i hate u, i love u (Taehyung ff)

Denial

Taehyung's POV
A small satisfactory smile appeared on his lips as he watched you & Jin carrying boxes into the new apartment building from afar. Yebin was trailing behind you with the teddy bear he had given her in her hands.
"Let's go." He tapped his driver's shoulder & glanced at the building as the car drove away.

Flashback to one week ago
"There, I've signed it," said the old man.
"Thank you very much Sir. It was a pleasure doing business with you." Taehyung rose from his seat & shook the old man's hand.
"No, thank YOU. Thank you for taking care of my tenants. People like you who still do business with heart are so rare nowadays & I'm happy that I can sell my building to such a nice young man." The old man grinned, showing his crooked teeth.
"You're welcome Sir, but please don't forget our deal."
"Yes yes, I promise I won't tell a soul about how generous you are. You're afraid that people would take advantage of your kind heart, aren't you?" He knowingly whispered to Taehyung.
Sorry, but I'm not that noble, my intention is much more selfish than you think.
"Is there anything else that I can do for you? Do you need a ride to the airport?" Taehyung purposefully ignored his question.
"Oh no no, I'll just take a cab. Good luck with your project young man, I'm sure it'll be a huge success." The old man patted Taehyung's arm & bidded his farewell.
"Sajangnim, you're not going to fulfill your promise, right?" The project manager immediately asked him after the old man had left.
"I've given him my word." Taehyung said as he tidied up the contracts on his desk.
"You're renting our brand new condos to his ex-tenants for barely enough money to pay for the weekly maintenance fee! Don't you think that's a bit outrageous? We're going to lose a lot of money!" His manager exclaimed in disbelief.
"We can afford it, so end of discussion. If I hear you talk about this again one more time, I'll ask someone else to handle this project. Is that what you want?" Taehyung raised his eyes & gave the manager a menacing look.
"N-no, sajangnim. Forgive me for questioning your decision." The manager stuttered in fear.
"Tell them to make sure that the move-in procedure goes smoothly. Treat all of them the same way you treat our regular tenants. If I see any discrepancies, you're all fired."
"Nee (yes), sajangnim. I'll get going first." The manager was about to step out of his office when he called him back.
"Wait, one more thing. Tell the tenants who have kids that we have a huge discount if they want to enroll their kids in our nearby preschool."
"Huh? But we don't have such progra- Nee (yes), sajangnim. I'll make sure to tell them that." The manager instantly changed his response & bowed once he saw the stern look on Taehyung's face.
Pheww.. that's done. Now all I need to do is figure out who Yebin's father is.

Y/n's POV
"Eomma! Look at this! The bedroom is as big as our old apartment!" Yebin jumped up & down excitedly around the house.
Indeed, you were equally ecstatic too. You couldn't believe when the building owner told you that he would move all of you to a brand new condo with the same rent.
"Please sign here Ma'am. Thank you. This is a brochure for our preschool right around the corner. If you wish to enroll your child there, we'll give you a huge discount since you're a tenant here." The lady said as she gave you the colorful laminated piece of paper.
"Oh really? Thank you very much, I'll look into it later."
"If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to contact the front desk. Have a nice day." She bowed politely at you before exiting the apartment.
This is seriously too good to be true.
You looked around the spacious living room & smiled to yourself.
Finally, things are looking up.
"Y/n ah, I think this is the last one." Jin walked through the door with a big cardboard box in his hands.
"Oh thank you. Just put it over there with the rest, I'll unpack them later."
"Woah, your landlord is such a generous guy. This condo is awesome." Jin said as he casually put an arm around your shoulder.
"I know right? And look at this. The lady said that they would give me discount if I enrolled Yebin in this preschool." You showed Jin the brochure.
"Wow, this looks legit." Jin quickly scanned the paper.
"Right? I think I'm going to enroll Yebin there." You smiled widely. You had never felt this excited about life before, not after Taehyung. The better-paying job & new apartment gave you hope for the future. Finally, you could provide Yebin with a better life.
"I'm glad to see you so happy. I haven't seen such a carefree smile on your face since a few years ago." Jin gently stroke your head & kissed your forehead.
There it was again. The discomfort, the guilt. You sheepishly lowered your head & forced a smile on your lips.
"Ajusshi!" Yebin suddenly called out, startling both you & Jin. Her brows furrowed.
"What's wrong Yebinie?" Jin knelt down in front of her & asked.
"You can't kiss eomma. What if my appa comes back & sees that? He'll be angry." She crossed her arms & pouted.
"Yebin ah-" You were going to chastise her but Jin stopped you by putting his forefinger on his lips.
"Mian (sorry), Yebin ah. I was careless. Next time, I'll ask for your permission before I do such thing, ok?" He gently held her tiny shoulders in his hands.
"Yebin ah, I know you want to see appa, but he's not coming back." Your heart broke for telling her the truth, but you had to because you didn't want her to keep waiting for her father to come home.
"No. He is, because I've seen him!" Yebin stubbornly yelled at you.
Your heart stopped.
"W-what?" You stuttered, "What did you say?"
"I said I've seen appa!" Yebin shouted, tears welling in her eyes.
You glanced at Jin, who had an equally bewildered look on his face. Your hands trembled, as if you were electrocuted from the inside.
Has Taehyung found us?
"That's not possible. Don't lie." You said in a low voice.
Yebin didn't say anything back. All she did was looked down at the floor & huffed while the droplets of tears rolled down her pink cheeks. You could see her tiny chest rise up & down with every heavy breath.
"Answer me. Why would you lie about such thing?" You raised your voice slightly. The shock you felt had turned into fury.
"I didn't." She retorted as she lifted her chin & stared right into your eyes, but you knew she was scared because she took a step back when you moved closer.
"Y/n ah.. that's enough. She doesn't know what she's saying." Noticing the anger in your eyes, Jin pulled you back but you shoved his hand away.
"Don't ever tell such lie again." You pointed your finger at Yebin & tried to control your voice as calmly as possible.
Thinking that you'd made your point, you turned around & walked towards the pile of boxes.
"I hate eomma! I want to go with appa!" Yebin suddenly screamed at your back. Her words struck the deepest part of your heart causing the volcano inside you to erupt.
"Kim Yebin! Stop talking about your appa, he doesn't even know that you exist!" Frustrated, you shouted back at her. However, once the words left your mouth, you immediately regretted it.
"Yebin ah.." You tried to approach her but she ran the other way towards Jin.
"Wahhhh! I hate eomma! Wahhh!!" Yebin instantly broke into tears & bawled into Jin's chest.
"Shhh.. Yebin ah, don't cry. Eomma is.. eomma is tired. Come on, do you want ice cream? Ajusshi will buy you some ice cream, ok? Do you want strawberry? Chocolate? Or both? Alright, I'll buy you both. Let's go!" Jin cooed at her as he lifted her up into his arms.
"Jin.." Tears started to form in your eyes too. You felt so guilty for screaming at Yebin & being angry at her for your past mistake.
"It's ok. I'll take her out first. You need to calm down." He mouthed at you while walking towards the door.
You fell onto the floor once they were out of the apartment. Uncontrollable tears washed over your face.
What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I do that to her?
Taehyung's frowning face flashed inside your mind & like a broken dam, all the bad memories that you tried so hard to forget flushed over you.
I can't. I can't tell her the truth. Not now.

You were busy unpacking when Jin walked through the door with a sleeping Yebin on his back.
"Is she- is she ok?" You whispered as you caressed her hair. Your heart clenched seeing the tracks of dried tears on her chubby cheeks.
"She will be fine. Let's put her down first." He carried Yebin into the bedroom, gently laid her down onto the bed, & put a blanket over her.
Wanting to avoid the imminent awkward conversation, you pretended to be busy organizing things in the cabinets.
"Y/n ah.." Jin called you as soon as he closed the bedroom door behind him.
"Do you want coffee? I've got the cups & kettle out." You faked a nonchalant smile on your lips.
"Y/n ah, stop. We need to talk about this." Jin took the cup away from your hand & pulled you to sit on the couch.
"There's nothing to talk about." You said in a flat tone, averting his gaze.
"Don't you think that she might be telling the truth?"
"That's impossible! She has never seen him before & he doesn't even know about her. There's no way Yebin knows that he is her father even if they meet on the street, or vice versa." Your explanation was more to convince yourself rather than Jin.
"Ok ok, let's say that she's lying. Aren't you planning to tell her the truth?" Exasperation filled Jin's voice.
"Not now. Maybe one day."
"Y/n ah-"
"Let's not talk about this anymore ok? I'm tired." You rose from your seat & stepped away.
"Do you still love him?" Jin's question stopped you in your track.
"You already know the answer to that." You said without looking back.
"No, I don't actually."
"Jin, can we please not do this now?" Sighing, you turned around to face him. The look on his face was so sad that you knew you'd screwed up big time.
Both of you stared at each other in silence. The tension was so heavy you could feel it in your bones.
"I'm going now. I think you need to figure out the real reason why you wouldn't tell Yebin about her father." Jin abruptly stood up & walked towards the door.
"Jin-" You reached your fingers out to touch him, but retracted them again last minute.
"Good night Y/n." He said coldly as he closed the door behind him.
You heaved a deep sigh & pinched your brows.
"Why does he keep giving me headaches even when he's not here?" You muttered to yourself.
Do I still love him? What a ridiculous question. Of course I don't!
Right?