Taehyung and Jungkook went tumbling in a ball of fists and yelling.

"Stop it!" Jimin yelled, trying to pull them apart, but Jin picked Jimin up and carried him to the side while Namjoon stepped in.

"Jiminie, what happened to your head?" Jin asked softly before looking up. "Yoongi, go grab the first aid kit. Hobi, get me a wet towel and use warm water, not cold, okay?"

The two other boys ran off to do their duties as Namjoon finally managed to separate Tae and Jungkook.

Tae was glaring at Jungkook, who was staring first down at the carpet before looking over at Jimin, his eyes still puffy.

"What's going on here?" Namjoon asked, trying to control his voice. He'd never seen Tae and Jungkook truly try to hurt each other, just like he'd never seen the terrifying look in Tae's eyes.

"He hurt Jimin!" Tae yelled, trying to claw his way back to Jungkook, but Namjoon held him back.

"Jungkook?" Namjoon asked, still too shocked to process what was happening.

Jungkook  looked down, biting his lip, and nodded, but Jimin shook his head.

"Nuh uh! I tripped and hit the table! Kookie didn't do anything!" Jimin defended, trying to push Jin away, but Jin kept Jimin seated. "It was my fault!" Jimin insisted. "It was an accident!"

Tae turned to glare at Jimin, forgetting that he was still glaring angrily, and Jimin paled at the hatred in Tae's eyes. Tae softened his gaze but shook his head, still furious. "Why are you defending him, Jimin?! He hates you!"

"I know," Jimin mumbled, looking down, but Tae wasn't finished.

"He abandoned you, Jimin! He cares more about himself than he'll ever care about you! The only useful thing he told the cops was just a piece of gossip that he forgot about for 5 years, Jimin! You could have been home within a day, but because of Jungkook, you were stuck there for 5 years! 5 years, Jimin! How many days did you wake up, believing that Jungkook was going to save you, that he knew something that could bring you home? How many days was it until you gave up on him?"

Jimin was silent.

"Then why are you defending him right now?!" Tae yelled, and Namjoon just stared.

Where is all of this coming from?

Has it been here all this time?

Did I just not notice?

What kind of father am I?

"Because nobody else is!" Jimin finally answered just as Yoongi and Hobi got back with the medical supplies.

Everybody froze to hear what Jimin had to say.

"Nobody thought to see if Kookie was hurt. Nobody asked Kookie what happened at first. Tae, you tried to hurt him. Everybody else was just worried about me. How is that fair?" Jimin asked, his eyes watering. "You all make it worse when you pick sides! Why can't you see that?" Jimin looked down. "But I guess I didn't notice it before either." He looked up. "But Kookie is just a kid too! And it hurts him when you all neglect him!" Jimin paused, breathing hard before looking at Kookie. "Is it true, Kookie? What Tae said?"

Jungkook opened his mouth but looked down. Then he looked up suddenly, looking determined. "Yeah, it's my fault that we couldn't find you for so long! But I'm sorry that I couldn't remember sooner! And I don't hate you! Not...not anymore," he mumbled.

"It's okay," Jimin said, smiling painfully at Kookie. "Even if you hate me, I love you, okay? And you can't change that even if you tried."

Kookie blinked, feeling his tears come back, but he didn't wipe them away this time. All of his hyungs, even Taehyung, stared because they hadn't seen Jungkook cry for a long time. He looked over at Namjoon, who had just been sitting there with a pained look on his face. "Dad, I'm sorry. I pushed Jimin off the couch and he fell off and he hit his head on the table. It's my fault," he confessed, and Namjoon was silent, putting a hand over his mouth and massaging his facial muscles.

He had no idea what to do. His kids had always been so close. They'd argued, but not seriously.

And suddenly, they were hurting each other and screaming at each other and hating each other?

He stood up slowly, turning first to Jin. "Help take care of Jimin's injury. I'll take him to the hospital to check for a concussion soon, all right? Just apply light pressure to the back of his head and let me know if the bleeding doesn't stop."

Jin, Hobi, and Yoongi quickly got to work after sending concerned looks toward Kookie and Tae, who Namjoon gestured to follow him into his bedroom.

He shut the door and told them to sit on the bed.

"How long have you two been fighting like this?"

Jungkook looked down, and Tae glared at him. "Since Jimin was taken. You just never noticed."

Namjoon felt his heart crack a little bit, but he forced himself to go on. "You two used to get along so well..."

"Until Jungkook let Jimin get taken," Tae said, and Jungkook's head whipped up.

"I didn't mean to! I made a mistake! I'm sorry, okay?!"

"You're sorry? Tell that to Jimin!"

"I did! I apologized for everything!"

"Apologies don't fix everything, Jungkook!"

Namjoon cleared his throat, cutting them off. "Jungkook, what they were saying...do you really hate Jimin?" His throat caught on the word hate.

Jungkook looked down, playing with his fingers.

"Answer the question, Jun-" Tae began, but Jungkook interrupted him.

"I did," he said softly. "For a while. I was jealous of him. Everybody was always paying attention to Jimin a d not to me. I know it was wrong. But I couldn't help it. But then...I started yelling at Jimin today...and I hurt him...but he didn't..." Jungkook wiped some stray tears away. "He didn't hate me back...he said he was sorry...for being the way he is...that he didn't mean to hurt me..." Jungkook looked up at Namjoon. "I don't hate him anymore, Dad. I swear. And I would take it back if I could."

Namjoon nodded, looking over at Tae. "Tae? It looks like Jungkook's already worked it out with Jimin. So why are you so angry about all of this?"

Tae looked down as well, anger still evident in the tension in his body. "Because it's Jungkook's fault that Jimin was stolen."

"But we can't go back in time and fix everything," Namjoon said softly. "And Jungkook said he's sorry. He was only 4 years old, Tae. You can't blame him for what happened. That was Song Eungi's fault. She took Jimin. If you want to blame someone, blame her. But is that why you're really angry about all of this?"

Tae kept his head down for a long moment, and when he brought it back up, tears were running down his cheeks. "I should have been there," he whispered, and Namjoon held his breath, not wanting to stop Tae from going on and getting it out of his system, whatever was the source of so much pain and anger the likes of which Namjoon had never seen in Tae. "I was supposed to be there, watching out for Jimin. But I didn't go to school that day. I went with you instead. If I had gone to school...If I hadn't have abandoned Jimin...None of it would have happened," he got out slowly.

Namjoon swallowed. "Tae? Have you been blaming yourself all these years?"

Tae nodded slowly, not meeting Namjoon's eyes.

"And that's why you took your anger out on Jungkook? Because you were angry at yourself?"

Jungkook watched breathlessly as Tae nodded again, still looking down.

"Baby..." Namjoon sighed before sweeping both of them into a hug. "Neither of you are to blame. Okay? And the important thing is that Jimin is home now, right? And the people who took him are gone. He's safe now. And what's more, he's lucky to have two brothers that love him very much."

"And our hyungs," Tae mumbled, and Namjoon smiled.

"And your hyungs," Namjoon agreed before arranging the two triplets on his lap. "I know it's been hard for you both. And I know I haven't been a very good dad, letting all of this anger build for all these years. I'm sorry that I couldn't..." Namjoon took a deep breath. He didn't want to cry in front of his kids after they were already crying. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be here for you the way you needed me too. But I'm here now, and Jimin is here now, so let go of all the anger and resentment you feel, all right? You're brothers. More than that, you're triplets. You all have a special, beautiful relationship, and I don't want to see it ruined by fighting and yelling and hating each other, okay? You were all made to love each other and take care of each other. and maybe we all failed Jimin a little bit in the past, but we can make up for that, right? And it starts by letting those old wounds heal, okay?"

Tae and Jungkook nodded, and Namjoon hugged them close.

Then the door to his bedroom opened, and Jimin came in, gauze wrapped around his head like a mummy, Jin's apparent attempt at bandaging him, but he came up to Tae and Jungkook and hugged them.

He didn't choose one or the other.

He chose both.

***

After Namjoon had fixed Jimin's bandages and cleaned up the blood on the table, he checked his phone again, sighing when he saw another message for Lisa.

"Listen," he said, and all six kids looked up at him, some of them with puffy eyes, some not. "I have to take Jimin to the hospital to make sure he's okay."

"I want to come with," Tae and Jungkook both said at the same time before looking over at each other almost shyly and then looking back down.

"All right," Namjoon agreed. "But we're going to have to stop at the police station on the way back, so it might be a long night."

"Why the police station?" Yoongi asked, squinting his eyes. "What are they charging me with this time?"

Namjoon sighed. "Actually..." His eyes wandered over to his bandaged son. "They want to ask Jimin a few questions."

***

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FROM: lisa

MESSAGE: Look, Namjoon. I know you keep trying to avoid this and I know that you've told me no on several occasions, but we really need to talk to Jimin to get his statement. We need to know what happened that day and what his life has been like since then. It's a measure of precaution to protect other kids from similar circumstances, but it's also necessary because we need to know what to expect from Jimin. He might be experiencing trauma or some sort of separation anxiety. I know you don't want to deal with this, Namjoon, but you've been dodging all of my calls and messages for a week, and this can't wait any longer. I hate to tell you this, but if you don't bring Jimin in, we're going to have to pick him up. Please just make this easy, okay? And I'm sorry.

big shoutout to junghupe for drawing fan art of the triplets :) i meant to post this like 20 chapters ago but i forgot so sorry fam for the late shoutout but thanks a million ❤️

check out her art on insta @ zharxx

also this just made #105 in fan fiction :) thank you friends! to help this story get even higher, please recommend this book to friends if you are enjoying it or vote/comment/add to reading list/put on your conversation board. no pressure but it would be greatly appreciated!