denial.

"no." jungkook said. he'd been saying it for five minutes straight. "no, no, no. but your father- doesn't he like me?"

"all he wants now is revenge. he doesn't care who it is that he has to kill. he wants you gone. he wants all of you gone." taehyung said. he pulled jungkook in. "but don't you worry about that. I've been training. we're all keeping tabs on him and your father. he'll never get to you. never."

"those guys worked for your dad, didn't they?" jungkook asked. "the guys that set our house on fire- do you think they worked for your dad?"

"no doubt about it." taehyung muttered. he let go of jungkook and sat him in a way that he was looking at taehyung. "look, I'm not asking you to accept what I'm doing. I know you're not very happy with me right now, I can tell you're upset. but you need to stay with me, okay? because I need to protect you, jungkook, I can't let you die."

"why does my dad want me alive so bad? he hated me."

"it's not even about your dad anymore, jungkook, it's about me needing you to stay alive." taehyung said. "I didn't want to do this at first because I was scared- , I'm still scared, but it's okay- it's okay as long as you're okay. okay?"

jungkook hesitated, but he said "okay."