Jeongguk's heart was hurting, bleeding even, and Jungkook could swear he felt the pool of the red liquid sprinting inside his chest. His heart was long gone, replaced with a vacuum of loneliness and regret, that he felt was just an inch away of swallowing him whole. He didn't know how and when he did go wrong, but he was so scared of the idea of never seeing Jimin again. 

He probably deserved it, that's how he thought. Jimin was meant to leave him in the end. But why did he hold on onto the idea of him like it was the only thing keeping him alive? Holding on onto Jimin suddenly felt like holding on onto his own life, so powerful and raw, just like the intuituon of survival. For even if death was inevitable, even if it was close, life was always a dear thing and people held on onto its frail ropes. 

Jeongguk could swear the only ropes of life he had ever seen were inside of Jimin's starry grey eyes, ropes of light, rays of sunchine, ways of the universe, broken stars and shattered angels, heaven. Name it however, but he wanted to hold on onto them with all of the strengh he has gotten. He wanted to drown in them, wanted to fall for them. He just wanted to see those eyes again. 

‘Once again, I put on the mask and go to see you.’

Jeongguk never thought that after all of this years, he'll leave his castle for once. It was close to a dream, more like a nightmare. Jeongguk couldn't bear the way people were staring at him, like an outcast, a weirdo, an alien. 

People scared him, made his heart race and his skin sweat, made him uncomfortable. He, for a matter of a fact, didn't like people, but he was sure that he liked Jimin. So he had to find him, hold on onto him as long as he'd stay. Jeongguk knew he'd be devastated when Jimin would eventually leave. It will kill him from the inside. But as long as it was in the hands of Jimin, maybe he didn't mind walking onto such a hideous fate all that much. 

Maybe it was a miracle, or just a mere coincidence. But he saw Taehyung in the market square, walking to some destination, and he had to run after him, tapping his shoulder lightly. When Taehyung's ocean eyes met his own, Taehyung seemed to be very surprised, a gasp leaving his pillowed lips. 

“Sir?” Taehyung muttered, and he didn't seem to know exactly what to say afterwards