So things got a bit hard here. The cat is out of the bag.

Taehyung took the seat on the furthest table and gestured to the younger boy to sit at the front chair. He had a fresh glass of water and nodded towards Jimin to start talking, who was already taking out a yellow dairy along with a white pen. The boy took a deep sigh and looked upwards through his spectacles and said, “Get yourself together to hear the most shitty things for a while, I will include some demeaning terms in this conversation so bear with me cause everything about this investigation left me angry.”

Taehyung wanted to roll his eyes at the overdramatic instincts of the boy but he chose to only raise his eyebrow in a curious way because he couldn't ignore the redness of Jimin's face when he started to talk once again.

“Point one. Yeonsu is as straight as the pole of the law firm.” Jimin raised his hand in the air to stop the lawyer from intervening in the middle and continued, “Explanation. He used to be a playboy during his bachelors. There are stories of him banging too many girls at a time. The janitors still remember him as the highest paying student to lend him their storage rooms for private purposes everyday. And they actually meant everyday.”

“Point two. Yeonsu is an absolutely shady person. Explanation. I didn't find even a single link where we can trace back his history with boys but all of a sudden, on his father's recommendation, he agreed to marry a man. My assumption tilts me towards their greediness about marrying the only child of Jeons but It could be only my assumption as well not the defined reason.”

Taehyung felt his knuckles turning white where he had grabbed the arms of his chair as he kept listening to the boy silently, “Point three. Yeonsu's company is close to bankruptcy again. The textiles company that he brags about in the parties… is actually running on his father's retirement money. The sudden stress about a grandchild could be coming from Yeonsu's father. Yeonsu has been married to Mr Jeon for four years but only now he can feel the need to see a doctor for their unhappy sexual life. So I tried to look into it as well.”

“Point four. Yeonsu owns three casinos in the middle of Gangnam but all of them are registered under the name of his wife, Woonie Bell. But in reality no such lady exists. I worked there for four days and found that all of these casinos are illegal and have forged owners. Interesting thing is that his family members aren't aware of his chain of casinos. It proved where the money from his company was probably going in.”

“Point five. Yeonsu is an absolute asshole. He is still in touch with all of his girl gangs who come to meet him every now and then. There is a separate building in his company that he has declared as private property to just fulfill his body needs. Might check his health reports because around these days Mrs Kim isn't the only lady he shares his bed with.”

“Point six. Mr Jeon is the actual victim of his own father's deeds. He was abroad when his father finalised his wedding but he made it look as if his opinion mattered by sending them together on a couple of dates. But it was bullshìt, everything was already settled and secured. Old Mr Jeon had transferred twenty percent shares of his designing company to Old Mr Min on the same date as the wedding of his son.”

Jimin flinched when he heard a loud banging of a fist against the table as Mr Kim stood up from his chair and ruffled his hair while looking around, trying his best to not punch the boy sitting in front of him.

Jimin could understand the anger so he gulped and continued as he came to his final conclusion, “Point seven. Old Mr Jeon had declared on his retirement day that the leftover shares of his company will be named under his first grandchild. Currently, his company is handed over to one of Jeon's trusted CEOs. Now we can connect the dots. Who wants what and who will get what in return if they get an heir.”

“That's all I found in my seven weeks of work. And here,” The boy merged his hands inside his bag and took out a black file, “This file contains all the evidence of my investigations and explanations. So I will be leaving it here on your table.” Jimin stood up from his chair as well and glanced at the lawyer who was bent down over the arms of a couch. He wanted to request for his bailment from his previous case due to which he got blackmailed into this investigation but the way Mr Kim's body was raging, which he could see from afar, he found himself turning around and approaching the exit door right away.

“Wishing to not meet again, Mr Kim.” He murmured quietly as he escaped from the lion's den and took a breath properly. His hips slanted against Mr Jhong's desk as he gulped an entire glass of water down to his parched throat.

Mr Jhong looked at the boy with pinched eyebrows, “May I help you?”

“Yes, Actually. Please do not remember my face. If ever, Mr Kim orders you to contact a boy named Jimin, do not come and find me. Erase me from your mind, memory and just say that I died or something. Yeah?” Jimin requested desperately while Mr Jhong looked confused.

“Jhong!”

Jimin looked terrified as the loud shout left them both looking towards the closed cabin. He hurried to pack his things and left the firm as soon as possible. This man is an absolute trouble. He will not forget to add this point in his yellow diary.

~

Taehyung was fuming with anger when he returned to his apartment. Lips left constant curses as he recalled how Jimin ditched their conversation in the middle and ran out of his office before he could counter question his observations. Alright! Maybe he was behaving like an asshole towards someone who was helping him all along but Taehyung was desperate to know everything about what the younger boy had discovered.

But the file the boy left behind cleared all of his doubts right away. After ordering Jhong to cancel all of his meetings with the new clients, Taehyung spent his day reading the evidence one by one, documents, photos, audios of confessions from janitors to forged owners of the casinos.

He remembered the terrified look on his face when Jimin stood up abruptly and left his office in a hurry. Taehyung likes to feel that he did a good job sending Jhong after him to just see if the boy isn't getting any threat from someone or not. He is a criminal lawyer and his old cases taught him to read the eyes of the criminal and innocent and the troubles such hidden investigations could rise in someone's life.”

He was waiting for Jhong to call him and tell the update when he noticed the silence of his apartment, “Jungkook?” He called but the living room was empty. He is back early from his office so maybe the younger one could be showering at this time?

But he was wrong when he saw Jungkook's hair sprawled out over the arm of his couch and found the man sleeping soundly. His laptop was placed atop of the coffee table, it seems like the other nods off while doing his office work. His fingers curled around the black file in his palm a bit too tightly.

What should he do now?

Almost his entire brain was screaming at him to wake the younger up and tell him everything bit by bit but his treacherous heart was inclining towards spending the remaining days of their treatment in peace. He clenched his teeth and seriously wanted to take out his heart and stomp on it repeatedly to even think like this.

Taehyung sat at the front couch and stared at the sleeping man. Subconsciously, his mind took him four years back. He watched a younger Jungkook landing in his country to just get married to a man whom his father selected for him. No, not selected, but traded should be the right word. He had prepared a deal for his own son.

A son who was thoroughly unaware of  his deal. His mind watched a younger Jungkook meeting Yeonsu and then falling in love with him. With a passive evilness, Taehyung gritted his teeth when he assumed how Yeonsu was going behind Jungkook's back to satiate his hunger for opposite sèx. How could he even dare to touch Jungkook if he wasn't a homosexual in the first place?

Money.

A cruel fuel of human lives.

But the beastility that comes with cheating could not be compensated with the sole excuse of money. His eyes fell on the sleeping man once again and Taehyung decided to tell him all the things that he had discovered today.

Taehyung wasn't inhuman, No. And he is surely not insensitive to bring such sorrow in someone's life but if someone should feel disheartened after hearing the truth it should be Yeonsu not anyone else. It should be Yeonsu who may feel ashamed enough to retaliate his unacceptable behaviour towards his husband, not him, not Jungkook, not anyone else!

But no matter how carefully he thinks, he could not muster any specific method by using it to reflect less hurt on the younger. So he chose the direct method, the harsh one but just a bit more generous one.

He stood up from his seat, leaving the black file buried under the briefcase, “Hey,” He nudged the man who turned around and groaned grumpily.

“Did I sleep through the evening?” Jungkook mumbled as he dejectedly rolled on his back and sat up on the couch.

“No. I came back early today, my meetings got cleared out.. so.”

“Oh. That's good. I'll fix up some dinner for us. You should freshen up as well.” Jungkook combed his open hairs with his fingers and rolled a clutch into them before walking towards the kitchen.

Taehyung followed the younger mindlessly, “ Can I help you in the kitchen instead?”

“No. I will do it soon with my own help. You might keep disturbing me.”

“Please? I mean I want to learn how to cook enough to fill my stomach. You have spoiled me with fresh and warm meals. So my survival instincts say that I should at least know how to not set the kitchen on fire in your absence. We have one week left, right?”

Jungkook laughed at the miserable state of the lawyer, “Alright. Alright, you can stand with me. But there is no need to feel sad over such things. If Mehrin allows you, you both can come to my house. I will not hesitate to serve you fresh meals.”

“Your house?” Taehyung asked immediately, his calculative mind running at fast speed. They both walked towards the kitchen as Taehyung asked while loosening up his dress shirt and tie.

“Yeah. The one where my husband and I live.”

“No. I mean, Is it really under your name or your husband's?” Taehyung knew he asked a question which was full of suspicion and weird but he couldn't bite off his own tongue before it slipped out.

Jungkook chuckled while opening the fridge and taking out some butter, eggs and some meat. He placed them on the counter and asked mischievously, “And how does it matter?”

Taehyung coughed and hummed for a bit but didn't push further. What the hell is wrong with his mind?? Has he really gone insane? He should eat his fist just so his teeth could stop grinding at this point.

Unaware of his struggle, Jungkook opened the pantry to take some onion and garlic before replying, “This house was a wedding gift from my father. I recall the keys were handed to Yeonsu so maybe he is the owner.”

Something ugly crawled over Taehyung's chest as he stumbled upon selecting the knife and was about to pick one from its sharp edge when Jungkook noticed and brushed off his hand, “ Be careful. Keep your ears, eyes and nose open when you are standing in the kitchen. You can learn to move your hands after that.”

Taehyung can't do this. He can never digest this food after knowing how miserable the younger's life could turn if he keeps believing that fake asśhole's bullshìt!

“Jungkook.”

Jungkook was chopping a carrot but Taehyung's sharp calling of his name stopped him in the middle, “Yeah?”

The lawyer stepped forward and turned him around to face each other. Jungkook left the knife on the counter, his eyebrows pinching in concern as he looked up at the elder, “What happened?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“I can tell. You look a bit reserved towards me. What is it?”

Taehyung rubbed his clammy hands on the wake of his touch on the younger's arms as he started to express his thought after licking his lower lip in nervousness, “ Being a criminal lawyer, with my whole career experience, I have a habit to research about the people I got indulge with for my business or personal purposes.”

Jungkook was nodding all while listening to the lawyer, “So it was natural of me to order my assistant to search about you and your husband's background. I find some illegal activities and something… something very-”

“Did you find out about his casinos? Is that it?” Jungkook stood tall against Taehyung as he defended his husband, “Yeonsu had shared it with me. But don't worry, he will soon buy them all and become the real owner.”

Taehyung blinked his eyes severally and gulped before moving forward and grabbing Jungkook's hand, “Come with me.”

Taehyung made him sit on the couch once and dragged his briefcase and that cursed black file along with him before sitting on the same couch, beside the younger, “Listen, whatever I will tell you today is based on all the evidence my assistant submitted to me. So please do not think otherwise, I just want to help you out.”

“Help in what?”

“From all the lies that your father and husband have been showering upon you.” Taehyung opened the file and pulled out the first evidence. There were polaroids with dates on them, the most recent one belongs to two days ago, “He's been sleeping with a bunch of ladies in town, here are the photos. None of them is Mehrin.”

Jungkook had seen Mehrin when he arrived here on the first day of their treatment. And surely in the photos, all of them are different girls. Among them all. Yeonsu could be recognised easily. His heart was thumping in a wrecking way as he kept turning around the new photos.

His stomach was turning in knots and he could feel the acid burning his windpipe. Jungkook slid all the photos out of his lap and blinked his heavy gaze, “Maybe he is using this period to catch up with his old friends. I usually get sulky when he has friendly dinners with his friends.”

Taehyung's fist was ready to strike at the thickest part of the couch when he saw the first shrine of tears in Jungkook's eyes. But all he could do was bite his lips when he took out the audio tapes next. He kept the first tape on the run and started it openly.

“Mr Yeonsu booked this room with his wife. But he didn't say you will be joining them as well, are you his friend, Sir?”

“Yes, actually I'm his assistant. I just need his sign on some documents.”

“He isn't answering the call. If you can show me your ID, I can send you to his room.”

“Yes, Sure.”

“Thankyou for following the protocols, Mr Min. Fifth floor, 513.”

“My pleasure.”

Jungkook was clutching his pants a bit too tightly, his ears focussed on the footsteps of the man. He couldn't recognize his voice but his throat restrained a sob when he recognized the other voice.

Jimin had swiftly stolen out the master keys from the box when the manager worked on checking his ID proof and here he is standing inside the suite that Yeonsu booked for only three hours.

“Yeonsu~ I love how you are getting enough time for us nowadays. I absolutely love secret sessions like this. You won't believe my husband thought I'm hanging out with my usual girls but here I'm warming up my charm as I should.”

“Enjoy it till it lasts, darling. One more month and we have to go back to our once a month routine.”

“Why??” The pathetic whines of the lady were bleeding through Jungkook's ears. He closed his eyes and looked away from the tape as quickly as possible. But his ears still followed the voice.

“Family matters, baby. You know I have a husband, right?”

“You promised me you would get a divorce last month? You said it's not working anymore. What happened to that?”

“My father happened. He needs a grandson. And that oldy is sitting on my throat for that, even threatening to slice it open if I do not succeed to do it within this year.”

“Then impregnate your husband, Yeonsu. Why? My charm can't get up around that boy or?”

“Shut up. He is a boy. You know boys disgusts me. I manage to make myself hard for him but then I don't know exactly where his womb is placed. Bloody hell. I just hope that lawyer open him enough to-”

The tape found a home on the wall and its pieces scattered all around the living room. Jungkook's chest was struggling to breathe when he threw that tape with all of his energy. His cheeks were stained with tears and he stumbled back on the couch once again. Hands came forward to cover his eyes as he cried in his palms.

Taehyung emptied the briefcase and s
placed six more tapes on the coffee table, “There are six more but all of them do not include his interactions with women. Some of them belonged to his father and some of them happened to have your father's voice in it.”

“M-my father?”

Taehyung felt his heart shattering at the feeble voice of the younger. This was the very first time he had heard Jungkook stuttering at his own words so he nodded slowly. He found the younger one shaking his head in nothingness, “How is he related to this mess?”

So Taehyung put all of his hesitation aside and pulled out the documents one by one. From the beginning to the end, he told Jungkook about everything. The truth behind his wedding, the deals of his father, Yeonsu's illegal casinos, his bankrupt company and the sudden need of the child.

After listening, watching and reviewing all the evidence, Jungkook was sitting on the couch for a while now when Taehyung decided to bring water for him. His own hands were trembling when he grabbed the glass and walked back to the couch.

He hovered the glass in front of Jungkook's lips but the younger's eyes kept looking beyond the glass, beyond the wall or maybe beyond his open eyes. Taehyung put his hand on Jungkook's shoulder and called his name but the only response was the tears of the younger that once again started to fall down his cheeks in streaks.

Taehyung placed the glass on the table and engulfed him in his arms. He hugged the trembling man with misty eyes, he could feel the raging anger in his heart for the soulless and selfish people like Yeonsu and his father but on top of it all, he could feel Jungkook's pain.

~

Taehyung did not regret his decision that day but he can't say the same now. It's been two days since he tore apart the evil deeds of that bastàrd. And it's been exactly two days since he saw Jungkook as well.

No matter what excuse Taehyung tries, Jungkook is not ready to come out of his room. He doesn't ignore him nor does he close up his doors like teenagers but he isn't responsive towards anything. His sad eyes welcome Taehyung whenever he visits his room and listens to all of his consoling words.

That's it.

All he does… is listen to him. He tried to feed him today but Jungkook refused because of a stomach ache. He is lying. And Taehyung knows. But then he knows why the younger is not eating, maybe he was afraid of emptying his guts in the toilet as soon as he could recall the tapes that they heard together.

Taehyung needs to do something. He needs to bring Jungkook out of his room, out of this goddamn apartment, to clear his thoughts so he could decide something for himself. Because they only have four days more, four days more till Taehyung can do something while having possession over Jungkook. He is afraid of what Jungkook would face if he ever decides to go back to his husband's home. Alone.

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜.