It had only been a few days but Taehyung felt relieved to have Victoria on his side. She had been nothing but supportive of him. He thought back on the night he told her the truth.

“How are you going to meet your Matoki parent though? There isn’t really many of the soldiers from that time up here.”

“I know. That’s why Jimin thought maybe your father would know since he is your military captain. He had to come up here as well to be part of the summit.” Taehyung flopped back onto his bed, relief washing over him. His bruises were still pretty painful and he winced.

“Well, it would be convenient if it was someone I knew well.” Victoria said thoughtfully. “You really remind me of someone but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Jimin laughed. “Like who?”

“I don’t know. We’ve been up here for months now so it’s probably not who I thought it was.”

Now Taehyung was curious. “Who did you think it was?”

Victoria looked at him and shrugged. “For some reason you give off the vibe of Kenny’s father.”

He shook his head at the idea. Kenny hated him for being around Victoria. If they ended up being brothers, it would make everything worse for their interactions in the future. He was excited, however, to find out who his Matoki parent would be. What would they be like? Would they want to get to know him?

He thought about his parents back on Exo. What would they think about him trying to find his Matoki side? Chanyeol wouldn’t be happy. The thought made him feel bad for his father. He had been there for him, raised him as his own. He was in every sense of the word, his parent.

He walked to class with his thoughts, not realizing that Kenny was in front of him.

“Watch it.”

“Sorry.”

He shuffled away to go into the room. Victoria waved at him and he smiled before sitting in his own seat. Kenny tapped him on the shoulder.

“You’re still not listening to me.”

“I don’t actually have to listen to you. We’re only class partners to build trust between our people.”

“And you’re testing mine by not listening to me. Stay away from her. It’s for your own good.”

Taehyung snorted and ignored him. Sehun walked into the classroom, glaring at him as he walked to his seat. It was a new normal for him since their fight. The same song and dance went on for a couple of weeks. He began to wonder if they tired of threatening him.

He knew Sehun loved seeing him shaken.

But Victoria stayed with Taehyung and his friends despite how the other two males felt. Even her friends and roommate started to join them for lunch and training sometimes. He could feel the stares on them whenever they were all together but it felt like such a success for their group that so many of them got along with one another, as they were brought there for. He felt stronger with them around and much happier.

One day, he and Jimin were in his room preparing for their class.

“So, I will be late to training today.”

“Oh? Why?” There was a hint of teasing in his voice.

“I have something to take care of something. So just go ahead without me. I’ll meet you there later.” He had a smile on his face as he said it so Taehyung didn’t feel the need to pry and just nodded.

The day went by smoothly with his usual threats from S