Ever since the day Taehyung and Jungkook met, they were inseparable. They always hung out together after school, over break, and on weekends. If someone were looking for one, they’d also look for the other because the odds of them being together were almost one hundred percent. Jungkook would help Taehyung keep his grades up, while Taehyung kept all the school bullies away from Jungkook. They both benefited from the friendship, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

               For a few weeks, Taehyung had actually tried to teach Jungkook self-defense. Taehyung would take his best friend out to his backyard where had placed his dad’s old punching bag. They’d attempt to actually succeed, then end up laughing too much to continue. However, when they were indeed trying, Jungkook was still not doing all that well. He said it was because he wasn’t meant for fighting. Taehyung understood this, but he just wanted to make sure of one thing.

               “Just don’t ever give up. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, just don’t quit. Can you promise me that?” he had asked Jungkook.

               “I promise to never give up.” His best friend had replied.

               It had been a year since the two became best friends, and Taehyung was excited to get home from his part-time job at the grocery store so he could invite Jungkook over for Netflix binge-watching. He walked slightly faster than necessary to get home as fast as he could. The minute he stepped in the door, he rushed to his room and grabbed his phone, ignoring his mother, who not only was suspiciously home early from work, but had been calling his name to try and get his attention. He dialed the number he knew by heart and held the phone up to his ear. It rang and rang, but there was no answer. Taehyung thought that was odd, but figured that Jungkook just couldn’t hear it. He hung up and was about to try again when he heard the familiar click of his mother’s high heels outside the door. There was a soft knock on the wood, a large difference than the usual intrusion that his mother does without knocking.

               “Come in?” he called. The door opened, revealing both of his parents as they walked into the room, eyes not daring to meet Taehyung’s gaze. “Mom? Dad? What’s going on?”

               “Jungkook’s parents called me at work about an hour ago.” His mother began. He sat up straight, instantly suspicious of this news.

               “Why? Is he sick?” he asked. His mother slowly shook her head, eyes still connected to the floor. She seemed to fight internally with herself before finally making eye contact with her son.

               “Taehyung, Jungkook is missing.”

~

               After months of searching and searching, there was no luck. Jeon Jungkook was nowhere to be found. The only items they managed to recover were his wallet that contained nothing but his ID and a picture of him and Taehyung, and his cell phone, which he would always have on him, no matter where he was. As the months passed, everyone began to lose hope. Taehyung had heard his parents talking in the living room one night about they thought that the boy was probably dead by now. The teenager locked himself in his room for the rest of the night, not wanting anyone to see him silently crying into his pillow, feeling as if his heart was shattering inside his chest.

               The next day, when he got out of school, he did not go home. He knew his dad would have accidently left the news on the television as he went to answer the phone, and Taehyung couldn’t take the chance of seeing his friend’s face on the screen with the giant red letters practically screaming “MISSING” at Taehyung’s face. Instead of walking to his house, he went to the park. He sat down at one of the benches and stared at the ground. The boy stayed there for a long while, unmoving in his own world of silence. As he was staring off into space, he did not notice Kibum and his group of friends making their way towards him.

               “Hey! Taehyung!” the egotistical boy called. Taehyung looked up from the ground, finally acknowledging the approaching group. Kibum stood in front of him, confidence and narcissism practically radiating off of him. “I didn’t get a chance to fight back the other day.” He stated. Suddenly, he grabbed Taehyung by the shoulders and slammed him on the hard ground. In an instant, Kibum and all his friends were surrounding the boy, kicking him as he curled into a ball, refusing to hit or fight back.  Kibum found this reaction infuriating, so he resorted to spitting on Taehyung while throwing out every swear word and insult that his small mind could think of. “Why won’t you fight back?!” Kibum managed to growl between the kicks he was currently delivering to Taehyung’s chest. After a few minutes of no response, he realized that the male was incapable of answering with the injuries he was still receiving. Kibum motioned for his friends to stop, repeating his question to the now bloody and broken boy laying on the cold earth.

               “Why won’t you fight back?” Kibum asked once again, kneeling down so he could see Taehyung’s face underneath all his hair that was sticking to the blood running down his forehead. Taehyung turned his head slightly to look up at Kibum.

               “Why fight back when there’s nothing left to fight for?” Taehyung questioned, taking Kibum by surprise. The bully was about to reply when there was a shout.

               “You get the hell away from my son before I call the damn cops!” Taehyung’s father began running towards the group of boys, sending Kibum and his friends running in the opposite direction. He quickly kneeled down next to his beaten son, attempting to move the hair out of the teen’s face.

               “Dad? What are you doing here?” Taehyung managed to ask, pain shooting through his body with every word spoken.

               “I noticed you didn’t come home from school on time and I got worried. I knew you liked to come here once in a while but I had no idea you were being treated this way, Taehyung. Why didn’t you say anything? Or at least fight them back?”

               Taehyung didn’t have time to think about the fact that his dad had actually noticed his absence, because tears began falling down his face as he began to think of Jungkook. He had done exactly what he had told his best friend not to do. He had given up. He felt the deepest guilt he had ever experienced in a long time.

               He had let Jungkook down.