"taehyung-ah, the director called you to his office. the lady from yesterday was there as well," seokjin said as he spotted him and jeongguk playing with eunbyul. taehyung froze in spot. he turned to the younger who gave him a reassuring smile. "go on," he said.

"come with me, please?" taehyung pleaded.

"hyung, i don't thi—"

"please?"

jeongguk let out a sigh. after taking a few moments to think, he gave in to the older. "fine."

they both began walking to the directors office. taehyung was as nervous as ever. once they reached the door, jeongguk gave a light knock and twisted the door open.

"come in," namjoon's voice echoed through the room.

they both took a deep breath in and opened the door wider, taehyung leading. a lady sat on the chair in front of the director's desk. her head whipped back as soon as she heard footsteps.

she looked quite young, not a day over thirty.

taehyung couldn't move, neither could the lady. they just stared at each other. jeongguk peaked from behind taehyung. he had gone behind him to not form a misunderstanding or confusion, but the lady seemed to recognize taehyung quite well. she stood up, and walked over to the boy, eyes already teared up. jeongguk quickly slipped to the director's side, not wanting to intrude. the lady cupped taehyung's face, who also began slipping tears of his own.

"y-you are my son?" the lady questioned.

the boy didn't know what to say, as he didn't know the answer himself.

"you must be, you look exactly like your father. oh taehyung-ah, it's really you." the woman hugged him as tight as she could, while he had his arms still to his side. taehyung slowly began lifting his hands upwards to return the hug, but backed away quickly.

"tae-taehyung?" the lady shocked that the boy had gotten out of her grasp.

"who are you?" taehyung asked, each word piercing the woman like a sharp dagger.

"i'm your m-mother," she said in between sobs, "your eomma."

the boy shook his head. "no, i don't have a mother. you must be mistaken."

the lady began crying louder. "please taehyung, please. don't do this to me. i know i can never be forgiven, but please don't say those words."

"no! you aren't my mother, you can't be my mother! you know what a mother is? a mother is someone who holds you from your first day on this earth until their last. someone who gives you undying support and love. someone who is always there for you. so no, you're definitely not my mother."

the lady went down to her knees, too weak to handle all of taehyung's harsh words. "i know, i'm sorry. b-but i'm here now, and i'm here to fix everything. please, taehyung-ah, accept me. i'll answer any questions you have, all of them! just please, don't push me away!" her voice became more muffled as her tears got heavier.

taehyung went down the ground too, trying his best to hold in his cries. "i hate you, i hate you so much. how could you? i hate you. why'd you come here? i hate you!" he began to scream repeatedly, but instead of pushing the woman away, he hugged her, giving her no way to escape. she hugged back just as tight. the both both cried, taehyung still repeating the same words, 'till their hearts' content.

the director's and jeongguk's hearts ached seeing the scenario play out in front of them.

the two calmed down after a bit, and changed location to the garden. taehyung dragged jeongguk along with them. he felt quite uncomfortable sitting beside the older as his mother sat in front. the air was thick with silence, making the situation more awkward than it is.

"so, who is this?" taehyung's mother asked breaking the ice.

jeongguk waited for taehyung to answer as the question was steered towards him, but the boy kept his gaze to the ground. "i'm jeon jeongguk, your son's friend," he said stretching out his hand.

the woman took his hand as she smiled and nodded.

"i'm guessing he's your closest friend, taehyung-ah?"

the boy still didn't answer.

"taehyung, please talk to me. i said i'd answ—"

"why'd you leave me here?" taehyung cut her off.

his mom took in a deep breath. "i knew you'd ask this, and you have the right to know. your father and i met in high school. i was sixteen, he was seventeen. we were young, and stupid. we did things we shouldn't have, and the outcome was you. w-when i told your father i was pregnant, he couldn't think straight. he wanted me to abort you. when my family found out, they were quite upset, but my dad did not want to kill a child who had not even seen the world. i was sent away from my hometown, away from him. after i had you, my mom forced me to give you away. i-i tried everything i could to protest, but she was stronger and had the control."

she took a pause, looking up to see taehyung shedding silent tears matching her own.

"i was sent abroad to continue my studies. i moved back to my hometown after graduating. your father, he never stopped loving me. we were more mature and ready for a proper relationship. our families were against it at first, but soon agreed. no one except my family knew about you. my dad was worried your father would be upset if he found out we hid his child from him."

"so you decided to leave me in the dark forever?" taehyung said with a sad smile.

"no, of course not! i never wanted to, but i was scared. i already lost you, i couldn't loose him too."

"what kind of bullshi—"

"hyung," jeongguk said sternly, cutting in.

"no, it's fine, i deserve anything and everything he wants to say to me."

"okay. okay. i'm fine. it's fine, but you do realize you can't just walk back into my life so casually, right? how do you think i feel meeting the mom i never knew i had. i don't know anything about you, and you don't know anything about me. i don't even know who my father is for god's sake!" he began shouting.

"that's why i'm here! i tell you everything you need to know. i want to know you. i want to be a part of your family."

"i'm sorry, i don't have a family." with that, taehyung arose from his seat, heading to the entrance. "jeongguk, we're leaving."

the younger sat there shocked. taehyung had already left. jeongguk bowed to his mother. "i'm sorry, he's not usually like this."

the woman shook her head. "no, i understand, it's a lot to take in. i expected that reaction. thank you, jeongguk, for taking care of him. i have a favour to ask."

"yes?"

"i need a way contact him, i'm not going to give up. the orphanage said this is the most they could do for me, bring him here. i wasn't allowed to know of his private information."

jeongguk nodded and took the paper and pen the woman handed to him, and wrote his own number. "i don't think i should be giving his information without his permission, but this is my number. contact me letting me know it's you, and i'll try to convince taehyung-hyung to talk to you."

"what a gentle boy you are, he's very lucky to have a friend like you. now you should go before he leaves. thank you, again."

the younger bowed again, and ran off the find taehyung, who was at the main exit. jeongguk knew the older wanted nothing more than to leave, but he thought he should quickly go say goodbye to some people and let them know they're leaving, including eunbyul. they all protested from them to stay, but the boy quickly denied.

"what took you so long?" taehyung asked jeongguk as he finally came.

"we can't just storm out of here. i told some people we're leaving so they don't look for us."

the older nodded. "let's go."

"hyung, do you want to talk about what hap—"

"no!" the older's tone sent shivers down the younger back. "sorry. i just... i just want to go home."

—•
it took me 30 minutes to do my eyeliner today, how the fuck do people do it so quickly and neatly???

long chapter woop woop
bye<3