After Seungyoon had told that he did not intent to date Minah, and after Minah told him the other day that she was not in the mood to date yet, Taehyung slowly concluded that living with Bang Minah for the next two years (as she had promised to break off the deal after that amount of time) would be okay. He didn't really want to date anyone either, because he felt insecure after being dumped by all the ex girlfriends, all with the reason that he was not dependable. He figured he could use some more time to grow and learn. Probably with Minah as his guide.

But aside from helping with house chores, he never really had a chance to talk with her these days.

A few weeks after Minah decided she had had enough of the time staying over at her friends' place, she had appeared more cheerful. She no longer had nightmares (at least judging from all the peaceful sleeps Taehyung had been getting). Everything was going well. She was living the best life she could, working two part-time jobs, and studying at her final year in university.

But for the last few weeks, Minah got a lot busier.

She told Taehyung that she would take the little free time she got each night and dedicate them to another part-time job.

That, Taehyung couldn't understand.

He asked if it was because the bills were too much for her to handle, as she had cut off the "rent" fees that Taehyung would give her monthly because he was helping with house chores. But she told him she could afford that, it was just she still missed her dad and wanted to clear out the grief in her mind every chance she could, which meant she was to keep herself busy with another part-time job.

It didn't make sense to Taehyung, at all.

Any senior in university attending full-time would have their hands full with just a part-time job, not to mention two at a time, and then three. Just studying would take up a lot of time. Taehyung didn’t buy Minah's reasons. Having three part-time jobs was a direct indication of failing grades. Even the most intelligent people wouldn't be able to keep up with all the assignments and exams if they didn't have any time to study out-side of class.

And that, Taehyung noticed, Minah had countermeasures with her cooking simpler dishes (she always apologized to him even though he told her it was okay every time), hastily and less regularly cleaning up the house, not putting on makeup when she was out, being an even bigger night owl than Taehyung himself (except he was usually staying up late for procrastinating on his assignments), and completely abandoned the vegetables in the garden front yard.

"I'm never good with taking care of vegetables. And it takes a great amount of time and agricultural skills to do that, which I sadly don't have. He used to give the plentiful extras we harvested but couldn't consume to the neighbours and friends. But since he's not around anymore, I'll just clean up the garden”. It was her excuse for the negligence of attending the garden.

Everything seemed to make sense, if not for how Minah had turned out to appear lately.

She lost a lot of weight (she never had any to begin with), her eye bags were always there, her face pale all the time, her eyes lacked spirits and full of sleepiness and exhaustion.

Taehyung was all for her letting go of her father, not for her torturing herself physically (and possibly mentally as well).

He had decided to step in and let Minah know what an unhealthy lifestyle she was living in.

"Wow. I never realized my meals were that healthy." Taehyung commented as he and Minah went out from the grocery store, hands full of bags of ingredients that were mostly chosen by Minah. It was his first time going with her to the grocery store, as he was wondering how much it would cost for food and if he should increase the amount that he paid Minah in rent. And it turned out despite Minah's thrifty spending habits on clothes and other necessities, she was meticulous when picking what to cook. He guessed that was how she was barely able to keep up with her hefty schedules.

"As it should be. They can't be as healthy as our old garden's veggies for sure, but they should be good." Minah said, beaming.

"I definitely have to give you more money." Taehyung concluded.

"No, your current pay is more than enough, Tae." Minah countered right away.

"But-", he was stopped by the ringing of Minah's phone. As she looked at the caller's name on her phone, she tensed up and excused herself out as she left the bags that were on her hands on the ground.

He didn't mean to follow her. But a man, dressed like those in thriller movies, was following Minah.

After a few seconds observing him, Taehyung was sure the guy was after Minah's handbag, which was fortunately on the arm that she used to hold her phone as she was listening to the caller. When he put his hand on the sneaky pickpocket's shoulder, Minah cried out, unaware of both men’s presence.

"Please! We have agreed before. Why suddenly shorten the deadline now and by so much?"

The guy turned back to Taehyung, startled but angered.

"What the hell?"

"Screw off. That's my wife." His stern face and low voice certainly did their job to scare the other even though he was a lot buffer than Taehyung. Without further argument, the pickpocket walked away. He watched as the stranger moved further away from them, not intentionally but managed to hear her talking on her phone.

"How am I supposed to pay that much in two years?" Minah questioned, clearly terrified from her pitchy tone. She dropped her phone off her ear after a few seconds. As she bit her lips and turned around, she almost jumped at the sight of Taehyung.

"Noona, what was that?"

Taehyung knew it was none of his business, but if someone he knew was having a hard time, he would ask them to let him know what he can do to help no matter what.

And Minah could sense the persistence in each of his queries. She decided to let him know what was going on.

Taehyung blamed himself for not noticing before.

Mr. Bang was sick and stopped working when Minah was sixteen. After quitting his job as a plumber, he had to rely on his health insurance and his daughter's little income from part-time jobs. Those two sources were never close to the expensive treatment plans and surgeries for Mr. Bang. There was no way to pay off the bills without a hefty loan from a loan shark, as a desperate way Minah had figured out on her own. Her dad had never known he was getting the best medical plans. He had told Minah that he would never loan from the bank or anywhere, as he did not want to leave a debt for her to take care of. He never knew his daughter was choosing the path that he abhorred the most.

But Minah was totally okay with it. She told Taehyung that the loan shark agreed to let her pay off the debt in fifteen years. But after a different loan shark took over (for some reason that Minah didn't know), he demanded she pay off in two years, thus shortening the deadline by seven years.

For which Minah told him that it would be... just a little harder to handle.

"Just a little harder?" Taehyung repeated Minah's words sarcastically, furrowing his eyebrows at her, "Then why did you sound so pressed back there?"

Minah didn't answer. She couldn't.

"Loan sharks have no rules. No, their only rule is you have to listen to them."

"I'll try to talk it out with them. You know, a new "boss" took charge of my loan. I'll try to contact the original one to talk things out with him." Minah finally said, feigning certainty in her voice.

"I don't think that'll work, noona." Taehyung shook his head firmly, "How about you borrow some from your friends? You can borrow from me, my friends and my parents as well."

"No." Minah shook her head vehemently. "I can't bother anyone. I can't be in debt to anyone I know."

Taehyung knew the debt was huge and he tried to persuade Minah to no avail.

It took him a while until he had an idea.

"How about selling off the house? This house has been fully paid off, right?" Taehyung knew that it was, as Minah had once mentioned, about the house that was passed down for three generations.

"No." Minah immediately said, avoiding Taehyung's gaze. "Anything but this house."

"Noona." Taehyung closed his eyes, trying to gather the most persuasive words he could find in his head. "It can help you out of trouble, like immediately. You are better off getting rid of all debt and starting a new life. You deserve it."

"This is our home, Tae." Minah said, and Taehyung knew clearly what she meant by 'our', "Our memories are all here. It's the only thing that connects me and dad in this world."

"Come on, noona. You are living for the future, not for the past." Taehyung begged, his hand grabbing hers, for which she chose to break off.

"No. If I sell our house, I don't think I will be able to live peacefully."

"Don't be delusional. You are not losing anything when you sell off this house." He said, putting his hand on Minah's again. "What ‘our’? Your dad is dead, noona. You have to let him go."

Minah yanked her hand out of his touch, staring at Taehyung with full defense. "What do you know?"

The strong reaction told him that he went the wrong direction. He wanted to fix it, but it was too late. Minah was completely enraged.

"You know nothing, Kim Taehyung. Do you know how I spent time with dad in this house? Do you know how much this house means to me and my dad, to my precious family? Is it that hard to shut your foul mouth for once before blurting out whatever you think?"

It was the first time Taehyung had faced such harsh words from Minah.

And he didn't take it very well.

He stormed off the kitchen they were sitting at, aimed straight to his room, loaded every of his personal stuff he could remember in his huge luggage, and got out of their house.

"Get out of my house, seriously." Yoongi nagged at Taehyung for he had been staying at the older’s apartment for five days. All he heard from Taehyung was that he needed a place to hide from both Minah and his parents. He couldn't abandon his friend, but the younger one got on his nerves.

"Sorry hyung, I just slipped, no offense." Taehyung apologized right away, clearing his throat, "It's just I get used to cleaning up my house every three days. But if you don't want to split up the house chores, I'll be happy to help you clean it up while I stay here."

"You have another house? Your mom told us you never touched the broom or even a vacuum."

"Right." Taehyung made a silly laugh.

"Don't try to play a maid to stay here longer, Tae. I don't feel like spending any other day with you nagging at everything in my place like a clean freak you never were. Plus, this is my only comfort place after school and work. You make it the opposite. Just go back to Minah's house and sort out whatever fight you guys had."

"How did you know we were fighting?"

"You should have seen how you looked that day." Yoongi deadpanned. "And she stops talking whenever I mention you when we walk out of class."

"I'm probably the person she hates the most right now." Taehyung sighed, "At this point, I should just quit my club activities, find a part-time job, and rent an apartment on my own without my parents."

"Guilt-tripping at its finest."

"Hyung," Taehyung whined, "You know the younger guys all live on campus right now. Jin-hyung's living with his girlfriend, and Namjoon-hyung would never let me breathe the same air with his little sister. I only have you."

"Try to complain about my apartment again and see me kick your out of here." Yoongi muttered at last, gaining a hug from Taehyung that he never asked for. Before he could curse at Taehyung, the younger's phone made a notification sound of a new message. He released Yoongi and looked at his phone screen. He sprang up to his feet and grabbed his coat and wallet as he ran out of Yoongi's apartment.

"Where are you going? The other guys are coming soon!" Yoongi called after, taken aback by the younger's sudden hurry.

"Sorry, hyung! Tell them I'll join in later."

"Thanks for coming, Taehyung." Minah greeted as Taehyung sat down at the table inside a coffee shop that she was located at. She started playing with her fingers.

"Aren't you supposed to be working at this hour?" Taehyung asked, trying to sound as casual as he could.

"This is a place I'm working at. No, I was working at. I just quit." Minah said, beaming a small smile at him.

Taehyung raised an eyebrow to show confusion, but his lips slowly curled up a knowing smile. He was sure he was about to hear what he had wanted to hear. But he let Minah continue without saying a word in return.

"I know I was really rude that night. I meant everything but how I said it was the worst way I could ever say to others. For that, I would like to apologize. I just want you to know how much I regretted and deeply reflected upon my words. I won't ask you to forgive me because not everything is forgivable."

Taehyung found himself staying silent even though he wanted to interrupt as Minah continued, her eyes as serious and sincere as ever.

"It was true that the house was like another family member to me and my dad from when I was little until now. It aged with us.

"My dad had told me before how much he treasured the house that was passed over by his grandfather to his father, and his father to him as the only child. The house is a significance to our generations' connection. It was like a tradition to us and eventually, as the only child to my dad, I was told that I was to inherit and continue keeping it for our family.

"That's why the thought of selling off the house never once crossed my mind. Even when I finished calculating how long and how much I would have to pay to my loan shark to get rid of my dad's hospital bills with my current jobs every month. The pressure of finding a well-paid job only gets bigger each time I do the calculations, as my current paychecks weren’t and wouldn’t be keeping up. But again, never had I thought of using the house to pay off my loans.

"I've been thinking about what I also felt when you suggested selling it. It was guilt. I would feel guilty not only to my dad, but to my great grandparents as well. The house being the easy way out to cover up my past actions sounded like a sin to me.

"But I thought hard about what dad would advise me to do, had he known about the situation I was in. He would do anything to help his daughter out. A house would pale in comparison.

"I feel like a house is supposed to make you feel at home, as its name suggests. Wherever you live, if you are having good memories with it, you can call it a home. Dad would want me to live in such a place, no doubt.

"But the house I am currently living in is no longer providing me that sort of feeling. I live everyday thinking about how I should protect it but at the end of the day, I should be the one seeking protection from it, not the other way around.

"I considered your suggestion to borrow money from family and friends. But again, I'm not the type of person who would like to see the face of the people she is indebted to on a regular basis and always anxious wondering when she will be able to return all the money to them. Just the thought would never let me peacefully sleep under a roof that could be sold off to sort out her own problems.

"I know I'm justifying selling off the house as the best solution to an extent. But you are right. I was deluding myself this whole time that I can just do anything without facing the consequences. My consequence of lying to dad and secretly booking him the best doctors with the best possible surgeries to extend his life, is the debt that I can't take care of, especially now that the new loan shark is demanding me to pay it off in a ridiculously short amount of time.

"But I'm certain that I will be able to live a far healthier life after all this mess is settled. And my dad wouldn't blame me for choosing to live peacefully with no burdens on her shoulder. Though of course, I know I would feel awful after I sell the house for some time.

"I'm sorry for venting all this out on you. I'm sure it was unnecessary to have you listen to all of this. But I think I should let you know what's on my mind to apologize to you properly at the same time. That is, if my side of the story was that worthy to justify my rudeness to you that day at all."

Taehyung heaved a long sigh before he picked up his coffee cup. He guzzled on the coffee that he had ordered like he was the thirstiest person ever. At last, he put the cup back on the table, returning his gaze at Minah.

"I absolutely take your apology." Taehyung broke out a smile, rendering Minah surprised. "And I owe you an apology as well."

Minah tilted her head. "Hm?"

"You were right, too. I spoke without knowing what you have been through."

Minah shook her head. "I wouldn't have come to my senses if it weren't for your frankness."

"Still, I didn't understand your struggles." Taehyung reached out to her hand and held it by his own, "That's a brave decision you have made, noona. But you'll have a great future ahead of you. I promise."

Minah's heart was racing out of excitement. The person before her was giving her so many sentiments at the same time. He forgave her without hesitation and acknowledged her reasoning, he helped and supported her life-turning decisions with all enthusiasm, and on top of that, he gave her an assurance of a bright new future, something she had long forgotten to yearn for after her dad went away.

Author's note: I hate conflicts so I created and ended one within a chapter. hell yeah!