Chapter Text
The night air outside Minji’s apartment was sharp, clean — the kind that should’ve cleared Jungkook’s head. But it didn’t.
If anything, his thoughts were a tangle. He shoved his hands into his pockets, shoulders stiff, irritation simmering beneath his skin.
Taehyung stepped out just behind him, the faint creak of the apartment door closing barely audible under the pounding in Jungkook’s chest.
The walk to the curb was short, but every second dragged. Jungkook couldn’t forget the sight of Minji practically glued to Taehyung’s arm — how Taehyung hadn’t pushed him off, hadn’t snapped, hadn’t even looked annoyed.
It made Jungkook grind his teeth.
Unfair. That’s what it was.
A low purr of an engine rolled down the street. Jungkook’s personal driver pulled up smoothly in a Mercedes-Maybach S680, the black paint gleaming under the streetlights. Without missing a beat, the driver jumped out and hurried to open the back door.
Taehyung blinked at the car, then at Jungkook. Surprise flickered across his face — but it wasn’t the car that made him pause.
It was the sudden shift in the air.
A bitter scent hit him like a blow. Acrid, heavy, suffocating. Jungkook’s scent. Taehyung froze. He hadn’t noticed it inside, buried under Minji’s syrupy omega pheromones, but now… it was impossible to ignore.
The wolf inside him bristled instantly. His mate was hurting.
“Jungkook,” Taehyung said quietly, stepping forward. His voice was calm, but there was weight behind it. He reached out, catching Jungkook’s wrist just before the younger man could slide into the car. “What happened?”
Jungkook stiffened, his head snapping toward him. For a brief, startling moment, Taehyung saw his eyes glisten — watery, almost breaking.
“Don’t,” Jungkook muttered. His voice was low, raw, cracking at the edges. He jerked his hand free with more force than he intended. His throat bobbed once, and then he turned away, slipping into the leather seat in one swift motion.
“Drive.” His command was sharp, and the driver obeyed, shutting the door and pulling away before Taehyung could react.
Taehyung stood there, arm still half-outstretched, watching the taillights disappear into the night.
Inside him, his wolf snarled and whimpered all at once. His mate had looked at him with wet eyes and turned away.
The bitterness lingering in the air made Taehyung’s chest constrict until breathing itself felt like a punishment. His wolf clawed at him, accusing, furious. You let this happen. You let him cry.
Taehyung pressed his hand over his heart, but the ache didn’t ease.
---
Inside the Maybach, silence pressed down heavy. Jungkook stared blankly out the window, the city lights streaking by like smudged colors on glass.
He wanted to be angry. Anger was familiar. But what weighed on him wasn’t anger — it was something worse. Sadness. Deep and suffocating, rising from nowhere, coiling around his chest until his throat burned.
His vision blurred. He blinked hard, but the tears fell anyway, sliding hot and silent down his cheeks.
“What the hell is wrong with me,” he whispered, dragging his sleeve across his face. He hated the sound of his own voice — shaky, fragile. He didn’t do fragile.
But the ache didn’t stop.
With a sudden jolt of decision, Jungkook leaned forward and lowered the partition. “Hospital. Now.”
The driver startled. “Sir?”
“You heard me.” Jungkook’s voice was clipped, almost desperate. “Hospital.”
The car swerved into a faster lane. Jungkook sank back into his seat, chest heaving like he’d just run a marathon.
---
The hospital’s fluorescent lights were merciless. Cold, bright, unyielding. Jungkook sat stiffly on the exam bed, arms folded tight, as if posture alone could hold him together.
The doctor flipped through a chart, brows drawn. “So… sudden emotional outburst. Crying spells. Chest heaviness.”
“Yeah,” Jungkook muttered. “Basically, my body staged a protest without informing me.”
The doctor glanced at him. “You’re an Alpha, correct?”
Jungkook nodded once, curt.
“Sometimes, this reaction happens when an Alpha encounters their mate,” the doctor explained, her tone steady but not unkind. “The wolf recognizes before the mind does. If the bond is strained — if the mate rejects them, chooses someone else, or ignores them — the Alpha may experience overwhelming sadness.”
The words hit harder than he wanted them to.
Jungkook blinked, scoffing half-heartedly. “So you’re saying I met my soulmate today, and they what? Immediately rejected me? Chose someone else? Ignored me?”
The doctor offered a small, sympathetic shrug. “Any of those are possible.”
Jungkook let out a short, humorless laugh. “Great. Fantastic. Love that for me.”
But the explanation dug deep, planting itself in his chest. The aching sadness, the tears he couldn’t control — it all lined up.
He left the hospital with his hands shoved into his pockets, his head a mess.
---
The cool night should have helped. It didn’t.
Jungkook walked slowly, retracing the day in his head. Who had he even been around? Not many people. Just Taehyung. And Minji.
His mind automatically skipped over Taehyung. Impossible. Taehyung was an Alpha — and not just any Alpha. He was dominant, commanding, the kind of presence that swallowed entire rooms without raising his voice. There was no universe where fate would saddle Jungkook with him as a mate.
Which left…
Minji.
Jungkook slowed to a halt, realization dawning like a slow-motion car crash.
He’d been around Minji all day. Minji, with his endless tears and dramatics. Minji, clinging to Taehyung, sobbing into his shoulder.
Jungkook’s chest tightened.
The hospital’s words rang in his head. Rejection. Chose someone else. Ignored.
He thought about the way Minji had been all over Taehyung. The way Taehyung had let it happen. The way Jungkook himself had sat there, watching, feeling something sharp twist inside him until it hurt.
And suddenly, everything made sense.
Minji was his mate.
Jungkook’s stomach dropped.
“No,” he whispered, shaking his head. “No, no, no.”
But the pieces fit too neatly to ignore. The sadness. The tears. The ache that wouldn’t go away.
It wasn’t Taehyung. Couldn’t be Taehyung. Taehyung was an Alpha, after all.
So it had to be Minji.
Jungkook dragged a hand down his face, groaning. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The universe, naturally, offered no comfort.
Minji. His mate.
The thought alone made him want to walk straight into traffic.
But his wolf stirred uneasily in his chest, as if it knew something he didn’t.
---
When Jungkook finally made it home, he collapsed face-first onto his bed. His pillow muffled his groan, long and pained.
“Out of everyone, it had to be him,” he muttered, staring up at the ceiling with hollow eyes. “The universe really hates me.”
But no matter how many times he replayed the day, the conclusion remained the same. Minji checked every box.
Which meant his life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.
And somewhere across the city, Taehyung sat alone, his wolf restless, aching with the bitter scent Jungkook had left behind — aching with a truth Jungkook had yet to see.
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