Beyond Saturation

A

1 August 2016

"Let me whip something up, then. You look like you are gonna pass out any moment. I'll hide in the guest room if he comes back by then, and sneak out in the night, is that okay?" Seokjin suggested hopefully.  

He very desperately wanted to take his brother with him, but he knew he couldn't just take Taehyung away. Not after what he said. It would only cause him more problems. Not for him, but for his brother. And he didn't want that.

"No," Taehyung said, swaying a little in his position, "he will know it wasn't cooked by me. I'll cook," he said and walked to the kitchen.

Seokjin followed him dumbly. His heart broke further when Taehyung tapped on the platform weakly and looked at him. His eyes neither held life nor energy. They looked so close to passing out that he was scared Taehyung's body would give up mid-cooking.

"Give me company," Taehyung said and grabbed the necessary vegetables from the fridge. His hands shook as he grabbed the knife. He sighed heavily. Why couldn't he do a single thing right? Why did he have to look so pathetic in front of his brother?

"Let me," Seokjin whispered and took the vegetables from Taehyung. 

"No, let me-"

"Shush. You do it every day. He won't know by the way I cut the vegetables, don't worry. Lemme help you just this day, hmm? You look dead. Sit at least until I finish cutting these," Seokjin said. 

Taehyung sighed and surrendered. He did feel like death, after all. He handed the cutting board and the knife to his brother and sat down on the dining chair with a loud thump and a grunt. 

"Hyung?"

"Hmm?"

"Did Namjoon hyung ever hit you?" Taehyung whispered weakly. 

Seokjin's heart squeezed again. His husband was a gem of a person. He was one of the most patient and nicest men to ever exist on earth. 

He deserved all the praise in the world, but Seokjin didn't want to tell that to Taehyung. He didn't want to make his brother feel more miserable than he was already feeling. But he also didn't want him to think hitting someone was normal, no matter how rare or frequent it was. 

"No," he finally said, "he never hit me. No one ever does, honestly. It's just that monster, I don't even wanna call him by his name. Feels like my tongue would rot if I take his name. What he does is il.le.gal. Keep that in mind, okay? Use this against him in the court, you can even get him behind bars.

Unless it's your kids and they've gone out of control and you need to discipline them, hitting people, no matter who they are, is illegal. It's not okay at all. Which is why I want to report that monster to the cops, but you are right. That would just cause you more problems, mainly if you are close to getting him to agree to a divorce. It would make things a million times harder if he decides not to give you a divorce. That would be another torture in itself," he said. 

If only he knew that that was exactly what was happening in the Jeon household and that there was nothing more that Taehyung could do to invite problems for himself.

"Hmm," Taehyung nodded lazily. "I hate this-" his phone rang, cutting him off. It was on the couch and he made to get up from the chair, but seeing the amount of effort he was putting into getting up, Seokjin sighed and put a hand on his shoulder, silently asking him to just sit down. He fetched the phone for him, gritting his teeth after looking at the caller ID. 

"Put him on speaker," he said as he handed Taehyung the phone. Taehyung obeyed. "Hello, seobang-nim?" he answered. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Seokjin mouthing aggressively - 'seobang-nim, my foot!! He deserves no respect!!'