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shina913 · 2 years ago

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Scions, Ch.1 - Namjoon | Kim Line + JHS

Scions, 1 - Namjoon

sci·on | \ ˈsī-ən \ Definition: (1) a descendant (2) a shoot or twig, especially one cut for grafting or planting

✼Scions Masterlist✼

Pairing: Namjoon x Fem!OC; Fem!Reader Sister + Namjoon

Rating: M (🔞)

Genre: Siblings!AU; Marriage!AU; FWB!AU; exes to ?; angst; smut; fluff

Warnings: angst with a capital A; character illness; excessive cussing; some lingering family issues; infidelity; sibling bickering; pregnancy loss; slight hints of depression and trauma; dirty talk; name-calling; some humiliation (not by Namjoon); alcohol consumption; also, Namjoon drives here (trust me, it's integral to the story)

Word count: 6,435K+

Series summary: Four grown siblings return to their childhood hometown after their father is declared to be terminal. They are forced to live under the same roof for days, along with their overbearing mother, to say their final goodbyes. It starts off nostalgic until some unresolved family issues along with an assortment of spouses, exes, and might-have-beens make things even more interesting.

A/N: This chapter was written as part of @btswritingcafe's Specialty Coffee Anniversary Event. There were three categories that featured various B-side tracks whose lyrics were meant to be the basis for the fic. For this particular chapter, I have chosen "Butterfly": You're there but for some reason, I can't reach you.

“Can we run it again but can you turn up the synth more on that next cut?”

Namjoon pushes the ‘talk’ button so that he can hear him through the soundproof booth. “I thought it was perfect the way I had it set up,” he says, trying to sound professional.

“Sure but…I think we can really punch it up, you know? I want this bumpin’ in the clubs!”

“If you want more bumpin,’ we can add more percussion, increase the bass–”

“Nah, I think the synth is more club-appropriate,” he says dismissively.

Namjoon sighs, making sure not to let rapper-idol extraordinaire Jaxon Park, known mononymously as ‘JAXX,’ see any hint of irritation in him. They were currently working on tracks for his second album. They were also under pressure by the company to make sure that this one topped the first.

The first album was Namjoon’s first successful effort as a solo producer. Jaxon had taken a chance on him during a songwriting workshop with several others and he gravitated towards Namjoon’s unique sound. They just clicked–and the first album’s success was a result.

Namjoon also wrote a fair amount of the lyrics on the album, earning him notable accolades in the music industry and boosting his reputation almost overnight. Pretty soon, other artists wanted to collaborate with him as well. However, he always made time for Jaxon.

If there was one thing that Namjoon wanted to be known for, it was his fierce loyalty. Yes, he was cerebral and ambitious but his father always taught him that loyalty was a priceless value. It would always keep you grounded in any situation. When you come to a crossroads at any point in life, loyalty would lead you to the right path.

And just because Jaxon had taken that chance on a young, budding songwriter-producer almost three years ago, he felt that he owed him in a way. And other than loyalty, Namjoon always felt like he was in a competition with himself. He wanted to help break the whole sophomore album ‘curse’ and see if he could top his efforts then.

But Jaxon has been more pushy, more persistent. He’d been shutting down more of Namjoon’s suggestions, wanting to change more than half the beats or lyrics that he came up with. Namjoon was trying to be flexible. Jaxon was growing as an artist, too, so he didn’t mind loosening the reins a bit.

Namjoon pushes the ‘talk’ button again. “Alright, Jax. We’ll try it with your adjustments,” he relents.

******

“Hey, Jax—I came up with this new beat last night. It’s a little slower than what you had originally envisioned but I think we can really work it in—“

Jaxon groans. “Can’t we just pick this up tomorrow, Namjoon? I’m beat.”

“I was just hoping we’d capitalize on this. Maybe show something extra for the bosses? You could record a few bars and I have the demo track ready–”

“Namjoon…” he says gravely, “We’ve been at it since last night. Let’s take a break, huh?”

They’d been at the studio since 10PM, the previous evening. Like it or not, Namjoon was on Jaxon’s schedule. He flew around the country and had crazy hours, trying to hype up the buzz on the second album and the first single off it, which they were scheduled to drop in a couple weeks’ time.

“And we’ve got another week to go before the first full listening sesh so–I think we can afford to chill out a bit,” He says, patting his shoulder. “We’re still ahead of schedule, Namjoon. And, as a friend, please don’t take this the wrong way but–you look like you could use some sleep, bro,” his mouth curved and let out a chuckle.

He didn’t really consider Jaxon as a friend, per se. They were professional partners and occasionally went to parties thrown by the label but they did not know each other like that personally. However, it was of note that Jaxon became somewhat of a confidante last year, especially after what happened to Namjoon and his wife, Victoria. He appreciated how an idol, as big as Jaxon was, could be accommodating and sympathetic.

Namjoon glances at his watch. It is currently 9:45AM and he considers Jaxon’s suggestion for a few seconds but eventually changes his mind. “Mm—nah, you go on. I’m cool, though. I’ll stay a bit longer and add a couple more layers to the tracks we’ve got. This way, we’ve got something more polished to send off. It will almost sound like it’s been completely mastered.”

“Alright. Suit yourself,” Jaxon says before turning towards the exit.

“Nice work today, Jax!” Namjoon calls over his shoulder as his fingers return to the knobs and toggles on his board to make some adjustments.

“Thanks, bro. You, too.”

******

It was a little past noon and he was still messing around with the percussion levels on the track when his phone rang.

“Hey, what’s up,” he answers.

“Wanna come over for dinner tomorrow? I’m making maeuntang.”

“Ooh–that actually sounds good,” he said, leaning back, reclining his seat.

YN pulls the phone momentarily away from her mouth then turns to the fishmonger who greets her and inquires about her order. “Yeah, hi–can I get three pounds of the black bass, please? Thank you,” she smiled as he handled her order and pulled the phone closer to her again.

“Black bass, huh? The way dad makes it?” Namjoon asked.

“I mean…is there any other way?” She says to him rhetorically, smiling into the phone. “Tae’s already coming over–hence the extra serving,” she chuckled.

He sighs and laughs softly. “Ah, what time is it?” He asks absently, raising his arm up to check his watch.

“Like, 12:10.”

He suddenly snaps up, straightening in his seat when he catches a glimpse of today’s date reflected on his watch’s dial, suddenly remembering something. “Shit! I just remembered that it was–”

“Uh huh,” she deadpanned as she accepted the bag of cleaned, freshly butchered fish and put it in her cart. “I tried calling her but she didn’t answer so…I just left a message.” She shrugged.

He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches his nose at his idiocy. “Are you still at the store?” He says in a rush while saving his work, and simultaneously gathering his things and stuffing them in his bag.

“Yeah, why?”

“Can you please, please do me a favor and pick up a cake? Nothing too fancy but if they have that strawberries-and-cream one, I’d be forever grateful,” he begs.

YN laughed. “Fine, fine. Should we meet somewhere so I can hand it to you or…” she trailed off.

“Uhh–just meet me in front of our building and hand it to me there? I might be a couple minutes late since I’m coming from the studio but–”

“Say no more, bro. I’ll wait for you.“ She uttered.

“Thanks, YN. You’re a lifesaver,” He’s sprinting towards the elevator now to get to the basement parking garage.

“Mm-hm. Love you, too.” She signed off.

******

YN hated driving around the downtown area and it was a shock to her that Namjoon actually managed to get through traffic easily around here when he struggled so much trying to get his drivers’ license. But he needed to drive. The record company didn’t always have drivers available on-call and Namjoon couldn’t keep riding his bicycle to get from one point to another, especially when he had to rush from one meeting or session and get to the next one quickly. It was an inconvenient necessity.

Finally, she sees his car approaching. Before he pulls into the parking garage in his building, he spots his sister’s car idling on the curb out front and double-parks. He turns his hazard lights on and exits his vehicle to jog over to her car. She rolls the window all the way down and he pokes his head in while she nudges the box that sat on her passenger seat.

He lifts the lid slightly and sees a 6-inch round white cake, with slivers of strawberries that sat atop little dollops of the same whipped cream that covered the entire dessert. The center said, ‘Happy Birthday, Vee,’ written in dainty lettering in red icing.

“There’s a candle taped on the box there, just in case,” she pointed out.

Namjoon smiled in gratitude. “Thanks, YN. You’re a saint,” he says as relief washes over him while he leans in on her car door.

“I think she’s going to be surprised,” she says.

“I think so, too,” Namjoon responds with a slight hint of guilt. “Also–I managed to book a last-minute trip this weekend before I got on the road so…even though I’d love some maeuntang…” his shoulders lifted as he gave YN a half-smile.

She smiled at him, shaking her head and waving him off. “Totally get it. More for Tae then,” she laughed. “And, it might be good for both of you. You know…especially after the tough year you had.”

He nods soberly at that. “Let’s have lunch sometime next week, huh? I promise I’ll get it on my calendar and stick to it this time. I know you have a pretty set routine,” he says apologetically.

She smiled warmly. “I’d love that. And yeah,” she sighed. “It’s a bit more difficult juggling things for the next couple weeks with drop offs, pickups–very little room for flexibility.”

“No worries. And thanks again for this,” he gestures at the cake box before he withdraws himself from the car.

“You’re welcome. Tell her ‘happy birthday’ for me,” she says to him before pulling out of the spot to make her way home.

She sees him wave at her from the rearview mirror then catches a glimpse of him walking back to his car to drive into the garage and surprise his wife.

******

Victoria hears the door buzzing after she slathers her freshly-showered self with body butter. She was feeling good and refreshed–not just from the shower but in anticipation of a surprise today. She takes one last look at herself in the mirror. Turning a couple different ways, checking herself out, making sure her tits and ass looked great. She hummed, clearly pleased with her reflection. She then sauntered over to the front door to answer it.

She doesn’t even take a peek to find out who it is because she already knows–which is why she greeted him wearing nothing but a lace teddy with strategically placed apliques.

“Hi,” she says sheepishly, batting her eyelashes at him.

He rakes in her near-naked form from bottom to top. “Wow–and here I was thinking that I was going to give you a nice surprise.”

She bites her lip at him seductively. “Well, don’t keep me waiting, baby. It’s my birthday and I want my present now.” She fists at his shirt and yanks him in through the doorway, capturing his mouth in hers. She giggled as he lifted her off the floor effortlessly to walk her back down the hallway and into the bedroom.

******

Something felt off when he began to walk down the hallway.

The music was blasting around the bluetooth speakers he had installed around the apartment. He never figured Victoria would listen to Nas…at least, not without any prompting from him. But, some small part of him just figured that she was finally growing into it.

He walks into the kitchen and sets the box on the counter and retrieves a lighter. He opens the box and very carefully lifts the cake out of the box. He rips the candle taped on the lid but it breaks in half. He grimaces. He then quickly pulls off one half–the one where the wick was still intact and pushes it gently into the cake before lighting it.

–Grey goose and a whole lotta hydro Only describe us as soldier survivors Stay laced in the best, well dressed with finesse In a white tee lookin' for wifey Thug girl who fly and talks so nicely Put her in the coupe so she can feel the nice breeze We can drive through the city no doubt But don't say my car's topless, say the titties is out–

“Baby?” He tries to call out over the music. He rounds the corner back to the hallway towards the bedroom, careful not to trip over anything.

As he takes a couple of steps closer, he hears faint moaning as he closes in. For some odd reason, it turned him on. It’s been a while since but it brought him back to a memory when Victoria suggested that she and Namjoon watch each other touch themselves. It felt like a century ago and after the rough year they’d had, he had forgotten how much of a freak she was. Maybe this would be the perfect way to finally start getting back to normal again.

He pushes at the door and is immediately greeted by a bare ass that was clenching–and it wasn’t his wife’s. But the moans that it elicited by its repeated thrusting definitely belonged to her.

“Yes! Fuck me harder, yes!” She screamed.

“Yeah? You like being fucked like a dirty slut, Victoria? Hm?” he smacked her ass hard. “Tell me whose pussy this is,” he demanded.

“Yours,” she answered.

“Yours-what?”

“Yours, Jax! This pussy is yours!” she says with a yelp after he slams harder into her.

He is flabbergasted and unsure exactly what to do but he is unable to look away. Finally, when he was able to pry his eyes away from the sweaty cluster in front of him, he looked at the console by the door that held some controllers–the entangled pair still unaware of their audience. He reaches for the one that powered the speakers and promptly shuts his system off. As soon as the music cuts, he takes one big stride and his free hand moves on its own volition and hurls the still-lit cake, which hits Jaxon square in his back.

On impact, Jaxon balks and halts his movements. “The fuck–” he turns around to look behind him then freezes to find Namjoon, seething. “Shit, shit–” he hurriedly pulls out of her then stumbles away and off the bed, trying to retrieve his clothes…as if that would improve the situation.

“Jax–what–” she turns around, stunned to see her husband home early. “Oh my god, Joon–” she gasps.

“Still too fucking tired to talk about that beat now, Jaxon?”

******

Victoria scrambles to chase her husband down the hall, initially telling her lover to stay where he is as she makes an attempt at diffusing the situation.

“Joon! Namjoon–” she calls out while trying to hastily tie the silk sash of a robe that she haphazardly throws on.

Namjoon sat quietly at his dining table. When she finds him there with his back facing them, she quickly waves Jaxon through to make a quick escape.

When he hears the door click, Namjoon speaks. “How long?” He asks in an eerily calm tone. He was still in shock but something in him–call it divine intervention–prevented him from ripping Jaxon to shreds right then. His hands rested on the surface, where they were balled up into fists.

Victoria’s heart was pounding as she kept a safe distance, her eyes trained at her husband’s broad back. She was silent for a few seconds–trying to form the right words to mouth to her husband. “N-Namjoon…“ she stuttered.

“I said, how long??” he shouts while simultaneously banging his fist against the table, making her jump up and whimper.

“A…a-a few m-months,” she stammers quietly but loud enough for him to hear. In actuality, it’s been closer to a year–which more than constituted ‘a few’, but she wasn’t about to make this worse–as if there were any way to make this better.

A low growl escaped his chest. He covered his face with his hand–his fingers gripped and dug into his cheeks. He so badly wanted to rip the skin off his skull. He wanted to scream and throw the chair at the window–hell, he wanted to do worse things. Instead, he kept calm then started walking back to the bedroom. She braced herself and flinched when he closed in but was surprised when he walked past her.

Victoria snaps back to reality to catch up to him.

He picks up an overnight bag and stuffs it with random clothes from his closet and dresser. Victoria stands by the doorway dumbfounded.

“Namjoon,” she tries to call his attention but he ignores her and continues to pack his things. “Joon, please… Let me–let me explain–” She says with tears in her eyes now. Her eyes drift down to the mangled cake that still sat on the bed.

When Namjoon deduced that he had enough things, he zips up the bag then starts towards the door and sees his wife, crying softly–looking vulnerable and waiflike. For a second there, he flashes back to a similar vision a year ago. But he shakes his head and the memory is replaced by a vision of her getting pounded on by another man.

He sidesteps her then walks out of their bedroom to head back to the entrance to retrieve the rest of his things. He grabs his keys, his phone, and his backpack.

In a few seconds, she was on him again. “Please, Joon…just give me a chance to ex–”

He spins around abruptly to face her. “Tell me–how exactly were you going to explain that back there?” He seethed through gritted teeth.

“Joon, it’s more complicated than that–”

“What’s so complicated about seeing Jaxon Park balls deep into my wife?” His blood was boiling and his whole body practically vibrated in anger. He didn’t wait for her answer. Truthfully, he didn’t want to spend another second in her presence. He needed to calm down and get his head straight before he did something he would regret. He reached for the doorjamb and turned it, preparing to exit.

“Wh-where are you going?” She asks stupidly.

“Anywhere but here,” he spits out before pulling the door open and slamming it shut.

******

Namjoon opens his eyes and stares up at the ceiling. It was lower than what he was used to waking up to–and the moulding was definitely much different than the style that he had personally picked when his unit was getting remodeled. He lifts his head slightly and sees a blurry figure seated by his feet, with a pair of big brown eyes staring back at him..

Shortly after, he hears a tiny giggle up by where his head rested. “Good morning, Uncle Joonie!”

“Good morning, Jooni and Joobin.” He sounded like death…which was appropriate since he felt dead. Seconds later, his corpse felt like it was slowly coming back to life as his niece and nephew jumped up to cover him in hugs and kisses. He relishes it, almost as if last night was just a bad dream.

“I made coffee,” YN called out from the kitchen in between all the giggles.

******

It was Saturday morning, a little after 7:15. Namjoon had passed out on the couch and YN didn’t even want to try waking him to crawl into her guest bedroom. He rubbed his temples and grumbled, wishing that he could sleep in a bit more since it was still early and he was extremely hungover. But YN deadass told him that her children had no regard for time at their age because they just go with whatever their body clocks dictate. With their standard routine during the week, waking up on the weekend without anybody crying was a success in her book.

She observed him quietly while he watched the children play together in the living room. They were both at the kitchen counter–YN standing on the other side, making breakfast while he sat on one of the stools.

He smiles while her older one dotes on the younger–knowing full well that peace doesn’t last between these two. It won’t be long until the other doesn’t get their way and starts to tell on the other, followed by minutes of whining until she bribes them with a snack.

“When did they get so big?” He says as he turns to face his sister, taking another sip of his coffee.

She shrugs her shoulders. “You blink and you miss it,” she says wistfully. “Funny enough, that’s exactly what dad said, too when he and mom came to visit last week,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee. “I think he might have tweaked his back when he pretended to be a horse and carried both kids.”

Namjoon chuckled at that. “Is it just me or has he lost more weight?”

She nodded. “Hmm. I thought it was just because I hadn’t seen him in a while but he did look pretty skinny to me. I asked him about it and he told me he was doing yoga–and going on a plant-based diet.”

Namjoon snorted. “I can’t imagine dad not eating meat.”

YN inhaled through her teeth and contorted her mouth. “Oh, I know. I can’t either.” She then turns the focus back to him. “Did you…get any sleep at all?”

He sighed while he rubbed his eyes before slipping his glasses on. They were extremely dry now since he had fallen asleep with his contacts on. It was only hours ago that he had completely broken down in front of her. Whatever last shred of composure and restraint he clung onto in front of Victoria that afternoon, it was all nonexistent by the time he walked through YN’s door.

He was a blubbering mess–primarily because he had already gulped down half a bottle of tequila while giving her a play-by-play of what happened. She cringed while he narrated but she didn’t interject and held back any big reactions. She just listened to him while he let it all out.

“Some…but mostly tossed and turned,” he mumbles before sighing deeply.

“You know you have to talk to her at some point, right?” She turned off the stove.

He shook his head. “I don’t know if I can…and truthfully, I don’t know when I can. Everything’s still so–raw.”

He had shut off his phone shortly before he arrived at his sister’s front door last night. He spent most of the afternoon driving around aimlessly until he finally called her, asking if he could stay with her for a couple days. On the other hand, Victoria had been pummeling her with calls and texts that she had to put her sister-in-law’s number on mute so her brother wouldn’t completely fly into a rage. Scratch that–it was more so that she wouldn’t fly into a rage.

It was difficult for YN to see him like this. Her always-reliable brother. He was her source of strength and stability, especially years ago when she was just starting out on her own in the city.

Their closeness was not just a result of their less than 12-month age gap. They always leaned on each other even when they were kids. And even after he and Victoria got married and she had her own family, they still turned to each other often, particularly when life gave them a swift kick in the shin.

“Surprised you didn’t call Tae…or Jin-oppa,” she commented.

“Jin-hyung would give me a whole speech about doing the right thing—which, I really am not in the mood for right now. And Tae…” he sighed, “He’s got other things in his mind right now,” he said of their youngest sibling.

She chuckled. “And you think I don’t?”

A pang of guilt hits him. “Sorry, YN. I didn’t mean–”

She shook her head. “Only kidding,” she said before turning away to retrieve some dishes to plate up breakfast.

“I just–I don’t know if I can talk to Taehyung about things like this. I don’t know if he’d understand.”

She gave her older brother a half-smile. “Try him!”

Namjoon regarded her in curiosity.

“I don’t know why you and Jin-oppa still treat him as if he was still a baby. He’s a grown man, you know,” she said, pushing a plate towards him. “He knows things.”

He scoffed but quickly bulged his eyes out in realization. “Shit–is he still coming over tonight?”

“Yep,” she said simply. “I really hyped up the soup and he’s been looking forward to it. He might be disappointed to find out that he’s not getting an extra serving now,” she teased.

“Ah well…he can deal with it. And, YN–” he looks up at his sister tentatively. “It goes without saying that–I don’t want anybody finding out about this. I’m…just not ready to talk about it yet.”

“It’s fine, oppa. I get it,” she tells him. Just then, her two littles come up to him and drag him back to the living room, demanding that he help them build a fort, which he reluctantly agrees to.

YN takes this opportunity to pull her phone out of her pocket to see the six missed calls and several texts from Victoria. She finally replied with a text–telling her to stop blowing up her phone and that her brother would reach out whenever he was up to it.

*****

//FLASHBACK

“Baby? Baby?” When she doesn’t answer, he calls her one more time, “Vee,” he says a bit louder.

She finally turns to him. “Hm?”

She had been sitting on the couch, blankly staring at the TV for hours. “There’s some soup here–actually, YN dropped it off. She also made some hotteok, thought it would uh, cheer you up?”

“Oh…okay. Thank you,” she says quietly before turning back to the TV. “Just uhm, leave it there, I guess. Or put it in the fridge.” She readjusts herself on the couch, laying down and pulling the blanket over her.

Just be there for her. Let her go through the motions. YN's words ring in his head.

It’s been over two weeks of this...she sleeps in ‘til noon, cries, watches TV. When she falls asleep on the couch, he picks her up and carries her into their bedroom. When she wakes up, she repeats the cycle.

Desperate to do something to ease her pain, he approaches her. He sits on the couch by her feet and rubs them gently through the blanket.

“Baby–is there anything else I can get for you?”

“No, thank you,” she says with a small voice.

“Uhm–I…” he hesitates, but he gathers up the courage. He loves her and it was killing him to watch her go through with this or that she felt like she needed to deal with this on her own.

“Victoria–I…I hate seeing you like this,” he says. She doesn’t look at him and instead keeps her eyes glued to the screen.

“Vee, baby…I love you and I know I said that whenever you feel ready, you can always talk to me, right? I’m just really worried about you.”

Tears start to sting her eyes after hearing her husband attempt to reach her.

“If…if you don’t want to talk to me…maybe,“ he sighs, “Maybe, you’d want to talk to somebody? Like a professional?”

At the sound of that, she sits up angrily. “I’m not crazy, Namjoon,” she snapped. “I don’t need to talk to a shrink–or whatever the fuck you call it,” she continued to berate him.

Namjoon chose his next words more carefully. “Victoria, I’m–I’m sorry. That’s not what I’m trying to imply. I feel like you're there but for some reason, I can't reach you. And I just love you so much and–please, just tell me what I can do to help you. I need you to talk to me–”

“We lost our baby, Namjoon!” Her voice thundered through the room. “If you can’t wrap your head around that…” Her chest heaved with anger, unable to finish her thought.

Namjoon is rattled. It was as if he had just poked a sleeping lioness–he tried to walk back as quickly as he could. “Baby, I didn’t mean it like that. I only want to help you,” his voice cracks.

“Yeah, a great fucking deal you’re doing,” she says as she gets up and furiously walks away from him and into their room, slamming the door behind her.

//END FLASHBACK

******

“Joon? Joon?”

He looks up to see Victoria’s eyes staring back at him. After a week, he had finally agreed to meet with her–at one of their favorite restaurants...the one they had been to on their very first date. Sadly, Namjoon didn’t feel nostalgic when he walked in.

His slightly overgrown hair was tucked under his beanie. He also stopped shaving, judging by the 5 o’clock shadow that he sported. He used to be very meticulous about it before.

He exhaled heavily while he picked at his plate.

“H-how’s the album coming along?” She asks cautiously.

His eyebrows quirk up. Was she actually asking how his work was doing or was she asking because she knew that he was working on finishing the last couple of tracks for Jaxon’s album?

As soon as she sees his jaw tick, she switches tact. “I uh, I ran into one of the producers in the building the other day. W-we just got to talking and I was hoping I’d catch you there.”

“Yeah. I’ve switched my studio schedule,” he replies coldly.

He sends his edits and mixes to Jaxon remotely and vice versa. Being the consummate professional, Namjoon thought he’d be perfectly fine conducting business with him without unnecessary banter but it was Jaxon himself who suggested they work separately–via email. Jaxon has an engineer come in to help him make adjustments to vocals or other settings then sends his parts to Namjoon to make all of the final touches on the tracks.

She nodded tentatively then decided to switch subjects. “So, I’ve been talking to a therapist and–”

“Oh, now you want to talk to a therapist…” he sneered.

Victoria’s lips narrowed into a thin line, desperate to push through this conversation with her husband. “The sessions…they’ve been helpful. A-and,” She struggled to get the next few words out. “She doesn’t just treat individual patients. She uhm…she sees couples, too. I think…I think that maybe we could try it?”

He regards her with curiosity. “Marriage counseling?”

She tries to steady her voice. “Y-yeah. I’ve had a couple friends go through them, a-and–it’s not so bad…”

“Not so bad,” he repeats dryly and follows it with a chuckle. “You think that this can be fixed?”

******

He excused himself from the table and told Victoria that he needed a few minutes to collect himself when he decided to call YN in a panic.

“Fuck me…I don’t know, YN. I don’t know what to do,” Namjoon says on the phone while he paced back and forth in the parking lot.

“Maybe counseling isn’t too bad?” She offered gently. “It could…” she sighed, “It would,” she corrected herself, “Unlock some lingering issues and bring those to the surface.”

“I know but…” he shook his head. “I just want to make the right decision here. I don’t want to be an asshole but I also don’t want to walk away feeling like a jackass.”

“Okay, why don’t we calm down for a bit. I really don’t know why you agreed to meet with her so soon when clearly, you’re not in any state to try and talk things through yet.”

“That’s because every time she speaks, I hear her fucking voice, moaning…over and over in my head,“ he hissed.

“Okay, okay. Don’t…” she cut him off as she felt him spiraling out over the phone. She sighed, “Don’t get too worked up over this. What if—what if you tell her that you can’t do this right now and that you need a few more days? Walk away right now and revisit later.”

There was silence on his end. Gripping his forehead, he relents. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I just…need a couple more days to refocus.”

“Take your time,” she said while he hummed in agreement.

“And Namjoonie? Maybe,” she paused for a beat, “Maybe don’t take counseling off the table?” She suggested. “It could help, you never know.”

“And if it doesn’t?” He asked, chewing on his bottom lip.

“Well…then at least you could say that you made an effort to save it…you know…if it’s worth saving,” She says, her voice thick with indistinct emotion.

“Plus, you know my door is always open. As long as you don’t mind the kids using you as their personal jungle gym,” she said.

He chuckles, sincerely looking forward to it.

******

He felt slightly better with renewed purpose as he stepped back into the restaurant. At least he had some semblance of a game plan.

As he closes in on his table, he slows his steps when he sees the scene unfolding in front of him.

“Don’t ruin this for me, Jax, please,” she begs. “Please leave before he sees you!”

“Look, I just want to talk to him and—“

“Wow. What kind of bullshit entrapment operation is this,” Namjoon says acrimoniously.

“Namjoonie—“

“Don’t you fucking Namjoonie me, Jaxon,” he says through gritted teeth. “I don’t know what you’re planning here, Victoria but I won’t be part of it.”

Fully aware that they were in public and that Jaxon was still an idol, Namjoon summoned all of his strength not to completely obliterate him on the spot.

“Namjoon, baby—this wasn’t planned. Jax, I mean, Jaxon happened to be here, too. I, I swear, I didn’t know. I was shocked when he just came up to me.”

Namjoon’s ears start to ring. His heart was racing and he broke into a cold sweat. He had to get out of here…and quickly.

“Namjoon, I just wanted to apologize—“ Jaxon starts before Namjoon cuts them both off.

“I can’t fucking do this right now. This is too much,” he says. With a huff, he turns on his heel and marches to the exit.

******

Victoria chases after Namjoon at the parking lot after he storms out of the restaurant. Jaxon stays back…which was probably for his own good. He thought, you never know who’s watching and what they might post online. He had to hand it to him–even after being a total douchebag, he still wanted to keep up appearances.

“Joon, I swear, it’s nothing. I told him to stop calling but he kept telling me that he just wanted to talk to you. I swear, this wasn’t planned. I don’t know how he found out that we were meeting here,” she rambled in a panic.

Namjoon laughed inwardly. If he really wanted to talk to him, Jaxon knew where to find him. They were still working together in spite of current circumstances.

“He’s just persistent, and–”

“Persistent, huh? I wonder why,” he said suspiciously.

“Joon...” Victoria says, her voice faint. “After that night, I–I’ve ended things.”

“How do I know you’re not lying to me right now?” Anger stews within Namjoon’s chest.

“Joonie...I swear, it’s over. You just have to trust me.”

But that wasn’t good enough for him.

“There lies our problem, Victoria. I don’t trust you.” His words burned her like acid. He puts his hands on his hips, flaring his nostrils, desperately trying to control his breathing while looking down on the ground.

“Baby...baby, look at me,” she advances towards him and cups his face in her palms but he does not make eye contact. “Please,” she begs him. “Look at me, please.” He looks up at her, tears pooling in his eyes.

“Baby, I swear–it’s just you. Only you. I will do anything–anything–to earn your trust again.” She continues to plead. She feels him slipping further away from her and she’s trying to desperately hang on to any sliver of hope that he could throw at her. She looked into his eyes–they were filled with pain. Pain that she caused. Tears start to stream down her cheeks.

Namjoon curled his fingers around her wrists, gripping at them. And for a moment–she thinks–maybe. Just maybe.

But he moves to pry her hands off his face instead. “I–can’t do this,” he whispered harshly.

Victoria panics. “Joon, please. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t give up on me, please.” She tries to desperately touch his face once again but he holds her back.

“I wanted to try, Vee–believe me.” Tears betray his resolve. “I can forgive but I can’t forget. I just…I don’t think I can live like this. Looking over my shoulder, wondering if…” He couldn’t bear to complete that last thought. “I just can’t.” There was a finality to his words but Victoria wasn’t going to give him up easily. As Namjoon starts to walk towards his car, she tries to cling on to his back.

“No, Namjoon, please. We love each other, don’t we? Shouldn’t that be enough to get us through this?” She begs him between sobs.

Namjoon’s shoulders slump. “I used to think so. But between us, you were the first who decided that love wasn’t enough. And that I wasn’t enough–to give you what you needed.”

At that moment, she loosens her hold on him until her arms drop to her side. He takes this opportunity to wipe his tears quickly and compose himself before he turns to face her one last time--as her husband.

His voice matched the iciness in his eyes. “I want this done as quickly as possible. I think this is the best thing for us...You’ll hear from my lawyer soon.”

He gets in the car and looks back at her once more. She is despondent, in shock. Her soul seemingly left her body as she tried to process the last few minutes.

“I’ll be back for my things tomorrow…and I would really like for you to not be there when I do.”

The moment she comes back to reality, she sees his tail lights fading in the night. She slumps over with her hands on her knees, shoulders shaking. Right then, the first few drops of rain start to fall...as if the heavens were also mourning the end of Namjoon and Victoria’s marriage.

As Namjoon rounded the corner at the intersection, his phone rang. He was ready to reject it, thinking that it was Victoria but was surprised to see Jin’s name on the caller ID.

“Hyung?” He answers.

“Namjoon-ah,” His older brother sounded grave, which caused Namjoon’s stomach to drop.

He pulls over to the nearest curb, mind racing now. “What’s wrong, hyung?”

Jin sighed audibly on the other line. “It’s dad. You need to come home soon.”

Chapter 2◥ | Main Fic Masterlist

Thank you for reading!

If you loved it and/or curious to learn more, please comment, reblog, or send me feedback! 📩. I love hearing from readers! If you didn't like it so much, I would still like to hear about it 💜

Tagging: @internetjunkdrawer @deepseavibez @joeybeanxbts

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btswritingcafe · 3 years ago

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Welcome to Btswritingcafe’s Specialty Coffee Anniversary Event.

For this event we highlight two exciting anniversaries: Btswritingcafe’s 3rd anniversary as a network and BTS’ 9th anniversary.

How we want to incorporate both of these anniversaries is by hosting an event that highlights our cafe theme while focusing on BTS b-side tracks.

Want to get involved? Read on for more information!

— DETAILS

There will be three categories that contain various b-side tracks. A lyric will be listed that is meant to be the basis for a fic.

The lyric can be transformed into a fic however the writer chooses. As long as it is incorporated in some form, that is the main goal.

The b-side tracks are meant to highlight songs of BTS that deserve all the love.

You are not restricted to the one lyric that is listed on this post. This is just a starting point.

Only one person can write for one song.

Each fic should be at least 500 words.

— HOW TO APPLY

Read the entirety of this post.

You do not need to be a member to participate. However, you must follow the network if you are not currently a member.

Like and Reblog this post.

Read our network guidelines for posting fics.

Fill out application.

Tag your fic during posting fic with the tag #cafeanniversary22

There will be an event discord in order for us to communicate about this collab. If you do not have a discord please let us know in the application and we will make it work!

— SPECIALTY COFFEE MENU

coffee beverages

Let Me Know | “The promises we made disappeared with the time we spent together, The dominos have fallen with our breakup.”

Coffee | “Breaking up was like a bitter americano, My memories still go to that cafe.”

Embarrassed | “I was too shy to become your sun so I became a cold moon. But afterwards, I keep making a wave of blankets on top of my ocean bed.”

Boyz With Fun | “The fun boys go until the dawn moon sets. This is so fun, all fakeness has gone home. So even if you’re tone-deaf or rhythm-deaf. It doesn’t matter, throw your timidness away.”

Am I Wrong | “Am I wrong, fallin' in love with you. Tell me am I wrong.”

tea beverages

Ma City | “You’re my summer autumn, Winter and every spring.”

Sea | “Where there is hope, there is always trial.”

House Of Cards | “A house made of cards, and us, inside, Even though the end is visible. Even if it’s going to collapse soon.”

Whalien 52 | “An endless signal will reach someday. Everywhere, even to the other side of the earth.”

134340 | “Beyond the fog, I watch you as you continue to smile, Without you or anything, There’s no meaning to my irregular orbit.”

baked goods

Butterfly | “You're there but for some reason, I can't reach you.”

21st Century Girls | “Whatever other people say, Whatever this world tells you, You’re the best to me just the way you are.”

Moving On | “Goodbye to this place, that we grew attached to, Let’s move. Now to a higher place.”

Best Of Me | “You got the best of me, you got the best of me. It's not important if it's a dream or reality. Only the fact that you're by my side.”

Lost | “Even if I'm slow I will walk with my own feet, Because I know this path is mine to take.”

— TIMELINE

April 18th - April 23 | application is open.

April 24th | application closed and admins send out messages regarding event information.

April 24th - June 12th | fic writing commences.

June 13th - June 19th | posting week

June 20th | masterlist posted

#network;post #cafeanniversary22 #cafe;event #specialty coffee event

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shina913 · 2 years ago

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Scions, Ch.2 - Seokjin | Kim Line + JHS

Scions, 2 - Seokjin

sci·on | \ ˈsī-ən \ Definition: (1) a descendant (2) a shoot or twig, especially one cut for grafting or planting

✼Scions Masterlist✼

Pairing: Jin x Fem!OC; Fem!Reader Sister + Jin

Rating: M (🔞)

Genre: Siblings!AU; Marriage!AU; FWB!AU; exes to ?; angst; smut; fluff

Warnings: unprotected sex (couple is in a monogamous relationship); spooning; dirty talk; cussing; overt discussions of fertility struggles; anxiety; OC has feelings of imposter syndrome; oral (M-receiving); alcohol consumption; character illness; a wild Jimin appears!

Word count: 6,033K+

Summary: Four grown siblings return to their childhood hometown after their father is declared to be terminal. They are forced to live under the same roof for days, along with their overbearing mother, to say their final goodbyes. It starts off nostalgic until some unresolved family issues along with an assortment of spouses, exes, and might-have-beens make things even more interesting.

A/N: This chapter was written as part of @btswritingcafe's Specialty Coffee Anniversary Event. There were three categories that featured various B-side tracks whose lyrics were meant to be the basis for the fic. For this particular chapter, I have chosen "21st Century Girls": Whatever other people say, Whatever this world tells you, You’re the best to me just the way you are.

Also—opening smut so—proceed with caution, under the cut!

“Oh my gooood, Jin–” she moans. Her hands reaching back and digging into his thigh as he thrusts deeply into her.

“You like that? You like when I fuck you like this?” He gasps into her ear. He woke up hard this morning and was consumed with the desire to be inside her.

“Yes,” she mewls as he works his cock into her cunt.

She couldn’t say no to him—not when his fingers had so deftly rubbed her clit until she was sopping wet for him. He had built up the visceral need in her, one that would only be fulfilled if he fucked her senseless.

“I’m gonna cum so hard for you–you feel so good…so tight for me,” he rasps. He suckles on her neck, pumping his hips against hers.

“Ah, I’m close! Yes!”

He groaned and drilled harder and deeper into her. His fingers grasping her hips while her body trembled from her brewing climax.

She came with a loud cry…her moans filling the entire room and seeping out into the empty hallway, echoing through the entire house.

He followed shortly after. Gasping for air while he emptied himself into her.

It was raw, unbridled lust.

******

“You think that increased our chances?”

He pauses buttoning his shirt for a beat.

“I…hope so,” he says, his voice lined with a thin layer of disappointment. It’s been a while since he had been inside her purely because he wanted to give his wife a good fucking.

He continued to fasten the rest of his buttons then took a quick glance at himself in the bathroom mirror before walking into the bedroom to rejoin his wife.

“Who knows? Maybe some spontaneity will help us.” He remarks, lightening his tone as he approaches her, still laying in bed.

She gives him a small smile.

Seokjin and Yoojung have been married for a little over three years. They’ve known each other since they were in grade school. He finally asked her out during their junior year in high school. They went to prom together and stayed as a couple through their university years until he asked her to marry him.

Yoojung was a sweetheart. She was the quintessential girl-next-door—or if you wanted to be literal about it, she was the girl from two blocks away.

She’s always been so shy and reserved–she was practically a wallflower so it was a wonder how Jin plucked her out from the hordes of girls giving him heart-eyes at school back then. He could have his pick of any woman he wanted. He could have very well dumped her when they went to different universities–but each and every time, he only had eyes for her.

Yoojung couldn’t believe her luck–she had always been in love with Jin. Despite his popularity, he was sincere, caring, and extremely down-to-earth. He could have gone on to the big city and found a job but he chose to come back to his hometown and help run the family’s restaurant.

“Have a good day, yeobo,” she says as she tilts her chin up to kiss him

“You too. I love you,” he smiled.

“Love you, too,” she responded as she watched him walk out of their room.

They typically had breakfast together. She’d make him coffee and pack him lunch. But their early morning shenanigans caused her to stay laid up on the bed…to let things marinate.

Yoojung decided to lie still for another few minutes before she hopped in the shower to get ready for her day.

It was already light out when Jin backs out of his garage, slightly later than his usual departure time. He thought it was worth being late to the market just to have those blissful extra few minutes with Yoojung.

******

“Good morning, everyone!” He greets his staff enthusiastically as he enters through the side entrance of the kitchen, bringing in a container of fresh fish from the market. They all murmur their greetings in return as they’re already far into the day’s prep work. He hands the styrofoam container to his chef who compliments his bosses’ ingredient of choice for today’s special.

“How’s your dad today,” the chef asked while he was in the middle of working on his mise en place.

“He has his good days and bad. But he’s been listening to the doctor and taking it easy. Of course staying still has always been a huge challenge for him,” Jin says jokingly.

“Ah, you know your dad—he’d prefer to work until his last breath,” he says.

Jin smiles. “I’m sure he does. But, if he wants to be able to live the rest of his life—enjoy his grandchildren…he doesn’t have much of a choice. He has to rest.”

The chef’s eyebrows quirk. “Are you trying to say that he’s about to have more grandchildren?”

He paused, brimming with uncertainty. But instead of completely dodging the question, he carefully sidestepped it instead. “It’s certainly a possibility,” he chuckled.

The chef laughed. “Don’t worry, boss. I’m not trying to put any pressure on you. I’m sure that you and your siblings were more than a handful for your parents back then. It’s why I only had the one kid! It already felt like a circus with just him!”

Jin laughed in response. The truth was, his father had a talent for juggling. In fact, it felt as if he had invented it by the way he raised four kids, mostly on his own.

He only dreamed of becoming half the man he was. And if Yoojung ended up getting pregnant during this cycle, would he be up to the job?

******

//Eight months ago

“Seokjin-ah, can you open this for me, please?”

Jin pauses his inventory, sets his clipboard down and walks over to where his dad stood in the middle of the kitchen to unscrew the lid off the jar of homemade gochujang.

“Thank you, son. I’m sorry–your old man is an old man,” he chuckled, scooping some into the soup that he was mixing.

“Why don’t you just store the gochujang in a plastic tub? It would make it easier on you–”

“Jin,” he says sagely. “It’s much better in a glass bottle. It extends the shelf-life, especially for something homemade like this. Besides, I just probably need to lift more weights,” he jokes.

Jin smiles. “How ‘bout this? What if you switch to a flip-top jar then? It would be more convenient for you,” he suggests. “Plus, I don’t want to get a random call saying that you’re stuck underneath the bench press,” he laughs.

His father laughed heartily in response. “That would be humiliating,” he remarked. “But you know what? The flip-top jar is a great idea. Could you add that to our next order?”

“Of course!”

He watches his father carefully. It looked like he had gotten much older in a short amount of time…as if he didn’t look well. But the smile on his face said otherwise.

“Aish, these darned pants,” he chuckles again. “They just won’t stay up.” He goes on to adjust the drawstring on his work trousers to tighten them further.

“Did mom put you on one of her weird diets again?” Jin wonders. His dad looked like he shed some weight recently–not that he was overweight to begin with.

He chalked it up to his mom being home more. Maybe her presence fast-tracked those wrinkles and gray hairs. Jin chuckles to himself.

Kim Beomsok had always lived an active lifestyle, despite making his living around food. He was always on the go. If he wasn’t running errands for the restaurant, he was shuttling his kids around town—from school, to playdates, extra-curricular activities.

Everyone in town knew that Kim family.

More recently, he slowed down a lot. What with three out of his four children living away from home, with their own lives. He did enjoy the occasional trip to the city, where he could play with his grandchildren. They were his pride and joy. He especially loved it when he could cook for them.

But it’s been a while since he drove too far from home. He found himself tiring out more easily. His doctor advised him to scale back and enjoy retirement.

Retirement involved his wife, a famous movie and television actress who had since stepped away from the limelight that she enjoyed for close to three decades. She was also tired and wanted to spend more time with the love of her life.

However, you can take the actress off the stage, but she still had an on-stage mindset. Case in point, keeping up with her ‘healthy’ diets.

His father laughs heartily. “I tried but I find myself sneaking in more midnight snacks than anything. One night, I finished half a slab of samgyeopsal all by myself.”

Jin laughed at that. He knew he could eat a whole slab of pork on his own–he and his siblings have seen it with their own eyes.

Each night, after dinner service, his father always made the staff a hearty meal. It was another way of showing gratitude and appreciation for a job well done. And he always joined in and partook in a celebratory beer.

Lately, his father hadn’t been joining the staff during meals. He still cooked but seemed a bit more tired than usual, apologizing constantly at the meager effort that he pulled together.

Restaurant staff always waved him off. How many bosses actually cooked for their staff on a nightly basis? Besides, he was understandably getting older, moving a bit slower than usual.

His father was still a proud man and the restaurant had been his whole life. This place, just like a handful of other family-owned businesses around town, was an institution. It helped that their mom’s star power kept its popularity—but more than that? The place just had great food and even better service. Anybody who came to eat there was always treated like family.

It was why Jin took it upon himself to slowly take on more tasks for the business. It began from supply inventories to accounting…pretty soon, he was helping plan out the seasonal menu. There was nothing in the restaurant’s daily operation that Jin didn’t have a hand in.

Eventually, he and his siblings were able to convince their dad to retire and enjoy the fruits of his labor. He had been working non-stop since he was a teenager. He deserved to rest.

//End flashback

******

“Hello?”

“So—when you make your kalguksu, do you wash your noodles or just throw them into the pot?”

YN sighed into her car’s bluetooth receiver. She had just picked up her oldest, Joobin from elementary school and was en route to picking up her youngest, Jooni from preschool. “Well…it’s a matter of preference, really. Do you want a thicker or clear broth?”

“Good point. So anyway! That’s not really why I called.”

YN laughed out loud.

“There’s no good way to broach this topic but—holy shit, fertility treatments are no joke,” he blurts out.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oppa, you are on my bluetooth speaker and I just picked up Joobin.”

Joobin giggled from the backseat. “Uncle Jin said ‘shit.’”

“Ah, sorry, Joobinie! Don’t repeat that. Uncle is bad!”

YN groans in response. “Okay, let’s watch our language, please?”

“Right, sorry about that,” Jin apologizes. “Anyway…back to what I was saying. I know it’s the extra hormones from the shots but,” he sighs audibly, “I feel like I'm getting hit from all directions! It’s a rollercoaster of emotions.”

She shrugged her shoulders as she turned right on an intersection. “Just think, oppa—when she’s actually pregnant, it’s going to be ten times worse.”

“I knew this process was going to be long and difficult and truth be told, I thought I’d approach it differently by keeping it light to help us get through it, because…why wouldn’t I want to have sex with my wife?”

She cringed. “Gaaahh! Oppa! Language, please!”

“Ah, shit,” he says again on the other line while Joobin laughs.

“That’s it! I’m switching this conversation to my headset,” YN says, fishing out her earpiece from the center console and transferring the audio output.

“Okay, now you can speak freely,” she rolled her eyes.

He sighed. “I’m sorry…I just,” he hesitates for a bit, “I just don’t know anybody else who's gone through the same process. The struggles of–trying for a kid…the physical and emotional toll…” he trails off.

YN softens her tone. “What’s wrong? Are you and Yoojung having problems?”

“No,” he says tentatively. “Not in that way. She’s putting in a lot of energy into this whole thing and I can see it consuming her. I’m worried.”

She hummed sympathetically. “Have you sat down and talked about it? What if you skip a cycle and wait for her hormones to normalize a bit? Maybe things might not be as tense,” she recommends.

He sighed into the phone. “I could suggest that but I don’t know how she’ll take it. She seems to really, really want this baby.”

“Do you want the same thing as she does? I mean, to have a kid?” She asked.

“I do,” he answered instantaneously. “But…”

“But what?”

He catches a glimpse of their wedding portrait propped on one side of his desk. “I just don’t want her to feel as if she’s obligated to do this. I want a kid, of course…but if it’s not in the cards for us, I still want us to be happy. I want her to be happy,” he sighed. “I think that she thinks this might be a make-or-break moment for our marriage—to…fuuuck me,” He drags out while he knits his brows in confusion.

She choked out a laugh on the other line. “Say that again?“

“No-no, YN. It’s-it’s dad,” he stammers as he watches his dad walk through the kitchen from the back office’s window.

“What? What happened to dad?”

“He just walked in through the kitchen—shit, I gotta go, YN.”

“Okay, okay. Call me back later. Love you!”

“Yep, love you, bye.“

He rushed out of his office and back into the kitchen. “D-dad? Wh-what are you doing here? Mom said you weren’t feeling well last night—“

He waved him off. “Ah, that was nothing. I woke up feeling much better and got an idea. I stopped by the market and… look!” He exclaims as he holds up a bucketful of Manila clams. “What do you say? Bajirak kalguksu?”

******

His efforts to drive him away from the restaurant so he could rest at home were futile.

Even after calling his mom, she told Jin to just let him be.

His dad ended up spending the whole afternoon there, even helping out through lunch and dinner service and rewarding all employees with a delicious pot of kalguksu.

Jin and his dad slurp loudly at their respective bowls of soup. As they set them back down on the table, they both let out a sigh of appreciation then burp almost in unison. After which, they make eye contact for a brief moment..before falling into absolute stitches seconds later.

Their staff had already gone home for the night so they were enjoying a bit of quiet time before Jin did his nightly walkthrough.

“That was great, dad. As always,” he says as he picks up his bottle of beer and taps it against his dad’s.

After he takes a long drag of it, he remarks, “I wish I could make it like you do,” Jin says quietly.

“You make it just fine, son,” he says to him before he takes a gulp of his beer.

“It’s just not the same. There’s–I don’t know…always something missing.”

“You make it your own way–and I think it tastes great.”

Jin chuckles. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Son, you should do things your way, not how I do them. I mean–” he spreads his arms out, gesturing around the restaurant. “Look at this place–it’s like a well-oiled machine! I couldn’t have left it in more capable hands.”

Jin sighs. “I just learned to do things like you showed me, dad.”

“Well…there’s pros and cons to that, Seokjinie. One, I’m flattered that you think I’ve taught you well. But two–you can always choose to go a different path. Hell–look at Namjoon-ah and YN-ah. They’re off doing their own thing…that was their choice, I respect that. Taehyung-ah…” he sighs, “I’m not gonna lie, I worry about that boy. But,” he shrugged his shoulders, “He’s trying to find his own way. I get it–he looks up to his hyungs and his noona. He’ll figure things out soon enough.”

Jin narrows his eyes at him. “Why are you getting all sentimental, dad? Is it the beer? Are you a lightweight now because you haven’t had a drop in a while,” he jokes.

Jin’s dad laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Maybe,” he sighed. “I just want to make sure that you’re all settled, you know? And by that I mean–happy with the choices you’ve made. And if you aren’t–you need to do something about it sooner rather than later.”

“Are you happy with the choices you’ve made, dad?”

“Of course!” He says proudly after swallowing another gulp of beer. “I’ll admit, there were difficult times…especially when your mother worked a lot. But all those choices I made–I stood by them. They all worked out eventually.” He then turns to his son. “We raised all four of you after all,” he said with a smile. “I think you all turned out alright?”

Jin chuckled, fidgeting with the label on his bottle.

“But…like I said–if you’re unhappy now, don’t wait until resentment sets in. Life’s too short for that.”

******

After Jin watches his dad drive off, he proceeds to close out the register and records the day’s total sales. By the time he was done, he got home close to 11PM. He hangs his keys by the front door and toes his shoes off, setting them in the hallway closet.

He pads over to the kitchen and retrieves a bottle of wine from the fridge and a glass from the cupboard. He sets the glass down and proceeds to pour himself a generous serving. He swirls it around and takes a sip. He sighs at the combination of cool, sweet, acidity hitting his palette.

It was already shaping up to be a long day–slightly made more complicated by his dad’s unexpected visit. But it was over now, at least. He contemplated dinner. Yoojung had texted him earlier that she had put away a plate for him–which he saw in the fridge when he retrieved the wine.

He rubbed his eyes–sleep quickly taking over the moment he walked through his front door. That plate would just have to be breakfast for tomorrow…or he could pack it for lunch. He didn’t have time to decide on that now.

He picks up the wine glass and tilts his head back to polish it off before rinsing it and setting it on the dish rack to try.

He drags his feet up the steps when suddenly, he hears his wife curse loudly, then quickly followed by something hitting the floor.

He rushes the last few steps to check on her, finding her in their bathroom.

“Damn it! Damn it,” she says as slams her fist on the sink.

“Love, are you okay? I heard something crash–” he looks down on the floor and sees some cotton swabs and rounds scattered on the floor, along with whatever remnants of the containers that originally held them.

She looks up at him, beneath tear-soaked lashes.

“Are you hurt?” He rushes over to check on her hands.

“No, no. I’m–I’m not hurt,” she whimpers. “Then what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

She sighed deeply. “I…did a pregnancy test. I just thought–” she paused for a beat, “I had a feeling. I…I felt different so I thought I’d check and…” Her lips narrow into a thin line, trying to bite back the rest of her sobs.

He enveloped her in a warm embrace, and she melted right into him. “Hey…it’s okay, love,” he says. He rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry, yeobo,” she cried softly. “I’m really, really sorry.”

“Huh? For what?”

“For being such a failure,” she said sadly.

At the sound of that, he pulls her away from his chest to look at her. “Yoojung, why would you say that?”

“Because–I can’t give you a baby,” she says before another wave of sobs escape her lips.

Jin sighed. “You know, when we took that step to try fertility treatments, we came to that decision together. Any setback or doubts that either of us had or felt, we agreed to talk through it together.”

He kept his eyes at her, staring intensely. “Lately, I feel like you’re doing way more than what I thought we had initially talked about with the doctor. Constantly checking your body temperature, changing your diet, setting timers…I can’t imagine what this is doing to you but I just know that it worries me…seeing you like this.”

“Jin, the doctor said, there’s no shame in being a bit proactive to speed up the process. I know that we could be looking at a long road and that it’s different for every couple–”

“Precisely! It’s different for every couple,” he repeats. “I was there, too, when he gave us the whole spiel. But I see the process completely overwhelming you. At first I thought it was just the hormones but…now, I don’t know. Talk to me, love,” he pleads with her. “I want to know what you’re feeling. I want to be in this with you, too.”

She tried to fight that sinking feeling within her. That feeling of desperation and helplessness. Yes, it was the extra hormones but that wasn’t entirely true. She sniffled. “I just want us to have a baby, Jin. I feel…I feel so incomplete…and unworthy–”

“I’m going to stop you right there! It breaks my heart that you would think of yourself like that,” he cuts her off abruptly.

“I can’t help it,” she whined. “Ever since you asked me out–I felt like I always had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming. All these years, I’ve had to–endure all of these…these judgy looks from all of these girls and women who were more deserving of your attention.”

“Yoojung–”

She shook her head. “Honestly–I was doing fine. I thought that I finally got over all that after you asked me to marry you. But now?” she chuckled bitterly, “We’ve been married for over three years–and still–” she sucked in a breath, “I feel like such a fraud.” She reaches over to grab a couple of tissues to clean up the broken pieces of acrylic and pick up the rest of the mess that she made during her sudden emotional outburst.

Despite Jin’s repeated reassurances, Yoojung still felt as if having a child would complete their family…and complete her, in a way.

They lived in a small town–where virtually everyone knew each other. And they can only field so many of those ‘When are you having kids’ questions. It was getting exhausting.

Jin bends down to help his wife pick up the pieces off the bathroom floor. They did so quietly until they were satisfied that they had picked up every fragment.

Yoojung gets under the covers and Jin follows her back to the bedroom and sits next to her.

“Hey–” he cupped her face in his hands. “It’s still early. We still have over a week left in this cycle so…we can still keep trying.” He tries to console her.

“And…if it doesn’t work, maybe…now hear me out on this…maybe we should consider skipping the next cycle? We can regroup, give your body some time to rest. What do you think?” He asked softly, rubbing her arms for comfort.

Her shoulders sagged at the sound of that. She didn’t want to lose the momentum they had. “I don’t know, Jin.”

“Have I ever forced you to do anything that you didn’t want to?”

“No,” she says quietly.

“And–have you ever felt pressured by any of my family members–at all–to have children?”

She shook her head.

“Then why? Why would you want to torture yourself like this? To prove to me that you’re worthy?”

“But–married couples have babies, Jin! And–w-what about your family name? Wouldn’t you want to leave a legacy?”

He laughed. “Yoojung, I have two more brothers–I’m pretty sure, they’ll be able to pick up the slack in that aspect.”

“I know but…Jin, you’re the oldest, you’re–”

“Yeobo.” He places his hands on her shoulders to calm her down, face turning more serious this time. “What is this really about? Did the doctor say anything to you that you’re not telling me? Do we have a deeper problem?”

She shook her head. The fertility specialist hadn’t said anything different from when they first sat down with them and discussed options, risks, and possible and highly likely moments of heartbreak during this whole process. Yoojung figured that if she focused more on the positive aspects, that the pitfalls wouldn’t matter so much–and that the outcome would be different and work in their favor.

So far, it hasn’t.

It’s only been a few months into their journey but she has been feeling more stressed and anxious than ever. She was over 30 now and fearful that her prospects of conceiving were lowering so time was of the essence. Although Jin has been supportive, the bottom line was that he didn’t understand how a woman’s body worked…or the concept of a biological clock in terms of reproduction.

She looked at him, tears pooling in her eyes. “I just want to make you happy, Jin,” she says in earnest.

He lets out an ill-timed chuckle. Yoojung finally lets out that sob that she’s been holding in. “Hello? I’m crying here??” She says angrily.

“I’m sorry, love–I just had to laugh at what you just said.”

She scrunched her face in confusion and annoyance. ”What? That I want to make you happy,” she whimpers.

Jin reaches out to cup her face in his hands, swiping at her tears with his thumbs. “Yoojung–when have I ever said that I wasn’t happy?” She was silent. She didn’t have a good answer for him.

“See? You can’t even answer that,” he says softly. “Whatever or whoever gave you that idea?”

It was her imposter syndrome kicking back into gear. Yes, she got over it after they were married and it was blissful. She was finally feeling secure and confident in her relationship with Jin. They basked in newlywed bliss for a year.

And then one year turned into two, two rolled into three.

Suddenly, living in the hometown where they were born, raised, and worked in was not all it was cut up to be.

When are we going to see mini-Seokjinies running around, Yoojung?

Seokjin-ah, when are you going to pass on your worldwide handsome genes?

How long have you both been married? And still?

Are you two having problems?

It comforted Jin knowing that his wife and sister had a close bond. YN offered an ear for when Yoojung had bad days and needed a confidante. She had her own friends but at least YN understood her. She didn’t judge but she didn’t patronize her either.

“Love, I don’t know where this is all coming from–and for now, I’ll just blame the excess hormones in you. But listen to me…you don’t have to prove anything to me. In fact, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody! I fell in love with you because…you’re you. And I know that doesn’t seem like a believable statement but you’re just going to have to trust me. I want you just the way you are and I would never, ever ask you to change yourself. If you want to do that because you’re doing it for yourself and because that’s what makes you happy? Then fine–I’ll take it, but don’t ever do it on my account.”

He gazed at her more fiercely this time. He was fully aware of her insecurities–and he never threw it in her face. He acknowledged them and he would listen and tirelessly reassure her whenever she opened up about them.

“Don’t you want somebody more…I don’t know…who can give you a family?” She asked lowly.

“I already have a family. I have you,” he wiped a tear away again. “Nobody takes care of me like you do. Nobody else loves me like you do. That’s why I’m with you. You love me unconditionally. How can I ask for more from you when you’ve already given me everything?”

Any woman would melt at the sound of that. How can you not?

“Whatever other people say, whatever this world tells you…you’re the best to me just the way you are. I love you, Yoojung.”

“I love you, Seokjinie,” she smiles at him. He pulls her face closer to his and kisses her. Soon enough, her hands rake through his hair, pulling at the strands. He groans and deepens the kiss.

He groans as he pulls away and knits his eyebrows in curiosity. “Mrs. Kim–do you want a repeat of this morning’s…entanglement?”

She smiled playfully. “Let me remind you that my hormones are still on overdrive.” She closed in on him, pushing on his chest so his back hits their mattress. He gasps at her sudden aggression but he was all too happy to let her take control.

“And right now, they’re telling me to take care of my husband.” She turned her attention to his lower half. She did take care of him in all aspects. And he had zero complaints there.

She unbuckled his belt. “You’ve worked very hard today, Mr. Kim.” Then unzipped his pants. “So why don’t you lay back,” He moans softly when she pulls him out. “And watch me work on you.” She flashed a sly grin before she dipped her head, wrapping her lips around his cock.

He squeezed his eyes shut, surrendering. His fingers tugged at her hair at the feel of her warm, velvety mouth.

She watched his lips part in a sharply indrawn breath.

“Yoojung…” His hooded gaze heated as he watched her hollow her cheeks, bobbing up and down his length. “Hmm, yes. Just like that, love.”

His praises spurred her on. She took him as deep as she could. He let out a deep groan once he felt the tip of his cock hit the soft cushion in the back of her throat.

Just as he felt himself tipping over the edge, he is jolted by the sound of his phone ringing.

He tries to reach out for it. Vaguely remembering that he tossed it somewhere on top of the covers when he sat on the bed, trying to comfort his wife.

He feels Yoojung pull away from him.

“Love, don’t worry, about it,” he almost whines, wanting her mouth to stay in place. “Probably just the chef forgetting about–”

“It’s your mom,” she says as she hands it to him.

He rolled his eyes and answered before the call went to voicemail.

“Ma, what–”

“Seokjin! Seokjin, you have to come quick! It’s your dad,” she says in a panicked state. “He just…he just collapsed and I can’t wake him up,” she sobbed hysterically on the other line.

Jin immediately sits up and scrambles to get himself decent. “Don’t wait until I get there. Just call an ambulance and I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

******

“Wait but—I thought that the drop in weight was from diabetes or…or a thyroid issue?”

The doctor glances at Jin’s mother, Lina, who was seated right by his father’s side, whimpering. He had been injected with sedatives but was stable.

“Dr. Park…please…We’ve known each other for, what? Decades! You and Taehyung have grown up together. You’re family. Just level with me—what is going on with my dad?” Jin’s eyes were pleading. He’d been kept in the dark and he could feel it.

He knew his father had been sick and was told that it just came with age and that he just needed to be on a strict regimen. He had no idea how serious it was.

He lived about 20 minutes away from his parents but made it a point to call or check in every couple days since the restaurant had taken up a lot of his time.

Every time he saw his parents, they always seemed to be in good spirits. His dad spent a lot of time in the garage tinkering with his 1972 Ford Gran Torino, since he finally had the time to do so.

He sounded incredibly happy. His wife was semi-retired from acting, only taking minor roles so she wouldn’t be away from him for too long. They were enjoying being together—as if making up for lost time.

The doctor glances at Lina once more but Jin tilts his head to block his line of sight.

“Jimin-ah! Tell me what is happening with my father?” Jin says more forcefully this time. If he wasn’t going to respond to formalities, he thought a more ‘personal’ approach would compel him.

“It’s alright, Jiminie,” Jin’s mother says softly. “We’ve taken this far enough,” she sniffled.

Jimin looks his hyung in the eyes with trepidation. He wished that he didn’t have to deliver this news but on the other hand, he wouldn’t dare have a nurse or resident do it for him. Not with this family.

He blew out a shallow breath and squared his shoulders. “Hyung…abeonim’s organs are shutting down,” he says gravely. “His body is no longer responding to treatments.”

Jin starts reeling from the information. Dreading the rest of the prognosis.

“What treatments? I thought you said that he just needed some pills and exercise and rest—I don’t…” Jin trails off. His head whips around to look back at his father, laying on the hospital bed. His body, laid up against the white sheets in this equally white room made him look more emaciated than usual.

“At this point, we just need to make sure he’s comfortable.”

“Comfortable?” Jin repeats incredulously. “We just made clam kalguksu this evening! We had some beers—” He rakes his fingers through his hair as he is in complete disbelief.

“H-how the fuck does he go from that to this,” he points aggressively towards the bed.

“Sometimes,” Jimin says calmly, “Patients will experience what we call a ‘surge’. One day, they’re good, the next…”

“Thank you, Jiminie,” Jin’s mom says walking up to both young men, rubbing her son’s back gently.

Jin turns away from them wordlessly while Jimin carries on a conversation with his mom. His mouth goes dry while he attempts to internally grapple with all of the information that he just heard. He meandered across the room until he reached the foot of his father’s bed.

He was covered in a warm blanket, looking like he typically did when he napped on the couch at home or in the back office at the restaurant. Jin reaches out to rest his hand on his father’s foot, squeezing it gently. It flinched a little from the contact, remembering that he was incredibly ticklish.

He was still here, he thought.

From a distance, Jin hears Jimin tell his mom that a nurse and hospital social worker will come by soon to go over paperwork for hospice care.

Hospice?

Hospice.

It was as if his whole childhood flashed before his eyes like a movie–slowing down at the scene from this afternoon–when he was in the kitchen, bouncing around and laughing boisterously with the staff. How could this same man be upright one moment then suddenly declared terminal mere hours later?

“Jin.”

He slowly turned his head at his mom, who was standing next to him now. He had been completely unaware that a tear had pushed its way through, sliding down his cheek.

She felt a pang of guilt within her. She reaches up and gingerly wipes it away with her thumb. “You should call your brothers and sister.”

◤Previous | Part 3◥ | Main Fic Masterlist

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shina913 · 2 years ago

Text

Scions, Ch.3 - Taehyung | Kim Line + JHS

Scions, 3 - Taehyung

sci·on | \ ˈsī-ən \ Definition: (1) a descendant (2) a shoot or twig, especially one cut for grafting or planting

✼Scions Masterlist✼

Pairing: Taehyung x Fem!OC; Fem!Reader Sister + Taehyung

Rating: M (🔞)

Genre: Siblings!AU; Marriage!AU; FWB!AU; exes to ?; angst; smut; fluff

Warnings: Career insecurity; friends with benefits; vaginal sex; hints of oral sex (f-receiving); breast play; protected sex; excessive cussing; Taehyung with kids (not a legit warning but it's just super fluffy); some vulnerable confessions; pining; ghosting; alcohol consumption; a wild Jungkook appears!

Word count: 6,717K

“Taehyung-ah.”

He looks up from his bowl of cereal to find his dad walking through the kitchen. Taehyung had spent the holiday weekend at his parents’ house.

“Hey, dad. Morning,” he gives him a boxy smile.

“I see you didn’t head over to the restaurant with your Jin-hyung today.”

He inhaled through his teeth. “Yeah…I just didn’t want to get in the way, you know. He seems to have everything figured out already. I would just be messing up the flow of things.”

His dad chuckled at him. “You spent a day with him–that’s hardly any time to learn about the business.”

Taehyung shrugs. “I brought up a couple of ideas to him–”

His dad’s eyebrows lift, intrigued by the sound of his youngest having ‘ideas.’ “Oh?”

“Yeah. I just noticed that the dine-in dispatch process gets mixed up with online orders. I pointed it out to him but he told me that it’s worked fine for them for the last couple years. I just said that maybe it would go smoother if they had a designated corner by the entrance for pickups, you know? Then the host wouldn’t have to go back and check on the status. It would make things more efficient.” He finishes off by spooning more cereal into his mouth.

His dad grins at him. “I think that’s a great idea,” he says to him, after pouring himself a cup of coffee.

“Eh,” his mouth twisted. “I guess if Jin-hyung has made it work this whole time, who am I to disrupt his whole system? He’s been doing this for years.”

“That doesn’t mean there can’t be room for improvement?”

“I don’t know. Jin-hyung said that nobody’s made any complaints about it so…maybe I was just talking out of my ass,” he says as he pushes the mushy pieces of cereal around his bowl.

His dad chuckled after taking a sip of coffee. “Well, your hyung goes with what works. He takes more of a ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach to things. I don’t think he meant it to be dismissive.”

Taehyung nods his head. “I know that,” he says with a deep sigh.

His dad straightened his back and tilted his head at him. “Are you alright, adeul?”

He laughed. “I’m fine,” he said as the word ‘fine’ went up an octave.

Now it was his turn to laugh. “You know you’ve got that same look on your face when we went to that waterpark–and you didn’t meet the height requirement so you had to sit on the sidelines watching your siblings go on the big slides all afternoon?”

Taehyung hummed. “It wasn’t too bad because you stayed and played with me at the kiddie pool. And then noona came back to hang out with me.”

“Still–I knew how disappointed you felt, wishing that you were just an inch taller so you could go with them.”

When he was silent, his dad prods again. “Tell me what’s really going on, Taehyungie,” he says softly.

Taehyung threw his head back then blew out a puff of air up to the ceiling. “I’m feeling…a little stuck, I guess. Like,” he paused to clear his throat, “You know how the restaurant is Jin-hyung’s thing, Namjoon-hyung’s has his music. And then noona has her own business online. Me?” He chuckled bitterly. “I’m having trouble figuring out what I’m good at. Or…maybe I’m not good at anything,” he says sardonically.

“Is this because of the whole ‘job hunting’ thing? Because it’s taking longer than usual?” He asks while he sits on the stool next to Taehyung.

“I mean, I have jobs. I get gigs all the time–some art commissions here and there. Sometimes I’ll work catering events. It’s pretty good money and I work flexible hours.” He explains.

“Oh, trust me. I’ve heard about all of your career pursuits. Namjoon has filled me in,” he laughed softly. “Have you asked him if he knows anybody who can, I don’t know…give you an apprenticeship or–”

“Dad, I make rent every month. I’m not starving. I can even afford to get the occasional beer with my friend, Jungkook. I’m not struggling,” he argues.

“Well, I guess it helps that you’re home almost every other weekend. And your noona cooks for you when you watch her kids. I’m only suggesting that–maybe Namjoon knows people, or he can talk to Victoria to get you connected with her people?” His dad offers. “I’m only throwing things out there since…it seems like the restaurant is out of the question.”

Taehyung pursed his lips, his eyes downcast. “Yeah, I’ll consider it,” he says to placate his dad.

His dad softened his expression. “You’re a smart man–-and very resourceful. It will come to you when the time is right…kind of like an endless signal that will reach you someday. You’ll feel it…then you’ll know,” he says, patting his shoulder for assurance.

Taehyung gives him a crooked smile. “Are you sure that’s not Irish coffee you’re drinking, dad?”

They both break into laughter. His dad ruffles his hair up, just like he used to when Taehyung was a little boy.

“Ah! Not the hair, dad!”

“Serves you right,“ he says with a chuckle, starting to walk away with his mug. “Also–I put a little ‘lunch money’ in your backpack.”

Taehyung rolls his eyes. “Dad, you have to stop doing that.”

“Oh yeah? Make me!” He yells out from the side-door that led to the garage to work on his car.

******

“Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” She greets him as they both exit their respective apartments at the same time.

“Early start today?” Taehyung asks.

“Yeah. Piles of paperwork after a long weekend. You know how it is,” she says.

He hummed. “Did you have a good weekend?”

“I did, thank you,” she smiled. “You?”

“Mm-hm,” he responded. “What did you end up doing?”

Her lips curved into a playful smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” She says teasingly.

“Just curious, that’s all.” He says as they near the elevator.

She scoffed. “Curiosity killed the cat.”

Taehyung furrows his brows slightly but hides his disappointment. “Alright, alright,” he relents. “I know…no personal stuff.”

“See? There we go,” she says to him as they step into the elevator silently.

He slowly sidled up to her. She held back a smile once she felt his breath behind her ear. “So…am I going to see you tonight, Eunhae?”

She all but moans her response. “Same time, Taehyung.”

The elevator dings to their building’s lobby. Taehyung walks two steps behind her but moves up slightly to hold the door open for her. She mouths her thanks as they go their separate ways.

Taehyung walks to his car, eager to get started at work. The quickest he can finish out the day, the faster he can get home to straighten up before Eunhae comes over.

And she does come over later that night…only because she was the closest person that he could call to pick him up from the hospital, after he gets into an accident on his bike while working his regular route.

******

Two and a half weeks later…

The doors open and YN walks out of the elevators and onto her brother’s floor. Just then, a woman is rounding the corner yelling out to hold the doors. YN does and the woman smiles and mouths her thanks before pushing the button for the elevators to descend.

She knocks at her brother’s door and is greeted by his slightly disheveled self.

“Wow. You look like hell.”

“Geez, thanks, noona,” he grumbled. “It’s hard enough to do things one-handed.”

“Well, it’s good you have helpful neighbors to look in on you,” she said as she set down some groceries on his kitchen counter.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you, Tae. I was at a retreat and by the time I got home, my sitter couldn’t stay any longer. And then it was just one thing after another—“

“It’s okay, noona,” he smiled. “I’m alive, see?” He holds up his casted arm.

“I know that Namjoonie-hyung was out of town,” he says quietly.

“Uhm…yeah, he still is. He’s really hunkered down to get this new album mastered,” she said. “I heard mom came through though?”

Taehyung nods while he settles by his small dining table across the kitchen while she bustles around the kitchen, pulling out utensils and pans from his cupboards, which she stocked herself.

“Did she point out that you need a new decorator or something?”

He laughed. “In so many words. She means well, though. I think she might just be bored at home.”

YN shrugged. “I don’t know. By the sound of it, she seems to love it. She’s trying to plan another trip for her and dad soon.”

“That’s nice,” Taehyung answers. “Hope it’s somewhere warm because dad’s looking a little pale these days.”

YN agrees then suddenly, in the midst of unpacking groceries, something bright on the floor catches her eye. After a few seconds of deciphering what it was, she grabs a paper towel and bends down to pick it up.

“Wow, Taehyung-ah…I didn’t realize that hot pink was your color,” she said as she cringed while holding the thong up for him to see.

Taehyung grimaces. “Oh shit—noona…” He abruptly gets up from his seat and quickly yanks it from her hand.

“S-sorry,” he says embarrassingly.

“Hey, no need to explain. You’re an adult…and single. You’re entitled to whatever romantic and physical pursuit of your choice.”

He scrunched his face. “Well…we’re not exactly dating so, it’s ’physical’ minus the ‘romantic’ part.”

She blew out an exasperated breath. “Oh, Tae…” He couldn’t bear the look of disappointment that she gave him.

“A fuck-buddy? Seriously?”

“Fuck-buddy is such a harsh term, noona. We are actually friends—“

She groans. “Good god, that’s even worse, Taehyung-ah!”

“We’re just having fun, noona. It’s not a big deal.”

“Are you being safe, though? You know…since this is all casual and shit?”

“Yes, noona,” he assured his sister. “We’re fine–we have an understanding. Plus, who needs labels anyway?”

His sister chuckled. “You know who says that? People who actually need labels.”

Taehyung laughed. “Noona, you don’t know Eunhae and I. We just work, you know? We just like to keep things open and…” he sighed. “Feelings just ruin things.”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “Oh, Taehyungie–I have never heard of a friends-with-benefits arrangement that has not ended up with one or both people catching feelings.”

“From the outset, we’ve established that neither of us were really ready for anything long-term, noona. Not with me being in-between jobs and her with her…life,” he mutters.

She scoffed. “Taehyung…it’s dating, not marriage.”

“Still, though. We’re just having fun,” he shrugs.

“Well, in the future…when you decide to ‘have fun’ again, would you mind at least cleaning up–” she motions to the piece of underwear still in his hand, “You know, before I get here?”

He gives her a boxy smile. “Sorry, noona. I promise next time.”

While she started to unload the groceries, she switched topics. “So, what’s going on with the job hunt?”

He lifted a shoulder, noncommittal. “It’s alright. I’m keeping my options open for now.”

“Hm. I see a recurring theme here,” she mumbles while she starts chopping vegetables.

“I just feel like I have way too many things that I’m into. I’m still trying to figure out what I am most passionate about. Besides, the point is, I’m able to make rent, pay my bills with all of my gigs. It’s working out pretty well, for the time-being.”

“Right, but–don’t you want anything stable eventually?”

“At some point, yeah,” he says, recalling his conversation with their dad.

She sighed heavily. “Okay and how long has it been since you moved out here? This whole bike-messenger thing–it looks like it’s starting to become a hazard for you,” she says as she eyed his injured forearm.

“This is nothing, noona. And honestly, the bike messenger gig allows me to socialize and get to know people in big companies. I think of it as networking,” he smiles proudly.

“Mm-hm, if you say so,” she says apprehensively. “You know there’s nothing wrong about asking your siblings for a little help. Shit, you do it to me all the time,” she teases.

She looks up from the cutting board and sees him frowning slightly. “Oh, god, Taehyungie–I’m only teasing, you know that. You know that I’ll always support you. You’re my baby brother.”

“I know, noona. That’s why I rarely talk to Jin-hyung or Namjoonie-hyung these days. I just don’t want them to be disappointed in me,” he says, hanging his head.

“Tae, we’re all just looking out for you. They just have a slightly different approach than I do,” she says in consolation.

He nods silently. “Thanks, noona.”

She hums.

After a beat of silence, she pauses her chopping once more. “So, are you still good for Saturday? I mean–given your situation, I’m totally fine canceling–”

“Don’t be ridiculous, noona. Of course I’ll watch the kids! Doctor says I’ll get the cast taken out in a couple days so I should be good to drive,” he smiles. “Besides, you need a break every now and then.”

She sighed. “Thanks, Taehyungie.”

******

“Hey, do you want to hang out this weekend?”

Taehyung was too busy looking at her ass while she bent over to pick up her shirt.

“Hellooo?” She waved her hands around to call his attention.

His eyelids lazily look up to meet hers. “What was that? Did you say something?” He smiled.

She giggled, crawling up to him on the mattress. “I said,” her lips were barely touching his, “Do you want to hang out this weekend?” She repeats slowly, then darting her tongue out to lick his lower lip.

When he tries to kiss her, she pulls away quickly–like the brat she is, all while snickering.

A low growl escapes his chest. She kindly offered to drive him to the doctor’s office to get his cast taken off. But when they got back to his place, one thing led to another–next thing they knew, she was bouncing up and down his dick–but not before he made her cum hard while sitting on his face.

He still had a bit of muscle weakness on his injured arm but Eunhae was happy to put in some extra effort.

“Would it be incredibly greedy of me to ask you for one more round? Please,” Taehyung purrs.

“I don’t know…you kind of made me work for it a little bit back there,” she chuckles.

He groaned. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it…I couldn’t put too much pressure on it yet,” he says. “Plus, you could have said ‘no’,” he says, cocking his eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes exaggeratingly then tilted her head to the side. “Somehow, you make it difficult to do that.” Nobody ate her out as good as Taehyung did–he drove a hard bargain.

“So–this weekend?” she asked again.

As Taehyung was about to speak, he squeezed his eyes shut, suddenly remembering something. “Ah, shit. I can’t–I told my sister I’d watch my niece and nephew for a few hours,” he says. “I can’t cancel on her.”

“Oh,” she says, slightly crestfallen. “Are you sure you’ll be fine watching them alone? You know, so soon after getting your cast off?”

She wasn’t sure why she asked him that. Plans have fallen through before and there were times when they couldn’t sync up their schedules. They just dropped the subject and moved on.

He waved her off. “I should be fine in a couple days. I just need to do those strengthening exercises that the doctor mentioned and I’ll be fine. I’ll be ready to horse around with them,” he smiled.

“I could help, if you want?”

His eyebrows lifted at the sound of her offer. Truthfully, she was shocked as well but she was trying to be nice.

“I like kids,” She grinned.

Taehyung let out a laugh which made her frown at him. “What’s so funny about that?”

“I just,” he shrugged, “Didn’t figure you to be fond of kids.”

She scoffed at him. “I’ll have you know that I was a nanny in my first year in the city.”

“Wha…really?” He said in astonishment.

“Uh-huh,” she says smugly, crossing her arms over her chest.

He hummed at that.

She hummed back, mocking his tone. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

“I don’t know what else to say, Eunhae,” he laughs softly. “But…I’ll admit, I might need some help. I was thinking about calling Jungkook to back me up. Maybe…I can ask noona if I can bring you over instead?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh–I’m meeting your sister?”

Taehyung caught his lips between his teeth. “Not like that–I mean, I figured she’d like to know who else was going to be around her kids. She knows Jungkook.”

She swallowed hard. “Oh…right. Y-yeah,” she says hesitantly.

“I’d introduce you as my friend, of course. But if you’re uncomfortable, just let me know and I can call Jungkook–”

“You know what? I’m just overthinking shit–which I shouldn’t be,” she smiled. “Yeah, I still want to help you. I think it would be cool to meet your niece and nephew…and your sister.”

Taehyung wasn’t exactly sure why, but suddenly, he looked forward to Eunhae meeting YN.

While he pulls up his sister’s contact information from his phone, Eunhae continues to get dressed.

“Hey–where are you going?” His brows furrowed. “You’re not staying over?”

“Taehyungie, I have a big day at work tomorrow and I need to get up early,” she says as she shimmies into her jeans then zips them up. “Besides, even though morning sex with you is incredibly tempting, I can’t afford to be late,” she says with a laugh.

Taehyung pouts playfully at her.

“Hey, lighten up! We’ll still get to hang out on Saturday,” she says. “Just let me know what your sister says. If not–we can just do a raincheck.”

After she rakes her fingers to tame her just-fucked hair, she walks over to him on the bed once more to give him a quick peck on the lips. “Well…you know where to find me,” she says. And with that, she heads out the door and back to her apartment across the hall.

******

Taehyung and Eunhae showed up to YN’s door at 6PM, sharp. He glanced at her and saw that she seemed a bit restless, shifting her weight uncomfortably on his sister’s front porch.

“Hey.”

The way her head snapped up to look at him, he confirmed that she was nervous. He wasn’t sure why though.

“Don’t worry, my sister doesn’t bite…not like I do,” he jokes, trying to break the tension. She lets out a small chuckle, easing her nerves a bit.

After he rings the doorbell, he sighed, feeling incredibly relaxed this evening. This wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. It was just his sister, for crying out loud! It wasn’t like he was introducing her to his parents.

Although, maybe on the next three-day weekend, he would consider bringing her to his hometown.

He brushes the thought aside when YN opens the door. “Hi!” She greets them both enthusiastically and invites them in. After Taehyung gives her a quick hug, he introduces Eunhae.

“YN-noona, this is my friend, Eunhae. Eunhae, this is my sister, YN.”

YN smiled then tilted her head at Taehyung’s friend. She vaguely recognized her the day she came to see him as she was coming off the elevator.

“Hi, it’s so nice of you to come,” she smiled.

“Thank you for having me,” Eunhae responded. It didn’t look like she recognized her that day so YN didn’t push for it. She also tried not to think about that neon pink thong that she found on the kitchen floor.

“And thank you for helping. I wasn’t 100% sure if he was going to be okay by tonight. I really could have canceled, Taehyungie–”

“Noona! Stop. Go have fun–Eunhae and I can handle it. She used to be a nanny,” Taehyung remarks.

“Oh wow, fancy that!” She said. Seconds later, Joobin and Jooni barrel to the doorway.

“Uncle TaeTae!!!” Jooni squeals as Taehyung crouches down with arms wide open to catch her.

“Jooni-yah–you have to be careful! Taehyung’s arm hasn’t fully healed yet,” YN cautioned her daughter.

“I’m fine, noona,” he waved her off before turning to his nephew. “What’s up, little man?” He holds out a free hand to Joobin for a high-five.

“Are we playing Super Smash Brothers tonight, Uncle Tae?”

“Of course we are!” He tells his nephew immediately.

“Not before we play Cooking Mama,” Jooni whines. “I practiced slicing and mixing today,” she says with her little voice. Eunhae endearingly watches as Taehyung enthusiastically listens to his niece and nephew talk about their agenda for the evening. His mouth is agape from the big smile plastered across his face.

“Okay, okay–that all sounds really fun. But do you think we can make room for one more player?” He peers up at Eunhae who smiles at both kids.

“Hi,” she crouches down to meet them in the eyes. “My name is Eunhae. What’s yours?”

“I’m Joobin,” he says bashfully.

YN smiles at their exchange but is interrupted by a phone call. She excuses herself and takes it in the other room.

Jooni smiles sheepishly at Eunhae while burying her face into Taehyung’s chest. “Are you shy, Jooni?” he asks his niece sweetly.

“That’s okay,” Eunhae says warmly. “She’ll say ‘hi’ when she’s ready.”

From a distance, they hear YN hang up and rejoin them in the living room.

“Taehyung-ah? Can I have a quick word before I head out? I guess I have to drive to the restaurant now,” she says with a huff. She then turns to her son with a small smile. “Joobinie, would you like to show Eunhae your new LEGO set?”

“I can show her my LEGO pet shop,” Jooni says shyly, while pulling away from Taehyung.

“I can’t wait to see it!” Eunhae says to her. Jooni tugs at her hand and leads her to the living room. She looks back at Taehyung and YN while they walk off along with Joobin.

Taehyung gets up from his position and YN doesn’t mince words. “Okay, dude–” she keeps her voice low. “No funny business while I’m out, do you understand?”

He bulged his eyes out then cleared his throat. “Noona, I won’t–”

“I know that you would never dream of it. My babies love you and I trust you with their lives. Just…please don’t be distracted, okay?” She says quietly.

“I promise, noona. I won’t.”

“Good.“ She glanced at her clock on her phone. “Fuck, I’m running late. Thank you…again,” she said to Taehyung and Eunhae, her tone was relieved.

He nods. “I’m happy to help out, noona. Have fun tonight,” he says.

She groaned. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.” She then calls out to her kids. “Guys, I’m leaving!”

They both run to her and give their mom kisses and hugs. “Please be good to Uncle TaeTae and Eunhae, huh? And no fighting, okay?”

After they both nod obediently, she was off.

******

Several rounds of Super Smash Brothers and dishes in Cooking Mama, three and a half bowls of mac-n-cheese, two sets of brushed teeth, and several potty breaks later, Jooni and Joobin passed out, a third of the way through Moana, under their giant blanket fort.

“It’s so cute when they fall asleep with their mouth hanging open,” she gushed.

Taehyung laughed. “Yeah, it means they had a really great time.”

After they tuck both kids into their beds, they plop themselves on the couch.

“Boy, am I glad that you were here,” Taehyung huffed out. “I forgot how much energy those two had!”

She laughed. “Don’t mention it. I’m a bit out of practice but good to know I can still hang with a preschooler. It took her a minute but I’m glad she warmed up to me eventually.”

He chuckled. “Yeah. That was odd—Jooni is usually loud. She’s usually the first one to come up and say ‘hi.’ My brothers and I always said she’d make a great politician one day.”

“That’s alright. Maybe it’s the whole stranger-danger thing. You don’t want to force these things. Kids are entitled to boundaries, too,” she says, leaning her head back on the cushion.

Earlier, Taehyung watched Eunhae try to settle Jooni into her bed. She was half-asleep, whining and wouldn’t let go of her. She laughed softly while gently unfurling Jooni’s tiny fingers to release her shirt from her clutches until she was able to safely set her down.

Taehyung smiled at the thought. He then takes a second to check his watch for the time. It was almost 30 minutes past YN’s expected return.

“Guess noona decided to actually have a good time after all.”

“She seems nice,” she remarked. “Your noona.”

He nodded and sighed. “Yeah…she’s usually my first call...for practically anything. I mean…my dad, sometimes. But more often than not, it’s her. She’s my best friend.”

She smiled. “My yeodongsaeng is my best friend, too.”

His eyebrows flick up at the small piece of personal information that she shared.

“She’s still in school and I’m helping my parents out with that. I try to come out there as often as I can but,” she sighed, “Thinking about airfare costs and all that…Figured they could use it more with other expenses,” she says ruefully.

Taehyung regards her intently. They had shared many serious conversations in the past but never personal. It was all part of their agreement. For it to work, they avoided sharing things about their life which would cause them to be attached…or care too much. Taehyung was apprehensive at first because it was against his personality. He liked being able to relate to a friend…but then again, Eunhae was not an ordinary friend.

“I miss home a lot, too,” he says quietly. “I was just there a few weeks ago. My dad’s health has been iffy but he looked well the last time I saw him. He’s happier that my mom’s not traveling as much anymore or being away for months at a time working on a movie.”

“Movie?” She asks incredulously.

Taehyung chuckles. “My mom is–or was an actress.”

Her jaw fell open while she sat up. “Wow! Was she in anything I’ve seen before?”

“Hmm…have you seen ‘Cradle and All’? It’s pretty old but–”

“Oh my god–your mom is Young Lina?” She gasps.

“Yep,” he says, popping the ‘p’ sound.

“Holy crap! My parents love her…I love her!” She exclaims then glances at Taehyung. “Ooh, now I see the resemblance,” she mumbles.

“Yeah…” he sighs.

“I-is that why they killed her off on ‘Broken Marriage Vow’? Because of your dad?”

“For the most part, yeah. And she’s had a great career. She’s always said that she’d rather go out on top...”

“Or with a bang,” she says, referring to his mom’s final episode on the show, where her character sets off a bomb in her own house to sacrifice herself by killing her daughter’s abusive husband.

“Yep, she had a lot of fun with that role,” Taehyung says wistfully. They both sighed and looked at each other. This was the most personal conversation they’ve ever had–it wasn’t forced or awkward. It just flowed freely.

Taehyung lowered his voice. “Does this mean you’ll only sleep with me now just because my mom’s a famous actress?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” She let out a soft laugh. “When have we actually slept?”

He licked his lips while she bit hers. As they slowly close in on each other, they hear the garage door open.

******

His hands were all over her the instant he unlocked his apartment door. They clumsily stumble through but their mouths remain sealed to each other. Her hands rake through his hair, tugging at the strands, eliciting a low growl from him.

He palmed the swell of her ass with one hand while the other was up her shirt, caressing her back. They stagger into his bedroom, falling onto the mattress almost simultaneously, with her on top of him.

She pulls away for a moment, wasting no time to reach over by his nightstand to retrieve a condom.

He caught her, pulling her on top of him. He tips her back over his arm then pulls her shirt and bra up to suck on her breast. His cheeks hollowed with the force of his sucking, her core clenching in rhythm. Her spine ached with the strain but she was more overcome with arousal–to the point of madness.

Fidgeting with his pants, she unzips them and pulls him out. He was already hard for her. She rips open the foil packet with her teeth then slides the piece of latex down his length.

She lifts herself slightly and he guides her while she sank onto him, slowly. They moan in unison while her tender tissues gripped his cock. Grabbing her hips with both hands, he lifts her once more, pausing for a moment, his breathing loud and ragged. Then he shoved inside her.

He rolled his hips and claimed that last little space inside her, his cock tunneling deep. She squeezed every inch of him, pulsing around him in frantic pleasure.

“Okay?” he bit out, his fingers kneading into her flesh.

“More,” she breathed. Digging her own fingers into his biceps for support, bucking her hips to meet his movements. He caught her mouth and gave her a long, deep kiss. Reaching in between them, he rubbed her clit in slow, hard circles coupled with each thrust of his hips into her.

He pulled away from her lips and nudged her jaw upwards to get better access to her neck and suckled at the skin between where the base of her earlobe and curve of her jawline met.

That did her in. Through the roaring of blood in his ears, he heard her groan his name while she came, spasming around him rapidly. His cock swelled and lengthened, jerking as he followed her climax with his own orgasm.

Taehyung kissed her collarbone, his breath gusting hot and fast over the bare, sweat-slick skin. His chest heaved, his bruising grip on her hips easing. His hands began to stroke and soothe.

It wasn’t as if it had been the first time they had fucked…far from it.

As their heartbeats slowed, they kept their gazes at each other. Dark brown eyes staring back into a pair of black pools. He didn’t know it yet but that look scared the shit out of her.

Without breaking contact, Taehyung raises his finger to gingerly brush a few errant strands off her face. After he tucks them behind her ear, his palm lingers to cup her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch briefly.

Whatever rules they had agreed upon before were fading rapidly…much like the breaths they were desperate to catch.

They drifted off to sleep together. In the morning, he awoke and she was gone. All that was left was a single stand of her hair on the pillow that she slept on, and her scent, that would ceaselessly haunt him for the next few days.

******

“I thought you had ghosted me, bro,” Jungkook says with a playful pout while he sipped on his beer.

“I’ve been a little busy at work. Plus, I had that accident a few weeks ago. Had to be laid up for a bit which meant I had to hustle to recoup some lost wages, you know?”

Jungkook laughed. “Right. As if you couldn’t just ask your parents for some cash to get you through,” he says sarcastically while he moves the controller’s joystick to select the next course that they would play.

Taehyung meandered through the kitchen with a bowl of furikake trail mix that YN dropped off the other day. He passed his front door, pausing to look through the peephole to check across the hall. He glanced at his watch, it was about that time when she usually got home from work.

He was hoping to catch her but she’s been evasive for over a week now. No late-night texts or random knocks on his door about needing ‘sugar’ for her coffee.

Every now and then, she would respond, saying that work’s been busy but no more than that.

He didn’t understand. He felt that they had a breakthrough that night after they got home from YN’s house. He could have sworn that he saw the same look in her eyes.

Finding that the hallway was still empty, he continued on. “Nah, you know I have way too much pride for that. Besides, I still had a bit saved up so, it wasn’t like Struggle-land up here,” Taehyung says quietly before putting the bowl on the coffee table then settling on the couch next to his friend.

Jungkook’s eyes widened at the snack presented to him. “Ooh, I love when noona makes this,” he says as he takes a handful of mix and drops it in his mouth.

“She made you a bag this time,” Taehyung motions back to the kitchen. “Just so you wouldn’t have to steal my stash again,” he added.

Jungkook cackled. “Took you a while to catch on to that!” He laughs again. “Ah, please tell her thank-you. Maybe I can get the recipe from her so I can just make an endless amount of it at home. I get really sad when I get to the bottom of the bag and there’s no more.”

“I’m sure you do,” Taehyung deadpans then takes a gulp of his beer.

“Are you alright?”

“Hm?” Taehyung glances over at his friend. “I’m fine,” he says immediately.

Jungkook laughs softly. “You don’t usually call me during the week to hang out.”

“I just assumed you were free, that’s all,” he said. “Besides, I didn’t want to keep two extra bags of snacks. Sharing is caring.”

Jungkook stares at his friend for a few seconds. “Bull. Shit.”

Taehyung cocks an eyebrow at him. “Excuse me?”

Jungkook grins like a Cheshire cat. “Something’s up with you and Eunhae.”

“Now, why would you—“

“It just fits!” He concludes. “You’ve been all mope-y ever since I got here.”

“I am not mope-y…or whatever you call it,” Taehyung denies.

“What? Did she decide that she’s had enough of the whole friends-with-benefits thing? Did she turn into a Stage-5 clinger? See, I thought she was too cute to be all-business about it,” Jungkook babbled on.

“It was none of that, okay? Just pick the fucking game already—“

“Or!” Jungkook says loudly. “You caught feelings.” He narrowed his eyes at Taehyung to gauge his reaction. When his lips narrowed into a thin line, Jungkook laughed again. “I fucking knew it! I fucking called it!” He slaps his hand on the couch cushion.

“You didn’t call shit,” Taehyung grumbles.

“Bro, I’ve known you for three years now, since you moved out here? You’ve had one girlfriend that entire time. Then Eunhae moves across the hall months ago and BAM! You agree to this no-strings situation. I didn’t think it was going to be long before you cracked. You’re the type of person who can never not do something like that without getting attached.”

Taehyung snorts. “Thanks for the analysis, Dr. Jeon. Are you going to bill me for that later?”

Jungkook scoffed. “Whatever, dude. You know I’m right,” he says, before finally selecting a course and proceeding to the next menu option. “Now that she won’t fuck you anymore without you making heart-eyes at her, you invite me to your pity party. But I appreciate the snacks and drinks, though,” he laughed.

Before he could argue Jungkook’s point, his phone buzzes incessantly over the coffee table.

When he picks it up, he sees Jin’s name on the caller ID.

He furrowed his brows. Jin knew that Taehyung preferred texting so he found it odd that he would start calling him now. He was tempted to send him to voicemail but something compelled him to pick up instead.

******

Jungkook offered to stay but he told him that he didn’t have to, saying that his other friend should be making her way back with his car about now and that he would leave the city as soon as he could.

By the time he called YN minutes ago, she already had her SUV packed along with the kids. He turned down her offer to swing by to come get him.

While waiting alone, he couldn’t stop pacing in his apartment. Overcome with emotion, he went to the first place he thought he could find some solace.

“One sec, I’ll be right there!” He hears her yell out from the far corner of the apartment.

He’d been knocking on her door nonstop for close to a minute now. It was bordering on annoying…which she found cute sometimes. But not tonight.

He stops when she abruptly opens the door. “Taehyung?” She doesn’t open her door the whole way and instead steps out into the hallway with him. “Wh-what’s up? Are you okay? You look like you’ve been hit by a bus,” she remarks.

“Uh, hey…I was, uh…I was just waiting for Ani,” he stammered. “She borrowed my car for a gig and I kind of need it to get out of the city tonight as soon as she gets here,” he says, trying to hold back tears.

Eunhae’s brows knitted. “Get out of the city? What for? What happened?”

Taehyung wasn’t quite sure how to explain it. They had just begun sharing about their personal lives until Eunhae started to ignore him after that last night they spent together.

“Do you think I can come in for a bit? I just feel like I need somebody to talk to,” he pleads.

“N-now’s…not a good time, Tae,” she says awkwardly.

“What do you mean? Were you sleeping? I’m sorry–”

“No, uhm–I…kind of have a friend over,” she says quietly. She was fidgety…something was up.

“A friend?” Taehyung repeats.

“Yeah. Uhm, kind of…like a date.” She finally came out with it.

“Oh,” he says, sounding crestfallen.

“If you want, you can take my car instead? If it’s an emergency or something–”

Taehyung’s heart sinks. He didn’t think it would weigh any heavier than it already did after he received the call from Jin.

“N-no. That won’t be necessary,” he shakes his head and forces a smile. “I’m sorry for holding you up. I’ll just call Ani again–her gig should be wrapping up soon.” He turns to start walking back to his apartment.

“Tae–” she calls out to him.

He looks over his shoulder and back at her.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

He nodded wordlessly then shuffled back to his door. As soon as he shuts it, he leans his back against it. He bangs the back of his head against it–hoping he had done it sooner so he wouldn’t have had to feed into his delusions in the last few days.

He didn’t want to admit it but YN was right. Nothing good ever comes out a fuck-buddy situation.

Just then, his phone pings with a text from Ani, telling him that she was on her way back with his car. Taehyung took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He exhaled, the same time he opened them again.

Within that short walk between her door and his, he’s decided within himself that maybe it was smart of her to pull away first. Taehyung knew deep within him that he couldn’t keep up the charade of detached feelings.

He had deluded himself into thinking that he could do it. But YN and Jungkook were right. In a way, he’s always felt connected to Eunhae even though he had talked himself into thinking that he didn’t.

His father always told him that when the right choice came along, a signal would reach him–he didn’t think it would be in this context.

For now, it was imperative that he rush to his family’s side. He would resist that pull coming from across the hall–and hope that this time away would help dull the feelings that had already broken through the surface.

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