thief.

the bruise.

Taehyung didn't know what to think of this girl. She was incredibly annoying, stubborn, and irritating with her antics. She refused to back down if she didn't get her way.

She drove him crazy.

His lips quirked when he shut the door behind him, noticing Jennie fast asleep on the couch. It was past midnight, she had probably fallen asleep waiting for him.

But then again, it was that personality that Taehyung was so fond of. She had a reason behind everything she did, she wasn't one to give up easily.

It would be mean to say he partially enjoyed getting on her nerves, or making her angry, because the sight was refreshing. Whoever said girls getting angry was hot had been correct. And Jennie's anger was to no exception.

Taehyung opened the fridge, and with that sound of the door popping open, the brunette rustled herself awake, sitting up slowly. He turned his head, then back to the fridge, taking out a can of soda.

"Do you even realize what time it is?" She hissed all of sudden, right next to him. He jumped, cursing under his breath.

"Damnit, Jennie. You scared me!"

"Yes, and I should be sleeping right now but I'm not. I guess we all have our own problems here."

It was hard to take her seriously, so he started laughing. Jennie scowled almost instantly.

"Sorry, sorry. You can go to sleep. I specifically said that I would be back late."

"Doing what? Can't you jut leave your work at Seoul?"

"Listen, just because you're on a vacation doesn't mean I am."

"A vacation? Hardly. I don't even know what's going on!"

"Are we just going to keep arguing about this? It's like the same things said over and over again!"

"When'd you get this?" Jennie suddenly lowered her volume, raising a hand to touch the side of Taehyung's forehead.

He winced instantly upon the contact of the bruise, then pushed her hand aside.

"It's nothing. Just some rough handling when I was driving back."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it—"

"Oh cut it with that. Sit down." She demanded curtly. "I'll be back."

Startled by her tone, he obeyed almost instantly, then scoffed as he watched Jennie padder up the stairs quickly and into her room.

Well technically, his room. Taehyung was still annoyed he couldn't even sleep in his own room. But those kind of perturbations were the least of his worries.

These kind of run-ins, suddenly getting mobbed by people when he was alone, it was happening more and more than he expected. The fights were getting more brutal, and Taehyung didn't win them all the time.

Baekhyun's members were good, no doubt. They had skill, and so did his...but Taehyung would never stoop that low to a level to stalk Baekhyun like that.

He wouldn't hire his friends to do that for him. They had far better things to do. So Taehyung would be willing to take the bruises for the team, even if that meant a few knife wounds, or getting punched countless of times until the pain was numb.

It was his job.

Jennie didn't know what kind of pain he dealt with on the daily, and he planned that she never had to know. She was the doctor, and this was the kind of pain that she wasn't obligated to heal.

Not just her. Lisa, Jungkook, the boys...none of them really knew. How could they understand, they weren't really in Taehyung's shoes.

Thank goodness no one had to deal with what he did.

"Tae, what exactly happened out there?"

He didn't even notice that Jennie was in front of him once again, face right at his eye level. She was concentrating on applying a dressing, but he could tell that she was curious.

More like a concerned-curious.

"I got punched."

"Don't paint me stupid. What really happened there?"

"It was just a few punches, relax. You know me, I'm a hot target. People are always trying to get me."

"I know. But maybe you shouldn't be going out by yourself alone at weird hours."

"You think I can't take care of myself?"

"Yes, actually. I don't think you can, someone's always been there for you to take care of you. How could you possibly know how to rely on solely yourself all of sudden?"

"This wouldn't be the first time it's happened." He responded dully, letting out a slow exhale. "Before you ask, yes I'm fine. I haven't died yet, so I'm okay."

"Died yet? Taehyung, that doesn't even reassure me in the slightest."

"Well, I'm not going to lie about this to you." He shrugged it off, lifting his chin to give Jennie a lopsided smirk.

"Besides, I don't really mind getting hurt as long as you're there to help me."

a/n: this chapter solely focused on giving a little sneak peak into the struggles taehyung has :D