3RD PERSON
"When will you be back?" Trinity asked over the phone, staring down at her feet as she sat on the couch in the living room.
"Something came up downtown. I got your phone though."
"That's not what I asked, Hoseok." Trinity said passive aggressively.
"Give me another hour or two. I'll be back soon."
"But-"
"I called Michelle and asked if she could sit with you while I'm out. She should be there...now."
Just as he said that, a knock could be heard at the front door. Trinity knew it was Michelle. She was happy to have the company but she was a little annoyed because it felt as if Hoseok was using Michelle as a substitute for himself.
"I'll see you when I get home. I love you."
Trinity didn't even get a chance to respond before the phone was being hung up. Getting up from the couch, she holds the phone tightly in her hand and walks towards the door. Pulling it open after unlocking it she was able to see Michelle standing there with a bag over her shoulder and Uriah in her arms chewing on his fingers.
"Hey babes." Michelle smiled brightly, stepping inside.
"Hey guys." Trinity said raspily, not being able to talk very loudly due to her sore throat from all the throwing up and crying she had done this morning alone. That along with her hangover from last night.
"I brought a guest." Michelle jokes, jutting out the hip she held Uriah on.
The ten month old slipped his fingers from his mouth and instead did a huge, gummy grin once his eyes fell on Trinity.
"Hey stinky butt." Trinity smiled, reaching for Uriah who Michelle quickly let go off. "See how she just throw you away?" Trinity giggled, walking to the couch and sitting down with the happy baby in her arms.
"Girl his ass is heavy as hell. Feel like I'm carrying around a sack of bricks all damn day." Michelle complained. After locking the door she joined them on the couch and released a deep breath afterwards.
"Now you just over exaggerating." Trinity rolled her eyes. Michelle hummed. "Deny all you want but we both know I'm telling the truth."
Trinity played around in Uriah's curls as he looked around the living room and made random baby noises, getting easily excited at the most random things and occasionally smiling.
"So what's going on? Is everything okay?" Michelle asked.
"Everything is...everything." Trinity gave up on trying to explain exactly how everything was going. There was no use in hiding the fact that things weren't the best right now. She was in the middle of a crisis, fighting off the urge to rip her damn hair out.
"Tell me everything." Michelle said, propping her legs up on the couch and getting comfortable as she listened to her bestfriend speak.
"Well after I got publicly humiliated at the club last night, I also had to deal with getting my phone smashed and a big argument in the car."
"That bastard." Michelle said.
"He said that I was showing my ass all because I wanted to have fun. Not only that, he said that sometimes he has to hold himself back from hitting me and Michelle I can't even lie...that's scary. I know hoseok and I know he was just speaking out of anger but it still hurts to know that he thinks he's in control of me."
"I know how you feel. I went through this same shit with Daren. No matter how many times you tell them that you're your own person they still seem to have it in their minds that they own you which is far from the truth. Don't let him have that power over you. It's one thing to have boundaries with one another but it's a completely different thing to be straight up controlling. I know Jay and I know that he's more than likely acting like this because he's stressed or something. But it's still no reason for him to say stuff like that to you."
Trinity listens attentively. If anybody could give her amazing advice on what a controlling relationship was and how to fix one, it was Michelle.
She has matured so much and Jimin has taught her so much. He showed her how a man should live a woman and therefore she knew the difference between a toxic, dark love as opposed to a beautiful, gentle love.
"B-but how do I fix this? I'm not leaving Hoseok. I can't." Trinity said.
"You can but you won't. And I'm not saying to leave him because you two are practically soulmates at this point in time. But don't let your love for him be blinding. What he's doing is wrong."
Before she knew it, Trinity was filled with nothing but tears. She sniffled and wiped her eyes with her free hand as she pushed Uriah up on her lap. All she had been doing was crying lately.
"Aww, bae." Michelle cooed, scooting closer and pulling trinity in for a hug. She gently pushed down so that Trinity's head rested on her shoulder. Trinity closed her eyes as her tears hit Michelle's jacket.
It felt good to be in someone's embrace.
"I'm just so tired of going through the same thing..." Trinity said. It was like a reoccurring nightmare. An endless loop. It was something she was sick of experiencing and she wanted it to stop. She wanted to be with hoseok but she couldn't take his attitude at times.
"I know but trin it's not up to you to stop it. The source of the problem should be the person trying to help the problem most. Don't devote your all into something because if you give too much you have nothing left. Hoseok loves you but he needs to get his shit straight before you get enough and leave. Don't ever say you can't leave him. That's just giving away your power to him. You can. And if he continues to pull this shit then you will. I'll make sure of that."
"I understand." Trinity nods, pulling herself up from Michelle.
"Don't give too much." Michelle says, leaving it at that.
There was nothing else for Trinity to do except let her words sink in...
________
Just as he said said, Hoseok was back in another two hours.
Trinity had drifted off on the couch with Uriah laying on her chest and a blanket thrown over their bodies. Michelle was up on her phone, organizing all of the hair appointments people had booked with her and so on so forth, when hoseok entered.
He held a bag in one hand with Trinity's new phone inside. He closed and locked the door. Michelle looks up from her phone, and once she seen hoseok she stood up from the couch.
"Hey Michelle-"
"We need to talk." She said to him.
Hoseok looked over at the couch where trinity and Uriah rested before sighing. He sat the bag on the coffee table and followed Michelle into the kitchen.
"How was she?" Hoseok asked. Michelle crossed her arms over her chest.
"She's alright. But she doesn't need me laying down with her and consoling her. She needs you." Michelle said.
Hoseok opened his mouth to speak but Michelle raised her finger. "I'm still talking." She says. Surprisingly, hoseok shut his mouth.
"How fucking dare you? Trinity is a sweet girl. The most amazing, humble, selfless and beautiful person I know. She's the perfect woman and yet you still find some way to fuck that over? I know you and I know you have sense but sometimes I doubt that. You dragged my bestfriend out of the fucking club and embarrassed her. Had I not been drunk off my ass I would've caught up with y'all and beat your lanky ass to a pulp. If she ever comes to me telling me some shit about you threatening to hit her, I will take one of your guns and shoot your ass in the balls."
Hoseok was speechless. He wasn't easily intimidated but Michelle was scary as hell.
"She has a life of her own and I be damned if I watch her break under your pressure. If you want to make enemies and run the streets then fine. But she won't slow down her life all because of yours. It's okay to set boundaries and protect her but what you will not do is control her or put your fucking hands on her. The next time you apologize you need to stand on that shit and if you don't I will literally drag her by her two front teeth out of this apartment and keep her chained away somewhere so that you can't get to her and then you'll be left alone suffering. Don't try me nigga I will fuck you up." Michelle cut her eyes.
"And one last thing, I know she loves you because if she didn't she wouldn't be putting up with this shit. What you need to do is make things better before you end up breaking her. Love her like she deserves to be loved and find it in yourself to fix your wrongs for the bettering of a relationship. You two love and need each other I want to see you both happy. So this needs to end. I'm serious."
"I know..." hoseok said, staring down at the floor.
"Do you really?" Michelle tilted her head.
"I do." Hoseok said. "I'll do whatever she asks me to."
"You fucking better." Michelle hissed, storming out of the kitchen and bumping into him as she did so. Hoseok clenched his jaw.
"I'm scared for Jimin." He mumbled to himself.
"He alright! Don't worry about him!" Michelle shouted, putting on her shoes and coat. Hoseok, despite his mood, laughed and followed out behind.
"I was just joking." He said.
"Don't joke with me right now. I love you but I dislike you at the moment. Catch me next week." Michelle said. Hoseok kissed his teeth.
"Also, trinity wants Uriah tonight so he's staying and me and Jimin will be back tomorrow to get him. His bag is packed with clothes, diapers and all. Also he loves fruit snacks and Cheeto puffs...Remember what I said, Hoseok Jung." Michelle said.
"I will." Hoseok said, following her to the door. Michelle hummed and left without another word. Hoseok closed and locked the door behind him before going back over to the couch.
It was adorable seeing the way trinity held Uriah in her sleep. He first picked up Uriah and brought him up to their bedroom and laid him in the center of the bed before going down and picking trinity up bridal style to bring her to the bed as well.
Afterwards, he got into the bed and laid on his back with Uriah resting between them. He was tired and wanted nothing more than to nap. But he couldn't sleep without knowing if trinity had forgiven him or not.
It was very silent in the room. Hoseok realized that his interactions with Oreo had been very very limited ever since the previous night. The thought of Oreo giving him the cold shoulder because of what he did to trinity is laughable but it's cute that even the puppy feels the emotional disconnection and tension between both of them right now.
"You're back." A soft, broken voice whispers from beside him.
Hoseok turns to the other side of the bed. Trinity's eyes were opened as she stared at Uriah who was sleeping soundlessly with his little fist balled up.
"Of course I'm back. Did you think I wouldn't come back?" Hoseok chuckled lightly. Trinity didn't respond, telling him everything that he needed to know.
"I got your phone." He says. Trinity nodded. "Thank you."
And once again, things are silent.
Hoseok licked over his lips and curled his fingers behind his head. Uncurling them seconds later only to curl them again. Repeating this process and trying to ignore trinity's piercing gaze.
"Hoseok?" Trinity calls out to him.
"Hmm?"
"Can I tell you something?"
"Anything." Hoseok says without hesitation, giving her the green light to speak her mind. Trinity swallows the small build up of saliva on the surface of her tongue before speaking again.
"Sometimes I think that you don't love me as much as you say you do." She admits.
Without turning his body and only his head, hoseok looks at trinity with an expression that didn't give much away about how he was feeling inside. He didn't get upset nor did he speak. He just lays there, allowing for her words to hit him where they would hurt.
"Sometimes, I think that the only reason you say certain things is because they make you sound good. I feel like you only call me pretty because you wouldn't want to be the one to call me ugly. I feel like you only say you love me because you wouldn't want to be the person that makes me feel unloved..." she drifts.
"That's not true and you know it's not true." Hoseok whispers. Trinity laughed painfully. Did she really?
"You tell me that I don't know a lot of things and sometimes I believe you." She shoots.
"Well that's because you don't know a lot of things. But neither do I, or anybody else for that matter." He says.
"But what I do know is that I love you more than I do anything or anyone else. And I call you beautiful because you are exactly that. So don't ever try to downplay my love for you. I am madly, wholeheartedly and deeply in love with you. And nothing could ever change that." He concludes.
Trinity pursed her lips, looking down at Uriah's curly hair. Her fingers itched to reach out and caress his soft brown hair. And that's what she did, watching her fingertips disappear within the beautiful brown sea of locs on her nephew's head as she thought about what hoseok had just told her.
"I don't want...you to be madly in love with me. I want a gentle love. I don't want you to obsess over me in a toxic way to the point where you think about abusing me whenever I do something you don't like or make you jealous. I want you to talk to me and love me like I'm fragile and delicate. I want you to cherish me and treat me like the princess that you always say I am."
I would never abuse you. Hoseok thought. He wouldn't. But she probably had it in her mind that he could and would if he wanted to, all because he decided to be a stupid asshole.
"I want you to be the sweet Hobi that you were when we were kids. You used to defend me all the time and you would never raise your voice at me or get upset. You always protected me and you still do as we're together. But I miss when you were a sweetheart. I miss the gentle Hobi that I had in Hawaii. I want that Hoseok all the time. I accept you and love you for your flaws but I wont let your insecurities and anger destroy me."
And hoseok could not blame her for that. If anything, he applauded her for knowing her worth. Hoseok loved trinity to death and would hate for her to leave him. But he was happy to know that she had matured. And realized that she was worth more than what she received from him sometimes.
Spoiling her with gifts and money, jewels and cars didn't mean he loved her in the right way. Hoseok needed to get his shit together before he lost the best thing that ever happened to him. He didn't want to lose trinity because losing her would mean losing himself.
"If you hurt me again I don't think...I don't think I'll be able to do it anymore. I'll tell my parents and my brother and they'll never let me see you again." She says, staring him dead in the eye as she said so.
Hoseok nodded. He didn't think they would be so cruel. But if it meant protecting Trinity, they would do anything.
"I'll become a better man for you, baby." He says. Trinity nodded, closing her eyes.
She hoped so. Because she couldn't stand the thought of living a life without him. However, it was time she put herself first.
_______
After their conversation, hoseok was only able to get actual sleep in for an hour before he was waking up again.
Trinity was knocked out and Uriah was stirring awake.
He whined as he looked around the dark room. Hoseok groans and flicks on the lamp. He sat up in bed and brushed his hair back on his head. Looking down at the baby whose eyes had finally landed on Hoseok's.
"Hey little man." Hoseok sings, picking up the ten month old and standing up from the bed with him.
He needed to be changed and wiped down. Also, he needed to be put into his little pajamas because hoseok realized he had fallen asleep in the clothes he showed up with.
Uriah blew spit bubbles in Hoseok's face and unexpected got a grip on the man's nose before pulling it.
"Forgot how fuckin' strong you was. Damn." Hoseok mumbled as he walked into the bathroom.
"Let's get you all nice and cleaned up, huh? We can chill out and eat some fruit snacks afterwards. How does that sound?" Uriah made a face before squealing unexpectedly. Bouncing up and down in Hoseok's hold.
Hoseok could actually see the start of teeth growing in the baby's mouth. Soon, he would start walking. Time really was flying by.
"I take that as a yes." Hoseok's chuckled.
A few minutes later from inside the room, Trinity is thrown awake yet again due to the joyful noises coming from the bathroom connected to the bedroom.
A child's laughter fills her ears and along with that came the laughter of Hoseok and his voice following soon after.
"Say Hobi. Uncle Hobi." Hoseok tries to get Uriah to say something atleast close to his name as he wiped the ten month old off. Uriah chewed on his fingers but his eyes did all the smiling for him.
"It's not difficult, kid. Say Ho-bi. Hobi." Hoseok probes.
Uriah hummed, kicking his little feet before taking his fingers from his mouth. Hoseok sighed, pretending to be defeated.
"Well I guess we'll try again some other time. You're obviously not in a talking mood." He whistled.
Trinity covered her mouth to silence her laughter. She couldn't help but spectate from the room. It was always adorable seeing hoseok interact with children. He was so gentle and kind.
"So here's the plan. We get cleaned up, go downstairs and discretely eat some gummy candies while watching cartoons? Aunt trin is getting her beauty sleep. We can't disrupt her." Hoseok cooed.
Trinity's heart softened. Beauty sleep. That was cute.
"And I know you have nothing but gums right now so do your best to keep up." He further adds, standing up from sitting on the edge of the tub with Uriah in his embrace.
Trinity quickly lays back down as the lights are flickered off and Hoseok and Uriah enter the bedroom. She couldn't help but feel soft after witnessing such a soft encounter.
Moments like that only reminded her just why she couldn't leave Hoseok. He was an Angel at heart and has been tainted so much by the outside world to even see it.
Just like she deserved a shot at experiencing a love so raw and tender ; he deserved a shot at experiencing a life where he was seen as the angel he truly was at pure heart, all while living in and embracing the truth to himself as man who has the potential but is constantly being beaten down by the acerbity of the world.
Trinity just wanted him to see the best in himself.
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A/n: excuse any mistakes <3