stopped at Jeon, hunched above his test, his brows furrowed.

“Fell in love again, Professor?”

Seokjin stiffened, eyes going wide, and Jeon raised his head with a quirked eyebrow – at first looking at the teacher and then his eyes fell on the person who said that.

“Mr. Kim,” the professor turned his head towards the young man as well, trying to gain back his inner equilibrium. “Have something to say?” the older man challenged.

“Nothing,” Kim Taehyung shrugged, but his lips were stretched in a wide grin, telling a wholesomely different story. “Just pointing out the obvious.”

“Oh?” Seokjin tilted his head to the side, his gaze turning icy cold.

“Just ignore him,” Jeon spoke up suddenly, clicking his pen. There was grin on his face as well and Seokjin didn’t like either of them. “He’s just jelly.” The boy pointed out.

“You wish,” Kim shot back, snorting when glancing back at Seokjin, an insult in his tone and eyes palpable. “There is nothing-,”

“Oh boy,” Jeon interrupted him with a dreamy sigh. “There so is.”

"Okay, both of you. Get out, now!" Seokjin sent them both to the hallway while planning for a murder. Feel sorry for Jeon Jungkook?

Never again.

………………………………

Thanks for reading, darling. You're adorable. Don't let anyone says otherwise. They're talking bull. Huhuhu.