"There's only one way to find out."

Taehyung tossed the journal out onto the edge of the roof extension stretching beyond the veranda's glass barrier.

A challenge had been posed to Jimin to reclaim the journal if he wanted the truth about Kim Taehyung.

Once again, Taehyung effected a natural, effortless disposition that leaves Jimin dumbfounded. Taehyung rested his weight against the glass barrier with one arm draped over it, and he was entertaining some private thought which Jimin could only witness in the form of a soft sneer tugging at the corner of Taehyung's lips.

Jimin felt himself being scrutinized by Taehyung's watchful, expectant eyes, but all he could read from there was simply: It's your move next.

Jimin doesn't know what is expected of him in this kind of situation. Isn't the normal person's first instinct be to chastise the patient and choose to walk away from danger?

But somehow Jimin felt obliged to humour Taehyung. Even though he felt like he was being played.

If a show was what Taehyung wanted, then that is what he would get.

Does he think of Taehyung as being cruel with this show of mockery? Thoughtless maybe, and definitely a lot reckless. But he didn't have the heart in him to judge Taehyung as being capable of harbouring harmful intentions. It was the same way with the first time they met.

"This is just a replay of the time I doubted you had AIDS to begin with." Jimin trained his gaze on Taehyung and thought he saw him falter for a second. "Why do you joke about things like that? Do you enjoy causing worry?"

Taehyung's stare looked enflamed just then, and Jimin was snubbed with silence as he speculated how he might have touched a raw nerve in the hidden recesses of Taehyung's mind and memory. He didn't mean to affront Taehyung with the suggestion that he was a truly insensitive person. 

"WORRY? WHO am I gonna worry??" Taehyung exclaimed incredulously, forgetting to adopt his usual passive stance to mirror the words he had spoken.

"You don't know a single thing about me, so I'd suggest that you leave and find someone else to play guardian angel to." Taehyung taunted through gritted teeth, and Jimin was struck by the spectrum of emotions that radiated from Taehyung's dilated irises, now colored a fierce amber.

Had he hurt Taehyung with his well-intentioned words? Jimin was supposed to be making a case for himself, because afterall the journal was still out there for him to risk reclaiming. How did this turn into an occasion for him to feel guilty?

"Look," Jimin sighed regretfully. "I didn't mean to suggest anything. I only saw it from my point of view, and I apologize for generalizing about you."

A pause from Jimin, as he thought about how to express where he was coming from.

"I get worried even about little things, you know? So it's a really big deal to me that you might be thinking of hurting yourself again. That mustn't be easy."

"Yeah? So you just don't want to have a suicide case on your record?" 

"Taehyung."

Jimin was so close to telling him. He was one breath away from telling Taehyung that he knew Taehyung was in hospital way before the first time they met, and he knew Taehyung had lost someone precious to him back then. Jimin could make a good guess about why Taehyung was hurting, but Jimin held his breath and changed his tack.

"I know you think that I care only out of a professional capacity. That may be true, I don't care what you call it. Charity case, whatever."

"But I'd be here for the next hundred lies you tell, and you'd get so sick of me that you'd start telling the truth again."

And still, Taehyung couldn't understand. He couldn't understand how someone who was a complete stranger to himself could be crossing the glass barricade right now, just to retrieve a stupid journal that he had doodled in out of spite and wilfully tossed like a piece of trash. 

"H-hey, wait—" Taehyung's hand raised after Jimin hesitantly, but Jimin was already out of reach.

, Taehyung muttered under his breath. This was ing going according to plan. He was supposed to feel like a ing genius, but suddenly all he could think of was the 101 ways in which Park Jimin could trip on that veranda (however wide it was, it was still possible) and suffer an untimely death (three storeys down was still a damaging fall)*. Guilt was a running commentary in his head:

Stupid, stupid, stupid Kim Taehyung.

Jimin cursed under his breath. He got this. This was by no means an uncalculated risk he was taking. When he had crossed the glass barrier, he estimated that he would have the journal in hand with merely three strides forward. What he hadn't counted on was the moment he looked over the edge of the veranda to the ground below, dizziness took over and his whole world started spinning.

He cupped his face in his hands, burying his haphazard vision in the enclosing darkness of his fingers which were tightly clamped over it. His knees felt like they would give anything to cut the distance between his swimming head and the ground, and his back was on the verge of going horizontal.

His balance tipped, and he desperately feared his thick head would hit metal, but his back crashed into skin contact and an angular body frame with skinny arms bandaged at the wrists, catching him with such a strong sense of alarm and urgency that his body felt a jolt.

"Hey, are you an idiot?! Coming out here with a fear of heights?!?"

Jimin lifted his chin and tried to focus on Taehyung's agitated voice despite his disorientation.

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Author's Note A/N:

* is just a note to say that I changed a fact of the story, fifth storey veranda became third storey. That's all. Hahahaha.

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I enjoyed writing this chapter, I imagine Taehyung cradling Jimin's back with panic in his eyes. Teehee.

VMIN is love, peace over and out.