Chapter 26

●●●

The next few days his mother stayed quiet. Jimin felt awful. While Taehyung and Jungkook had done everything to keep him distracted, going as far as taking him out on dates to the aquarium and an amusement park, it never quite left Jimin's head.

Which didn't mean he wasn't appreciative of them doing all of this. He couldn't begin to imagine how bad it would have been if they hadn't. With the way things were right now it was mainly a looming feeling in his stomach and a stray thought every once in a while.

He knew it could have been worse, but it wasn't simply because Taehyung and Jungkook made sure he wouldn't be alone at all.

So when Jimin was sitting on the sofa watching Elite and his phone screen lit up with his mother's number, Taehyung wasn't far.

"Taehyung?" He could feel his heart rate pick up as he started at the vibrating phone. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to pick up, but he knew he had to. He couldn't just ignore her. Especially not when he still needed closure.

She must have spent the last few days thinking so whatever she was going to say now was not a knee jerk reaction. It was her actual opinion. And Jimin was scared of knowing that.

He watched as Taehyung entered the room. "Yeah?"

Jimin picked up his phone, lifting it up a little. "My mum is calling."

Instantly understanding Taehyung nodded, leaving his dinner preparations for later as he made his way over to Jimin and sat down on the sofa, where he pulled Jimin into his lap. "Pick up."

Jimin swallowed, swiping to accept the call.

"Yeah?" He had to keep his shit together. No matter what was about to happen now... Taehyung's arm weighting against his stomach felt reassuring. Jimin could do this. He'd had enough time to mentally prepare himself for this.

Actually waiting had been even worse. The uncertainty of not knowing what his mother was thinking.

But nothing could have prepared him for hearing his mother's voice. He knew right away that she was crying. There was no introduction. No explanation. His mother sounded like an absolute mess.

"He left. I-" He could hear her take a shaky breath. "I asked Alex about what you said and he got angry and started screaming. I've..." She let out a sob. "I've never seen him like this."

Jimin had to swallow down the knot forming in his throat. He knew. Alex had always acted nice and sweet around his mother.

"He didn't hit you, right?" He asked quickly. If Alex had even dared to lay a finger on her Jimin was calling the police no matter what she said.

His mother let out a shaky 'no' before she continued talking. "He screamed at me for doubting him and started throwing things around the apartment." She gasped and Jimin could feel Taehyung's hands tightening around him.

His mother had never been the best mother. There had been many times when Jimin had felt completely neglected by her... simply tossed aside, but even then she didn't deserve this. No one deserved this. She had just had the love of her life scream at her after her son had told her he'd been abused by said man.

Of course she didn't feel good. This time Jimin had to be strong. Because he cared about his mother.

"And then he left?"

"I've never seen him this angry. He didn't seem like himself at all." His mother sobbed into the phone and Jimin tried to calm her, but of course it didn't work. Instead she started crying even harder. Part of Jimin felt awkward because he had never heard his mother be like this, but at the same time all he wanted was for her to feel better.

"I'm so sorry for not believing you and even yelling at you. It just sounded so ridiculous... So out of place..." She choked again.

"Hey hey, it's okay. I'm not angry. I know that must have sounded awful..." Jimin tried reassuring her, a little bit of relief flooding him. His mother finally seemed to believe him.

"I spent so much time thinking about you and why you would lie..." His mother sobbed and Jimin hoped Taehyung wasn't feeling too awkward behind him, but he probably was. He probably would have had better answers than the ones Jimin could come up with.

"I couldn't believe you'd lie about something. It didn't fit with your character at all. And then I asked him and he just..." Another cry.

"I know it's hard to believe, but please, please believe me when I say he really did those things. He acts nice around you, but he's a manipulative asshole." Jimin did everything in his power to keep his voice stable. There were tears welling up in his eyes nevertheless.

He was just glad that his mother finally seemed to be on the same side as him. Things were awful right now but if they worked together they could get through this.

His first priority was to make sure his mum was safe though. Who knew what that asshole was capable of when he was really angry.

"I'll come pick you up and we'll go to grandma's house, okay? You should stay there for a while... until everything with him is settled, okay?" He expected his mother to disagree. To say that Alex wasn't going to do anything. That he wasn't that unpredictable.

What he hadn't expected was for her to go quiet for a couple of seconds before muttering a soft. "Okay... I'll... I'll pack some stuff and then we'll go there. If... if we're there we can talk more." She whimpered again. "I'm so sorry for not believing you. I'm sorry... I-"

Jimin hushed her. "It's okay... I'll come pick you up in thirty minutes. We can talk in the car. Just try to calm down and get your stuff okay?"

Another hesitant "okay" and then she hung up.

A/N

This story is slowly getting closer to the end and I'm sad😔💕