banana milk; kv ✓

Chapter 38.

"I'm hungry," Mina whined resting her head on the counter whilst Jeongguk and Taehyung rushed to plate food in front of them, "Your cooking is so much better than Eliza's dad, his is so bland,"

"You better have not said that to him," Jeongguk passed her a fork and walked behind her to tie her hair back.

"Of course not, I don't want to get told off by Taehyung after, he's so scary when he's angry," Mina mumbled and spun her fork around. She glanced at Minjoon who was playing with his food with a sad expression and then she glanced at Taehyung.

Jeongguk also stared at Taehyung who was awfully quiet and focusing on cleaning up the kitchen. He looked down when Mina tapped his hand that was around her hair, "What's wrong?"

"Minjoon said he's too tired to eat- he stayed up with his friend all night and day playing so hasn't slept," Mina quietly spoke so that Taehyung wouldn't listen. The boy wasn't paying attention anyway.

"Eat fast and sleep, yeah? You shouldn't have stayed up playing," Jeongguk lightly scolded the boy before taking a seat next to him and picking up the fork, "Let's try and finish this ten minutes," he encouraged the boy who smiled and began to eat eagerly.

His eyes wandered back to Taehyung who took out two different pills and swallowed them down with water. Is he sick?

"Ha, I finished first," Mina jumped off her stool and picked up her plate, she placed it in the sink and ran upstairs without drinking any water which usually Taehyung would tell her off for.

Minjoon ended up finishing shortly after and drank water fast enough so that he could take a nap too.

"Let's get you to bed," Jeongguk picked the boy up in one arm and then placed his dish in the sink too. He gave Taehyung one last glance and then quickly took the sleepy boy up to his bed, "I'm going to your brother, don't lie down straight away or you'll start feeling sick," he placed the boy on the bed and covered him with a duvet.

Minjoon nodded and pointed at his toy car on the floor indicating that he wanted it. Jeongguk picked it up and tucked it in with him before leaving the room too.

Taehyung had just finished washing the dishes and was leaning against the counter on his phone staring at whatever was on there.

"Tae, are you okay?" Jeongguk startled the boy how almost dropped his phone but luckily caught it.

"Yeah I'm just tired," Taehyung's voice sounded rough as he had been crying.

"Do you want to go to sleep now? You should take the day off tomorrow," Jeongguk softly told the boy who shook his head.

"I'm waiting for my dad, he text me saying he's coming home soon and has some important news," Taehyung nibbled on his bottom lips, "Can you stay with me when he tells me?" He finally looked up at Jeongguk.

"Of course," He brushed away the long strands of hair on Taehyung's face, "Do you still want to sleep with me?" He asked the boy who nodded and invited himself into Jeongguk's arms.

"I'm scared, I don't know what he's gonna tell me," Taehyung's voice was muffled against Jeongguk's chest, his breathing was heavy too but he couldn't tell if it was because he was panicking or because Jeongguk was squeezing him hard.

"I'll make sure you're fine, don't worry," Jeongguk rubbed circles against his back. They hugged in silence for a few minutes until they pulled away when the door unlocked.

Taehyung wiped his eyes and froze as his dad stepped inside. He analysed him first to see if he was drunk, but the stable walk and concerned face pointed towards no.