27

There’s a dull ache in Hara’s side, her head is pounding and her body feels like it weighs a couple of tonnes. She whimpers and slowly opens her eyes only to quickly shut them again because of the bright light glaring down at her. 

“Hara?”

She could recognize that voice in a room full of people, , Hara feels her heartbeat speed up and she slowly opens her eyes, taking in the sight before her. 

Jungkook looks like he has been through hell. 

His eyes are bloodshot, clearly indicative of his lack of sleep, there are dark circles under them to support that theory, and his cheeks are hollow, almost as if he hasn’t had food for ages. 

“Hara, you’re-you’re awake, oh my- nurse! Nurse, she’s awake!” Jungkook jumps up from the bed and rushes out of the room, and Hara watches him tiredly, dry and itchy, body limp. 

He returns with a very surprised nurse in tow, and Hara watches as the woman checks her vitals before she pulls out a pager. 

“Good morning, miss Kim,” she says after putting the device back in her pocket, a small smile on her face as she clicks a couple of buttons on the side of the bed which then hums to life, sending Hara into a half sitting position. 

“Hello,” Hara croaks out, coughing a little, and the nurse fills the glass on the bedside table with water before placing it against Hara’s lips, patiently watching her drink.

Hara’s cheeks are on fire and she hates how helpless she feels. Jungkook is intently watching everything from the foot of the bed where he’s standing, hair disheveled, shirt too loose. 

“How do you feel? Dr. Han is going to be here soon, he carried out the surgery, by the way, so just expect him to be very happy.” The nurse laughs lightly but Hara just stares at her, eyes a little wide. 

“Surgery?” 

The nurse’s smile slowly disappears but she looks equally gentle and comforting when she sighs and nods. “Internal bleeding, there was a rupture in the-”

“She doesn’t need to know that,” Jungkook suddenly interrupts firmly, and Hara looks over at him in surprise. He just shakes his head, looking so relieved, so bloody elated that Hara doesn’t bother snapping at him for being rude to the nurse. “She’s alive and that’s what ing matters.”

There is a moment of silence in which Hara and Jungkook just stare at each other, Jungkook in pure relief and Hara in surprise, and then, slowly but surely all memories from the party resurface and she blinks. 

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no, she made such a fool out of herself, being all dramatic and stupid, like who the hell told her to act so impulsively, she could literally have died trying to save Jungkook and oh my god, Hara wants the floor to swallow her whole-

“So ing stubborn,” Jungkook whispers, shaking his head as his lips pull into a small smile of disbelief, and Hara’s cheeks warm up in embarrassment as she averts her gaze to her fiddling fingers. 

Thankfully, she doesn’t have to suffer for much longer because the door opens and a man dressed in a white coat enters, Hara assumes it’s dr. Han, followed by two very hysteric looking boys who she soon realizes are her friends. 

“Hara, you piece of !” Taehyung screeches, coming to a halt because of Jungkook who holds him and Hoseok back by their arms. “How dare you pull a stunt like that!”

“I literally almost had a heart attack that night,” Hoseok cries, angrily pointing a finger in Hara’s direction, “there is a reason why I don’t watch horror mov-”

“Why did you think it was a good idea to get stabbed? Stabbed! With a sharp object, you were stabb-”

“Hey, you’re a doctor, right?” Hoseok weakly wheezes, moving his finger so it’s pointing at dr. Han instead of Hara, “can you please check my pulse I think I’m having a -”

“Hey, hey, calm down, guys, you’re not even supposed to be in here,” dr. Han says, gently pulling Hoseok aside to sit him down on one of the waiting chairs.

He motions to the nurse so she can take care of the hyperventilating boy and then walks over to Hara. It is then Hara notices how big the room is and she realizes Jungkook must’ve brought her to one of the best doctors in town, , imagine the bill when she’s discharged.

“I assume Seolhyun here has briefed you on your operation,” dr. Han says as he motions to the nurse currently helping Hoseok calm down, and Hara just nods, not really in favour of hearing all the details of what has been done to her body while she was unconscious. “Good, so I take it you’re aware of how your living conditions have changed for the next couple of weeks.”

Now this Hara wants to know.

She frowns. “Uh, we didn’t really get to that part.”

“You’re bound to a wheelchair,” Jungkook says, still standing at the foot of the bed next to Taehyung who is all but leaning on him for emotional support. Jungkook’s jaw clenches. “You are not allowed to walk due to the stitches.”

“Oh, ,” Hara groans, and dr. Han’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise but he doesn’t comment on the curse word and instead sighs. 

“It is only for a couple of weeks, and after that you will have to be very careful with moving around. No strenuous physical activities such as jogging, heavy lifting, dancing, or, you know.”

Dr. Han’s smile is mischievous as he jerks his head in Jungkook’s direction. Taehyung looks like he just saw a ghost, Hoseok looks like he might pass out and he clutches onto Seolhyun’s arm for dear life, while Hara and Jungkook both redden in embarrassment. 

“It’s not-it’s not like that,” Jungkook says, jaw clenching, cheeks a warm shade of red and Hara briefly wonders what her own face looks like. 

“Oh?” Dr. Han seems genuinely surprised, and he slowly nods. “Sorry, I just thought you two were together.” 

“Yeah, uh, no. We aren’t.” Jungkook sounds disappointed. 

“Okay, well, your vitals are all good, we will be checking up on you throughout the day but if you feel like something is wrong just click the red button right next to your left arm and we’ll be here in a flash.”

“Thanks,” Hara says, watching as dr. Han grabs a clipboard from the table next to the bed. “Uh, do you know how long I have to stay here?”

“Two weeks." Dr. Han looks up and nods. “Maybe more maybe less, we’ll see how well your body does.”

“Great,” Hara sighs, sinking further into the soft pillow she’s leaning against.

She’s ing stuck in the hospital and then a wheelchair for god knows how long.

Fantastic. 

“Well then, I have to get going now, but so do you guys.” Dr. Han gives the boys a pointed look. “She’s not supposed to have this many visitors at once, and I’m pretty sure the boy sulking in the hallway wants a chance to talk to miss Kim before visiting hours are over.”

“Yoongi?” Hara frowns. “Why isn’t he coming in? What’s wrong?”

Jungkook finally walks up to Hara side, a stern look on his face as he sighs. “He blames himself for what Namjoon did.” 

Hara feels her heart drop. 

. She completely forgot about Namjoon’s relationship with Yoongi. 

“Can you-can you call him in?” Jungkook looks like he’s going to say no, he looks annoyed and angry, but Hara stares up at him with pleading eyes because Yoongi can not go around blaming himself for something Namjoon did, and Jungkook’s features instantly soften up. 

“Fine.” He sighs and turns on his heel, leaving the room, and dr. Han and the nurse also leave after making sure Hara knows where the emergency button is. 

Taehyung and Hoseok both give Hara careful hugs and then reluctantly bid their goodbyes.

Yoongi looks worse than Jungkook.

He closes the door behind him and slowly walks up to the bed, stopping at the foot of it. Hara can feel her heart beating harshly against her chest. 

“Hey,” she whispers, and Yoongi’s jaw clenches, his eyes focused on the light blue sheets. “How are you doing, Yoongi?”

“You’re asking me that?” He looks up, eyes bloodshot, and laughs bitterly. “Look at you, Hara. You're in a hospital bed because of me, I just keep ing up. I keep-I keep ruining- just when I thought things were finally going well, I bring back another piece of my past and mess everything up.” 

“It was not your fault,” Hara says firmly, “Namjoon had his own reasons, he did what he did because he was mad, you can’t take the blame for his actions.”

Yoongi’s jaw clenches in anger and a tear trails down his cheek. Hara bites back a wince as she sits up a little straighter, wanting to reach out and offer the wretched boy a little comfort. 

“Yoongi, you told him to go, you made it clear that you wanted him out of there but he didn’t listen, everything he did was his own choice, and me getting stabbed was my own ing fault for being so stup-.”

Yoongi angrily slams his fist against the railing at the foot of the bed, not even wincing in pain, and Hara shuts up and blinks in surprise, the heart monitor next to her bed beeping at the sudden spike.

It’s not even a second later that Jungkook bursts through the door, his eyes wide as he takes in the scene before him in search of any sign of threats, but the only thing he finds is Yoongi who sinks to his knees, a low sound leaving his lips. 

He is crying. 

“Nothing ever goes right," he whispers, "nothing good ever happens to me.” 

Hara watches in surprise, as does Jungkook, because Yoongi doesn’t do crying, Yoongi doesn’t show his feelings like this. He keeps everything bottled up because no one has ever listened, no one has ever offered to help. 

“I ed up, I ed up again. I did this.”

Yoongi squeezes his eyes shut, his arms placed on the bed, and Hara drags in a shaky breath, a tear trailing down her cheek. Jungkook’s jaw clenches and he slowly walks over to the boy, swallowing thickly before placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“It’s not your fault, hyung.” It takes a few seconds but Yoongi slowly looks up, eyes wet, brows furrowed, and Jungkook gently pulls him up by the arm. “Namjoon knew what I did to you, he knew that I used him and you for my own benefit. There is no point in blaming yourself for what he did when we all know I started all of this to begin with.” 

Yoongi stares at Jungkook for a moment, and Hara watches the two in silence, waiting for one of them to say something. 

“I’m sorry for everything, hyung,” Jungkook whispers, breaking the silence, “I’m sorry for all the pain that I caused, for everything that I ed up. I know that I can’t go back in time to change it, and I understand if you don’t want to forgive me, but , I am so s-”

“Come here.” Yoongi pulls the mess of a boy close and tightly hugs him, and Jungkook is stiff for a second before he drags in a shaky breath and wraps his arms around Yoongi. 

Hara watches in pure relief, the nerves in her belly loosening up, a huge weight lifting off of her shoulders because Jungkook and Yoongi have finally ing talked, they’ve finally had a direct confrontation with their stupid past. 

It seems like there is nothing left to fix. 

Every broken relationship Hara had encountered upon entering this town has been mended, much due to her intruding, and Hara feels really ing happy. Every secret, every lie, every misunderstanding - Hara has unraveled it all and changed everything. 

And god is she proud, god does she feel good because these people are her friends. These people are her family. 

“ing idiot,” Yoongi murmurs after a few moments of silence, and Hara grins through her tears as Jungkook snorts against Yoongi’s shoulder. 

“Damn right, hyung."

Jungkook looks small, somehow, he looks vulnerable in Yoongi's arms, and Hara wonders why he would want to push Yoongi away when he finally got the big, protective brother he has needed all his life. 

But maybe that's exactly why he did what he did last year. 

Jungkook has associated all kinds of with older familial figures, maybe he was scared Yoongi would abuse his power over him?

"I'm not letting go yet," Yoongi mumbles when Jungkook tries pulling away, and Hara snaps out of her thoughts, a small smile on her face as she watches Yoongi tighten his grip around Jungkook's waist.

"I haven't slept for three days, hyung, my legs are gonna give in any moment now," Jungkook whines, and Hara tries not to read too much into his words, laughing a little when Yoongi stubbornly places his chin on Jungkook's shoulder.

"I haven't slept either, you're not moving anytime soon."

"But hyung-"

"Shut up and let me hug you."

Jungkook sighs stubbornly but Hara catches a glimpse of the grin on his face and looks away, her heart skipping a beat. 

Jungkook's grin widens when his gaze locks with hers after he notices the change on the heart monitor. Hara's face burns.