The One He Tried To Forget | 18+ |

35

The next morning, Jung Kook was awoken by a set of beeps. He groaned and closed his eyes as he began fumbling for the pager that he typically clipped to his waistband when he slept in the on-call room at the hospital but then he remembered that he wasn't at work and the beeping was coming from somewhere else.

He opened his eyes once more and when his vision adjusted, he realized that he wasn't in his own bed either. As the sleep fog lifted from his brain, he recalled that he had stayed the night at Hobi's with Yoon Gi and Ji Min. The homeowner had suggested it when they realised how late it had gotten as they talked into the night.

A soft snoring pulled Jung Kook out of his reverie. He looked over and noticed his cousin sleeping next to him on the pull-out bed. However, Yoon Gi's husband was nowhere in sight. Jung Kook wondered if Ji Min was in the guest room with Jin and the baby. The man had mentioned that he wanted to be close by in case Jin woke up and needed his help or had another nightmare.

Tae Hyung had spent the night as well, Jung Kook remembered with a grimace, but he did not sleep in the living room with Jung Kook and Yoon Gi which was just as well considering the hostility between them. Instead, Tae Hyung had slept in Hobi's room which was fine by Jung Kook because it meant the man was nowhere near Jin.

Jung Kook sat up and reached over to the coffee table for his phone to check the time. He deliberated if it was too early to go into the guest room to look at the baby. Last night was such chaos that he didn't have as much time as he would have liked to hold his son and look at him properly. He wanted to commit his face to memory in case he never got to see him again. In all likelihood, his cousin might take that privilege away from him.

Yoon Gi had pulled Jung Kook aside when the discussion broke up last night and everyone went off to make preparations for bed. The older man had basically told Jung Kook that if he did indeed assault Jin, he would see to it that Jung Kook paid the price even though they were blood-related because he had promised on the graves of Jung Kook's parents that he would raise their son well.

The disappointment in the older man's eyes had almost broken Jung Kook, and he had come close to confessing there and then but he bit his tongue at the last moment because he wanted another chance to speak to Jin; to beg for his forgiveness, and to ask if there was any way that they could salvage their relationship. They had a child together now, and Jung Kook never stopped loving Jin despite his previous claims that he no longer cared for him.

Another set of beeps sounded nearby, followed by the hush of steam releasing, then a click. Not long after, the scent of freshly brewed coffee filled the air, and Jung Kook realised that it was Hobi's automatic coffeemaker that had woken him up earlier. He pushed himself off the sofa and padded into the open kitchen, intent on getting some caffeine inside him before everyone else woke up.

When he reached for a mug on the drying rack, he noticed a neat row of baby bottles at the side. It immediately reminded him of the carnage that he and Tae Hyung had caused in Jin's room last night. Hobi or perhaps Ji Min must have retrieved the bottles and washed them some time after everyone slept so Jin would have clean accessories when the baby got hungry.

Guilt immediately enveloped Jung Kook as he thought of how he created a new life with his beloved, and the part he played in triggering bad memories for him last night. How could he ever hope to reconcile with Jin at this rate? Retribution was coming for Jung Kook, and though he knew that he deserved it, he hoped he would have time to ask for Jin's forgiveness and a chance to try again.

That was when an idea came to mind and he immediately abandoned his plan for morning coffee. Instead, he marched down the hall and entered Jin's bedroom. He stood in the middle of the destruction and took stock of everything that was broken and destroyed.