Taehyung withdrew his hand from Jimin's and it was like a tipping point that overturned all his constructured lies with the falling of a single misplaced chip of the block. 

"I was never trying to kill myself alright. I've been trying to get you to report me as unstable, so I can stay on at this hospital. I'm due to be checked out unless I get referred to a psychiatrist."

"And what was that you said about trusting me?" Taehyung lamented bitterly.

Jimin's hand landed on his lap with a soft thud, and there came a stunned silence. An oppressive feeling rose in Taehyung's chest to see Jimin staring blankly at his flattened palm, when just a while ago he had latched onto him with such a purposeful hold. Now, a vacuum had opened up between them, and Taehyung sure as hell doesn't know how to fill it. 

Taehyung turned his back to retrieve the journal along the parapet of the roof, and at least for those few moments, he could distract himself from the image of Jimin looking like a lost child. He could feel Jimin's eyes trailing his back as he crouched and leafed through the pages of the PVC leather-bound book still in mint condition, eventually surfacing the page with Jimin's generously cursive handwriting.  TaeTae told a lie today... But it doesn't matter, the words read.

Damnit. Taehyung bit down on his lips to contain an onslaught of curses he wanted to hurl at himself. Why did he have to involve Jimin who had taken such pains to be kind to him? Why is he the ever emotionally constipated jerk, and especially unjust to the rare and decent human being who was probably poring over this betrayal with sweet sorrow in his eyes right now. WHY WHY WHY. Say something Park Jimin. ANYTHING. 

"Taehyung." Jimin's voice was finally heard, and it was unexpectedly level-headed. "I need to say this facing you right now, so please turn around."

Taehyung could hardly believe the calm emitting from Jimin's voice. Does this person not have a temper at all? When Taehyung raised his head towards his source of wonder, Jimin seemed glad to meet his gaze while they were at eye-level, since he took the chance to sit up while Taehyung was crouched over the journal.

"I saw your mother..." Taehyung froze over, shock piercing through him like a needle to the heart. "I was with her when she died..."

Jimin scrambled to make some sense. "I treated her for her external wounds when she first arrived at the hospital... But her condition worsened with internal bleeding... I'm sorry, Taehyung ah... I'm so, so sorry... I couldn't save her..."

Jimin had tears rolling off his cheeks, and anguish was written in every line that creased his face. Even while he sat with his legs stretched before him, his entire being was curling in on itself like he wanted to disappear from the world completely. Taehyung was just in denial.

"Why are you bringing this up now." Taehyung's tone was cold and devoid of emotion, but his hands were shaking. He blinked. Hard. There were no tears, but just a stinging pain in his head like someone had brought a hammer down on it.

Jimin sobbed into his hands. "Because I still don't know why she passed... Her internal bleeding... Noone knew... Until it was too late..."

"YOU'RE KIDDING RIGHT?!?" Taehyung's hands were on Jimin's collar, and Jimin made no resistance to being violently shaken. He wasn't sure how he found enough nerve to look into Taehyung's blazing eyes, because all he got from the heated exchange was cruel accusation. 

"AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A DOCTOR???"

Jimin's mind began to shut down on him, as he tuned out Taehyung's cutting words in a daze. The words just merged in a reverberating echo that walled him in.

He had known it would come to this. He deserved no less than to have Taehyung hurl rightful abuse at him, and if there were stones cast in its place, he doubts that physical pain could rival this.

"You have no right..." Taehyung was shaking his head in disbelief, backing away in disgust but yanked in by fists that remained tightly clenched around Jimin's collar. "You have no right to speak of..... You useless... piece of..."

Jimin's eyes widened. Taehyung's tears now flowed irrepressibly, but he wasn't glaring at Jimin anymore. Instead, the sight of his bandaged wrists seemed to tear him up inside, and it took all of Jimin's willpower to restrain himself from brushing Taehyung's tears away because the boy looked so crushed, yet he wasn't in any position to act sensitive now. He had meant for Taehyung to lash out at him. Why was Taehyung internalizing this disgust at himself?

"Please tell me... Has someone been hurting you at home?"

Jimin knew he had crossed boundaries to have asked. He's prepared to let Taehyung hate him, as long as he tried everything to prevent Taehyung from enduring further physical harm. But he could not have chosen any more delicate words to voice the question that had been nagging at him, ever since he glimpsed the lurid purple slashes across Taehyung's back. He could not help obsessing over the likelihood that someone had tried to split open Taehyung's back with a belt or something equally potent.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW!!!" Taehyung screamed in frustration, and Jimin only got more certain that he had reason to shelter him, even if he hardly felt up to it. How could he possibly work up the nerve to probe more when he had the death of Taehyung's mother on his hands?

"There wasn't any history... Your mother was brought here claiming of a bad fall... But it was more than that, wasn't it..."

Yes and yes, Park Jimin was right. His Dad had hurt her, and was still hurting him. But Taehyung wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

"It's too late now." Taehyung let out a low chuckle and a look of absolute abandonment was seeping through his wild eyes. "SHE'S DEAD. Noone could save her, especially NOT YOU."

Jimin did not mind being wounded as long as Taehyung could feel better.

"Hit me." Jimin felt like he needed to get it out of his system. "Do it. Your mom died. Because I didn't care enough to know what was going on."

" off." Taehyung flicked off Jimin's earnest grip over his arms. He could see that Jimin was trying to break the wall between them, but he was fine with the wall as it is. "Get out of my sight."