just as taehyung had promised, he brought jiah out, made it a cute family outing to her favourite place he remembered from back when they were dating and she was still in college. he already has been showering her with apologies ever since he returned from work, saying that he regrets what he did in the morning. jiah, however, had nothing to say other than nodding at whatever taehyung was trying to tell her.

the whole time she stays quiet, worried about jihun and scared that she might accidentally do something to make taehyung mad. she never says no to anything taehyung asked or offered, not right now as taehyung carries their son in his one arm, having his other arm wrapped around her. she looks down, feeling a gentle pat on her back that encourages her to go ahead and order whichever flavour ice cream she wants for herself and one for jihun.

jiah gulps softly, glancing up at the board which lists out all of the flavours and specialities this parlour has to offer. the last time jiah came here, it was with jungkook the day they first hungout even though it was just for an ice cream because jiah said she was having a bad day after being fired. memories flood her head, making her look back at the entrance and around, wondering if jungkook would still show up like he always did, miraculously everywhere she went.

"what happened? tell him what you want." taehyung says, pulling out jiah out of trance and she nods slowly, picking a random flavour which she doesn't even like that much.

"and for jihun, i guess chocolate?" taehyung asks, getting a glance from jiah as she shakes her head.

"cookies and cream,"

"okay, a small cup of cookies'n cream." he smiles, adding to jiah's balckcurrent ice cream.

"and for you, sir?"

"ah nothing, thank you." taehyung shakes his head, handing jihun over to jiah and pulls out his wallet, paying for the two ice creams.

"mamma, ji' i-kweam!"

"wait, you'll get yours." jiah tells him, then glances at taehyung, who has already taken the two cups from the man, nodding his head that they're ready to leave. jiah hesitates a little, but manages to stop him and gulps, gesturing towards the tables and chairs arranged around the open space.

"i'm tired," she hushes out.

"ah, right, i should've known." taehyung sighs, leading jiah towards one of the empty tables by the end of the hall, which has a couch lined against the wall. jiah lets jihun sit beside her and takes the seat on the couch rather than the chair.

taehyung places her ice cream in front of her and chuckles on seeing jihun already trying to grab the cup which is a little out of his reach. "c'mere, this is yours." he says, showing jihun the smaller cup, which probably doesn't matter to the toddler for he just stares at it intently, wanting it in his hands as soon as possible.

jiah sighs deeply, bending down a little to reach to her feet under the table and takes off the shoes for a while, hissing at the pain she feels on her heels thanks to these weird new ones. it's not even that high, but hurts her feet like she was walking on thorns all this time. taehyung doesn't miss her discomfort and shifts towards her side, caressing her knee gently, "are you okay?"

"yeah," she nods.

"doesn't look like it. tell me, princess. what's wrong?"

jiah looks down and taehyung holds her hand, leaning closer to her as he tugs her hair behind her ear, "i'm sorry, jiah. i shouldn't've behaved like that with you. i just can't help it- but i swear i'll work on changing that for you. i can't see you unhappy... i just want my old jiah back, the one with the prettiest smile, who believes in herself more than anything else in the world, the one who loves to play around."

jiah looks at him slowly with an unsure gaze, tears welling up her eyes again even though she tries to fight them. she opens her mouth, taking a deep breath before speaking softly, "you're hurting me... you say you won't. but you are, taehyung. i feel like i can't breath..." she hushes out like a whisper. "i can't even do anything because then you'll take my child away... so, yeah, there's no other option than you changing yourself for me. i don't wanna die like this, tae."

taehyung eyes soften on hearing that, hating her words and he looks down, "i won't let anything happen to you. please don't talk like that,"

"i'm not lying, tae." she sniffles, facing him entirely with her body and rubs off the tears from her eyes. then she moves jihun aside, letting him have the ice cream and moves herself closer to taehyung. the man wraps his arms around her, stroking her back and jiah glances up at him, "i have no idea how long i can hold myself if you keep being like that... if i- if i can't, y'know? if i give up, tae, please take care of my jihun... you love him, not more than me, but i can see it that you love him. so, please... if i can't make it, please take care of him like your life depends on it. don't even look at another woman, she won't love my son enough. i don't trust anyone out there."

"you're not going anywhere." taehyung assures her, kissing her head a few times and lowers his head on her shoulder, "nothing will happen to you. you have to stay here with jihun and take care of him yourself. don't you call him your favourite boy?"

"i do..." jiah sniffles, glancing back af her son, as for the first time ever since she came to know she was pregnant, it's the first time she feels like she can't make it out of this mess alive. even during the pregnancy alone, she never thought of dying, like she wants to right now. nothing broke her this bad before and she's not even surprised that even at a moment like this, she's still trusting taehyung, because no matter what he does, one thing that she knows is that he can fight the whole world if anyone tries to lay their eyes on jiah or his son.

yeah, she trusts jungkook as well, but he's not jihun's father. if jiah dies, why would he want to be associated with her son? taehyung was right when he said that men just can't accept somebody else's child, and jiah cannot risk it with her son.

"don't cry," taehyung wipes off her tears and blinks away his own, holding the cup of ice cream, taking a deep breath so that his hands won't tremble and jiah's words keep circling his head. "eat your ice cream, it's melting." he says, forcing up a smile for her, taking it to himself to feed her the first spoonful.

jiah too, heaves out a breath, glancing at jihun, who has made a mess on himself and the couch too, sending a wave of regret on the parents' faces. jiah exchanges a glance with taehyung who massages his temples, bringing the little boy on his lap and grabs some tissues to wipe off the drops of melted ice cream from the couch. thankfully it's leather so the material isn't ruined, but jihun's clothes are.

"can you get him cleaned?" jiah asks.

"yeah, i'll be back in a few." taehyung sighs, smacking jihun's diaper clad bottom lightly, making the boy giggle for he knows he did something naughty. "look at this boy, he isn't even sorry."

"daddy wuv yoo!"

"yeah?" taehyung chuckles as jihun leans forward, leaving a long kiss close to his jaw, as though trying to digest him with his mouth, which only makes taehyung laugh more, patting his son's back. "alright, tiger. we're gonna get you cleaned up real quick, then go home. your mamma's tired now."

"mamma?"

"yeah, mamma is tired."

"ji' tiwed..."

"i know, my love." the father smiles, entering the restroom and makes jihun stand on the empty counter beside the sink, where the toddler quickly starts grabbing the hand wash. "goodness, why are you so mischievous?" taehyung huffs at him, "stay still."

jihun giggles, handing the bottle of liquid soap to his daddy, earning a sigh as he keeps it back away from jihun's reach and pulls him straight. he takes a few tissues, wiping off the ice cream from the toddler's t-shirt, wetting it a little to make it easily come off. after a bit of rubbing, the stain seems to be gone and taehyung picks up the boy, holding him in front of the dryer so that the air falls on his tummy, making jihun squirm and laugh, probably feeling ticklish.

taehyung smiles fondly, kissing his son's cheek and sighs deeply, "daddy's hurted your mamma so much, buddy... i don't even know if you'll be able to forgive me for that. your mom probably will, but you... i don't know." he mumbles, glancing at himself in the mirror, then at jihun, who isn't even listening and tries to kick the air that's tickling his tummy. "she said she wants to die... it's because of me. i won't ever be able to forgive myself if anything happens to her... i love you and your mamma, jihun, i swear. i love you both a lot, but i messed up..."

tears fill taehyung's eyes as he stares at his own reflection, hating what he sees. he knows what he has become and that it's not at all surprising if jiah's scared of him now. "i messed up so bad... i can't let jiah die. i love her and she deserves to live- i- i can give my life for her if that means she gets to live... but i can't let her go like that... you need your mom, right?" he asks his toddler, forcing up a sad smile and nuzzles his face against the baby's cheek, "daddy's so sorry, champ."

"i's otay," jihun mumbles, glancing at taehyung, taking him by surprise for he certainly didn't expect the toddler to be listening.

"it's not, but thanks for saying that." the father chuckles sadly, "i wouldn't take you from your mamma, jihun. i know i made her think that i will... i regret it so much. i just wanted us— the three of us together like a beautiful little family. that's all. i wanted you, jihun, to have both of your parents while growing up."

jihun's attention is down on himself again, touching his shirt, which makes taehyung sugh as he feels up the fabric, realising that it's dry now.

"okay, let's go back to mamma." he says, hugging the baby and kisses the side of his head, "you're really the only boy who can love my jiah without hurting her." he whispers, stroking his son's head.

"diah? mamma?"

"jiah," taehyung breaks into a chuckle, "that's mamma's name."

"chiah..."

"jiah,"

"mamma!"

"yeah," he nods, walking out from hallway, eyes automatically roaming towards their table, where jiah isn't alone anymore. there's jimin standing with her and she looks uncomfortable. taehyung hisses in frustration, letting jihun down and pats his head, letting him run towards his mamma. the toddler does, giggling all the way and calls out her name that he just came to know.

•••

"jiah?" the voice makes her frown, looking up at the man who's already near her table. judging by his expression, she concludes that he's worried and all other synonyms. the people around her give off weird looks, considering that she was just with a man and a child, and now there's another one walking up to her with nothing but drama.

she says nothing, but jimin doesn't let go and looks around, "are you alone here?" he asks, taking a seat and holds her hand, releasing a puff of air as he sighs, "god, anyway. where have you been? i couldn't really contact you for obvious reasons, but when i thought if i could meet you in person, you were nowhere to be found. what happened, jiah? are you okay?"

jiah pulls her hand back, nodding her head, "i'm okay. what do you want?"

"fuck what i want. what's important right now, is that you were completely gone for the last few days and suddenly today i find you here. i was worried, jiah. i wanted to apologize and make it up to you for my behaviour the other day."

"it's okay," she looks away, "is that all?"

jimin opens his mouth, but no words come out, leaving him only to stare at her face. she looks exhausted, eyes shining not in mischief or playfulness like always, but in pain. her lashes are wet and it gives away easily that she has been crying. she looks down at her cup of ice cream that melted, yet she picks up the spoon, eating slowly and waits for jimin to leave her alone. when he doesn't, she sighs to herself, gesturing her hand for him to leave, "go from here."

"are you mad at me?" he asks softly, "i'm really sorry, jiah. i had no right to-"

"i'm not mad. please, leave." she says.

"what's wrong with you? something's not right, jiah." he says, holding her hand and makes her stand up, earning a glare from her for the first time since forever. he smiles softly, cupping her face and strokes her cheek, "there, my favourite glare. yell at me all you want, baby. but please don't be like this. i hate seeing you this way."

"stop it." she warns him, pushing his hands away and steps back. "just leave, please. you apologized; i forgave you, now what?"

jimin stares at her, not dragging it much and asks, "where's jihun?"

"why?" she frowns, "why do you all wanna involve my son in everything?"

"it's not like that, jiah. i just-"

"mamma! chiah!" jiah flinches at her son's voice too, glancing as the toddler is running to her, making her bend down and carry him up. she forces a smile for him, then makes an eye contact with taehyung, who quickly stands beside her.

"park jimin, what brings you here?" he asks.

jimin's jaw ticks at the sight of the man, not even trying to hide how pissed he is with taehyung's way of talking. "i should've known it was you."

"with jiah, right? yeah, it was me." he smirks, "so what?"

"you've hurted her enough. not anymore, kim. she's not your toy."

"of course, she's not. she's the mother of my child. that's not a joke, is it? i've been with her even before you knew she existed, and even right now, i'm with her. what about it?"

"tae," jiah hushes out, holding taehyung's arm, shaking her subtly as a no. she puts jihun down, putting on her shoes then carries him up again, "i wanna go home."

"yeah," taehyung hums. his hand reaches up on it's own, caressing her face, which is when he feels her skin burning again, like it did in the afternoon when he came back. he doesn't say anything about it, but scolds himself mentally for not pressing more on making her take the medicine instead of just trusting her when she said she would.

they walk past jimin, leaving him worried and confused, yet he follows them out, calling our for the girl, "can we talk for a minute?" he asks, earning a tired glance from jiah, while taehyung clicks his tongue.

"do you want to?" taehyung asks her and jimin waits for her answer, watching her with hopeful eyes. however, jiah shakes her head, moving closer to taehyung and looks up at him with nearly pleading eyes.

"home,"

"we're going home." he assures, rubbing her back gently, pulling her in a hug and kisses the top of her head. "don't cry," his voice whispers, letting jihun down and gives his hand in jiah's, "hold him for a sec. i'll call the driver."

"jiah," jimin calls softly, "just five minutes, please?"

before jiah replies, the sound of a vehicle comes alive and her head whips to the side faster than she would've liked it. to her relief, it is the man she wanted to see ever since morning. he slides up the glass of his helmet, making a direct eye contact with jiah, ignoring the men there and sends her a soft smile as if he could read along her sadness. the tears she was holding slide down at the sight of jungkook, and she rubs them off harshly to look at him more clearly. he's there, looking sad too.

"hey, stop crying." he scolds her playfully. "i-"

she shakes her subtly, telling him not to say anything, so he stops, glancing at taehyung and at jimin, his jaw clenching in anger. he accelerates his motorcycle, bringing it closer to jiah and nods his head for to hop on. she looks down hesitantly and hears jimin's annoyed voice directed at taehyung. "you're going to regret this, taehyung. mark my words."

"of course, it's him." jungkook mutters, "kim taehyung, you better be counting days before i-"

"stop it!" jiah voices out, not looking at jimin or jungkook, but it's clear she's speaking to them. "stop assuming things. i don't wanna talk to either of you and- just get that in your head. i'm done."

"heard it?" taehyung scoffs at the two, shaking his head as he leads jiah towards his car as the driver pulls up by the road.

"jiah," jimin stops her again, catching her wrist and makes her face him, "why are you going with him if he's hurting you? you've always been so strong, what happened now? you've fought the entire world for yourself and jihun, why're you not doing it now?"

his questions make sense to jiah as well, and she'd like to know the answer. but something within her churns, staring at jimin as if he was the one who was supposed to tell her why she couldn't stand up for herself anymore. her eyes move to jungkook, who seems to agree with jimin on this, waiting patiently for her to say something. she pulls her hand out of jimin's grip, making an eye contact, but doesn't open her mouth to reply.

following taehyung, jiah enters the car, sitting in the back with him and jihun. the door shuts close and the car drives away, leaving jimin and jungkook staring worriedly at the speeding vehicle. jimin rakes his hand through his hair, groaning in annoyance and turns to jungkook, "why didn't you try to stop her? you claim to love her a lot, don't you? then why the fuck would you let her go with that jerk?"

"she wouldn't listen," jungkook says simply. "she wants to say a lot of stuff. i know it. but she just can't for some reason..."

jimin sighs softly, glancing back at the end of the street where the car disappeared and hums, "what are you gonna do now?"

jungkook looks at him, arching up a brow, "so interested, aren't you?"

"fuck off."

"no, for real. what's up?"

jimin takes a deep breath, "let's just say that people realise their mistakes after losing their shit in life."

"oh yeah, you left work for her. that's why my hyung has to do everything you're supposed to do."

"i'm sorry for that."

"sorry? dude, you better fucking pay him enough."

"you don't have to worry about that. it's between me and him." jimin rolls his eyes, "now, listen here-"

"hold up, park. i'm not one of your employees. talk to me properly."

"jesus! namjoon hyung was right, you're such a kid."

"wha- take that back." jungkook glares at him, and jimin arches up a brow, smirking. "i said take that back, you midget."

"what the fuck did you just call me?" jimin squints.

jungkook smirks this time, "midget. am i less audible down there?"

"fuck you, jeon!"

"yeah yeah, now move your ass from there, unless you want me to run you over with my precious harley." jungkook scoffs.

as jungkook's about to drive away, jimin stops him again, getting an annoyed look from the male, "what about jiah?" jimin asks.

"i honestly don't know right now. she told me not to go to her place, and... well, yeah stuff like that."

"so you're gonna leave her?"

jungkook smiles at that, tilting his head, "you think so? if i had to leave her, i'd've done that when she told me she wasn't interested, or when i saw you with her, or when i came to know she had a child. you do whatever you want, park, just don't hurt and don't force her for anything. if she says no, be a real man and take it. you've hurted her before, taehyung is still hurting her, she must be tired now. don't make her cry now, she'd had enough."

"and what if she tells you that she doesn't like you anymore."

jungkook looks down, sighing softly and shrugs his shoulders, "that's okay."

"really?" jimin squints, "so you're just gonna say okay and take it?"

"what else can i do? i know she doesn't mean it."

"you're saying whatever you feel like."

"why would i do that? didn't you see the way she was looking at me? she wanted to hug me and cry, jimin. but something was holding her back. you probably didn't see it because you like her too and i'm not-"

"i saw it," jimin says, "i'm not blind, jungkook. i saw it. it's obvious. maybe i'm gonna give up, but not in the way to just leave her. not until i can see that she's fine."

"i hope you're not playing tricks."

"i'm not. she's comfortable with you, it's clear and taehyung's hurting her."

jungkook nods slowly, pulling out his phone as it buzzes in his pocket, seeing the text from his brother that makes his lips curve up in a smile. "yoongi hyung will be here soon." he voices out.

"yoongi as in-"

"yoongi hyung. he is older than you." jungkook rolls his eyes, "god, nobody taught you manners or what?"

"shut up. and just so you know, i'm older than you too. your hyung didn't teach you how to address your elders?"

"he did. bit he also said that not everyone deserves that respect."

"you're so-"

"i don't wanna hear it. talk to my hyung if you wanna complain. i gotta go and pick hyung up from the station." he says, ignoring the displeased look from jimin as he speeds up, too happy to have yoongi back in the city. with yoongi, there's a hope for jungkook that things might get better for jiah, now that yoongi is back. he's the one who knows her the best and has been by her side for the longest time. maybe yoongi is the one jiah needs right now?

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a/n: be good to me and vote 😤✊ it takes time and effort to write😓🤝 and take care of yourselves<333 see you soon with another update ❤️