Beyond Saturation

M

1 Jan 2004

"Happy new year," Jeongguk said when he walked downstairs after he woke up. 

Taehyung's eyes widened. He had not expected his husband to wish him a new year, especially when he had forgotten his birthday for the second time in a row ever since they got married. 

"Happy new year, seobang-nim," he wished back with a small smile. 

"Yoongi is coming over for lunch," Jeongguk said and Taehyung's eyes lit up. He liked Yoongi, Jeongguk's brother, and his family. They were all very sweet people. It was going to be a nice change.

"With Hobi hyung and Hyuni?" he asked and received a nod from Jeongguk. "Clean the house before they come. They need not know that we live in a pigpen," Jeongguk said. 

Taehyung nodded enthusiastically. No insult of any kind was going to upset him today. He was going to get a pleasant change from the monotonous life of scolding that he had been living for almost two years now. 

He immediately got to work, deciding to cook up one of the best meals he could think of. He was excited for the guests. Little did he know, the guests were coming over because Jeongguk had some important news to share with them. 

"Hobi hyunggg!!" Taehyung exclaimed and ran to hug him when they finally arrived, only letting him go when he heard his husband clear his throat. "Sorry," he mumbled and looked away only to be pulled back into the hug with a chuckle. "It's okay, Tae," Hoseok said and let go quickly. 

"How's life? You don't call nowadays," Hoseok said with a small pout. Taehyung chuckled awkwardly. "I took up another shift at the bakery, so things have been busy," he said. "Oh," Hoseok's smile fell a little, but he picked it up really quick. He knew what was going to come. And he also knew that Taehyung had no clue what was going to come. 

"So? You said you had something to say?" Yoongi asked Jeongguk as they sat to have lunch. Taehyung cleared his throat awkwardly and stood up, "I just remembered, my brother asked me to send som-"

"Stay. You need to listen too."

Just like that, Taehyung sat back down, awkwardly clearing his throat again. He looked around the table and gave a huge smile to a four-year-old Hyuni when their eyes met. 

"Aera is going to give birth soon," Jeongguk said, jumping straight to the point. Yoongi's eyes widened in an angry shock, Hoseok's lips pulled back in a painful wince, Taehyung frowned in confusion and Hyuni continued eating her vegetables with her legs swinging front and back.

"You still..." Yoongi couldn't complete his sentence with the amount of anger bubbling up within him. 

"Who's Aera?" Taehyung asked. 

"My sister-"
"My lover-"
Hoseok and Jeongguk said at the same time. 

It took some time for Taehyung to register and understand what Jeongguk had just said. "What?" his voice came out in a shocked whisper when he finally realized what those words meant. 

That his husband had been having an affair with a lady openly all these days even when the two of them have been married. That his husband had been cheating on him all these days. And while Yoongi only seemed to know who this lady was, Hoseok also seemed to know the news already. He didn't look the least bit shocked. Only heavily apologetic. 

"You knew about this, Hobi?!" Yoongi asked Hoseok and received a guilty nod from him. "She told me about it when she became pregnant. She and I fought really bad that day. I told her she wasn't supposed to stay with Jeonguk when he is now married to someone else, but she didn't listen to me. Said they loved each other," Hoseok said in a small voice. 

Taehyung couldn't speak. He was just too shocked by what he had just come to know. He flinched when Yoongi slammed his hand onto the table and stood up, his face sporting a bright shade of red as he glared at Jeongguk. "What the fuck are you thinking of yourself, you fucke-"

"Baby, langua-"

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!! THIS FUCKER IS OUT THERE, HAVING AFFAIRS WITH YOUR SISTER AND HE'S BASICALLY DESTROYING TAEHYUNG'S LIFE LIKE THIS AND YOU KNEW ABOUT IT AND DID NO FUCKING THING!! YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME!! I WOULD HAVE DONE SOMETHI-"

"What could you have done, hyung?" Taehyung asked coolly. 

"I WOULD HAVE CUT HIS DICK OFF!!"

"Let's be practical, hyung. There's nothing you could have done even if you knew. It's just my fate. There's no use getting mad now," Taehyung said without looking at his husband. "And if he really doesn't want to be with me, there's nothing I can do by forcing him to stay, right? Let him be with whoever he wants, I don't really care."

This was a conclusion that Taehyung had come to when he was a teen. That in the future, if his partner happened to cheat on him, he wouldn't force them to stay. There would be no use to make them stay if they weren't interested in doing so. It would only end up hurting both of them in the process. 

At least, Jeongguk had never been good to him, so Taehyung didn't have a hard time letting him go. 

He looked at his husband, only to jump slightly at the expression he was sporting. He looked like the epitome of anger. "Leave," Jeongguk grunted through gritted teeth, "this useless shit understood me better than any of you fuckers could ever do. You can leave."

It hurt. Of course, it hurt, but Taehyung forced himself to maintain a poker expression as he looked down. He didn't want to get in between the brothers' fight. Especially when Yoongi leapt forward to slap Jeongguk tight across his face. 

Jeongguk didn't back off, of course, leaping forward to punch Yoongi back despite him being two years older than him. Hoseok forcefully and physically separated the two of them by rooting himself in between them. Hyuni accomplished the same by wailing loudly. 

"ENOUGH!!" Hoseok yelled and glared at Jeongguk. "KEEP YOUR FUCKED UP FAMILY MATTERS TO YOURSELF AND FUCK OUT OF OUR LIFE IF YOU ARE GOING TO HURT MY HUSBAND ONCE AGAIN!! AND YOU MUST BE ONE OF THE MOST HORRIBLE PEOPLE TO BE DOING THIS TO TAE!!" he yelled and with that, he dragged Yoongi and Hyuni with him, out of the house. 

After they left, Taehyung sat down on one of the chairs with a thump and stared listlessly at the floor, hoping it would open up and swallow him. Of course, it didn't happen. Instead, he heard his husband talk. 

"I'm going to raise the child here. If you have any problem, you can feel free to leave too."

"No," Taehyung shook his head without looking up at Jeongguk, "I've got no problem."

"Good," Jeongguk said and retired to their bedroom while Taehyung leaned forward and buried his face in his hands to cry to his heart's content. 

Of course, he had a problem with raising his husband and his lover's child like his own. He had a hundred problems with that. But he hoped if he gave in now, then at some point in the future, his husband would see what a huge compromise he had done. 

He hoped his husband would realise his value at some point and finally start treating him right. 

But once again, he failed to understand that what he was doing was a sacrifice of his own mental health and peace, not a 'huge compromise'.