✔️ 𝐈𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 | 𝐓𝐚𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐮𝐤

Chapter Fourteen.

"Psych patient," Taehyung muttered to himself eventually. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't find the words to do so. Even if he had had something to say, Namjoon was speaking again.

"I could ask the same to you, but it looks obvious. The question is, what are you doing on the psych floor at 3 am?"

"Couldn't sleep," Taehyung responded softly. "I wouldn't be surprised if I became a psych patient soon, anyway. The psychiatrist is in and out of my room every ten minutes." He was shocked that the words left his mouth, as if he weren't conversing with the shell of an old friend.

Namjoon let out a hollow laugh, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Now you know how it feels."

Namjoon coughed, then continued. "I've been in and out of this damned hospital for months now. Every time I leave, it's like my PTSD is begging me to come back. That and every other disorder I got after what you did."

Taehyung felt his blood sour, and he frowned. "I know," he said quietly, looking down. He had spent years blaming himself for everything, but now that he was face-to-face with Namjoon, some sort of repressed anger coursed through his veins.

He looked up at Namjoon. "You were there, too, you know. We were all being idiots."

Namjoon crouched so he could look Taehyung in the eyes directly. "Tell me, Tae; who's the person who started that fight with Minhyun? How about when you ran away, knowing he would-"

"Stop it," Taehyung interrupted, having a harder time keeping his panic at bay. "You know I didn't think about that. You know that he-" Taehyung broke off, his mind going fuzzy.

"That he what?"

Taehyung felt as if he were losing control. His entire body was becoming more numb by the second, and he was having a harder time thinking. Please don't do this now, he silently begged his mind.

"I- I cant think," Taehyung mumbled.

Namjoon stood up, glaring at him. "How convenient. You can only remember the parts where you did nothing wrong."

Taehyung leaned forward and rested his forehead on his bent knee.

"One day, Taehyung, karma is going to get you for every lie you've told about this."

Namjoon wandered away, but Taehyung didn't notice. He just wished he had stayed in bed, because then he would never have known any of this would have happened.

He could do nothing but wait for a nurse to find him.

-

When Taehyung opened his eyes much later that morning, Jimin was pacing the room, mumbling to himself. Jeongguk was trying his best not to doze off on the next bed.

"What're you doing?" Taehyung asked sleepily. Jimin stopped pacing and turned his attention towards him.

"The better question is, what were you doing on the psych floor last night?" Jimin flared. "We thought someone had kidnapped you, or worse. It wasn't until 6 am when a nurse wheeled you back in here, telling us she found you passed out upstairs."

Jimin's anger turned to concern, and he came over to Taehyung. "What's going on? Something is really wrong here, and I don't like it."

Taehyung glanced at Jeongguk, who looked equally concerned. He sighed. "I saw Namjoon last night."

"You... you did?" Jimin asked.

"Yeah, I did," Taehyung confirmed. "We bumped into each other, and- he-" Taehyung was starting to get emotional again, and he wished to whatever God was out there that he would stop being such a crybaby.

Jimin sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes sympathetic. "It's okay, Tae," he soothed. "Dr. Yeon will be in to talk to you later. You can tell her everything."

Taehyung nodded, begging the tears in his eyes to go away. He wouldn't mind if Namjoon went away with them.

Until then, Jeongguk had been sitting silently on the other bed, but now, he stepped over and began to play with Taehyung's tousled hair. Taehyung closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to relax.

"I'm gonna sleep again," he told them eventually. Both visitors nodded, but they didn't move. The kept doing what they were doing until Taehyung's soft snores filled the room.

-

"After evaluating you, I think it's best that you stay for a few more days, just to make sure that these meds start working," Dr. Yeon told Taehyung.

He nodded, looking at the two small yellow pills that sat in a cup on his lap table. "If everything works out, and these decrease the panic attacks and night terrors, you'll be ready for discharge. They might even cure your desire to wander the hospital late at night."

Taehyung thanked her, and she left. What had she said the name of those pills was? It didn't matter. Either way, he took the pills, swallowed them with a mouthful of water, and sat there for a moment, lost in his thoughts.

He hoped they worked, because he was tired of being here. After a second, a random thought crossed his mind.

Maybe, just maybe, when he was back home and able to walk, he would be able to get that puppy that he and Jimin had joked about.

A furry friend didn't seem like such a bad idea, after all.