Dark and Wild *Taekook*

D&W 48: Let Me In

Okay, last one. It's been a long journey, but I've had a lot of fun writing these characters. I hope you enjoyed it even though I made you wait two years to finish the story. Here we go...

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KIM TAEHYUNG

I'd spent four grueling years fucking around and drinking away any sort of commitment I was faced with, that included my future and all of the things about myself that I was afraid to deal with. There was nothing indicating that I would ever make it to graduation, but miracles could happen. With my diploma in hand, surrounded by my closest friends, and the cutest, most perfect boyfriend I could have ever yearned for, I was truly happy for once. Jungkook smiled at me, adjusting the tassel out of my face and pressed a sweet, curt kiss to my lips. He didn't care that there were prying eyes near.

Jungkook looked so good, wearing fitted black slacks, white combat boots, a chain belt and a tight mock neck tank top that exposed his tattoo sleeve. It was so hot... the weather that is, yet he still chose to adorn himself in black. It looked good on him, I had to take a few deep breaths so I didn't jump him on the lawn of the university. That chaste kiss almost did me in.

"I can't believe you invited your parents." He mused just after Jimin asked where they were. He rolled his eyes and I shook my head. "I wanted this to be a closure moment for them. Let them know how wrong they've done me and cut it off from there. They might wonder why I'm not talking to them or spending their money anymore." I explained. A week prior to graduation, I paid off the credit card they gave me with some of the award check I'd received for my senior project. With the rest of the money, I bought a building that I'd yet to tell Jungkook about. I'd made a decision about what I wanted to do for the next five years and he'd been kept in suspense for several weeks about it.

I didn't want to owe my parents anything, so I cut all financial ties and would have to be financially responsible. I had to figure out what would get me the steadiest income and make me happy. On one hand, if I did professional volleyball, I wouldn't see a check for several months. It would be large, but not immediate. If I worked at my mother's entertainment company, I'd be miserable. If I opened my own studio, I'd have so much control, control that I never felt like I deserved to or was capable of having. When I'd withdrawn myself from my parent's bank account, I didn't get not one phone call about it. I was sure they were relieved.

My parents were horrible to me, but at the same time, at least they did the bare minimum, kept clothes on my back, expensive ones that I did not at all need. They provided for me, though stopped nurturing me by the time I turned fourteen. I thought they at least deserved some explanation as to why I was going no-contact, but they didn't show. My mother had some stupid investor meeting that would determine the year's funding for her idol groups and anywhere my mother went, my father went too. That alone showed me where I was on their list of priorities, not just today, but my whole childhood.

"They don't even deserve that. My parents would drop everything even if I was just earning a certificate for perfect attendance." Jungkook scoffed. He wasn't bragging, just trying to explain to me why he couldn't fathom this sort of behavior from anyone's parents. What he said next soothed the sting of his other words.

"They're proud of you." He told me.

I was touched to hear that Jungkook's parents were proud of me. I didn't hear those words often. After getting to know them better, going home with Jungkook for the breaks and having a long beer talk with his father, it seemed at times they knew me better than my own parents. I tried not to let any tears fall when I heard those four words, but they flooded my eyes anyway. I'd never really been much a crier, didn't allow it, but I'd been changing in the last couple of years, gradually. There wasn't much I could do to stop the tears I'd been holding in for so long.