CHAPTER 27

                                    

                                          
THIRD PERSON POV 
Jimin had observed Taehyung's expressions closely. Very closely. 
He had seen how the boy had barely spoken during the whole day, how he had been wearing a blank expression all the time, how he had seemed to be doing his best to distract himself by practicing as hard as he could but his preoccupied mind made him unable to concentrate. 
And he knew the reason, but he had no idea how to help. How could he when Taehyung was ignoring his attempts at talking to him? 
Earlier during the day, right after breakfast, Jimin had gone into Taehyung's room to check up on him, knowing he wouldn't be feeling too well about this sudden announcement. Though Jimin had a feeling that it wasn't that sudden at all for Taehyung since the boy hadn't displayed any signs of being shocked. 
He had a neutral expression, almost as if he had seen it coming. His face had been stoic but Jimin knew that it was hurting him so bad inside. 
However, when he had tried speaking to the younger, he had been brushed off as Taehyung had stated that he had to get ready for practice. Later at the studio, Jimin had tried talking to him again but this time, Taehyung had plainly ignored him. 
Jimin couldn't comprehend what was going on with him. Usually, when any such thing happened, Taehyung would vent his feelings out to Jimin, grateful to have his friend listening to him and lending him a shoulder to cry on. But now, the younger was shutting himself completely and it worried Jimin a lot. 
Nevertheless, the short brunette figured that he should give his friend some time before trying to speak to him about the issue again and that was why he hadn't brought it up at all during the rest of the day. He merely watched over Taehyung from afar, making sure he was relatively fine. 
And so, it wasn't until 2 days later that Jimin decided to touch the subject. He went into Taehyung's bedroom only to find it empty. Puzzled, he looked around the house, still not finding him anywhere. Had he gone somewhere?
A little alarmed, Jimin almost ran to his room to tell Hoseok that he couldn't find Taehyung anywhere but then one last spot he hadn't checked flashed in his mind. Taehyung had to be there. 
Jimin climbed up a flight of stairs, internally praying that he would find Taehyung at the end of those stairs. He finally reached a door and cautiously pushed it open. The hinge creaked a little as it moved and Jimin saw Taehyung sitting on the edge of the roof in the distance. 
The younger boy didn't seem aware of the elder's presence despite the noise made by the door. Jimin stood there for a few seconds, observing him. He heard the low sniffles coming from him and he saw how his hand went up to rub his eyes which were presumably flooding from tears. 
"Tae?" He called out finally, seeing the aforementioned quickly wipe away his tears before turning to him with a smile. 
"Yeah?" Taehyung replied, trying to appear as normal as possible but the slight cracking of his hoarse voice gave away that he had been crying. However, his smile didn't falter. 
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Jimin asked softly. It was really late, nearly 1:30 a.m. 
"Oh, nothing. Just stargazing," replied the younger. It was so evident that he had been crying but Taehyung still tried his best to hide it from Jimin, not knowing that the latter had seen him already. 
Jimin sighed. "Tae..." he started. "Tell me what's wrong. I'm here for you, you know that," assured Jimin as he walked closer to the boy, taking a seat beside him and gently rubbing his back. 
Taehyung was about to start shaking his head and say that everything was fine, but the gentleness of Jimin's words was all it took to make the brunette start sobbing again. Jimin hugged him and patted his back, whispering comforting words to calm the younger boy down.