jungkook wasn't the least bit surprised to see a small crowd of reporters gathered in the lobby of the hospital, probably all waiting for taehyung so that they can bombard him with more questions.

pulling his mask further up his face, jungkook hurriedly made his way over to the reception desk. "i'm here to see a patient by the name of kim taehyung," he spoke as lowly as possible to avoid anyone else from hearing and asking him questions instead.

the receptionist frowned. "i'm sorry, but mr. kim only allows a specific list of people to visit him," she announced.

of course he did, or else he'd have a dozen reporters in his hospital room by now, jungkook thought.

"what is your name, sir?" the woman then asked, bending down to pull out a clipboard from one of the desk drawers.

"jeon jungkook," the ravenet mumbled as he sharply peered behind him to make sure no one was standing a little too close to him and caught his name.

the receptionist briefly scanned the paper attached on the clipboard and her eyebrows shot up in mild shock as a particular name caught her attention. "it appears that your name is on the list, sir."

"wait, what?" jungkook gaped at her. "why would my name be—"

"mr. kim's room is on the eighth floor," the lady interrupted whilst putting the clipboard away. "it's the room at the end of the corridor."

jungkook gave her a quick thanks and rushed over to the elevator, practically smashing his finger on the 'close doors' button repeatedly before someone else could enter and start looking at him in suspicion. after all, it's not everyday that you see a rather bulky man wearing a black hood and an equally black mask, topped off with a dangerously intimidating aura.

he soon found himself in front of room 814, which was supposedly taehyung's room.

it'd be quite awkward if it wasn't his room.

bringing his hand up, he knocked twice and patiently waited for a response.

"come in," a groggy voice from behind the door called out — and that was jungkook's cue.

he pushed the door open and scrunched his nose when he saw taehyung sitting on the bed with large eye bags and an evidently pale complexion in comparison to his usual sun-kissed skin tone.

"you look dead," was the first thing that spilled from jungkook's mouth as he removed his mask.

"thanks," taehyung muttered sarcastically. "can't believe you actually came. the reporters didn't give you any trouble, right? sorry about this shitty situation, by the way — the media always goes nuts whenever i'm seen with someone that's not a business partner or my father."

"it's not a big deal anyway, and that's why i brought this handy-dandy mask with me. i can't believe you added my name onto your permitted visitors list," jungkook said, wearing a grin as he strode over to take a seat next to the blond's bed. "mind telling me the reason behind that? or were you hoping that i'd come visit you?"

taehyung rolled his eyes. "don't get ahead of yourself. you're the only other person aside from yugyeom, jin-hyung, and my father that i could think of whom i'd consider more than just an acquaintance. be grateful."

the tattooist simply hummed, yet his gaze was seemingly focused on something else.

"are you even listening to me?"

instead of answering, jungkook abruptly reached forward to gently swipe the pad of his thumb across taehyung's cheekbone, catching the older man completely off-guard.

"what—"

"there was an eyelash below your eye, you're welcome," jungkook claimed with a chuckle.

he chose to not comment on the faint red that immediately dusted over taehyung's cheeks at that moment.

"i-i see," taehyung stammered, swiftly turning his head away from jungkook and — was that shyness? — chewing on his lower lip for a bit. "thanks, i guess."

a peaceful silence was then cast over the two males as jungkook traced the folds on taehyung's blanket and taehyung watched the wall clock rhythmically tick away with each second.

until the silence started to become suffocating for the CEO.

"hey, it's almost 5," he began, causing jungkook's head to snap up in confusion.

"so what?"

"you should get going. i appreciate you stopping by, but i'm seriously fine now."

jungkook faux-scowled at that. "you're not getting rid of me that easily, mr. kim."

"besides, don't you have a dinner date with yugyeom later? i remember yugyeom telling me about that a couple of days ago," taehyung suddenly recalled, reminding the other with a pointed look.

the ravenet's eyes widened immediately. "shit, i almost forgot about that. sorry," he replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

taehyung clicked his tongue. "you did forget about it, you jerk. whatever, i'll let you off this time, but next time if you dare to let my best friend slip your mind like that again, i'll send you a kick right towards where the sun doesn't shine, jeon. mark my words," he threatened, using narrowed eyes in order to further indicate his point.

"understood, mom," jungkook spoke with a huff, standing up from the chair.

taehyung inwardly snorted.

"oh!" jungkook halted in his steps right when he reached the doorway, hand clasped over the doorknob as he whipped his head back to glance at taehyung. "rest well and get better soon, taehyung. also, you should really stop overworking yourself."

taehyung was astonished because— was jungkook... concerned for him?

"i'll be sure to do that," he responded with the brightest beam he could muster. "thank you for stopping by, jungkook. now shoo."

jungkook laughed, his contagious laughter and a lighthearted 'very professional, mr. kim!' echoing throughout the entire floor as he finally left.

taehyung quietly sat on his bed for another few minutes, making sure jungkook was actually gone before letting out a long exhale, roughly tugging at his own strands of hair. "i wonder why i put your name on that list too, jungkook," he murmured.

"maybe i've taken a liking towards you. ridiculous, right?" he scoffed.

he hovered a shaky hand over the spot on his face that jungkook's finger was lingering on earlier and sighed, dropping his hand back down onto his lap as a frustrated grunt tore through the column of his throat.

no, i can't like him. i can't get attached to him and make the same mistake twice — definitely not again.

"i'm so fucking hopeless."

sadly, he couldn't catch the soft creak of the white wooden door, nor the shuffling of cautious footsteps right outside his room, almost as if someone was silently standing out there and was listening the entire time.

and of course, he couldn't see a certain black-haired male slowly stepping away from the other side of the door with a hand hesitantly placed on top of his chest.