"Jeon Jungkook of BTS was spotted at the city mall yesterday with a child. The fans are curious to know about the child and the man with him. No confirmations have been made by the artist's agency yet an–"

"BTS's maknae Jeon Jungkook–"

"The famous kpop boy band BTS was seen–"

"Jeon–"

"BTS–"

"Argh! Why am I BTS?!" Jungkook groaned, falling on the couch as switched off the television in frustration and kept his phone on silent as it kept ringing and buzzing with notifications.

Thankfully he had the brains to come to his apartment rather than going to the dorm last night, or else it would've been an even bigger mess. Despite knowing the never ending calls and messages he was getting right now, he closed his eyes and rolled to lay on his stomach and decided to take the phone.

18 missed calls, 16 messages from Jin hyung

07 missed calls from Rapmon hyung

09 missed calls, 10 messages from Hobi hyung

20 messages from Yoongi hyung

01 message from TaeTae hyung

20 missed calls, 43 messages from Jiminie hyung

04 missed calls from Manager Sejin

He sighed deeply, tapping on one of the names, still ignoring the tons of notifications from twitter and weverse that he deep down knew were the same speculations about the man in the picture with him and he was scared that they might recognise Jimin for the Armys obviously knew him too well. Oh how Jungkook wished he wouldn't have taken his mask down.

The ringing ended and a loud angry voice was heard, "What the heck are you doing idiot?! I was dying here worried sick about you! Why weren't you answering my calls? Are you okay? Where are you?"

Jungkook laid back again, sighing on the phone, "This is why I wasn't answering. Everyone is talking about the same thing hyung. What do I do now?"

"I know," Jimin sighed, "Sorry for shouting at you. I was just worried thinking about what might be happening in the dorm."

"I'm not in the dorm." Jungkook said, "They're calling me continuously though."

"They must be worried too. Go home and talk to them."

"I told them it's a friend yesterday when they met Evie."

"That's fine." Jimin breathed deeply, "Or Jungkook, it might get really complicated... I saw how things are in twitter. They think Evie's your daughter that you're hiding."

"I don't blame them, anyone would think that." Jungkook chuckled, "But what now hyung? I'm sure manager hyung will have people digging in about you."

"Jungkook, if it get's too bad, y'know, like if you can't seem to handle it then tell them the truth okay? Don't risk your job because of me."

"No, what are you saying? I can handle it. We don't need to bring Evie into this."

"Don't worry Jungkook, I'll manage. I have to open up about her some day. Maybe it's time..." The elder sighed.

Jungkook stayed silent for a while, letting out a deep breath and stood up, taking the keys of his car and his jacket, walking towards the door, "Can I come over?"

"You should stay at home right now, Kook."

"Please hyung, I'm dying here and I don't wanna go to the dorm right now. Tae and Yoongi hyung will be up my ass."

"Fine"

"Thanks, you're the best."

____

"Where the fuck is he?!"

The remote is smashed against the wall by a raging Min Yoongi who glared at the screen where the news anchor deliberately showed off how careless BTS were being, highlighting the same images of Jungkook with a baby and a man next to him, instead of letting it slide and assume it might be a friend's baby, the people were going places by assuming he was the father and he has being betraying his fans by not telling them that.

It was horrible.

And Jungkook not answering thir calls and texts just made things worse.

Taehyung sighed in frustration, standing up from the couch as he clutched on his phone, walking towards the front door, "I'll be out for a while."

"We're not allowed to-"

"Fuck it! Jungkook is out there with the whole goddamn world turning against him for nothing! He's not answering our calls and we don't even know if he needs help or what! I'm not going to sit here just like that. I'll call you if I get in touch with him, don't worry." He said, glancing at the elders, "and I'm sorry for everything..." His whispered before storming out of the dorm.

His breath quivered with the wild possibilities of how Jungkook might be kept haunting his mind. What if Jungkook went out and some fans saw him? What if he's being followed by paparazzi? What if he- No, relax.

The familiar building of an apartment complex came in sight and he pulled over, but instead of getting out of the car, he waited, watching Jungkook's figure rushing out of the building until he's in his car.

"What on earth is he doing?" Taehyung frowned, accelerating the vehicle behind him as he sighed dramatically at younger's thought process.

With dozens of questions circling his mind and the car speeding towards the outskirts of the city, Taehyung was certain about something odd with the maknae. There was no other reason why Jungkook would be avoiding his hyungs after such a rumour spreading around the internet and now he was heading out of the city. Definitely not a coincidence.

The car pulled over in front of a café and Jungkook came out, jogging inside, he exchanged a few words with the cashier who was a young guy, and jogged back in his car. Taehyung watched everything, amused and more than just confused, as Jungkook drove again, taking a turn from the next crossroad as the elder followed.

"You're so dead, Jeon." He muttered to himself.

The next second Jungkook was pulling up again, this time in front of a house which looked new with an aesthetic exterior, white and a light shade of grey that went well together. Jungkook came out, walking straight to the porch and pressed the doorbell button, tapping his foot on the floor as he waited for the person to come and let him in.

His impatience ended, but Taehyung's eyes squinted in disbelief, making sure he wasn't dreaming and clearly in his senses. For a moment his brain recalled if he drank in near past to have him hallucinating so bad that he was seeing Park Jimin on the door. No way...

He said something and Jungkook nodded, following the elder in, leaving Taehyung to die alone in the car after what he just saw. Even after blaming Jungkook that he was meeting Jimin, seeing it happening with his own eyes gave a weird pang in his chest. Despite arguing with maknae having a soft corner for the person who abandoned them in the middle, he never thought Jungkook could actually be doing this. Or no, wait, he did know Jungkook could be doing this, but grasping it with firmness and make himself really believe that Jungkook betrayed them was hard.

Taehyung's hands trembled as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, turning the car again and drove off, taking the way and time to make himself believe that their beloved maknae did snitch on them, just like his lovely hyung. Deep down, Taehyung was convinced that it was more of Jimin's fault for keeping the boy in his trap and filling his ears against the group. Yes, it must be Jimin's fault. It is Jimin's fault.

The forty minutes ride back to the dorm felt like eternity until Taehyung pulled in front if the house and stormed inside, slamming the door shut behind him, grabbing attention from the elders who were already gathered in the living room waiting for him to return.

"Tae, what happened?" Jin asked first, placing his hand on Taehyung's shoulder, realising the man was raging, eyes holding nothing but anger and his breathing was laboured with fury.

"That bastard snitched!" He growled, pushing his hair back as he relased a deep breath.

"What, What are you talking about?"

"Jimin?" Hoseok frowned, "Did you see him or what?"

Namjoon sighed at the rest, glancing at Yoongi who looked just as confused with Taehyung's words as anyone else in the room. "What happened exactly?" He asked.

"Jungkook went to meet Jimin." Taehyung said, looking at the leader, "You were defending him right? What now? He fucking snitched on us and went to that traitor!"

"Don't shout" Namjoon glared back, "I'm sure he just went to see him, that's all. Stop making a fuss of it."

Taehyung laughed mockingly dry, nodding as he said, "Yeah, no fine, Jungkook can go meet whoever he wants, even if the person is Park Jimin himself. The guy who betrayed us, who left us like we deserved the shit, who didn't even hesitate saying he's tired of us. The same guy who didn't think twice before leaving us and those millions of people who loved him. And you say stop making a fuss of it? I'm amazed, Mr. leader,  what the fuck are you trying to do?"

"Kim Taehyung," Jin glared at him, "Do not forget he's older."

"Fuck he's older! He's doing nothing to make the situation better for fuck's sake! Does he have any idea what will happen if Jungkook leaves us too?! I'm sick of repeating and telling that bloody kid not to do anything stupid, the whole fucking world will be up our asses! But no! Y'all just don't understand!"

"Shut up!" Hoseok yelled, "Taehyung enough!"

"He's not wrong," Yoongi sighed, then stood up fixing his eyes on Taehyung, sending a cold glare, "Even if you have a point, that is no way of talking to your elders. I heard you this once, make sure you don't repeat it, or I won't be someone you wanna deal with."

Taehyung looked down, nodding his head eventually, "Apologize," The elder ordered with firmness in his voice.

"I'm sorry," Taehyung said, "I shouldn't speak to you like that... Jin hyung and Namjoon hyung, I'm sorry."

"Better." Yoongi nodded, "Now tell us what happened, and don't even think you can being that kind of attitude up again."

Taehyung nodded slightly, staring down as he heard Yoongi's mad voice along with his eyes digging graves in his body. Mad Min Yoongi, is bad Min Yoongi.

"I went to his apartment and saw him going somewhere from his car. So I followed behind and then, after a while I realised he went to see Jimin in his new house. It's kinda outside the city."

"He was alone?"

"Yeah,"

Yoongi sighed glancing at Jin, "He's not ready to talk to us, but gladly went to meet Jimin outside the city? I don't get this, this is not how our Jungkook used to be."

"I don't think so," Namjoon said, "he always went to Jimin whenever there was a problem. Today too, there's a problem, so he went to Jimin. That is exactly how our Kook has always been."

Taehyung rolled his eyes. At this point he had no hopes from the leader who was just acting like Jungkook's second-hand father, defending the boy on everything he did. Hoseok stared at him, nodding gradually, "Yeah, right. He always said Jimin was the easiest to talk to. Jimin always made sure Kook was comfortable, he reached out to him, and did almost everything for him. Why wouldn't Jungkook go to his hyung when he is his safe place?"

"Exactly," Namjoon nodded.

"We all did that too." Taehyung said, "he should've came here and talked to us. It's not like we would blame him for the leaked picture or anything."

"Yeah, Tae, try to understand, we did all those things too, I agree. But Jimin holds a closer place in Jungkook's heart than the rest of us. We all have friends and but there's always one special friend who is the closest and we'd go to them whenever there's a problem. I'm good with everyone in BTS and love all of you, but if I have to talk to one person about my problems, I'd go to Yoongi hyung first." Hoseok said.

"Okay yeah, I get that, but hyung, now you try to understand." Taehyung said, "Why would he trust the person who literally abandoned him like he wasn't worth it? I really feel bad for Jungkook, he's not realising it right now, but the moment Jimin pulls back again, he would be deeply hurt."

"Do you really think Jimin would hurt him? He loves the boy more than his own family, Tae. Say anything else in the world, I'd beleive it, but not this."

"Jimin said BTS was the best thing ever happened to him and he would never leave us. It's the biggest lie now." Taehyung sighed, blinking his teary eyes, "We used to be together every hour of the day since high school... We have done so much for eachother, we stood by each other's side when no one else did, we heard each other out when no one else did, we had each other's back, we did a lot of fun things together and even promised to stay even after this- this... BTS ends. What happened to all that?

"I swear if it was any other person who did this, I wouldn't have cared much, but Jimin... how can I not care? I called him my best friend, hyung... even Jungkook thinks I've been the bad guy here, those two are my only best friends who lasted this long. Now look what happened... I know I'm not being very nice either right now, but I swear I have no bad intention, I don't want Jungkook getting hurt the way I did. I'm sorry, I cannot trust Jimin again, at least not in this life."

"Tae..." Jin sighed, rubbing his back while he sobbed quietly, lowering his head.

______________

A/N- Wow hii! This book is recieving quite a lot of love from you guys, actually more than what I expected because come on, let's be rel it takes time for a book to escalate. But it's great to see y'all liking this book so far. It really makes me happy. Please keep voting and show your support through comments too. take care ❤️✨