Terrible Things

Chapter 21 - Now

Present Day

"Daddy?"

I break from my memories to see Taehyung's wide eyes, his nose pressed to my own.

"What?"

"Where'd your head go?" He asks, sitting back down in his original spot. "I've been calling you forever."

"Sorry, Tae," I apolpgize, patting his head. "I was just think about something."

"About Jimin?"

"Yeah."

He tilts his head back, blinking up at me. "What was it?"

"The day you were born," I tell him.

"Me?" I nod. He beams, sitting back up. "I bet it was an awesome day. You guys probably had ice cream 'cause you were so excited."

"Not quite," I mumble.

"It was a rough day," Hoseok speaks up. "Jimin had been hurt and for a while there we weren't sure how everything was going to turn out."

"Hurt?" Jungkook asks. "What happened?"

"Well," Jin takes over, patting his son's leg. "He protected Taehyung from being hurt and he ended up getting really badly injured in the process."

"But he was okay?"

"He was in the hospital for a while," Jin says. "But he got better."

"It must've hurt so bad," Taehyung cries, his eyes glossing over.

I dig through the box, pulling out a picture and holding it in front of him. "He was more happy than anything." And it's true. The moment Jimin first got to meet Taehyung is captured on the photo in my hands.

Taehyung is laying in his bassinet, his body swaddled in a small blue blanket. Jimin is laying beside him, turning on his side as far as he was allowed with his broken ribs, a giant smile on his face as his good hand rests on Taehyung's stomach.

It had taken almost 20 minutes for him to stop crying when they brought our son in, the happiness and relief pouring out of him in waves.

He wasn't even concerned about his broken bones or the fact that he could've very well died that day.

He had risked his life for the baby he was now looking at so fondly.

Jimin was a saint. And I never deserved him.

"Do you remember when you first took Taehyung home?" Namjoon asks me.

Embarrassment creeps up my spine, my cheeks warming. "Don't-"

"You mean when he kept calling us every five minutes freaking out?" Jin laughs. "'How do I know if I'm feeding him enough? Should a baby sleep this much?'" He mocks my voice.

"Stop-"

"To be fair," Namjoon pops in, "Jimin was still in the hospital and caring for a newborn by yourself is difficult. But even so-" he chuckles, "-you even had Hoseok stay with you to help."

"Hey now," Hoseol chimes in. "I quite enjoyed my days as Taehyung's nanny. This is why I'm his favorite uncle."

I lean back on my hands, staring off into space as my friends once again dissolve into the argument of who was whose favorite. It was a common occurrence when we all got together and I'd be lying if I said the familiarity of it wasn't soothing.

Somedays it felt like I had lost everything.

But moments like these remind me that I haven't.

Taehyung sits silently in my lap, his eyes far away. I feel bad for him. Growing up with only one parent may have seemed normal when he was younger, but his curiosity was piqued now.

And I'm not sure if he's going to regret it or not once we reaxh the end of the stort.

Maybe he'll resent me. Or maybe even Jimin.

But it's his right to decide how to deal with it.

"Daddy?" Taehyung calls me, the room falling silent when he speaks.

"Hm?"

"What happens? To Jimin?" He plays with the photo in his hands, pulling at the corners. "Where did he go?"

"We're getting close to the end," I tell him. "All you questions are going to be answered soon."

Whether I was ready for it or not.