An Extra Beat of Love

39. Rest or imprisonment?

"OPPAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Hana ran to the door the second she heard a car pull up outside the house. Her grandparents had hyped her up the whole morning by telling her that Taehyung was going to return that day, and she literally couldn't sit still.

With a gasp, Jeongguk ran forward to grab her and pick her up before she ran into Taehyung, knowing Taehyung would definitely not stop her from knocking the air out of his lungs.

"Hana, what did I say about running into people??" he scolded her lightly, making her whine. "No, no, baby, he isn't scolding you, he is just saying," Taehyung said as he walked in behind Jeongguk with a grin.

However, before Hana could get a response out of her mouth, Jihyo began to fuss over Taehyung. "Jiji, let him at least come in," Jaewan interrupted her, making Jeongguk chuckle.

"Oh my god, yeah, yeah, come and sit," she said, grabbing his wrist and dragging him into the living room gently. "It's okay, Ajeomma," Taehyung chuckled as well and turned back to look at Jeongguk for help.

Jeongguk, however, did not rescue him. He was enjoying the drama a little too much. He simply plopped down on the couch, next to Taehyung, with Hana on his lap. Jaewan settled down as well, and Jihyo had no option but to settle down next to him.

"Umm..." Taehyung started after a couple of minutes of happy silence. "Thank you so much for your support....all of you...I would not have been living if not for you," he whispered, not wanting to tear up in front of Hana.

When he had heard Seojoon thank Jeongguk for his generosity, he had figured out that Jeongguk had actually paid for his surgery and that the whole 'free-treatment' was a huge lie. To confirm his doubts, he had even asked Yoongi, who he knew was Jeongguk's secretary, about when their company had invested in the hospital.

"Ours is a software company, Taehyung. Hospitals are totally out of our league. We would invest in start-up companies in the software field if we wanted to. Not hospitals. Why, though?" had been Yoongi's words.

"Just like that," Taehyung had brushed it off back then, but it had him thinking. Was Jeongguk really that willing to help Taehyung? Did he really love him that much?

Of course, he had been furious at first and had not even talked to Jeongguk for a few hours, but Jeongguk had thought Taehyung just wasn't feeling well at the moment.

However, he had had enough time to actually think about it. He had recalled all those words that Jeongguk had uttered a few weeks ago when he had proposed to Taehyung.

"I am thinking of going a step forward and making you a member of my family because of how comfortable my daughter is with you and how happy I am with you, even though it is too early to even think about it."

"You can think of it as an arranged marriage too if you want. You know....like those people who marry first and fall in love next....I think you are gonna be perfect in my life. And we are already a step closer to loving each other, so I don't see why I shouldn't be considering you as a life partner."

"I love you, hyung."

They had already climbed that step, so how far away was the next step? Would it be that hard to just accept his help if he really was going to end up living his entire life with him? Would it be that hard if Jeongguk was soon going to be his? He gave it a lot of thinking before coming to the conclusion that he was supposed to be grateful and not angry.

"Nonsense," Jeongguk said, but Jaewan cut him off.

"We tried to help your mom too, Taehyung. This is the least we can do for you. Don't thank us," he said. He wanted to talk more about how Taehyung almost completed Jeongguk's little family, but he didn't want to assume things and blurt stuff out if the two of them weren't thinking of taking further steps yet.