Between Chances And Choices

Chapter 17

"I'm so sorry."

"Mom..."

"How could you, mom?!"

"Hyungjoon."

Their heads whipped towards the owner of the voice.

"What?" Their father asked with a clenched jaw and a glare. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"It was a mistake." He said with a tone full of guilt and apology.

He scoffed. "Of course."

"It's just one time." His wife interrupted. "We were just...We were just drunk."

"You think that would make it better?!"

"There's nothing more to it." She explained in a cracked voice. "It's just a mistake."

"You had a child with someone else. And he's not just anybody. He's someone I treated as my own brother! Not only that, you also had the audacity to make me believe that his child is mine!"

"I didn't know. I didn't know. I thought he's yours."

"God, Taehee! You're unbelievable!"

He covered his eyes with his hand.

"Thirty four years. You fooled me for thirty four years. And you will never tell it. I will never know if not for this."

Jungkook noticed Taehyung's shoulder tremble.

"Are you all serious?" He asked in a hard voice. "Taehyung is sick and he has to listen to all this bullshit?"

He pointed at the door with a stern face. "Leave. It's not his fault that you made stupid decisions. It's not his fault that you were lied to. It was not his choice to be brought up in this world this way. So why should he listen to these hurtful things? Especially at a time like this? Leave. You all leave this room right now!"

Taehyung finally broke down, crying.

"Tae." His mother took a step towards him, her hands hanging in the air.

Namjoon grabbed her shoulder. "Give him time to process this."

"We're not done talking." Her husband coldly said as he walked out.

He passed by Changwook and bumped the ball of his shoulder on his way. The other followed him but not before giving Taehyung a desolate look. Taejoon left the room without a word while Namjoon urged the doctors towards the way.

"Tae, mom is so sorry." She apologized with a quivering voice.

Taehyung was too hurt to look at her. He kept his head hung low, sobbing. She lingered for a few seconds more before finally walking away, acknowledging that her son needed time.

Jungkook pulled his husband into his arms as soon as they were alone. Taehyung wrapped his arms around his waist and cried on his chest, drenching his shirt with his unending tears. They end up on the bed, cuddling. The older was reduced to a sniffing, despondent mess with a reddened nose and vacant albeit dried eyes.

"There isn't even a reason why we were forced to marry." He said in a hoarse voice.

Jungkook only responded with a pout.

"I'm not a Kim. I mean, I'm not a king's blood. I'm not related to Taesang."

"Then it's simply just to bring us together."

The younger lovingly combed his beloved's hair with his fingers.

"I was never meant to be chosen. I was always destined to meet you."