The Beginning of a Different Poison

Jeon Jungkook was twenty-six when he stopped caring whether he lived or died.

The city knew him as a successful man—wealthy, handsome, untouchable. But behind closed doors, he was falling apart.

His mornings began with cigarettes.

His afternoons disappeared in alcohol.

His nights drowned in drugs.

The smoke burned his lungs. The liquor destroyed his body. The chemicals numbed his mind. Yet none of them could silence the emptiness inside him.

People tried to help.

Doctors.

Friends.

Family.

None of them stayed long enough.

And Jungkook never asked them to.

Until one rainy evening.

That was the day Kim Taehyung walked into his life.

Taehyung wasn't extraordinary at first glance.

He wore a simple black coat.

His dark hair dripped with rainwater.

His smile was small and quiet.

Yet somehow, the moment Jungkook looked at him, the noise in his head became softer.

For the first time in years, he felt curious.

"You're smoking too much," Taehyung said when they first met outside a convenience store.

Jungkook laughed.

"And you're talking too much."

Instead of getting offended, Taehyung smiled.

That smile lingered in Jungkook's mind long after they parted ways.

Days turned into weeks.

Weeks became months.

Taehyung kept appearing.

Coffee shops.

Bookstores.

Late-night walks.

Long conversations.

For reasons Jungkook couldn't explain, he began looking forward to those moments.

Then something strange happened.

One day he forgot to buy cigarettes.

The next week he drank less.

A month later he threw away pills he once thought he couldn't survive without.

Not because anyone forced him.

Not because he suddenly wanted to change.

Because Taehyung looked happy whenever he tried.

And Jungkook realized he wanted to see that smile more than he wanted another drink.

"You know," Taehyung said one evening, "healing isn't becoming someone new. It's remembering who you were before the pain."

Jungkook stared at him.

"Then what if I don't remember?"

Taehyung reached out and gently squeezed his hand.

"Then I'll help you find him."

For the first time in years, Jungkook cried.

Not from sadness.

Not from pain.

But because someone had finally stayed.

Months passed.

The cigarettes disappeared.

The alcohol bottles remained unopened.

The drugs became distant memories.

Everyone called it recovery.

Everyone praised Jungkook's strength.

Nobody noticed the truth.

His addiction had never disappeared.

It had simply changed.

The cigarettes became Taehyung.

The alcohol became Taehyung.

The drugs became Taehyung.

His mornings began with Taehyung's voice.

His afternoons revolved around Taehyung's messages.

His nights ended with thoughts of Taehyung.

And unlike smoke or alcohol, Taehyung felt beautiful.

Safe.

Necessary.

Jungkook never questioned it.

He never noticed how Taehyung sometimes vanished for days without explanation.

How his smile occasionally looked sad.

How mysterious phone calls interrupted their time together.

How fear flickered in Taehyung's eyes whenever someone mentioned his past.

Taehyung carried secrets.

Dark secrets.

Dangerous secrets.

Secrets Jungkook knew nothing about.

Secrets that were quietly moving toward them.

Like a storm hidden beyond the horizon.

And one day, those secrets would take Taehyung away forever.

Leaving Jungkook alone with a grief stronger than any drug he had ever touched.

But for now, Jungkook only knew one thing:

He loved Kim Taehyung.

And he believed love had saved his life.

He had no idea it would also become the reason his world shattered.

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