warning: if you don't like taehyung's character here, let me tell you that you're going to hate it now. but please keep in mind that he is meant to be at his worst during this entire case, and you'll know why. both jiah and taehyung will hurt, so please don't come at me saying that i don't live taehyung that's why i'm making his character look bad. i've tried my best to give you an outlook of what a toxic relationship/partner can be like. even after breaking up some things just get over. manipulation and emotional blackmailing is more common than we care to admit. i love taehyung a lot and it was a big decision from my side when i was finalising the cast of this book. i love all the boys just like any of you do. thank you.

____

"i'll do my best, sir." jiah nods with a smile, bowing her head in respect before leaving the man's office with a file in her hands. she cheers to herself, beaming a big smile to everyone she meets on the way, especially to that one girl who waits for her near the receptionist, looking just as happy as jiah herself.

"i got it!" jiah squeals, hugging the girl back for she had already thrown herself in her arms, congratulating her on the first project in the company. "oh my god! can you believe it?!"

"of course, yes! i knew he'd give it to you, jiah! you're deserving!" she gushes.

"for real, congrats, jiah." the receptionist says with a bright smile, shaking hands with jiah.

"thank you." she nods, "okay now, the biggest problem other than working a little overtime, is i can't make heesung work."

"oh, he will." the hyped girl, aecha, declares. "when you say so, he will have to move his ass up from that chair and for once actually use his hands to work and not just feed his stomach."

"damn, you're fire." jiah frowns at the girl, "and no, i'm gonna be very polite when i ask him to help us as a team."

"of course. but if he doesn't listen and gives you that nasty, ugly side eye, do call me. i'll be your hero."

"sure." jiah grins, linking arms with aecha and looks at the receptionist, with another arm open, "let's go have lunch?"

"yes, i'm starving." the woman agrees, joining the duo. "i was just asking aecha how long you were going to take."

"but it got over quickly, right?" jiah says.

"yep. me and leena thought we'd grow old waiting." aecha laughs, walking their way into the elevator. talking and laughing about random things, the girls head towards a restaurant nearby that sells heavenly sushi and ramen. jiah ate there once and has been a regular ever since. she plans on bringing jungkook here too, since he loves ramen.

just as they're about to enter the place, jiah's phone goes off. she excuses herself from her friends, telling them to find a table and order their regular meals. to her surprise, it's not jungkook, as she had expected, for he makes sure to call her once during lunch and remind her to eat properly and not starve herself while worrying about all the problems going on in her life right now.

"to deal with big problems, you need big strength. and for that you need to eat enough."

those are his exact words.

with the phone still ringing, jiah frowns in uncertainty, but answers the call, thinking it could be about jihun or the case which has already made it to the court. "hey, uh can you come to my house for a while?"

"what? sorry, who are you speaking to, kim taehyung?"

"you, park jiah." he sighs. "my lawyer's here. we need to discuss something with you."

"i'm at work right now. whatever it is, keep it for when i get off." she sighs.

"it's important, jiah. i wouldn't call you like this right now just to fool around. it's about the case."

"of course, it is." she scoffs, "how long is it gonna take?"

"not more than an hour if you can make it in a few minutes."

"fine. i'll be there."

"great. see you."

jiah hangs up with a groan, glancing back at her friends who are busy telling their orders to the waiter. jiah approaches them quickly, smiling apologetically to her friends and to the waiter, "uh i'm sorry, i got an urgent call and i have to go. can you please cancel my order?"

"what?" leena looks at her. "you've to go now?"

"yeah, i'm sorry."

"oh god, and weren't you hungry?" aecha asks.

"i know. but i can't do anything about it. i guess i'll live on a tiny snack today?" she shrugs, "alright, now. bye. i'll come back in some time."

the girls nod their heads with pouty lips as jiah quickly makes her way out of the restaurant. she looks around for a cab, finding one almost instantly, but there's a man already sitting. he scoots over and opens the door for jiah, greeting her with a smile, that she returns for the sake of politeness. she tells the address to the driver, and pulls out her phone again, dialling jungkook's number.

"hey, baby." is how jungkook usually answers her calls. "what is my lovely princess doing?"

"going to taehyung's house."

"that is not lovely at all." he hisses, "jesus. why?"

"because he called me up and said there's some important things he wanna talk about related to the case."

"then take advocate seong with you." jungkook says, "and i can come too if you want."

"uh, no it's fine. actually i've to get back at work soon. i told you about that project remember?"

"yeah?" jungkook hums, "don't tell me you took that, jiah..."

"i did!"

"god! why are you like this? how much are you going work? there's already enough things you're dealing with."

"yes, but if i nail this, they'll raise my pay."

"baby, just stop and think about yourself for a second. you can take up a million projects when you're done with the case. i don't think it's a good idea right now."

"i'll manage, jungkook. i do need money to pay off mr seong's fee. he isn't gonna work for free." she sighs, "it's fine, okay? before you scold me and say anything more, just know that i'm okay. i can manage everything, i promise."

"i know you can. you're a superwoman." he chuckles, "anyway, call me when you get done with tae-shit."

"okay. can you pick me up after that? i'm gonna be hungry, so i think we can go and eat together?"

"of course, my love. call me when you're free."

"yes, thank you. bye, jungkook, i love you."

"love you more, sweetheart."

jiah hangs up the call, her smile suddenly disappearing at the message displaying on her screen. it's taehyung asking her not to tell anything to jungkook. that's weird. she takes a screenshot, sending it to jungkook with a skull emoji.

i think he's drunk

can you be serious rn? ToT

i seriously think he's drunk

damn, jungkookie
nice one ;)

lol
tell me if he's being a creep tho
i can set him in line for u

sure :')
alright, see you in while. byeeee

take care, and don't let him mistreat u
if he talks shit, ur free to kick his balls

and what if his lawyer gets me in
trouble for that?

i'll deal with that, sweetcheeks ;)
your boyfriend knows how to get his
girl out of trouble.

he does?

certainly ;)

okay, boyfriend. now i'll go. i'm in front
of his house.

okay. good luck.
and again, for the millionth time,
call me when ur done

i will, dw daddy ;)

with a smile she gets off the car and pays the driver, taking a deep breath before going inside the house. the guard asks for her name, then lets her in without a question. taehyung's house is as pretty as him, a beautiful mixture of luxury and modernization, screaming elegance from afar. but unlike the house, the owner is kind of a dick from the inside.

a maid leads jiah in to the living room, where he's sitting with his lawyer. the man glances at jiah and smiles, standing up with taehyung. she rolls her eyes at the two and takes a seat across them on the single couch, "what is it?"

"feisty." the lawyer chuckles and taehyung just sighs, giving the lawyer a warning look to choose his words wisely.

"so, you've got a lawyer just like you, huh?" jiah scoffs, "i'm called her for some apparantly important discussion. can we get on that, please?"

"sure," the man nods, "actually, miss jiah, we want to make you an offer-" he says, putting forward a briefcase. "to save you plenty of money that you can use later in your life, your reputation and my cleint's reputation in front of the market, a messy court case, and most importantly save you from a lot of damage. open this," he gestures towards the briefcase, and jiah hesitates, afraid already of having an idea of what could be in there.

"that's a total of fifty-million won. you can let us know if you need mor-"

jiah shuts the briefcase close, sliding it off the table and stands up, glaring at taehyung. "is there any low you can go, taehyung?" she grits, "you think i'd leave my son for a some money that you throw at my face? you're fucked up, taehyung. if you think i'd let you take my son, if you think i'd give in to you and your pathetic lawyer just because you have the money to buy me, you are fucked in the head kim taehyung!" she yells, slapping him hard, making his head whip to the side.

his hands clench beside him, but before he even opens his mouth, the lawyer steps forth, stopping him, "you cannot behave like that with him, miss jiah. we were only supposed to talk. do you even know that i can use this temper of yours against you in the court?"

"what else can you do?" she glares at him, "you can call me here and offer me money in exchange of my child's custody and i can't even slap the shit out of your fucking client?! he is the child's father, do you understand that?! how can he-" she pauses, massaging her temples and faces taehyung again, "how can you offer me money in return of our son, taehyung? you love him, remember? you don't wanna buy him from me!"

"stop saying that!" taehyung raises his voice. "i'm gonna take him from you either way. he's better off with me, i know that. this money was for you, because i know you need it. think whatever you want, jiah, jihun will be with me by the end of all this. with each passing day, i just know i don't wanna leave him with you and that jeon jungkook guy."

"wouldn't it have been better if you realised that the day you got me pregnant?" she grasps his collar, dropping a tear from her eye as she shoots daggers at him. "why didn't you come and take him when he was born? when i called you a million times when the pregnancy tests came positive? where were you then? you just fucking left, taehyung. you left me, you left our son- and you expect me to let you take him now? y'know you don't sound like a father, rather a child who's got his eyes stuck on a new toy in the market." she grits, "it's still not too late. please, open your eyes and see that this will hurt jihun too."

"just because you wanna ruin me doesn't mean you have to use jihun-"

"i'm not using him!" taehyung growls, grabbing jiah's throat, making her gasp and stumble in his hold, scared of anything he might do. "i'm not using my son. i love him. i better not hear you saying that again." he warns, ignoring the tears in jiah's eyes, "get that?"

"leave me." she tries to unclasp his fingers, but it doesn't work. "i said leave me, taehyung. you cannot keep doing this to make me listen to you."

"but you do listen to me." he lets out, "why would i stop?"

jiah stares at him with pained eyes, questioning his intentions, his sanity and everything she ever knew about him. "because you're hurting me..." she whispers.

"am i?"

"yes."

"say it again." he growls.

jiah shuts her eyes, tears flowing down her eyes, although she's forced to look up when taehyung tilts her head upwards, "leave me..." jiah says softly.

"that's not what i asked."

"stop it, taehyung. enough." jiah stares in his eyes, instantly feeling the need to hug him and assure him that he doesn't have to do all this get to see his son, but this behaviour needs to be stopped. so, she pushes his chest, convinced that it will make him loosen his grip on her throat. however, it probably just angers him more, for he motions his hand for his advocate to leave them alone.

"mr kim, i don't thi-"

"i need a moment with her alone, mr lim. please head out." he says calmly, letting go of jiah and looks at them, extending his arm towards the door. "you've helped me enough today. let's meet later."

the lawyer sighs, nodding his head and takes his leave. taehyung glances over at the maid, nodding for her to close the door. with that, he grabs jiah's wrist, taking her to the nearest room and locks the door after bringing her inside. "tae-" she's cut off by a firm glare as he steps closer to her, pupils shaking in fear as taehyung lifts up his hand.

"no...!" jiah shuts her eyes, lowering her head as if that will help her escape him. rather than a hit that she had expected, taehyung holds her by the shoulders, one hand making it to her jaw and angles her head up. "taehyung, what are you-"

"quiet." he growls. "everytime i try to be nice with you, you have to act this tough and it just gets on my nerves. you've always been the one to fight back, but i can never stand you fighting me, baby. i can't help but get mad when you resist me."

his words sound demonic. eyes dark while he speaks with venom on his tongue, hands not so rough on her body, in fact they're trying to remind her of all the times he held her like he was her safe place. jiah gulps down her saliva, moving back, glancing at the door that's locked, windows too. taehyung pulls her back to himself, pressed against his body, "tell me what do i do so you'll stop acting up around me?" he whispers in jiah's ear, leaning so close that she can feel every vibration in his tone and breath on her skin.

"you'll regret this, taehyung. please, let me go. why are you being like this?" she pleads desperately, trying get away but nothing works against this man. he's got her in a back hug, holding her hands, so she'd stop pushing his hands away, and it just makes her sob. "stop- stop, tae. please, stop it..." she cries, struggling to fight against his strength.

"don't cry. i'm just trying to show you what we were, jiah. what we used to be." he kisses her neck, inhaling her scent and closes his eyes, "i love you, doll. you belong here, in my arms."

"no..." she shuts her eyes, gathering all the courage in her body and pushes him away, quickly heading towards the door. but taehyung holds her arm in time, slamming her against the door itself.

"you used to-"

"i don't now! i don't love you!" jiah screams, pushing him back and hugs herself, breaking into a sob, "please don't touch me... don't touch me..."

"hey, don't cry." taehyung kneels down, "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to scare you. just please try to understand that it drives me crazy seeing how you've moved on, while i'm still stuck in the past, burdened with my mistakes, and things that i could've done to change them. i know i'm being the bad guy right now, but i do love you and jihun more than my life."

"don't touch me..." is all that jiah repeats, not looking at him and moves away silently, rubbing her eyes.

"jiah-"

"no!" she cries, "you- you called me here for-for this? to offer me money and do this? what do you think i am..? do i- do i look like a sex worker to you? a prostitute? if you can't respect me as a woman, taehyung... at least- at least think of me as your child's mother..." she says, biting in a sob as her hand trembles opening the door.

taehyung tries to hold her hand, but jiah moves away, cringing at his touch and just quickly leaves the room. ignoring the maid watching her with concerned eyes, jiah runs out of the house, wiping her tears. she searches for a her phone, realising she forgot the purse inside, and turns to look bag, only to have taehyung's maid already at the door, holding her purse out for her.

jiah never meets her eyes, taking her stuff and walks away, suppressing the urge to cry with every step. she pulls out her phone, dialling a number and breaks into a sob, "oppa..."

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a/n:- do like how the story is going? i was so nervous about the current plot 😭😭 please comment to let me know your thoughts and don't forget to vote too!