32. Stepping Inside

"I. . . yeah. . ." Jungkook nodded. "I'm ready."

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Namjoon pushed the door that was surprisingly open already, making everyone a little more wary than they were before. Someone has been here or is still inside, that was a fact. Jungkook followed all the others with Taehyung with careful eyes and clinged onto Taehyung's dark-blue dress shirt.

The house was pretty clean from the inside, but it looked like no one had been living in it for a while. It was pretty obvious that Jungkook's parents had left the place permanently. The living room was pretty clean and it smelled a little old as well. The only thing that got everyone's attention was the small blood stain on the floor by the bathroom door.

"Why's there blood on the floor?" Namjoon furrowed his eyebrows. Jungkook let out a small gasp and turned away, he knew the exact reason why there was blood there. The stain had been there ever since the day he came home without money to be beaten up by his parents right after. "Jungkook?" Namjoon turned to the younger who was clearly anxious about being inside his house. "Do you know?"

"I- yeah. . ." Jungkook nodded slowly, turning to look at the ugly stain on the floor again. "It's mine. . ." He mumbled, receiving a gasp from everyone.

"You- that's your blood?" Yoongi raised a worried eyebrow at Jungkook who only gave a small nod as a response. "What the fuck?"

"Should we check the house?" Jin requested gaining the attention of the rest of the kings. "We'll talk about this later, okay?" He added. He was basically talking to Jungkook, who looked like a nervous wreck next to Taehyung. Jin wanted to have a discussion with Jungkook about his past because Jungkook was obviously stressed and seemed to be even traumatized about it.

Jin didn't like to see Jungkook being so sad, it made him sad too and when Jin was sad, no one had a good time. He would literally throw plates at others and rage whenever he had the chance. Namjoon had said that it wasn't something you would ever want to experience.

"Yeah, we should split up and search the house." Namjoon nodded and wrapped his arm around Jin's waist. "Me and Jin are going to check this floor. Jungkook and Taehyung can go check upstairs and Hoseok and Yoongi can check the yard." He commanded.

"Alright." Yoongi responded. "Are we going to meet in front of the door if we find nothing?" He affirmed.

"Sure, let's do that." Namjoon pursed his lips together and gave a signal for everyone to spread around the house. Taehyung and Jungkook found the stairs next to the living room and stared at the end of the stairs.

"Should we go?" Taehyung tilted his head as he looked at Jungkook.

"Yeah. . ." Jungkook nodded and clinged to Taehyung's sleeve from nervousness. He took the first step, then another one, and eventually he was walking up the stairs with Taehyung next to him. "Here we are." The younger announced and looked around the weirdly dark hallway that led to all the other rooms.

"Do you want to see my room?" Jungkook smiled weakly and looked at Taehyung with his bambi eyes. "It's right here!" He chuckled and opened the door to his room. The door had a little poster of a superhero. Taehyung thought it was absolutely adorable that Jungkook never took the poster down.

"I'm following." Taehyung smiled and entered the small room. Jungkook switched the lights on and the older's eyes widened from shock. The room was almost empty, only a mattress in the middle of the room, leaning against a wall, and a small table with a glass on top of it. It was also pretty cold inside the room which sent shivers down both of the kings' spine. "This- this is, I mean, was your room?" Taehyung turned to look at the younger who was sitting on the mattress.

"Uh, yeah." Jungkook smiled brightly. "I know it's nothing compared to the luxury rooms in the castle, but it was enough for me." He added with a frown.

"You must've gotten a lot of colds when you lived here." Taehyung hummed and sat next to Jungkook, leaning his head on the younger's shoulder and closing his eyes for a bit.

"You bet! I was always sick." Jungkook chuckled and leaned his head on Taehyung's head. "My parents were always complaining about me having colds." He giggled cutely.

"Your immune system isn't that great, huh?" Taehyung mumbled. "If you ever get sick, I'll take care of you." Jungkook giggled as a response and laid on the mattress.

"Thank you. . ." The younger mumbled suddenly, gaining Taehyung's attention away from the glass that was on the table. "for everything. . ." He added.

To say Taehyung blushed just a little was an understatement. His head was filled with thoughts about Jungkook and how cute the younger was. He was totally in love with him and he couldn't deny it anymore. "It's nothing, really." He smiled sweetly. "You're worth my time, Jungkook. I wouldn't trade you for anything."

Of course the younger blushed furiously after hearing Taehyung's little confession. He never thought the older would care for him that much, and he was very thankful for that. Taehyung had been nothing but kind to him these days and Jungkook loved it. "O- oh, well. . ." Jungkook stuttered with his words a little. "I like being with you too. . ." He finally admitted.

"Really?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow and smiled at the younger. "I thought you hated me though." He decided to tease the younger a little but once he saw his smile falling he panicked immediately. "Ah! I didn't mean it like that!" Taehyung opened his mouth like a fish in a panic.

"It's okay." Jungkook gave the older a little smile and stood up. "We should continue with our search, okay?" He added and reached for Taehyung's hand, grabbing it and dragging him out of the room with him.

"Where are we going?" Taehyung asked with a suspicious tone. Jungkook didn't respond and continued to drag Taehyung through the hallway. "Is it something important?" He added which stopped Jungkook on his tracks.

Taehyung blinked a few times and stared at the younger's back. "Jungkook?" He called for him. They were standing in front of a worn-out door that had a few holes here and there. Taehyung was confused why they were just standing there, but then he realised something; it was Jungkook's brother's room.

"This is your. . . brother's room?" The older asked carefully, feeling Jungkook's hand tighten around his own hand. "We don't have to inside if you don't want t-"

"We have to." Jungkook interrupted the older. "We have to go inside. . ." He said and grabbed the handle, opening the old door and revealing a dark but familiar room. Both males stepped inside the room and searched for a light switch until Jungkook finally found it. Unfortunately the light didn't work and they had to search the room in the dark.

A knock was heard and both kings turned their heads towards the door, wary of their surroundings, just in case. Taehyung was the one who approached the door and opened slowly opened it. Fortunately, it was just Jin and Namjoon that were ready searching the first floor. They didn't find anything suspicious or something that could lead them to Jimin.

"I guess we have to wait for Yoongi and Hoseok now." Jin shrugged and sat on the unoccupied bed of Jungkook's brother. The younger noticed this and shoved Jin off the bed. This surprised everyone, even Jungkook. "Wha-"

"I'm sorry. . . this was my brother's room and I- I don't know anymore. . ." Jungkook sighed and closed his eyes. He was very stressed and wanted to back to the castle. He just wanted to reverse time to better times; where everything was peaceful and nice. The younger decided to leave the room to get some fresh air, so he stomped out of the room and opened the front door. Everything was fine,

that was, until Taehyung and everyone else heard Jungkook's little scream coming from the front of the house.

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