It’d been almost a week since the party and Taehyung still couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. Like he expected, Yuna had ended up asking him about Jae-eun and why he left early, so he did the only safe thing possible; which was lie. Saying that he’d felt sick and decided to go without her. It felt like to do, but he had to. And other than his secret, he didn’t want those girls to target Yuna. If he had to be the one in the line of fire for her, he’d do it no matter what.

“I know people just like you Taehyung, people that always put others before themselves. You’ll never be happy if you keep doing like that.”

He groaned, why did his mind always keep going back to Jungkook? He did one thing and suddenly that was all he could think about. Taehyung put his hand on his head tentatively. It was just one small gesture, it didn’t mean anything. But it wasn’t just the gesture, it was what happened after it that made Taehyung’s heart twist.

His thoughts stopped then. What the hell was he doing? This was Jungkook for heaven’s sake, he wasn’t like that at all. He didn’t care about anyone but himself and only used others for his own twisted pleasure. Taehyung had seen it first hand, so why was he starting to get tricked just like everyone else?

That was the weird influence he had, there was just something so intoxicating about him. But he wasn’t going to be fooled, he wasn’t an idiot. There was nothing between them, he liked Yuna. He needed to stop being so ing delusional.

Jungkook had pretty much started pretending like he didn’t exist nowadays anyways. It wasn’t really like anything had changed from before, but this time it felt different; more hostile. And he didn’t understand it.

“Aish,” Yoongi groaned then, slamming his book closed. “I’m seriously about to murder myself.”

Hoseok yawned and stretched out his arms. “I feel you bro, if I have to study anymore my head might explode.”

Taehyung looked down blankly at his own notes, he’d barely taken up a page and they’d been in the library for almost half an hour.

Yoongi sighed, closing his eyes. “I was so stressed out this morning I forgot to make myself coffee and now I can’t even function properly. I’d go out and buy some, but I’m way too lazy, I can’t even bring myself to move.”

“Yeah, I could go for something to eat too, I’m starving.” Hoseok glanced over at Taehyung, giving a sweet smile. “Hey Tae, wanna drive us so we could get lunch?”

“Sorry, you guys are on your own. I need to study.” He replied. “If I don’t pass my exams, I won’t get into a good university and-”

“OK, we got it Taehyung. A simple no would do.” Yoongi interrupted and he glared at him. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean to make you mad. Do you wanna hold hands to make up?”

Taehyung tried hard not to get flustered. “No.”

Hoseok pulled out his phone then and smiled brightly at his screen.

“What are you so smiley about?” Yoongi asked him curiously.

“Misun, we’ve been talking back and forth ever since our date.” He look completely smitten as he spoke, Taehyung wanted to relate so badly.

“Oh,” Yoongi tapped his pencil boredly against his notebook. “Soojung and I have sort of been in contact too, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”

“Aw, that man.” Hoseok looked at Taehyung. “What about you?”

He shook his head, not making eye contact with him. “Ah no, I saw Jisu as more of a friend. But I met another girl after though-”

“What? Who?”

“Jae-eun, I’m not really sure what her last name was.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened. “Wait you met up with Jae-eun Sung?”

Yoongi frowned. “When the hell did this happen? Do you know how high class she is?”

“Uh, sort of I guess. And it was at one of Jungkook’s parties-”

“Wait, you were at one of Jungkook’s parties and you didn’t tell us?” Hoseok interrupted again.

“Yeah, Yuna had invited me the other day, but it was only so I could meet up with her. I didn’t really think it would be important to tell you guys,” Taehyung glanced over randomly towards the entrance of the library then and noticed a group of girls walk in at the same moment, his heart froze.

“Why the hell wouldn’t it be important to tell us? Do you know how lucky you are? I-” He drowned Hoseok out slowly and saw the girl that had thrown champagne on him. Since when did she go to this school? They were with a few guys, one of them was holding her hand. Taehyung felt nauseous when she suddenly caught his eye before he could look away. She whispered something in the boy’s ear and he looked over at him.

“Taehyung, what’s wrong? You literally look like you saw a ghost or something.” Yoongi’s voice cut in then and he quickly looked away, scrambling to grab his notes.

“S-Sorry, I have to use the washroom.” He stood up. Why was he so scared? It was just one girl, there wasn’t much she could do to him. But at the same time, there really was. She wasn’t the only one who was jealous and angry that Jungkook was dating Yuna over them. And they all pretty much knew by now that he was her brother. But he’d made the decision to not say anything about their first encounter, for Yuna’s sake. And he’d continue to do it, but it still scared him. What could their envy influence them to do?

He left the library quickly, but noticed almost immediately that the boy holding hands with the girl was following him. Taehyung clenched his teeth, what the hell did she tell him? His heart pounded in his ears as he walked towards the washroom, not really sure where else to go so the encounter wouldn’t look so obvious. He locked the stall quickly, trying to control his breathing but it wasn’t working. Maybe if he just stayed in there for a while, he’d leave him alone and-

The door rattled suddenly then, someone was kicking it in. “Hey, get the hell out of there already, I need to talk to you.”

Taehyung let out a shaky breath and opened the door carefully, standing face to face with him. He was a lot more intimidating up close, Taehyung felt small underneath his gaze. He hated the feeling, it made him sick.

The guy grabbed his shirt suddenly then and slammed him back against the wall. “My girlfriend just told me you were checking her out, is that right?”

His stomach flipped and he closed his eyes. “I-I wasn’t looking at her-”

“So are you saying she’s lying or something?” He snapped angrily.

“No-” The boy kneed him in the stomach and he doubled over in pain. Taehyung tried to stand back up but he punched him hard in the side of the head, knocking him over again. How was this even happening, how did things escalate this quickly?

He clutched his shirt tightly. “If I ever catch you looking at her again, there’ll be worse where that came from face.” He spit and pushed Taehyung back on the floor, leaving without another word.

Taehyung trembled as he sat back up, holding onto himself.

Someone walked into the washroom then and he looked up, it was Jimin. He was on the phone and frowned at him.

“Hey, I gotta go OK? Yeah,” He hung up slowly and studied him. “Are you OK?”

“I-I’m fine.” Taehyung forced himself to stand up, but he lost his balance quickly. Jimin caught onto him before he fell.

“You don’t look fine.” He gave him a worried look. “You look like you’re about to pass out, we need to get you some help.”

Taehyung wanted to argue, but he was in too much pain. His head was throbbing and it hurt to breathe.

“You’re Yuna’s brother right?”

He nodded. “Yes, but please don’t tell her you found me like this. I-I’m just sick.”

Jimin propped him up and they walked out of the washroom together. “I don’t know what the problem is, but do you really think it’s OK to keep this from her?”

Students were watching them as they moved through. Taehyung dropped his head, not wanting to bring anymore attention to himself as it was. When they got to the infirmary, Jimin helped him sit down on one of the cots carefully. “Lie down OK? Someone should be here soon.”

Jimin stepped out of the room as Taehyung lay down slowly. He wanted to cry and scream so badly, but he held it in. It felt useless at this point, he was trapped in this mess by himself and there was no way out of it. The girl had set him up just so he could get hurt. But it was either Yuna or him.

He promised his dad he would protect her, and that’s what he was going to do. Maybe he’d settle for some that she wanted him to get along with, but he wouldn’t settle for anyone trying to bring physical harm to her.

“I know people just like you Taehyung, people that always put others before themselves. You’ll never be happy if you keep doing like that.”

He clenched his teeth and buried his face in the pillow, holding back tears again. him, he didn’t know anything.

But deep down, Taehyung knew he was right. He wasn’t happy always putting Yuna before himself; but there was nothing else he could do. He just couldn’t be happy when he felt like he was obligated to her.

Taehyung closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves, but he eventually drifted off instead. The pain hurting more in his heart than in his head.

He was awoken by her voice. It was faint at first but zoned in slowly. “Taehyung? Are you awake?” She asked softly.

His eyes flickered open and the headache rippled through his skull. He winced, but managed to focus in on Yuna who was sitting at the end of the bed, looking at him worriedly. The nurse was standing by him as well, and someone else was in the corner of the room. Taehyung blinked, it was Jungkook. Jimin was sitting down in a chair by him, most likely feeling obligated to stay to explain what happened.

The nurse bent down then and expected something on his face. “He has a pretty large bruise by his eye, it looked like something hit him pretty hard which is why he was so out of it. He most likely has a mild concussion, but he took a pretty long rest and the hit doesn’t look too serious. I think he’ll be OK.”

Yuna nodded in response.

Taehyung wanted to yell at Jimin for contacting her and Jungkook to come there, but he had no energy.

“You should get him home so he can get some more rest,” The nurse continued. “I’m going to go down to the office to pick up some documents, but you can leave whenever you want.”

“OK.” She said and Taehyung watched the nurse as she left, accidentally catching Jungkook’s eyes who was giving him another one of his annoying emotionless gazes. Taehyung looked away.

Yuna spoke up slowly. “Jimin said he found you in the washroom, what the hell happened Taehyung?”

He closed his eyes. “I just wasn’t feeling well, and I think I might have fell over in the bathroom or something. I don’t know, I can’t really remember.”

She touched the bruise by his eye and he winced again. “Was this from you falling over? It looks like someone hit you Taehyung.”

“N-No one hit me.” He whispered, his voice shaky.

“You’re lying.” Taehyung froze, her voice was hard. “Your voice always gets shaky when you lie. I know this. Who did this to you Taehyung?”

Jimin sat up then. “Come to think of it, I actually saw someone leave the washroom as I was going in-”

“Shut up!” Taehyung snapped suddenly. “D-Don’t say anything else.”

“Taehyung, what's going?” Yuna pressed, giving him a serious look.

“Nothing alright? Nothing is going on! I just collapsed in the washroom, why is that so hard to believe-”

“Because it’s bull.” Jungkook pushed off of the wall then and glanced at Jimin. “Tell me what the guy looked like, I’ll find him.”

Taehyung clenched his teeth, trying to sit up but it hurt too much. “Jungkook don’t do anything, you’re only going to make things worse. You don’t understand-”

“Do I have to understand to know what he did to you was wrong?” He interrupted, glaring at him hard.

“No, it’s because it’s none of your business so just stay out of it!” Taehyung shouted. He was lying, he was lying right through his teeth. But he had to, he had to because-

“Do you not think you’re not valid or something? That you’re not worth anything? That you can just let people hurt you like it’s nothing and not do anything about it?” Jungkook shot back. “I don’t know where the hell you got that kind of mindset, but it’s wrong. Even the stupidest person on Earth would be able to understand that! So if you can’t protect yourself because you feel as if you’re somewhat expendable, then someone’s going to have to do it for you. And right now, that person’s going to be me.”

Taehyung stared at him in surprised. Everything he’d said pierced through him like a knife. He didn’t even know what was truly happening, yet he was still going to go out of his way to defend him. That’d never happened to Taehyung before.

“I don’t know you well, but you’re a ing human being Taehyung. You have a life to live, so stop throwing it away for the sake of others just because you feel bad for them.” Jungkook looked back at Jimin. “Come on.”

He watched them as they left, still at a loss for words.

Yuna turned to face him again, giving a small smile. “See? I told you he wasn’t a bad guy.”

Taehyung wanted to say something, except the words still weren’t forming.

His heart started hurting again and he clutched his chest, but this time; it wasn’t because of Yuna.