{Trigger warning | Mature content}

There I was, walking back home, all by my lonesome. I was regretting everything at this moment. I have to face my mother. How am I going to explain where I was? Or this expensive dress. She's going to be so upset. Just the thought of seeing her makes my stomach churn and my head start to throb.

Her car is in the driveway. She's usually out on Saturdays so that probably meant she was waiting for me. What need is there to wait if she doesn't even care about my well-being. She could have phoned to find out if I was still alive but I got nothing. Proves to show just how much her life would change if I weren't in it.

I was scared.

As I approached the door, I froze. The sound of the bustling trees replaced by the singing of a woman on the other side of the door. Slowly, ever so slowly, I placed my hand on the door handle but what awaited me, not even I had expected. There she was, sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in her hand. She just sat there stirring it with her finger as the ice made clinging sounds on the glass. She sat there singing along to the obscure melody of the clinging.

The instant I stepped in, I felt it. I felt the atmosphere around me turn ominous. The odor of booze hung in the dense and cold air. She looked up at me in her drunken state. Her eyelids were not fully opened and her words slurred with every lyric she had sung.

"London Bridge is broken down. My. Fair. Lady" she sang out in a minor key, making the nursery rhyme sound more melancholic than anything else. With every step deeper into the house I took, her gaze grew more and more spellbound on mine.

"M-mom?" I called out softly, afraid of what would await me. She had ceased stirring her drink and the room fell into silence. So quiet that the sound of me gulping down my saliva reverberated through my head. She leaned forward to place her wine glass on the coffee table in front of her and slowly stood up. Her head was down for what seemed like ages, her loose hair covering the side of her face, making it so that I couldn't see her expression.

Step by step, she sluggishly advanced to me, her footsteps echoing in the room, making my heart pulsate even faster in my chest. I was frozen in my spot. I allowed her to approach me until she had been hovering over me. The fierce aura that she exuded had consumed me.

"You audacious pig." She spoke softly to me. Her words weren't slurring anymore and she seemed to have sobered up. She grabbed me by the hair and pulled me up to glare at me face to face. "Do you have no consideration for those around you?"

I was in so much pain at this point. Not just physical pain but I was hurting emotionally as well. I don't like this. The emotions I'm feeling, I don't like it. The physical pain I can handle but feeling like your crumbling is something that hurts more than a knife ever could.

She dragged me by my hair, mumbling angry words at me. I was too focused on the pain that felt as though my hair was getting ripped off of my scalp. Without any warning or prior signs, she flung me into the pantry and closed the door behind me. My back hit the wall with a force which had, quite literally, left me breathless. The air in my lungs was shot out and I was in too much shock to take in another breath quick enough so that I didn't get light-headed.

"Repent, you whore!" She yelled from outside of the door and I heard a key turning from the outside. I stayed in there having tears streaming down my face, listening to her on the outside as the ice began clinging on the wine glass again.

The seconds turned into a minute, that minute turned into two minutes, those two into five, then into ten. Actually, I'm not sure anymore. All that I could hear was the clinging and the off-tune singing that my mother was letting out. I had been crying for so long that my cheeks were beginning to itch from the dried-up tears.

Although, maybe angels do exist. Maybe good things do come to those who wait. The reason I'm saying this is because from inside the pantry, I heard a knock on the front door. My mom groaned as she stood up in a reluctant tone when I heard her shuffling, indicating that she stood up.

<//Earlier\\>

"Y/n. I want to talk about your mom." He said, why my mom. This date is going so well that I hadn't even thought of her until now. "Tell me the truth." He spoke and I grew a little nervous and gripped his hand tighter. "What's really going on at home?" He took my prolonged silence as an answer. "Do you still love her? Despite all of that?" He asked. After a long hesitation, I nodded slowly.

"I- I do. She's my mom." I spoke.

"Even though she hurts you?" He asked and once again, took my silence as an answer. "I'm only asking so that I can help you, my little one..." he said and I nodded to acknowledge his words. "You might not like it, but I have an idea."

||>Back to Present<||

"Child welfare and protective services." I heard him say. "Ma'am, I'm here to do an inspection, mind if I come in?" I never heard my mother's voice after that but his footsteps began to advance into the house. "Ma'am, I hear you have a daughter. Is she home?" He asked.

"M-My daughter. She's... she's at her friend's house, so it might be a bit quiet" she spoke, emphasising the word to give me a message.

I was scared, so scared that if this didn't work the way we planned, she would take out her frustrations on me. Putting an end to my rummaging thoughts were another set of footsteps coming from the distance.

"Y/n!" He yelled. I'd know that voice anywhere. The person that gives me strength. The voice that gives me the courage to push past my limit and break out of my shell. Tears of joy came streaming down my face as I envisioned his presence. "Y/n!" He yelled again.

"TAEHYUNG!" I screamed through my crying. I started banging on the door and continued calling out his name, soon, I heard the lock on the door click and the door swung open. I emerged from inside of the room and thrusted my body forward into his arms, only to bury my head in his chest. His hand began to stroke my hair gently and he whispered to me softly.

"It's okay, my little one. I'm here now."

~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~

Since I was still under eighteen, child services was able to help me more thoroughly. The only drawback was that I still needed to be under the care of a legal guardian.

Mom is being taken to a rehabilitation centre for her alcohol addiction. Mom was also slated to have borderline personality disorder, which means that her moods, relationships, and certain behaviours are unstable. She may need to be sent to a psychiatric institution depending on how she copes in rehab.

As for my new guardian, Taehyung's mother took a leap of faith in me. She said that she would stand in until I'm of legal age. She wouldn't be adopting me but rather just sign off as a care-taker. The process went smoothly thanks to me being a minor.

I was to be living in the Kim family for a while and to say the least, I quite liked it there. I got to be around my strength and power all day long, and Taehyung's mother was so kind and loving. She was the type of mother that I wish I had.

On Sunday we had gone out to buy things to fill the guest room up. That was going to be my room now. We had bought a new bedspread with a paisley design on it and white curtains for the windows. We also went back to my old house to pick up all of my clothes and other belongings. They both helped me pack my stuff into boxes. To be quite honest, I felt like crying. This was the escape that I'd waited for my entire life.

That Sunday evening before school the next day, Taehyung and I were in my new room decorating it. He helped me put all of my clothes away and hang my new curtains. His mom had already gone to bed and we were still putting my jackets and tops into hangers. Thankfully this was the last box that I had brought.

"Is this all?" He asked to which I nodded as we put away the last article of clothing. We were sitting on my paisley covers now in this comfortable silence. My room was now complete. "It looks good. I might just move in." He jokes and we chuckled together.

"Tae," I spoke and he hummed in my direction, "Thank you. For everything." At the end of my words, he tackled me onto the bed into a warming and loving bear hug. We were flat down on the bed, his head, buried in the crook of my neck as he laid with the top half of his body on top of mine. From the shock of his actions, I wasn't sure of what to do. I felt him flinch when he realised with he had done, ever so impulsively.

He raised his head to look me in the eye. "I-I'm sorry, I got ahead of myse—."

"It's fine." I interjected him with my words and wrapped my arms around him to pull him closer and close the gap yet again. With that, he turned around with me in his arms and placed me on his chest.

"You should get under. You'll catch a cold." He said but instead, I snuggled closer to him and buried my head deeper in his chest.

"You're warmer than any blanket could ever be." I spoke with my eyes closed and my arms wrapping around his torso. I felt a kiss on my forehead and he placed his chin on my head, pulling me closer and clasping his arms around me.

"Sleep well, princess." He whispered in my ear.

~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~

Spontaneously, I had woken up from my slumber. I was underneath my blanket sleeping on a normal pillow, Tae had probably left earlier. I looked around and saw the radiance of sunlight shine through my white curtains. There was something warm on my chest though. When I looked down, I saw a little baby sleeping on my chest.

"Good morning, Tannie" I chuckled and patted the little puppies head which was resting between my cleavage. I woke up and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, on my way there, I had walked past Tae's room, just out of curiosity.

I creaked open the door and tip-toed in, only to find him sleeping peacefully on his bed. I felt compelled to walk closer to him; step by step my presence drew closer to his. I just stood there, unsure of why but having my heart beat faster at the sight of the being in front of me.

"Staring is rude, you know." He spoke with his eyes closed. I flinch at the sound of a person that I thought was asleep. I took a few steps back and he opened his eyes to have his gaze meet mine, to which, he smirked. With me blushing and now looking down at the floor from embarrassment, he stood up from his bed and engulfed me in his arms. His chin was set on the top of my head and he brought my head into his chest. "Good morning, my little one."

"M-Morning." I stuttered out and etched my head deeper into his chest to hide my heated face. "We should get ready for school. I- I'm gonna go and brush my teeth." I spoke out shyly and made my way out of his room before he could say anything and went straight into the bathroom.

To say the least, I'm happy here. Not just being around Tae, but being around such a comforting and kind atmosphere around such a loving family. It makes me feel as though everything I've gone through was worth it because it led me here.

When I came out of the shower, I put on my usual, casual clothes—a hoodie and jeans— and made my way downstairs. I saw Tae, still in his pyjamas but he was at the stove. I smelt the intoxicating smell of bacon as I walked down the stairs closer to him.

"Hungry, princess?" He asked. "I made us breakfast. Why don't you eat while I go shower?" He suggested but I shook my head in disagreement.

"I'll wait for you. So hurry up." I chuckled to which he agreed. I waited for him until we could eat breakfast together, with an adorable Yeontan eating his dog food next to us on the ground.

On our way to school, he had my hand tightly gripped in his, and from time to time he would playfully swing it up and down to make me laugh. Surprisingly, I never heard any remarks that day. Nobody teased me as we walked in that morning; nobody even provocatively stared at me.

We headed straight to class where we were met with Jungkook and the hyungs taking to Jimin in his spot. There were a few other people in the class and of course that usual group of girls with Ah Reum in the front. Tae walked straight up to them without fingers still intertwined. Namjoon stared at us and smirked with a teasing smile.

"Oh. What's this?" He asked to tease Tae. "Loverboy finally got his girl?" Now I'm blushing.

"Noona! Congrats!" Jungkook said happily and hugged me. Hobi just gave Tae a fist bump on the shoulder as his sign of salute.

"Ah, y/n! Congrats, don't think we're rude but we have to get to class before the bell rings." Hobi said to me.

"Tae, let's walk them down the hall." Jimin said, for some reason he didn't look very excited. Tae nodded and let go of my hand to ruffle my hair and walk out.

I went to take my seat, thinking that I could finally be in peace now, but that peace didn't last for very long. Suddenly, the chair in front of me was turned around to face me.

"So, you're dating Tae now?" Ahreum asked. I nodded, unsure of what to say to her at this point. "Have you had sex yet?" She asked. I flinched at the question and looked at her, a little bit afraid since she mentioned that.

"N-no." I said in a slightly frightened tone of voice.

"Oh sweetie, if you don't have sex with him soon, he'll leave you."

~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~
🤍If you liked it, please don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts 🤍
~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~•=•~