Indebted...

Part-24

Jungkook's pov

Returning from an internal meeting with Taehyung to find eomma sat in the reception area near my desk, I smiled. Her answering smile was so shaky and strained it made my own dim. "Hi, eomma."

"Hi," she said, rising from her seat. Her gaze danced from me to Taehyung, who she couldn't seem to look in the eye. "I hope you both managed to find time to have fun in New York."

"We did, thank you," said Taehyung. "What can we do for you?"

"I was hoping to talk to Kookie for a few minutes. About some reception-related things," she hurried to add.

His steely eyes scrutinized her, and I could sense he wasn't buying it. "All right." He cut his gaze to me. "Join me in my office once you're done."

"Will do," I said.

He nodded at her. "Take care,eomeoni."

Wearing yet another strained smile, she gave him a little wave. Once he'd disappeared into his office, she bit down on her lip and looked at me. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk in private?"

"You're really starting to worry me now." I glanced around and shrugged. "We can use the waiting room's vanity."

We headed inside the vanity room. After I'd checked that it was empty of people, I locked the main door and turned to eomma. "Go on."

She nervously rubbed her hands together. "I'm sorry in advance if any of this hurts you, but you have a right to know."

"Okay."

"Taehyung's brother, Daehyun, came to see me. He was very nice, very polite. And very concerned for you."

Oh, Lord. "Eomma—"

"He told me something. Something that has me very worried. He wanted to come to you about it, but he thought it might be less hard on you if you heard it from someone you love. Taehyung has a trust fund, Kookie. His uncle Han-wool left it to him. But there are conditions. He has to be married before he can access it, and he has to be married before he's thirty or he can never touch it. Taehyung's twenty-nine now."

I folded my arms across my chest. "And?"

She looked at me, bewildered. "In light of that, don't you think it's a little suspicious that Taehyung pushed you to marry him so soon? I'm not saying he doesn't care for you. I believe he does. But I also believe there's a good chance that he only wanted to marry you so fast because he wanted to get his hands on the trust fund."

God, Daehyun was such a bastard. "Have you told my father?" Because papa might very well lose his shit.

"No. I haven't even told Whan yet. I wanted to tell you first." She touched my arm. "I'm sorry to be the person who gives you this news. I know that it must hurt."

"I already knew about the trust fund."

She gaped. "You knew?"

I nodded. "I've known about it since before Taehyung-sshi and I started dating. He told me himself."

"And it didn't ring any alarm bells when he proposed so soon? You didn't think to ask him to wait a while just to see what he'd say?"

Ugh, now I was going to have to tell even more freaking lies than I already had. "He didn't push me into marrying him in Vegas, eomma. He said he'd like me to, but that he'd give me a fairytale wedding back at home if that was really what I wanted."

"Then why didn't you wait?"

"Because it wasn't really the dress and reception and flowers that I wanted. I just wanted him. I've always wanted him. Daehyun isn't the nice man he pretended to be. He neglected to tell you a few things. Like that he's well aware I know about all this. Like that he's been trying to cause trouble between me and Taehyung-sshi for a while. Like that Taehyung's trust fund would be divided between his brothers if he didn't meet the conditions to access it. Daehyun just wants his share. He isn't concerned about me. He wants me out of the way, even if it means ruining my and Taehyung's marriage."