Introvert (Taekook) ✓

Chapter 18

Taehyung bounced when Jungkook agreed and was about to hug him until Hoseok beat him to it. Taehyung's smile turned upside down and a pout made it's way to his face. Jungkook tried to avoid looking at Taehyung's expression since it was giving him an odd feeling in his chest, which the older was not getting. Only after a moment did Taehyung abruptly stop and was blushing at Jungkook's flustered sight. Since both of them seemed to be out of words, Hoseok felt an awkward silence approaching them, which he had to avoid at all cost.

"Good! Now that we have one more soldier on our side, we can win this war sooner than we thought." Hoseok sighed when his declaration earned the desired response from Taehyung who was back to his bubbly self, again. Jungkook had convinced himself that whatever he was feeling a moment back was just him over reacting and nothing else. Therefore, he brushed it off and joined the others as they planned on a workable strategy.
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After a long day of scheming some childish yet fun ways of getting Jin and Nam Joon together, Jungkook was tired when he reached home. The only thing he wanted to do was go straight to bed and sleep like there's no tomorrow.

He rang the bell of his house and soon his mother opened it as she greeted him with a motherly smile.

"Hey mom."

"My baby is having too much fun now, huh?" She teased her very lovely bunny of a son, as they walked in.

Jungkook only smiled in response and it was the first time that his smile was so genuine that her mother couldn't stop herself from tearing up. She engulfed him in a hug all of a sudden, surprising Jungkook. He turned around, staying in her hug, to face her and hug her back tightly.

"Kookie?" Mrs. Jeon said softly.

"Yes mom?" Jungkook rubbed her back, as she tried to control he sobs.

"You thought we never noticed but we always did, you know. We could always see you trying your best to show how happy you are whenever we asked." She pulled back and cupped his face in her small hands as she looked deeply into his innocent eyes with her teary ones.

"But we knew, baby. We always knew. We are your parents, after all. How could we not?" She tried to smile but tears kept flowing out of her eyes. Jungkook's eyes widened at her words and his heart ached a bit when he saw tears in his mother's eyes. But, for the most part, he felt a wave of relief wash over him.

He smiled back at her as he wiped the tears with his thumbs and hugged her again.
"Thanks mom. But I really am always happy. I'm not hiding anything."

He couldn't let the facade of all those years drop now and it wasn't like he had to go through any sort of trauma that he was hiding. He just didn't want to make his mother more emotional than she already was. He was, indeed, always happy with whatever his parents did for him. It's just that he wasn't excited by anything. Of course, he wouldn't be because they are his parents, after all, not his age fellows whom he would joke around with like he did with Jimin. But that wasn't even a big deal so he had no reason to agree with her right now and make her cry even more.

"I know Jungkookie, I know." She smiled and pulled back letting her hands drop as she let him free. She checked her makeup with her fingers and gasped when she saw her eye liner coming off of her cheeks.
"Oh look! My make up is messed up now."

Jungkook laughed lightly at her attempt to lighten the mood and replied.
"It's night, mom. Why would you need to put on your makeup, anyway? Unless.." He teased. Of course, this was the first as well but his mother took it better this time. She thought she should get used to it now. Her son was finally opening up so she shouldn't be surprised by every single thing. He might feel dejected because of her and she couldn't afford that.

She looked at him with a fake hurt on her face as she held her heart.
"Huh! Jungkook! Are you suggesting that I'm cheating on your father?" She tried to sound as realistic as she could and that only made Jungkook laugh more. Mrs. Jeon couldn't help but laugh along with him as she lead him to the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready. Did you eat already or are you going to join me?" She asked half expecting him to say he would join her, as he always did.

"Uh, I.. Well, I kind of did have dinner.." He started but regretted as soon as the words fell from his mouth. He never rejected any meal with his parents even if he was full but he did just now and he felt very bad for rejecting the efforts his mother had put in to make dinner for him.
"I mean, I ate some refreshments not a.. a proper meal so, yeah, I'll join you." He tried to cover up for his mistake and was fidgeting in his place as he did so.

Mrs. Jeon was smiling from ear to ear, at her son's cuteness. She could tell he was trying to be appreciative of her, but the way he was getting flustered was too cute to be ignored. She really wanted to tease him as his mom but at the same time she was feeling like a high school girl fan-girling at her favorite actor in a very cute scene.

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