For Everything I Am | KTH 18+ ✔

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Taehyung sits at the end of his bed, staring at the framed pictures of him and Ria on top of the dark wood dresser. Her beautiful smile shines back at him in those beloved frozen memories as she poses beside him or with her arms wrapped around his torso or shoulders, her beauty always did truly shine from the inside out. Fond memories of those moments replay like a movie trailer and he can almost hear the words she had spoke just before the photo was taken.

The house was quiet minus the sound of the soft instrumental music playing from his phone on the nightstand and he closes his eyes for a couple of moments to relax, somewhat meditating as previously instructed by his therapist. It had been a very hard last few months with everything that had happened with Miles and although he was no longer a concern, it was going to take a while to completely rid him of all of the damage he had caused in his life. Especially the guilt he's still dealing with for taking another person's life, regardless of it being in self-defense. In all honesty, he'll probably always have to deal with that but he refuses to let it drag him down. At the end of it all, Taehyung did what he had to do and was unfortunately left with no other choice.

Footsteps outside of his door catch his attention as he opens his eyes and looks over to it when he hears a slight knock against the painted wood, "Come in."

"Tae Tae, are you okay?" Izzy worriedly asks as she sees him still sitting down in the same spot that she had last seen him at.

Nodding, he gives her a small smile, "I'm okay. Are you okay?"

"I need your help." She holds out the hair bow she was carrying and places it in the palm of his hand, "Can you put this on for me? Mommy always put it in where it doesn't fall out if I run or jump."

"I can try my best." He pulls her closer to him and slides the clip of the bow right in front of the ponytail sitting on top of her head, the rest of her hair falling into milk chocolate brown ringlets.

Wrapping her small arms around his torso, he hugs her tightly as she grins against his dress shirt, "I love you, Tae Tae."

Smiling at her sweet words, he kisses her forehead and squeezes her one more time, "I love you, too, baby girl. We have to go soon, are you ready?"

Nodding, she steps back and spins around, showing him her dress, "All ready."

"Go ahead and go to your room. I'll come to get you when I'm done," he instructs and she runs back down the hallway towards her bedroom to continue playing with her Barbies until it's time to leave.

Rubbing his hands over his black suit pants, he stands up and looks at Ria's picture one more time before grabbing the matching black jacket. Styling his hair in the way she had always preferred it when he had to be more formal, he takes one last look in the mirror as he adds some small earrings to his lobes and fastens the cufflinks on his jacket sleeve.

"Here we go," he whispers to himself through a heavy exhale to steady his nerves just before taking a step out of his bedroom door and calling out for Izzy to join him on the way down to the car where the hired driver is waiting to pick the two of them up.

Staring out of the back window with Izzy sitting next to him and preoccupied with the bow on her dress, he thinks about how much his life has changed since he had realized his true feelings. A man who was once secretly in love with his childhood best friend ended up being the hero of his story and getting the girl of his dreams, just to face scenarios he never in a million years thought he would need to. And although he wishes he could go back in time and prevent all of the bad things, he knows he'd do it all again for her without any reservation.

Izzy places her head on his arm as she gets comfortable during the ride and his heart flutters at the action. He was so terrified of no longer having this beautiful little girl in his life but will now protect and raise her as if she was his own because biology aside, he has always been her father and she needed him more than he'll ever know.