The night passed by so slowly, that it felt like the sun didn’t want to show itself anymore to the two troubled souls. ‘Follow your heart’, they both thought while lying back to back on their shared bed and their breath echoed in their room. Luckily, these half-asleep boys were both awakened somehow by the voice of Taehyung’s mum: “It’s time to wake up, boys! Breakfast is ready!”.

Taehyung got up first, while Jungkook followed. They ate silently, without looking at each other’s faces. Awkwardness at its finest! And to break that deadly silence was the cheerful voice of Jimin, who had just arrived:

“Taehyung-ah! Hurry up, we need to go!”.

“What?! Where the heck are we going?”, the boy asked confused. But before he could make another question he had already found himself being dragged by Jimin to his room so that he could get dressed. 

They both left the house hurriedly, while Jungkook was still trying to understand what was going on and even though he wanted to ask, he couldn’t find his voice to do so. 

“Maybe they’re just hanging out for a bit…” – Tae’s mum said with a smile, as if she read the boy’s mind and added: “What do you think about spending some quality time with me, huh?”.

Jungkook nodded in response and smiled at the woman. 

They talked and talked for hours. She told him about her life with Taehyung, so then the young man could expand his knowledge about the other one. He also shared some parts of his own life, about his parents and some of his past struggles. It was the first time he could open up a little bit, but there was something about Taehyung’s mother that made him feel warm and safe, the same kind of feelings that Tae gave him.

Meanwhile, Taehyung and Jimin were in a coffee shop. 

“So are you finally telling why we’re here?” – Taehyung said glaring at the other boy.

“Oh common! Calm down, we’re just here to talk.” – Jimin replied while giggling and sipping his drink.

“Then tell me what it is about!” – he almost yelled.

“Okay, okay… We’re here to talk about you and Jungkook.” 

“A-about me and J-jungkook?” – Taehyung stuttered as if his mind was buffering for a second.

“Oooh your voice has smoothened huh? I see, so I tackled your soft spot?” – Jimin remarked, chuckling again while raising his eyebrows.

“Shut up, Park Jimin! This conversation is over!” – he exclaimed, while standing up from his seat. But before he could leave, Jimin had already locked his hand on Tae’s wrist pulling him back on his chair.

“Okay, sorry. But maybe this is a serious matter… Just listen to me, okay?” – Jimin said and added: “Kookie and I talked last night and he seems slightly concerned about you.”

“Concerned? A-about me?” – Taehyung asked confused.

“Yeah, he said that you’re less talkative and weird lately. So he thought that perhaps you have some problems… And he told me to talk to you.”

“He asked you t-to talk to me?” – Taehyung said, while staring at his drink.

“Yes! But can you please stop repeating everything that I say? You’re like a parrot! And you’re just making it more obvious…” – Jimin replied with a smirk.

“Obvious what?!” – Tae snapped into reality.

“Obvious that you like him! Hahaha!”

“WHAT?! I don’t like him, OKAY?” – Taehyung responded with wide eyes. 

“Oh yeah, you don’t like him, because you already LOVE him!” – Jimin and added: “Stop lying Kim Taehyung! I know you and I know that you become an emotionally constipated dude when you’re in love.”

And that’s when Tae knew that he couldn’t lie anymore and he decided to spill everything to Jimin, his feelings for Jungkook and his worries.

“You don’t have to worry about anything, Taetae. I’m sure that he likes you too. Just be yourself and everything will be okay.” – Jimin said, while flashing him a reassuring warm smile that could reach his eyes. 

~~~~

When Taehyung came back home he found his mum and Jungkook preparing lunch and after eating Tae said: “Kookie, would you like to go to the retirement home with me later?”

Jungkook was quite taken aback by the sudden invitation, because of the awkwardness that morning, but he still nodded and smiled shyly. 

Taehyung’s mum bid them goodbye, since she had to visit one of her relatives out of town and she wouldn’t be home for a couple of days. 

When they reached the retirement home, Tae was immediately welcomed by the elderly people living there. Some of them even embraced him as if he was their own grandson. They were all happy to see him. 

“So Taehyung-ie, who is this good-looking young man?” – an old man asked out of nowhere, while pointing at Jungkook, who was left out of the frame for a few minutes.

“Oh I almost forgot to introduce him…  He’s Jungkook, by the way!” – Taehyung said with a wide smile.

“Is he the One?” – a grandma asked curiously.

Taehyung let out a shy giggle, while glancing at Jungkook’s direction to see his reaction, but the latter was just spacing out, not knowing what they were talking about.

“Excuse me, young man.” – another woman said as she called Jk’s attention and added: “Please don’t ever hurt our precious Taehyung-ie, okay?” 

Jungkook was dumbfounded and thought: ‘What the heck are they saying? N-no way! Don’t tell me they think I-I’m his boyf-‘

“But he’s not my boyfriend, halmeonnie…” – Taehyung replied, interrupting Jungkook’s flow of thoughts. “Not just yet…” – he then mumbled with a smile. Luckily the other boy didn’t seem to have heard it and Tae managed to change the topic.

After a couple of hours, both of them bid their goodbye to the elderly people, who hugged them so warmly and asked them to come back again next time. 

“Hyung, are we going back home?” – Jungkook asked as they made their way to the bus stop.

“No, we still have to go somewhere…” – Tae responded.

“Where?”

“Secret!” – Taehyung exclaimed mischievously, while flashing his boxy smile.   

And some minutes later they finally arrived at their destination. 

Jungkook found himself surrounded by some people, he assumed that they were like more than 20 in that room and they were sitting in circle, most of them looked younger than him while a few looked a bit older, maybe in their 30s. On the floor there was a banner saying ‘Finding the way to your heart’, something that made him curious. Taehyung greeted everyone in the room and they all greeted him back and some of them also shook his hand formally. 

“Hello everyone! It’s always nice seeing all of you here.” – Taehyung said, while the audience stopped talking to listen to him. 

“Guys, I’ll take this opportunity to introduce you, Jungkook. He can be a new member of our group if he wants to, so let us all convince him to be with us…” – he added as he looked at Jungkook. 

“Nice to meet you” – the crowd said in unison. 

Taehyung then continued on presenting their group which is as a matter of fact a support group. 

“Everybody in this room is dealing with every sort of problem and our aim is to help these people who has some difficulties in socializing or building relationships not only by opening up to other people but also to themselves…” – he proceeded, but then Jungkook stood up from his seat and made his way out of the room. Taehyung excused himself and ran behind the other boy.

“Kookie! Wait!” – he exclaimed panting and when he was finally able to stop Jungkook he asked: “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Oh yes! I AM ABSOLUTELY OKAY!” – Jungkook replied angrily.

“W-what are you-” – Tae couldn’t even finish his sentence since Jk was already interrupting him: “I said that I AM OKAY and I don’t need your freaking help! Go back to your students and help them fixing their lives, because I don’t need to fix mine. And YOU DON’T have the right to control my life!” 

After spitting those words, Jungkook walked away, while Taehyung froze in his position, completely taken aback by the boy’s words and behaviour. 

Jungkook wandered around until