• M a k t u b : Spirit of the desert • [ Taekook ]

27. Taehyung, accept

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The grace of forgetting and the cruelty of memory were beyond his control. Taehyung was their slave.

Maybe he got a little wiser over time and maybe by some standards he paid more attention to memories than forgetting. He often saw the outlines of that boy with whom he had unprotected sex in his teenage years.

Maybe deep down he could sense what catastrophic consequences it would have now, after a whole decade. He carried that memory inside him for a long time.

Because Kim Taehyung had the bitter taste of youth in his mouth. It was his least happy period. His thought returned to reality when he heard a voice.

- Taehyung?

The man looked up from the hospital tiles and looked at his wife.

- What do you mean you want to be tested? Does that mean you admit you had affairs and that you cheated on me? - the slightly raised tone didn't suit the atmosphere of the quiet hospital.

Taehyung was silent.

He covered his face with his hands again, wanting to find at least a little silence and peace in his head.

Jungkook.

Only the face of that man was in front of his eyes at that moment. He was afraid that Marissa would be able to recognize his act.

The man wasn't well, he couldn't accept the fact that his four-year-old son was sick, so if he was the cause of it, that would be the limit he couldn't bear.

- Marissa... please, just shut up. - he said that, and got up going downstairs. The woman was still standing in front of the department where Tannie was, following the back of her husband, who, it seemed, she didn't even know.

After a few quick and impatient knocks on the doctor's door, Taehyung heard a soft come in.

- Good afternoon. I'm Kim Taehyung, father of Kim Yeontan. I was told that my boy has been diagnosed with HIV, so I want to get tested.

- Of course. - a laborer in a white coat looked at the man and started to take out the necessary equipment for the test.

__________

The married couple was sitting in silence when they heard footsteps down the empty corridor. Both of them stood up, impatient in the apprehension of what news awaited them.

- Kim Taehyung and Kim Marissa? - the woman asked as she read the names from the paper in front of her.

Taehyung nodded, when his wife answered loudly in the affirmative.

- You are both negative. You do not have HIV infection nor AIDS. - Taehyung would be lying if he said he was relieved.

He was not.

Because how was it even possible for a four-year-old child to get infected? All kinds of thoughts came to his mind.

He quickly looked into Marissa's crying eyes and when the nurse left he immediately addressed her.

- Fuck Marissa... you attacked me for having affairs, and you? Are you sure Tannie is even mine?

Slap.

It came quite unexpectedly. Quite clearly now he was on his own. Honesty also had a dubious side. He knew that Marissa didn't have anyone, but what she didn't know was that he had someone.

The price of honesty and reaching her limits was high.

But Taehyung knew once he got to truth, everything would be easier. Once he mastered it, honesty would be lighter than his soul which was heavy as lead.