A SMILE IN THE MIND || VK

8

Jeongguk brought taehyung to his room who was crying a mess. The little one couldn't take his mother's rude words. His heart hurt a lot. No matter how much he tried to change he couldn't be independent. He always needed help. It was not his fault though. He is just the way he is. Sometimes it can be for his own good. 

He hid his face in the crook of Jeongguk's neck, clutching onto his shirt, nowhere close to letting go of him anytime soon. 

On the other side, Jeongguk really felt sad looking at the younger one crying like that. Just when he thought the younger was fine being away from namjoon, the woman had to spoil it. 

Jeongguk sat on his desk chair and let Taehyung straddle him. He was a little weirded out by the position but comforting taehyung was more important. 

He started bouncing taehyung on his legs and hugged him. He chose not to ask him to stop crying. He ran his fingers through his curly hair and slightly massaged his scalp a little, in an attempt to soothe him down. He started to feel his shirt getting wet with all the tears and snort. 

He picked up a few tissues from the desk that he always kept handy. "Tae, look up" He spoke softly, trying not to scare the younger one. Taehyung just hid his face even more into the elder's chest. He was heartbroken. 

"Tae is a good boy. He listens to kookie, doesn't he?" Jeongguk rubbed taehyung's ears gently with his thumb and index fingers. Taehyung just nodded merely into his chest. "Look up, sweetheart," Jeongguk called him. Finally, taehyung looked up at him with his red teary eyes. Jeongguk internally cooed at the sight.

'Didn't we plan to have a movie marathon yesterday? How do we watch if you engage in crying? Ji-ah and I were so excited about it. It's okay. You can cry. We'll watch it some other day." Jeongguk made up a story, trying to distract the younger from the prior scene that happened. He made a sad face with a pout showing that he was really sad. 

Taehyung immediately shook his head "n-nwo. T-taetae wach mwovie twoo!" Taehyung shrieked in little excitement but his tears were still cascading down. "aww, look how cute you are." Jeongguk smiled and wiped his tears and snot with tissues which made him look even redder. 

This situation kinda made Jeongguk even sadder. He never in his life thought that he'd meet someone as innocent as Taehyung. The poor boy instantly overlooked his mom's insults when he was distracted by the movie marathon that he never promised. He wondered how he survived 21 years of his life like this. It was unfair for someone as naive as Taehyung. 

He observed how the younger looked at him with a little ray of hope and happiness in his eyes. He always had that little child-like glee in his eyes. Since the day he joined, he never really questioned why he had to be Taehyung's caregiver. Though he found it really hard to cope with the Job, he eventually started liking it. It was just that he was less expressive about what he felt. 

Days passed by and he took time to understand the little one, from far. His habits, dislikes, likes, his actions. He just found them adorable. If he had to summon, taehyung absolutely doesn't deserve a mom like Bongseon. 

"K-kookie" He was brought out of his trance when heard a faint noise. He jerked a little and looked down at a pair of Bambi eyes that were looking at him innocently, waiting for a reply. "Yes, tae?" 

"Hungwy" the little one pouted fisting and pulling Jeongguk's shirt. Jeongguk just smiled a little, happy that the younger stopped crying. "Alright, we'll get you some food but before that let's freshen you up." Jeongguk lifted him up on his hip and made his way to the younger's bedroom. 

-

Both Jeongguk and taehyung were staring at each other. The younger one was sitting on the bed whilst the other was standing right in front of him.  "Taehyung, c'mon I'll guide you. Listen to kookie." Jeongguk huffed. They've sitting like that for the past 20 minutes debating. Jeongguk discovered that the little one needed help with the bath. It was always namjoon who helped with this. But now in his absence, he was obliged to do that. Taehyung was being bashful at the moment. Not like Jeongguk wasn't shy. If someone could enter his body and look at his soul being red then it's him being shy.