it's been a week to the day all the mess started. jiah has not particularly been good, but taehyung did keep his words of taking care of her and jihun. despite his manipulative behaviour the other day, which he hasn't repeated till now, since jiah kept in mind not to do anything to piss him off and risk her chances of having her son with her.

taehyung made sure since the first day that jiah knew that he wasn't kidding or playing around for the fun of it at any step taken by him, whether it was him being caring, taking up the responsibility of their son and jiah too like the man of the house, or spending most of his free time wth jihun like he wanted without bothering the mother much about it. he often praised her with 'good girl' for listening to him well, which honestly triggered jiah but there was nothing she could do about it.

she had thought taehyung would take away her phone or something, but he didn't. instead he repeated the same method from earlier, and made her block and delete the contacts of people whom she could try and complain. the first one being min yoongi. apparantly jiah had only got one message from him, before she blocked his number, telling her that his 'stubborn' parents want him back in daegu for another blind date that they set up for him. he didn't sound happy about it, rather pissed and annoyed by the constant reminders from his parents that he was getting old and if he still kept avoiding the topic of marriage, then he'd have difficulty finding a good girl for himself.

with that face and body, jiah doubts it's ever going to be a problem, but parents like to believe what they believe. anyway,  that was the last time jiah heard from him, and now she doesn't even know if he has returned or not. she assumes he's not here since he didn't raid her apartment yet, or else min yoongi on not getting a response from jiah, especially the way she has blocked him, would drive him crazy imagining incoherent stuff about how she can be hurt.

a week without stepping out of the house or talking to anyone makes her feel suffocated. caged to say the least. but seeing jihun in front of her eyes was far more important than her sharing her troubled life with anyone right now. it wasn't even a surprise when she woke up a few times at night, having nightmares that she lost jihun in a crowd of people, or she's surrounded by pitch darkness and she can't seem to find her son. those dreams were scary and mostly ended up in her falling asleep, hugging the toddler close to her chest.

taehyung stayed over a few nights as well. he would hold her and let her fall into dreamland in his arms, assuring that she was safe and jihun was right there with them. nothing worked, in fact his presence, especially at night when he laid right beside her, having her all vulnerable to him, made her even more anxious. with taehyung, jiah could only stay up, staring at the ceiling and jihun once in a while without moving too much.

it was just last night that she kept struggling to keep herself from crying because taehyung held her so close, hugging her from behind. his arms were wrapped around her in an oddly familiar manner, providing her with warmth of his body. she didn't realise when she fell asleep, but when she woke up, it was already eleven and panic swept the sleepiness away from her eyes with a message on her phone.

i'm taking jihun out today.
you can relax and get some time
for yourself too. you must be bored at
home the whole week. but remember, no
smart buisness okay? and don't worry, i'll
take care of jihun, feed him and i've also
taken extra diapers just in case. we'll be
back by evening. have fun, princess 💕

it's been an hour and jiah hasn't been able to sit still at one place. her body keeps sweating and hands clenching and unclenching on the edge of the counter where she's trying to have a sandwich. only trying.

did taehyung really have to do this?

ignoring her stomach churning in discomfort, jiah blinks her tears away, heading to her room and opens the closet, deciding that a little walk outside of this place might make her feel better. so, grabbing whatever clothes her hands find first, she dresses herself up quickly, letting her hair down, grabs her wallet and leaves the apartment as soon as possible.

taehyung gave her his card and she's going to fucking put it in use today. money will flow like a river and there'll be no stopping. there's a hint of anger and the urge to make him mad to the point where he'll do something he'd regret. he cannot be the only one playing mind games. standing in the elevator, jiah stares at her reflection, suddenly realising that she should've put more effort in getting ready. she takes a deep breath, pulling up her t-shirt and ties a knot on one side to have it act like a crop top, then pulls her joggers a little down. her stretch marks come into sight, making her sigh and adjust the pants a bit more until the marks weren't so visible.

taehyung will be on his knees tonight.

•••

"hyung?" jungkook knocks on his brother's door, getting a reply soon which tells him to come inside. with a small smile he makes his way towards the elder, who is going through some documents, a few files scattered on his bed too.

"hm?" namjoon waits for jungkook to say whatever he had to say, although the silence makes him take a look at the younger brother. he's busy checking his phone and namjoon sighs. "do you wanna say something, kook?"

"uh, yeah. i wanted to ask about jiah." he says. "she's not replying to me, nor answering my calls. it looks like she blocked me...?"

"blocked you? out of nowhere?" namjoon frowns, and jungkook shrugs his shoulders. "did you two have a fight or something?"

"no. in fact she was happy the last time we hungout. i have a bad feeling about this, hyung. can you try talking to her?"

"yeah, sure. i didn't get any time to talk to her this whole time. jimin's gone— god knows where, and the whole work is on my shoulders now. so, it's a bit hectic."

"that jerk." jungkook mutters, "i swear to god if he's the one behind all this."

"jimin wouldn't do that. i know him that much," namjoon sighs.

"yeah? he fired jiah all because he was jealous. he tried to bribe her to get her to work under him again, hyung. that guy is just a piece of shit, and i'm not even lying, if he's forcing her to do anything, i'll slit his throat."

"okay, relax." the elder sighs, staring at the screen of his phone that repeats the same thing, 'the person you're trying to reach is busy'. he frowns, quickly typing a message which doesn't even deliver, making jungkook groan in frustration.

"i'm going out."

"where? she must be busy—"

"i don't know that. i'll go look into it myself. don't worry hyung, i'll make sure jiah's fine."

namjoon stares at the younger, who doesn't even wait for a response and is already storming off the door. "you take care of yourself first and don't end up fighting people!"

"no promises!" jungkook yells back from the stairs, grabbing the keys of his motorcycle and phone.

jungkook doesn't waste any time and accelerates into the streets, determined to either find jiah and see for himself that she's okay, or find one of those idiot men who always have to make her life harder than it already is. he's aware that she was already worried about finding a job and then the exam she had to study for, and at last taking care of jihun. it's all too much for just one girl to do, yet jimin and taehyung had to keep forcing themselves in her life like some sort of blood sucking leech.

it doesn't take him more than fifteen minutes to overspeed up till jiah's apartment complex. he leaves his motorcycle in front of the building, taking his helmet off and looks around first, then up at her balcony. sighing deeply, he heads inside the building, which is when his land on the familiar man waiting for the elevator. it's park jimin, dressed not in his regular suits, but a pair of jeans and a hoodie just like jungkook.

jungkook's jaw clenches, storming up to the man. the elevator door slides open and jimin is literally pushed inside by a force that has him colliding with the wall right in front of him, eliciting a painfully hiss. jungkook's quick to clasp jimin's shirt, ignoring the glare the latter shoots at him, already trying to pry him off himself. "what the fuck are you doing, dude?" jimin grits out.

"what did you to jiah?" jungkook breathes deeply, holding his hand in the air, just a wrong word away from hitting jimin right on his nose.

"what? i didn't do shit! let go of me!"

"don't you dare lie to me, okay? i know you did something! why else would you be here right now?!"

"i came to see her goddamnit!" jimin pushes jungkook off, cracking his neck and swiftly punches jungkook's face, "from next time, you keep your hands off me, get it?"

"fuck you, park jimin! if i see a single drop of tear in her eyes, know that you're dead." jungkook threatens, returning a punch that has jimin panting on the side.

"have you gone crazy? why would i hut her?! i fucking love her! i'm doing everything for her!"

"then tell me why is she not answering my calls?"

"how would i know that? it's not like i'd force her to do that. she's not responding to me either." jimin mutters, getting a frown from jungkook.

"so you haven't heard from her?"

"no, you dipshit."

"stop calling me names, asshole. you're the one who hurted her before, not me. no wonder she blocked you."

"blocked me— no, she did not!"

the elevator chimes, stopping at a random floor that's not jiah's. jimin takes a deep breath, pressing the right number button and glances at jungkook, "so you came to check on her too?"

jungkook grimaces in response, stroking his hair back and nods, "she's not texting me back nor answering my calls. it's been a whole week, now i'm really worried."

"me too." jimin mumbles, looking down, "you two have been close right?"

"and?" jungkook cocks up a brow, "look, park fucking jimin, what you did to jiah was stupid and it annoys me knowing that you still go after her. she's not into you, dude. move on."

"says who," jimin scoffs, "didn't you keep stalking her like a crazy man even when she told you off enough times and even slapped you?"

"i never hurt her. you did. both you and taehyung did." jungkook grits out, "she's happy with me. she smiles more often when she's with me. but you guys just give her tears."

jimin doesn't say anything further and just quietly steps out of the elevator when the doors slide apart. jungkook follows him quickly, walking up to jiah's apartment and presses the doorbell. it's all silent. nobody speaks for a while, but when the door is left unattended, it grows both jimin and jungkook worried. they exchange hesitant glances, pressing the button a few times, then give up finally concluding that she must not be home.

"where are you, baby?" jungkook mumbles to himself, glancing down at his phone, the abandoned chat open on the screen, giving it off that she indeed blocked him.

"i just hope she's fine..." jimin hushes out.

"yeah," jungkook nods.

•••

"sir, a few transactions have been made from your card. the amounts are quite hefty."

"how much?" taehyung asks, while his smile towards his son naver fades, nodding for him to pick whichever ice cream he wanted.

"about 15 million won till now."

taehyung chuckles at that, "it's okay. my princess is mad i guess,"

"sir..?" the man on the line sounds nervous and unsure of the words, and taehyung sighs.

"leave it. just give me the detail of the places these transactions have been made."

"yes, sir."

taehyung hangs up, shaking his head and heaves out a long breath, making jihun sit on his lap, "your mamma is really mad today, hm? should we take some chocolates for her?"

"choc'ate mamma," jihun hums, nodding his head.

"alright, we'll get a lot of chocolates for ji's mamma. what else do we take for her?"

"ji' mamma sho pwetty! wuv'mmmum mamma!"

"i'll have to agree with that." taehyung chuckles, kissing his son's cheek. "your mamma is the prettiest girl out there, and daddy and jihun love her a lot."

"daddy... ji 'appy,"

"yeah, right," he scrunches his face, not understanding what jihun had to say now. "let's get you an ice cream quickly. after that we're gonna go for some shopping too. daddy's gonna get ji a lot of toys and clothes."

"teddy an' caw,"

"whatever my little prince says," taehyung smiles at the toddler and holds up his hand for the waiter, "a small cup of vanilla ice cream and a cappuccino for me."

"sure, sir. anything else?"

"no, that's all. thank you."

_______________

a/n:  sorry to keep you waiting 🥺 please do comment and vote to let me know how you like the chapter and the story so far. also follow me if you haven't already to never miss out an update.

you can also find the playlists of this book on spotify now. just search "entice wattpad" (acc: lil.bunny) and listen to the songs while reading. enjoy, take care. see you soon witb another update ❤️✨