The One He Tried To Forget | 18+ |

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From the Author: There was an issue with uploading the previous chapter. I had posted it just before boarding a flight and didn't realise that a large portion was missing. It cut off after the part where Yoon Gi said dinner would be ready in 25 minutes, and the rest of the chapter disappeared into the ether. For those of you who don't follow this account, you would not have gotten the notification from my message board that I had corrected the error so you might want to go back and read the chapter again. FYI - WP is aware that some users are having trouble with writing and editing stories on the app and are looking into the issue.

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Hobi and Yoon Gi were still trading verbal jabs with each other as they arranged the bowls of rice and soup on the table when there was a muffled roar. Ji Min paused in the act of putting chopsticks next to a place setting to look down the hallway before turning to the homeowner.

"Hobi? What was that? Do you keep Toothless in your bedroom?"

"What? Haha, no. Of course not," Hobi laughed nervously. "It's probably the neighbours. They have a sick surround sound system, and sometimes I can hear an entire movie when they turn the volume up. It gets quite embarrassing whenever there's a bedroom scene."

They continued with dinner preparations but were soon interrupted again when there was a loud crash followed by Jin's desperate pleas for someone to stop. Hobi immediately dropped the cutlery in his hands and ran down the hall with Ji Min and Yoon Gi hot on his heels. As they reached the open doorway, the three men could hear grunts and the sound of fists hitting flesh with Jin threatening to call the police.

Hobi was the first to burst into the room, and his jaw dropped as he took in the wreckage. The TV was lying drunkenly against the smashed entertainment centre, its flat screen crushed. One of the full-length curtains was ripped from its rod, the lavish material in tatters on the floor.

Jin's duvet had been pulled from his bed and was gathered in a heap by the window, while a heavy table that Jin used to keep his baby's feeding apparatus was lying on its side, nursing bottles and teats strewn everywhere. This must have been the source of the crash that Hobi, Ji Min, and Yoon Gi had heard from the dining area.

The bottle warmer that Jin used at night to warm his baby's milk was resting by a wall, its well cracked and broken. The portable fridge where Jin stored ready-to-use formula had a dent on the front like someone had kicked it in.

The room resembled a decimated town where an EF-4 tornado had passed through, destroying everything in its path and leaving nothing untouched. The scattered petals from the bouquet that Jung Kook had bought for Jin made the whole scene seem incongruent.

The cause of the destruction were still fighting, neither wanting to give in to the other. Jung Kook was already sporting a black eye and a cut on his cheek while Taehyung had a split lip and deep scratches on his neck. It was dizzying to watch the combatants as they continued to exchange blows while moving around the room.

At that moment, Jin saw the three men at his door. He immediately grabbed his baby, who was now wide awake, and held him close to his chest as he tried to make his escape. But then the battling pair got too close as he crouched by a full-length cheval mirror, and Tae Hyung's arm swung out, hitting the frame and cracking the glass.

"Jinnie!" Jung Kook screamed when a big jagged piece broke off and was on a straight trajectory for Jin's back.

He pushed Tae Hyung away as hard as he could and ran to cover Jin with his body. As his arms wrapped around his beloved and their child, he turned at an angle, praying it would be enough to avoid getting seriously hurt. He still felt the sharp edge slicing along his arm on the outside, making him hiss from the pain, but at least the glass was not buried in Jin's body.

"Jin? Jin?! Oh my god!" Tae Hyung gasped, horrified at the sight of so much blood dripping onto the floor.

Meanwhile, movement by the wall alerted Tae Hyung that his brawl with Jung Kook had been witnessed. One man separated himself from the trio by the door and ran to the crouched pair next to the shattered mirror.

"Jung Kook!" Yoon Gi cried.

When he had first come upon the scene behind his friend, the sheer devastation had paralysed him, rendering him unable to move or say anything as he watched his cousin spar with Tae Hyung as though possessed and fighting for his life.

Yoon Gi had followed the clashing men with terrified eyes as they moved around the room, wondering what could have set them both off. But when Jung Kook gave up fighting Tae Hyung to protect Jin and his baby, he realised that Jin was the root cause of it all.

He should have known. Jin was the only person in the world who could rouse such strong and intense emotions in Jung Kook.

Silence fell in the room, punctuated by Jin's whimpering as he trembled in Jung Kook's all-encompassing embrace. Jin could feel his ex's muscular chest flush against his back, and at first he thought he was the only one shaking from the violence that he had been in the middle of but he soon became acutely aware that Jung Kook was also trembling as he mumbled "Jinnie... Jinnie..." over and over into his neck.

The baby in Jin's arms stirred, and suddenly, a loud wailing filled the silence. Jung Kook immediately relaxed his hold and leaned over to peer at the infant.

"Is he okay? Is our baby okay, Jinnie?"

"He's not your baby! Get the fuck away from them!" Tae Hyung roared as he advanced towards Jungkook to pull him off.

"Tae! Tae! Not now," Hobi implored as he wrapped his hands around Tae Hyung's elbow to keep him still. "Stop it, Tae. Please!"

"You don't understand!" Tae Hyung snarled as he turned on Hobi and raised his finger to point at Jung Kook. "That bastard fathered Jin's baby. He's the one who raped Jin!"

Hobi and Ji Min gasped in shock at the revelation while Yoon Gi stumbled to a halt and turned to glare at Tae Hyung, his eyes wild.

"That's a lie! My cousin would never do something so despicable!" Yoon Gi shouted. "Jung Kook would never hurt Jin like that! Never in a million years! He loves Jin!"

"Well, he did! Jin said so himself! Tell him, Jin!" Tae Hyung beseeched the man who was trying to calm the crying baby. "Tell them what you said! Tell them that Jeon Jung Kook is a rapist!"

"Enough!" Ji Min bellowed, shocking everyone in the room. "The baby is crying, and Jin is in shock! Jung Kook is bleeding all over the floor, and we need to stop it before he bleeds to death! We can discuss this afterwards because right now you lot need medical attention!"

"Come, Tae. Let's go to my room, and I'll take care of that lip," Hobi said as he gently pulled Tae Hyung by his sleeve. When he saw Tae Hyung was about to protest, he changed his hold to a firm grip on his wrist and dragged him out.

Jin barely registered Hobi and Tae Hyung leaving because all of his attention was on his baby whom he couldn't seem to get settled. He had gotten up and walked away from Jung Kook while everyone was yelling so he could rock his baby back to sleep but the infant would not be pacified. So intent was he on his child that he didn't even notice Jung Kook shadowing his every movement, a heavy frown on his face as he watched the baby.

"Jin? Jin, let me try," Jung Kook offered.

"What?" Jin asked, seemingly dazed.

Jung Kook's frown deepened when he noticed the pallor on Jin's face, and the slightly glazed look in his eyes. He wondered if Jin was truly in shock as Ji Min pointed out earlier, or if it was his heart because Jin was technically still in recovery. Either way, he needed to get help for both his beloved and their son.

"Let me help you with the baby," Jung Kook said softly as he extended his arms out.

"The baby?" Jin asked in a confused voice before suddenly sinking to the floor.

"Jinnie!"