Fading Away | Taekook

29 - Ships

Taehyung can't sleep. Partly because of his afternoon nap and partly because his mind is racing. When he hears Jungkook's soft snoring, he carefully gets up from the bed and tiptoes to the living room.

Jungkook finally spilled everything about Jackson Wang. Taehyung was mildly annoyed that the raven haired boy took so long to put a name to the guy. Given Jackson's position and Taehyung's new contract, the chances of them crossing paths were high, and Jungkook should have warned him.

But arguing wouldn't do any good for the couple, so Taehyung let it slide and directed his anger where it belonged: Jackson. The man who leaked intimate videos of a twenty-year-old boy. The one who orchestrated a plan to humiliate him.

Taehyung concluded that after Jungkook tell him that Jackson had caught him leaving the photo studio the other day, and then himself and the now not-very-accidental collision with him.

On that same day, Taehyung started receiving anonymous texts from various numbers. And in the same week, he received an offer to work with Jackson. None of this could be just coincidence.

How much effort to hurt a guy he didn't want to have a relationship with. If Jackson had accepted Jungkook's offer to be exclusive, they would probably be together today.

Jungkook never mentioned being in love, but liking someone for so long could only be it. Obviously, the younger wanted to date Jackson. But the latter, besides not wanting to, also decided to humiliate him in front of the entire company. What a jerk.

And now he can't stand seeing Jungkook moving on with someone else, with him. Jackson can no longer target Jungkook, so he turned his attention to Taehyung. And Taehyung fell like an easy prey.

He has a bittersweet feeling now. Bitter because the humiliation he endured during yesterday's photoshoot won't go unnoticed at BE. Probably the "Chubbie Newbie" group is flooded with messages mocking him.

And sweet because the humiliation, insults, and mockery about his body and work at BE probably exist only because Jackson wants to hurt him. It means he's not such a terrible model or as fat and ugly as he's being portrayed; he's just being targeted for dating Jungkook.

Taehyung is angry, but he's not as vocal or explosive about it. He knows how to control his emotions, to keep it for himself and not act impulsively. If he acted by his instinct, he would have gone to the company last night and ended any ties.

Probably what Jackson expects from him: to run away with his tail between his legs. But Taehyung's current wishes is to have more contracts, do more photoshoots, earn more money. That planter machine won't appear out of thin air at his farm; he needs money.

Whether it's with Team Park or Team Jung, he can handle the attacks better now that he knows the reason. Jealousy? No, not even envy. But revenge. Jackson wants revenge against Jungkook, and apparently what he did wasn't enough.

And Taehyung also needs to protect Jungkook. After all, he's so young, still suffering the consequences of those damn tapes. Taehyung was more tried by life; he can handle whatever comes his way. He's faced worse things than an annoying model.

So he decides to play the game and go against Wang. He won't quit, even if Jackson wants him fired. He's not going anywhere.

Taehyung glances at his phone; it's 5:30 AM. And there are new text messages waiting. His anonymous friend is back, sending more screenshots. He opens the messages and lets out a desperate laugh at the content.

Photos and videos from the photoshoot—shouldn't that be confidential? Well, someone from the staff took pictures and shared them in the group. Obscene edits of him crouched down, staring at Jackson's crotch with captions like "Team Park's little bitch".