𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 | 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐮 | 𝐭𝐚𝐞𝐤𝐨𝐨𝐤 ✔️

12: decision

His decision came fairly quickly after his talk with Areum.

Not that he would admit that to anyone.

It was simple: if Areum could act so...so normal with Jungkook and Kai, then Taehyung could at least give it a shot.

He wouldn't tell Jungkook immediately, though. He still needed a while to think things over.

But for now, he would wait and see how things might turn out.

If Jungkook noticed anything odd in the way Taehyung was acting, he didn't say anything of it.

He paid more attention to the children's quick, building friendship, though. 

"Much like siblings," the man would mutter once to Taehyung a couple days after Areum and Kai's initial meeting.

But nothing else since.

Nothing that might hint at the predicament they had between them.

The doctor was tempted time and time again to tell him, to admit that he actually wanted to let things run through. But other times it was the opposite.

Something would remind him of the lies Jungkook held silent between them, the trust that had never been there.

That the secret had been revealed through force, rather than acceptance.

His conflicting thoughts left a sour aftertaste in the back of his throat, Jungkook had to have seen the look on his face whenever he felt that way, but never did he ask about it.

He seemed to slowly push himself away from Taehyung, as though trying to keep them apart, so they wouldn't get hurt in the aftermath should their lives push them away.

Along with that came the deafening silence, the dark circles of sleepless nights, and the lack of smiles that had once lifted Taehyung's heart above the clouds.

The kids were a different story.

More than once, Taehyung fell to his thoughts in the living room, staring blindly at the dead fireplace believing that the children were busy playing outside, only to find them at his side, his daughter and a young wolf boy.

Perhaps Jungkook had told them why he was acting that way; perhaps they were just wiser than their years, but nonetheless they curled up with him and sat for a while in silence.

Kai was the quieter of the two by far—excitable from play and stories, but he seemed used to the thoughtful and dark silence that the man emitted.

In those times, he curled his small wolf form over Taehyung's feet and peeked up at the man from over his tail.

Jungkook's boy was real, as he had claimed. 

Real and warm and innocent and kind.

"Werewolves are like wolves and—well, some humans, I guess..." Jungkook murmured to him as they watched Aruem chase after a playful Kai. 

 Even in his human form, the boy was graceful and swift.

Much like his father, Taehyung's mind would then unhelpfully supply.

He turned to give Kooki-Jungkook his full attention.

The werewolf exhaled softly. "We only have one mate, usually for life."

"Even those who can't mate?"

"Some of them. Usually those are the higher-ranked wolves, like Betas or Deltas. Those closer to taking over should the Alpha couple die without an heir."