MY ADDICTION | TAEKOOK

chapter 36

He did not want to leave jungkook alone at the store, but with the human insisting he go home and get some rest, taehyung had no choice but to go. Instead of going home, however, taehyung goes to a quiet corner of town where he finds a long paved road that leads to the quaint house he's looking for. taehyung had found the address in a stack of notes on jungkook's desk. As he discreetly checks the surrounding area for any witnesses before trying to break into the unattended home, he wonders if jungkook has ever been here before.

jin's home is not located in an area nearly as nice as mingyu's. The long road that leads up to the house isolates him from the nearby neighbors quite a bit. The house itself is a humble little one story dwelling: paint peeling off the wood, blown out lightbulb in the porch lamp, terribly creaky porch steps. To no surprise, the window that looks into the living room is slightly open. What is it with humans and leaving their damn windows open, he wonders.

He takes another glance around to make sure there are no nosy neighbors walking by before slipping inside. The first thing he observes about jin's living room upon entering is that it exceptionally orderly. Unusually so, in fact. The house looks as if someone has just moved in and hasn't began unpacking yet. The living room seems to be barely lived in, nearly uninhabited if it not for the old black leather couch in the middle of the room that's peeling a bit on the armrest. Beside the couch is a single brass floor lamp; the lampshade that taehyung assumes was once white has several stains on it. On the adjacent wall are two 2 shelf bookcases that go up to about his knees. taehyung bends down to take a look at the books, most of them are literary non-fiction and science fantasy novels. He takes note of how organized they are, each book arranged in alphabetical order according to the authors' last names.

The kitchen doesn't look any better than the living room, looking like it belongs to a sad divorcee who never has company over so he only needs one set of utensils and a couple bowls and plates. The sparse cabinets hold only a few cans of non-perishables and the fridge contained some old fruits and vegetables, a couple condiment bottles pushed to the back. How strange. taehyung has broken into many homes and they almost never looked this bleak. Though, he supposes it isn't impossible for a human to live this way. There had been one or two druggies back in the city they found who lived absolutely pathetic lives in shoebox apartments that looked similar to what he's sees here.

Still, jin has never struck him as that type of person. taehyung wonders if jungkook saw this would he finally realize there's something strange about him or would he continue to blindly defend his dear coworker?

There are only two other rooms in the house: the bedroom and bathroom. The bedroom doesn't look as dreary as the rest of the house. taehyung was expecting it to be another pathetic sight with a couple pillows and a bedsheet thrown on the floor or something of that nature. Instead he finds a somewhat normal looking room with a queen sized bed pushed into the left corner of the room and a wooden nightstand topped with a desk lamp next to it. The bed looks hefty compared to jungkook's small one. Perhaps they should get a larger one. It's always so uncomfortable having to squeeze into the tiny thing with the human.

For what the rest of the home lacks in human touch, it makes up for it in this room. There are framed photos and posters of what taehyung can only assume are jin's favorite books hanging on the walls.

One of frames contained an old photograph of a middle aged couple and a rather young looking jin standing between them, all three of them smiling widely. The photo below it is one of inside the bookstore during a very busy day it seems as it is filled with smiling patrons browsing books and talking amongst each other. There are many photos of random street scenes and buildings around town that taehyung recognizes from staying there for so long. None of which really catch his eye until he notices the frame right above the lamp. It's another one of the book store, however, it's outside this time. Right in front of the entrance stands jin, jungkook, and a much older woman. Next to that photo is one of just jin and jungkook this time. taehyung is seething when he notices how close they are to each other- one of jin's hands rests on his human's shoulders and the other hand on his thigh. jungkook looks so genuinely happy and it makes taehyung's heart twist in bittersweet angst that it's not because of him. It's perhaps the most repulsive sight the vampire has ever seen.