Jungkook
The hallway was silent.
Too silent.
Not the peaceful kind of quiet—the kind before a storm, thick and stifling. Jungkook's back still pressed the wall where Taehyung had left him, mouth red, breath unsteady.
The kiss still echoed in his skin.
But the silence after... it roared.
He slid down the wall slowly, knees folding beneath him, mind spinning.
What just happened?
Why did it feel like something had broken open inside him—something fragile and buried?
Why did it feel like Taehyung had tasted it all?
--
Namjoon was gone.
He'd left after the fight, after seeing the mark on Jungkook's neck—the one Taehyung didn't explain, and Jungkook didn't deny.
Before leaving, Namjoon said only one thing:
"When he breaks you… don't say I didn't try."
It echoed.
Like everything else in this cursed house.
--
The next morning was worse.
Taehyung was nowhere to be found. Minho avoided his eyes. And the staff seemed to whisper louder than usual, eyes flicking to his neck, then away.
Jungkook didn't ask. He didn't need to.
Instead, he walked. He wandered. He got lost on purpose.
And that's when he found it.
The study.
Dim light. Dusty shelves. A fire that crackled even when no one was there.
And on the desk—
A photo.
Black and white. Old.
Three boys. One was Elias. One was Taehyung. The third…
Bruised. Blurred.
Face scratched out like someone wanted him forgotten.
Jungkook's chest tightened. He shouldn't be seeing this. He knew it. But he couldn't stop staring.
What happened? Who was he? And why did Taehyung look… scared in that picture?
--
That night, he asked.
Taehyung stood in the doorway of his room, wine in hand, black on black like always.
Jungkook didn't sugarcoat it.
"I saw the photo."
A pause. A flicker of something in Taehyung's eyes—regret? Anger?
"You shouldn't go poking around in dead things."
"Was he dead?"
"…Does it matter?"
"Yes."
Silence.
"Don't ask questions you're not ready to hear the answers to, Jungkook."
And with that, he left.
--
Jungkook couldn't sleep.
Not even with silk sheets and burning fire and the ghost of a kiss still on his mouth.
So he wrote.
He pulled out the small black notebook he thought Taehyung didn't know about.
Entry #8:
I saw something today. He won't talk about it. But his silence screams louder than truth. There's something in this house that haunts him. And maybe now... it's starting to haunt me, too.
He slid it under the mattress like always.
And finally… closed his eyes.
Just for a second.
--
A whisper woke him.
So faint, it almost wasn't there.
"Burn it… if you want to survive."
Jungkook's eyes snapped open.
He looked around. No one. Nothing.
But when he reached under the mattress—
The notebook was gone.
And in its place?
A single match.
Taped to a torn page.
You're not ready to know the truth. But the truth already knows you.
–E