"We need to talk..." the man said, looking him straight in the eyes.

Taehyung snorted involuntarily, unable to believe the man's audacity and all the absurdity of the situation. Jeongguk's brother was one of the reasons why the young CEO and him broke up, and now he tells him without the slightest embarrassment that he has been waiting for a week for him to show up here to trap him and his child, like a tiger corners a defenseless prey.

"I have nothing to talk about with you," he answered firmly, trying not to let him see that his visit had upset him.

He spun on his heel and started forward, Jae still in his arms. He didn't know why, but at the sight of the man he felt an almost irrational fear that someone might want to take his son from him, so he almost involuntarily scooped him into his arms. He tightened his hands tightly around the little body of his son and quickened his pace, wanting to get away as soon as possible.

"Please, I just wanted to ask you one question..." Jeon encouraged, taking a few springy steps towards him to close the distance between them again.

Taehyung stopped and looked at him again. He pressed his lips together, pressing them into a narrow line, but said nothing, just looked at the man with the hard onyx irises. He didn't want to talk to him. He felt his anger rise at the very thought of what Jeongguk had told him. He wanted to shout straight into his handsome face what he really thought of him, how much he despised him for what he told the man he loved, and how much he hated him for helping break their relationship.

"Perhaps I will spare us both time and nerves," he suggested after a moment, knowing well what the man wanted to talk to him about. He could have expected it as soon as he saw him. "No. I didn't steal that flash drive," that said, he turned on his heel again and started walking, quickening his pace.

He had no intention of explaining himself to this man. If he wants, he can send the police on him. They won't find anything to link him to the theft of that flash drive. He didn't give a shit about their money. All he wanted was something that no money in this lousy world could buy. He involuntarily tightened his fingers around his son, pressing his little body against his chest, and again quickened his pace.

"Do you love him?!" Jeon called after him, and at the words Taehyung slowed his pace involuntarily. His heart began to beat so hard as if it was about to pop out of his chest. But he didn't dare to turn around and meet his eyes. "Do you love my brother?" The man repeated, and for a brief moment he couldn't breathe.

He couldn't explain it, but when he heard that question, something arose in his heart that he had not felt in a long time ― hope.

He paused, clearly struggling with his emotions. Perhaps the man a few years older than him was merely trying to trick him. Maybe it was the way he wanted to stop him, only to trample him and destroy him after a while, as if he were just a disgusting bug that needed to be disposed of quickly. Perhaps he shouldn't have stopped, he should have just walked away from here as quickly as possible, but something kept him from going. He moistened his lips and, heart pounding, turned back to the man.

Seokjin was already looking at him. There was nothing hostile in his gaze, however. On the contrary, the man looked as if he were silently asking him to stay and listen to him. His silhouette didn't seem as intimidating now as it had when he first saw him. He instinctively moistened his lips, feeling his mouth dry with nerves.

"Does it even matter?" he answered the question with a question.

His voice sounded remarkably confident, almost impassive, despite the fact that inside he felt a rising storm of feelings and emotions. Jeongguk's brother took a few steps forward, closing the distance between them. As he did so, he involuntarily raised his palms up, as if to show him that he had no bad intentions. Only when he had stopped a few paces in front of him did he lower his arms, letting them fall limply along his body.

"It matters to me," he replied, looking him straight in the eye.

Taehyung watched him silently, still not sure if he should trust him. The man looked sincere, but after what Jeongguk had told him, it was hard to believe that someone who had threatened his own brother suddenly decided to listen to him. His instincts told him he should stay alert. Instinctively, he looked at his son, who was still cradling his head against his chest, then looked back at the businessman.

"You threatened Gguk... and me. Why would I even want to talk to you?" He asked. This time, he omitted titles and honorific terms. He didn't care if the man would be offended by his audacity.

Seokjin clearly tensed at his words, but it was certainly not caused by the informal register of his statements. Perhaps he hoped Jeongguk hadn't told him about their quarrel. He shifted nervously and ran a hand over his short, jet black hair as if he wanted to smooth it again, even though every hair was styled intimidatingly perfectly.

"I was convinced you wanted to hurt him," he finally confessed, betting on the truth. "Gguk is my little brother. I wanted to protect him. I thought you were using him, deceiving him... I didn't think it could be anything more... Only my wife opened my eyes to certain things." That said, Seokjin paused for a moment, as if waiting for his reaction. But the tattoo artist was still silent, as if he still didn't know if he wanted to talk to him. "Gguk doesn't want to talk to me, and you're the only one who can tell me the truth. My brother is getting married in a month and a half with his fiancée, and I don't know if he really wants to. I love him and I don't want him to suffer because of me. I want my brother to be happy."

Taehyung looked away from him, shifting his gaze to the little boy he was still holding in his arms. He stroked the toddler's head, then crouched down and set the boy down to his level.

"Will you go play in the playground?" He asked gently. "You will play a bit and daddy will talk to this nice gentleman, okay?" He added, brushing the fringe away from the boy's eyes with his fingers.

"And Jae can go to the merry-go-round?"

"Sure you can, Little Tiger. Just be careful, so you don't fall, okay? Hold on tight while you spin," he ordered, and the toddler nodded his head vigorously.

Taehyung leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his son's head, then smiled at him. Even though he was not looking at the older man, he could feel his watchful gaze on him, which did not leave his body even for a split second.

"Go, Tiger. Daddy's gonna be waiting for you here, okay?" He added, and when the little one nodded again, he straightened up.

Jae almost immediately ran towards the playground, where the carousel he wanted to go was located, when Seokjin appeared. The tattoo artist followed his son with his eyes until the little one scrambled onto the merry-go-round. Only then did he look again at the elegant man who stood only a few steps away from him. He still wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but since he had lost Jeongguk, now he had nothing to lose.

"Why don't we sit down?" He asked, pointing to a nearby wall.

Seokjin followed his hand, but despite his elegant clothes, he did not protest, merely nodded his head and followed in his footsteps. Taehyung was the first to sit down, not worried that he might get his clothes dirty. As soon as he put his buttocks on the little wall, his right hand slipped into the pocket of his leather jacket to find a small box in it. As he was taking out a pack of cigarettes, Seokjin approached the wall, then sat down uncertainly next to him.

Almost immediately, his gaze went to the man's tattooed hands, and he was surprised to see that they were trembling slightly, as if the boy was nervous. It surprised him. Until now, it had seemed to him that Taehyung was a tough bastard who threatened their family, and he did not allow any other option to come to mind. Today he saw him from a completely different angle. First, he was surprised by his caring nature and tenderness towards his son, and now this. Was he really so wrong about him?

"Won't you mind if I smoke?" The tattoo artist suddenly asked, breaking him out of this strange trance, but before he could answer, the cigarette had already passed between the slightly chapped lips of the redheaded man.

Taehyung covered the cigarette with his hands and set it on fire, after a while he took a deep drag. They sat in complete silence for a long moment, only a dozen centimeters apart from each other. Close enough to feel a certain intimacy of the moment, but at the same time far enough so that their bodies do not even accidentally touch each other. The tattoo artist stared at his own hands, holding the burned cigarette, then finally brought it back to his mouth and injected another dose of nicotine into his lungs. He spoke only when a gray cloud of smoke began to escape from slightly parted lips, hovering for a moment above his head.

"The first time I saw him, I thought he was probably one of those rich dudes who almost shit with money and for whom everything in life is easy. He seemed so confident. It irritated me, but to be honest... there was something damn intriguing about his gaze. Some depth. Something that told me there might be more to him than just a pretty face and a stuffed wallet. Back then, I didn't even know who he was. His last name didn't matter. It was enough, however, that I talked to him for a moment and I knew that I was terribly wrong in judging him like that. I noticed that underneath this whole rich guy's facade in a designer suit, there's something much better. Something that perhaps no one had discovered before... And I knew that I would like to be the one who slowly deprives him of those protective layers that surround him every day. I wanted to be the one who would be able to discover him. Layer by layer. It was enough to spend a moment with him for me to know that this beautiful face also hides a beautiful interior. And although I was well aware from the beginning that we are from two different worlds, I couldn't help myself. I was like that moth that flies to the fire, although it knows it will burn anyway. His light was worth the risk. And every day he proved to me that I was right."

Taehyung paused for a moment and raised the cigarette to his mouth again. He took his time. He inhaled slowly, holding the smoke in his lungs for a long time, finally letting it slip through his slightly parted lips, which he then moistened with his tongue as if he were picking up the taste of his kisses.

"When I kissed him for the first time, I knew that it was these lips that I would like to kiss for the rest of my days. The world slowed down and everything else was gone. There was only him — the boy who trembled in my arms as he returned my kiss with such determination as if his life depended on it. And then in an instant everything fell apart..." That said, Taehyung snorted gently under his breath at the memory.

At the time, he had thought it was over, unaware that the end would not come until a few months later.

And it's gonna be fucking spectacular.

"When he told me he was engaged that night, I couldn't believe it. He had proposed to Lisa a few days earlier. I couldn't understand how someone happily in love could kiss me like that. I thought the world had mocked me by putting him in my way a few days after he had promised to spend his life with someone else. It was only after a long time that I found out that Gguk had never been with a man before, and I understood why he had been so damn lost before," he continued.

He didn't know if he was doing the right thing to tell the stranger all of this, but he knew that perhaps Jeongguk would never have the courage to talk about it, and he wanted Seokjin to understand his brother's behavior. He hoped that maybe then he would show him the support Gguk needed so badly.

"At first we tried to keep our relationship in the sphere of friendship, but the more time we spent together, the harder it was to keep our distance. What we had in common was much more than good sex. I wanted him to be a part of my life. Part of my family."

The tattoo artist paused again, feeling his emotions begin to tighten an invisible noose around his throat. He brushed the ash off the tip of the cigarette and lifted it to his mouth. Sliding it between his lips, he took a strong puff, briefly shifting his gaze to his son. Jae was sitting on the carousel and laughing out loud as a girl older than him was making the carousel move. He felt strangely nostalgic at the fact that less than a month ago, he, Jeongguk and Jae had been forming a happy family.

"I don't know when I fell in love with him," he confessed before he knew what he was really saying.

Seokjin looked at him for the first time since they had sat down. But he didn't dare to look at him. He didn't even know why he was telling him about it. He did not like and could not lie, but he was not one to confide easily. Rarely did he open up so much to a stranger, especially when talking about his feelings.

"Just one day, when we were sitting together in my apartment, in my art studio, and I was watching Gguk draw... I knew that I would like my every day to be like that. I wanted to be able to hold him in my arms until the end of the world and a day longer."

"G-guk draws?" Seokjin asked in surprise, speaking for the first time since they had sat down here.

"If you could only see how. I'm an artist myself, but I've never seen anyone have more talent than he has," the tattoo artist replied, looking him straight in the eye.

"I-I haven't seen Gguk draw in almost ten years..." he explained, still not believing what he had just learned. "Gguk hasn't drawn since..." He trailed off, as if realizing he might have said too much.

"Since the accident in which your mother died," Kim finished for him.

The businessman's eyes grew even larger, and his lips parted slightly in surprise. He definitely hadn't expected this. He knew Jeongguk had not spoken to anyone about the accident. It was almost a taboo in their family. They didn't talk about it, didn't mention it, as if the fact that they wouldn't talk about it might make it never happen.

"Gguk told you about this accident?" He asked, genuinely surprised.

"He still hasn't come to terms with it, and he is still having a hard time because of it. He thinks this accident is his fault. He feels guilty of what happened."

"He was a child. He had no influence on what happened then. It was a drunk driver who killed our mother, not him. He himself barely survived the accident."

"Does your father think so too?"

"What do you mean?"

Taehyung moistened his lips, then took another puff and quickly extinguished his cigarette, pressing the glowing tip against the wall. His hands, however, almost immediately reached for the package again. He took out one cigarette and twirled it briefly in his long fingers, as if wondering if he should continue the conversation. Eventually, however, he slipped a cigarette between his lips and set it on fire. He took it out of his mouth and looked with his onyx irises at the businessman sitting next to him.

"Jeongguk thinks your father blames him for what happened. He said he doesn't even look at him... I think that's why he has been doing what your father wants for so many years, even if it's not what he wants to do. He wants to make it up to him for what happened. But because of it all, he forgot that he too has a right to be happy. And I wanted him to be happy... And for a crazy brief moment, I really thought that I could be the one who would give him that happiness."

"So why did you break up? If you wanted him to be happy... Why did you leave him?"

Seokjin did not know why this scenario had occurred to him. When he argued with Jeongguk, the brunet only told him that he and Taehyung had broken up. There was something in his voice, however, that he was almost convinced that it was not what his brother wanted. Perhaps that's why he thought it was Kim who ended their relationship. Now, however, as he listened to what the man was saying to him, he did not understand his decision. If he loved his brother, why would he give up on him?

"Jeongguk... He wanted to break off his engagement and quit his job at TJE," he confessed, then quickly raised his hand to his mouth to take a puff on his cigarette.

Seokjin saw his hand tremble slightly, as if what he was talking about still evoked a lot of emotion. Intrigued, he looked from his hand to his face. He had to admit the boy was really handsome. Up close, he seemed even more attractive. His skin had an amazing, delicately caramel color, as if the sun had fallen in love with him so much that it only wanted to caress his skin. Soft lips, gently chapped now, cupped the cigarette, while dark eyes framed by a curtain of black eyelashes stared straight ahead. He had never felt same-sex attraction, but he could understand why Kim had fascinated his brother. The boy was really beautiful.

"After your quarrel... After what you told him... He said that if he becomes involved with a man, he will bring disgrace to your family, by following his own happiness, he will destroy everything his family worked for. The next morning I found wedding rings, and when I asked him about it... He said he and Lisa were getting married in two months... At first I tried to convince him not to. He doesn't love Lisa, so it's pure madness, but he still tries to make it up to his father for what happened ten years ago, and he thinks it's the only right solution. Besides, I think he's trying to protect me..."

"Protect you?" Seokjin repeated. "From what?" He asked before he could bite his tongue.

As soon as the words rolled from his lips, he cursed himself for the thought that crept into his head - a flash drive.

Perhaps Jeongguk was trying to protect him, because he knew the boy had stolen the flash drive. Once they broke up and Taehyung stepped back, it would have been harder to find him. Especially since Seokjin himself destroyed most of the evidence that linked the young man to their company's office building. It was his first thought, and he was almost sure it was true, but the red-haired man told him something he had not considered before.

"I didn't steal that flash drive and had nothing to do with it, but if you called the police, and they got interested in me... I could have serious problems," he confessed without hesitating, and Seokjin drew his perfect eyebrows together, not sure what it had to do with the theft at TJE's headquarters, and what else this boy may have on his conscience. "I'm a tattoo artist," the redhead explained after a moment. "As you can guess, I do not have the required education, so what I do is illegal under our law. If the police started to take an interest in me, they would find out quickly what I'm doing for a living. I'm raising Jae alone. His mother left us when he was a few months old. I'm trying to be the best father for him. I want him to have a happy childhood, despite the fact that he has an incomplete family. However, if the police had notified social services, it would have been irrelevant. They could take him away from me... And Jeongguk would hate the thought of having my son taken from me because of my relationship with him. He thinks marrying Lisa is the best way to protect his family and me. He thinks it's the only way to go. If I could, I'd like to spend the rest of my life with him. I would like to stand by his side and support him, but I cannot watch the boy I love getting married to someone else, so..." Taehyung instinctively shrugged, then lifted a trembling hand to his mouth and took a heavy drag on his half-smoked cigarette, once again holding the smoke in his lungs for as long as only he was able to. "I had to let him go..." he whispered, blowing smoke from his lungs through his slightly parted lips. "Even though it's probably the hardest thing I've had to do so far..."

"Taehyung... I'm sorry. If I knew..." Seokjin choked out with difficulty. "I'm a father myself. If anyone wanted to take Yoo away from me..." He trailed off, not knowing how to put into words such a horrible thought. "I didn't call the police," he said, looking the younger man straight in the eye. "And it doesn't matter if you stole that flash drive. Nobody will know about you. You and your son are safe," he assured. "Besides, I deleted that video from my father's office where..." He trailed off, a bit embarrassed with the fact that he saw Taehyung and his brother having sex in their father's study. "Nobody will tie you to TJE."

"Thank you. I know it was so reckless... Jeongguk wanted to show me the view from the roof of your office building. I should have been smarter and not let him go in there, but I let myself get lost in him and for a moment I forgot that we belong to two different worlds. I wanted so much to be part of his world."

Taehyung fell silent again. He stared at his worn sneakers for a moment. He should have known right from the start that he wasn't part of their world. He was just a goofy moth that became fascinated by the light of an unknown boy and in effect allowed his fire to engulf it and destroy it.

"Jeongguk is like the light I wanted so much in my life, and I clung to that light like a moth, even though I knew it was probably going to end this way, but I wanted so much to get closer to him. At least for this brief moment. And if I had to do it again, knowing what I know now, I would do it again. Because then, for this short moment, I really wanted to live. Nothing makes sense without him."

"Do you love him?" Seokjin asked. "I mean... Do you still love him?"

Taehyung snorted involuntarily at his question, then, laughing gently, raised his hand to his mouth and took a last drag on his cigarette while shaking his head in disbelief. He stubbed out his cigarette, squashing it on the wall beside him, and looked at the man next to him.

"For several dozen minutes, I have been telling you about our relationship, and you are asking if I love him?" He asked, amused.

"Then why don't you tell him? If Jeongguk knew, he would definitely..."

"Jeongguk knows how I feel about him," the tattoo artist said, cutting him off. "I wanted to keep him, so I told him the whole truth. I bared my whole self to him. I told him that I loved him and that I was hoping we would be a family. Me, him and Jae. But he..." The redhead moistened his chapped lips, then looked away, as if he didn't want Seokjin to see how hurt he was. "I-I'm not so sure if he loves me too..." he whispered, his voice barely audible.

Seokjin was surprised by his words. He was pretty sure his brother loved this man. As Yerim told him about her observations regarding his brother's relationship with Lisa, he realized that the first time he saw Jeongguk with this man, his brother was laughing. He hadn't heard his sonorous laugh in nearly ten years. This boy made his brother happy. He was not sure about the redhead's feelings towards his brother then, but listening to him, he knew ― the boy's only fault was that he fell in love with his brother.

"But I know your brother doesn't love Lisa. If he marries her, he'll be unhappy. If you really care about his happiness, you should stop him."

"Then come with me," Seokjin suddenly suggested, rising from his seat. "If you talk to him, if you will tell him your feelings..."

"I already showed him my cards. He knows how I feel about him." Telling that, he stood up as well, then adjusted his leather jacket. "I'd be lying if I said I don't look over my shoulder whenever I'm at a place where we used to be together. All the time, I hope to see him again one time I turn. I don't want anything more than to be able to hold him in my arms again and make him finally be able to be himself and taste true happiness, but that's not my decision anymore... I don't want Jeongguk to choose me because he feels forced to do this... I want him to do it because he really loves me. You can't force someone to love you. It's not my decision anymore..."

"Jeongguk is holding a grudge because of what I did. He doesn't even want to talk to me, how do I get to him?" Jin said clearly lost. He ran a hand through his jet-black, shiny hair and looked at the red-haired man standing in front of him. "How can I stop him from making the mistake of life when he doesn't even want to talk to me?"

"Show him you'll be there to support him regardless of whom he decides to love," saying that, he held out his hand in front of him. "It was nice to finally meet you, Seokjin."

Jeon looked at the tattoo artist's hand extended towards him, then shook it firmly. He hoped their conversation would end differently, but nevertheless, he was grateful that the boy trusted him so much and told him about his relationship with his brother.

"I hope this isn't our last meeting, Taehyung," he said sincerely.

The tattoo artist smiled gently, then bowed respectfully to him and walked towards the playground where his little son was playing. Seokjin watched him go. The man approached the merry-go-round and called his son, and the little boy ran straight into his protective arms. Jeon stood still for a long time, watching the silhouette of the man who was leading the four-year-old boy by the hand, until they finally disappeared from his line of sight.

***

Yerim parked the car in the garage, then walked around it and began unloading recently purchased groceries from the trunk, while Yoo shuffled around anxiously beside her. The little one was still wearing the ballet outfit she wore for her classes. Her dark hair was braided in a loose braid. Lowered the tailgate, Yerim placed her hand on her daughter's head, and together they started to exit the garage. The woman watched the door lowered for a moment, and when she was sure that it was well closed, she grabbed her daughter's hand and headed towards the house.

She saw her husband's car in the driveway, which surprised her a bit, since Seokjin usually returned later. His early returns home had been unusual, and in the last few days, it wasn't a good sign. Without saying anything so as not to upset her daughter, she crossed the well-kept lawn and approached the door of their house.

As she entered the door, she was greeted by silence, and the house was plunged in twilight. She headed straight for the kitchen. Turning on the light with her left hand, she walked towards the kitchen island to put her groceries on the counter. Throwing the car and apartment keys into the little bowl they used to keep such things in, she turned to her daughter. Almost instinctively, she tucked a long, unruly strand of her dark hair behind her ear and smiled gently at her.

"Go change, honey, and wash your hands. We're about to make something delicious for dinner, huh?" She suggested, and the girl quickly nodded, and after a while she ran out of the kitchen and started climbing the stairs, heading towards her room.

Yerim watched her daughter as she started toward the living room. As she passed the hall, she slipped off her black stilettos and slipped on the soft slippers Yoo had given her for her name day two months ago. Even though the house was silent and there was no light anywhere, she made her way almost involuntarily towards the living room.

When she saw the outline of the man sitting on the couch, she sighed, pausing at the threshold of the living room. She leaned her arm against the door frame and studied her husband's profile for a moment. Seokjin was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice her presence. Only when her slender hand found its way to the light switch, flooding the living room with a cozy yellowish glow, did he lift his head and look at her.

"Why are you sitting here in the dark?" She asked, her voice clearly worried, then she pushed her small body away from the door frame and slowly walked towards him.

"I was just thinking," Seokjin replied. "I didn't even notice that it was already so late."

Yerim approached him so that they were only inches apart, and the soothing scent of her perfume crept into his nostrils, making his tense muscles relaxed immediately. As the woman reached out to run her fingertips down his shaved cheek, he almost involuntarily wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against him. Yerim allowed him to do so, and he pressed his face against her, resting his cheek on the woman's chiffon-clad belly.

"What's going on, honey?" She asked, running her fingers through his dark hair.

It was so soothing that Seokjin closed his eyes for a few moments, enjoying the caress. It was only after a long moment that he finally moved away from her gently and looked up, finding the gaze of her amber irises.

"I met him," he confessed. "I was in this park today, and finally I met him."

"Tae?" She asked quickly, then sat down on the couch next to her husband. She studied his face, expecting to see joy, or at least relief, on it, but saw nothing of it. So she pinched her eyebrows together, not knowing what to think. "It's... It's good, isn't it? You talked with him?"

"You were right, Yeri. From the beginning. You were right..." he admitted sadly. "This boy really loves Jeongguk. If you had heard him talk about him..."

"Did he tell you why they broke up? If they love each other..."

"It's my fault. All of us. Gguk... I think he is afraid that if he gets involved with a man, everyone will turn away from him... I said to him so many horrible things. I don't even know if he will ever be able to forgive me for what I did."

"Honey, this is your little brother. He loves you as much as you love him. You have to talk to each other honestly, and then everything will work out."

"I just hope it's not too late to fix it all," he confessed after a moment of silence, his lips curving into a pale smile.

***

Jeongguk ran his hand through his dark hair and looked again at the straight letters with which he had just streaked out a small piece of paper. A loud sigh escaped his lips as he realized his list was over. It was less than five weeks until the wedding, and they still hadn't sent out invitations, so Lisa had him write down a list of people he wanted to invite for this special day.

So he finished going through the papers for tomorrow's meeting, then took out a piece of paper and began writing down the names. It turned out, however, that his list ended after the mention of four people. Four. So many people counted in his life apart from his family. On his list, there were only the names of his two friends ― Jimin and Hoseok, and their life partners.

He was pathetic. He had almost no friends. Everyone he knew were Lisa's friends, and he hated most of them, or they irritated him to the point where he suffered almost physical agony every time he met them. On the other hand, he thought it might as well be a good thing that few people would see his hands tremble as he slips the wedding ring onto the finger of a woman he will never love.

He stared at the almost blank page until the names of his friends began to blur before his eyes. Or maybe he shouldn't invite anyone? Why invite two of the people closest to him to watch him do something they try to dissuade him from? Will Yoongi even want to accompany Jimin and watch the wedding of the man who broke his friend's heart?

He put the pen down on the desk sharply, then snatched the piece of paper from his notebook in frustration and crushed it between his fingers. He threw it at the basket that stood next to the door, but, annoyingly enough, it bounced off its edge and rolled across the floor, stopping almost in the middle of the office.

Jeongguk sighed again, then raised his hand to run his fingers through his short hair. When he felt a sharp pain, he withdrew his hand, hissing loudly. He looked down at his hands. After the events of a few days ago, his hands were all scarred. Jimin and Hoseok took care of him by bandaging his hands, but eventually, after he calmed down a bit, they took him to one of the private clinics anyway. Even though his friend said nothing, he was sure that Jimin paid dearly so that their visit would not be documented anywhere. The media could certainly be interested in the fact that the future CEO of The Jeon Electronics went to the emergency room with his hands cut up a few weeks before his wedding.

As a result, his wounds were re-dressed. Most of them turned out to be quite superficial and rather harmless. The sharp edges of the mirror only cut open his skin, but several wounds required suturing. The surgeon told him that the wounds were likely to scar, but that didn't matter to him anymore. He felt that his inside was so scarred that the bodily wounds were not significant.

Fascinated, he stretched out his left hand, letting his fingertips slide over the bandage that wrapped his hands all the way to his wrists. There will be hardly any trace of these wounds until the wedding, but will the longing for him disappear with them? Will his touch remain on his skin, like the scars that will mark his hands from now on? Will his heart always be as torn as his skin was torn when he let the broken mirror cut into his skin?

"Jeongguk, what happened to you?" A low male voice asked suddenly, and he quickly withdrew his hand and almost involuntarily pulled his white shirt over his hands, as if to hide the bandages even though he knew it was not possible, then turned his face to his brother.

"It's nothing. I was at the gym last week and I broke a mirror by accident," he replied quickly, concealing the truth once again. But he avoided his gaze, fearing Seokjin would pursue him to explain more. Since their quarrel, he avoided being alone with him. He didn't have the strength or the desire to talk to him. "It's nothing. The wounds will heal for the wedding," he added quickly, getting up from the desk. "Do you need anything? Is this about the contract I sent you?" He asked, not wanting to focus his brother's attention on himself.

Seokjin reluctantly tore his eyes from his bandaged hands and moved them to his own. He kept papers in them, but none related to Jeongguk's work. He didn't need his consultation. At least not in matters of business or related to the activities of TJE. It was the first time he had managed to find his brother in the office since his meeting with Tae and be alone with him for a little longer than a few seconds. He wanted to talk to him, but he didn't know how to make the younger one listen. He looked back at his brother's office door still ajar, as if he wondered if he should back off, then looked at him again. Jeongguk hasn't told him to get out yet, maybe he should take that as a good sign? He shifted nervously from foot to foot, then looked down at his hands again.

"Yes," he lied, clearing his throat. "I just looked at the contract and... I have a few questions," he added quickly.

His hands tightened on the documents he held, hoping that Jeongguk would not realize that he was not holding the contracts he had prepared in his hands and would let him say what had been weighing very heavily on his heart for several days.

To his satisfaction, Jeongguk nevertheless motioned for him to go inside. So he took a step forward and carefully closed the door behind him, exhaling with relief the air he'd been holding back. His younger brother turned sideways to him and began picking up the papers from the desk that were scattered on his desk. Seokjin stared at his bandaged hands for a moment. Bandages covered his hands, hiding his wrists as well. For a moment he wondered if the "accident" with the mirror his brother had mentioned was in fact just an accident, but he decided not to bring it up anymore.

He noticed that there was a certain uncertainty in his movements, nervousness, as if the boy's thoughts were somewhere far away. His face was as beautiful as ever, but his lips were pressed tightly into a thin line, devoid of even the slightest smile, eyes expressionless, dimmed. Even though he was dressed in one of his well-cut suits, the jet black hair was combed back smoothly, almost like a shadow of himself. His athletic body so far seemed a bit thinner, as if the boy forgot about proper nutrition out of nerves or sadness.

He wondered why he hadn't noticed before that Jeongguk wasn't happy. Taehyung told him that his brother wanted to quit his job at TJE, that he wanted to break off the engagement, so how overwhelmed he must have felt now that, in less than five weeks, he will be standing on a wedding carpet with a woman he doesn't love.

"Well? Didn't you say you had questions?" Jeongguk urged him suddenly, looking at him sidelong. "I'm going to have a wedding suit fitting soon, so I don't have much time," he explained as he put the documents in his briefcase.

As he did so, he looked at his brother again. Seokjin took a few hesitant steps forward and accidentally stepped on a crumpled piece of paper that Jeongguk had tried to aim at the basket a moment ago. The older brother bent down and took the bundle in his hands. Seeing several names on it, he instinctively raised his right eyebrow up and gave the younger one his questioning look. Seeing his gaze, the younger breathed out loudly, then put down the papers and rested his buttocks against his desk, perching gently on it.

"Lisa wants me to write a list of my friends because we have to give the number of invitations today, but my list ended with four names," he admitted reluctantly, then let a loud huff escape from his lips. "Pathetic."

"Gguk, don't say that," Jin quickly protested. "You do not need to have a large group of friends. You have great friends who really love you. These are the people you should have with you on such a day, because they are the ones you want to share your happiness with."

"What's with the contract? Something's wrong?" Jeongguk asked, quickly changing the subject.

He didn't have the strength to pretend to be a happy fiancé today when the mere thought of an impending wedding made his insides twist painfully.

"No," Seokjin replied, taking a few more steps towards his brother. "You did great. As always, to be honest. I wanted to ask you something else..."

Seokjin paused and lowered his gaze to his brother's dark eyes. They were both silent for a moment.

"Actually... I wanted to tell you something," he explained, still not sure how to put into words what he wanted to confess.

Jeongguk frowned, his body tensed involuntarily, making Seokjin feel a growing nervousness as well. He was afraid that if he didn't do something now, his brother would order him to leave again, thwarting another reconciliation attempt and taking away perhaps a last chance to fix everything.

"I talked with Taehyung," he confessed quickly, before Jeongguk could part his lips to ask him to leave the office.

The younger one paled almost immediately. He looked at him with eyes widened with fear and quickly sprang from his desk to cover the distance between them in a few springy steps. Before Seokjin noticed, his brother's bandaged hands tightened tightly on the lapels of his black suit jacket.

"I swear, if you did something to him, or you called the police on him..." the younger one growled through gritted teeth.

His breathing became strangely uneven, and his hands on the lapel of his suit jacket began to tremble. Just the thought that his brother could do something like that made him feel sick. He broke up with Tae because Jeongguk wanted to protect him. The mere thought of his brother being able to find Tae after all and send the police on to him made him feel sick, and for a moment it seemed to him that he was about to slide into a black abyss of despair.

"Gguk, I didn't do anything to him," Seokjin said, however, placing his hands on those of his.

His voice sounded strangely soothing, as if the man was trying to reassure him there was nothing to fear. He glanced up, his eyes lingering to his brother's dark eyes as if to read them if the man was telling the truth. His hands, however, still gripped the lapel of his suit jacket tightly, causing an almost throbbing pain in the still unhealed wounds. Jeongguk wasn't sure if such a sudden gesture had ripped the stitches in any of his wounds, but he had no intention of worrying about it now.

"Gguk, he's safe," Jin repeated without taking his eyes from him, and when he felt his brother's grip loosen a bit, he carefully removed his hands from his suit jacket.

Jeongguk took his hands away and straightened, but still didn't take his hostile gaze away from him. His breathing was oddly irregular. Seokjin adjusted his suit jacket on his broad shoulders, then looked at his brother again.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. "I know it won't erase what I've said before and what I've done... But... I'm sorry," he confessed remorsefully. "I know that doesn't explain my behavior, but I was really convinced that he wanted to take advantage of you. It didn't even occur to me that you..."

Jeongguk shifted nervously, as if he didn't know what to do. He couldn't believe what his brother had just confessed. His heart was pounding in his chest so hard he could hear its loud beating in his ears. He couldn't move. He only stood in front of his brother, staring at his sincere gaze and moving lips.

"I deleted this video, and I'm not going to call the police. It doesn't matter if he had anything to do with the theft or not. Nothing will happen to him."

"W-Why did you meet him?" Jeongguk finally choked out with difficulty.

He wanted to pronounce his name because he longed so much for the sound of his name rolling off his lips, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, as if he felt it is enough to make his heart pop out of his clenched chest and run across the town to a man, whom he so longed to see again.

"You didn't want to talk to me, and I had to find out if he really had feelings for you. I had to be sure he didn't want to hurt you."

Jeongguk thought for a moment that he was the only one who had hurt someone. He broke his heart. He knew it. He could see it in his eyes when Taehyung asked him to choose him. And even though his heart broke into a million pieces at the same time, he knew he deserved it.

He parted his lips to ask what Seokjin found out, but restrained himself. He was afraid that his brother might say that Taehyung had started to settle down with someone else, that he no longer thought about him and did not miss him at all.

"I have to go to a fitting," he gasped, then forced his body to take a few steps towards the door.

Seokjin watched him go, surprised that the boy hadn't asked about Tae. Was the redhead right, and his brother did not reciprocate his feelings at all?

Jeongguk approached the door and stretched out his hand, then wrapped his fingers around the doorknob. He knew he should get out of here and not ask questions if he didn't want the heart in his chest to tear into a million pieces again.

"I-is he..." he gasped, but his throat tightened so much that he couldn't finish his question.

"He really loves you, Gguk," Seokjin confessed, and at his words, Jeongguk involuntarily raised his bandaged hand to his mouth and covered it so as to drown out the sob that escaped his lips. "And something tells me that you love him too..." he added, but his brother said nothing. So he took a few steps towards him again and paused at the distance of an outstretched arm. Jeongguk was still standing with his back to him, but he could easily see that his brother's body was trembling. "Jeongguk, your happiness is more important to me than the good name of our family. If you really love this boy, break off your engagement with Lisa. Whatever happens, I'll be by your side."

***

Ayashee:

And finally, the moment most of us have been waiting for has come: an honest conversation between Tae and Jeongguk's brother and the confrontation of the Jeon brothers. What are your impressions?

Is Taehyung right to think that now it is only up to Jeongguk how their fate will unfold? Is it true that if you love someone, you should let them go?

Jeongguk knows Taehyung still loves him, and now he also knows that he has a brother on his side, will it give him the courage to fight for his happiness?

xoxo