Jungkook's POV
The text message from Taehyung was brief, a three-word command that sent a jolt of shock and hope through Jungkook. I'm ready. Where? The words were a stark contrast to the distant, closed-off texts he'd been receiving for the past ten days. Jungkook's heart, which had felt like a shriveled knot of anxiety, suddenly bloomed with a cautious optimism. He quickly replied with the name of a quiet café. He didn't press for more, didn't ask what had changed. He just drove.
He arrived first, his hands trembling as he held a warm mug of coffee. He saw Taehyung walk in, looking tired and disheveled, but with a new, quiet determination in his eyes. There was a raw vulnerability about him that pulled at Jungkook's heart. He stood up as Taehyung approached, and for a moment, they simply looked at each other, the space between them filled with all the unspoken pain and longing of the last week.
"Hyung," Jungkook whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
Taehyung took a deep breath, his gaze unwavering. He didn't sit down. He just stood there, his hands in his pockets, his posture almost military. "Jennie knows."
The words, so blunt, landed like a punch. Jungkook's heart stopped. "What? What do you mean she knows? What happened?"
"She saw us at the café," Taehyung confessed, his voice barely audible. "The day we met for coffee. She saw the way... the way we were." He looked down at his hands. "She asked me. And I told her the truth. I... I told her I'd left because of you."
Jungkook's blood ran cold. The finality of the statement, the pain in Taehyung's voice, was a gut-wrenching confirmation of the high price of their actions. He took a step forward, reaching for Taehyung's hand. "Oh, hyung. I'm so sorry."
Taehyung flinched slightly, pulling his hand away, a silent reminder of his guilt. "Don't be," he said, his voice stronger now, laced with a brutal honesty. "This is all on me. All of it. I... I've been a mess. I've been hiding from the consequences. I've been running from you because I was a coward." He finally met Jungkook's gaze, his eyes glistening. "I don't deserve you, Jungkook. I don't deserve this. I put you in this impossible situation. I put her through hell."
The raw confession, so unlike the composed, perfect Taehyung from a few weeks ago, tore at Jungkook's heart. He had waited so long to hear Taehyung admit his feelings, but not like this, not laced with so much pain. He stepped forward again, this time closing the distance, his hands gently cupping Taehyung's face, forcing him to look at him.
"Taehyung. Look at me. We are in this together. Every choice, every consequence," Jungkook said, his voice trembling with the force of his own emotion. "Don't you dare say you don't deserve this. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to be honest with yourself. And... I deserve to be here with you. Because I am crazy about you. I have been since we were seven."
The final words, a confession he had kept locked away for a lifetime, broke the dam. Taehyung's eyes welled with tears, a single one escaping and trailing down his cheek. He leaned into Jungkook's touch, a silent surrender.
"Jungkookie," he whispered, the childhood nickname a fragile, broken sound that undid Jungkook completely.
And then, as if a dam had burst, Taehyung's walls came down. He moved, pulling Jungkook into a fierce, desperate embrace, burying his face in Jungkook's shoulder, a single sob wracking his body. It was a hug of confession, of relief, of profound grief for the life he'd lost and terrifying hope for the one he was just beginning. Jungkook held him tightly, his own eyes filling with tears, feeling the full, beautiful weight of Taehyung's raw emotion. They had finally made it back to each other, but the journey had been brutal, and the scars would linger.
But for the first time in what felt like forever, Jungkook knew, with a certainty that burned brighter than any star, that their "forever" was finally about to begin.