32

“Does anyone wanna talk about that?” 

Hoseok frowns at Taehyung, blinking in confusion until Taehyung not so subtly points in the direction of the entrance doors. Jungkook has just entered the ballroom, hurriedly making his way over to his three hyungs, and Hoseok watches him for a moment before his eyes widen.

“No way,” he gasps, and Taehyung nods rapidly, looking equally scandalized. 

“Do you think it was Sunny?” 

Hoseok shakes his head. “Sunny hasn’t been herself since Halloween, I haven’t seen her or Jungkook near each other in a while.”

“True, she’s been finding comfort in Yugyeom," Taehyung nods in agreement, "I’m pretty sure Jungkook set them up because Yugyeom has had a crush on her for ages now.”

“But who then could it be?” Hoseok ponders loudly, scratching his neck. Yoongi hasn’t said a word the entire time, but his expression is hard. He looks like he knows something. 

“Hey, guys,” Jungkook greets, sitting down across from Hoseok who instantly leans over the table.

“Why the hell are you so late?” 

Jungkook arches an eyebrow. “I’m only fifteen minutes late? I came as fast as I could after you guys left.”

“Cool,” Taehyung says, but then tilts his head to the side and holds back a small smirk,  “hey, quick question, what were you doing during those fifteen minutes?” 

Jungkook pales.

He blinks a couple of times and then looks over his shoulder, noticing how a few of the chattering students are looking in his direction, but they quickly turn away when caught. 

“What’re you talking about?” Jungkook says, subtly running a hand through his hair and then smoothing out his shirt. Before Hoseok or Taehyung can add more fuel to the fire, Yoongi turns in his seat and moves closer to Jungkook. 

“Nothing serious,” he murmurs, reaching for Jungkook’s loosened tie, “just speculation.”

He tightens the tie and then slowly moves his stare up, eyes boring into Jungkook’s slightly widened ones. 

“Just make sure you know what you’re doing,” Yoongi whispers, jaw clenching. 

Jungkook instantly knows that Yoongi has figured it out.

, how wouldn’t he? Yoongi has always been a silent observer. However, the question is, how long has he known about it?

“What the hell are you two mumbling about, hey, I wanna know too,” Taehyung says, leaning over the table, but Yoongi gives Jungkook’s tie a quick tug and then leans away, pretending like nothing just happened. 

Jungkook finally breathes out and offers Taehyung a shrug before turning around in his seat to look over at the huge stage they’ve built for Hara. Yunho is there with the rest of the school board, there are photographers going through a quick security check in the hallway right outside the hall, and Jungkook wonders if one of them caught a snap of him in his disheveled state. 

. 

It had been surreal. 

The kiss had gone from a means to stop Hara’s panic attack and turned into a heated make-out session. Jungkook can still feel Hara’s soft fingers run up the length of his neck, tangling in his long hair and tugging. He can still smell her soft breath, her vanilla body wash, her coconut shampoo, he can still feel her soft lips against his, he can still hear her whimpers and-.

Jungkook shakes his head and snaps out of his thoughts. 

Now is not the time.

He gets up and moves past tables, offering his teachers and the parents of some of the students curt nods and polite bows, and when he finally reaches the stage he bows and greets the school board before catching Yunho’s eye.

“I need to talk to you,” he says, and Yunho is still smiling but he looks a little alarmed. He follows Jungkook to the side of the stage and leans forward a little. 

“What’s wrong? Where’s Hara?”

“She’s not coming,” Jungkook says, and Yunho blinks, staring at Jungkook for a moment before he frowns. 

“What do you mean? Did something happen? Is she ill?”

“She’s feeling a little sick,” Jungkook lies, “but I’ve made sure the maids are with her and I’ve called the house doctor, nothing to worry about, dad.”

Yunho runs a hand down his face and nods, biting his lip as he tries to figure out how to handle the situation, and Sora who has been busy talking to the principle notices the tense atmosphere surrounding her family and excuses herself before walking up to the boys. 

“What’s going on?” 

“Hara’s feeling ill,” Yunho says, frowning down at Sora who returns the expression with double the intensity. 

“What? What happened? Is it the wound-”

“Nothing happened,” Jungkook quickly assures them, “she’s just feeling a little queasy, I think it’s a combination of nerves and her migraines.”

Sora pales. “She’s still suffering from those?” 

Jungkook doesn’t say anything, instead he takes in the information.

She doesn’t know about Hara’s issues? Maybe she thinks Hara has grown out of it, maybe she thinks the therapy sessions worked. Why hasn’t Hara told her about them? Does she even know about the panic attacks?

“Let’s handle this situation first,” Yunho says, ever the rational one, and he nods and gently squeezes Sora’s shoulder. “I’ll tell them she’s sick, we’ll figure this out together. Come on.” 

Sora nods and gives Jungkook a small frown, but follows Yunho. 

Jungkook releases a sigh, feeling his shoulders slump in relief and turns to leave the stage. He makes it to the boys and sits down in his chair, fixing his shirt before leaning back. 

“That went well,” Hoseok mutters, sipping his glass of champagne. “What’s plan B?”

“The exam results, most likely.” Jungkook sighs and reaches over for Taehyung’s barely touched glass, chugging it all down. “I overheard one of dad’s phone calls a few days ago, the results this semester are the best in the last five years.”

“Wait, that means we passed,” Taehyung exclaims, grin wide and toothy, and Hoseok also jumps in surprised glee, high fiving the younger boy while cackling. 

Yoongi is still lost in his thoughts, arms crossed over his chest and eyes trained on his shoes. Yeah, Jungkook has a feeling Yoongi must have been suspecting something for a while now, but he probably got the confirmation he needed today. Jungkook doesn't know what to do with that information, but he feels a little nervous for some reason.

“Has Hara texted anyone, by the way?” Taehyung asks after a few moments of silence. Jungkook instantly checks his phone and shakes his head, biting his lip. 

“We should tell her that all is well and that Yunho has handled the situation.” Hoseok grabs his phone and starts firing away a text most definitely loaded with emojis. 

Jungkook also sends one, a quick “How is everything? You feeling better now?”, but he doesn’t receive a response. He guesses Hara must be overwhelmed by what happened between them, but then again she was the one who initiated it, Jungkook finds it a little alarming that she hasn’t responded, even after an hour passes. 

Yoongi hasn’t uttered a word since the tie incident. Hoseok and Taehyung have both knocked back a few glasses of champagne, laughing and enjoying the music and the entertainment provided by the school band. 

Jungkook, on the other hand, feels worried for some reason. 

He decides to call Hara. 

He excuses himself and leaves the hall, finding an empty corner in one of the hallways before calling Hara. The phone keeps ringing. 

“,” Jungkook curses, quickly calling Leeteuk. He paces back and forth in front of the lockers, one hand on his hip, the other tightly pressing his phone against his ear. 

“Good morning, young master J-”

“Where is Hara?” Jungkook interrupts, coming to a halt. “Can you check on her right now? Keep the line hot.” 

“Yes, sir,” Leeteuk says, the sound of his heels clicking against the polished floors of the Jeon residency ringing loudly in Jungkook’s ears, and the boy perks up when he hears Leeteuk rush down the stairs to the underground floor. 

“Well?” Jungkook bites his lip, staring intently at the lockers in front of him. 

“I-I could have sworn to god she was here mere minutes ago,” Leeteuk stammers and Jungkook feels his heart stop.

“What the hell do you mean?” Jungkook storms out of the hallway, fingers almost breaking the phone from how hard he’s clutching it.

“I saw her fifteen minutes ago, young master, I swear, she was right here in the living room-”

“Lock the gates, send every maid to check the house, no corner left untouched, you hear me?” 

Leeteuk sounds positively frightened, “yes, young master, I will. I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience.” 

Jungkook doesn’t bother replying and hangs up. 

He is out of the building in seconds and in his car, speeding away before he has even put his phone in his pocket. His heart is hammering against his chest, his throat is clogged and he feels light headed. 

Would she really leave, just like that? Even after what happened earlier? 

What if that’s why she’s leaving? 

“Shut up,” Jungkook whispers, shaking his head to clear his mind. He focuses on the road, avoiding all the major routes where early morning traffic is crowding the streets. 

She can’t have just left, right? She finally seemed a little at peace, she felt home. Jungkook has seen it in her eyes, he has noticed the way she seems more comfortable, less on guard and more at ease around them. 

Would she throw all that progress away? But why? Just because she got scared? Overwhelmed?

“!”

Jungkook slams his fist against the steering wheel, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he pulls up to the gates. The doors are automatically opened and he doesn’t even wait until they’re fully pulled apart before driving in. Leeteuk is fidgeting in front of the entrance doors, his face pale and frightened. 

“Who was in charge of her?” Jungkook asks as he rushes up to the entrance, the engine still running behind him.

“Jisoo-ssi,” Leeteuk says, flinching slightly when Jungkook storms past him and inside the foyer. 

“Kim Jisoo.” Jungkook’s loud voice echoes throughout the empty house, and one of the maids scurries into the hallway, head bowed, shoulders hunched in fear. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know, young mas-”

“How could she escape when she’s bound to a ing wheelchair?” Jungkook yells, and Jisoo jumps, fingers fiddling with her uniform shirt. “How incompetent do you have to be to lose an injured person?” 

“I’m so sorr-”

“Sorry won’t cut it,” Jungkook cuts in, eyes wide in anger, lip pulled into a scornful snarl, “she’s gone now, Jisoo, what are you going to do about it?” 

Jisoo is seconds away from bursting into tears, so Jungkook turns on his heel and leaves before he loses more of his patience. Leeteuk is still standing in the foyer, his face contorted into a pained frown, and Jungkook uses that to ground himself a little. 

He closes his eyes and drags in a deep breath. “She’s not in the house?” 

“No, young master.”

“What did Siwon say?” 

Leeteuk quickly pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows Jungkook his text messages. “He is still with your parents at the ceremony.” 

“Then how the did she leave?” Jungkook snaps, tightly clutching the phone. 

“I do not know, but her wheelchair is still here.” 

Jungkook freezes and then frowns deeply. 

“That doesn’t make sense, Hara hasn’t started walking without support yet,” he says, “the physiotherapist made it clear that she’ll need at least three more lessons before she can do that.” 

Leeteuk doesn’t know what to say, and Jungkook is about to lose his mind so he pushes the phone into the butler’s hands and leaves the house, jumping into his car before racing down the street. 

He makes multiple stops, leaves the car and jogs around the neighborhood, even drives to the Red Lake, but Hara is nowhere to be seen. He calls her all the while, keeps sending her messages, and soon he receives a bunch of calls from the boys too, all of them worried because Leeteuk had reached out to them, asking if maybe they knew something about Hara’s whereabouts.

“Just keep your head cool and don’t do anything reckless,” Yoongi says, sounding way too calm for Jungkook’s liking, but the boy is busy worrying about Hara having left him to point it out. 

“She isn’t in our neighborhood, where do you think she could have gone?”

“I don’t know, but Taehyung is driving us to my place just to check,” Yoongi calmly replies, “I’ll keep you updated. Don’t tell Yunho about this, he seemed very busy.”

“I ing-I won’t tell him, !” Jungkook slams the brakes and punches the car horn.

The call is on speaker, so Jungkook easily catches the frantic curse Yoongi mutters on the other line, and it does nothing to help his buzzing nerves.

She left. 

“Hey, Jungkook, Kook, hey, calm down.” Jungkook breathes in deeply and squeezes his eyes shut, hands tightly clutching the steering wheel. “Kook, breathe with me. Come on.”

Jungkook follows Yoongi’s instructions and ignores Hoseok and Taehyung’s worried voices in the background, but when he finally calms down he chokes up. 

“,” he whispers, pressing the heels of his palms against his eyes as tears freely stream down his face, and the other line goes completely silent. “She’s gone, hyung, she left me.”

“She hasn’t,” Yoongi says, carefully.

“Her wheelchair is still there, what if she has injured herself? What if she’s hurt or-or unconsciou-”

“Jungkook.” Yoongi’s tone is stern, and Jungkook snaps his mouth shut and bites his quivering lower lip. “She would never do that. She would never leave you. Have some faith in her, will you?”

Jungkook doesn’t trust his voice, so he just nods and hopes that Yoongi understands his situation. 

“I’ll keep you updated. Keep your phone on you, okay?”

“Yes, hyung,” Jungkook murmurs and then hangs up. 

He stares at the road ahead of him, thankful that he took a shortcut or else he’d probably be in a bloody accident from having stopped in the smack middle of the road. 

Jungkook takes a few moments to gather himself, closes his eyes and breathes deeply in and out, keeps repeating the motion until his heart no longer threatens to beat out of his chest. He grabs his phone and goes to his photo album, and as cliche as it feels, he clicks on the picture Taehyung had sneaked of Hara during one of the hospital visits, and he just breaks down. 

She left him. Hara left him.