My thoughts not disappearing but multiplying, I hear Jungkook come back from the backyard, and as soon as I set my eyes on him, I feel that something is wrong. "We need to go," he grabs his car keys, not explaining me the reason for this. "Why?" I nearly freeze.

"Cherry called me. I'll tell you afterwards, just try to be fast, sweetheart," he attempts to keep me calm, putting his shoes on. I obey and do as told, and I get Jun ready first, hoping for this to not be really bad.

I am pretty sure this is about Sookyung. "Can I keep, mommy?" he holds the plushie he got out of a wrapping, not aware of anything, and I nod but move up to put my shoes on. "Where are we going?"

"To my second home, it's a bit far away, but we'll be left alone over there," he waits for me. "I'm gonna grab some stuff for him. Take this and get in the car," he opens the door that leads to the garage, and he walks away, not giving me enough time to think or realize.

Since I know this is the best thing to do, I take my baby's hand in mine and step into the garage, unlock the doors of the vehicle, and I open the back ones but fall upon a car seat. He bought one too.

"Come here, baby," I pick my son up in my arms to put him on the seat, and Jungkook already comes back, so I make quick to close the fastenings and get inside the living room again to not forget Jun's pacifier, his favorite teddy bear, the one Jungkook bought me, and I go back to them once I hear Jungkook say my name.

"Do you have what you need?" he closes the door and holds the key to make sure I have what I wanted, and I nod and enter the car while he locks the door of his house. He joins us once he is done and places the bag next to Jun, so I put my seat belt on, and he starts the ignition.

I stay quiet, feeling too anxious but fearing that I might upset him if I ask another question, and he leaves the garage, carefully.

"Have you already been to the beach with him?" he gets on the road, and I shake my head. "No. Never. Why?"

"We are going there right now. It's going to take some time though, so I got some food and drinks in the bag for you both," he points his thumb at it, checking the rearview mirror. "Okay," I do not say much.

I look out of the window, my heart beating against my ribs and hitting the seat behind my back. I try to relax my jaw whenever I think about it, knowing I unconsciously clench it all the time and even more when I am in this kind of state.

Some comforting warmth spreads through me at the feeling of a masculine but gentle hand touching mine. I gaze down at it, and he holds my hand. "Don't be worried," he reassures me, his voice soothing me. "It was just about Sookyung. He called her because he couldn't reach us, and he wanted to know where you are, but she warned me about it because we both knew that it meant he would drive up here, so everything is okay."

I cannot believe so. Not with all that I know about him.

"You don't know what he's capable of, Jungkook...He's going to do everything possible to find me and keep me away from you," I look up at him, feeling like this situation will never come to an end, but he refuses to listen. "That won't happen. I'm keeping you safe, and I know the laws more than he does, so nothing will allow him to take you or Jun away from me."

I trust him but still fear all the scenarios that go against this. I guess he knows more than I do.

"I'll come back tomorrow to get all the stuff, alright?" he softly brushes his thumb over my skin, and I nod. "Alright."

•••

6 pm.

Carrying Jun in my arms, I follow Jungkook while he is heading towards the door, the gate already closing behind the car he drove in. I glance up at this tall house, and I look at my baby, who seems as impressed as I am. "It's big, hm?" I smile at him, and he nods but keeps sucking on his pacifier.

I press a kiss on his chubby cheek and wait next to Jungkook, and in short seconds, he opens the front door but lets us in first. There is a lot of space again, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen are all put in one single large and open room.

"You can get comfortable, I'm going to hurry to cook dinner," he places the heavy bag down on the kitchen bar on our left after taking his shoes off, and I put Jun, who is still holding his favorite teddy bear, and the new Pikachu plushie, down to take his shoes off too. "Can't I help you?"

"No need to, just sit down and spend some time with Jun. He must be a little worried about all of the changes," he rolls his sleeves up to get ready to take care of everything again, and I straighten up and run my fingers through my son's fluffy hair.

He is right. This is a lot to handle for him too.

I comb his hair back and take him with me to the leather sofa that is right next to the glass walls that offer a wonderful view of a pool and landscape. I sit down, and Jun joins me, never letting go of his plushies. "Are you thirsty, my baby?" I skim the side of his face with my fingers, and he nods. "Alright, mommy's coming back with some water," I stand up and leave him on this comfortable spot, and I move towards Jungkook. I open the bag to look for Jun's bottle through all the stuff he brought, and once I have it, I open it and move to the sink where he is washing some dishes. "Is there some water in the fridge?"

He turns his head towards me. "Yes, everything works here, so you can take what you want and need," he allows me to serve myself, so I head towards it and fill the bottle with cold water for my baby. I close it once it is enough and move back to him. "Here, baby," I hand him the bottle, and he takes his pacifier out, so I grab it and sit down.

"Thank you, mommy," he hydrates himself, and I smile at how precious he is. "You're welcome," I pat his head and drop a kiss on it, showing him the love he deserves to receive.

"Do you like this new plushie?" I grasp all his attention as he was passing his hand over the soft material of it, and he gazes up into my eyes with his big ones to say yes with his head. "And did you give him a name already?"

He hums and takes the teat of his bottle out of his mouth to look at the plushie. "Banana," he says, and I beam, finding it adorable. "Banana?"

"Yes," he confirms, and I believe that the yellow color, which Pikachu has, made him think of a banana. "It's a cute name."

He leaves his favorite teddy bear next to him, and he leans back to hug Pikachu and drinks more water. I love him so much.

•••

7:40 pm.

My son enjoying the food Jungkook cooked only for him, I watch everything he does to make sure he eats properly while watching a cartoon on Jungkook's phone, and I enjoy my delicious food with them, the three of us sitting at the dining table with some candles, which make this very soothing and pretty in the low darkness the evening brought in the house.

He seems to be the perfect man. He has every little thing a woman hopes to find in a man, this seems impossible to me.

"Is it good?" he puts his chopsticks down on the table and wraps his hand around his glass of wine, and I smile. "It is. I have not eaten anything like that in a long time."

"Well, you're going to eat like this every day with me," he takes a sip of his drink and gives me butterflies. I always believed it was impossible to feel those again, this is like living for a second time. "I wanted to ask you a question, but tell me if it's too indiscreet," he picks at his food and slowly talks to me as if he was hesitant, so I let him go ahead and put his mind at ease.

"I know this is a sensitive topic, so we won't go any further if this is too much for you right now, but I'm still..." he tilts his head, taking time to find the right words. "I'm still a bit shocked by the fact that you have a son, and since last night, I've been wondering about when exactly you got pregnant?"

"I was seventeen," I tell him, remembering everything. "I wasn't aware right away because I never thought this could happen, I just never had this on my mind since I didn't know what it was like to be pregnant, and I think I got pregnant around five months after I met Sookyung."

He swallows what he chewed on at a slow pace, and he stares into my eyes. "And how do you feel about that? Do you think it's wrong or alright?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I gave him my consent, that happened that way, so I don't know..."

He raises his hand up to his neck and holds the side of it, not eating anymore. "How old was Sookyung?"

"Twenty-seven," I gaze at him but feel like everything I am saying is not good. He licks his lips and drops his eyes to Jun for a brief moment. "Has anyone ever talked about it with you?"

I shake my head. "I didn't have the right to do it," I tell the reason why it remained hidden for so long. "Has Sookyung never told you anything about your age and whether— I mean no," he ends his sentence before finishing the question. "Have you ever thought about the age gap between you two?"

"I just...I thought I was...like...I don't know," I feel some shame about this, not liking how dumb it makes me feel like in front of him. "I always felt lucky. All I could think about was that a tall, attractive, and sweet man fell in love with me even though I'm not pretty at all. He used to always tell me I was so mature for my age, and I know it would always make me feel better since I did not have a good education at all since my parents were not there. It felt like an accomplishment, sort of. I was proud and happy."

He nods but does not seem to agree at all, his eyes going down. "You do not believe he did something wrong when he did it with you even though you were still a minor and nearly a child?"

I nibble on my inner cheek and fear saying something wrong again.

"Sweetheart, I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable. You know I'd never do that, but I'm just trying to make you understand that all the things he made you believe were nothing but manipulation because he is a bad person," he frames his sentences in order to make sure I am not hurt. "You were sixteen, you were still a baby. No man with a right mind would fall in love with a child. This is absolutely wrong, and when you'll be ready," he goes softly, taking one step at a time, not rushing me. "We can go and report it to the police. The birth certificate of your child would be enough to send him to jail."

I do not think the same way. "His name is not on it," I raise my eyes up to him but see the effect this had on his emotions. "What do you mean?"

"When Jun was born, Sookyung explained to me that people would misunderstand it and not want to accept the fact that we both love each other, and he told me that he wouldn't be able to be there for our child's birth but that a son of his friend would have to be there instead. Like that, the son, who was my age back then, pretended to be the father and his name is on the birth certificate, not Sookyung's."

He sighs and combs his hair back, expressing some strong feelings that are not positive at all. "Alright..." he speaks in a low voice and covers his mouth with his hand. "We could try to get his DNA. If he still goes to the nightclub, Cherry could help us, and this would link him to Jun for sure."

"But I don't want to have to go through all that. I just want to be there for Jun and be happy," I do not feel okay about this idea, knowing how difficult and long this will be. He remains silent as if he did not know what to reply because of me, probably not understanding.

I peek at my baby to check on him and find some reassurance, and I see him peacefully watch the cartoon while hugging Pikachu, not eating anymore after eating all his food.

"I want you to be happy too, y/n. So, I won't force you to do anything if you don't want to, but knowing how he is, he will probably do everything to make you go through hell," he states the truth, the one I wish was not real.

"When did you meet him?" I change of subject to not have to think about that anymore, and he takes another gulp of red wine. "I met him almost ten years ago. He was a colleague of my ex-wife, and one day, she invited me to her workplace because she wanted me to discover it, and we kinda got along pretty quickly. I would never have expected him to be this type of person, but we kinda lost contact after the divorce between my ex-wife and I because I didn't want to talk to anyone anymore, and then I met him again a few months later at another nightclub he runs."

"Oh, I see. Does that mean that when I met him in two thousand and sixteen, you were already in contact again?" I try to situate each event, and he raises his eyes up to attempt to recall. "I was," he nods. "But he never told me about you, so I only met you when I went to the new nightclub after moving to this city."

"And...did you divorce because of him or this have nothing to do with him?" I hope for the best, and he relieves me. "No, it had nothing to do with him. My ex-wife never complained about him, she wasn't really close to her male colleagues, so he's never been a problem," he gazes down at his glass. "My ex-wife and I...We just divorced because of something about me. I..." he smiles, but nervously, and I decide to clarify a point. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, don't worry."

"It happened seven years ago, so I'm fine, but it's just a bit difficult to talk about it because it still hurts, but I don't mind talking about it with you at all," he drifts his fingers away from his glass and fiddles with his napkin. "I...When we divorced, our marriage was already going downhill. I think it started six months beforehand, we both wanted to have a child, but for some reason, she couldn't get pregnant, so since she knew she was fertile and had no issue, I thought that I should do a check-up, so I looked for an expert and went to an appointment, did all I had to do, and after a week, I received the results, and I got to know that I'm actually infertile. For my ex-wife, it was very difficult to accept it, and so it was for me. That was really hard, I didn't want to believe it because I've always dreamed and looked forward to having my own family, having children, so I couldn't handle it at all, it really destroyed us both. And," he clears his throat, all his emotions overwhelming him. "And during those six months, we argued a lot because she didn't want to adopt, I wasn't okay with her using another man's sperm, so we couldn't find a way to solve this problem, and the tension this caused drifted us apart a lot, then one day, she came up to me and told me she couldn't bear it anymore. Having children was one of her goals in life, and she couldn't live with the thought of never being able to give birth, so we divorced for that reason," he reveals, and I feel some pain for him.

"I'm so sorry, I understand how you feel, so I can't even imagine how hard this must be," I show empathy, the ache, which this engenders, physically affecting me. "That's why seeing Jun and having him so close, and kinda taking care of him, makes me very emotional. I literally feel like crying whenever I look at him because...children are so precious, and they truly give a purpose to your life, and he is such a cute and sweet child, so that's even harder," he grins but glances away, some glisten in his eyes causing them to be shinier. "I'm going to be honest with you," I avoid looking into his eyes for too long, feeling the effect this has on me to see him let his emotions show. "It feels weird to hear a man talk like that because Sookyung has never been there for our child, and, to me, it was normal. Like, a man works hard, deals with some stuff that I don't because I'm the woman, so he doesn't have enough time to take care of the baby...but...hearing you talk like that about children is very heartwarming and reassuring..."

"Sookyung is just..." he shakes his head and toys with his lips. "I'm not going to say the word in front of Jun, but you know what I mean. I know that a lot of men still have this type of mindset that makes them believe they are not as responsible as the mother for the child because their work is 'exhausting', but this is just a macho thing. Men should be there for their children as much as the mother is, and men aren't the ones who carried the baby for nine months."

"I feel like I'm dreaming when I'm with you," I chuckle but mean my words, and he smiles, softly. "That means a lot. It makes me happy to know you feel that way around me."

"How can I not? You're an amazing man," I make sure he is aware, but he still refuses to take the compliment and acknowledge the truth. "Well," he clears his throat and shyly reacts to it. "I should bring dessert now," he stands up and picks up the empty dishes, but I cannot get rid of the smile upon my face.

•••

8:30 pm.

I walk down the stairs after putting Jun to bed and making sure he is safe on the king-size bed, and I check what Jungkook is doing.

He is taking the stuff out of the bag. "Don't you ever want to take a break?" I smile and get by his side, and he chuckles but shakes his head. "I don't need any," he opens a cabinet and places some cookies. "I'm going to go grocery shopping early in the morning, so don't worry if I'm not home around seven, okay? I'm going to pass by the house to get some of the toys Jun didn't even get to play with."

"Alright," I look at him, setting my attention over the tattoos on his exposed forearms. "Wait, no," he changes his mind and stops what he is doing. "I think I'm going to get you a new phone first, come back here so that we can call each other if needed, then I'll go grocery shopping, so I'll probably leave at six," he goes back to it after planing his schedule for tomorrow, and I smile.

"I also need to get your gift, I won't forget it," he thinks about it again as if this meant a lot to him, and I cannot hide how touched I am. "By the way," he closes the cabinet and turns towards me. "There are three bedrooms upstairs, will you stay with Jun tonight or want one of the two other rooms?"

"I'll probably stay with Jun, he is not used to this house, so he's probably going to cry if he wakes up in the middle of the night and that I'm not near him," I expect all of this from happening, knowing my baby enough. "Alright, which room did you pick?"

"The one right above us with two beds in it, Jun wanted that one," I point at the ceiling, and he shows some softness. "Alright."

"You can sleep with us if you want, we'll feel even safer and good," I tell him, not wanting him to be alone in another room, and he steps towards the bag. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, very sure," I do not reconsider it, and he expresses some delight. "I'll be with you if you're okay then."

I smile and stay by his side, and he stops what he is doing to come close to me. He holds my face with both of his big tattooed hands and presses a kiss on my forehead. "I was wondering yesterday, has Sookyung taken the money you kept in the teddy bear?"

"Not really, some days ago, Jun's pacifier broke, but I also wanted to get him new clothes and pajamas because he tends to stain them a lot, so one day, I pretended to have received money from Cherry when he was still sleeping, I even got the envelope and wrote a note on it myself. I was scared to ask him for some money and upset him, so I had to use it and put it in the envelope, and he allowed me to order some clothes and a new pacifier online," I explain everything so that he understands why I have not been able to buy anything, and his eyes express a lot of sorrow, this emotion I hate to see in his or Jun's eyes.

"I don't ever want you to feel that way with me, alright?" he strokes my cheeks with his thumbs, soothing me like never someone else ever did. "If you need or want to buy some stuff for yourself or Jun, you'll use your credit card. Okay?"

"My credit card?" I ask him to repeat, not believing what he said. "Yes, I opened a bank account for you and already put some money on it, and you should receive the card in around one week."

"You didn't have to...I don't even work or do anything to earn it," I do not understand why he would give me his money so easily like this. "You don't need to earn it. That's for all the things you've done for four years."

I do not even know what to say. He seems so unrealistically perfect.

I do not speak but make my clasp around him even more snug and rest my head on his chest.

— Next day —

Thursday, August 19th, 2021.

10 am.

I move back to my son after getting some milk for him, and I hand him the bottle to drink. He thanks me as usual, and I smile and sit down next to him on the sofa to use my new phone.

Being all alone with Jun here makes me feel weird. I cannot stop thinking about Sookyung and wondering what he is doing. I am not used to being away from him for so long, and he hurt me so much, I cannot understand why I even feel that way.

< Is everything going well? ]

I read the text I received from Jungkook while I was away in my head, and I smile.

[ It is. What about you? Where are you? >

< I'm at my house and getting as much stuff as I can for you both ]

[ Alright, don't worry too much about my stuff though, the most important is yours and Jun's >

< Yours is not less important and I have what I need where you are ]

[ then focus on Jun's clothes and the toys. I don't care about what's mine >

< But I do, stop saying that ]

I do not respond to not disagree again, and I ask something.

[ I won't say it again. Do you have Cherry's number? I'd like to talk to him >

He obviously tells me yes and gives it to me, so I thank him, save it in my contacts, and send him a text.

[ hey, it's y/n. I hope I'm not bothering you, but I wanted to text you and tell you I'm doing fine. Hope Sookyung is not causing you any trouble and that you're doing good >

I put my phone down once it is done, and I look at Jun, who cuddled up against me. I comb his hair and remain quiet.

•••

12:10 pm.

I look at Jungkook who served himself a glass of orange juice but notice a notification pop up on my phone screen.

Cherry answered me.

< hey sweetie! I missed you so much, you have no idea how worried I was for you. Jungkook told me about it, and this relieved me like ever. Do not ever go back to that asshole, okay? Stay with Jungkook and let him pamper you❤ I'm doing fine too and Sookyung is not bothering, don't worry about anything ]

[ I'm happy to hear it. I won't. I want Jun to be safe and we both feel much better with Jungkook. Take care of yourself, I hope it's not too hard at the nightclub these days. I miss seeing you >

< I miss you so much too, I'll come and visit you both as soon as I can! We want you to be safe too, do not forget about yourself, love, you're important as well and you need a lot of care after all that happened. It's not difficult and since Sookyung hasn't been here lately, it's kinda more chill ]

[ Great, I hope you'll always feel like that. You're the sweetest, thank you. I can't wait to see you^^ >

< same! I'm sending you all my love❤ ]

[ sending you more of it💕 >

< 😚 ]

I smile and put my phone down after this adorable conversation, and I dig in the food to not be disrespectful and use my phone during our meal.

"Does it feel better to finally have a phone?" he smiles at me, not seeming bothered. "Yes, but I was talking to Cherry, I'm sorry for not waiting."

"No, don't worry. You can text whoever you want whenever you want, no need to tell me or apologize," he states the opposite of what Sookyung always said to me. "Thank you."

He gazes at me with a smile on his face as if I had said something weird, but he does not say anything about it and eats more. "By the way, I haven't got time to ask you yet, but did you have a good night? Did you sleep well?"

"I did, it felt so good to finally have a restful night," I speak with relish and notice some gladness through his features. "I'm happy to hear it."

"I wanted to ask you something though..." I nervously broach this matter, hoping for him to not be mad. "Tell me."