the library | YOONMIN FIC

|5|

3 Years Later

"Are you ready?" Yoongi asked with a smile, seeing his daughter sitting down across from him excitedly. They were currently in the kids' area towards the back of the library, table in front of them with a checker board placed on top, ready to be played. Yoongi had brought her here for the time being that he had left with her today.

"Ready!" She squealed, raising her hand up in the air as she smiled brightly at her father, cheeks rosy pink and brown hair long in messy pigtails.

"What's this? Why are you raising your hand?" He asked, imitating his daughter and raising his own hand in a teasing way. "You want to go first?" His daughter nodded, putting her hand down. Yoongi did the same. "Alright, go ahead."

The little girl grabbed a red checker piece and moved it across the board. "There!" She exclaimed. Yoongi raised an eyebrow in a playful manner. "That move was very far! Alright, now what do you do with this?"

The little girl pointed at a black checker. "That's yours, daddy!" Yoongi furrowed his eyebrows. "Can you move it for me? Where should I put it?" He asked the child.

The girl pointed at a spot on the board and Yoongi looked at the girl with a playful fondness as he questioned the girl. "Are you sure?" He asked. The girl nodded excitedly. Yoongi looked down at the board and grabbed a piece, examining it in between his fingers. "Can I put it here?" He asked, placing it on a random spot on the board, and his daughter shook her head.

His daughter then placed her hands on the board and waved them across it, messing up all the pieces together as she giggled and Yoongi gasped dramatically. "You little rascal!" He grabbed onto the girl's hands and pretended to eat them and made growling noises while the girl giggled even more, loving the company of her father.

"Jee.." Yoongi looked up after hearing the familiar voice call out for his daughter. "Jeeminah, lets go home." It was Hoseok, his coat over his shoulder as he smiled lovingly at his daughter. Yoongi's shoulders fell as he looked down to the floor, and Hoseok spoke up again.

"Has she eaten?" Hoseok asked, glancing to Yoongi politely with raised eyebrows. Yoongi pursed his lips. "She's all set." He said.

Jeeminah got up from her chair and took slow strides towards Hoseok but then turned around and jumped into Yoongi's arms, hugging him as tightly as she could. Yoongi's heart skipped a beat and he rested his chin on the younger girl's shoulder, pouting to himself as he whispered to her. "We can play again next week, love." He kissed his daughter on the cheek and Jeeminah stood on her tippy-toes to kiss Yoongi's forehead, a sad smile being formed on his face. She hugged him tightly one last time before Hoseok had spoken again. "Come with me, dear."

The little girl with pigtails held onto Hoseok's hand softly, taking small strides as they walked away from Yoongi and approached another figure, one of a beautiful, slim woman, her smile soft and her bleached blonde wavy hair held up into a high ponytail. Yoongi watched as the woman crouched down and hugged Jeeminah, her eyes full of fondness.

"Let's go home." Hoseok said, watching as the pair hugged. The woman looked up and smiled at Hoseok before standing up straight and holding his hand, then grabbing onto Jeeminah's hand and the three commenced in walking out of the library. Yoongi felt his chest become heavy as he saw them walk away. He looked away, biting his lip and trying to hold in his emotions.

~
"Why does it fucking matter, Hoseok? She's young for crying out loud, it wouldn't matter to her." Yoongi complained quietly, Jeeminah sleeping in the other room while he spoke with Hoseok in the kitchen of their shared apartment. Hoseok sipped on a glass of wine slowly, glaring at Yoongi.

"Why did we adopt a child if we were unprepared-" Hoseok spoke with a pointed look, but Yoongi cut him off. "You said you were prepared. Is all of this a regret to you?"

"Kind of." Hoseok mumbled dryly, and Yoongi clenched his jaw.

"What are we gonna do then? I really don't understand your point of view. Please, enlighten me darling!" Yoongi spoke sarcastically, walking up to Hoseok and snatching the glass he had in his hand, placing it on the countertop beside them with force, the wine swishing around. Hoseok stared down at his drink then met eyes with Yoongi, both sharing cold stares with eachother. "She needs a mother, Yoongi."

"Is it that? Is it that she needs a mother? Or is it that you need a wife?" Yoongi spat, his eyes narrowed. Hoseok's eyes widened in surprise at his husband's words and he opened his mouth slightly, trying to find the words he wanted to say. Yoongi spoke again. "Don't act like I didn't hear you speaking on the phone with Jinsoul multiple times at three in the morning. I'm not stupid, Hoseok. I pretended that I didn't understand what was happening but mainly to deny it to myself because I hoped you were better than that. How— How could you do that to me- No, how could you do that to your own daughter? She deserves better than that and you know it. We've raised her for a while now and you suddenly think like this? Make it make sense!"

Hoseok stared at Yoongi, his eyes holding a sadness while Yoongi's held a hurt anger. Hoseok was speechless, had no idea how to respond. He knew he wanted to say something to fix this, anything, but he couldn't find the right words.

Hoseok didn't want to argue about this, but he knew eventually it'd be brought up because he did mess up. He just didn't expect this to be brought up so soon; He was unprepared.

"Baby," Hoseok said. "I— You know I love you so fucking much." His eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm so sorry."

"You're only apologizing because you got caught," Yoongi mumbled. "Fuck you."

~

Yoongi still sat at the small children's table with the checker board in front of him. He started setting up the board again, leaving it as he had first seen it. His fingers trembled as he grabbed each piece and he gulped, biting his lip to try and hold back but then let out a quiet choked sob. He covered his mouth with his hand and looked down, feeling disappointed in himself for not having been good enough.

Yoongi covered his face with both of his hands and leaned his elbows against the wooden table, rubbing at his eyes to stop more tears to continue falling. It was then that he felt a sudden presence in front of him and he looked up slowly when hearing a chair creak against the floor.

Jimin sat there in front of the man, fiddling with fingers as he looked down at the checker board and then moved a piece forward. He then looked up and locked eyes with Yoongi, and Yoongi felt a small smile graze upon his face. With tears still in his eyes, Yoongi moved one of his pieces foward whilst looking down for a brief second before staring into the younger male's eyes again.

Jimin gave him a soft smile and they continued playing checkers quietly while staring at eachother comfortably, Jimin wanting to let Yoongi know that he was there for him, and that Jimin wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

-

"'This world is full of monsters,' She told me. 'Nowhere is safe anymore.'
'I don't believe in monsters,' I replied. 'Just humans with broken souls.'" ~ Cindy Cherie, Monsters .