Behind that facade VxBTS

Chapter nineteen

The next day, Jimin and Jungkook did their best to help Tae in anyway they could. Surprisingly for them, Hoseok often took their side.

Jungkook made sure no one wakes up early by turning off everyone's alarm, blaming it on Jimin that he dared him to do that. Hoseok saved them from everyone's wrath by saying that it was just a harmless prank and they can always go to the studio later.

This helped Taehyung catch up with a lot of his sleep. He didn't wake up once  and slept through the previous day's evening and night and most of the next day's morning as well.

When they finally managed to arrive at the studio, Sejin was full on ready to scold them. But one look at the somewhat cheerful Bangtan, especially Taehyung who looked a bit well-rested, he let it go just this once.

Hoseok decided to fake cramps in his legs so they wouldn't have to practice much. He decided to choose songs that didn't require a lot of jumping around and then they ended the short dance practice with a long vocal practice instead.

Jimin then left with Sejin and said something about surprising everyone with ice cream. They bought everyone's favourites and went back home later than the rest of them.

Taehyung wasn't as tired that day as usual and he thanked the god for finally having some rest. He was glad with everything going on even though he did feel a bit sorry for Hoseok's cramps. He called the day off with some ice cream that Jimin bought.

I'm more thankful than you three will ever know.

But they did know and were happy to finally make the member feel a bit better. Although Taehyung didn't participate much in their laughs and conversations, he still felt good, knowing that he wasn't alone. The happiness left when he entered his room and plopped on the bed.

The same tiredness and loneliness came back again, making Taehyung sigh and close his eyes.

His phone rang after an hour or so.

'Eomma'

He picked up immediately, praying that there's nothing wrong

"M-Mom?"

No one said anything so Taehyung spoke again.

"Hello?"

"Is that you, Tae?" He sat up when his mother said his nickname.

God, how long has it been since she called me that?

"Yes Mama. Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm-" She hiccuped.

"I'm home." Her words slurred.

She's drunk.

"Why did you drink that much?" He asked concerned. His mother never was much of a drinker and just like him, never drank much.

"Is it true? What the p-police officers said about your father? A-about Minseok being y-your kidnapper?" Her words were jumbled and slurred, you could barely understand them but Taehyung did.

His heart sank.

She wasn't supposed to find out. Especially when I wasn't around.

"M-mom...." He didn't know how to comfort her.

"Just tell me the truth. Please!"

"Yes." And he wanted to beat himself up for not lying because the sound of his mother's cries were the last thing he would have ever wanted to hear.

What do I do? How do I fix this?

He struggled to think of something. During the process his tears also fell but he had no idea when.

"Mom... Listen. Hey, listen to me, please?"

But she wouldn't calm down, making V cry even more as well.

After what felt like forever, he heard his Mom gradually calm down and her breathing turned to normal with a couple of hiccups and sobs here and there. But eventually, she fell asleep.

Taehyung didn't hang up even after that. He lied down, listening to the light breathing of his mother, wondering what would come next.

It's like as soon as he thinks life is getting better, it gets even more worse than before.

He doesn't know if his mother's phone went out of battery or if her mobile credit ended but a beep indicated that the caller has hung up.

A while after there was a knock on his door. He checked the time.

1:30 am

He was hell bent on ignoring the person but the knocks became urgent.

Taehyung was so done with everything. The last thing he wanted was to deal with his members and pretend to be alright when all he wanted was to drown in cigarettes and alcohol to reduce his pain and stress.

The knocking didn't stop once and V had no choice but to get up.

Jungkook was startled to see Taehyung in such a bad condition. His eyes were red and his cheeks had dried tears on them. His hair were all over the place and he still hadn't changed his clothes to nightwear.

Jungkook decided to ignore everything and continue with his plan. He didn't want the older to feel uncomfortable and bring his walls up.

"Hyung, I..." He started off nervously. Before, this never would've been a big deal. Their rooms were never locked and they would randomly choose someone's room to sleep in instead of there own. But now, V had locked not just his room but also himself, somewhere so far away that no one knew how to reach him there.

But this was the first step and they'll make sure to get there. It wasn't just Taehyung's fault but also there's. They let him do this without doing anything about it.

"Hurry up, Jungkook. I'm tired." Taehyung said, emotionlessly, making Jungkook gulp.

"I... uh, c-can I sleep here?" Jungkook bit his lip and showed Taehyung his pillow that was behind his back all this time.

Taehyung shook his head.

"Can you join someone else, please?" Jungkook could see V was trying very hard to be gentle and polite and there was a hostile aura around him. He considered the plan again.

"Please, everyone else is sleeping and I don't want to disturb them."

Taehyung shook his head again.

"Try to sleep in your room, Jungkook. You'll be fine." Before he could close the door, Jungkook placed his foot between the door and the wall, preventing it from closing completely and getting locked outside.

"Hyung... I-I had a nightmare. I don't want to stay there alone." He tried to look all sad and serious and luckily, Taehyung who was already exhausted physically and mentally, bought the lie. His gaze turned soft and he opened the door wide open for him to come in.

"Alright. Come on in then." He sighed.

Jungkook did a victory dance in his head and gave Jimin a thumbs up who was hiding at the end of the hallway.

Jimin sighed with relief and went back to his room, with a small smile on his lips. Hoseok noticed it and smiled at the younger and ruffled his hair. Jimin gave him a questioning look but Hoseok ignored it and gave a light chuckle instead.

He could tell by looking at jimin's smile that their plan worked and he was thankful to the maknaes for noticing things that the older ones ignored and for actually doing something about it.