Baby Daddy

26. Secrets

Ava looked down at where Jin had been holding her wrist a moment ago. It felt as if the touch were still there. She hated how all this was making her feel so unsure. Everything in Ava at that moment told her to run; to escape the scrutinizing gaze of the man in the taco shirt in front of her. She turned her gaze away from her now freed wrist to the shirt he was wearing. Jin could tell that Ava was staring at his shirt, and that she was thinking about something. He pinched a corner of the shirt to pull it away from his chest some as he said, "Let's taco bout it like my shirt says. Let's taco bout whatever is going on in your mind."

"You just couldn't resist, could you?" asked Ava with a slight smirk, causing Jin to laugh.

"Nope. Any joke within reach I can't resist. It's in my nature."

"I know," breathed out Ava.

Maybe that was half the problem. She knew too much about the man in front of her, and he didn't know anything about her. He was probably just flirting with her to be polite. Ava tried to think back through all the magazine articles that she had read over the years, and everything she knew about Jin already. Was he known to be a flirt? She knew he was known as worldwide handsome, but...

"Ava," said Jin, dropping a hold of his shirt to snap his fingers in front of her face. "What's going on?"

"I just...I..."

Her mind still felt like it was buffering as she looked into his warm eyes. Was that a touch of concern that she saw there as well? She couldn't take it. Without thinking, she turned to run off down along the river, trying to put as much distance between Jin and herself as possible. Jin stood there in shock as he watched her turn and run off. There was something off with Ava, and she still had his phone in her hand.

"Hey!"

Jin took off running after her. Seol stood up from the bench, taking care of the trash from their dinner. As he did, he watched Jin and Ava run off into the darkness by the river's edge together. A small smile graced his face. He moved to follow after them, wanting to see everything that unfolded for himself.

- - -

This was it. Jungkook was about to reveal that he already had a girlfriend. That had to be the secret he was hiding, and it wouldn't surprise Rai. The man was capable of seducing the world, and she was sure their publicist knew how to keep things under wraps and away from the paparazzi.

"If you want I can go first," offered Jungkook, "to make you feel more comfortable."

Rai nodded her head. She suddenly felt dizzy, and she didn't know if it was from sitting on top of the monkey bars, sitting beside Jungkook, or the impending revelation. Maybe it was a combination of all three. Jungkook kept his hand over hers as he turned his gaze up towards the stars for a moment.

"I feel that there is a pressure to be a certain way. To be a certain man for people. I keep it hidden, but that pressure is always there. It causes me to get nervous whenever I perform and to strain constantly for perfection. It's why I practice until what I do is perfect. I can't bare to be a disappointment. I feel the same pressure here between us because of Seol."

Rai looked over at Jungkook as he sighed, looking back over at her.

"The paternity results aren't even in yet, and I feel pressure to man up and be a father to Seol. I feel like Seol is my son, and I...I don't want to let him down. Apparently I've let him down in the future. I've let you both down. The fact that I fail someday...it makes the pressure I feel right now even greater."

There was a pause that followed Jungkook's words. Rai noticed that Jungkook's hand had dropped away while he talked, gripping the bars on either side of him.