Chapter 10 – My Love
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This day was never supposed to come.

     Taehyung woke to see Jimin lightly shaking him. The two shared warm, morning smiles, and for a split second – as short as his thought was – he imagined waking up to that sparkling eye-smile every day. That’d be nice. He nodded.

“What’s up, hyung? It’s Saturday right? No school…” He asked as he brang his arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight.

Jimin hummed a yes before giggling and continuing to shake Taehyung like he was his older brother by many years, and honestly sometimes – most of the time really – he did feel like he was the older of the two.

“Taehyung-ah, let’s go out and play somewhere.”  

“Again?”

Jimin hummed another yes.

“Fine. Where?”

Jimin paused for a moment as a shy smile flashed over his face. “W-what about…the amusement park?”

Taehyung lifted his arm away from his face and looked up at Jimin. “Oh, why do you want to go there?” He asked with genuine curiosity.

Jimin’s eyes wandered around with slight anxiousness, but the good type. His fingers tangled among each other and just by glancing over him Taehyung knew that he had more to say.

“Oh…well, it’ll be fun, won’t it? And besides, we haven’t been there before.”

“You mean we haven’t been there together before.”

Jimin didn’t answer his comment and Taehyung dismissed his careless remark then and there; he just didn’t expect himself to not be the only boy his age that had never been to an amusement park.

“Y-yeah, that.” Jimin chuckled out, “Well, they say it’s best to go in the afternoon. So…we’ll leave then?”

Taehyung, still lying on his bed in an unexpectedly y position, shot Jimin a smile and nodded like a good friend, “Sure.”

[ BG MUSIC ]

     It was noon and Taehyung was sitting alone in the homeroom catching up on homework. His phone, sitting by his glass of water, vibrated and he continued with his work for a few more minutes before bothering to check the message.

“16-1-11, 19-10, 15-10-12”

He brushed his eyes over the text before closing it and pushing his phone aside.

As his lips bounced off each other softly while he mumbled out words he wrote down, he subconsciously let the name hidden in the text float out of his mouth.

“P-pak…Park Jimi-Ji…min…” Park Jimin? Taehyung sat up and grabbed his phone, opening the text again with lightning speed. His heart fell as he dropped back into the seat, covering a hand over his mouth. His jaw turned stiff and his eyes cared nothing about getting rid of the conflict that floated within them. He got up from his seat, completely disregarding the pitching sound the chair foot made with the floor, and dashed into his room where he dialled his father’s number.

Jimin was in the bathroom at the time so he tried to make the call quick.

“Come on, pick up…” he mumbled impatiently as his foot tapped the floor loudly, “Father!”

He paused when he thought about how to put his next words. “W-what… How… I…”

“Son, I have no time- Be quiet! Son, I don’t…”

Taehyung’s eyes furrowed when he heard muffles on the other side of the call as well as sobs. He knew exactly who was crying on the other end and he wanted to know why. Right now.

“Is that mother crying? Why is she-“

“-Taehyung, just listen to me. Just do what you need to do and be done with it.”

“No, but father, I can’t-“ he stepped to the corner of the room further away from the bathroom door and cupped his free hand beside his mouth, “I…I don’t think I can do this mission.”

“Well then…”

There was a long, long silence as Taehyung waited for an answer. The sobs in the background did not lessen and he felt his chest constrict each time he pictured his beautiful mother’s face in tears.

“I suggest you go through with it son. I don’t think you’d like the alternative.”

The call ended before he had a chance to say anything more. With a confused yet determined mind, he grabbed a jacket and ran to the door. Jimin exited the bathroom as he did, and Taehyung stopped for a short moment as he shot Jimin an apologetic look.

“Hyung! I’m so sorry! Something came up, I’ll be back soon okay?” He shut the door with a heavy heart and left the room.

Jimin remained by the door, blank-faced as he glanced down at his neat clothes. Letting out a sigh, his mood turned cautious when his eyes fell on Taehyung’s small backpack sitting at the foot of his bed. After a moment of hesitation, he walked over and sat down before the bag. He crossed his legs and pulled it closer to him, opening it to fumble carefully through its contents. Water, chewing gum, tissue packets; it was all normal stuff. The only thing unusual was the leather casing of something rather large and unexpectedly heavy. Jimin pulled it out slowly and ran his eyes over the long, thick black material. There was a slight smell it gave off that Jimin was unsure of. He placed it on his lap and untied the rope keeping it scrolled up, eyes furrowing and mouth gaping when he saw just what it was concealing.

Two shiny, deadly-sharp, twin daggers; one even had dark blood on it. Jimin could tell just by looking that the blood was both new and old, that the blade hadn’t been cleaned after each…whatever it was used for. Jimin felt his heart beat race fast as his breath became heavy and hard. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Taehyung would have these harmful objects for, especially what he would use them for. Then an unpleasant memory from a few weeks ago came to him: the blood-stained whip post.

Gosh Taehyung-ah…what have you been through in your life?

“Jimin hyung! Can I come in?”

The raven-haired gasped and quickly rolled up the casing without tying it back up and slipped it into Taehyung’s bag, closing it and throwing it to the wall by the bed. “W-wait! Give me a minute!” He stumbled to his feet and glanced down at the floor just to make sure no evidence of his personal-belonging-invade was left behind. Taking a moment to calm his breathing, he walked to the door and opened it to greet Jeongkook’s bright face. His face rose in surprise when he saw the large, cream-covered cake in the taller’s hands.

The younger smiled and let out a happy giggle, “Happy birthday hyung.”