Issues • Kim Taehyung x Reader

v.

"I...I..."

"Calm down, Taehyung. Deep breaths. Relax. Think about good things, things you enjoy," [Name] instructed from the other side of the phone.

Taehyung took deep breaths, but he couldn't think of anything good. Jungkook's face popped up in his mind, but then he just saw Kookie leaving, waving goodbye, and his chest felt tight again.

"Taehyung? Are you still there? Are you okay? Tell me what happened, Taehyung."

"I...I can't be here. I mean I don't want to. I can't stand to be in this house another minute, I feel like I'm going to die or implode or something awful and it makes it hard to breathe, just being here-"

"Whose house, Taehyung?"

"My own."

***

They met up in a coffee shop fifteen minutes later, the same one Taehyung had met with Jungkook in. He had to try not to remember that.

"So, tell me about it," [Name] said, sipping from a cup of coffee, and Taehyung felt like he was back in her office, sitting in the same chair he had sat in only a few hours ago. The only difference was that in the office, [Name] wore muted, concealing clothing to make her patients feel comfortable, whereas now, she was wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a navy blue t-shirt.

"I..." Taehyung ran a hand through his hair, his eyes prickling, but he wasn't a crier. He hated crying, in fact. "I..." He clutched his chest as [Name] repeatedly told him to breathe. After a moment, he leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands together and then unclasping them and running them along the seams of his pants. "She's effing screwing someone else," he said, staring down at the table, automatically censoring his language because [Name], even in casual clothing, still had a professional feel about her.

"Who is, Taehyung?"

"My wife." He looked up as though daring her to disagree, but she just made eye contact with him, encouraging him to tell her what he needed to so he could breathe again. "She's been screwing him for a while."

"And how did you find out about this, Taehyung? Credit card bills? Something like that?"

He shook his head, looking down, and it got hard to talk again. "No, I caught them together. In our bedroom." He put his head between his hands and grabbed his hair in his fists.

"Relax, Taehyung. Deep breaths." [Name] paused. "How long have you known about it? Does she know you know?"

He shook his head, closing his eyes. "I don't know how long, every second is a lifetime in that house and we've been married eight fucking years so, I don't know, how many lifetimes is that?"

"Does she know you know?" [Name] repeated the second question gently. She took Taehyung's hands and put them on the table, laying hers over them to calm him down a bit.

"No, I don't...I don't think so. Or maybe she doesn't care. I don't know. But I got home and they were just finishing up and I couldn't...I just...I had to leave, I couldn't..."

"It's okay, Taehyung. You don't have to be fast. Slow down. Go at your own pace."

Taehyung swallowed. "I left because I didn't want to be there when he left...and I was...I was just feeling broken, you know? I should have been feeling angry I guess because the woman who's supposed to only have sex with me is screwing some guy who's not even as attractive as I am and maybe that's petty of me but I don't really give a shit right now...I just felt like, what a waste...Eight years...That's more than a fourth of my life that I've given to her, and she's ruined the whole thing...Seeing my friends..." He shook his head. "I lost all that, because of her. I gave it up. But for what? So she could screw Jim or Bob or whoever the frick just let my house?"

"Are you going to confront her, Taehyung?" [Name] asked quietly after Taehyung had stopped ranting.

"I..."

"TaeTae?" a voice asked, and Taehyung froze before standing up abruptly and hurrying out of the coffee shop, mumbling an apology to [Name].

"Tae- why'd he leave in such a hurry? Was he late for something?" Jungkook asked [Name], coming up to the half-evacuated table.

[Name] looked up, smiling weakly. "I'm not at liberty to say."

"You're not at- Who are you again?" Jungkook frowned. He knew what Taehyung's wife looked like, and the lady in front of him sure as heck wasn't her.

"I'm [Name]," she greeted, smiling, but Jungkook didn't return it. "And you are?"

"Jungkook, a friend of Taehyung's."

[Name] brightened but paused. Since her discussions with Taehyung were purely confidential, she couldn't mention their relationship or what Taehyung had told her about Jungkook. "Lovely to meet you," she said instead, getting to her feet. "Sorry, but I have to go. Bye!" She left quickly.

Normally, [Name] had no problem keeping people's problems confidential. But normally, they didn't need to call her on her cell in the middle of an anxiety episode. She'd dealt with a fair amount of people like Taehyung before, or at least, people with a similar problem. Affairs, divorces, widowers - those were all fair game in her profession.

But something made her worry about Taehyung more than the others.

Above all, she wanted to help him.

***

Jungkook showed up late to practice.

"Kookie, what gives?" Yoongi asked, looking up with a frown. "We've all been waiting for you."

"Sorry, I went to grab coffee for everyone on the way here."

Yoongi brightened. "You did?"

"Oh, but I forgot it."

"YOU WHAT?"

"Go easy on him," Jimin pleaded. "I'm sure there's a reason. Right, Kookie?" Jimin asked, turning to him.

Jungkook sat down on the ground, cross-legged. "Guys, I think Taehyung is cheating on his wife."