*** Chapter 4 ***

Namjoon’s research for his Social Studies paper was done. He was back at home for good after he and his team had wrapped their research nicely in a rural area in Japan.

He was enjoying the day, slumping down on the couch in the living room with a tablet-pc on his hand.

“What are you doing, Namjoon-a?” Seokjin came to him with his sugar glider pets in his hands.

“Reading webtoon,” he answered shortly. “Why, hyung?”

“Nothing...” Seokjin answered while slumping down next to the alpha. “What are you reading? That Boy in Luv story Jiminie told you?”

“Yes,” Namjoon put down his tablet to pay attention to his mate, whose pet was already climbing on his shoulder. “This story is very good, hyung. The plot is unique, and the main characters are alpha couple.”

“Oh really?” Seokjin got interested.

“Yeah... and I’ve been thinking,” Namjoon took the tablet and showed it to the older. “Don’t you think they look like Jimin and Jungkook?”

“Hmm?” the older omega looked closer while he checked carefully so he would not be crushing his pets.

“Their built, their height comparison, their hairstyles,” Namjoon continued. “They are different in character and hobby though. This taller alpha is childish and selfish, while the cute alpha is very mature. And instead of dancing, they love to sing.”

Seokjin scrolled the page, and he did see the resemblance of Jungkook and Jimin in those characters. “You know that Kookie can be very childish sometimes although he is not selfish, and Jimin although he is all cute and fluffy, he is the only one who can control Jungkook when our magnae is in.. emotional instability.. don’t you think so? And both of them actually have beautiful voices.”

“Ahhh...” Namjoon gaped for a while. “Right... How can it be? They are so similar then...”

“Jungkook and Jimin are very famous, not only in our college and neighborhood. They are the most wanted unmated alphas. Perhaps this cartoonist knows about them somewhere, and he decides to depict them into his drawing,” Seokjin lightly shrug his shoulder.

“Maybe...” Namjoon nodded knowingly. “Where are they anyway? This is Saturday. Why the house feels so empty?”

“Yoongi is sleeping. Jimin and Hobi are at the campus, preparing for the annual Arts Performances. Jungkook is also out to do his group assignment with his classmate named Kim Taehyung,” Seokjin answered flawlessly. As always, as the mother –oldest– of the pack, he knew everything.

“Oh...” Namjoon’s mouth was rounded again. “Do you want to do something else?” he was ready to put aside his tablet for his bonded mate.

“Nah.. I’m good,” Seokjin shook his head. “You can continue reading. I’ll play with Odeng and Eomuk,” and there his attention was focused on his sugar gliders.

*******

Jungkook and Taehyung were doing their group assignment in the student hall in their building. Actually Jungkook offered if they could do it in his house, because he thought they would be more comfortable there, with air conditioner and complete set of computers and any tools they might need. But Taehyung rejected it strongly. He said that he did not want to disturb Jungkook’s housemates, while the true reason was because Taehyung did not feel comfortable to spend the time in such private place with Jungkook.

It was not that he was afraid of Jungkook or feeling threatened by the alpha. He had accepted him once in his house anyway. But he was cautious because he knew that they were both unmated yet. And Taehyung could not deny the fact, that Jungkook was very charming. Having the alpha tailing him around the campus was already a challenge for him, although it had a good meaning, that this untouchable ice prince had accepted him in his circle of friends. The alpha was the one who came and asked him to be his teammate for this assignment.

“Oh come on... I’ve told you many times, you can drop formalities with me,” Jungkook put down his pen on the paper. “You’re even a year older than me. You are the same age with Jiminie-hyung. I should call you hyung instead.”

“But, Jungkook-ssi, we are classmate. It’s okay. You don’t have to call me hyung,” Taehyung replied.

“And no matter what, you are older than me. That’s enough. I’ll call you hyung from now on. And you should call me simply by my name,” the alpha showed off his stubbornness.

Taehyung seemed to want to argue, but Jungkook widened his eyes, hence the omega did not dare to say anything more. The alpha was right anyway.

“And by the way, why do you enroll late? I see you are a smart boy. I’m sure you have no problem academically. Did you work... or something else?” Jungkook could not help being curious after days befriending the omega. He asked carefully though.

“It was due to my bad health,” Taehyung answered simply. “You’ve known that I have weak digestive organs. One time I fell so sick that I was absent from school for months, for recovery. Therefore, I needed to repeat the whole year.”

“Wow... Was it that bad?” Jungkook got sympathetic.

“Yeah,” Taehyung nodded weakly. “You know my Sejin-hyung. He was already living in Seoul. He even brought me here for better recovery. And here was where I repeat my second year of high-school.”

“Ahh... I see...” Jungkook nodded knowingly. “You know, you should meet my Jin-hyung some day. He is traumatic with hospitals because he got into an accident when he was a child. Therefore, in order not to have the need to meet any doctor or going to any medical related places, he tries to live healthily. He eats and cooks healthy and delicious food. He can share his knowledge with you.”

“Oh really? Your hyung seems fun,” Taehyung smiled genuinely.

“Yes. You really need to come to my house, and I’ll introduce you to him. He will be happy, and so will the others. They are wonderful persons, my hyungs, you will like them. And I’m sure that they will like you too,” Jungkook patted his shoulder. “Deal?”

“Eh..? But...”

“No buts, hyung...” Jungkook actually practiced to call Taehyung as hyung. “Come to my house next weekend.”

“But I have part-time job...”

“You can’t be working the whole weekend,” Jungkook was truly unbeatable once he wanted something. “Like now, you have time for our assignment, right? Then this same time next Saturday, you will come to my house.”

And there Taehyung was lost in the argument with the persistent Jeon Jungkook. He did not say anything more as they were focused back on their project.

You don’t know... This kind of thing is no longer easy for me... To interact with others…

But... perhaps you are right...

I can’t stay like this forever...

I need to give myself another chance to trust people... To believe... that there are still those who truly care for me, and never mean to harm me in anyway...

Can I trust you then...?

Taehyung’s memory flew back to his past, to the moment where something happened to him. The incident changed him. He was not a timid and quiet boy like how he appeared now. He was a social butterfly. He had a lot of friends. He trusted them. But eventually, something bad happened to him, because of those traits.

In his second year of high school in his hometown, Taehyung was having his very first heat. Previously, he was already known as the flower boy in his neighborhood because no one could deny his beauty and his easy-going personality. When he got his first heat, his scent became a hundred times sweeter than usual. He became ridiculously more gorgeous than ever. And his alpha friends were going crazy about him.

Desires were slowly eating the alphas alive as they were about the age when they were experiencing their first rut too. They approached Taehyung, trying to win him to be his bonded mate, but the omega rejected every one of them. Taehyung simply thought of them as friends and he did not want to be mated yet because he knew that they were still too young.

But they could not accept it. The alphas went nut. They were blinded with their raging pheromones; they decided to take Taehyung down by all means.

They kidnapped Taehyung by force and brought him to an abandoned factory. There they fed the omega lots of birth control pills, and also . They did not want to make Taehyung pregnant so soon, and they wanted to make sure that the omega would endure it until everyone of them was done with him.

Taehyung was already stripped in short time despite his efforts to stop them. The alphas were bigger than him in general. He was helpless. His cries and shouts of pain meant nothing for them.

But Taehyung was actually in deep pain that moment. He had poor health in the first place, and his stomach was weak. The pills and drugs were poisoning him. And it happened soon after he consumed them. Taehyung started to choke, and he even vomited blood.

The alphas were utterly shocked when Taehyung spit out blood, in generous amount. Only then, they remembered that Taehyung had weak stomach. They just realized it. And they were afraid that Taehyung was dying.

As coward as they were, all of them fled right away.

None of them had touched Taehyung yet. Only their dirty hands were staining the omega’s pure body. Convinced that their DNA would not be found on Taehyung, they ran away for good, leaving the omega to die.

But luckily, Taehyung did not die that easy. He might be a sickly boy, but he had a strong will to live.

His parents had been looking for him because he was not home yet, while school should be over hours ago. In worry, Taehyung’s dad looked for Sejin. It was truly fortunate for them because Sejin was home that week to visit his family. Not to mention that he was already in the police force, Sejin was originally a good tracker since birth.

Once Taehyung’s parents came for him, he noticed it too that something might happen to the omega, because as much as the boy loved to play around, he would always tell his parents if he’s going to come home late. Sejin quickly tried to track Taehyung’s scent and did everything in his power to find his beloved childhood friend.

Their town was small. It did not take Sejin more than an hour to find Taehyung, laid abandoned in the dusty ground of the old factory, unconscious and dying.

Sejin brought Taehyung to the hospital right away. To cut the story short, they were able to save Taehyung’s life that night, but then it took Taehyung so long to recover, both from the poison, and from the trauma.

Sejin actually wanted to process the assault legally by reporting it. As he was a police himself, it would be easy for him to give lessons to those criminal alphas. He knew who did this to his beloved Taehyung. It would be none other than the omega’s friends. He knew that they were naughty boys.

But Taehyung stopped him. He was so scared and distracted that he said that he did not want to see his assaulters again. Being processed in court meant that Taehyung would have to face them, and he was not ready for it, not to mention that his health kept failing because it was not easy to cure him.

Sejin gave up. His priority was for Taehyung to recover. He would do anything he could just for his little brother to get through this. Taehyung could not go to his school again because of the trauma to see his friends. Therefore, Sejin suggested if he would come to Seoul with him. Taehyung needed a change on environment. The capital city could provide him better medication too. Sejin’s wife supported his husband when he heard about Taehyung. Without unnecessary arguments, Taehyung agreed to it too.

The young omega took the rest of his second year of high school for recovery in Seoul. He stayed home most of the time when he did not need to stay in the hospital. Sejin and his wife, Jigaemae, kept him company whenever they could. Jigaemae worked in Naver. Once he saw that Taehyung had a talent in drawing. He convinced the boy to try drawing some cartoon, and he brought it to his office. Fortunately, the editors were interested in Taehyung’s drawing. Soon enough, Taehyung was drawing his very first cartoon entitled No More Dream, under the pen-name V.

Taehyung was getting better emotionally as now he had new hobby to do. It motivated him to keep living and getting through his bad experience.

When school year approaching, both Sejin and Jigaemae convinced him that he needed to finish his study. Taehyung understood it too. He did not mean to abandon his education anyway. He braced himself to go to school again, although he needed to repeat his second year.

Unlike how he used to be, this time, he would not be a social butterfly. He did not trust strangers anymore. He chose to be a quiet Kim Taehyung if it meant that it would set him free from unnecessary attentions from those who wanted to use him for their own good.

He had Sejin and Jigaemae by his side for the moment, and it was enough for him. He kept drawing as his hobby. His earlier works might not be that successful, but after countless efforts, he made his pen-name V known with his third work, Cypher.

No one knew that Taehyung was V other than Sejin, Jigaemae, and the Naver team. His school friends never imagined that the author of their favorite webtoon was none other than the nerd Kim Taehyung.

The boys in his school were busy with themselves and they tended not to care much about other. It was good for Taehyung though. He could finish his high school safely without any problems.

Taehyung even braced himself to pursue higher education by enrolling into a prestigious university. It was a wonderful decision for him, because later on, he met a bunch of people who might be able to save him from his singularity.

*** to be continued ***