Twisted Life, Thorny Love

10. Guilt

Jungkook avoided Taehyung at all costs the next day. He did notice the hurt look on the latter's face, and he did feel bad for hurting him, but he wasn't ready to face him yet. The second he thought of talking to him, the image of a red-eyed Taehyung squeezing his neck flashed in front of his eyes and he immediately backed off. 

He had brought Junha with him for lunch the next day as he didn't want to leave him with his parents again. They had decided to meet at a mall and shop for a while before going for lunch. 

Jungkook silently walked along with Jimin and Junha. Junha was holding on to his index finger as the others walked in front of him. 

Taehyung tried to talk to him a couple of times, but he didn't put any effort in continuing the conversation. Taehyung decided to give him some space and started walking with his brother and brother-in-law. 

Junha suddenly tugged Jungkook's hand, trying to pull him towards a store that contained flashy toys. "I'll buy one for him. I always wanted to buy something for him" Jimin said when he noticed what Junha was asking for. 

"No. It's okay" Jungkook said. "Shut up and let me buy a toy for my favourite kid" Jimin said. "Okay" Jungkook sighed. "Guys! We are going into this shop" Jimin said, pointing towards the toy shop. "Ohh. Let's all go" Namjoon said and in they went. 

All of them bought different toys for Junha and the poor kid's joy knew no bounds. He didn't want to wait till he went back home to open all of them and start playing with them. But Jungkook didn't let him do so and so he had to resume walking along with his father. 

They spent another hour and a half going around the mall and buying different items before deciding to go and have lunch. Namjoon, Yoongi and Hoseok decided to split the bill at the end. 

"Junha, come here. Sit with me" Jin said as they settled around a huge table in the hotel. Jungkook looked at Taehyung, who was sitting right next to Jin. He was still scared of the latter and thus didn't want to let his son anywhere near him. 

"No, hyung. I wanna feed him today" Jungkook said as he looked back at Jin. Everyone noticed Jungkook's gaze and every single one understood what he actually meant. Everyone including Taehyung. His eyes teared up as he understood what Jungkook actually meant. 

"Can we talk?" Taehyung asked. "W-Why?" Jungkook immediately asked, unknowingly gripping Junha tightly. "I just want to really apologize for my behaviour yesterday, Jungkook. I know I scared you a lot, and I am very sorry for that. Please forgive me, I will try my be-" Taehyung was cut off by a cry from Junha. 

Jungkook immediately looked down and realized that he had been squeezing the life out of Junha's arm. His eyes teared up as he noticed the bruise on his skin. "I am soo sorry, Junha! I am sorry" he cried as he wet a tissue and put a bit of pressure around his arm. 

"I am so sorry, I am so sorry" he kept mumbling even after the kid stopped crying. "Jungkook, it's okay. Calm down! You are just depressing him further" Yoongi said and Jungkook snapped his head towards Junha's face. He was close to bursting out again as he watched his father cry. 

"Oh my god, I am sorry" Jungkook said as he kissed Junha's forehead and hugged him close to his chest. "I can't believe I hurt him like this, hyung" Jungkook cried. His chest was heaving with guilt as the bruise flashed in front of his eyes. 

Hoseok immediately took Junha away from him and looked at Jimin, silently asking him to take him. Jimin took Junha away and tried to keep him engaged while the others tried to calm Jungkook down. 

"It happens sometimes, Jungkook. You didn't do it intentionally, right! That's what matters. It's okay, don't feel soo bad. See? He is fine. He already forgot about it. Don't think a lot about it. See!" Jin said, pointing at Jimin and Junha who were standing beside the window and laughing at something on the road. 

Jungkook nodded, but the guilt was eating him up. He couldn't live with the guilt of knowing that he had hurt his own son, who did nothing wrong. Whether he did it intentionally or not, the bruise was still there. That was when he realized that Taehyung must have been going through the same guilt of hurting someone innocent. He suddenly knew what he had to do to relieve his guilt. 

He wiped his eyes and drank a bit of water before getting up and going to Jimin. "I'll take him" he said and took Junha from Jimin's arms and walked straight back and placed him on Taehyung's lap. "You can feed him, hyung" he said. Taehyung looked up at Jungkook with shock in his eyes. 

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me yesterday. I am sorry for avoiding you today" he said and smiled at him. Taehyung smiled back and looked at Junha. He frowned for a second as he noticed the bruise on his arm, but moved his eyes away from it immediately and looked at the waiter, who had arrived with the dishes. 

"So did you study for the test?" Taehyung asked, smirking playfully as everyone else talked among themselves. "Yes, Mr. Kim" Jungkook replied with an equally playful smirk. 

Taehyung chuckled and poked Junha's cheek. Junha, who was looking at him and Jungkook with wide eyes, reached up and did the same. He poked Taehyung's cheek as well, earning a hearty laugh from Taehyung, Jungkook and Jimin. 

"Do you want to go for a movie tonight?" Taehyung suddenly asked. "I would love to, but I don't wanna leave Junha alone and I can't bring him with me because he sleeps early" Jungkook said. "Ohh okay, no problem. We can go some other time" Taehyung said. "Yeahh" Jungkook said as he got back to stuffing his mouth.