Taehyung quietly shut the door behind him, his phone in his other hand. He glanced up at the house, every light off, the rest of the walls quiet.
It was 1 in the morning.
Taehyung glanced down at his phone, remembering the worried texts from the members from the hours he's been gone.
- jin -
jin - i know right now is really hard right now and none of us like seeing minduelle this way, but please come back so we can talk and keep you company, okay? it's our day off and let's try to make the most of it
jin - it's getting late, taehyung, come home soon
- yoongi -
yoongi - if you need anything, lmk
yoongi - drive safe and stay safe
- hoseok -
hoseok - i know i've been pushing you really hard this week, but that's only because i know you can handle it and i know you can be incredible. you are extremely gifted, taehyung. and i apologize for pushing you so much. i should've given you more of a break. and now this is all crashing down right now. but please come back, for everyone and for yourself, okay? i know it's nice to clear your head, but it's gotten really late and you should be resting. i'm here for you, taehyung
hoseok - i'm heading to bed, i look forward to seeing you in the morning <3
- namjoon -
namjoon - i'm not going to beg you to come home because i trust you. just keep your safety and time in mind with whatever you need to do, alright?
namjoon - min has been doing a lot better, just more quiet than usual
namjoon - jin patched her up real good and she's got a brace on her arm. i think yoongi is going to help her with her performance tomorrow. i think we're all going to try and make it but you are welcome to stay back and do whatever you want
namjoon - i'm heading to bed. call me if you need anything
- jimin -
jimin - i know you and you know me and i will admit that i'm frustrated with you
jimin - i wish you would've told me once you found out. i know you take it really hard when this happens to min. don't act like i haven't noticed your huge change of behavior whenever this happens. you get really quiet, taehyung, it worries me
jimin - i am always, always here to talk to you. i forgive you taehyung. i can't read your mind, but i know you're probably thinking negatively right now. but i'm not mad at you, okay?
jimin - just come back soon so we can hang out some more!
jimin - you can have more of appa's cookies too whenever you come back
- jungkook -
jungkook - i hope you're okay
jungkook - i put your food in the fridge and wrote your name on it
- min -
min - everything okay?
min - should i meet you somewhere?
"Hey."
Taehyung quickly looked up, eyes wide, trying to make out the figure standing in the dark family room.
"I was worried about you."
Minduelle walked over to him, turning on the kitchen light on her way there.
"Jesus." Taehyung breathed, closing the gap between them, holding her face in his hands, her entire face fitting in his hands. "What did he do to you?"
Minduelle smiled softly and placed her hands on Taehyung's, tapping her pointer finger three times, keeping eye contact with him. "Let's go somewhere else? I don't want anyone else to wake up and hear."
"We can go to HYBE, break into Hoseokie's studio?" Taehyung offered, their usual spot.
"Yeah." Minduelle nodded, taking a step towards the door, Taehyung pulling her back. "What?"
"Do you have a coat?" Taehyung frowned. "It's freezing out there."
Minduelle shook her head. "I ran and didn't grab anything." Minduelle's eyes saddened once she realized what she left in her room. "He probably took all of my money."
"Jungkook's coat is hanging up." Taehyung walked over and handed it to her. "Come on, we can get a snack if you want too."
"I'm not hungry." Minduelle shook her head, stopping in the doorway. "Did you eat? Aren't you hungry?"
"I got some ramen at a gas station." Taehyung answered, gesturing for her to continue. "Come on, it's late and you need to get to bed."
"So do you." Minduelle mumbled, heading to his car and getting it, wondering if she should tell Taehyung about her wrist. Of course she could, she shouldn't lie. She never lied about this stuff to Taehyung.
"Did you pass out around him?" Taehyung asked, pulling out of the garage.
"No, thankfully." Minduelle crossed her arms, being careful with her wrist. "He would've cut my hands off."
Taehyung looked over at her with wide eyes. "We'll continue this when we're at HYBE."
Minduelle looked down at her shoes, slippers on her feet. Jimin had been kind enough to lend her his. She didn't have any time to grab anything at her house...
"How was your mom?" Minduelle spoke up, Taehyung turning up the heat a bit more once he noticed how tense she sounded and looked.
"She was good." Taehyung nodded. "Said she was proud of me, looking forward to the new album, wanted me to send more money."
Minduelle sighed. "You send her money every week."
"I know." Taehyung didn't have much emotion to his voice, something common when he spoke about his parents. "She said she's redoing some parts of the house and wanted to make sure she could do whatever she wanted with it."
Minduelle paused, thinking back to Taehyung's previous meetings with his mom. "Are you sure she asked about you? Or said those things to you? Or did she just say it in a twisted way because she gets to benefit from it?"
"I think you already know the answer."
Minduelle reached over and grabbed Taehyung's hand off the steering wheel, intertwining their fingers. "I'm sorry, Taehyung."
"I'm sorry too, Minduelle." Taehyung kept his eyes on the road. "I've noticed your wrist."
"Yeah." Minduelle looked down at her braced wrist, clenching her teeth. "My father wants to get rid of the highest income of the house."
"He doesn't know how amazing you are."
-
Minduelle yawned as she and Taehyung walked down the dark, quiet hallway of HYBE, finally getting to Hoseok's office and plopping themselves down on his couch. "Any word from your father?" Minduelle laid her head on Taehyung's shoulder, Taehyung leaning his against hers.
"Nope. I don't want to hear from him." Taehyung held his hand out for her's, noticing how Minduelle didn't hesitate to hand over her injured hand. "My mother said he was fine and that's information I don't even care about."
"Jimin said his dad wrote you a letter." Minduelle watched as Taehyung gently traced some parts of her brace, being as gentle as a feather against skin. "Did you read it?"
"I don't like crying in front of people."
"That's understandable." Minduelle didn't push any more, letting Taehyugn set his own boundaries, knowing he would say more if he wanted to. "Did you enjoy Jimin's parents?"
"They treat me like I'm their son." Taehyung smiled fondly, remembering the countless family-love moments he's had with them. God, he loved the Parks so much. "I wish they never left. I wish they were my parents."
"They're angels, aren't they?" Minduelle slowly turned her hand over, placing her other hand on top of Taehyung's, holding his now. "Just like their son."
"How was he, after I left?" Taehyung turned his head slightly, his cheek more squished against her head now.
"Confused, upset, clingy." Minduelle rubbed her thumb against Taehyung's hands, admiring how they were always in perfect condition. "He doesn't understand how a parent could be so hateful. He wouldn't let me leave his side, like he thought just him being beside me would make everything better."
"Well, did it work?" Taehyung asked, fighting the urge to hold her hands, wanting to feel her rough skin against his own.
Minduelle laughed softly. "Yeah, actually. I ended up falling asleep for a little bit on the couch with him."
"I can't bring myself to tell him such horrible things." Taehyung admitted, Minduelle going quiet, letting Taehyung speak. "I haven't told him a thing about my father or mother. I think he's noticed some differences between his mom and my own, but I think he just brushed it off as parenting differences." Taehyung closed his eyes. "And when I found out about you, as I was listening to him being giggly and happy about his parents, I couldn't... I really couldn't."
"No one is upset with you, Taehyung." Minduelle gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "You're speaking like you were kicked out of the house and Jimin said he wants to never see you again." Minduelle lifted her head from his shoulder, her heart breaking once she saw all the pain etched into Taehyung's face. "Taehyung, no one expects you to be the bearer of bad news to Mr. Angel, okay?" Minduelle smiled softly once Taehyung did.
"I just can't help but feel guilty." Taehyung sighed, Minduelle nodding, listening to him. "I know everything about Jimin and he trusts me with everything, but... that transparency is only one sided, and only I know that." Taehyung stared at Minduelle. "Does that make me a horrible friend? A liar?"
"No, Taehyung." Minduelle shook her head slowly, keeping eye contact with him, starting to understand this man a little bit more. "You have trauma, and that is okay. You don't want to disclose such a painful time to someone you feel happy with, and that is okay and 100% understandable. When you look at Jimin, you know you only have happiness between the two of you. You know there won't be a single talk about your trauma and that comforts you."
Taehyung lowered his head, something clicking. "That's true."
"What?" Minduelle tried to peer up at him. "What's wrong?"
"Is that how you see me?" Taehyung mumbled, looking at her through his bangs. "Do you see traumatic talks and tearful moments when you see me?"
"Goodness no, Taehyung." Minduelle gently lifted Taehyung's head up. "I see comfort when I see you. You understand me and I understand you, Taehyung. That's comforting." Minduelle offered a smile. "Do you see trauma when you see me?"
"No," Taehyung felt a weight off his shoulders immediately. "I see a safe space."
"Exactly." Minduelle patted his cheek gently, a much happier and relieved smile on her face. "We're okay."
Taehyung frowned softly, his eyes on Minduelle's jaw, right by the corner of her mouth. "Did he hit you?" Taehyung touched her jaw gently, noticing her eyes flutter shut at the pressure, no matter how slight it was.
"Yeah," Minduelle moved his hand away, holding it in her lap. "He was really bad this time." Minduelle kept her eyes on their hands as she retold what happened, not wanting to see Taehyung's eyes as she revealed all the details. He was very, very good and polite whenever she told about instances such as these. He never widened his eyes, never gasped, never interrupted her. But she saw his eyes. She had seen how they changed. And she couldn't look at them anymore while she told him about the abuse.
"What are you feeling?" Taehyung asked after she finished speaking. "How are you reacting to what he said?"
"I know it's wrong, and I know I didn't do anything wrong, but... but I feel like, he's right." Midnuelle finally looked up at Taehyung, needing those emotional eyes now. "I shouldn't have gotten so drunk last night. I should've gone home, even if I had had drinks. I should've, I was so immature and my father put me back in my place." Minduelle nodded as Taehyung shook his head. "He had wanted me to do these chores and I wasn't there and he was upset with me. The chores were the least I can do-"
"What's your name?"
"What?" Minduelle mumbled, frowning.
"Is your name Cinderella?" Taehyung drummed his fingers against her hand, looking up at her. "Hm? I don't think I call you Cindy. I call you Mindie, right?"
"Yeah," Minduelle agreed softly, realizing the truth to his words. "But he does so much-"
"Like what?" Taehyung cut her off, knowing that if she kept saying these lies aloud, she would start to believe them.
"The bills-"
"That you complete and contribute more than half to." Taehyung nodded, Minduelle blinking several times.
"He... uhm, he's..."
"An abuser, is what he is." Taehyung finished for her, Minduelle letting out a shaky breath, the word so foreign and so painful. "Min, don't get into this mindset, don't believe him."
"It's so easy for you to say because you don't live with your father anymore." Minduelle's face twisted up in instant regret and pain, realizing she lashed out at the only person who she trusted to talk about this. "I'm-"
"It's true." Taehyung kept the same amount of warmth in his voice as before, hardly affected by her words. "I was able to get out. Not many people are." Taehyung admitted. "I've also been dealing with my father my entire life. You've had to deal with him since your mom passed. You've... had to deal with your mom's death, your grandmother's deterioration, and picking up everything at the house." Taehyung rubbed her leg for a moment before resting his hands on her shoulders. "Min, believe what I say about your dad, not what he says, okay? He's trying to ruin you."
Minduelle stared at Taehyung desperately, everything crashing down. The guilt of leaving her grandmother with her monster of a father who must be completely trashed or passed out by now. Leaving her grandmother to change herself, to get ready to bed by herself, to be alone in that dark and quiet house, to be in such a situation with an estimated month left to life. Yearning for the mother that was taken from her too soon, needing a hug from someone who gave her so much comfort, needing her mom.
God she wanted her mom.
"I'm so tired." Minduelle's face accepted her tears with grace, tracing her cheeks, her eyes slowly turning red, making her beautifully colored eyes stand out more. "Taehyung, this isn't fair."
"I know." Taehyung let her fall into him, cry into him, depend, on him... "It's not far at all."
Minduelle was tired of explaining herself. She was tired of getting hurt. She was tired of the weight of an entire family on her shoulders. She was tired of pretending everything was okay. She loved drinking with friends and being in the moment, but the morning after was always filled with regret and pain. Was she too much like her father? Could she not control herself? Was she a slut like so many claimed her to be? Was it wrong for her to love the thrill of not being in control of yourself?
She was tired of only being seen for what she had to physically offered. She was tired of restaurants requesting she wears short skirts on an elevated stage. She was tired of dresses that had to have slits in them with dangerously low v-cuts. She was tired of men crowding around her, begging to be the one to take her home. She was tired of having to return drinks that were handed to her by men because she had learned the hard way not so long ago.
She was tired of being an object.
"It's been a long, a long time coming," Taehyung sang softly, rubbing her back and rocking her side to side. "But I know, a change gon' come." Taehyung rested his chin on her head, singing their favorite song, knowing it was something that always calmed and relaxed her. "Oh yes, it will." Taehyung, who was connecting his phone to Bluetooth with one hand, pressed play on the song, closing his eyes and lowering his phone once the song began to play throughout Hoseok's studio.
"I was born by the river, In a little tent, oh, and just like the river, I've been running, Ever since." Sam Cooke, the beautiful voice of a man treated so wrong by the world, replaced all of Minduelle's anxieties and regrets.
The song was all she focused on.
"A change gon' come."
She closed her eyes as Taehyung whispered along to the song, luring her to sleep.
ugh i love taehyung
and i love "a change is gonna come" by sam cooke just as much :)