Twisted Life, Thorny Love

23. Under the couch

Jungkook wiped his tears as he parked his car outside the hospital and ran in, only to find his parents happily talking to the receptionist. 

"Dad, what the hell?? I thought you said she fainted?" he asked. He was genuinely confused. He cried the whole way to the hospital, thinking about how he didn't want the hospital cycles to start again and here he was, looking at his perfectly fine mother talking to the receptionist. 

Jungkook's father chuckled as he wrapped his arm around his wife. He finally paid for their consultation and the three of them walked out of the hospital. Jungkook was close to ripping his hair out with confusion and pent up adrenaline. 

"I'll explain. Did you bring your car?" his father asked. "Yeah...wait! Why didn't you bring yours?" Jungkook asked. "Because I came in the ambulance, dumbo!" his father snapped. "Ughhh! What's happening???" Jungkook asked. 

"She woke up right after I hung up on you" Jungkook's father chuckled again. "In the ambulance itself?" Jungkook asked. "Yeah. Apparently this is just stuff that happens when women go through menopa-" "Conclusion is that you don't have to actually worry about it" his mother cut him off. 

Jungkook could feel tears running down his face out of relief. His mother immediately engulfed him into a big hug. "I was soo worried. I was so scared that everything was going to repeat. I was s-so worried" Jungkook cried. "Shhh, it's okay. It's okay. Where is Junha?" she asked. 

"Taehyung took him back home. I'll go home after I drop you" Jungkook said, getting into the car. 

"So.....are you dating anyone yet?" his father suddenly asked as he drove them back home. "Why?!" Jungkook asked. His father never actually showed interest in his dating matters. It was quite surprising for that question to come from his father. 

"Just like that. I just wanted you to know that in your case, it doesn't matter if you like someone, Kook. Even Junha should like and feel comfortable around them. Or else it is going to be utterly meaningless for you to date someone. You should think of your son first before taking major steps" he said. 

Jungkook smiled happily. "Don't worry about that, dad. Also, I am dating Taehyung. I am surprised that you haven't caught on yet. Taehyung loves Junha as much as I love him. Even Junha loves Taehyung. I swear Junha loves him more than he loves me. They get on very well" Jungkook said. 

"That's good to hear" his mother and father said together. Jungkook beamed at them. 

"Okay, mom. Take care. Bye, dad! Good night" Jungkook said, rolling his window down. 

He wanted to get out of his car, but he also wanted to go back home and relieve Taehyung of the unnecessary responsibility. He remembered how clingy Junha had been and he was suddenly worried of the struggle Taehyung must have been going through. 

"Yeah, bye! Good night" his parents waved and he drove back home in a haste. 

"I'm back!!" Jungkook exclaimed as he entered the house, expecting to find Taehyung and Junha watching TV together or eating Chocos or both. 

But what he definitely didn't expect was to find a crying Taehyung sitting on the floor beside the couch. "Hey!! What's wrong?! Did something happen? Where is Junha?" Jungkook asked as he hurried towards Taehyung and knelt beside him. 

Taehyung sniffed loudly as he pointed to the couch. Jungkook turned to his side and found the couch empty. "Huh?" he turned towards Taehyung in confusion, only to realize that Taehyung was pointing to the floor under the couch and not the couch itself. 

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows as he got on all fours and looked under the couch. Sure enough, there Junha was, sleeping soundly. 

Jungkook immediately pulled him out, but Junha tensed at the touch and started crying. "Junha-ya!! It's me!!" Jungkook exclaimed and Junha immediately relaxed. 

"Papa!!! Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa!" he kept muttering as Jungkook picked him off the floor and hugged him tight. Junha buried his face into Jungkook's neck. Jungkook noticed how badly Junha was shivering. 

"Shhh, it's okay. Papa is here, baby. It's okay. Shhhh, go to sleep, now. Papa is here" Jungkook said, rocking him front and back. Junha fell asleep soon enough. 

Jungkook was about to put him on bed, but Junha tensed up again. So Jungkook brought him back to the living room and settled next to Taehyung with Junha on his lap. 

"Are you okay? What happened??" Jungkook asked as he looked at Taehyung, who was wiping his tears. Jungkook bounced his leg up and down to keep Junha sleeping. 

"I don't know" Taehyung said. "What??" Jungkook asked. Now he was completely confused. "I don't know what happened. I really don't. I don't know why he is suddenly behaving like this. He was crying the whole way home. He was asking for you and then suddenly he was fighting my hold around him and when I opened the door, he ran in and hid himself under the couch. 

No matter how much I tried to pull him out, he wouldn't come. When he finally fell asleep, I thought I could pull him out and put him on the bed, but the second I pulled him out, he woke up and looked at me like he was terrified of me and then started screaming and crying again. He legit scrambled back under the couch and I couldn't do anything" Taehyung said. 

Tears resurfaced in his eyes as he recalled how terrified Junha had looked. It broke his heart to think that a small kid was for some reason terrified of him. 

And he had no idea why. 

He racked his brain to think of a reason, but he couldn't find any except for the fact that he glared at him in the bus. 

But no child would be terrified just because of a glare, right? "It's okay, leave it. He is asleep now, right! That's what we need. Let's solve this later" Jungkook said, patting Taehyung and wrapping an arm around him. 

Taehyung silently put his head on Jungkook's shoulder and closed his eyes for a while. 

Jungkook was worried. This wasn't like Junha. He never behaved like this. Sure, Junha would be clingy at times and whenever that happened, Jungkook would wrap him in a huge blanket and cuddle him until he fell asleep.

But this? Hiding from someone? Acting like he was terrified of someone? It was completely out of character. 

"What happened to your mother?" Taehyung suddenly asked, bringing Jungkook out of his thoughts. "She is fine. Some ladies' problem. No need to worry" Jungkook said. 

"Ohh, that's good. I'll get going, then. Good night" Taehyung said, pecking Jungkook's lips lightly and getting up. "Okay. Good night. See you in college" Jungkook said, kissing Taehyung's cheek and smiling at him. "See you" Taehyung smiled back. 

He came back to the bedroom after Taehyung finally left. He changed his clothes and got into bed, pulling Junha closer to him and placing a kiss on his forehead.