Taehyung's one day break turned into two, then three. Each day, after about 3 hours of sleep, Taehyung would be woken by Baekhyun slamming a pillow against his chest, then Baekhyun sighing and the usual, "Fine, just get your schoolwork from your friends." But that never happened. Taehyung's grades were suffering because, although his absence was only three days, school was demanding.

Taehyung always tried to force himself back to sleep to forget about all of the stress. At almost all times, Taehyung was wondering how Jungkook was faring with the situation, or if Dawon ever told J-Hope, or if things could possibly get better after the situation. Maybe I'll just exile myself from them when I go back. It's too bad that I can't stay out of school forever. Jungkook is probably really angry at me for leaving him alone. Why am I such an ? 

Taehyung didn't leave his room for the duration of the three days unless it was to use the restroom or his parents needed him. He lost his appetite and only ate dinner, but only because his parents would question him if he didn't. And he definitely didn't need that. They were already angry enough when they discovered the bruise on Taehyung's cheek.

His parents weren't the only ones worried about him, though. Before and after school hours, Taehyung's phone was pinging constantly. The text messages grew more and more frantic each day. Taehyung considered answering his friends but stopped himself before he could send a message back. Two messages caught his eye, however.

From: J-Hope hyung <3
The music project is due in 2 weeks
We still have a few things to do

From: Kookie
Can we come over to ur house today Taetae hyung?

These were the only texts that Taehyung had received that weren't asking about his well-being. Since the texts were academic related, Taehyung sat up in his bed and chose to answer.

From: Taehyung
K
When will u 2 be coming?

From: J-Hope hyung <3
Class ended 5 min ago

From: Kookie
So, in about 20 min?
We're walking

From: Taehyung
Ok

From: Kookie
R u ok btw?
The hyungs and I r rlly worried about u

From: J-Hope hyung <3
U haven't been answering us at all
Is everything ok?

Taehyung thought that this was an appropriate time to stop responding, so he did just that. Lying back down in bed, he flicked the switch on his phone to vibrate and listened as it buzzed urgently as if it was screaming for him to answer his friends. He closed his eyes. Maybe I should wash up and dress in normal clothes. Taehyung opened his eyes and looked down at his plain, oversized white t-shirt and black gym shorts and shook his head. He definitely wasn't in the mood to change his clothes; it required more energy than he had. He sighed loudly and contorted his face when he caught a whiff of his breath. I should at least brush my teeth.

He walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Peering at the clock, he figured he had enough time to change; he looked like crap in his current apparel. In the middle of changing, he heard the doorbell ring and a knock on the door. His eyes widened as he was shirtless. He shrugged; they were his friends, right? Except, one was his boyfriend and the other probably didn't want anything to do with him. Love and hesitant hate? They balanced out, so he shrugged it off. His logic was quite messed up after having 3 hours of sleep a night (at the most) and one meal each day, but it was good enough for him.

As he reached for the doorknob, he heard Jungkook and J-Hope's voices outside of the door. They were muffled murmurs, but they were decipherable.

"Do you think he's okay?"

"I really hope so. He hasn't been answering us at all recently. Something must be really wrong."

There was an uncomfortable silence after. Even Taehyung felt awkward and didn't want to answer the door. Nonetheless, he swung it open and tried his best to smile despite his lack of energy. His phony smile quickly turned into a smirk when he saw Jungkook's eyes fall on his flawless abs and a blush fall on the younger's cheeks. J-Hope, however, was less than pleased.

"Taehyung, you look awful!"

Taehyung's smirk was wiped clean from his face, "W-What?"

J-Hope stepped into the house and removed his shoes whilst scolding Taehyung, "What happened to you?! You wouldn't answer our calls or texts and made us worry for you! Good thing we're here to check on you!"

J-Hope turned and pulled Jungkook into the building. Jungkook shook his head slightly and focused on Taehyung's face. The older had terrible dark circles under his exhausted-looking eyes which were also slightly puffy and his cheeks were slightly sunken. "Hyung, are you okay?"

Taehyung nodded and muttered in a monotonous tone, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Jungkook winced slightly at his cold tone and asked cautiously, "W-Well, can you at least put on a shirt?"

Taehyung chuckled awkwardly, "Yeah, you came in the middle of me changing."

J-Hope, who was still pissed, shooed Taehyung toward his room, "Then go finish! This guy, seriously." He turned around and crossed his arms, a scowl on his face.

Jungkook was still blushing wildly and oggled Taehyung's back as he walked. Suddenly, Taehyung turned to look over his shoulder and winked at Jungkook. Taehyung smirked to himself as he saw Jungkook's face darken dramatically and the younger cover his face in embarrassment. 

J-Hope huffed as he tapped his foot impatiently, "I can't believe him." He turned to Jungkook, "What could've caused this?"

Jungkook's face visibly grew sadder. He had a slight hunch of what was happening. It was me. All me. I yelled at him and this is what happened. Why did I do that? 

J-Hope noticed the melancholy look on Jungkook's face, "Hey, are you okay?"

Jungkook quickly tried to rid himself of his sadness, "Y-Yeah. I'm fine."

J-Hope crossed his arms, "That's what Tae said."

Jungkook shrugged, "You should ask him about it."

J-Hope sighed, "He won't tell us, you know that. I'm just worried about him. Why is he acting like this?"

Taehyung came out in a slightly sheer, white shirt. The three sat at the circular dining table to discuss the remaining parts of the project. However, J-Hope's objective of the meeting was not to finish the song but to find out the cause of Taehyung's sudden behavior. During the rather quiet and unproductive meeting, J-Hope scrutinized Taehyung's every action. 

Taehyung wasn't his usual, bubbly self. Normally in these situations, Taehyung's mouth would be running nonstop. However, he barely spoke a word. He wouldn't laugh, either, unless it was a small chuckle or a soft smile. These small differences were enough to set J-Hope off. He now knew that something was definitely wrong with his boyfriend, and he was going to find out was it was.

~.~.~.~.~

The next day, Taehyung returned to school. His condition wasn't much better than before and his friends immediately questioned his puffy eyes, dark circles, and sunken cheeks. But his response for all of the questions was exactly the same.

"I'm fine, really. I don't see anything different, maybe it's because you haven't seen me in the past few days."

But J-Hope knew damn well that that was the farthest thing from the truth. Each class that he had with Taehyung was spent examining his every move. With every passing period, J-Hope noticed something different. Although Taehyung never really paid attention in class, he was always usually doodling in his notebook or folding pieces of paper into intricate figurines.

However, this time, Taehyung stared blankly at the board or out the window without a hint of happiness on his face. His eyes had a faraway look, sorrow locked in his pupils. His lips were slightly curved down as if they were frowning on instinct. Even his hair was drooping and fell straight on his head.

This was unsettling enough and made J-Hope even more determined to find what was wrong with Taehyung. 

After a few classes without Taehyung, J-Hope came up with a few theories:

Taehyung had family issues and was upset about it but didn't want to tell anyone. If he had family issues, why would he stay home all day?

Taehyung was being bullied by some in class. But he has at least one of us in each class and the only time he's without us is when he's in the car with Baekhyun.

These were the only two things that J-Hope had came up with and they were both eliminated fairly quickly. But things started to take a turn in PE: the one class that J-Hope shared with both Taehyung and Jungkook. In the beginning of PE every day, the class would sit and listen to the teacher. Today, J-Hope chose to sit behind Taehyung. He carefully watched Taehyung once again and discovered something completely new. 

Taehyung's expression was the same as the other classes: sad and mentally absent. However, this time around, J-Hope found that Taehyung was a bit more alert and present in the class. One thing shocked J-Hope, though.

Taehyung was staring at Jungkook for the longest time. 

Throughout the day, Taehyung's eyes were unreadable and J-Hope was only able to identify pure sorrow.  However, this time around, Taehyung was looking at Jungkook longingly and apologetically. J-Hope's brows furrowed. Did something happen between them?

J-Hope suddenly felt pitiful for his boyfriend. Although it was clear as crystal that J-Hope was Taehyung's best friend, J-Hope knew well enough that Jungkook was a close second. Thoughts began flooding into his mind. Is this because of me? What could've happened? Did they get in an argument? Is Jungkook trying to keep his distance because I got angry? But that was so long ago, why could he possibly be avoiding Taehyung? J-Hope spotted Jungkook turning his head around and immediately caught Taehyung's gaze. Flustered, the younger whipped his head back toward the teacher. 

In the middle of matches during the class, Taehyung would usually be present and playing to the best of his ability. But today Taehyung stood in one spot for the duration of the entire game, staring towards the court Jungkook was playing at. At least, until the football made hard contact with his forehead. 

Taehyung was immediately knocked down from the hit. He cried out in pain and held the area that was bashed. Taehyung's team, the opposing team, and the teacher ran to Taehyung. 

"Oh my gosh, Taehyung, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to hit you!" J-Hope exclaimed, his voice full of worry.

Taehyung nodded in understanding, "It's okay."

But it wasn't. Taehyung's head was hurting a lot and a bruise was already starting to form. Taehyung sighed quietly. Great, another bruise. My parents are going to kill me.

~.~.~.~.~

"Where's Taehyung? I thought he came to school today," Namjoon noticed as he arrived at the table during lunch.

"He's here, but he's at the nurse's office," J-Hope mumbled. "I accidentally hit him with a football during PE."

"Is that what happened?" Jungkook asked with concern. "I was wondering why there was such a big crowd during class today."

J-Hope nodded, "I feel so bad. Now he's going to have two bruises."

"We should go see him," Jimin said, already packing his things up into his backpack.

The others agreed and walked to the nurse's office. J-Hope couldn't help but feel even more guilty. Gosh, Taehyung already looks horrible as he is now. He's going to go home so much worse than before. Maybe I shouldn't have pressured him into coming to school today.

As they approached the door, J-Hope couldn't help but notice Jungkook running towards Taehyung. Jungkook cupped Taehyung's cheeks and examined his face carefully. Taehyung chuckled softly as he saw Jungkook's concern.

"Hyung, are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"I'm okay, Kookie. Don't worry."

Suga intervened, "No offense, Tae, but that's what you've been saying these past few days and you look like ."

Jin lightly slapped Suga's head, "Yoongi!"

Namjoon defended Suga, "He's right. Taehyung's been gone and he comes back with circles under his eyes that are darker than the sky at night and cheeks that are more sunken than the Titanic in the ocean. You can't just say that he looks 'just fine.'"

Jin sighed, "Fine. Finefinefinefinefine."

Jimin crouched next to Jungkook and said, "Tae, is something wrong? You can tell us, we're your best friends."

Taehyung shook his head, "Nothing's wrong. I promise."

Jungkook looked down sadly which wasn't missed by J-Hope, who was (once again) scrutinizing every person's every move. Jungkook and Taehyung gave each other a knowing look but looked away a second later.

J-Hope chose to finally talk, "Why are you two acting so weird?" J-Hope pointed between Jungkook and Taehyung. "Did something happen between you two?"

As Jimin, Suga, and Namjoon stared at J-Hope in confusion, Jin noticeably froze up and looked down at the ground. J-Hope looked at Jin but decided not to put him under any pressure at the moment. Jungkook and Taehyung answered in perfect unison, "No."

J-Hope furrowed his brows at the two, suspicious, "Are you sure?"

Once again in perfect unison, "Yeah."

J-Hope let it go, "Okay. If you say so."

He swore that he heard three sighs of relief after that.

~.~.~.~.~

"Dawon-noona?"

"Yeah?" Dawon answered, poking her head out of the door to her room.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You're friends with Krystal, right?" J-Hope asked, walking into his sister's room.

"Yeah."

"And she's friends with Baekhyun?"

"I think so?"

J-Hope plopped himself down on the beanbag on the floor. He sighed loudly, capturing Dawon's full attention. She turned around in her swivel chair, "Are you okay?"

She suddenly remembered her phone conversation with Krystal. "Taehyung...Taehyung cheated on him." Dawon opened to say something, but then remembered Krystals' request. "Please don't tell Hoseok."

Even though the action was small, J-Hope caught it. He hopped up in one fluid motion and pointed at his older sister, "Ha! You know what's happening, don't you?"

Dawon's eyes widened, startled. Not knowing what to do, she slapped J-Hope's hand away, "Don't point at me like that!"

J-Hope craned his neck at her, "Tell me, noona. Taehyung's been acting really weird lately and I need to know why."

Dawon visibly softened when she heard her brother. J-Hope continued, looking at the ground, "He hasn't been answering my texts or the group's texts. He hasn't been at school for the past few days. Today he finally came back, but it was like he still wasn't there. He didn't pay attention in any of his classes and he looked horrible, noona. His eyes were puffy and had dark circles and he looked a bit skinnier. He wasn't happy either. He barely smiled and his eyes looked so sad."

J-Hope was tearing up and turned to look at his sister, "Noona, I'm scared for him. Why is he acting like this?"

Dawon opened again, but closed it and shook her head. J-Hope pleaded, "Please tell me, noona! I don't why he looks so depressed."

Dawon shook her head, "I can't tell you, Hoseok. Sorry."

J-Hope nodded in understanding, despite his sniffling, "It's okay." He sighed and sat back down in the beanbag, "I just feel like everyone's hiding something from me. Taehyung knows. Jungkook knows. I'm pretty sure Jin-hyung knows, too. They wouldn't tell me, though. What if they don't want to be friends with me anymore?"

Dawon couldn't take it anymore. Her little brother was in front of her, worrying about his boyfriend who didn't love him in the same way anymore and J-Hope was crying about him.

Dawon hesitantly opened , her voice cracking, "Hoseok-ah?"

J-Hope lifted his head. Dawon almost broke down in tears. He looked so innocent and worried, just like when they were little. He looked up at her with shiny eyes and his head slightly tilted to the left. He looked just like he did when he was a toddler. Dawon frowned sadly; her brother didn't deserve to suffer like this. He was always so happy and gave so much, but this is what he was given in return.

Dawon tried again, her eyes tearing up, "Hoseok, please don't be sad about this. But..."

A single tear ran down her cheek. She didn't want this for her brother. 

"Taehyung cheated on you."

~.~.~.~.~

J-Hope was overcome by so many emotions at once. He was heartbroken, shocked, and angry. But the worst part was that he knew it was going to happen. The inevitability was far too much to ignore. Yet he did. J-Hope knew ever since the moment that he and Taehyung agreed to take Jungkook into their group that Taehyung would end up falling for the younger. And after a few moments, J-Hope felt strangely peaceful.

It explained everything. J-Hope realized that Taehyung didn't mean to hurt him, he was just driven by his own desires. J-Hope had two choices. He could get angry and lose all of his friends and his best friend in the process. Or he could be the good best friend he was and help. J-Hope remembered the one quote that was repeated again and again in movies or on the internet.

If you love someone, let them go.

And his #1 concern had remained the same as the rest of the week. Taehyung. J-Hope told himself that he had to make Taehyung happy again. J-Hope quickly accepted the fact that he, by himself, couldn't do that anymore. Taehyung loved Jungkook and J-Hope understood that. But just because Taehyung had his eye on someone else didn't mean that he was abandoning J-Hope. It was made painfully clear that Taehyung regretted his actions so much that he felt the need to exile himself from the others. J-Hope decided that they would break up as soon as possible, just to make things better again.  

~.~.~.~.~

Taehyung stared at his reflection in the mirror. He hated it. He hated himself. He looked at his cheeks which we were as hollow as the world's largest caves, his eyes which were as lackluster as the pebbles on the sidewalk, and his bruises which both signified moments of his stupidity. He stared at himself until he couldn't stand it.

Tears began running down Taehyung's face. J-Hope hyung doesn't deserve this. He should have someone so much better than me. Taehyung hated himself for falling out of love, for cheating, and for hurting the ones he loved. I still love J-Hope. But I love him as much as I love Jimin, Suga-hyung, Namjoon-hyung, and Jin-hyung. He raised his hand to punch the mirror when his phone screen brightened suddenly.

From: J-Hope hyung <3
Hey, can we meet up?
I think we should talk about a few things

Taehyung slowly lowered his arm. His fingers flew across the keyboard on his phone.

From: Tae Bae
Ok
U can come over if u want

He held his breath. What could J-Hope want? Taehyung wanted so desperately to not hurt his boyfriend any more than he already had. 20 minutes later, J-Hope was at the door. Taehyung opened the door and, instead of being smothered by one of J-Hope's bear hugs like usual, he was greeted with a sad smile. Taehyung slightly smiled back, unable to read the expression on J-Hope's face.

"Come in," Taehyung gestured. J-Hope stepped in and removed his shoes and the two moved to the couch.

"Is anyone home besides you?"

Taehyung shook his head, "My parents don't come home from work until a few hours and Baekhyun-hyung is out with his friends." Taehyung detected the slight sigh of relief that escaped J-Hope's mouth. Tilting his head slightly to the left, Taehyung asked, "Is everything okay?"

J-Hope chuckled slightly. Taehyung furrowed his brows. J-Hope never chuckled unless he was upset; he either giggled or exploded in full-blown laughter. "I should be asking you that."

"What?"

J-Hope started on his 'speech', "You've been acting really weird these past few days. When I finally saw you after those three days that you were absent, you looked like a wreck. And you look even worse now that I made you come to school. I can't help but to think it's because of me."

Taehyung was shocked at the other's words, "What are you saying, hyung?"

J-Hope inhaled a shaky breath, "I-I think we should break up. I can't make you happy anymore and I haven't been able to for a while now."

Taehyung's lips parted, startled. When a lone tear slipped out of J-Hope's right eye, Taehyung's soul shattered. "Don't say that, hyung. You're my best friend."

J-Hope nodded. Of course, he was Taehyung's best friend, he would always be there for the younger no matter what. Taehyung swiped at J-Hope's tear, activating his colored vision. It was a lot more faded now, nothing was as vibrant as before. J-Hope continued, "You like Jungkook now."

Taehyung's eyes widened, but J-Hope was quick to reassure him, "And I'm okay with that. I knew that nothing would be the same after our fight. And I just want you to know that I'm not angry that you kissed him."

Taehyung broke. Hundreds, thousands, millions of tears flooded out of Taehyung's eyes. He lunged at J-Hope and wrapped his arms around him, "Hyung, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just so confused and I did it out of impulse, I don't know what came over me. Please, please, please forgive me, hyung."

Taehyung sobbed and coughed up more and more tears. J-Hope rubbed Taehyung's back until his cries turned into soft whimpers. "It's okay, Tae. I'm not mad. I just want you to know that I'll always be here for you no matter what and that you'll always be my best friend."

Taehyung nodded into J-Hope's chest. He sighed loudly, "Jungkook will never forgive me. Not after I did that to him."

J-Hope shook his head, "He will, I promise. Do you see the way he looks at you when you can't see? Or how he was the first to run to you when you were in the nurse's office? He likes you just as much as you like him."

Taehyung took a deep breath and exhaled, "Hyung, why aren't you angry at me? I cheated on you and made you worry about me, shouldn't you be at least a bit upset?"

"I knew something was wrong when you wouldn't answer our texts or ask for the school work that you missed. You were my #1 concern this whole week. You have no idea how much I was watching you today. It was almost stalker-ish. And I saw that you wouldn't stop staring at Jungkook and how Jungkook stared at you at lunch and in music. At the nurse's office, I knew found out that Jin-hyung was in on it, too. But strangely, I didn't care. You being all mopey and crap made me really worried. I just want to make you happy again, Taehyung."

"I wish I could do the same for you, hyung."

The two gazed at each other for the longest time. Things were different a month ago. A month ago, they were sure that they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Yet here they were now, right after their break up.

Finally, Taehyung broke the silence, "This went a lot better than it could have, hm?"

J-Hope smiled, "Yeah. I'm happy about that."

For the first time that week Taehyung genuinely smiled, too. "How do I make this up to Jungkook, though? He's really angry at me."

"Just talk it out with him," J-Hope leaned closer to whisper, "If you ask me I think you should ask him out, too. He's head over heels for you, Tae."

Taehyung blinked in pleasant surprise, "What?"

"Just do it. Do it for me, Tae."

That...wasn't bad. Wasn't good either, though ^__^;; But yeah...vhope is dead now. YAY!!! Honestly, I don't ship vhope...at all. So if you thought that, well, oops. I hope you aren't too angry.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, see you next update! (This week's author's note is a lot shorter bc I'm really tired and don't have that much to say :P)

Love,

Kilotons