𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥:

All the characters of this story are purely fictional. Any resemblance of the characters or the plot to any movie characters or any movie, any other novel/book characters or novel/book are purely coincidental. I am a writer with my own ideas, and my own creativity and I will never intentionally copy someone else's work.

𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗

This is a work of fiction, only meant to display fictional elements. The characters are heavily flawed in many stories, and I do not suggest or encourage anyone to take inspirations from any character's story. Readers are suggested to view the story as a fraction of imagination, rather than my personal opinion or how I view things, and not be too judgemental about the characters. Below, I will be mentioning what elements you are likely to expect from this story. That given, it is also very important to note that, my stories are not an accurate representation of moral ethics. They're grounded in reality and represent raw emotions. That being said, if you do not feel comfortable, skip the story and do not read it. Tell me about what are the specific things you didn't like in the comment section. But do not report my work, respectfully. You have been warned.

𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙:

• Substance Abuse • NSFW (Not Safe For Work) • Violence • Cheating • Abuse • Toxic relationships • Morally grey characters • Self harm • Gore • Sad Ending

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚:

You know who.

•••••

The rain outside the window long stopped pelting against the window of his room, upstairs, until a small breeze that seeped in through the small gap of his window that had creaked open last night, by the wind, woke him up from his daze...

Jeongguk's eyes fluttered, squinted from the sudden light and then opened slowly, as he sat up on the bed.

He rubbed his eyes, looking at the drizzling outside his window, the leaves of the large tree outside his window, holding the drops of last night's shower, still, as if they were adamant to hold onto the memories of last night... Just like him.

The door opened with a soft click, and opened with a creak. In the dim light there, stood his mother:

Jeongguk hated days like this. Hated to wake up and see things around being the same way as they were the day before. Hated to wake up to the same tension, same fight, same neglect...

But he lived here. He had to put on a smile on his face and get over it. Pretend like everything is fine, the very next day. Because when have things ever been sorted out in this home? They just get buried down, for it to come back later in future arguments as a haunted shield.

After freshening up, he walked downstairs, bringing himself to the quiet chaos of the house. Plus. It was Sunday. Which meant, a 24 hours survival in this same household.

The door bell rang, taking everyone by surprise. It was too early for someone to arrive at this time.

Jeongguk already found himself moving towards the door, but his appa stood up before him–

Jeongguk busied himself in the kitchen but the sound of loud laugh and someone being invited in–almost in a homely manner–made him curious... Who was there?

Well, that question didn't stay too long in his head when he saw the familiar, tall and lean figure enter the house–making him freeze at the spot. His eomma let out a squeal, immediately walking out of the kitchen and rushing out to gather the man in her arms, who bend down to return the embrace with a big smile on his face...

Jeongguk nodded before walking back to the dining table with the other toasts and kept them in the midst. His father quietly took a piece, applying butter on it...

After a while, his eomma joined in too. The conversation struck up between the two of them–

The breakfast ended. Jeongguk fidgeted as he was handed with the chore of arranging Jin's clothes in his closet.

So here he was. Upstairs, in his own room, which once used to be... Theirs'. Making space in his closet, he began keeping the stuff inside it, carefully, while the elderly male slept on his bed. Messing up.. Or messing around didn't exist anymore.

The sound of the ruffling of the fabric made Jin jostle and wake up. His half lidded eyes found Jeongguk's form pacing around in the room with his clothes and keeping them in the closet...

With a groggy voice, he finally spoke up...

Seokjin watched his younger brother move across the room, as a silence fell between them. It was never this way. Oh, not at all.

The room used to be so full of chaos, because Jin absolutely adored the younger and despite being older in age, he made sure to annoy the younger like they were the same age; because the younger would leave no chance in retaliating with the same energy– Late night pillow fights, blanket tents and horror stories, throwing spells at each other cosplaying Hogwarts; they even had the Darth Vader swords...

The room wouldn't be quiet with them in it. If it did fall quiet, that would cause more panic to their eomma than their shouts. The house would be topsy-turvy with them in there. And now, there was... This. A silence. A silence that spoke that it wasn't going to be "nothing has changed" anymore. It wasn't going to be "we're back like we never left" anymore. It was going to be awkward, messy, chaotic in a brutal way...

Four years wasn't a small time.

After a while of the tense silence, Jeongguk was done placing the clothes in his room. He could see his hyung's gaze, watching him expectedly, waiting for him to be done with the chores so he could talk to him but he didn't. He didn't want to talk...

Four years of radio silence. Four years since Jin left–no. Abandoned him. After somehow getting out of the clutches of their father's grasp–

He still remembered every day vividly:

Little Jeonggukie who had only watched the scene half-way through, didn't understand anything. Nor did he know what was going on. Well, until a few years later, he finally did...

That day, Jeonggukie felt like a boulder had just slid past some big mountain and fallen onto his shoulders to carry.

Like he would be carrying this boulder for a long, long time and he'd have no one to even tell about it.

Those words still haunt Jeongguk to this day. The body and soul of his still despise Jin for leaving. For leaving him all alone with his dreams here, and their parents.

The other part of him hates his own self: because he knows Jin was right to leave. He had earned his own opportunity and made it out of the hellhole. And him? Four years gone, and he still cannot stand up for himself, let alone protect his dreams...

After some time, lunch time came. Jim was slouched on the bed, staring at the ceiling, feeling like doing nothing. The whole time, he was only lost in memories. Memories of a sweet time some long time ago...

The times when he and Jeongguk didn't have separate rooms and shared the same bed–how Jin would have to push his leg aside, and how Jeongguk would hoard the blanket just to piss him off...

The times when their dreams shared the same four walls, their inspirations of all the movies of Nolan, racing games and favourite characters, almost villains; their own creations... Their own creation...

'Later' seemed to have taken a long, long time for Jin. So much so, that his grip slowly loosened over the dreams he had once held close and sworn to never let go of.

Four years later: Jin had got his first surprise, when he entered the room of his brother and saw the same old, plain white walls, the desk against the window sill, the bed... But he needed to see something.

There was nothing. Nothing on the wall.

There on the wall, right above the switch board, was the little fragment of dream: resting like it was protected by tiny hands, just as it was created.

But now there was nothing. Not even traces of the pastels there. Not a stroke. Just the plain white wall. Like someone had erased it's entire existence... And it wasn't difficult to guess who.

Jin could only imagine what had happened while he'd left: Jeongguk asking Appa under the suppressed silence of the dining hall, Appa giving the silent treatment back, the white washing of the entire wall all over again, like trampling over the kid who believed dreams were bigger than just a fragment ...

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a knock on the door–

Jin came downstairs, helping his mother in setting the table and the other garnishing, and Jeongguk helped in setting the table, as well.

After a while, when dinner was finally set, everyone sat down to dig in. The quiet atmosphere was changed by his Appa's voice–

There was a pin drop silence on the table.

The dinner ended, and Seokjin went out on the front porch for a smoke. Escapism, addiction–all a consequence of his life situations he's been relying on.

The main door opened and he saw his mother stepping out. Jin's grip tightened on the stick, he didn't let go of it. What was there to hide now? They should see this. If they couldn't see his misery, at least he could make them watch his destruction...

Another quiet silence. But the tension had disappeared now. The wind was chilly but neither of the boys felt cold.

Jin couldn't keep it anymore. He gathered the youngest in his arms, hugging him tight.

A natural instinct of this hug between two brothers would entail Jin caressing the younger's head and consoling him, while the younger took in the warmth of the older's presence and basked under it like a shade protecting him from the sun...

But this time, it felt different than any other hug. It was a hug where they both took in each other's warmth. They both broke down equally. No one to shoulder the other's responsibility, no one to be protected...

And that single hug would speak all the unspoken words that they wouldn't say– "We've only got each other, brother."

•••–TWO YEARS LATER–•••

In the large, spacious 'cubicle' of an office, Jin sat on the main chair, the background of which served the large city scape of almost the entire Dubai.

His promotion to this place was a result of his hard work, duly honored and Jin didn't like to be so far away from home, either.

His phone rang with an incoming video call, and he immediately picked it up, with a natural smile:

Jeongguk fumbled with the phone before dropping it somewhere, open. For a while, the screen stayed blank and Jin was about to hang up, when the screen was visible again... But this time–

–°Fin.

• • •

_____•••••______

32ndth February, 2 BCE: 12 AM.

The crime scene was sealed. Well...it would've been sealed in the perfect, ideal cinematic sense of any crime thriller movie scene IF only the seal wasn't a thin yellow RIBBON, fluttering in the wind, holding on for it's life.

On it, was written "KRIME SCENE DO NOT ENTER". With uneven lines drawn from a black marker–some letters bold, some fading, one 'E' written laterally inverted.

Well, at least it didn't look like the Egyptian scripture–

–...Nevermind. I spoke too soon.

Below him, another officer held the ribbon tight, trying to tie them in a knot, as if it would hold it back–

It won't.

It won't. And shut tf up. Play your damn character.

Finally. A smart officer had arrived.

...Why do I even bother?

A voice came from behind, and all the officers stood up saluting the speaker of the voice that entered the scene, like two stars.

Well, they weren't any different from that.

Aaaaand that's Jeon Jungkook, junior officer, in service for five years; youngblood but probably the most sensible in the entire office. It was a miracle he was even here, but now when he was here, all that the poor man prayed for was a damn promotion. He was done working under idiots.

And by "idiots", I mean–

Kim Taehyung, the senior officer/ Captain, in this crime scene, handed over to him by the Chief to address. Apparently, he was considered the smartest for solving cases... Just...not exactly the right way.

He had a record. None of his cases have gone unsolved. Honest, hardworking and dedicated. These have been his principles. If only intelligence was one of them...

You see, in his past case, Kim Taehyung lost his first junior officer: some Park Jimin. Apparently, they needed to make sure the killer would show himself/herself up. So he set up a bait. With his own junior officer:

So, after much consideration and realising that he was a lone man with nothing to lose, basically the perfect candidate for a sacrifical lamb– Park Jimin gave his last best performance as the primary bait and viola! The killer was caught. Jimin's imaginary family misses him, though.

Well, at least now you know, where our Jungkookie is coming from. A place of utter fear, that's what.

Back to the scene: the constable holding the marker sighed, hopped down and started taping the two ends back together...

A shoe print now read in bold, uneven letters: [CRIME SEEN: DO NOT ENTR]

But Jungkook probably, should've stayed right there.

Because now, he was stuck by the side of his Captain, for an unknown reason that he didn't know at all but he had to go through it as well, because his senior officer was going through it.

Dead silence. No answer. Ghosted by the room. Buffering. FR. Period–

Now, before y'all people start judging me:

Questioning the very victim. Could it be counted under victim-blaming? .

No, actually. Hear me out–

Alright. It was a very out-of-the-box thinking. Is that what you wanted me to say?

Well...who would've thought of that now? The victim is the first person who should know the murderer's identity, dammit! Wait... does that mean, the dead body is the primary suspect?

With a deep breath, he stood up looking around, spotting his crew in the distance–

Wait, wait, wait- hold on. Is that–Did he just tell them something sensible? Oh, I can't be hasty, can I? But still, maybe there's finally some hope–

...

Us, Jungkook. Us

Sorry, guys. My fourth wall is really weak. Actually, the cement used to keep it together was too expe–

Damn. Even I flinched.

It was a miserable, sad, sad thing that Jungkook, a very capable officer was going to grab COFFEE for his Captain, when he imagined it to be something very different–

Something like:

MANY people are watching! It's a whole fanbase of 1 person, so stfu. AND Yeah. I did. And if you don't zip that mouth shut, then you 'boutta wonder why is there no part of yours' in the episode that will be aired later.

Oh that's cute of you to think you're the main character! You think you can't be replaced?

Park Jimin.

Haha. Ever heard of double roles, bítch?

Coffee.

Coffe, you idiot. Snap back to reality.

Well, he does snap back to reality, looking at the receptionist in front of him, handing him the coffee cup.

What did I do?

Well. Jeez.

Anyway, back to the main plot: The crew was arranged in a line for the senior officer, Kim Taehyung's wrath to fall upon them, as the man intimidatingly, with his very intimidating gaze, and the very intimidating style of walking (sorry, that's the only cool word for 'scary' i know) inspects and questions them one by one:

Ah, moving on. That reminds me. How is it going on with you pe– *BEEP.* My bad. I should've just ended with walked off. Wait, but–*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.*

*PLEASE STAND BY.*

Serves you right, Kim.

The other people around them who had been only hearing from a few seconds ago, also took in only half the context and shook their heads disappointedly, before leaving from there...

Jungkook stood there, jaw dropped at the peak level of gaslighting he's just been a victim to. A fly also entered his m-

Fine. I will reveal myself. It's time for the narrator to come out–

32ndth February, 4 BCE: 11:59 AM

The set was being prepared. All the crew were in their positions–the female lead, the male lead, and the antagonist, also, the mother of the male lead; even the make-up artists were in their places, setting the hair strands of the people in concern...

That's when, rushed, eager footsteps enter the set; filled with such enthusiasm that it makes the entire crew almost flinch.

Namjoon turned around to see the guy, playing the male lead, serving face cards and giving nonchalant aura all at the same time. Sheesh. No wonder ladies are all proposing to him.

He forces out a chuckle, anyway.

She shouts, storming off towards the Gucci bag lying in the corner. Which she bought from Yoongi- sorry, Evil-Mother-Actress's money.

She took out a small bottle of pills. And there was a white paper with tape stuck around it, on which, in bold, uneven letters, was written: POISON (Only use for sparking drama in series)

She grabbed the bottle, and rushed back to them, before taking some pills in her hands.

Quite.

Literally.

•••••••••••••••