[Namjoon]

Namjoon had returned to his study after showing the boys their accommodation. He was leaning against the wall beside the window, his eyes on the sunset sky visible outside. But the beauty of the sunset was not registered in his mind. All he could think about was what had just happened a while ago. He had conspired to ask Jungkook to stay in Taehyung’s room, as, knowing Jungkook’s behavior till now, he had expected the boy to back away and protest  against it. As he wouldn’t relent and change the rooms, he had expected Jungkook to leave. However Jungkook’s reaction had confused him. The boy had cut off all contact with Taehyung ever since Taehyung had revealed his feelings towards him. As Jimin had told him, Jungkook had a preference towards women and his behavior till now could only be explained as him being offended or atleast grossly uncomfortable with being the subject of Taehyung’s love. He had believed till now that the only threat to his brother’s happiness was Taehyung’s inability to get over Jungkook. Jungkook himself had never been an actual concern in his mind till today.
Why did he come? After staying away for so long. Why would he put himself close to Taehyung again after so long? Was it just him trying to patch up their friendship? But if that was the case, then why would he wait for so long to do it? Why choose Taehyung’s marriage as an occasion? 
Or does he…No, that’s not possible. 
 Whatever be the reason, he had to stop it from disrupting his brother’s life. He had realized and accepted that there was no way to stop Jimin from marrying Taehyung without becoming the villain in his brother’s eyes and losing him. The best he could do was make sure there was nothing standing in the way of Jimin’s well-being.

If the marriage had to happen, it would happen the way Jimin wanted. Taehyung had given his consent to spending his life with Jimin and Namjoon would not let the boy back out of it, if there was even the slightest chance of him doing so. And Namjoon would see to it that he kept Jimin happy as well. He would go to any length required to keep protect his brother. If that meant doing certain things that were against his morals and pricked his conscience, then he would have to live with it. He could accept some blemishes in his own character against his will, but not in his brother’s future. 

Whatever be the reason for Jungkook’s arrival and his wish to be near Taehyung again, he could not let it create a disturbance in the way things were proceeding. Something told him in his mind, he would have to resort to bigger measures soon.

............ ...........................   .......................... 

[Taehyung] 

“Jimin ah…”

Jimin had his back toward the door and he was observing the sunset through the window. He hearing Taehyung’s voice. Taehyung was relieved to see a smile on his face. 
“Taehyungie! Come here…look, isn’t the view beautiful from here?”

Taehyung hesitated once before stepping up slowly to stand beside Jimin. The scenery visible from the window was indeed breathtaking. The house was located beside a range of hills, behind which the sun was now half hidden, the few runaway rays coloring the edges of the hills a vivid crimson and the sky around it reminding observers of a brilliant flame.
After a few seconds, Taehyung felt Jimin’s hand come up under his chin and close his mouth, which had been hanging open till now, while his gaze was fixed on the vivacity of the scenery in front of them. Jimin giggled, moving behind Taehyung and hugging him from the back, peeking his head out from beside Taehyung’s arm to look at his face. 

“Jimin ah…” Taehyung looked down. He didn’t have the guts to look at Jimin’s face for what he was about to say. “Jimin ah I’m sorry. I should have told you that I asked Jungkook to come…I just-…I thought you might not like it…”

Jimin was quiet for a few seconds before he said, “It’s okay Taehyungie. And why would I not be okay?...He is just your friend anyway. It’s not like you still have feelings for him or anything…” 
It was a statement but there was an untold question mark in it.
Taehyung stayed silent. He could not tell the lie Jimin wanted to hear.
“T-Taehyungie?”
Taehyung looked up at Jimin. He did not know what to say.
“Jimin ah…I-…”
Jimin relaxed his hands around Taehyung slowly, as his smile gradually fell. He removed his hands from around Taehyung and stepped away. Taehyung turned towards him and put a hand on Jimin’s elbow. Jimin had his head tilted to a side, his eyebrows pulled together, eyes seeming to search all over Taehyung’s face for something.

“Jimin ah…He…He is…”Taehyung swallowed. “He was my best friend. I wanted him to be here for my wedding. That’s all.” 
Taehyung looked up at Jimin, whose face hadn’t changed. “There’s nothing between us. There never was. He never had anything in his heart for me. He’s just a friend.”

“And you?” Jimin asked. Taehyung’s heart skipped a beat at the question he had been dreading. 

He did not want to lie to Jimin. Neither could he tell him the truth. He sighed, looking at the floor and closed his eyes, letting his hand fall from Jimin’s arm. “Jimin ah…”

Jimin did not move for some time.
“Taehyungie do you still…Do you still love him?”

Taehyung could not bear to look up.
Jimin put his hands under Taehyung’s chin again, raising Taehyung’s face. Taehyung opened his eyes and a tear found its way out, rolling down his cheek. He saw that Jimin’s eyes were filled with tears too.
“I’m sorry Jimin.” Taehyung said. “I’m sorry.”
Jimin did not say anything.

“You deserve someone much much better than me. Who isn’t weak like me. I have tried so hard to hate him. But I failed. I failed…” Taehyung’s shoulders caved in as he sobbed. “I’m sorry…I wish I did not love him.”

Jimin still stayed silent.

“I wish I had the strength to forget him. But he …” Taehyung wiped his tears but they kept coming. “I don’t deserve your love Jimin ah…I can’t give it back. I’m still that miserable kid who fell hopelessly in love with someone he can never have and broke his own heart. I’m not capable of making anyone happy. I can only hurt…myself and others….I’m sorry for being this pathetic mess Jimin ah.”

Taehyung sensed Jimin moving forward. Jimin put his hands on Taehung’s shoulders.

“Taehyungie…it’s okay…”

Taehyung looked up at Jimin’s face, surprised.

“It’s okay…I can understand it will take time.”

“Jimin ah…”

“Love doesn’t go away that fast.”

Taehyung was at a loss of words. He hated himself at this moment. He should never have said yes to Jimin when he knew he could never love him back. This boy had given him an ocean of love and he did not deserve it. Even after all of this, Jimin was being so understanding and he could not bring himself to feel the same way for him. How could he not love after receiving so much? He cursed himself in his mind. Even after all this, he was fighting against the shadowy reel playing at the back of his mind…The image of Jungkook as he had stood in the hallway and the sensation of his touch.

You’re pathetic…And you’re heartless…How can you still think about the person who doesn’t give a damn about you after finding someone who loves you so much?

“Taehyungie, you told me long back that you didn’t feel love for me when I first told you that I like you. That was the same day that you told me about Jungkook….Up until now I had thought it was only an infatuation of yours which would fade away with time…and you would start loving me as you spent time away from him and with me. I hated that boy for breaking your heart and being so uncaring as to cut all ties with you for so long…I was even jealous of him…damn I still am.” Jimin laughed as he wiped his eyes. “But I can understand now.  I can understand how hard it is for you…” Jimin squeezed Taehyung’s shoulders. “I can understand now…”
Taehyung stayed silent, looking at Jimin.
“It will take time for you to forget him. That’s what you told me the day I proposed and you said yes.”
Taehyung nodded remembering this.
“And I accepted that. I don’t expect you to forget him in a day. And I’m not mad at you for calling him here. That boy is an unfeeling jerk…But you’re not that kind of person. Of course you would want to include him in this occasion.” 

“But somewhere deep down, I did it beacuse I wanted to show him that I’m happy.” Taehyung said, smirking. “I don’t deserve any of this…I’m pathetic.”

Jimin pulled Taehyung closer. “I can understand…I might have done the same in your place. But I’m scared that you’ll end up hurting even more. That boy isn’t going to think twice before hurting you all over again. He was rude to me and I’m sure he doesn’t care about your happiness at all, even though he came here. I think he feels a sense of power from having your heart and being able to do anything with it.”

Taehyung felt a sting in his heart.

“He is heartless…He did not hesitate to throw your love away. I doubt he could ever love anyone himself.”

Taehyung pressed his lips together. Jimin’s words created a burning in his chest. But he did not want to upset Jimin, by saying anything, after what he had done.

“I don’t think you’d want to get married to me after this…”

“Don’t be stupid Taehyungie…” Jimin said, shaking Taehyung by his arm. “I’ve accepted Jungkook’s shadow on your life long ago. I love you in spite of it.”

Taehyung felt abashed. Everything Jimin did and said was a reminder of how insensible he was towards Jimin. 

God gave you two boys in your life. One whom you give your love and all of yourself. The other who loves you with all he has. The one you love couldn’t care less about you. And you still can’t get over him to look at the person who actually loves you. You put yourself in the way of getting hurt every time…but that was okay…You have started putting Jimin in the way of hurt too. You messed up badly, Kim Taehyung.

“Taehyungie, you know,” Jimin said, looking down with a smile. “I heard this somewhere a long time ago… I don’t remember where or who said it but it stuck...We might love a number of people through the course of life. But in the end, there will come a time when we realize who loves us truly. That’s the person we give our heart to. Sooner or later it will happen. We don’t do it willingly, we don’t choose. It just happens…our hearts choose.” 

“Really?”

“Yes…” Jimin looked up and reached for Taehyung’s hand, squeezing it. “Your heart is reserved for the one whose love for you is unconditional and everlasting.”
Jimin closed the distance between them, standing up on his toes to level his face with Taehyung’s, steadying himself by placing his hands on Taehyung’s shoulders. 
“As are you.” Jimin said before touching his lips to Taehyung’s.

................................................ 

[Yoongi] 

“There’s a small get together party for close friends and cousins tonight, starting around nine. I would really appreciate it if all of you would be there from Taehyung’s side.”

Yoongi’s face was frozen in an expression that was a pass between shock and an obliging smile. He had been trying to nap, having plopped down on his bed after drawing the blackout curtains, darkening the room satisfactorily. It had only been around fifteen minutes and he had just started feeling a heaviness on his eyelids and the familiar lightness in his muscles when a cough in a deep voice jerked him back to wakefulness. He had taken in Namjoon standing at the foot of his bed and almost as a reflex action, sat up on full guard.  The same awkward smile had been plastered on his face since then.

Namjoon had apoloigized for startling him and disturbing him when he was trying to take rest. He had then announced that the reason he was here was to throw this unwelcome news at Yoongi.
“I’ve informed your friends as well, only I couldn’t find the youngest one…um Jungkook, in his room. Could you please pass on the news?” Namjoon said. 
 “Uh hahaha.” Yoongi’s smile remained unfaltering and he nodded vigorously. "Yes yes of course."  Maybe once Namjoon was done with the information distribution, he would go away and Yoongi could go back to sleep.

“Thank you so much. Meet you guys at the party.” Namjoon turned around and left, and the moment the door had closed behind him, Yoongi fell back on his bed with a large thump.

“What the ?!...A party?!...Man I want to sleeeep.” Yoongi cried to himself, covering his face with a pillow. 

After a few seconds, to his horror, he heard a noise which sounded like the door opening again and the lights were switched on. A hand grabbed his pillow away from his face.

“Aaargh! Hobi go away!! Go away! Go away! Go away!”
Hoseok had sat down on Yoongi’s legs and was now half way succesful at his target of prying the bedsheet off from Yoongi.
“You did not come here to sleep you lazy tiresome lump!” Hobi said, grabbing a pillow from Yoongi’s side and smacking his bum with it.
“Aish! Let me sleep Hobi, I’m so tired…” Yoongi made a sad pleading face at Hoseok, on whom it had no effect.
“You slept all the way here in the car you…” Hoseok smacked Yoongi with the pillow again. “-…You lump!”
Catching Yoongi unawares, he pulled the bedsheet completely off from Yoongi’s frame, exposing Yoongi's Pikachu pajamas and erupting into a fit of laughter. Yoongi aimed his heel carefully at Hoseok’s and kicked hard.
“OWW!!”
“Go away!”
“We have a party to attend Yooongiiii Hyung!” Hoseok said in his usual jovial voice, standing up to gyrate obscenely for a few seconds before breaking into his favorite mad dance step. “Bottles to down! Girls to meet!”

“Ugh! Hobi…honestly… you have a girlfriend remember?”

“So what?” Hobi stopped dancing and looked at Yoongi, with an angelic innocent face. “Besides, I’m only in it for the bottles…The girls, I meant, are for you!” Hoseok wiggled his eyebrows, making Yoongi groan.

“And for our youngest as well…he’s been looking like a hibernating vampire for too long. We need to get him drunk and laid.”

“I think your bottles and girls are the reason he looks like a hibernating vampire in the first place.” Yoonig said, with a satirical smile at hobi.
Hobi giggled at this reply. “Hyung, take it from a pro…a young man can never have enough of either of those two.”

Yoongi smirked, laughing internally.  Hoseok had never had any idea of what was happening between the two youngest members of their group. Ever since Jin had called him from Daejeon to ask for his help to deal with Jungkook’s unruly and toxic habits, he had had the feeling that Jin understood what the real problem might be. He had always got the indication from the way Jin had talked about Jungkook and Taehyung, but since Taehyung had taken a promise from him the night of his birthday party, he had never brought up the topic for thorough conversation. Hobi, on the other hand was oblivious to a lot of things happening around them. He had always been that way. Oblivious to problems.

“Jungkook has a drinking problem Hoseok. I think we need to keep him away from that stuff at least for these few days. You’re elder to him…”  Yoongi raised his eyebrows at Hoseok with a smile. “Remember?”

Hoseok’s shoulders slumped. He trudged over to Yoongi’s side and plonked on to the bed beside him.
“Yeah you’re right, Hyung.” Hoseok turned his lips downwards and started tugging at his own watch, with squinted eyes staring off into space.

Yoongi nudged him in the ribs with an elbow. Hoseok looked back at Yoongi at this and replied, “Hyung, I think Jungkook might be in love with someone.”
Yoongi coughed involuntarily at this. He raised his eyes once more at Hoseok, this time in awe.
Hoseok still had the same expression and was nodding his head very slowly.
“That’s the only way to explain his behavior Hyung.”

“And who do you think it is?”

“Aah who knows? The list of girls he’s gone out with is longer than the number of shirts I own.” Hoseok looked back at Yoongi. “But whoever this one is…was…She must have screwed him up pretty bad.”

“How do you know it’s a she?” Yoongi asked in a low voice.

Yoongi shrugged, laughing. “Duh!...If that were the case, wouldn’t he have been with Ta-…” Hoseok stopped midway, his eyes going wide. He bit his lip and looked down, eyebrows raised in an “I’m so ed” look.

“Hobi what