29

“Have you had food yet? I asked your nurse and she said you’ve been eating very little lately, is it because of the lack of spices? I can ask them to add a little more kimchi to your dishes so it won’t be too bland, I know how much you love-”

“Mom, stop, it’s okay,” Hara interrupts, frowning because Sora is rambling and her hands are shaking, “hey, is everything okay? You’re stressed. I can tell.”

Sora stops fumbling with the blanket that she has now wrapped all around Hara’s tiny frame and sighs heavily. She forces a smile onto her face and shakes her head.

“It’s nothing bad, just that the deal is pending,” she answers, honestly, to Hara’s surprise, “we don’t know what they’re going to choose yet, but Yunho says it’ll go through.” 

Hara arches an eyebrow. “Then why are you so stressed?” 

“I- I don’t know.” Sora closes her eyes and grimaces. Hara quietly watches her for a moment before gently grabbing her hand. She gives it a light squeeze and smiles when her mother frowns at her. 

She barely has three seconds to look at her before Sora breaks down. Hara blinks in panic and tries to calm her down, offering words of reassurance, and Sora leans forward and wraps her in her arms.

“I’m so sorry,” she cries into Hara’s shoulder, “I’m so, so sorry.” 

Hara can feel a lump forming in the back of , and the burning sensation spreads all the way up to her eyes. She bites down hard on her lip and forces back the tears that are threatening to spill over in rivers. 

“I’ve been such a bad mother, I’ve been so bad to you-”

“Mom, stop it-”

“I’ve been distant and cold and controlling, and you were just a child! I’ve put you through hell because of your stupid father, that insensitive son of a . He hasn’t even come to check up on you, and now he just decided to lea-.”

The door is suddenly thrown open and Jungkook enters, looking a little panicked before he awkwardly clears his throat. 

“Oh, sorry,” he says, watching as Sora pulls away from Hara to wipe away the tears on her face. “I-I thought you had left.” 

Sora laughs, a little embarrassed for having been caught crying, and shakes her head before she grabs her bag, planting a soft kiss on Hara’s forehead while getting up to leave. 

“No worries, I have an important call to make so this is good timing, Jungkook,” she says, squeezing Jungkook’s shoulder on the way out, and the boy smiles and waits for the door to close before sighing heavily. 

“What the hell was that all about?” Hara asks. She subtly wipes away a stray tear that has trailed down her cheek and hopes Jungkook doesn’t notice the redness in her eyes. 

“Nothing, I just-nothing.” Jungkook shrugs and then walks over to the bed, gently sitting down in front of Hara. “Seolhyun said you’ll be discharged tomorrow, how are you feeling?” 

“ing ecstatic, can’t you tell?” Hara says, and Jungkook rolls his eyes. 

“Taehyung, Hoseok and Yoongi hyung are coming over soon, they’ve been through hell because of those exams so don’t freak out if they look like zombies and keep zoning out every two seconds.”

Hara scoffs. “I'm pretty sure your face has prepared me for anything pertaining to zombies, no need to warn me.” 

Jungkook narrows his eyes. “I look completely fine, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Dark undereye circles, bony ing face, oh and when was the last time you had a haircut?” 

“You sure you aren’t describing yourself right now?” 

Hara gapes. “How dare y-”

“Seolhyun says you avoid looking in the mirror after showering,” Jungkook says, his tone having gone from playful to a little concerned. He swallows and his lower lip. “Scared of something?”

“Ever heard of Bloody Mary?” Hara does not want to get into her issues right now. Jungkook gets the hint, but he seems intent on figuring this out.

“Pretty sure she isn’t Korean.” He arches an eyebrow and gently reaches for Hara’s hand. “You’re blaming yourself aren’t you?” 

Hara averts her gaze and ignores the way her heart skips a beat or two, Jungkook is too observant. It’s been a whole month now since Hara was hospitalised, and her wound has healed surprisingly fast, but she still cannot bear to look at it. 

And if that wasn’t enough, she has been thinking about her father lately. What he must be feeling with the impending trial, if he has been eating well, if he has been sleeping. Hara wonders if he took the risks he did because of her.

Didn’t Sora divorce him because she wanted to give Hara a better life? Didn’t he start drinking more and more towards the end of the marriage because of said issue?

And then, there’s Kim Namjoon. Dead little brother. No family. Directly put behind bars, no trial thanks to Yunho and Jungkook. Hara knows it’s for the best, but what if there was another way of sorting out Namjoon’s situation than just throwing him into jail where he inevitably will rot to death?

“Hara, snap out of it.” Hara startles, eyes widening a little when Jungkook gives her hand a tug. He looks angry. “Whatever the happened to Namjoon was his own doing, don’t you dare blame it on yourself.”

“We could have sent him to a detention cent-”

“No, Hara,” Jungkook snaps, “he almost killed you! And even if you hadn’t gotten in the way, he would have injured me. Who knows how that would’ve turned out.” 

Hara bites her lip and looks away, tears gathering in her eyes, and Jungkook watches her for a moment before sighing. 

He reaches over for her chin and gently moves her head so she’s looking directly at him.

“Everything that has happened, has happened now. There is no point in worrying about it when you cannot turn back and change .”

“What about my dad?” Hara whispers, frowning, “what about his trial? He wasn’t this bad before, sure he was a greedy , but Jungkook, you don’t understand, this-this is all my fault, mom left him not only for herself but for me as well, if I had just pretended that everything was oka-”

“Are you hearing yourself right now?” Jungkook snaps, incredulous, and Hara closes , frown deepening, “Hara, you’re defending someone who doesn’t give a flying about you or your mother. Sure, the beginning was probably all nice and cute, but he turned out to be a ing scam. I’m sorry to say this, but he isn’t a good person, Hara, and you know it.” 

Jungkook’s jaw clenches in anger and he looks down at their hands, dragging in a calming breath before slowly looking up again. 

“You’re making a mistake.” 

Hara doesn’t need for him to elaborate, she knows exactly what he’s talking about. 

Thankfully, the door opens and Taehyung enters, followed by a tired looking Hoseok and a grumpy Yoongi who instantly settles down in one of the chairs lined up against the wall to Hara’s right. 

“I’ve missed you,” Taehyung cries, pushing Jungkook out of the way before halfway lying against Hara to hug her, but the hug barely lasts for a second before Jungkook pulls the lanky boy away from Hara. 

“Stitches,” he warns, and Taehyung pouts and whines, making grabby hands at Hara. The latter laughs, mood instantly lifted, and scoots a little to the side on the surprisingly big hospital bed, and Taehyung’s eyes almost bulge out of their sockets. 

“Come on, your nose is all red,” Hara says, and Taehyung rapidly nods.

“It was ice cold outside-”

“Are you sure about this?” Jungkook asks, still holding the back of Taehyung’s coat collar, and Hara snorts and nods. Taehyung doesn’t waste a second and slips out of the coat, kicking his shoes off in the process before stumbling onto the bed. 

Jungkook stares at the coat in his hand and then over at Taehyung who is snuggled close to Hara, her blanket wrapped around the both of them. 

There’s longing in his eyes, but no one notices as he turns to hang the coat up on the coat hanger in the corner of the room. Hoseok and Yoongi are dozing off, Hoseok sitting next to Yoongi, his head on the older boy’s shoulder, and Hara and Taehyung watch them with smug looks on their faces. 

Jungkook claims the spot next to Taehyung’s legs, sighing tiredly as he watches his barely awake hyungs. 

“You could have just gone straight home if you were planning on sleeping,” he says.

“We’ve been through hell,” Hoseok mumbles, eyes still closed, “but that doesn’t mean we won’t show up for Hara’s last day here.”

“Quick question.” Taehyung hums against Hara’s shoulder, Hoseok barely makes a sound of acknowledgment, and Hara is pretty sure Yoongi is knocked out cold. “How did the exam go? You guys worked so hard on that , I didn’t see you for an entire week.”

“It went well,” Taehyung says, tiredly smiling, “Jungkook is one good tutor.”

Hara frowns in confusion. “Jungkook has been here with me, like, every day?”

“For two hours,” Hoseok mutters, moving his head slightly to get more comfortable against Yoongi’s shoulder, “and then he’d come home and read with us.”

“Which begs the question - why the hasn’t he collapsed yet?” Yoongi finally speaks, opening an eye to stare at Jungkook. The boy just shrugs. 

“I’m wondering the same thing.”

The implications of their words send Hara’s thoughts into a frenzy, but she pushes it all down and clears her head. Jungkook is way too invested in this, and Hara is too - but her runaway instincts haven’t disappeared, and she’s still too scared of fully committing to something she will be leaving behind soon. 

But will she, though? 

“I’m starving.” Taehyung’s comment gains support by the rumble coming from somewhere underneath Hoseok’s coat, and Jungkook snorts and kicks his legs off the bed. 

“It’s time for dinner soon,” he says, “let’s eat and then you can all go home to sleep.” 

No one argues. 

Hara allows Jungkook to help her into the wheelchair, mostly because the rest have already left the room so there are no witnesses, but also because she has become a little used to it by now. Jungkook’s eyes meet hers just as he has sat her down, and Hara blushes deeply and averts her gaze, not noticing the small smile on the boy’s face when he straightens up. 

They leave the room and meet up with the boys in the cafeteria, finding a table at the back. Jungkook and Taehyung take responsibility for bringing them food while Hoseok and Yoongi try to keep Hara entertained by sluggish comments about random . 

“I would change the uniform colours to yellow,” Hoseok mumbles, tiredly watching the few nurses lingering about to help their assigned patients with their eating, “and I’d also throw all those unnecessary paintings into the ocean and let children handprint the out of these white walls.”

“You’d kill the turtles,” Yoongi whispers against the table where he’s resting his head. Hoseok gasps, but he’s barely awake, and Hara holds back a giggle at how ridiculous he looks. 

“Oh no, that’s not what I want, holy , save the turtl-”

“Save the turtles,” Yoongi agrees.

“I’d burn the paintings then, in a huge bonfire. We could have hot cocoa and marshmallo-”

“Toxic fumes, Hoseok, you’ll ruin the atmosphere.” 

Hoseok blinks, his brain taking a moment to register Yoongi’s words before he angrily huffs.

“Why did we create paint if we don’t know how to dispose of it without ruining the environment? Wow, humans really are the worst creation, huh?”

“Welcome after,” Yoongi mutters, and Hobi is about to say something when the boys return to the table. One of the canteen workers accompany them to help with the trays and when everything is settled she bows and leaves. 

“Your food looks so fricking bland,” Taehyung comments from across Hara, “I’m gonna buy you all the fast food I can find tomorrow, we’re going to feast like kings and queens!”

“You actually can’t do that yet.” Jungkook sighs and places his spoon back in the bowl of seaweed soup resting on his tray. “She’s going to follow the same diet at home, we’ve also secured her a physiotherapist to help her get back to her feet.”

Hara stares at her bowl of soup and wonders how much money she has cost the Jeon family. , she’s a burden. 

“Why am I legit tearing up over here,” Hoseok mumbles through a mouthful of lasagna, and Yoongi rolls his eyes from next to him but there’s a slight pull to his lips as he sips his soda. “This is so not fair, you should be rewarded with all the delicious food in the world for what you did, instead you’re treated like a cancer patient.”

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Yoongi asks, arching an eyebrow.

Hoseok sighs and rubs his face. “I take that back, I’m really tired so ignore my lack of braincells.”

Yoongi snorts and then resumes eating his food while the rest do the same. Hara tries to force the soup and boiled veggies down , and she stares at Jungkook’s platter, noticing how he still hasn’t stopped with his little habit. 

Ever since they started eating together in the cafeteria, Jungkook has been eating the exact same food as Hara. She had asked him about it two weeks into her stay and the boy had shrugged and said he didn’t want to tempt her. 

Hara looks at everyone sitting around the table and feels her heart clench in pain. 

Is she really going to leave them? 

December is right around the corner, her birthday is in less than twenty days. She needs to decide fast. 

Hara’s train of thoughts is interrupted when Taehyung accidentally spills his soda by knocking over the glass, which then sends Yoongi’s drink flying, the liquid splattering everywhere. 

Tiredness is suddenly an unfamiliar concept, because all of the boys jump to their feet and yelp and shout in panic while trying to do damage control.

Hoseok is practically screeching while patting away on his expensive looking coat, Yoongi is angrily glaring at Taehyung while drying his phone with a bunch of paper towels Jungkook is handing him, and Taehyung, who has suffered the least amount of damage, is babbling a bunch of half-hearted apologies while dumping the contents of his miraculously untouched bowl of mac and cheese into his mouth before Yoongi decides to get up and beat his . 

Hara stares, lips stretched into a wide grin, heart full to the brim with joy and happiness.

And if Jungkook notices the yearning and pain in Hara’s eyes as he hands her paper towels to wipe her wet sleeve, he doesn’t comment on it.