Indebted...

Part-7

Jungkook's pov

"Hello, prince," said Dal, his mouth curling ever so slightly. His smile often held a mocking tint, but fortunately not when he looked at me.

As a child, I'd automatically accepted the presence of my father's other personalities-or alters, as they were referred to. I'd played games with young Hye. I'd baked cookies with the very maternal Moon. I'd hidden behind Dal while he yelled at whoever had upset papa or me,
which was often my mother. And I hadn't thought anything of it-it had been the norm to me. Until I went to live with Ma-ri and Whan.

They'd educated me on Dissociative Identity Disorder-or DID-so I knew enough about it to understand that I had no need to be afraid. They were his protectors, in a sense. They'd developed to help him deal with the horrific abuse he'd suffered as a child when he'd tried dissociating from it, and they'd made it possible for him to survive it.

There were three "people" inside papa's system-Hye, who was eight, Moon, who was forty, and Dal, who was thirty-five. Unlike with some cases of DID, they internally interacted with each other. They even had a sort of co-consciousness, which meant that although only one alter would be dominant at a time, the others would be aware of what was going on. It seemed to make things less confusing for them.

Dal tipped his chin toward Taehyung. "So this is the guy you talked about, huh?"

I nodded. "This is the guy."

Dal studied his face. "He didn't tell you about me," he correctly guessed. He sliced his gaze back to me. "What about Hye? Moon? You kept us all a secret?" He tutted. "That's not nice."

"Yeah, well, neither are you a lot of the time."

He snickered. "I'm never nice, prince."

Dal wasn't cruel or evil, but he had a "don't fuck with me" attitude and was aggressively protective. He could be violent to those he considered a threat-I'd witnessed it firsthand.

I turned to Taehyung. "You should go." Dal could be weird if he felt he had to compete for my attention. Perhaps because he didn't surface often, and I was the only person he liked to interact with.

A mocking smile curved Dal's mouth as he stared at my boss, who hadn't moved an inch. "Aw, he doesn't want to go. He's worried I'll hurt you. How sweet."

"I'll be fine," I told Taehyung.

"I believe you." He leaned against the doorjamb, making it clear he wasn't going anywhere.

For fuck's sake. "You really should go." But he didn't.

Dal laughed. "Looks like you won't be able to push this one around."

Annoyance fluttered through me. The thing was ... I had to veil that annoyance, otherwise Dal would jump to my defense and toss Taehyung out.

Dal looked at me as I took the seat opposite him. "Hye texted you?" It wasn't really a question.

"He thought papa would need me," I said.

"He did. He was a wreck." Dal's upper lip curled. "I don't know why he lets the memories of that bitch get to him so much. She was nothing but a worthless fucking skank."

"Agreed."

"Chungha was the same," he said, referring to my mother. "The only thing she was ever good at was fucking with his head. I'd say she eventually learned her lesson." Oh, Dal had taught her a lesson all right.

He turned back to me and gestured at Taehyung. "What about this guy? He good to you?"

"I wouldn't be dating him if he wasn't," I carefully answered.