Chapter Nine.

                                    

                                          
Jeongguk
                          
For the next few weeks, their lives were perfect. Jeongguk and Taehyung met in the library once a week to do their school work, and they continued their tattoo appointments. The weather was warming, spring emerging from it's hibernation in full bloom, turning the world green once more.
                          
Unfortunately, life never stayed beautiful for long. 
                          
Jeongguk had awoken one warm March morning to the sound of his phone ringing. He forced his eyes to open, squinting to shield his eyes from the bright screen of his phone. He saw that he had 2 missed calls from an unknown number, and another was coming in. He clicked the green button and put the phone to his ear.
                          
"Hello?" he answered gruffly, his voice heavy with sleep. 
                          
"Is this Jeon Jeongguk?" the voice asked, and Jeongguk could tell that it was thick with emotion.
                          
He sat up, now completely awake. "Yes."
                          
"I'm calling to let you know that Taehyung is in the hospital. There was an accident last night. He wanted me to let you know, so if you want to come visit him today, you can," the voice said. "My name is Park Jimin, by the way."
                          
Jeongguk had to repress the wave of emotions that slammed him. Jimin hung up the phone without a goodbye, and Jeongguk had no idea what to do. He had been sleeping peacefully, dreaming about Taehyung, all while the older was suffering. What happened? Who would lay a finger on the soft and gentle Kim Taehyung?
                          
Before he knew what he was doing, Jeongguk was stumbling around his room, putting on the first clothes he found. He was searching for a sock when a knock rapped at his door.
                          
"Are you okay in there?" Yoongi asked, obviously amused. "You don't have a boy in there, do you? You know I have a strict no loud morning sex policy-"
                          
He was interrupted when the door was thrown open, his eyes falling onto an obviously disheveled Jeongguk. "What happened to you?"
                          
"Taehyung," Jeongguk muttered, his voice oddly high. "Hospital. I'm going." He pushed past Yoongi, and he was halfway to the door when Yoongi stepped in front of him again, but his face now showed his concern.
                          
"Let me drive you, okay?" Yoongi said. "It'd be much faster that way."
                          
"I don't even know what hospital he's at," Jeongguk said, his eyes darting to the phone that he gripped tightly in his hand. Yoongi looked down, noticing that his friends knuckles were stark white against the dark phone. 
                          
"Who told you he was in the hospital?" Yoongi asked in his best soothing voice. 
                          
"I- I don't know," Jeongguk replied. "His name was Jimin."
                          
"Maybe you could text Jimin and ask which hospital they're at?" Yoongi suggested. Jeongguk nodded and resumed walking to the door, Yoongi following him. The older was still in his pajamas, his half-eaten breakfast sitting on their kitchen table. However, he had forgotten about it immediately. Jeongguk was the most important thing to him, and he needed to be there for his friend.
                          
The pair was soon sitting inside Yoongi's old car, putting the directions that Jimin sent into the small GPS system. The hospital was only minutes away, and Jeongguk's eyes darted around at every turn, looking for a large white building among the compacted skyscrapers of Seoul. 
                          
The city was beautiful; trees and bushes dotted the sides of the roads, and they passed a few different parks on their way to the hospital, each bursting with greenery and cherry blossom trees fixing to release their petals. However, Jeongguk took no notice of the city he loved so deeply now; his mind could only focus on Taehyung.