➳ 41 | BACKSTAB
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"I really apologize... it's all my fault", Haneul bowed down to me, whilst I shook my head, trying to tell her that it was not a big deal at all.
Infact it sucks but I was glad.
Apparently, Jimin left to his apartment early in the morning and I knew the exact reason why.
He wanted to avoid me, it was as simple as that. He probably realised that it was not good to butt into someone else's matter.
Heaving a sigh, I looked at Haneul who looked a bit disappointed with herself. She blamed it on her that Jimin left without anyone noticing.
Probably just a few guards outside who didn't even had any clue he was my brother.
"...I'll go prepare the breakfast... it's already too late", she muttered, backing away slowly and disappearing into the kitchen.
Shaking my head in frustration because of last night, I made my way back to my room, where the man I admitted to love was still sleeping.
His figure, hugging the pillow, sleeping soundlessly made me just wanna stare at him forever.
It's quite absurd, but he mostly used to sleep in his office room. Even though he distanced himself from his mafia duties, he still slept in his work office with an obvious excuse that he was working late night.
But I knew it too well.
I always used to creep inside his room at midnight, checking if he overworked himself, rather finding him snoring on the office couch.
It's not as if I didn't confronted him for it. I did argued with him about it several times, hoping he'll just drop his cold behaviour with me, but he didn't.
Now that someone broke the ice, none other than my brother Park Jimin, for the first time after weeks, he slept in the room with me.
Like old times.
Last night... he was just sad and mostly disappointed with himself. He kept mumbling things whilst trying hard to sleep, most of it didn't reached out to my ears though.
He was just mad at himself and because of the same reason again. He blamed himself for dragging and forcing me to marry him and I was totally done with it.
Things were at peak right now, it felt to surreal.
"...why didn't you wake me up early?..", realising I was still staring at him, I quickly diverted my eyes at the floor, hoping that I didn't got caught staring at him.
"..Did I wake you up?", I asked, feeling a little nervous around him.
Obviously that was a lame question but it just slipped out of my mouth.
Now that I admitted to have feelings for him, it was way too different.
"Of course. Who can even sleep while someone is staring at them--"
"I wasn't staring at you!", I knew it wouldn't work any well, he probably caught me daydreaming about him.
"Just stop lying-"
"I was just spaced out... nothing else", gulping down, I internally congratulated myself for the brilliant excuse.
I'm good at making excuse, it's an excellent trait of mine.
"I believe you!", with a chuckle, he got up from the bed and stretched his arms.
By the look of it, it seemed as if he forgot about last night. The way he acted last night and today was quite different.
As if he had some sort of amnesia and forgot that he fought with his 'bestfriend', correction... childhood bestfriend.
"Fresh up and get downstairs... breakfast is almost ready"
He simply nodded, getting in the washroom as I just stared at his back.
He did changed a lot.
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"Jisoo informed me that they'll visit us today", I noticed how he dropped the fork in his hand.
He closed his eyes and I noticed the frustration visible on his face.
"I'll be off then-"
"What do you mean?", not believing that he again wants to avoid his brother, I asked.
"I don't want to meet them, it's as simple as that", I did knew something was going in between Seokjin and Taehyung since they last met.
It explained it all.
"You're not going anywhere and I'll make sure of that", I sipped my coffee, not daring to make eye contact with him cause I knew he was so mad at me.
"Who are you tell me--"
"Your wife", he sighed once again, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I have some work, don't disturb me", he stated, standing up from the chair, heading towards his office room.
I knew exactly what kind of work he had to deal with. Nothing more than staring blankly at the ceiling in his office room, praying for the time to pass quickly.
"Atleast finish your breakfast!", I yelled at him but he cared less.
"I lost my appetite!", I did heard him yell back at me, his steps fading slowly, telling that already strided upstairs.
I shook my head, totally done by his statement.
Ofcourse I wanted him to sort things out with his only brother. Whatever happened between them that day was probably just because of the heat of the moment, maybe they said things they weren't supposed to.
Jisoo told me so. She couldn't blame Taehyung either, he was like a younger brother to her.
I was mentally frustrated these days to be honest. I'm someone who enjoys going out, hanging with friends, most importantly freedom.
For now, it's not really about my freedom. It's not the way it used to be before, me completely bugging Taehyung about my freedom.
Now that I want him to be my one forever, I've changed.
As much as I wanted to go out of the mansion, even sneak out like last time, I didn't.
Nor that I ask him about going out anywhere now.
Noticing how he was so worried about the situation, his dad... it made me not annoy him until the problem was solved.
Whenever I feel like going outside, I tell myself that the world isn't gonna and it's not as if I was never gonna step out again. Maybe just wait a little till the heat died down?
Because of the whole scene going around these days, I couldn't even meet Tzuyu for the last time in Seoul as she was moving out.
It's not as if I was never gonna meet her again, it was more like 'for the time being'.
"Haneul... do inform me when they arrive", I paused for little time before speaking again, "I want to meet them both first"
She nodded her head, noticing me stand up from the chair.
"Won't you finish your breakfast?", she asked, a little disappointed.
"I lost my appetite too", flashing her a smile, I walked towards the lounge area.
It was quite clear why I was behaving that way and she probably got the clue. The man called 'my husband' left the dining, what was there any chance left for me to eat alone?
Sighing for the thousandth time today already, I sat on the couch. Taehyung was probably just sitting in his office room, idle, just a way of avoiding me and our visiting guests.
I knew him too well.
He had nothing to work. Since he took a break from his mafia duties for the time being, he just used his work as an excuse now.
I'm not gonna let him go away with this easily.
I'll make sure he sorts things out with his brother.
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"I came to visit after a long time-- why are you...", Jisoo paused between her sentence, noticing my eyes wandering behind her.
I was trying to see the figure I waited patiently for, but some things told me otherwise.
"Where's Seokjin--"
"I tried to convince him, but he refused to tag along", she said, stepping inside, making herself at home while I constantly stared at her with mouth a gape.
"What-- you told me you 'both' were visiting?!", I did raised my voice a little, 'unintentionally'.
I was just too frustrated because of the fact that she came all alone.
"I did... but things came up...and..."
She couldn't complete her sentence as she looked down fiddling with her fingers nervously.
"Unnie... I really feel as if something is wrong", I sat beside her with my hand on her back.
The look on her face told me something was really off. Something really bad. She didn't looked as cheerful as she was before and it gave me this clue that she was hiding something.
"You know you can tell me--"
"It's mine and Seokjin's matter. You shouldn't interfere", she said and even though I knew she didn't meant it that way, it did sounded rude.
I was taken back a little as I distanced myself from her.
It was true that something was wrong. Her whole dim appearance and look told it all.
It did seemed as if she was trying to act normal, be the goofy one she always is... but she couldn't keep it in.
I noticed the sad look on her face. Her smile before was replaced with a dim aura.
"We just argued... that's all. Nothing more, nothing less", she still managed to smile at me, but something inside me didn't buy it.
"Just an argument? You can't act like this just because of a simple argument-"
"Simple?", she paused before speaking again, "it might be a simple argument to you, because you are used to it. You are used to arguing with your dear husband almost everyday"
Her words were sharp, but deep within... I knew she was right.
"Arguments ruin relationships and you already ruined yours one. I don't want the same thing to happen with me...", she trailed off at the end, realising the fact that she went overboard.
I looked at her in disbelief, her words roaming in my mind but I had to devour them somehow cause she was only speaking the truth.
"I'm sorry... I'm not in my right mind.."
She looked down, not daring to look at me again.
Her words did stabbed me like knives, but I couldn't blame her at all. She was just stating a fact.
I was ruining my relationship with Taehying more and more all the time, hoping for us to work now.
It was totally absurd.
"My mind is totally going crazy-- I didn't meant anything just...", she didn't seemed to find words anymore.
"It's okay I understand..", I got up from the couch, stepping away a little.
"I need some time alone. I'll be in the guestroom", she smiled at me, a hesitant one, before making her way to the nearest guestroom.
Once again, my plan was ruined.
My mind told me it wasn't just any argument between them, it was something else bugging her too.
And my curiosity got the best of me.
I really wanted to figure out the reason behind her behaviour anyhow.
-----‐----
I sat on the bed, with folded hands while the man infront me was continuously laughing for the past five minutes.
"Will you please stop Taehyung?! You're annoying me", I said, a little angry with him but it had no effect on him.
"Wait this is too funny for me to handle... I'll die from laughter", He sat there, trying hard to hold his laughter.
When he got to know Jisoo came alone, without Seokjin by her side, he's continuously mocking and laughing at me since then.
He was having the time of his life, seeing me in displeasure because of the moment. My discontent was probably his happiness as of now.
He didn't even gave me a chance to explain.
"Jerk", I muttered, totally annoyed by him.
"Who was the one saying she would reunite me with my lost brother?", with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, he asked while I glared at him.
"I swear to God... if you weren't my husband, you would have been dead by my hands"
"I'm so scared", he mocked back at me, showing me his boxy smile which appears less occasionally.
"Instead of laughing and roasting me... go and meet Jisoo, she might be waiting for you", he didn't even listened to me fully and left for her room, humming to a song.
He was probably having the best day of his life.
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3rd POV:
Taehyung knocked on the door, waiting for the response of the one inside.
He did heard some hurried shuffling from inside, before she spoke with a faint voice, "come in"
He took a deep breath before turning the door knob cause he did sensed something is wrong. His sixth sense told so.
"Oh I thought you were so busy in your work that you would not even spare time to meet me", Jisoo chuckled before punching Taehyung on his back playfully, making him groan a bit.
"Not there-- you know there is a wound", he hissed, sitting on the chair beside the door, one of his hand reaching his back.
Jisoo looked at him with wide eyes before speaking, "I completely forgot-- I'm so sorry"
She worriedly stood near him, noticing him groaning in pain. It was an old wound Taehyung had four years ago. It had healed but not completely.
Taehyung noticed how she suddenly became worried and he could sense she was feeling guilty of her act.
"Ha! I'm just joking around!", he bursted into laughter as his 'little joke' turned out successful.
"You jerk! I knew you were gonna pull this off!", she poked him at his back again.
"But it still hurts... a little", he pouted a little, getting up from the couch and walking around the room.
"I can't believe you still act like a baby even after turning twenty-three"
"Twenty-four to be exact", with his hand in his pocket he smiled at her. Their relation was like that, all goofy and pulling tricks on eachother.
"Just stop whining", she chuckled sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I wanted talk about something... important", Jisoo's expression turned serious in just a moment, as she stared at the latter, gesturing him to sit beside her and he did.
She cleared her throat before speaking, "it's about Seokjin..."
"I'm leaving", not in a mood to hear anything about his brother, Taehyung scoffed before trying to get up only to be held in a strong grip by Jisoo.
"No! You have to listen--"
"I don't want to listen anything right now", he closed his eyes, annoyed by the moment.
He just wanted to run away from the room but Jisoo who was sitting right beside him was gripping on his arm tightly, not even giving him a chance to move.
"I'm not even asking you to sort things out with him", her grip on him loosened, as he sat firm in his place, interested in hearing her more.
As long as it didn't included 'him sorting things out with his big brother'.
"Just listen to me this once... let your ego aside just for this time", she pleaded him as he just gave her small nod in response, obviously feeling a little uncomfortable.
"I don't know where to start with... but I just had an argument with Seokjin before visiting you guys..", she trailed off at the end, searching for right words to explain the situation to him.
"I know you and your brother are not in good terms right now nor do I want you to fix things out with him, cause it depends on you"
Taehyung stared at her, his curiosity getting the best of him. He really wanted to know the reason behind their argument cause as far as he knew, their love marriage was going so well, he never expected them to fight.
Unlike his marriage life ofcourse.
"I never wanted to go against my husband but it's the best-"
"Stop talking in riddles please", he just wanted her to get to the point.
She lowly chuckled before speaking, "Seokjin knows... about your father being the one ruining your life... your father planning against you. He knew it all along..."
He stared at her speechless, not really expecting that his brother knew it all.
Even though they weren't in good terms right now, he always respected and loved Seokjin. He always saw him as an older brother, and expected the same from him too.
What he got?
Nothing but backstabbing.
He looked away, not having enough guts to face Jisoo. She was Seokjin's wife afterall, he knew he couldn't trust her as well.
"Before you hate him more... he just knew. He did nothing for him-"
"Does that make it any better?! And what about you?! Did you also knew it from the start?!", He snapped at her, standing up from her side.
The emotions building up inside of him were too hard for him to handle. All he wished for was for things to get better.
But at this pace, it was only getting worse.
Knowing that he lost his mother right when he was borned, his father turning against him, his brother now too... he was left with absolutely no one.
Except Jieun who he was trying his best to leave for her own sake.
"Listen to me first! I got to know this today myself. He stayed silent about the whole matter... that's all", she got up, noticing how his eyes teared up.
He was a human afterall. It's not like men don't cry.
"For you it's just 'that's all'. For me it's my father and my only brother betraying me!", even though he wanted to bawl his eyes out, he held his tears in as he didn't wanted to burst out infront of her.
"We can fix things... just try to understand", she tried putting her hand on his shoulder, attempting to calm him down but he yanked it away.
"I want to be alone right now", he gritted before striding outside, slamming the door behind him making her flinch.
Jisoo sighed before sitting back on her spot, regretting on everything.
To be honest, she never expected this reaction from him. She regretted telling him this, rather keep it a secret.
But she understood him well, his life was solely upside down at the moment.
It's like his life was playing with him.
He wanted someone to stay at his side, to be there for him at difficult times.
Someone who understands him.
Someone who loves him.
A/N: once again... not a fan of rushing the story at all... bear with me till the end of this story :)