"That was a load of BULL... Seriously? Playing the role of the nice guy after all this time? You’re really one MANIPULATIVE. . you know?”

Jimin steeled himself for the string of caustic remarks being directed at him and took them for truth. He accepted everything Taehyung thought of him, because now Taehyung's opinion mattered the most.

"I'm sorry Tae... For everything... I was wrong." Jimin begged.

"Sorry? Do you think it matters now?"

"I don't expect you to take me back... I just want to make things right..."

"I don't care what you want. Get your ing hands off, and  OFF JIMIN." Taehyung swore loudly as he repelled Jimin who was trying his hardest to get a hold on him. Jimin continued to grasp at straws and welcomed the bruises that were being inflicted on him by the aggressive rejection Taehyung was showing towards his approach. As long as Taehyung was not cold shouldering him, Jimin felt like he could bear the blows. 

"I wasted enough time on you!!! Can you stop being SELFISH for once??? I could have been with my mum and dad right now..." Taehyung's voice wobbled with guilt threatening to consume him. "My mum kept asking me where you were, and I didn't even have the heart to tell her you weren't coming..."

Jimin inched forward with sore yearning to dry the trickle of tears from Taehyung's eyes even if that's the last thing he were meant to do in his current position.

"And now that you're here... It doesn't even matter."

Taehyung looked at Jimin like he was an empty void, and Jimin felt like he was fading away. Taehyung could accept not having him here. It made no difference to him at all.

"No that's not true... You showed up... You always do... I realized when you ran from me... that I shouldn't have left you alone... so many times" 

Taehyung snorted like Jimin had told a joke, and his icy stare ridiculed Jimin like nothing he said from henceforth could be taken seriously.

"I didn't know how I felt... when you said you loved me... I really wanted to say it back..."

"Don't—" Taehyung's eyes flared open and more tears sprung from agitation, as he nearly slapped Jimin in his fury.

"No—Please, you're getting it wrong—" Jimin hung tight to Taehyung's wrists and got nicked in the eye by an outstretched finger. Jimin thought physical pain was well deserved, especially looking at how badly Taehyung was crying, he felt like someone was punching him in the gut again and again.

"I'm here for you. Taetae. I don't want to be anywhere else."

" you. It's always about you."

"No! I need you alright?" Jimin pulled Taehyung's chin towards him, risking getting spat at. Both of them were shaking with high-strung emotions, and Taehyung realized that Jimin's own tears were now slipping out faster than the tears he collected off his cheeks.

"When I found you earlier... you were alone and hurting... I can't bear seeing you like this... if this is entirely my fault... Tell me, how can I make it right? How can I make it better..."

"I don't know what you're saying... Just leave me alone..."

"I love you... Please don't turn away... Why won't you listen?"

"You expect me to believe you suddenly feel something for me? How naive do you think I am?" Jimin watched Taehyung spewing animosity, and he realised damage had been done from day 1 when Taehyung began to regard him as a pathological liar.

"For 6 years, I was a fool for you... Did you think I'd be a fool till this very day?"

"Why would I lie to you? I never knew how to express how I feel... only for you. Can't you see that I'm trying?"

"You can try in another lifetime. Now kindly step aside so that I can say goodbye to my parents."

"Taehyung, please." Jimin refused to let go. "I only ever thought of you. I thought I made it clear. Ever since the night of the frat party, there was noone else but you."

Taehyung shook his head with a dry laugh at the memory, foreboding that it wasn't in Jimin's favor that he brought it up again.

"You really want to play this game? Well, you lose because this is the worst possible time to bring that up."

Despair stirred in the depths of his eyes pooled over by tears as Jimin saw how little Taehyung believed in him.

“When have I lied to you? Just tell me when.”

"Ok. Here's a familiar one — I only have you, you said. You said that repeatedly as you ed me in the , and before I could even get my stained pants back on, you made me leave so that your precious Jungkook wouldn't see us together??? Or did you somehow manage to tell yourself a different story again?"

Jimin's eyes were widening in horror.  “That’s not true… That’s not why—I—”

Taehyung scoffed lightly at Jimin's denial, as though he were ready to dismiss another elaborately spun tale.

“I really thought I had a chance… the way you held me in that room… the way we kissed like you finally found something to hold dear… It was the first time I felt like I wasn’t the only one who wants us to be together… I had the smallest hope that maybe you want me? And it was not just the . You were sober for once, and you opened up like a child..."

Jimin was suffering as he listened to Taehyung recounting his doubts that he was truly loved, and even their intimacy from that night in the karaoke booth was not enough to convince him of Jimin’s heart. 

"I haven't lied to you... I just wasn't ready to tell you everything..."

"But you were ready to dive back into his arms?" Taehyung quickly came to his conclusion of the story.

"I didn't tell you to leave because of that..."

"Yeah? On which occasion? Today you have a different reason for ing Jeon Jungkook? Now you're here to your spare tire?" Taehyung threw his arms inward, gesturing at himself in well-versed cold mockery. He was getting used to putting on a stoic front with Jimin, so his feelings wouldn't be used against him. 

Jimin on the other hand was prepared to ruin himself.

"You think I'm just a boy, don't you?"

"Yeah well, you were so eager to me in all sorts of places."

"The pleasure is all mine. Who could resist me? Not even you." Jimin flicked Taehyung’s chin with a sly fleeting smile. "I had you right under my little thumb." Taehyung nearly gagged in reply.

“I guess we’re finally on the same page, knowing that you loved me even as a boy… I must have given you such good s that you were willing to look past that... Convenient too right? Friends with benefits? You can just pick up where Jungkook left off and me for scraps...”

Jimin was hysterical and swung between rapidly shifting moods of mania and depression. Taehyung was struck with fear because Jimin's hands were rubbing furiously across his neck like there was a spreading inch he couldn't reach until he scrubbed his skin off entirely.

"Stop it, Jimin..." Jimin slapped Taehyung's outstretched arm away.

"You still can't accept how dirty I am... You all just want to use me..."

Taehyung was getting afraid because Jimin seemed disoriented by a tidal wave of negative thought tuning out his ability to be reasoned with.

"I'm not using you... I'm not the same as him..."

"I took the pill so he could use me... Then you ed me at the first chance you got right?"  [Author's Note: Pill refers to aphrodisiac, which Jimin was suspected to have taken since Chapter 6/7]

"You took the pill for him?" Taehyung fell back in shock, squeezing his eyes shut as though he wanted to block out painful news. "So I'm just the rebound... As soon as he comes calling, you ditch me?"

"When did I—"

"I saw those messages from Jungkook. He wanted his fun with you, so you ordered me out the door right?” [Author's Note: Messages from Chapter 12]

Jimin stopped scratching but his neck was already popping with angry discolored veins, much like his bloodshot eyes which were swollen with distressed tears.

“Wha-what d… d-did you see?” 

"Enough for me to know that you would still go back to him..."

"Noone was supposed to know..."

"Looks like I was meant to be a fool then..."

Jimin's tears fell harder as Taehyung turned his back on him and stalked off like he needed a closure on the tired repeat of this broken relationship. It was like revisiting a broken record that still wouldn't make sense no matter how many times you play it back. Broken hardware cannot be fixed, and must only be replaced in parts. Jimin felt like his heart had been trampled on so many times, that it was no longer possible to not run himself down. He was out of time, and he would die alone and suffering, much like he deserved.

As Jimin started falling apart, and the world around started to heat up in a hellish climate, he asked himself if he would rather have the shame of Taehyung knowing about those  pictures Jungkook took of him, or for Taehyung to acknowledge Jimin's worthlessness in having walked straight into Jungkook's trap. Either way, the pictures show him exactly for who he was. A worthless .

But then he felt two arms lifting his, and bringing his chin up from the darkness of the cocoon he had formed around himself. Taehyung's worry-ridden face came into view and Jimin was peeled off the wall he had collapsed against with what little remaining strength he had. Then Jimin found himself surrendering to Taehyung's embrace since his arms wrapped around him almost forcefully, and fingers combed through his hair at back of his head as soft, urgent whispers fell upon his ears that he was safe and everything would be fine.

It was only with a few repeated swipes over his tear-and-sweat-drenched face that the sensory world began to take shape again, and he heard his sobs echoing volumes over Taehyung’s whispers of assurance. Taehyung didn't understand why Jimin was crying like he could die in this moment, but to Jimin he no longer feared if the world should end with Taehyung here with him, to fill the gaping hole in his heart.

[Author's Note]

Basically, this whole story was written in anticipation of this chapter. :') Taehyung doesn't know about the pictures... He turned back purely because he was worried about Jimin's breakdown... I hope that comes out clearly in my writing... Sometimes I feel powerful as a writer, because only I know everything. Lol.

My heart was focused on the end goal of finishing this, because much of my vmin feels were waiting to pour through this chapter...

I hope this story is ending on a satisfactory note, because the middle felt rather shaky and uninspiring for me. Hope this chapter's revelation was worth it. Leave me comments / kudos? :)