CHAPTER 5 — THE FIRST CRACK IN THE MIRROR

The night felt quieter than usual when Taehyung stepped out on the dorm balcony. The city lights stretched under him like a calm ocean, steady and uncaring, but his chest still carried that uneasy buzz he couldn’t explain.

He replayed the last few hours in his mind.

Jungkook avoiding his eyes.

Jungkook walking ahead like he was trying to outrun something.

Jungkook flinching at familiar touches.

It wasn’t dramatic.

It was subtle.

And that’s what bothered Taehyung the most.

He sighed, resting his hands on the railing. The air was cool, brushing against his skin the same way Jungkook used to when he hugged him from behind without warning. He missed that warmth, even though they were in the same group, the same building, the same room.

“Why do you look like you’re arguing with the stars?”

Jimin stepped outside, a cup of hot tea in his hand. His hair was messy, his eyes half-asleep, but he still caught every emotion Taehyung tried to hide.

Taehyung shrugged. “I’m just thinking.”

“Thinking or worrying?” Jimin asked gently.

Taehyung didn’t answer.

Jimin leaned against the railing next to him. “It’s about Jungkook again, right?”

Taehyung hesitated, then nodded. “Something’s different.”

“In what way?”

“He feels… distant.”

Taehyung swallowed the knot in his throat. “He looks at me like he’s searching for someone I’m not.”

Jimin tilted his head. “And when you talk to him?”

“He listens. But it feels like he’s listening from far away.” Taehyung ran a hand through his hair. “It’s like he’s here, but not really here.”

Jimin studied him for a moment. “You think he’s upset with you?”

“No. It’s not that. It’s more like… he doesn’t know me.”

Jimin blinked. “That makes no sense.”

Taehyung let out a low laugh. “I know.”

But deep down, the feeling kept growing.

A heaviness he couldn’t pin down.

A sense that he was standing on the edge of something he couldn’t see.

Inside the dorm, Jungkook stood near the bedroom door, watching the two of them on the balcony. His heart thumped faster than it should. Not out of jealousy. Not out of fear. But because the world felt wrong again.

Taehyung’s silhouette in the moonlight stirred something familiar inside him, and the ache in his chest deepened.

He pressed his fingers against his temple.

The headache had been coming and going since midnight.

And now, along with the pain, flashes of unfamiliar memories sparked like broken film reels.

—Taehyung laughing with paint on his face.

—Jungkook’s hoodie wrapped around Taehyung on a cold night.

—Two hands intertwined under stadium lights.

He inhaled sharply.

None of these things had ever happened in his world.

But the images were clear.

Real.

Emotional.

“Not again…” Jungkook whispered.

He steadied himself by holding the doorknob. His pulse raced, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

The wrong memories were getting stronger.

A soft voice broke through the dizzy haze.

“Jungkook?”

It was Taehyung. He had walked back inside. His eyes searched Jungkook’s face carefully.

“You okay?”

Jungkook opened his mouth, but the truth was harder to hide tonight.

“Just a headache.”

Taehyung stepped closer. “You’ve been having them a lot lately.”

Jungkook nodded. “It’s nothing.”

Taehyung didn’t believe it, but he didn’t push. Instead, he reached out and lightly touched Jungkook’s wrist. It was a simple gesture, almost innocent.

But the moment their skin touched, Jungkook froze.

A memory slammed into him like a wave.

—Taehyung resting his head on Jungkook’s chest.

—Their fingers woven together.

—A soft voice whispering, “I love you more than you know.”

Jungkook stumbled back a step, breath catching in his throat.

Taehyung frowned in concern. “Jungkook. What happened?”

Jungkook stared at his hand.

His fingertips still tingled with the warmth of a memory that wasn’t his.

Or maybe it was.

The confusion twisted inside him until he didn’t know which reality belonged to him anymore.

“It’s nothing,” Jungkook said again, but his voice cracked at the edges.