Jisoo called in sick. It was the first time she had ever taken time off of work. Rose went into debriefing after their mission and told Incra all of the details for her. Dara and Teddy didn’t mention anything about her father when she called to say she wasn’t feeling well. Teddy told her she deserved a break.

She still went to her classes, although she couldn’t really focus much. At night, she would talk to Jennie as their laid in bed together. She cried so much that she was surprised she even had any tears left. Jennie soothed her and held her close.

Jisoo could hear the boys visit the other girls more frequently. She wanted to hang out with all of them, take her mind off of the pain and grief. Jisoo knew Jungkook and Lisa were made for each other. Jimin was too shy to confess to Rose, but they were making progress.

As for Jennie and Yoongi… She knew Yoongi wanted more than just . But Jennie was too closed off and Yoongi didn’t know how to be anything but cool and composed. When she was feeling better, she would talk to Yoongi about it.

What made her feel worse was seeing Taehyung at school. They needed to talk. But she was angry. Angrier than she had ever been at a single person. Their relationship was composed of ruthless competition, stolen glances, and inevitable longing. Yet she felt so hurt. He willingly put her in this position. He knew Kihoon. Taehyung knew her father, but he still allowed it to happen.

The fifth night she called in sick, there was a knock at their apartment door. Jisoo was curled in a ball in bed. She looked awful. Jisoo couldn’t make out much of what was happening downstairs. A couple of seconds later, Jennie softly tapped on her bedroom door.

“Jisoo, can I come in?” Jennie asked.

Jisoo only sighed, but Jennie took that as a cue to open it.

“Hey. So Taehyung is here and he asked me if he could talk to you.” Jennie started.

Jisoo’s body froze. “Tell him he can go himself.”

“Jisoo… I know you’re mad at him. But I think talking to him would make you feel better. He is the only one who knew your father. Taehyung might be able to put your mind at ease. He does care a lot about you, you know. More than you could imagine. He’s really worried, I think.” Jennie tried to be reasonable.

“He doesn’t care about me. He’s just as cruel as the other EXO members. Can you please just tell him to leave? If not, I’ll do it myself.” Jisoo slowly crawled out of bed so she could look presentable. She washed her face and went downstairs with Jennie.

Taehyung was sitting on the couch with Lisa and Rose and they were talking in hushed voices. They quickly stopped when they saw Jisoo padding down the stairs.

The way he looked at her made it harder for Jisoo to be firm. She had an inexplicable urge to be held by him for hours on end until his embrace made the pain go away.

“Taehyung, you should leave.” Jisoo’s voice cracked.

“I’m not leaving. We need to talk about what happened.” Taehyung stood up.

“I don’t have the patience for this right now. Show him the door, Lisa.” Jisoo turned back up the stairs.

“Jisoo, don’t do this.” Lisa was disapproving.

“Go yourself, Kim Taehyung.” Jisoo’s words came off colder than she imagined it in her head.

“Jisoo, please.” Was Taehyung actually begging her?

She looked at the other three girls. They really wanted this to happen. They wanted her to start being herself again.

“Fine. Five minutes.” Jisoo went up the stairs so Taehyung followed her.

Jisoo felt a little self-conscious that Taehyung was in her private space. Her bedroom was her sanctuary. She sat on her bed and refused to meet his eye contact.

She felt so exposed. So vulnerable.

“I’m sorry that this happened. I didn’t know Kihoon was your dad. Or at least, I didn’t know for sure. None of us knew he had a daughter. Just a wife.” Taehyung sat on the bed next to her. She made a point of moving away from him.

“I hate you. I hate what’s been happening since you came into my life and decided to everything up. I. Hate. You.” Jisoo said venomously.

“You’re very angry. Let me fix things. Just let me tell my side of the story.” Taehyung stared at her intensely. This bedroom setting was not helping her stay mad at him.

Jisoo was silent. He continued. “I’m practically an orphan. I was living on the streets until Kihoon approached me one day and asked me if I’d like to make money. This was when I was 12 years old. I joined EXO because it was the only chance I had at surviving. Soon, it consumed me. But it consumed Kihoon worse than anyone else. He became evil. Resorted to us having to use violence to make money.”

Jisoo felt the tears stream down her face as she listened to him.

“No one knew anything about his personal life. I never asked. Although he confided in me occasionally to show me pictures of his wife. She was beautiful. She looked exactly like you. But he said they never had children.” Taehyung’s hand slowly made its way to brush Jisoo’s fingers.

“He couldn’t devote himself to EXO as much as he‘d like. He wanted to protect his wife so he stayed out of being directly involved in the illegal dealings. He had me be in charge of it. I was his second-in-command. I looked up to him so much. He was my mentor.” Taehyung looked pained as he spoke. Now, his hand fully encased hers. This time, she didn’t move away.

“One day, it all changed. He became evil. Kihoon told me he had his wife ‘taken care of.’ Now he could fully immerse himself in the life of crime and power. I was forced to kill. Forced to be with women who were trafficked into the lifestyle of violence. Eventually, I had to leave. Kihoon did his best to try to get me stay. He told I would always be welcome as his right-hand man. But the rest of EXO told me they’d kill me if they got a chance. Or rather, it was Joonmyun who wanted to see me get killed.”

“I wasn’t going to tackle the big task of defeating EXO and bringing down their drug empire. I didn’t have a concrete plan, even though I’m V and I could probably take them on myself. I needed a strategy. Then I met you at Myungwol.” Taehyung reached out as if he was going to her hair, but decided against it.

“You bothered me so much because you looked like Kihoon’s wife, but your personality mirrored Kihoon before he gave into the power. It was as if the ghosts of my past wouldn’t let me carry on with my life. I often told myself Kihoon never had children, but I couldn’t let it go. If you were actually his kin, I would finally be able to bring down EXO. So I gambled on it and the boys and I joined Incra. Turns out my hunch was right.”

Jisoo