Taehyung brought himself out of the memory. As he watched eunji, who stood before him, his gaze gradually turned cold.
His mother was a woman who remained fearless even when she visited a cemetery at midnight.
How could she possibly be frightened into screaming by something so small?
He was becoming more and more certain of his conjecture. The middle-aged woman standing before him was not his mother!
He returned to his room and deactivated his powers. Then, he slowly opened his door. “What are you shouting for?”
Eunji was still panicking when she saw him, but she managed to put on a concerned expression. “taehyung, mom called you earlier. Why didn’t you pick up?”
“My phone is on silent mode. I didn’t notice it.” taehyung's attitude was cold. “You haven’t answered me. Why are you so noisy in the middle of the night?”
Eunji embraced him with a pale expression. “It’s all your fault for not answering the phone. Mom was worried that something happened to you and became frightened.”
Taehyung no longer felt the warmth in the hug which he used to experience when his mother held him during his childhood. All that was left was cold distance. “Is that so? I thought you were frightened into peeing your pants at the sight of a ghost.”
“You child. How can you speak to your mother like this?” eunji gave him a reprimanding look. “Why would I be afraid of ghosts? Have you forgotten? In the past, I even took you to the cemetery at midnight.”
Upon hearing this, taehyung stiffened ever so slightly.
If this woman was not his mother, there was no way she would know of this! Was this person really his mother?
“Now that I recall it, I was really too stubborn at the time. I actually brought you to the cemetery in the middle of the night to build your courage.” A hint of self-criticism appeared in eunji's gaze. “I was in the wrong. You were only seven-eight years old at the time. I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”
It wasn’t clear if she had brought up the past coincidentally or intentionally.
Taehyung's gaze turned heavy.
“All right, taehyung, rest early.” eunji sighed again. “As of now, our Kim family has lost a significant sum due to jungkook. We are no longer as we were in the past. We can’t rely on the Jeon family anymore. The Kim Group is your father’s blood, sweat and tears. I can’t allow it to collapse so easily. No matter how difficult it is, your mom will make sure to keep the company afloat.”
“Sister-in-law, can we leave now?” hyunwoo's voice could be heard from the first floor.
“I’m coming!” eunji raised her voice to reply.
She then turned to speak gently to taehyung. “I’m going with your second uncle to the company to work overtime. We’ve been doing so for the past few days. This is all my fault. I relied on the Jeon family too much in the past. I will definitely make sure to do well even by relying on myself. All right, be sure to rest early.”
She took a few steps but then suddenly turned back. “Oh yes, tomorrow morning, don’t leave for school early. Mom has something to do with you.”
Taehyung took in her sudden change of attitude and deliberated over her possible schemes. “If you need something, tell me about it now.”
Eunji watched taehyung with loving eyes. “Some things can only be done and not spoken.”
After responding vaguely, she turned to head downstairs.
Auntie lee stood by the side and said, “Third Young master , Madam really cares for you a lot. She says that in the entire family, you are the one she loves the most. She only regrets using the wrong methods.”
Taehyung pursed his lips in disbelief. “Is that so?”
Before he turned eleven, he would have never suspected his parents’ love for him.
But after experiencing a lifetime of betrayal from the Kim family, no matter how much eunji argued or displayed concern, he would only perceive it as a hypocritical fabrication.
He would definitely tear off their masks someday!
“It’s true...” Auntie lee wanted to say more, but taehyung had already shut his room’s door.
Auntie lee had come to the Kim home eight years ago. She was on eunji's side and was definitely not a good thing.
Auntie lee watched as the door shut in her face. She was enraged, but her expression was quickly replaced by a kind and understanding one.
Taehyung stood before the window and watched as eunji and hyunwoo drove out of the Kim home together.
His expression was heavy. He brought out his phone and dialled a number. “jackson, send someone to watch eunji and hyunwoo. If the two of them are seen behaving suspiciously, take photos and send it over.”
“No problem,” a man responded cheerfully on the other end.
Jackson wang was the owner of a private investigator office.
He had contacted him several days ago.
In his previous life, even after he married into the Jeon family, there were many women who had thoughts about jungkook.
Back then, he did consider spending the rest of his lifetime with jungkook. However, his own inferiority had made it nearly impossible.
He had secretly contracted a private investigation office to keep tabs on all the suspicious women around jungkook.
After several incidents, he learnt that jackson had a good character. He was well-connected and his fee was also reasonable.
However, jackson refused to take on any business related to shady affairs.
He was unlike black rose, who paid no attention to the nature of the business requested. As long as they had agreed to do something, they would be ruthless with their methods. No matter how shady the affair was, it would not stop them.
To find the man who had stolen his phone and framed his elder brother, yoongi, he needed the people from black rose to help him.
As for simple matters like following someone, jackson would suffice.
In this life, when it came to building connections, discussing businesses and starting his own company...
Taehyung was making slow but steady progress.
He placed his phone back into his pocket and stood before his window to watch the ink-black sky.
The stars and the moon were bright tonight. Ever so often, a few stars would glisten, causing the night to appear especially lonesome.
He wasn’t sure if the view was causing him to feel lonely, or if he was missing jungkook.
He wondered if jungkook, the man he loved dearly, was similarly thinking about him?
He was far away on the border. But despite the distance between them, they both stood under the same sky.
taehyung loved him. Jungkook was his longing.
No matter where he was, or how far away from him, he would silently await his return.
At this moment, on a particular patch of grass in the forest, jungkook laid on the grass with his eyes fixated on the night sky. Over time, he seemed to find taehyung's little face in the moon. His brows, eyes, lips and nose...
His gaze was distant and heavy, and seemed to contain the entire universe. Unknowingly, that pair of eyes turned gentle...
On the nights where he could not return to his side, could he possibly know of his deep longing for him?
...
The next morning, after waking up, taehyung exercised for two hours as usual. He wanted to slim down as much as he could while jungkook was still away.
He recalled eunji's words and did not head to the school. Instead, he waited in the living room on the first floor.
At around 7.30 in the morning, eunji's car turned into their front yard. A few minutes later, she entered the living room with a takeaway box in her hands. “taehyung, why are you up so early?”
“Last night, what was it you mentioned about something you can only do, but not say?” taehyung lifted his brows.
“You’ll know soon.” eunji placed the takeaway box on the table. “My good son, have some breakfast first. Mom personally went to queue for Passion5 bakery's strawberry pancake just for you. Their business is too good. I spent an entire hour queuing for it. Normally, I would never waste time queuing for such a thing. But what can I do? This happens to be our taehyung's favourite food.”
“I’ve already eaten. You go ahead.”
“You child. Don’t you know that your mom is restricted to only ten different types of deep fried food for the next few months? I can’t eat this.” eunji picked up a pancake with her chopsticks and lifted it to his lips. “Here. Don’t waste my good intentions.”
Taehyung smiled sweetly. His tone was both playful and seemingly serious., “I’m afraid that you’ve poisoned the food.”
Eunji's heavily powdered face changed slightly. She sighed and returned the pancake to the box. “It seems like there are too many misunderstandings in our relationship. Forget it!”
She then waved her hand towards the helper, Auntie lee. “You can go ahead and have this.”
Auntie lee was frightened by this generous offering. “Madam, I shouldn’t...”
“There’s nothing wrong about it. In any case, aside from taehyung, none of us can eat this.”
“Thank you, Madam.” Auntie lee held the takeaway box and retreated.
Eunji tugged taehyung's hand and brought him to her car. “Come with me.”
Taehyung was not fearful of the schemes that she could come up with. He followed her instructions and sat in the car.
Eunji drove the car through the crowded city area and arrived at a fork in the road in a residential area. “Accompany mom for a ride. Where should we go?”
“Whatever will do.”
“Suggest a direction.” eunji was insistent.
“Turn left.”
Eunji followed his suggestion and drove for around a hundred kilometres before parking the car at the entrance of a small-scale, government operated DNA analysis centre.
“taehyung ah, I understand that due to my mistakes over the past few years, you’ve...” A hint of bitterness appeared on eunji's face. “You’ve come to suspect if I am truly your mother. When it comes to some matters, no amount of argument will be more effective than straight action. Let’s do a DNA test. When the results are out, everything will be clarified.”
Taehyung took in the sight of the DNA analysis centre and understood eunji's intentions.
But he had never expected that eunji would take the initiative to suggest a DNA test!
Could it be that she was truly his mother?
Eunji saw that he was silent and decided to continue. “This DNA analysis centre is operated by the government. Moreover, you were the one who chose the direction in which we should travel. I followed the GPS to lead us to the nearest DNA analysis centre. I don’t have much money now. I can’t possibly have so many connections that I can buy over any small DNA analysis centre that we come to. In other words, if we go in for an analysis, the results will definitely be genuine and accurate.”
Taehyung was silent. He found this whole matter to be extremely strange.
Eunji parked the car and alighted first. “Since we’re already here, there’s no harm in doing an analysis.”
The two of them then entered the small-scale DNA analysis centre. After registering and paying the necessary fees, they had their blood drawn for the test.
An employee informed them that the results would be available in seven days.
After leaving the DNA analysis centre, eunji drove taehyung to school.
By then, it was already afternoon.
Eunji personally sent taehyung back to his dorm room.
His roommate, suho, praised eunji. “taehyung, is this your mother? She looks so young and graceful!”
His other roommate, jimin, however, shot eunji, a mocking look. “taehyung is already a year 2 student. Director Kim, in the past, whenever you showed up, you would only visit jennie. What’s the rare occasion? To think that I would get to see you in taehyung's dormitory? Has the sun risen from the west today?”
For the sake of building his relationship with jennie, suho immediately raised his voice. “jimin, how could you speak that way? This is CEO Jeon jungkook's future mother-in-law!”
Bye bye!