"Tell me."

"Has Sookyung talked to you or Cherry since yesterday?" I peek up at his eyes, and he wipes his lips but seems bothered by this question. "Why do you want to know that? Are you worried?"

I shake my head and lie. "I'm just wondering..."

"He hasn't," he glances down at his food and takes a spoon of it, and for some reason, I feel some pain. I do not annoy him with any more questions but stir in my food, and he continues to eat.

Why can I not believe him? He must be lying. Sookyung would look for me, I know it.

The tension keeping us quiet, I cannot focus on anything but Sookyung. I do not feel hungry anymore.

"Do you miss him?" he blurts out, getting my eyes to dart up to his brown ones. I stay silent for a short moment, and he maintains eye contact. "You can be honest with me. I wouldn't really believe it if you tell me otherwise anyway."

"I don't miss him...I just need to know what he is doing..." I avert my eyes from him to escape from this, and he lowers his look. "Why? Are you worried for him or that he might be doing everything to find you both?"

I turn the spoon in my meal, and I clutch the front of my seat, anxiously. "Did he really not love me at all?"

He stares deep into my eyes, showing a lot of emotions I always find so hard to decipher, and I feel sorry for being here right in front of him.

"Would you ever lay a hand on your son?" his reply crushes my heart, and the pain this causes in my chest quietens me. The thought of this is enough to fill my eyes with tears. "If you tell me you would, then yes, he loved you. If mentally and physically hurting and destroying someone means you love them, yes, Sookyung loved you."

I lower my eyes to not face him anymore, and my tears drip down. "I'm not saying this to hurt you, y/n. I just want you to see things the way I see them. We both know your son means the world to you and that you love him more than anyone, so you know that no one would hurt someone they love."

I wipe my tears away and do my best not to let my son see me cry, and Jungkook stands up. This sudden move stresses me out, and I check what he is doing, but he only comes closer to stand right behind me, bends over, holds one side of my face, and kisses the other. "I'm sorry for being a bit too harsh, I should have used other words," he lays his other hand on the table and presses his lips on my temple, and he caresses my cheek. "No. It's just me."

"It's not," he brushes some strands of my hair back and calms me down. "I understand what you feel, sweetheart. There's nothing wrong about it. It's still new to you," he softly speaks in my ear and reassures me about what is in my head, and he wipes my tears away. "It's completely normal, and you're not dumb. Alright?"

I nod, believing him. He pats the side of my head and kisses it. "We should go out and spend some time on the beach after Jun's nap. You both need it, and I'm pretty sure it will make you feel better. What do you think?"

I approve of this idea, and I stand up. He runs his hand down my back, and I cannot hold back from going into his arms for a hug. He holds me tight against his body and warms my heart up, but I make it short since my son is here and that he must already be worried.

He runs his fingers through my hair, and I turn around to check on my baby. He is looking at me and probably wondering what is happening. "I'm going to the bathroom," I peek up at Jungkook to tell him I need to leave the table for a minute, and he nods.

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

I put her chair back properly once she is away, and I go back on mine to sit down. I do not eat but set my eyes on Jun, feeling like even the gifts I bought for him will not help him to trust me a little more. He definitely became scared of men because of his father. I feel so hurt to know he might never be able to feel alright around me.

"Do you like the food?" I ask him as his eyes were often peeking at me, but he keeps his spoon in his mouth, never letting go of his two plushies. He nods to me, and I smile. "Mommy just had to pee, so don't be worried, alright?"

He nods once again, his big eyes expressing what seems to be some apprehension. "Do you want me to show you something fun?"

He agrees, so I stand up but slowly so that he does not get scared, and I walk to the kitchen to grab the rice ball mold and move up towards him to sit down by his side. I take his spoon and put some of his rice in it like I do every time I make his dish. I close the mold to crush the rice in it, and once it is enough, I open it and put the rice, which is in the shape of a cute bear face, down on his dish. To make it better, I get his spoon and pour some sauce over the rice to draw two eyes, and a smile. "Here. That's how I prepare your food every day."

He smiles at it and makes me feel some relief. I am happy he likes it. "Do you want to do it?" I hand him the small mold, and he grabs it in a delicate manner. He copies my actions as properly as he can, and I smile at how adorable he is but hear y/n come back. I glance up in her direction but keep my attention on what Jun is doing.

I know we are supposed to teach kids not to play with food, but this is just for one time.

"What are you doing?" y/n comes closer and sits down. "I showed him how I make those cute shapes for his meals."

"Oh, he will want to do it all the time now," she laughs, softly and checks what her son is doing. We both watch him open the mold, and he carefully places the rice on the dish, and to my greatest surprise, he does not fail. "You did so good! It looks perfect," I run my fingers through his hair, and he expresses a lot of happiness. "Is it good?" he asks for his mother's validation, and she nods. "It is. It's amazing, my baby. You did great."

I smile at how happy he is at the sound of her opinion, and I grab the spoon to fill it with some of the rice. "Now you need to eat and get a lot of energy," I fly it to his mouth, and he opens it, not refusing to interact with me. I feed him for the first time, and he hugs his plushie tight while eating.

This makes me so soft.

"When is his birthday?" I pat the back of his head to play with his hair and try to make him feel more comfortable, safer with me. "On the twenty-eighth of December."

"And yours?" I give him another spoon, knowing he is able to feed himself but loving to do it. "It was in February, the twenty-fifth."

"Oh," I raise my head up with astonishment. "I thought it was coming soon...I didn't know you were still nineteen a few months ago."

"I was," she affirms and smiles. "So...Does that mean you got pregnant when you were sixteen, and not seventeen?" I cannot accept this to be the truth, finding it way too wrong to be real. "I was going to be seventeen two months later, but I love him like ever, so I wouldn't want things to be different, except for what Sookyung did to me, of course."

Sadly, I understand her. I know she would not want to imagine her life without Jun now that she has him, but this does not change the fact that Sookyung was twenty-seven when he took advantage of her. No matter how in love she was, he was not, this is not right at all, and I will do everything to put him into jail for all the wrong he has done, and all the suffering he has caused her and Jun.

"What was his reaction when you told him about it? If you don't mind talking about this," I peek down at Jun to feed him again. "He seemed glad but not as shocked as I was. It's like if he expected it from happening, even though he always used protection."

"And how did you feel about it? Were you happy or scared?" I do not give my opinion about what I just heard, feeling like I might know what this means, but hoping for it to be wrong. "At first, I was scared because I didn't know how he would react, and I had no idea how to take care of a baby since I've never been taught to do it, nor been surrounded by babies, but when I talked to him, I felt relieved and happy."

"What did he tell you to make you feel like that?" I keep interrogating her, but only to know more about the way he manipulated her, I need to know. "He told me I didn't have to worry about it because he would always be there for me, he would let me stay home and not work anymore if the pregnancy exhausted me too much. He also reassured me about the delivery and my body because he knew I'd be scared to not be attractive to him anymore, and much more stuff. But, honestly, when I heard him tell me that he was happy to build a family and have a child with me, all my worries completely vanished. That was the best thing he could have told me."

He knew exactly what that would do to her.

"And how was he during the pregnancy? Was it more difficult than you expected?" I put the spoon down once Jun refuses to eat more, his stomach probably full. "He slowly started to change, but it was nothing compared to when Jun was born. He was still caring, but he wasn't...like...I don't know how to explain, but he wouldn't ask for intimacy anymore after around four months of pregnancy."

"And what changed once Jun was born?" I carefully listen to everything, this whole story still sounding unreal to me. "That's when I went back to working, but he began to make me wear those revealing clothes, he made me take care of the V.I.P at that moment, and whenever I would tell him that some of them touch me and make me uncomfortable, the only thing he told me was that it was normal and that I just had to tell them to ask for consent, but he knew I wasn't able to do that. Then he was more forceful when he'd want to do it, he'd make me do a lot of things more often, but he wasn't violent yet, so I never thought something was wrong back then."

"And how would he react if you'd tell him you don't want to do it?" I grab my glass of wine to drink, and she glances down. "I only did it once. I was tired, and he made it pretty clear he wanted to do it, but I tried to make him understand I wasn't in the mood, and he seemed so upset that I regretted it, and I never said no again. I was scared that if I'd say no again, he'd find another girl to do it with, and saying no made me feel like I was doing something wrong or mean."

I breathe out, heavily and put my drink down. I have never met anyone who was as manipulated as her. This is difficult to even know what to say. "And what about now?" I look up into her eyes. "Do you still believe that you shouldn't say no to a man if he wants to do it with you?"

She maintains eye contact and nods.

"I want you to not believe this anymore, alright?" I state, with earnestness. "If you don't want to do anything with someone, you say no, and if that guy cannot take no as an answer, he's the problem. So, don't do anything if you don't want to. You're not a toy."

She shows me that she understands, and she gazes at her son.

I cannot wait for her to be aware of her worth. He let her have this baby, certainly did it on purpose and pretended it was an accident, only to be able to keep her under his control and make sure she would not leave. He is such a horrible person.

•••

4:10 pm.

I never let go of y/n's hand as we are both walking on the warm sand to go closer to the water, holding Jun with one arm. The sun still beaming, I stop and set my eyes on the baby. "Do you want to put your feet in the sand?"

He nods, sucking on his pacifier. I let go of y/n's hand to bring him on it and squat down to his level, and I put the bag next to me. "Can I take his socks off?" I ask y/n before doing anything, and she agrees, so I take his small ones off while he is resting his hands on my shoulders. "Here you are," I smile at him, and he moves his hands away but lays one on mine, so I hold it and watch him curl his toes in the sand, feeling this for the first time and wondering what is this texture against his skin.

"Do you like it?" I laugh, and he nods again and glances up at his mother, but I fix his white bucket cap and put his hair properly. Y/n sits down right next to us to watch him enjoy this first experience. "Look what you can do," I dig my hand in the sand to show him it is safe, and he squats down too. He lets go of my hand and does the same as he saw me do, he touches it with his fingers first, doing one step at a time as if he was a bit apprehensive, then he goes a little further to play in it.

Now that I can see he is feeling comfortable and loving it, I sit down as well, and I take a look at y/n. "Do you want a deck chair?" I place my hand over her back, hoping for her to not be in pain without a seat. "No, I'm fine like this," she gazes into my eyes, smiling and expressing some delight. I return the same emotions, feeling good with them here. "Tell me if you ever need one, I don't want your back or neck to hurt," I rub my hand over it and lean in to press a kiss on her forehead, but once I pull away and look down at her features, I notice that she closed her eyes.

Feeling my heart flutter at this reaction, I drift my hand up to her face and run my fingers through her hair, brushing some strands away from her skin, I skim the side of her face with my thumb, and her lips curve up. She makes eye contact, and she comes closer to wrap her arms around me and rests her head on my shoulder.

"Come here," I pat the spot between my legs so that she can be in a better position, my arm remaining around her, she moves and goes right before me. She sits down and crosses her legs in front of her son, and I back hug her.

I drop a kiss on her shoulder, doing everything as gently as possible so that I know I do not apply too much pressure on a bruise, and I watch her play with Jun in the sand. He is such an adorable bundle of joy.

"Why didn't you wear the long dress I bought you? It's really hot today," I rub my fingers over her waist, and she slightly moves back against me. "I don't want people to see what's on my arms. They might misunderstand and believe you're the one who caused them..."

I do not say anything right away, knowing she is right. "We don't care about people, and you don't have to be ashamed of anything. Don't hide yourself because of him," I speak in her ear, and I hold her tight.

30 minutes later...

The wind softly blowing to push the water and create soothing waves, I do not move and rub the tip of my fingers over y/n's arm as I have been doing since she fell asleep in my arms. I gaze down at her features, loving how peaceful she seems. She is away from her worries, her fears, and this is reassuring to me.

A tiny hand touching the side of my thigh drags my attention away from y/n, and I set my eyes on Jun. "What is it?" he holds a small seashell up and shows it to me, discovering this for the first time. "This is a seashell. It was created by an animal that lives in the sea."

He scrutinizes it from a little closer after this explanation, and I smile, unconsciously. "Where are his legs and hands? And his eyes?" he points his finger at it, and this adorable question gets me to chuckle. "What you have in your hands is not an animal, it's just like a protection they made for their bodies, and once they didn't want it anymore, they left it here," I use baby words so that he can understand better. "Ohh," he shows some amazement. "Can I keep it?" he asks instead of taking it with him like most children would, and I nod. "Of course, you can. You can even get more if you find some, and we'll put them in a box at home."

"Yay," he happily holds it in his hand. "I want to show it to mommy and daddy," this last sentence full of blissful ignorance pains me a lot, but I do not say anything. This hurts me a lot to know that this little boy is enjoying his time and not expecting anything at all, unaware of what is happening and how horrible it will be to hear what his mother went through once he is old enough.

She is a strong woman, and she did everything for him, so I hope he will know that and be proud of her.

"Another!" he smiles, brightly, and he looks up at his Pikachu plushie. He sits him up on the sand to have it near him, and he places both seashells in front of it while saying some indistinct words to the toy.

"Is he keeping them safe for you?" I interact with him as much as I can, and he nods but goes back to digging for some more with his small hands. "I want one for mommy, one for daddy, one for Banana, one for me, and one for you," he includes me, melting my heart with his softness. He is such a loving boy, I will never understand how Sookyung was able to neglect him.

"Do you know how much that makes?" I ask to see if he knows how to count, and he stops his actions to raise his hand up and count on his fingers, slowly, being cute no matter what he did, then once he had five fingers up, he moves them towards me and showed his palm. "Five."

"That's right, you're a really smart boy," I smile and run my fingers through his hair, and he shows some happiness. "Do you need some help?"

"No, thank you," he never forgets about the respectful words, and I leave him alone so that he can do it himself.

•••

9:20 pm.

Jun finally sleeping peacefully, I walk down the stairs to join Jungkook and have some time together only. As soon as I get into the living room, I set my eyes on him and check what he is doing but see that he is tidying up and placing some items in a different manner on the sideboard. I approach him and stand by his side, but he does not show any surprise as if he knew I was here.

"What are you doing?" I glance down at what he is moving. "I put the sand that Jun took in an empty bottle and the seashells earlier in this jar," he closes it, and I feel my heart soften all my feelings. "It's so sweet of you," I smile, and he turns towards me to look into my eyes. He remains quiet for a few seconds, both staring at each other, and he briefly peeks down at my lips.

Without saying a word, he slides his most tattooed hand into the pocket of his trousers, still wearing his formal clothes. He holds a small black box up and moves it towards me. "This is for you."

I glance up at him, not believing he has not forgotten about the gift he has been talking about. I take it in my hand to see what this is, and I open it.

"I don't know your taste in jewelry and didn't want to ask to not expose what I was doing, so I went for a thin chain," he speaks as I cannot take my eyes off of the shiny, dazzling ruby necklace. "This is so pretty, Jungkook," I keep it in my hands and raise my eyes up to him. "You think so? I'm relieved that you do, I was a bit nervous," he smiles and hides his hands in his pockets. Every time he speaks, expresses his emotions, this seems so genuine and gentle.

"I do. This is so beautiful. I love it so much," I put the top down on the sideboard next to us, and I take the necklace out. I am aware that it is just a piece of jewelry, but this gesture makes my heart beat so hard. "Do you want me to put it on you?"

I nod with eagerness, and he takes it, delicately, despite the tattoos and veins visible on his hands that make them so tough and masculine. He opens it, but instead of telling me to turn around, he steps behind me, and since my hair is already up in a bun, he puts it around my neck and closes it.

"Here," he skims his hand past my shoulder and comes back before me, and I touch the small ruby, loving how this makes me feel. "Thank you so much," I move forth and hug him, and he holds me tight against his warm and comforting body. His lips leave a tender kiss on my forehead, and a smile grows on my face.

"Why did you do this though? Why would you buy such an expensive gift for me?" I cannot understand the intentions behind it, and he combs my hair. "You deserve it.

I love how good I feel with him. I nearly forgot what it was to feel safe and not in danger anymore.