I'm so so sooooooooo sorry for the uber super duper late update. Yes, you guys may hate me all you want. To put it short, I've been sick and restless the whole two weeks. Exams are drawing near. I may be quitting my job soon, and my blood pressure went up. I'm 23 years old with high blood pressure. Ugh. So everything's spinning right now. Even as I'm writing, I think I can see stars. Anyway, constellations aside, this chapter has an odd title. I guess I wanted it to mean that everything is falling into place, literally. Taehyung's officially mpreg-ging. Hoseok's having society pressure up to his chin, Minah's being a bi-atch, and everyone's on edge. There's too many imperfections and gaps in their lives that couldn't be filled up completely, so when I had to choose between sand and water, sand seems like the better element in this context.

I'm sorry if I sound confusing. Anyway, onwards to the story.

Hoseok takes Taehyung out for ice cream two days later, still feeling a little guilty over what happened eventhough both of them are already adults of consenting age. Taehyung's just happy to spend time with his employer again, and the awkwardness which he felt towards Hoseok in the beginning has now dissipated into a comfortable friendship, despite being in an employer-employee relationship. Hoseok is an easy-going guy after all, very different from all his previous employers. Sometimes it's easy to forget that this guy was the one who hired him as a maid. 

They drive around in Hoseok's favourite car, the Audi, gifted to him by his father. Society eyes would not even spare them a glance, considering how  casual they look from the outside. But inside the car is another matter altogether. Taehyung's hand nervously settles over Hoseok's hand on the gear stick, smiling shyly to himself when the older male doesn't slap his hand away. Occasionally he would gaze at his employer's handsome face when the man isn't looking, but he doesn't know how aware Hoseok is with every skinship he initiated. It made the employer so nervous and excited to the point where his palm started sweating, but Taehyung doesn't know that.

They're just two big idiots, in an expensive Audi car, driving all over Seoul, looking for an ice cream parlor where no one they know would be passing by. It's just a nice Monday morning, and Hoseok's glad he skipped work for once. He'll pay the price for it later, but the punishment could never compare to the happiness he's feeling right now. In this car. With Taehyung. Funny how drastic things have changed over the past almost one month since Taehyung came to work under his establishment. 

Small talk over what ice cream they want soon turn into a serious conversation about life. And Hoseok learns deeper about Taehyung's past and how miserable the guy's childhood was. Then he tells about his own past and realizes how sad his own life was; betrothed to his father's friend's daughter at the age of 24, made chairman of a company at the age of 25, owns a big house with his own employees and three expensive cars, soon-to-be-married to the same girl he was betrothed with, and yet there's not an ounce of happiness he felt out of this. 

The only thing that kept him going all these years is Yoongi. And now, Taehyung has entered the picture. Of course, he could also count Jungkook, Jimin, Namjoon and Jin as positive influences in his life, but they don't make him smile stupidly like Yoongi. And they don't make his heart beat 100 beats a second like Taehyung. It's only after he gets back from his outing with Taehyung that he starts feeling guilty towards Minah too. She doesn't deserve someone who won't love her back the same way. She doesn't deserve someone who would hurt her like Hoseok. MInah may not be the friendliest person in the world, but she's still a good girl to her father. And she's been good to her fiancee too.

Taehyung doesn't see the storm brewing in Hoseok's heart, but the younger male doesn't need to see to know how big of a hole they've dug around each other. 

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It's around a week later when Taehyung starts feeling a little... out of place. He would occasionally rush to the bathroom to empty out his bowel, retching over the toilet seat like a dying whale and then whine over the loss of his morning meal after flushing them down the drain. His stomach doesn't stop churning and twisting even after he took a few stomach pills. His head becomes dizzy; as if the whole world won't stop spinning before his eyes, and fatigue soon sets in like dark clouds looming in the sky. It makes him tired and weary, constantly causing him to lose focus until he's practically crawling to Jin for help. 

The gardener rushes him to the hospital in an instant, calling Namjoon to fetch them after that because the manager had some business to attend to at the post office. None of them bother to inform Hoseok yet, since the cause of Taehyung's sudden illness is still unknown. Plus, their employer has a meeting this morning, with an important company from Sweden, so they'll just wait until his meeting is over.

"Is Kim Taehyung's guardian here?" The nurse calls out an hour later, and Jin immediately follows her in. Namjoon says he'll be there in a few minutes so for now, Jin would have to do all the talking and listening.

The nurse directs him to Taehyung's bed, where a doctor is present. Beeping monitors, the rush of doctors and nurses in and out of the ward, the smell of medicine permeating the air, the sight of sick patients on other beds and the sound of coughing and crying must have scared Taehyung tremendously, because Jin could see how pale the boy is, looking very small on the hospital bed. He gently brushes back Taehyung's hair like a mother would to a child as the doctor begins to speak.

"We checked through all his symptoms and found that he's carrying a child. He's only two weeks along, so it's about the size of a pea right now. We can't procure an image for you to see yet. Considering how abnormal it is for a male to get pregnant, it's not surprising that his body is reacting strongly against it. But no worries, so far it hasn't posed any danger to the embryo nor to the patient as well. Taehyung-ssi would have to start taking care of himself now up until delivery, since the chances of a male miscarriaging during pregnancy is very high. May I know your position in this matter, Mr...uh..."

"Jin. Kim Seokjin. I'm his colleague."

"Oh I see. And who might the other father of this child be?"

"He's at work right now, but I'll let him know."

"Great. At this stage, the patient would need as much support and encouragement as he could get from the people around him. It's not easy being in a male pregnancy, because your hormones would usually double that of a female pregnancy, and he may experience emotional distress for the first three months with bad body ache during the last four months. I will set up an appointment for Taehyung-ssi with a gynaecologiest in this hospital, and he should not miss even one appointment. It's important that the doctor knows how he's coping with it. That appointment may likely be scheduled two months from today and I hope that the other father could attend as well."

"Thank you doctor. He'll be there for sure." Taehyung's unusually silent during the whole conversation and it's worrying Jin. He's just staring at the beeping monitor behind the doctor, barely blinking and moving. There's nothing on the monitor, just a black screen with blinking buttons at the bottom. Once the doctor leaves, the nurse directs Jin to the pharmacy while Taehyung remains in bed, staring up at the ceiling and wondering why he's being put to the test.

The doctor forgot to tell Jin that only one out of a million men face pregnancy each day. It's so rare that no one could even expect having it until it happens. So why him? Why now? Who could he blame out of this? He doesn't cry nor whine about it. And for a long time, he doesn't know if he wants it.

Would it make him a murderer to abort the pregnancy?

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When Namjoon eventually arrives, Jin drags him to the quietest part in the hospital and spills out everything the doctor said. The manager simply stands there listenting, stumped to silence over the news and he feels sorry for Taehyung. Does that mean he couldn't work as a maid anymore? Then where would the boy go? He drives them all back to the house after that, an awkward silence following the whole ride because Taehyung's not in the mood of talking to anyone, and Namjoon doesn't know what to say to him. Jin's just car-watching by then so he's quiet too.

Taehyung is put to bedrest for the rest of the day, until Hoseok comes home around 10 later that night, and he silently creeps to Taehyung's room to check on the younger male. "Hey my little Taehyungie... did you miss me?" He whispers into the younger male's ear, and Taehyung stirs in his sleep. He cracks an eye open to see Hoseok smiling down at him, and he subconciously smiles back too.

No one could ever resist smiling back at Jung Hoseok. 

"Hey boss, how's work?"

"It's good I guess, though Minah threw a fit again," Hoseok tells him, scrunching his nose up in annoyance. "Apparently someone forgot to order eclairs for the upcoming company buffet dinner next month. And the wedding dress she ordered was cancelled last minute because the designer got into an accident and had to be hospitalized for three months. Otherwise, my day was splendid. Yoongi's coming for a visit this weekend. He wants to meet you."

"Your best friend? You told him about me? About... us?" Taehyung's voice just happens to crack at that moment, and Hoseok mistakens it to be something else.

"I told him everything about you. I never hide anything from him. He's been my best friend for like...forever. You can trust me on this."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to sound so rude. I haven't been well the whole day and my throat's hurting right now."

This surprises Hoseok tremendously, and he worriedly edges closer to Taehyung to look the boy over. That's when he notices how sunken in the younger male's eyes are, and how chapped his lips are. He also notices Taehyung's swollen cheeks, pale complexion, sweat-stained forehead, dark circles, unforcused pupils, and slightly red nose. He pulls the maid into his warm embrace at once, rubbing circles around his back and gently massaging his neck. Taehyung has never been sick before and Hoseok truly wants to make him better again. He remembers what Taehyung told him a week ago, that the last time he got sick was after his mother passed away and he rarely ever gets sick since then.

To see the younger male so weak now, shoulders slumped in an exhausted manner, is very worrisome. Is it the air here? Is it the weather? Why is he suddenly so sick? Just as he contemplates rushing Taehyung to the hospital, someone interrupts him from the doorway and he turns his head to find Minah standing there with her arms crossed. She seems a little pissed to see him sitting so close to Taehyung, and the fact that the maid is practically sleeping against him now --- a bundle of orange hair resting on his chest, snoring lightly --- certainly gives off an impression that there's more than meets the eye. Minah's not stupid enough to believe otherwise. 

"Oppa... what are you doing in that creature's room?"

"Yah, don't call him that. Why are you taking it out on him? He did nothing. I was the one who walked in and cradled him." Hoseok fires back angrily, but he's careful not to wake Taehyung up. He carefully arranges the boy back to a proper sleeping position and hurries out of the room to deal with his enraged fiancee. "Let's talk in the room."

"Why can't we talk here?!" Minah questions back, raising her voice, and Hoseok angrily grabs her wrist to drag her out of the kitchen. She squirms violently against his strong grip, practically yelling by now to make him let go. And when they're standing in front of the staircase in the living room, he lividly tells her to shut the f*** up. 

"What's your problem, Minah? Are you trying to wake everyone up?"

"The problem is YOU! Explain what you did back there. Why is he suddenly so special to you that you had to treat me like this? He's a maid. A friggin maid! Don't you know who you are, Hoseok. You're the chairman of a well-known company in Korea, oppa. You should know better not to associate with people like him." She points to the kitchen, and Hoseok's practically his hands right then, waiting for the time bomb inside him to explode. How dare she addresses Taehyung like he's an object! Like something she could trample all over and laugh at.

This is the reason why he could never ever EVER see a future with Minah. She may be occasionally nice to people around her, but only when they benefit her in some way. Otherwise she believes strongly in the concept of the strong feasting on the weak. She doesn't  bother to glance at someone whom she regards as being 'lower' than her. Status in society gives you power and money, and this in turn would assure happiness in the long run. People like Minah... is a disgust to Hoseok. Yoongi has warned him before; told him to watch those around him closely and observe what kind of people they are before getting all chummy with them. Never trust anyone easily, but keep your enemies close in case they end up betraying you while you're not looking.

He'd seen Minah at her worst before, but that was almost a year ago. Just when he thought she'd change for the better, she's starting to show her real colours again.

"What I am is of no concern to you, regardless of your position in this household. In fact, it's you who should be aware of what you are. Being my fiancee doesn't mean I allow you to prance around in MY house, raising hell in this household and getting away with it. I want you to stop insulting my employees. I'm the one paying their salary. Your job is only to look pretty and plan for our wedding in two months, so if I hear even one complain from my workers' mouth about how you're treating them, then you might go back to your father's house."

Minah's expression immediately changes in a frightful one, and she tugs on his sleeves, begging him not to send her back. "Please oppa, I promise I won't mess with them. So please don't send me back. I can't live there anymore."

He pushes her away roughly, but she holds on to him tighter, begging him to promise her not to send her back. When he finally relents, she immediately apologizes to him for being so rude, and Hoseok once again wonders whether he did the right thing by forgiving her. The last time he wondered about this was about a year ago, when she made Yoongi into a laughing stock in front of the company's employees and Hoseok threatened to send her back. After having her promised never to do that again, he forgave her out of pity, and thought that maybe she'd really change for the better.

And now she did it again.

He wonders how long his employees may have suffered without him knowing. After all, it's been almost a year since Minah moved in to live with him. Jin and Namjoon had been living there for almost three years, from the day Hoseok bought the house. Taehyung may be new to the household, but he's already suffering a lot from Minah's wrath. Hoseok's feeling uneasy suddenly, and after making sure Minah went to bed all snugged up and comfortable, he quietly creeps away to guest room 5, using the silence to clear off the doubts and uneasiness in his heart. 

 Don't you know who you are, Hoseok. You're the chairman of a well-known company in Korea, oppa. You should know better not to associate with people like him.

Minah's words ring in his ears awhile later, and he hates how right she was. He also remembers something else that Yoongi once told him, about five months ago when they were having bagels in a cafe nearby, that "the biggest enemy is not those who annoy the s*** out of you. It's society at large. The moment a scandal crops up into the picture, you can be sure that your career is about to get flushed down the drain soon. So be careful, Hobi." He decides to give Yoongi a call right then, knowing that his best friend could cure the heavy feeling in his heart.

Next chapter will be funny, I promise. With a little vhope drama. Oh, and swag-Yogi bear is coming!

Bringing back chapter 4. I think I wrote out where they said these things. Yeah, fitting those dialogues in were fun fun fun!

Their mating ritual.

Gifs for your soul! Credits to the owners.