taehyung leaned back in his office chair in evident fatigue, letting a frustrated cry crawl up from the column of his throat.

no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find the perfect way to sign off the proposal letter and it was bugging him to the next dimension.

exhaling deeply through his nose, he was about to call for yugyeom's assistance when a knock on the door caused him to quickly perk up in his seat.

adjusting his tie and brushing down his golden locks, he let out a short and simple, "come in!" to whoever was standing on the other side of the door.

yet, the person that entered his office was the last person he expected to see.

"good afternoon, mr. kim," the visitor greeted with a sickeningly sweet smile that only succeeded in irking taehyung.

"what are you doing here, jeon?" the CEO asked with a sigh, pinching the area between his eyebrows in irritation. "in case you didn't get the message, i clearly wrote in that letter that i don't want to see you come here ever again."

"oh, don't fret, i got the message crystal clear," jungkook replied, confidently striding up to the other male with narrowed eyes. "in fact, that letter is the exact reason why i'm here," he added, pulling out a familiar envelope from the inside of his bomber jacket and roughly slamming it right down on taehyung's table.

taehyung silently blinked at the envelope in front of him before glaring up at jungkook. "what is the meaning of this?"

"keep your fucking money, mr. kim," jungkook spat, glaring back down at taehyung with the same fury ablaze in his irises. "so, tell me — did you tell yugyeom-ssi to give me the letter 'cause you were too much of a coward to do it after you realized how much of a dick move you pulled that day?"

taehyung seemed visibly pissed off at that accusation.  "you want an explanation, is that it? i don't need to say shit to you, jeon jungkook. frankly, you're not of that much importance to me to the point where i care to worry about what you think of me and my actions, alright?"

jungkook won't go ahead and lie by saying that the elder's words didn't hurt him one bit because it definitely stung.

"don't flatter yourself. you're not of that much importance to me either," jungkook retorted, folding his arms across his chest. "but let's face it, you took the time to write that letter with a damn crappy apology because a small part of you still cared about what i thought about you after your little stunt that day, no?"

a large scowl crossed taehyung's features. "don't go around making assumptions. that's not—"

"don't deny it, kim," the ravenet spoke, a wide smirk plastered on his lips. "oh no, don't tell me you're a hypocrite and—"

taehyung's expression then shifted from annoyed to alert so fast that jungkook couldn't even pick it up.

"wait, shut up for a minute," taehyung hissed, pushing himself up from the chair and rushing past jungkook and straight to his phone which was charging on top of the couch's armrest on the opposite side of the room. his gaze skimmed over whatever was displayed on the screen and his entire face paled.

"woah, you look like you saw a ghost. did i really expose you too hard there?" jungkook snarkily commented with a snicker.

"y-you need to leave, like, right now," taehyung announced, practically throwing his phone back onto the couch as if it just gave him an electric shock.

jungkook, however, didn't get the memo and simply scoffed. "you're not getting rid of me that easily like last time, mr. kim. playing the coward doesn't work with me, y'know, so maybe you should—"

"no, jungkook, i'm serious," taehyung hurried to interject, the panic weaving through his words becoming more apparent by the second. "you need to leave this building now or else—"

"or else what?" jungkook pushed on, getting fed up with what he thought were poor excuses from the CEO.

"jungkook, i'm not kidding—"

taehyung's interrupted by the door to his office swiftly swinging open as a man, that seemed to be around his 50's, stepped in.

the man immediately looked at jungkook — or rather — his incredibly casual attire which included a black bomber jacket and ripped jeans, the noticeable ear and nose piercings, and the exposed dragon tattoo that trailed down the side of his neck before disappearing underneath the collar of his white tee.

"father, you're here," taehyung choked out, suddenly sounding very timid and small.

jungkook froze as the realization of who this intimidating man was eventually dawned on him.

kim daehyun, the former CEO of kim corp. — the man who everyone used to fear and drop down onto their knees for as he was one of the most powerful and influential figures in the history of modern-day south korea. after all, he was the one who catapulted the company to the top of the country.

"i finally get out of that shitty hospital and this is the sight i return to? i'm beyond disappointed, taehyung," taehyung's father began causing taehyung's head to drop low. "heck, this thing shouldn't have been able to step foot into this building looking like that," he continued, pointing towards jungkook with pure disgust etched in his eyes.

"no, i'm—" taehyung made haste to explain but instantly froze when he saw his dad raise his hand up mid-air whilst staring straight at the young tattooist. "don't you dare touch him. he hasn't done anything to you," the blond growled. "leave him out of this, father."

jungkook raised a brow since although he could obviously take any hits from the old man without an issue, he was still fairly surprised to see taehyung immediately attempt to stand up for him.

in an odd way, he felt glad.

until—

slap!

jungkook took a sharp intake of air when the ear-splitting noise of a hand roughly coming in contact with skin echoed within the room, and tensed up even further when he noticed that he wasn't the one that got hit.

his breath hitched in his throat when he saw taehyung with his head slightly tilted to the side and a gigantic bright red handprint blooming on his left cheek as he stood in front of his clearly infuriated father.

"oh, i wouldn't even dream about touching him," daehyun claimed, clicking his tongue. "it sickens me that you resort to mingling with people like this to fulfill your boredom. as a kim, you are truly a disgrace."

jungkook felt something bubble up inside him and he unknowingly started stomping up to the old man with his fists clenched at his side. "hey, that's enough! he's your fucking son. you don't need to—"

"jungkook-ssi, please leave." taehyung's soft plead managed to calm jungkook's momentary anger down.

jungkook frowned which only expanded when his gaze landed on the handprint still planted on the other's face. "but taehyung, you can't just expect me to—"

"please." taehyung then lifted his head to peer at jungkook for the first time in a while.

jungkook's heart actually ached at the sight of taehyung's unshed tears and quivering lips.

but if that was what taehyung wanted, the ravenet would comply.

"you heard him, kid. i don't want to see people like you inside of this building ever again or else i'll do worse than giving taehyung a light tap," taehyung's father warned.

jungkook struggled to not just throw a punch right at the center of the old man's face but ended up deciding against it, walking towards the door with heavy hesitation in each step he took.

he couldn't bring himself to glance back at taehyung when he finally stepped out of his office.