Loving The Wrong Man (SD) ➸ Taekook ✓

- Forty-fourth -

Taehyung tapped his foot nervously, his gaze riveted on his hot drink. No matter what Jin said, he didn't know where to start. In fact, he was surprising himself. These surges of stress and uncertainty were almost new to him. He was used to having everything under control, which allowed him to remain calm in all (or almost all) circumstances. But now he had this disturbing feeling that everything was slipping away from him.

"So, tell me. Don't you have any questions for me?" Seokjin reminded him.

Snapping out of his torpor, Taehyung nodded.

"First, I want to know how Jungkook is. I mean his injuries..."

The CEO could see the sadness in his interlocutor's eyes. The very mention of his nephew's condition saddened him.

"We're taking care of them, so they're starting to heal. The bruise on his cheek is almost gone, but the ones on the rest of his body... they're bigger, so they'll take longer to heal..."

He paused.

"But what worries me more than these few bruises is his mental state. He's... He's terrified. He hardly sleeps any more, because he fear someone will come and attack him if he lets his guard down even a little. If we want him to rest a bit, one of us has to be by his side, to reassure him and 'protect' him. And then... He's convinced that everyone hates him. When he came knocking on our door a week ago, he was ready to leave straight away because he thought he was annoying us. It took us over two days to convince him otherwise, and I know that even today he only half believes it. He's staying simply because he has nowhere else to go."

Those words felt like a thousand daggers plunging into Taehyung's heart. Jungkook didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to suffer so much. Always so kind, so caring. He deserved all the love in the world. And yet he'd convinced himself otherwise. It was unbearable for Taehyung.

"And... did... did he tell you what happened that day? Because I only have Soyoon's version, and I know perfectly well that Jungkook is incapable of doing that. And that's what worries me most."

Jin smiled sadly at this. Even though he knew that Taehyung wouldn't never believe this version, a part of him still feared that the man would put all the blame on jungkook. After all, he knew that Jungkook could be enterprising when he was flirting, and he suspected that it was he who had made the first move on Taehyung.

Yes, Jungkook had obviously told him what had happened that day. But he didn't know if Taehyung was ready to hear it. Jungkook was racked with fear and guilt, but when he will learned the truth, he knew that Taehyung would be too.

"Oh, you know..." Tried Jin. "I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to tell you... I-it's not my place..."

Taehyung frowned, and plunged his gaze into that of the thirty-year-old. He blamed himself for what had happened to Jungkook, and for that reason he would stop at nothing to find out the truth behind the incident. So he straightened up, having suddenly regained some confidence.

"Jin, I need to know. Please, tell me."

Jin bit his cheek, hesitating, then gave up when he saw the man's sincere look.

"All right then! But you might not like it..."

"I can imagine..."

Jin took a deep breath and began.

"When the two of you went to the restaurant, one of his classmates took a photo of you kissing. The guy wanted to post the photo on the internet, but Jungkook was so scared that you'd hate him for ruining your reputation with the photo that he fought to get it back. But five against one, it was more like a lynching than anything else..."