Beauty Next Door (vsoo)

[19]

It was past Sunday noon. Taehyung and Hoseok were preparing lunch, though Hoseok was the only one actually cooking while Taehyung played with Rowoon, troublemaking as usual, making Hoseok sigh for what seemed like the nth time.

Finally done with the preparations, Hoseok arranged the dishes on the dining table and called Taehyung and Rowoon, who were giggling over something.

“Samchun is sad, Rowoon. You forget about me when Taehyung is here... Am I not your lovely samchun anymore?” Hoseok asked, pouting cutely, pretending to be upset. Rowoon giggled and ran to hug him, and Hoseok couldn’t help but pick him up in his arms, planting a kiss on his rosy cheeks.

He was too adorable to stay mad at. Hoseok knew it was good for Taehyung to take first place in Rowoon’s heart.

He loved how the two played and acted like a father-son duo. It was like they were a happy family: his stern, strict mom and childish, playful dad.

“I love you, Hobi samchun,” Rowoon whispered cutely before kissing Hoseok’s cheeks. Hoseok smiled brightly, his sunshine smile lighting up his face.

Taehyung smiled too, watching how lucky Rowoon was to have such people around him. They never let him feel the emptiness of not having a dad, or the lack of fatherly love and care.

“I’ll wake Jisoo... I mean, Jisooshi,” Taehyung said, interrupting them, and started to walk toward Jisoo’s room where she was peacefully sleeping due to the pills.

“No... let her sleep, she’s tired. She needs some rest,” Hoseok said, helping Rowoon into his chair before taking a seat himself and gesturing for Taehyung to join them.

“She’s been sleeping since last night, like twelve hours,” Taehyung muttered, frowning slightly. Hoseok served food to Rowoon and himself before averting his gaze back to Taehyung, who was still standing there.

“Aren’t you going to eat? And... don’t worry, I’m a doctor. It’s just the Lorazepam effect; she’s sleeping soundly. If not, she’d just tremble like yesterday... So, no need to worry. We’ve got plenty of things to focus on... The media’s all hyped up about KJ’s CEO anxiety attack and falling into her assistant’s arms. It’s like they couldn’t find a more interesting news story than this,” Hoseok rolled his eyes while scrolling through his phone, reading the headline out loud before mumbling the details to himself, shocked but not surprised, as it wasn’t the first time she’d had an anxiety attack in public.

But Hoseok was genuinely shocked because this was the first time Jisoo had freaked out so badly—especially in none other than Taehyung’s arms. The news outlets and people wouldn’t let it slide. They were already calling it an affair, making all kinds of assumptions. It was a whole mess.

Taehyung instantly pulled out a chair and sat next to Hoseok, leaning in to read the headlines that were splashed in bold letters.

“What now?” Taehyung asked, grabbing Hoseok’s phone to read the details, his brow furrowing as he scanned the comments that were mostly about Jisoo. It made him worry, but Hoseok, as always, seemed unfazed.

Hoseok shook his head, not too bothered by it. He knew this was a minor issue that wouldn’t last long.

“Like every time, Mia will handle it... in a few hours, you won’t see any news about what happened last night,” Hoseok said, grabbing his phone back from Taehyung’s hands. He quickly called Mia, who picked up in a few seconds. She was already working on damage control.

She knew her job well—she’d been working with Jisoo for a long time, and she always knew what to do at the right time.

Taehyung sighed and began serving himself before patting Rowoon’s head, who giggled in response. It caught Hoseok off guard more than the ongoing news.