18

“Is there a reason why you’ve been standing there without saying anything for the past seven and a half minutes?” 

Taehyung jumps in surprise and nervously scratches the back of his neck when Yoongi turns to lean his back against the railing, eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

“I, uh, I came to apologize.” Hara gives him a small encouraging smile from next to Yoongi and Taehyung nods in determination and walks up to them. “I know that Hoseok hyung is still mad, but that’s because he’s hurt.”

“He’s hurt for the wrong reason,” Yoongi mutters bitterly, turning to stare out across the busy campus. 

Hara watches the grey maserati pull out of the parking lot and speed off, and she pushes back memories of the confrontation from last friday. 

“We misunderstood the whole thing, hyung, that’s why he got mad.” Taehyung wearily eyes the smoke Yoongi blows out into the cold october air. “Jungkook had told us that you were pressuring Jimin into joining you to the club.”

“Jimin joined me because he wanted to escape this hellhole,” Yoongi snaps, turning around to glare up at a startled Taehyung. “He could let loose without fearing any repercussions from his strict parents. The drugs were unfortunately a part of that freedom.”

“But why did you let him try, hyung?” Taehyung asks, gently, and Hara bites her lip in anticipation when Yoongi’s jaw clenches, his fingers tightening around the half smoked cigarette.

She knows she’s got zero business disclosing the truth, but , if Yoongi doesn’t tell Taehyung she will. 

“Jungkook ing did it.” 

Taehyung pales. “What?” 

“I used to snort coke because my mother was too busy popping antidepressants to stop me. I had nothing to live for, we were both struggling to pay the bills, and suddenly out of the ing blue I get the offer for the scholarship.”

Yoongi stops talking and looks down, harshly swallowing the resurfacing memories.

Taehyung’s eyes are red with tears, and despite hearing this story last week Hara still feels clog up. 

“Three months,” Yoongi whispers, “three months of pure hell. I worked double, I didn’t even smoke, didn’t drink, nothing. I survived and moved to a hole in the outskirts of the town. I thought I was going to start over, that I would finally be able to give my mother the life her husband had ripped out of her hands when he ran off while she was pregnant.”

“And Jungkook ruined that,” Taehyung concludes, pursing his lips. Yoongi drops the burnt out cigarette and steps on it. 

“He read my file, found my old friends who out of the blue offered me free , I couldn't resist even if I had a gun pressed to my neck because of all the stress and anxiety, and Jimin was thrown into the mix so I’d be expelled when the chairmen found out I had corrupted one of their best students.”

“He always told us," Taehyung murmurs, shaking his head with a deep frown on his face, "he’d always loudly wonder who you kept meeting after school, where you kept going every friday, why you weren’t completely open with us. I haven’t spoken to him since last week, hyung, I don’t-I don’t trust him anymore.”

Yoongi stares at him for a moment. “What about Hobi?” 

“Hob- Hoseok hyung isn’t sure,” Taehyung says, a little surprised by the sudden use of the nickname, “he believed everything Jungkook told us last year, he believed every rumour he heard. It’ll take more than an apology to change his mind, hyung.”

“Even after what he saw last wednesday?” Hara pipes in, frowning. “You both saw what he’s capable of, you both know what he can do. How can Hoseok still trust him?” 

Taehyung bites his lip and shakes his head. Yoongi sighs and runs a hand down his face.

“Look, I don’t wanna break you guys up or anything, it is no longer my business to meddle with your -"

"You're not breaking anyone up, hyung," Taehyung interjects, frowning, "I hate that this happened, I just- I just want everything to go back to the way it used to be."

His tone turns almost desperate and Yoongi's jaw clenches. Hara feels her hatred for Jungkook double. 

"You and I both know that can't happen," Yoongi murmurs.

His face is all hard planes of barely concealed bitterness and yearning, but he doesn't allow anyone to feel pity for him as he steps away from the railing and places a hand on Taehyung’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. 

“I know how difficult this must be for you, but the only way to avoid unwanted conflicts is by staying away."

Taehyung's face falls. "Hyung-"

"Taehyung." Yoongi's stern tone makes the younger boy close his mouth, but the displeased frown on his face is difficult to ignore. "I can't go into details, but for the sake of your own safety, stay away from me.” 

Yoongi looks equally as affected by this confrontation as Taehyung, but he leaves without another word, and Taehyung looks like he wants to protest, turning to stare after him.

"Uh, Tae?"

Hara is fifty shades of awkward when Taehyung frowns down at her, and she forces down a blush of embarrassment as she grabs her bag and reaches for his hand. 

“Look, I understand if you're mad at me, honestly I'd be too because none of this would have happened had I not gotten here,” she mumbles, “ed up the second I arrived, but I have to make sure you know that it was not my intention, I swear-”

“No.” Taehyung firmly shakes his head. “If you hadn’t entered our lives, we’d never know the truth.”

Taehyung holds her gaze and clenches his jaw, anger and hurt evident in his expression. Hara briefly wonders why Yoongi never told them the truth and instead settled for being branded an outcast. 

"The thing you said- the thing about Jungkook's first words to you, and also whatever happened between you two last week, I couldn't hear it properly but-but," Taehyung stammers, blinking a couple of times as he tries finding the right words, "you, are you two really family friends?"

Hara tries not to give anything away.

As far as she's aware, no one knows about her living condition and she intends on keeping it that way so her eventual escape is unhindered.

She smiles weakly and sighs. 

“Unfortunately. I arrived at the airport and that's what he told me during the car ride home."

Taehyung looks convinced, a sigh of disapproval escaping his lips and Hara does her best to keep any sign of relief at bay.

"That's just the way he is, Tae, no point in worrying about it. Now come on, I need help with calculus.”