1 YEAR LATER...

Taehyung stares at his own reflection that glares back at him in the mirror. Today is the day he has been dreading for the past few weeks. It's Jungkook's first death anniversary.

It's already been one year since that unfortunate night but the incidents that happened that night still haunt him to this day in the form of nightmares. He goes through that horrible experience every single night and it's very painful. He has insomnia too. Nights are dreadful for him because he can't sleep and all he ever thinks about is how things could've been different had Jungkook been alive today.

"Hyung! Are you in your room?" Beomgyu's voice comes from somewhere downstairs. "Yes." Taehyung shouts back. Then he hears footsteps approaching his room which is followed by a knock at the door.

"It's time to go, hyung." Beomgyu says. Taehyung sighs, giving himself one final glance before walking over to the door. "Hey, Gyu." He greets him with a soft smile.

Taehyung's state hurts Beomgyu a lot since he is the one who spends most of his time with the older. He feels sad that there is nothing he can do about it. "Gyu, I want to... go alone." Taehyung confesses.

The younger looks at him with worried eyes. "You know hyung, you don't have to do it alone. I'm here for you. Mingyu hyung is here too. Just let us help." Beomgyu pleads.

The now black haired male looks at his secretary and shakes his head. "There's no way anyone can help me. You guys can't bring my Kookie back. Not even God can so... Just let me be, Gyu." His voice sounds soft, but agitated at the same time. The younger just nods his head. He can't imagine how incredibly sad Taehyung is.

"I'll get going now. Make sure to give food to Tannie and Bam." The older instructs before leaving his mansion.

He tells his driver that he would drive his own car so he can take the rest of the day off. Taehyung just wants to be alone--- just wants to be with Jungkook alone.

He gets in the driver's seat and starts driving towards his destination. His mind is clouded with the thoughts of Jungkook. He misses him. There hasn't been a single day when he didn't miss him.

Taehyung sighs, the images of that night still clear in his head. He remembers how excited he was one minute about everything getting over so that he could be with his lover but then next minute, his world came crumbling down.

He stills questions himself and God that why it was him who had to go through all that and why it was Jungkook? Hadn't they suffered enough?

But a year has passed already. Taehyung can't do anything about it. The wound is still so fresh, as if everything that happened, happened yesterday.

Taehyung looks outside the window. The sky is grey and wind is blowing at a higher speed than usual. The clouds have covered the sun completely. It seems like it's going to rain soon.

Taehyung steps out of his car and locks it. He takes a deep breath, gathering all the courage that he has and walks towards Jungkook's grave.

He has already visited this place several times in the past but today, it's different. It's so quiet here that he can hear the leaves getting crushed by his shoes.

Once he reaches the grave, he just stands there, staring at it. His chest tightens when he reads the words engraved on it, that he has already read a thousand times.

Treasured Memories of
JEON JUNGKOOK

A loving boyfriend, son, friend
and a strong leader

1st Sept 1994 - 20th April 2022

He was the type of flower that

You were taken away from us
far too soon. You will
stay in our hearts forever.

Taehyung wipes the tears that have slipped from his eyes. He sees a few flowers already there, meaning, people might have already visited him.

He places the flowers he brought on the grave too and sits down beside it. He pulls his knees up to his chest and wraps his hands around his legs to keep himself in place. After that, he places his head on his knees. He looks at the grave and smiles weakly.

"So it's already been a year, huh?" He says in a very soft voice. "I miss you." He says again. Oh how he hopes he could get a reply but it's not possible.

"Are you resting, Kookie? R-Rest well, okay? So that when I come, y-you won't be tired and you'd play with me all day." Tears run down his eyes again. He quickly wipes them away, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cry. I... I know you don't want me to cry. But I'll on-only stay happy if you do too." He says. He feels the familiar choking kind of a feeling around his throat again. But he tries to take deep breaths and calm himself down.

"Oh by the way Kookie, I took a cute picture with Bam. He's growing so well. Do you wanna see it?" He asks, practically to no one and pulls his phone out. He goes to the gallery and opens the album named 'my babies.'

Then a couple of pictures that he treasures a lot appear on the screen.

"Doesn't he look cute with clothes and onesie on? He has grown to be so h-handsome." Taehyung says. He bats his eyelashes to prevent further tears from falling from his eyes.

"You know, love, Bam and Tannie became best friends now--- just like how you wanted. Th-They live with me and we're like a cute small family. B-But we are incomplete without you." Taehyung sniffles.

He misses Jungkook so damn much and he loves him so deeply that he knows that it's impossible for him to move on. He thinks he would rather live his entire life with Bam and Yeontan than find a man just for the sake of getting 'settled' as people like to say. He can't live with a person he doesn't love. It's just impossible to do so.

----------------------------------

5 YEARS LATER...

"Tae, are you and Somi on your way yet?" Jimin's voice asks from the other side of the phone.

"Yeah, we're just leaving the house." Taehyung says, his eyes stuck at the staircase, waiting for her but she is taking a lot of time in getting ready. Maybe she's just like him.

"Okay, get your ass here quickly. We're all waiting for you guys." Jimin says before hanging up. Taehyung puts his phone back in his pocket and starts making his way upstairs.

"Somi-ah! Where are you? Are you ready yet, baby?" He asks, his voice sounding so soft, so careful.

When he does not get a reply, he knocks at the door of her room. "Baby, open the door. Let me come in." He tries again.

"Mommy! The door is open." His angel squeaks from inside and he sighs. So she's okay. Wherever she doesn't reply to him, he gets worried. Because of her condition, Taehyung is always worried about her. He doesn't trust her with anybody else because he knows that it's only him who can handle her if she gets one of her episodes.

Taehyung twists the doorknob and pushes the door to open it. There she is. His angel, who is practically his life now. She is his will to live. She is Jeon Somi. His cute, little eight year old daughter.

Taehyung met Somi four years ago. He had visited an orphanage on Jungkook's birthday. He had gone there with chocolates for all the kids there and a painting set for each of them as he did not want to go empty handed. All the kids were excited to meet him. Some older ones knew about him through school as almost everyone knows Taehyung--- both for his art and for his good looks.

Taehyung wanted to spend some time with the kids so he taught them some painting tricks. Every kid present there was so excited to use their new painting sets that they got on with making the best paintings they could, wanting to impress the artist who brought so many presents for them.

While everyone was busy painting, Taehyung noticed a little girl sitting in one corner of the room. She was all alone and her chocolates and painting set was kept untouched.

She looked lost as she stared somewhere out of the world. Taehyung knew that look on her face. It clearly depicted that she was sad.

So Taehyung approached her and tried to talk to her but she didn't answer him back. She stared at him but didn't utter a word. Taehyung then talked to the caretakers about her and found out that she witnessed her mother committing suicide in front of her eyes, according to the police. The father was never in the picture.

Taehyung felt sorry for the girl and understood what she felt like because he missed Jungkook too. He knew he could never move on from him so he decided to spend his life as a single parent. He decided to adopt the girl whose name he found out was Somi.

He brought her home and did all sort of things for her to make her happy. She was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder so Taehyung tried his best to keep her happy all the times.

The girl always had her guard up but when she realised that the man who took custody of her wasn't a bad person, she started opening up to him.

That was the time Taehyung thought that he really got a new chance in life. A chance to be happy. He now spends most of his free time with Somi, Yeontan and Bam. They are a little happy family. Yes, Taehyung misses Jungkook a lot but his little girl became his reason to not give up on life.

But he did not want to feel like he was moving on without Jungkook so he gave Somi his surname. He named her Jeon Somi instead of Kim Somi. That way, he feels like he always has a piece of Jungkook with him at all the time. Whenever he went to his grave or just talked to him in his mind or while going through his pictures, he always addressed Somi as their daughter. Finally, Taehyung has found his peace in that little girl.

"Mommy! Help me." Taehyung's chain of thoughts break when he hears his little girl whining.

"What happened, baby?" He asks. He loves it when she calls him mommy. Well, she calls him it only when they are alone or in front of Taehyung's friends and family. When they are in public, she calls him 'dad'.

"Can you please help me pick which dress I should wear?" She asks, pointing at her huge wardrobe.

"Hmmm... what does my girl want to wear?" He asks. His daughter takes some time and then chirps, "I want to wear the yellow dress that mommy and I brought." Taehyung smiles at her excitement. Last week, he and Somi had gone for shopping and they had bought the same beautiful, yellow dresses for the both of them. It was the same dress but in different sizes.

Somi loves to copy her mommy. She wants to be like him. She wants to be a successful artist like him. She loves to dress up like him too. She knows that he cross dresses and she loves seeing him wearing feminine clothes. She thinks he pulls the outfit off better than most women out there.

"Alright baby, let me take out the dress for you." He says, taking the dress out of her wardrobe and giving it to her after pulling the hanger out of it.

"Mommy, you also wear it. Mommy and I will be twinning today." She says, clapping her hands excitedly.

"But we're getting late, baby. Besides I'm already dressed up. Uncle Jimin is getting mad at us for being late. So get ready quickly, okay?" Taehyung says, patting her back and softly pushing her towards the bathroom.

"But mommy looks beautiful in dresses more than in jeans. Even Kookie appa thinks that." She pouts.

Kookie appa.

That's what she refers to the man in the pictures that adorn most of their house. When she asked Taehyung about Jungkook, he told her that he was his boyfriend who became a star while fighting some bad people. He also told her that it's Jungkook who gave him the ring he always wears. He has never once taken it out of his finger.

After knowing that her mommy couldn't be with the person he loved, she got sad. She started referring to Jungkook as her 'Kookie appa' because Taehyung calls him Kookie and she pretended like he was her own family even though he wasn't there with them.

"I'm sure Kookie finds me good looking in anything I wear." Or nothing at all. He doesn't say that but winks at his daughter.

"So full of yourself." Somi frowns and moves to the bathroom to get changed.

"Be ready quickly and call me if you need help with anything. I'll be downstairs, giving food to Bam and Tan."

"Okay, mommy." Her voice echos from the bathroom.

Taehyung smiles and walks outside the room to give food to his other two babies. While descending down the stairs, his eyes fall on one of their pictures in which Jungkook is smiling his precious bunny smile while looking at him as he brushes Taehyung's hair with his fingers.

He walks closer to the picture and traces his hand over it. "You told me to be with someone who makes me happy. I'm happy now, Kookie. Our little angel and our babies, Bam and Tannie, make me so happy. I have you too... in my heart. Just the way I am yours to love, you're mine to love too." He whispers. His eyes have tears floating in them but he has a box-like smile on his face.

"I love you so much. Please wait for me." He says for the umpteenth time in his life while looking at the ravenette in the picture.

"Mommy, I need you to help me with the zip!" He hears Somi call him. He shakes his head and giggles. He loves it when his daughter asks for his help. He loves to doll her up.

He and looks at Jungkook and whispers as if he's telling him a secret. "Our daughter needs me. I have to give Bam and Yeontan their food too and then we have to go to Jimin's. I'll see you later, love." He says.

"Mommy!" Somi shouts again.

"Coming!" He shouts back and looks at his lover's picture again. He quickly kisses the picture and makes his way to his daughter's room.

✨𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒹 ✨

ʜɪ, ᴍʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʟɪᴇꜱ!

ɪ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡʜᴏ ꜱᴛᴀʏᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴊᴏᴜʀɴᴇʏ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ. ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴀ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛɪꜰᴜʟ ʀɪᴅᴇ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴡᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴇᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴏɴ. ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ꜱᴛᴀʏ ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ. 𝙵𝚄𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚁𝚂, 𝚃𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙺 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝙲𝙷𝙾𝙾𝚂𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙱𝙾𝙾𝙺. ɪ ꜱɪɴᴄᴇʀᴇʟʏ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ʙᴏᴏᴋꜱ. ᴏɴᴄᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ, ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ.

Stay healthy, stay safe. Follow me for further updates about my books and me in general. Have a good day or night✨

Borahae💜

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