Hey everyone! It's me! your very annoying author!!

Finally, this story is coming to an end. For me, wow, it has been a very long ride. Maybe for you it has been a couple of hours that have flown by and gone up and down like a roller coaster. I did mean to make you feel something with this story. If i made you laugh, cry and go "aww...", if i've done that, I've achieved my goal. I'm very sorry if the last couple of chapters were kinda painful to read, but that was part of the goal too. Now read on, and find out what happens to Taehyung and Emma. Thanks for staying til the end.

love,
AoH.

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Chapter 54 - Last chapter.

A year later.

Summer.

I rushed down the stairs as the doorbell rang for the second time, longing for – not for the first time – the video monitor intercom that my tiny place in Japan had been equipped with. Even though my mom’s apartment was at least 5 times in size, it was so inconvenient to always have to go down all these stairs just to open the door every time. Especially in the middle of the day like this, it was probably not someone I wanted to be talking to.

I pulled the door open, ready for either apologies or complaints for whoever was on the other side, but the words died on my lips when I saw who was standing there in front of me.

My mouth went slack. Even though he wore sunglasses, and looked completely different, I recognized him instantly. The last time I’d seen him, his hair was long and bright ketchup red. Now it was short and sort of ashy blonde. He was dressed like a man, not a boy, in nice pants and a white dress shirt, open at the neck, under a light, fitted, tan jacket. He wasn’t saying anything either, and after a moment of fiddling with the rings on his fingers, he just took his sunglasses off and looked right at me with those piercing brown eyes.

“Hi Emma.” Taehyung flashed me a practiced yet awkward, soft smile.

*

“Are you sure you don’t want any?” I called, hopping my voice didn’t sound as shaky out loud as it did in my ears, deliberately keeping my back to him as I poured myself a glass of red wine from the large bottle in my hand. My hand only shook a little, but I put the bottle down and immediately took a long swig, before filling it half up again. It wasn’t even noon yet, but god knows I needed it. BTS’s Kim Taehyung was standing in my mom’s kitchen.

Actually, I should say, he was sitting in my mom’s kitchen. He sat on one of the high stools around the counter, and I stood on the other side, pouring myself liquid courage as I avoided looking at him.

“No thanks.” came the polite reply.

An awkward silence filled the room, and though I turned towards him after putting the bottle away, I still avoided his eyes; preferring to stare at the cup in my hands.

Scratching sounds came from the baby monitor on the counter, followed my little moans and the unmistakable wail of a child. We both froze and turned to look at the plastic contraption, and I saw him turn back towards me, as if in slow motion; a questioning look in his eye.

I looked away quickly, wiping my hands on my pants, and rushed into the little room that used to be mom’s office, but had been transformed into a makeshift nursery over the last few months, ignoring his unspoken question and telling him that I’d be right back and he should just wait there.

I pushed through the door, leaving it slightly open behind me, and headed over to the crib, where I could see the tiny shape struggling under the blankets, alternately whining and crying.

“What’s wrong, baby… you just went to sleep 20 minutes ago?” I cooed, scooping up the tiny girl into my arms and starting to rock her against my chest.

I heard the door wince softly behind me but didn’t turn around. Of course, I knew Taehyung was standing there, looking at me. When I dared to raise my head, he was staring at me with the strangest expression I’d ever seen on his face; I couldn’t tell if he had figured it out or if he just wondered why the heck I was on baby-sitting duty.

He took a few careful steps closer and the child, started crying again. “Hey… come on, sweet girl, why are you crying?” I asked, patting her bum to check her diaper, but she was dry.

“Maybe she’s hungry?” he suggested.

“I just fed her less than an hour ago…”

“Can I?” he asked, and I realized he was now standing just behind me. The closeness made me feel nervous. I could still feel the electricity between us. He extended his arms and I looked at him hesitantly, before handing the child over to him.

“Kids like me.” he stated, carefully hiking her up on his shoulder and bumping her up and down softly.

The girl immediately stopped crying and I marveled at him.

“There’s a good girl!” he exclaimed, smiling widely. That smile that I hadn’t seen in over a year; that smile that still haunted my dreams. Suddenly it was like he’d forgotten I was even there. He held her at arm’s length and beamed, and my baby laughed. She laughed. A cute baby chuckle that made my eyes widen in disbelief. Tae’s smile grew even wider and he let out a cute little chuckle of his own, bumping her again.

“See?” he turned to look at me, still sporting that blinding smile, “Babies like me.”

I just stared at him in wonder.

“What’s her name?” he asked, still making faces at her.

“Jaimie.” I answered without thinking.

His smile vanished and his head whipped around to look at me. “What?! Jae-mi?”

I nodded slowly, looking away in embarrassment.

“Noona…” he called out, and the word brought back so many memories along with a painful tug at my heart. “She’s… yours?”

I nodded, lips pressed together as I glanced up at him before quickly looking at the floor again.

“Are you… did you… … aaah…. meet anyone else?” he asked hesitantly, unable to hide the hurt from his voice, though I could tell he was trying. He wasn’t looking at me either.

“Of course not!” I snapped back, insulted, and then added softly, “…You think I could?”

He didn’t answer me right away, he just looked down at my baby, who was trying to grab at his hair and smiled.

“How old is she?”

I didn’t answer him and he turned to look at me, “Emma, how old is she?” he repeated, pointedly.

“A little over 5 months…” I answered in a hushed whisper.

I saw him do the mental math, and a dark look came over his face as comprehension dawned over him, yet he didn’t say anything.

“She’s mine.” he breathed out, in total disbelief.

I said nothing.

“She’s mine!” he repeated, more forcefully, when I didn’t answer, turning an accusing look onto me as I shied away.

I couldn’t say or do anything, so I just ran out of the room before I would start crying. I heard Taehyung curse and put the child back in her crib, and a minute later he’d followed me out into the living room, where he forcefully turned me around, holding me by both shoulders and shaking me. “How?!” he demanded, searching my eyes which were trying to avoid his. “They said you’d lost it!! The doctors, they said…” his voice was frantic and he sounded like he was about to cry. And I hadn’t noticed it before, but his English had gotten so much better in the year that we’d spent apart. He was almost fluent now. It was such a stupid moment to notice it, too.

“I did…” I mumbled, not looking at him.

“Then how?!” he demanded.

“That night…” I whispered, “before I left…”

I didn’t say anything more. I knew he understood.

He let go of my shoulders and my arms hung limp at my side. He was staring ahead at some invisible point in the distance, looking like someone had just hit him upside the head with a baseball bat. He stayed like that for a moment, dumbstruck. Then he turned to look at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!”

I could hear the pain in his voice. So raw. And my heart broke. I knew all the excuses off-by-heart. All the reasons I had used to justify to myself that it would be better that way – for all of us – if Jae-mi never knew who her dad was. I could raise her on my own, and she would remind me of him, and he could go on to become the famous star that I’d always known he would be. And we would have a peaceful life. And he would forget me and marry another Korean celebrity, just as beautiful as he was, and no one would ever know he had a love-child from a woman he once thought he loved, who was way too old for him.

Instead of answering, I started crying. Hiding my face in my hands as the tears kept coming and I wavered between embarrassment and heartbreak.

“Emma…” he wailed, his voice cracking, “I have a child and I didn’t even know… you didn’t tell me…”

“Cuz you are a child…” I sobbed, so quietly that I’m not sure he even heard it.

Without a word, he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, not even bothering to take my hands away from my face first. He brought my face into his chest and held on to me so tight that it actually kinda hurt. I just stood there motionless as he started sobbing into my shoulder. Hearing him cry made me stop. I had rarely seen a man cry before. Really cry. Not like this. His whole body shaking with each sob.

“How could you be so stupid?!”  he wailed into my shoulder in Korean. I tried to raise my arm to pet his head, but I was completely trapped by the forceful way he held on to me. “I never stopped thinking about you!” he went on, “After you left… even after everyone had thought I’d moved on……… I kept checking up on you… I couldn’t let go…” his voice was muffled by my hair but I heard it all. “Everyone told me it was better this way… that it would never have worked… that I was too young… with too many things going for me…….. and I tried to believe them…” he said. “I knew that they were right. And I knew that’s what you were thinking too. And I didn’t want our fans to hurt you again, so I thought it was for the best…..” he paused there, “but I could never forget. I could never get over you.”

At that last statement he raised his head up and looked straight into my eyes. His eyes were red, wet, and full of tears, but so fierce and mesmerizing. I bit my lip because looking into them hurt too much. Being in his arms hurt too much. Having spent a year away from him hurt too much. And I knew that I could never love anyone else the way that I loved this boy – who was barely even an adult – standing right there in front of me.

He brought his lips to mine and every ounce of resolve that I had been holding onto dissolved into thin air. I kissed him back with as much fury as he was kissing me. I raked my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to me, and he held onto my waist, pressing our bodies together as if he was afraid that I would leave again. I felt the tears against his cheeks, and I didn’t know if they were his or mine. We kissed each other as if it was the only way to stay alive. And in a way, it was.

I’m not sure how much time had passed when we finally broke apart, but we were both panting. He pulled away, searching my face with his eyes, and I looked back at him with just as much intensity. Then after a moment, his face softened into a smile and he pulled a piece of hair out or my eyes. “You’re still so beautiful…” he whispered.

“Shut up,” I whispered back, and he smiled more.

I smiled too.

“What are we gonna do?” I asked, still whispering.

“Shhh…” he said, bringing my hand up in his and giving it a kiss. “We’ll figure it out.” he said confidently, “We’ll figure it all out.”

I looked at him, his eyes so sure, and nodded, slowly.

“But if you even dare even THINKING about leaving me again…” he warned and I raised an eyebrow at him, “What?” I teased, unable to stop myself.

“I’ll send my ARMY after you.” he replied in a serious tone, but the mirth in his eyes betrayed him.

“Ohh!” I scoffed, “You wouldn’t dare!”

“TRY me.” he said, deadpan, making me unsure if he was joking anymore, and it wiped the smile right off my face.

“Then…” I finally said, as he brought a hand to my hair again and started it, “I guess I better stay put…” I finished with an impish little grin.

He nodded, and a few moments later erupted in a loud, throaty, full body laugh. I stood staring at him like he was crazy, but within seconds I was laughing too. And I was laughing so hard that tears started forming in my eyes and I couldn’t stop.