when morning came, jiah woke up to a pounding headache that also helped her realise that she didn't die last night. on further looking around, her comfused expression turned to a scared one once she realised that she's in her room. her eyes hastily went to the door that's closed and she just knows that taehyung must be here. she groans in pain, holding her head, which is when it hits her that she wasn't this naked last night.

lifting off the covers, she glances down at her body finding herself in a loose t-shirt that probably belongs to taehyung and her underwear from last night. on the chair nearby her expensive outfit is thrown carelessly, the shoes lying on the carpet and the choker is on the nightstand. taehyung must've changed her out of those. jiah quickly turns towards the nightstand, having faint memories from the previous night, which urges her to check her phone.

she opens it quickly, groaning as it's switched off, out of battery and taehyung could've been the last one to go through it. not like she didn't anything against him, but still the endless possibilities with him leave her scared, regretting her whole act of yesterday. she wanted taehyung on his knees, but looks like it will be her, the one crying instead. her fears come true as the door opens and jiah turns to look at the man. he's dressed in a suit, freshly bathed and ready to go to work, which gives jiah some relief that maybe he wouldn't do anything right now.

"you're up," his voice feels deeper today, almost hazy with everything going inside jiah's head, making her gulp and watch taehyung's moves cautiously. "are you scared, princess?" he asks, chuckling lightly as he sits on the bed and leans forward to stroke her hair, "i wonder why. not like you did anything that i should be unhappy about, right?"

"tae...i— i'm sorry, i didn't—"

"it's okay. i know you didn't mean it." he smiles, kissing her forehead, but his hand moves up to grab her jaw. the possesive grip securing her in place like only he can do, "anger makes people do weird stuff. it's not your fault. but what i didn't like was, you being so careless. what if that guy did something to you? you were drunk, barely conscious, baby. he could've taken advantage of you if he wanted. thank god he wasn't a pervert and called me, or else..." he shakes his head in disappointment.

"what were you trying to prove?" he asks, "spend some extra money and you'll have me begging you to stop? going out like that and flaunting yourself to people to get a reaction out of me, sweetheart?" he chuckles, "adorable, aren't you? "

jiah lets out a whimper, shutting her eyes and turns her head away to maintain the minimum distance from taehyung, "look at you, writhing already and i haven't even touched you. when are you going to learn your lesson, huh? stop making everything harder for yourself. what will jihun think when he comes to know that his mom lost him because of her stupid actions? you don't want that, right?"

a tear drops from her eyes, never daring to open them and cries silently, still feeling taehyung's hot breath on her skin. suddenly his face moves away, but the grip of his hand tightens, making her face him, "look at me." he grits out, forcing jiah to open her eyes and make an eye contact with his dark ones. tears stream down her face, hands fixed over taehyung's angry one as she's trying to push him away. "if you pull this kind of stunt again, jiah. i swear i'll make you regret it. you don't understand me when i'm being nice, so fine. i'll play how you want me to."

"stop..." she hushes out, "please stop,"

"behave yourself because i know you won't like when i take the job in my hands."

"stop—"

"get it or not?"

"you're hurting me, taehyung... stop—"

"yes or no?!" he raises his voice, glaring at her that makes jiah flinch. her eyes shut tight and hands clench tightly on the blanket that still covering her body. "don't make me repeat."

"yes..." she whispers, never looking up and taehyung pulls away with a firm nod.

"next time you ignore my call. i'm gonna fucking track you down, then see how your master plans work on me." he scoffs, walking to the door, "i'm taking jihun with me."

jiah's eyes widen at that and she rushes out, pushing the covers aside, following taehyung out of her room. the toddler is busy driving around the living room in his new car that his daddy got him. he smiles at jiah, waving at her, unaware of the mess she's going through right now. she lifts him up quickly, hugging him close to her chest and steps away from taehyung, "no... go wherever you wanna go. you're not taking my son." she declares, sniffling on the toddler's shoulder.

"i'm not playing around, jiah. you've done enough. now i'm taking him with me. you can still meet him whenever you want."

"no!" jiah shouts at him, pushing taehyung away when he tries to take jihun from her. "stay away. he's my son, he'll stay with me!"

"just look at yourself. i'm trying to help you, alright? you fucking reek of alcohol from last night and you want jihun to stay with you in this condition? don't be ridiculous."

"no, i don't know all that. he's not going anywhere..." jiah gulps in a sob, sitting down on the couch and kisses jihun, forcing a smile for him, "my baby. you— you wanna stay with mamma, right? you're mamma's boy. don't worry i— i'll do something, okay? i'll make everything okay..." she trails off, fighting back her tears and keeps holding him with trembling hands. "you'll stay with me, jihun. don't worry."

"daddy," jihun mumbles, staring at taehyung who smiles at the toddler, taking him from the mother despite her crying and begging him to stop.

she falls on her knees, holding the fabric of taehyung's trousers with a weak grip, telling him not to take her son away, "please, taehyung... i— i'll do whatever you say... don't take jihun from me... he's all i have. i'm—i'm sorry for everything, i'm sorry... i won't do it again, just don't take jihun anywhere. i can't live without my son..." she stares at him with bloodshot eyes, sobbing with endless tears.

taehyung sighs at the sight and crouches down, letting jihun go back to her and cups her face, wiping off the tears that he caused. "shh, don't cry. i don't want anything from you, just be responsible. take care of yourself and our son. i want him to have a good life. i don't enjoy taking him away from you either, baby. so, let's just try to work on getting better, yeah?" he says softly, not even sure jiah's listening or not for she's more busy hugging jihun tightly. "i know you can't live without him. that's why he's the only one who can help me..." he sighs, hugging jiah and rubs her back, consoling her for he knows that she needs it after so much crying.

"don't take jihun away..." jiah mumbles.

"i'm not." he assures. "are you gonna be good while i'm at work?" jiah looks down, licking her dry lips and nods slowly, rubbing her eyes, "perfect. we'll go out later, okay? and remember, you don't have to be scared of me. i'm never going to hurt you no matter how much you test my patience."

jiah stays quiet, holding jihun still but lets go when taehyung asks her to, saying that he wants to give jihun a goodbye hug. to her fear the toddler giggles, hugging him and even gives him a kiss like he always does to jiah. but taehyung lets him down again just as soon as ge took him, and stands up with jiah. he smiles at softly and wipes off the remaining tears from her face, "i'm sorry for making you cry. uh y'know what? you can unblock your friends, they must be worried about you. it's been a week, right? talk to them, go out with them, do whatever you want just make sure you're safe. you have no idea how worried i was last night. and lastly, behave yourself. bye, see you later." he says, patting her side before finally heading out.

jiah heaves out a breath of relief, sitting down on the carpet again and replays everything in her head. this is not the taehyung she used to know. this is not the guy she once fell in love with. she closes her eyes, laying down right there on the carpet, half her body on the cold tiles, but she doesn't mind anything. a tear slips down her eye and her hand moves to her mouth, being the only way to help her keep her voice quiet.

•••

"no, but i'm going there again." jungkook says, munching on his burrito as he makes his way to the motorcycle, hissing on hearing his elder brother. "jesus, you worry too much, hyung. i'm not five, okay? i know how to deal with people."

"no, not even to you. what do you mean i'm always a kid to you? i'm a fucking adult, i get to do what i want, and right now I'm going to see if my friend's returned gome from last night or not." he announces. "yeah, cool. bye— god! yes, i'm eating right now!"

he sighs deeply, shaking his head as he finally gets to end the call with his over-caring elder brother who just hates to believe that jungkook has indeed grown up to be a mature adult and a good citizen. he puts his phone in his pocket, finsihing up the burrito and tosses the crumbled foil towards the side, aiming the trashcan. it goes right in, making him relax that he won't have to get down his bike and pick it up.

he drives right away, heading to jiah's apartment complex to check on her again if she's there now. she has to be, right? where can she even go if not at home? trying his best to stay positive for about twenty minutes, jungkook makes it to his destination. just like yesterday, he again glances up at the balcony, taking a deep breath before making his way inside the building. it's about ten right now, maybe he's a bit late? what if she already left if she had some work? did she get a job? or has she joined some study group for her exam?

jungkook just can't believe he spent the entire week without even listening to jiah's voice, especially after they had started getting close. sure they didn't hangout or talk every day, and have probably gone longer than just seven days without speaking to each other before, but this time it feels completely different. almost as if jungkook could sense something was terribly wrong.

he checks his phone again while waiting in the elevator, which although doesn't take long and brings him to jiah's floor pretty quickly. he puts his phone back in his pocket, raking a hand through his hair, walking up to the very door, wishing for jiah to be home, and to be fine. pressing the doorbell, anxiety cripples up through his fingers, dancing in the back of his neck and down his spine, leaving him impatiently staring at the door.

"jiah?" he calls, pressing the doorbell again and waits more. "are you home?"

the silence he's met initially gets replaced by some blabbering noises, confirming for jungkook that it must be jihun. and if he's here, then jiah had to be as well. he sighs in relief, knocking with his knuckles this time, "hey, jiah open up please."

jihun says something from inside, which jungkook cannot understand but he replies anyway, "jihun, it's me uh jungkook. where's your mom?"

"mummm?"

"yeah, where's mamma?" jungkook asks.

"mamma s'eeping, goo'ni-" the toddler is tapping on the door, "buh-bye."

jungkook sighs, "okay buddy, do you know how to open the door?"

"daddy?"

"geez, why is he so young?" jungkook massages his temples, gripping the door handle and tries twisting it himself, which surprisingly works and the door is unlocked. he pushes it open slowly, not wanting to hurt the toddler who might be leaning on the frame. just as jungkook peeps in, jihun squeals loudly, jumping and clapping his hands.

"hey," jungkook smiles at him, crouching down near the baby boy and holds out his hand for him. instead of shaking his hand, jihun steps closer to him with zero hesitation, hugging jungkook as if he had met him more than just twice. "wow, i didn't know we were that close." he chuckles, carrying jihun up and closes the door, heading inside. "where's mamma?"

"mamma s'eeping dat," jihun points near the empty couch, making jungkook frown on seeing that jiah's laying on the floor, looking like quite a mess but sleeping soundly. he lets jihun down and crouches near the girl, shaking her, while the weirdest thoughts circle his mind.

"jiah, get up. are you okay?" he strokes her hair, checking her temperature and realises that she's also burning with fever. "god, what's wrong with you?" hissing, he lifts her off the floor and places her on the couch.

jungkook sighs softly, staring at the smudged eye liner mascara around her eyes and stains of tears running down her otherwise smiling cheeks, the lipstick is gone too, and jungkook wonders what might've happened to have her looking this disheveled, especially the smell of alcohol. he strokes her hair out of her face and shakes her again, calling her name in much softer voice this time, "jiah, get up, baby." he hushes out, glancing back at jihun who is just staring at him waking up his mother.

"jiah, please—"

"mmh," she moves in her place, brows scrunching in discomfort and the first thing she does on opening her eyes is pushing off jungkook's hands from herself. "jihun..." she gasps, looking around hastily, not even minding that she almost stumbles down from the couch midst trying to reach her son.

"hey, careful." jungkook holds her steady, "what happened? jihun is right here."

"shut up." she grits out, her voice barely audible but jungkook catches it anyway. jiah brings jihun in her lap, kissing his face a couple times and closes her eyes.

"are you okay?" jungkook asks, pulling her out of trance, earning a glance from her. she doesn't reply instantly but pulls away from the hug with her toddler. taking a deep breath, jiah looks down, nodding her head subtly and stands up.

"i'm— i'm sorry, i'll go and change." she mumbles.

"okay, but make it quick. we need to talk about this." he says, standing up with her and cups her face, "you got me so worried for you."

jiah blinks a few times, her hands clenching on her sides as she keeps her head low, not wanting to look at him directly, which maybe jungkook notices or maybe he doesn't. but if he does, he keeps it to himself, letting her go inside and help herself out until she felt better and more presentable.

for the time jiah's busy, jungkook sits on the couch, talking and playing with the toddler who's showing him all his news toys and the electric car that his dad got him. jungkook smiles at him, ruffling jihun's hair when he calls him to sit in his car and they could probably go for a drive. "you're so cute." jungkook chuckles, "you should take your mamma out sometimes."

"mamma no' goin' wid ji. daddy go wid ji,"

"oh..?" jungkook arches up a brow, "why don't you take mamma with you?"

"mm'no," jihun shakes his head, "daddy an' ji bes'fwend."

"and what about mamma?"

"mamma sho shad," jihun pouts, "daddy uhm mamma goo'giwl."

"what?" jungkook frowns, unable to understand jihun's half broken sentences, sighing deeply as he gives up. jiah comes out soon, joining jungkook and her son in the living room, but never really makes an eye contact.

"c'mere, ji. take your milk." she calls, putting on some milk to warm up on the stove. "do you want a coffee, jungkook?"

"no, i'm good." he says, approaching her in the kitchen and takes her hand in his, making her stop with all the forced movements. "what's wrong?"

"nothing," she tries to smile, "i'm sorry you had to see all that. i was kinda drunk last night and... yeah. it's just been a long night."

"you can tell me if ther—"

"i'm okay, jungkook. i'm okay." she emphasises, earning a silent stare from the man, who heaves out a breath, pushing his hair back.

"you were gone for a week. no calls, no texts, i had no way of confirming if you were even doing fine or not. your friend— yoongi hyung, even he was worried about you, do you know that? and today, jiah, when i do find you, you're burning with fever, crying for— i don't know what— and you want me to believe that you're okay? seriously?"

jiah steps away from him, sending a displeased look as she shakes her head, "no, don't raise your voice at me. you have no right to tell me all that okay? an—and how did you even get in? i treat you like a friend—"

"do you?" jungkook stares at her, "you've been ignoring me for the whole week and still lying to my face. that's not how you treat a friend, jiah."

the girl shakes her head, ignoring his words and just turns to the stove, turning it off as the milk is already heated enough. in fact it needs to be cooled down now. with a frustrated puff of air, jiah grabs the the utensil by its handle, accidentally touching the steel surface that makes her wince and withdraw her hand back quickly. jungkook quickly jumps into action, pulling her back and holds her hand in his to take a look.

"god, you should be careful with those." he mutters, caressing the skin and brings her hand under the faucet, washing it with some water.

"i'm fine. stop acting like—"

"lihe what? you might be having mood swings calling me a friend one day then treating me like a stranger next. but i'm not, okay? if i say i love you, i mean it. we got closer, we became friends, jiah... i'm not letting that get wasted over some misunderstanding." he emphasizes, "now just listen to me and sit down. tell me what's going on."

"just—"

"quiet." jungkook gives her a strict look, stepping closer to her and cups her face gently in his hands, "please, let me help you. i can't see you struggling like this."

"stop!" jiah pushes him away, "just stop! why do you keep coming so close?! i'm not— i'm not some random girl out there that you can get. i have a son and— and i'm— i don't wanna do anything like that. it's all wrong. i'm not like that..." she trails off at the end, her hands trembling as she wipes off the sweat from her forehead and other clutches the counter.

"what are you saying?" jungkook frowns, "who told you all that? you know i never thought of you that way, jiah. i like you for who you are and i'm not, by any means, trying to demean you." he says, trying to hold her hands and makes her look at him again, "i'm sorry if i said anything to hurt you. i was just worried because you never did this before."

"i'm okay," she pronounced, "if you can believe me, great. if not, i can't do anything about it."

jungkook heaves out a deep breath, nodding his head, "alright, just tell me how have you been? i missed you." he tries to smile a little, earning a glance from the girl, the first voluntary one.

"i was busy." she hushes out, "why?"

"what 'why'? i wanted to see you. i was worried for you." jungkook repeats again like he has been speaking gibberish the whole time.

"no, like why did you have to see me?"

"what kind of question is that?" jungkook frowns ar her, "what's going on with you, jiah? this is so not you. i have no idea what's bothering you, but i can tell that it's bad and it's affecting you a lot. please don't keep any secrets from me. i promise i'll try my best to help you."

"you'll help me?"

"yes," jungkook nods quickly, smiling at her, "of course. yes."

"don't come here again then. i'll meet you if you want, outside somewhere... in— in the café we went? but please don't come here again."

jungkook stays silent for a while, then gulps down his uncertainty, "is it taehyung making you do all this?"

jiah shakes her head without any hesitation, glancing down at her hands then back at jungkook, trying her best to smile for him, "no, i just realised that i shouldn't lead you on. i'm sorry for everything... we need to stop this."

"stop what? didn't you say that we're friends? and i don't think we—"

"it doesn't matter, jungkook. i don't like it." she gets annoyed, turning away from him and her tears return, hating that she has to push him away so that her son can be with her. she bites back a sob, which jungkook notices and pulls her in a hug.

"why are you crying? talk to me," he whispers sweetly.

"just leave and don't come here again." she repeats more firmly this time, pulling herself out of his embrace.

"you don't like spending time with me..?" jungkook hushes out, his hands hanging awkwardly beside his body and it breaks jiah's heart for it's still the first time she has seen him upset.

"not anymore," she lies through her teeth, dropping a tear from her eyes when jungkook lowers his head, staring at the floor and nods slowly. he takes a step back, nibbling on his lower lip and sends one last smile towards jiah, this one being much sadder.

he pats the side of her head, watching the way jiah's breath hitches, sliding more tears down her cheeks and her eyes shut close, "i'm sorry if i'm the reason for your tears. i never wanted to hurt you." he whispers softly, caressing her hair, "and if it's not me, then i'll find the person who is, and make sure they cry double the amount of tears you did."

jiah's eyes widen at his words, head snapping in his direction as he walks out of her apartment without any other word, leaving her too stunned to react, but it does confirm for her that trusting jungkook wasn't a bad decision.

___________

a/n:- what song according to you fits the boys the best?

i thnk for jungkook, 'scary love' by the nbhd.
for taehyung it could be, renegade by aryan shah or daddy issues by the nbhd

vote and comment and take care. see ypu soon <3