HOUSE OF CARDS || VKOOK

Chapter 21: I want it, I got it

"Can I come in?"

Taehyung's raised his head after averting his eyes from the computer screen and saw his elder brother peeking behind the door with a dimpled smile. Taehyung sighed and gazed down at the screen again.

"you're already in, NJ," Taehyung mumbled but it was loud enough for Namjoon to hear. The said guy chuckled and entered his brother's office.

"Still has this attitude, huh? You haven't changed at all." Namjoon commented while strolling forward before whirling the leather chair backward to make room for himself and set down.

"I've changed more than you could imagine, Hyung. Just, no one has ever paid enough attention to notice." Taehyung let out with a bitter chuckle, his fingers doing their work over the keyboard as his eyes never moved from the computer screen. "Anyway, why are you here?" He asked right after, it wasn't rude or harsh, just a plain question out of curiosity. And also because he doesn't want to stick to that topic and just move on.

He does not want to talk about it.

Namjoon who was confused by his brother's statement, blinked his eyes and ignored it too. Now you see, he's more than willing to listen to his brother's side of the story and sentiments but he's not a pusher also. If Taehyung doesn't want to talk about it, he won't force him to.

So, Namjoon sighed and put on a dimpled smile yet again before he placed something wrapped in a maroon paper over Taehyung's desk that he was holding the whole time. "Hyung went to Miami for a few days and he has bought some few things for me and you too. He requested me to deliver it to you." Namjoon said as he pushed the package closer to Taehyung who stared at it without any emotions.

"Wow, so he bought this shit for me but doesn't even have the guts to come and give it to me on his own?" Taehyung asserted with disbelief, eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance, and the corner of his lips tilted upward into a bitter smile.

"Taehyung, he's our older brother. Don't speak of him like that." Namjoon lightly scolded the younger for disrespecting his brother's gift like that.

Taehyung scoffed and chuckled blandly, "Brother? A Brother who visits us once or twice in a fucking year." Taehyung grumbles out while he fondles the packaging of the 'gift' his brother has sent for him.

"Come on, Taehyung. You know how he is." Namjoon tried to reason, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Yeah, What a family I have. A brother who's too busy to visit. A father who only pushes me to be a perfect son and handle his fucking business. A husband who—" Taehyung paused and gritted his teeth, restraining himself from speaking further. He doesn't want to belittle himself in front of his brother. He doesn't want anyone to pity him.

Taehyung shook his head and decided to open the wrapper of the gift instead. As soon as he ripped open the maroon paper, a small chit came into the view. He holds the delicate paper between his slender fingers and reads it (in his mind).

'A small gift from your brother as an apology for not meeting you often. Hope it'll come in handy xoxo. P.S: And stop fucking include me in your made-up stories.'

Taehyung rolled his eyes and scrunched the paper and threw it into the trash bin after reading it.

"What did it say?" Namjoon asked after patiently waiting for his brother to read the chit.

"Nothing that will overwhelm me with bundles of emotions and make me wanna cry," Taehyung let out in a sarcastic tone. He scoffed and shook his head in disbelief when he saw what his brother has sent for him.

"He sent me a book about 'How to get out of a toxic marriage.'" Taehyung reads the book name out loud with a blank face before throwing the book over his desk and it lands over the wooden surface with a loud slam, "Fucking unbelievable."