Mr. Hoon met back up with the others , who had started recording individual shoots again instead of the group one because they didn't know where Taehyung had disappeared to.

"I just checked on Taehyung, he's in the bathroom. He isn't feeling well," the manager told the group.

"What?? Our Taehyungie doesn't feel good? He seemed fine earlier. I'll go check on him too."Hobi went to step forward but Mr. Hoon stood in his way. "He'll be okay. He asked for privacy and told me to tell you he'll be back in a bit."

The members shot eachother a concerned look, but listened to the manager and went back to work. When Jungkook had a free moment, he texted Taehyung.

Jeonggukkie : Hyungie are you alright?? Manager Hoon said you aren't feeling good. Let me know if you need anything :(

Taehyung was still sitting on the floor in the dressing room when he got Jungkook's text. He didn't want to reply but also didn't want someone to come looking for him.

TaeTaeHyungie<3 : I'll be out in a few.

He realized he had to get back out there or else they'd go check the bathroom to find him not in it. He slowly pulled himself up to his feet and wiped his tears away. The thought of having to lie to his members absolutely destroyed him. What if they don't believe whatever I tell them? I'm a bad liar. And a bad dancer, apparently.

He gathered all the courage he could and made his way back to the others. He caught a glimpse of Mr. Hoon eyeing him, but he tried to avoid eye contact. The members all ran to him with shouts of worry.

"Tae are you alright?"

"What happened?"

"You're sick? Are you okay?"

They were all bombarding him with questions.

"I..I don't know. I just started to not feel good. I must have caught a stomach bug or something." He looked over at his manager, who gave him a nod of approval from afar.

"What happened to your lip?" asked Jungkook, who noticed it was a little swollen and cut.

Taehyung felt his body tense up, the only thing that ran through his head was an image of Jungkook getting beaten if he told the truth.

"I bit it by accident. I'm fine though," he lied.

Jungkook kept pressing on the issue, "How did you accidentally bite your lip?"

Taehyung snapped at him, "It was just an accident Jungkook. I told you it's fine!"

He didn't mean to be snappy but he wanted Jungkook to drop it, for the maknae's own safety.

"Okay, sorry for asking.." the younger pouted. The other members all looked at Taehyung confused, but were on a time crunch so decided to get back to work.

They were able to do their group dance number, and Taehyung tried his hardest to hide how badly his back hurt. To his relief their schedule had finally come to an end and it was time to go home.

Mr. Hoon walked over to the group and commended them on a job well done. "I picked the right group to manage. You all are fantastic, hard workers." He walked around hugging all the members who were all thanking him. Taehyung felt sick when he saw him hug Jungkook. He wanted to punch the manager in the face.

The manager walked over and hugged Taehyung too. He tried to hide his face as he winced in pain.

"I trust you'll keep your mouth shut. A little discipline does a man good. I'm teaching you well," Hoon whispered in Taehyung's ear.

Taehyung ignored the comment and gathered with the other members as they packed up and got back into the van.

Back at the dorm, Jin and Yoongi routinely picked out stuff to cook for dinner. Everyone sat around talking about how good the day went and how happy they were with the outcome of their videos, and how they were happy their new manager was so impressed with them.

Taehyung stood up from the kitchen chair. "If you'd excuse me I'd like to go lay down. I'm still not feeling well."

He left the group and went to his room, throwing himself onto his bed and burying his face into his pillow, letting his tears fall. How could they say nice things about that man? He's a monster! He doesn't actually care about anyone but himself!

The rest of the members were still in the kitchen. "I'm worried about him. He's been off almost all day. I wonder how he got sick, none of us have been sick and he's only ever around us," explained Yoongi.

"Maybe he ate something bad?" Jin suggested.

"The only thing he's eaten is your cooking!" Jungkook teased Jin.

"Ah! You're a brat!!" Jin playfully smacked Jungkook's arm as the maknae ran away laughing.

"I'm going to go check on him." Jimin got up from his seat and quietly made his way into the room he shared with the two youngest members. He found Taehyung laying on his stomach with his face buried in his pillow.

"TaeTae? Are you awake?" He slowly went and sat beside him on the bed and started rubbing his back, but Taehyung quickly pushed his hand away. Jimin held his hand in the air, "What? What's wrong? Does your back hurt?"

Taehyung slightly panicked, he didn't want Jimin to check his back. "It's just sore from dancing," he lied.

"Oh. Do you want me to massage it?" Jimin asked. Taehyung slowly turned to lay on his back instead, "No, that's okay."

Jimin gently placed his hand on Taehyungs chest instead, "How are you feeling? Any idea how you got sick?"

Taehyung stared into Jimin's eyes without answering. No, I don't know how I got sick. Because I'm not sick.

"Taehyung?"

"I don't know, I just did I guess." He grabbed Jimins hand that was resting on his chest and held it. Jimin squeezed his hand before he started to gently rub Taehyung's chest to comfort him. He hated seeing anyone sick, it made him sad.

Taehyung stared at Jimin who was looking at him with the most loving eyes he'd ever seen. He wanted to tell Jimin so badly what happened. He wanted to tell him that the manager hurt his wrist, and that he smacked him, and beat him with a belt, and threatened to beat their Jungkookie, but he knew he couldn't and that was tearing him apart. He turned his head away and started to cry.

"Awww no Taehyungie please don't cry! It breaks my heart! You'll feel better! Do you want medicine? Namjoon has medicine." Jimin layed down against Taehyung and pulled him into a hug.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry," Taehyung cried still staring at the wall. He couldn't look at Jimin anymore. Knowing he was lying straight to his best friends face was tearing him apart inside. Jimin was too pure and loving to ever be lied to. They all were.

"Sorry? For what? 'Cause you're sick? That's okay Taehyungie it happens, you have nothing to be sorry for!" Jimin held Taehyung tighter.

Taehyung didn't want him to let go, ever. This was the first time he had actually felt safe in days.

Namjoon walked into the room. "Hey, dinner is finally ready. Tae are you up for eating? It might help a little."

Jimin ran his hand through Taehyung's hair as the younger sat up. "Yeah, I could eat." Considering he wasn't actually sick, he was starving.

The two got up from the bed and met the others back in the kitchen and sat down. Jungkook walked over to Taehyung and wrapped him in a back hug, kissing the top of his head. "I love you hyungie."

Taehyung looked up at his maknae. "I love you too Kookie." He didn't think his heart would ever hurt saying that, but it did. He kept reminding himself that the reason he was keeping his mouth shut was to protect him, his maknae.

Everyone was happy to see Taehyung actually eat most of his dinner. It gave them hope that he'd feel better sooner than later. However he was extremely quiet all night, but that was to be expected.

After dinner he decided to go lay back down in bed, he didn't feel like hanging out with anybody. Jungkook came in and lay down next to him and started running his fingers through his hair. Taehyung closed his eyes, it was relaxing. "Taehyung?" the maknae spoke up after a few minutes.

"Hmm?" the older mumbled.

"How did you bite your lip?"

Taehyung's eyes shot open. Didn't I already tell him it was an accident?!

"I told you, it was an accident."

"Yeah an accident, but you didn't tell me how it happened."

"Why do you care so much?" Taehyung didn't want Jungkook to pry. He was already having a hard enough time lying to all of them. The last person he was going to confess to was Jungkook.

"Why do I care so much? Maybe because I care about you? I just want to make sure you're alright ."

"I'm fine. I just tripped on my way to the bathroom and accidentally bit my lip." That was the best lie he could come up with on the spot like that.

"Oh. Okay. Well, you have to be more careful I guess." With that, Jungkook dropped the subject and continued to play with his hyungs hair.

Yoongi came into the room, " So our schedule is cancelled for tomorrow, but Mr. Hoon is going to come by and check on you," he said to Taehyung.

Taehyung felt his heart stop. "What? Why is it cancelled? Why is he coming here?!" He shot up in his bed.

"We asked to reschedule because you aren't feeling well, and he agreed but he wants to come check on you. Don't worry about it we rescheduled for Wednesday." Yoongi left the room.

Taehyung wanted to break down and cry right there. As if it wasn't bad enough he had to see that monster at work, now he was going to be in his own house?! He sat there and reassured himself that at least if he's in his own house the manager REALLY can't do anything. The dorm was small, if he made the slightest whimper or scream his members would definitely hear it and come save him. Maybe him coming over would turn out to be a good thing?

You know what , let him come here. If he tries anything he'll definitely get caught.