Two; the muffin
Of windows, muffins, and paper planes
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[>] Stay with Me - Sam Smith
It's the same thing for two years now. He lies on the floor watching the sun set and darkness swallowing the Earth. Suddenly an unfamiliar nurse barges in and tuts at his misconduct.
"Mr Kim, that is not your bed!" The nurse laughed and Taehyung rolls his eyes lazily towards the unfamiliar voice.
"Who're you?" He mutters.
"I'm the new nurse in charge of you, Jung Hoseok," the nurse chirps and Taehyung finds it almost impossible to feel depressed around him.
Hoseok helps him back onto the bed. Taehyung eyes him suspiciously.
"What's with that face, Mr Kim?"
"Taehyung is fine."
"Okay, Taehyung, is something bothering you?" Worry is obvious in Hoseok's voice.
Suddenly Taehyung feels like a small child who had just fallen down. Hoseok's brotherly demeanor hits him like a truck, wanting him to cry and be babied.
"I want to walk," he mumbles in a small voice, and Hoseok immediately coos comfortingly, muttering whispers in his hair that everything is alright and things are going to get better.
Taehyung is so shocked by that. He almost pushes Hoseok away because of the unfamiliarity. It's so different from Seokjin's curt responses. Taehyung knows he should like Hoseok's ways but he doesn't. It isn't like Seokjin. Seokjin would've probably said that Taehyung couldn't do it, but he'd help Taehyung anyway, because Taehyung knows Seokjin's just as dumb as him, actually dumber, for falling for someone like himself. Because Seokjin would do just about anything to make Taehyung happy.
Taehyung misses Seokjin. Then sometimes he doesn't. But the evidence lies obvious through the tear stains on his pillow.
Even though Seokjin showers him with the hard truth and Hoseok with pleasant lies, Hoseok still comes in everyday without fail and helps Taehyung to walk. Three years of this but his legs were still too weak. Taehyung's fine with the results though, he plainly enjoys Hoseok company. The two resolved into friends and chat over the stupidest things like little girls. Hoseok even blushes once and pips shyly that he finally asked his crush Yoongi out and Taehyung applauds.
It's fours years now and Taehyung is eighteen years old. Hoseok's right on time of their daily schedule; helping Taehyung to at least move his feet. Taehyung stumbles and Hoseok quickly catches him, the both of them giggling drunkenly.
"Anyway, Taehyung, do you know that Yoongi played a prank on Jimin today? It was hilarious!" Hoseok talks a lot in front of Taehyung. And Taehyung is grateful for it because he always has nothing to say. He likes Hoseok's animated way of talking, anyway.
So Hoseok describes how his boyfriend pranked Hoseok's 'frenemy', Jimin, and almost not catching Taehyung at the right time.
"Oops!" He squealed as he clutched Taehyung tightly," come on, I'll put you back on the bed."
Taehyung nods and Hoseok brings a hand in to carry Taehyung's legs, then lifting him up bridally. Taehyung's used to Hoseok's skin-ship.
Right at that moment there was a knock on the door and the both of them turned to the sound.
"Am I interrupting anything?"
Taehyung froze.
"Oh! Seems like you have a visitor. I'll go outside for a while," Hoseok puts Taehyung down on the bed and Taehyung's eyes widened as he stiffly looked at his 'visitor'.
Seokjin.
Taehyung can't do anything but gape in shock. The one who made him exceptionally happy and also the one who made him mad with depression. He looked so different. Taehyung swallowed a lump in his throat that wasn't there before. Seokjin's broad shoulders were even broader. His face sharper, handsomer and Taehyung's own face was starting to turn red. And there wasn't a lanky teenager anymore. Seokjin was clad in a suit and tie, making him look ten times better than he already was. He was more intimidating, seductive, guarded, and Taehyung noticed he lost the sparkling glint in his eyes.
No. Kim Seokjin still hadn't come back to him. And he knows it's all his fault.
But still. Elation wrecked Taehyung's body.
"You're back." Yes, you're back. I missed you, where were you?
"The paper planes are still there." Seokjin ignores him and comments, his attention at the window next to the bed, almost in wonder. Taehyung scowls. It always has been at the window.
"Look at you, all grown up," Seokjin's now dull eyes stare at him and Taehyung has an impulse to cover himself with the blankets and never come out. "But you're just as pretty, Taehyung."
And you're just as straightforward as ever. But you're here. You're really here.
"Where..where were you all this time?" Why weren't you answering my calls? Did you know I cried every night?
"Why don't you tell me who that was first?"
Who? Oh...does he mean Hoseok?
"A nurse," Taehyung replies simply but Seokjin frowns.
"Why isn't he dressed like a nurse, then?" Seokjin questions and a sudden jolt of anger stabs Taehyung.
"Because he takes time off to help me walk. Why do you have to know this anyway? It's none of your damn business. Why don't you tell where have you been all that time!" Taehyung shouts.
Seokjin looked startled by Taehyung's sudden outburst.
"...Germany. I...was in Germany," Seokjin ran a hand through his hair as if teasing the younger. Or maybe it's just Taehyung. "My father wants me to get involved with his company."
"And you just left like that?"
"I was angry at that time, okay?" Seokjin replied exasperatedly. "It's not like you would care. You kind of rejected me already."
I do care. A little. A lot. Actually very much. And who knows how many other pairs of lips you've been kissing, Kim Seokjin.
"And why're you back?" Taehyung suddenly asks. Seokjin's face turns stricken and Taehyung wished he didn't ask why.
Because when he thought his world had already fallen apart he was so wrong.
"Taehyung... I..." Seokjin chokes out, trying to cover his left hand but Taehyung spotted it. He spotted the small round figure that sparkled under the lights.
A ring.
Taehyung could feel his heart shattering into a million pieces. He's shaking. Taehyung's trembling violently under the covers and the tears are coming. The tears are at the corner of his eyelids but he's not going to cry. Not now.
"I'm...engaged.." Seokjin breathed out. Now Taehyung's world is torn apart, and ripped into pieces. Taehyung couldn't breathe. He couldn't think.
Seokjin's supposed to love him. Only him and Taehyung feels so selfish at his thoughts but all he wants is Kim Seokjin.
"What?" He barely got out a whisper. His head hurts. Everything hurts.
Ignorance certainly is bliss.
"My father wants to merge ties with this important company and he thinks the best way is marriage. And the other boss has a daughter so he thinks it's the right opportunity," Seokjin says and Taehyung wishes he could just leave already so he can just cry.
He knows this is what Seokjin deserves. A good wife and a stable job. Not a stupid crippled boy living all his life in a hospital.
But Taehyung doesn't like it.
"I've come personally to give you the wedding invitation. You...you would come, right?" Seokjin pulls out a fancy looking envelope and Taehyung stares dumbly at it. He doesn't want to take it. He wants to rip it to shreds.
"Of course." Actually, no. I wouldn't. I'd rather die than go. Because going is already a death sentence.
"Thank you." Seokjin says softly and Taehyung can't stop the tears now. They fall from his eyes and onto the bed. His face twists horribly and he covers it with his hands so Seokjin can't see what a nightmare he was. Self hatred and self pity destroyed him, breaking him down until he's more broken than before.
"Taehyung.." It sounds like Seokjin is crying as well but Taehyung can't be too sure. He knows he's on the verge of insanity and he can't trust anything right now, especially his own mind.
"Leave. Please," Taehyung whimpers and more tears leak out. He convulses slightly, pricks of pain exploding inside him. His chest hurts, and if his legs were any good he would've run out of the room then.
But he can't. So he stays in the bed like a loser, crying his heart out. This is what heartbreak feels like, Taehyung realizes, did Seokjin feel that way four years ago?
Even under the white covers, Taehyung could feel Seokjin staring at him. It was silent for a while, until a short sigh left Seokjin's lips.
"I always...wanted to give this to you when...we were something better than what we are now." Seokjin spoke softly and Taehyung heard the shuffle sound of paper beside him.
The fading click of shoes made Taehyung cringe. As soon as the sound disappeared, Taehyung lifted the covers from his head and turned to the window; the one that homed the flying paper planes. Rays of faint sunlight filter through, reflecting off colors, illuminating warmth, reassurance, and hope.
And perched on the windowsill is a small, slightly wrinkled pink paper plane.
T
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