"a few days ago, taehyungie... took park bogum back," yugyeom revealed, frowning as jungkook roughly slammed his drink down onto the table, startling a couple of other customers in the cafe and receiving a concerned glance from jimin who was in the midst of brewing coffee behind the counter.

"he did what?!" jungkook would've nearly screamed if he wasn't in a coffee shop. "i can't believe this," he then muttered after taking a few more seconds to process everything in his head, fingers flying up to tug at his black locks in frustration.

"i know, i'm sorry," yugyeom said with an exasperated sigh. "i tried to talk some sense into him but he just— frankly, i don't know what the fuck taehyungie was thinking. actually, it's more like he wasn't even thinking, period. oh, and pardon the profanity."

jungkook clicked his tongue with pure irritation and anger coursing through his veins. "i don't understand him. why would he take back bogum just like that when he's been to hell and back because of that same dickhead?"

"i agree," yugyeom mumbled with a shake of his head. "i'm really sorry, jungkook, but there seemed to be nothing i could do to get taehyungie to change his mind."

"no, it's okay," the ravenet assured with a sad smile. "you tried and that's already more than enough. thank you so much, yugyeom. i swear, the next time i see bogum, i'll bash his head—"

as if on cue, the door to the cafe flung open and coincidentally, three specific males clad in expensive suits proceeded to stride into the place.

yugyeom's eyes widened in panic while jungkook's vision flashed red.

there he was, the devil himself — park bogum, walking hand-in-hand with taehyung as he wore that stupid cocky smirk on his face.

and if that wasn't agitating enough, the both of them were trailing behind taehyung's father, another hellspawn.

none of the three men seemed to notice yugyeom and jungkook sitting in a small corner of the shop, which happened to be both a good thing and a bad thing.

good thing because jungkook wouldn't have to deal with the problem of dramatic confrontation.

bad thing because that means he would have to hold in his anger for a little bit longer.

they watched as the trio placed their orders, with bogum paying for taehyung's drink too, which brought a grateful grin up onto the latter's face and of course, earned bonus points for bogum in old man kim's books.

if only taehyung's father knew what kind of shitty scumbag bogum was, jungkook cursed mentally, tightening the grip around his cup as his gaze trailed after taehyung whilst the three males went to find a seat next to the large floor-to-ceiling window and began indulging in a conversation, presumably some typical boring business talk.

"jungkook, chill, what did that drink ever do to you?" yugyeom asked out of the blue, causing jungkook to flinch and release the unintentional vice grip he had on his coffee. "you were about to crush that cup into a pulp."

"sorry. i'm just— i'm so damn pissed," the tattooist mumbled, glaring over at bogum who currently had an arm draped around taehyung's shoulders. "taehyung turned me down and didn't even bother to give me a chance to explain myself, but he easily let this neglective bitch of an ex-boyfriend back into his life with a couple of cheesy lines? are you fucking kidding me?"

"i understand, jungkook, but—"

"no, fuck it. i'm going over there," jungkook announced, getting up from his seat and causing yugyeom to instantly tense up in alarm. "i need to clear up some things with taehyung or else i'll go crazy because this is ridiculous."

"no! you're being ridiculous!" yugyeom whisper-shouted, hastily reaching across the table to push jungkook back down onto the chair. "you want to go there and do what? scream your lungs out at them? throw a punch at bogum? ask taehyung why he didn't choose you instead? screw all of that, do you have a death wish?"

"i don't care, i need answers," jungkook stubbornly replied, pushing himself back up from his seat and storming over to where the two kims and park bogum sat before yugyeom could stop him this time.

yugyeom shrunk back into his seat. he was absolutely terrified for jungkook.

taehyung's father was the first to notice jungkook walking up to their table and his expression immediately turned sour. "what is he doing here, taehyung?" he queried with venom dripping from his words.

taehyung turned around and visibly jumped at jungkook's presence. "oh, uh, good afternoon. i didn't expect to see you here, jungkook-ssi," he greeted with furrowed eyebrows.

ouch. jungkook scowled. jungkook-ssi, huh? i see how it is.

bogum narrowed his eyes at the new arriver while bringing taehyung closer to him, which jungkook didn't fail to notice.

"i just want to talk with your son. i don't want anything to do with you, grandpa," jungkook declared with a scoff, his patience ticking away with every second.

"feeling's mutual, kid," taehyung's father, daehyun, grumbled under his breath.

taehyung remained silent, not entirely sure what he should do or say in this situation.

"look, sir," bogum finally perked up, still wearing that cocky smirk on his face. "i'm sorry, but it seems like my boyfriend doesn't want anything to do with you," he claimed, purposely putting extra emphasis on the 'boyfriend' label to irk jungkook further.

jungkook tried to keep his cool, but he couldn't do it anymore.

"park fucking bogum, you piece of shit," he hissed, practically about to lunge at bogum and briefly stunning taehyung's father with his sudden vulgar language. "even after all these years, you still enjoy taking everything away from me, don't you? you—"

"both of you, stop it!" taehyung exclaimed, standing up as soon as he saw jungkook's fists clench. "let's just... talk outside, jungkook-ssi. excuse me, father," he said, motioning for jungkook to follow him since he was certain that the tattoo artist would've started beating bogum up if they stayed in that cafe any longer.

daehyun only gave a curt nod as bogum growled.

taehyung then led jungkook outside where an awkward silence slowly dwelled upon them until— "you got back together with bogum," the younger straightforwardly spoke up.

"i-i did," taehyung confirmed.

"that's nice, i'm happy for you," jungkook deadpanned with the most unamused look on his face.

taehyung sighed at the obvious sarcasm. "listen, jungkook-ssi, i know that you might be upset but i'm—"

"ah, so we're back to formalities? and no, i'm not upset at all, taehyung-ssi," jungkook retorted.

"you're not?" the blond frowned in confusion.

"why would i be upset?" jungkook queried with a curious tilt of his head.

"b-but you— the other day," taehyung trailed off, unsure of how to properly word that.

"i wanted to talk to you because i want to clear up some things. after all, we did have a rocky start, so the least i can do is to prevent us from having a rocky end as well," jungkook started. "first, yes, i did confess to you that day. i liked— no, i still like you very much, taehyung-ssi. i was angry and devastated at how easily you gave into bogum and took him back, yet you didn't even consider giving me a chance. i know you hate me because i don't have the guts to tell you about my past, but then i realized, what's the point of me being so mad in the first place? why do i care so much in the first place?"

taehyung bit down on his lower lip, growing gloomier and guiltier with each sentence that jungkook spewed out.

"you were never mine, and never will be. i know i can't get you to like me back, and i definitely can't stop you from loving bogum. anyways, if he's what makes you the happiest, then who am i to take that away from you by getting selfishly caught up in my own feelings?" jungkook continued with a smile that held so much evident pain that it harshly tugged at taehyung's heartstrings.

"j-jungkook—" taehyung's breath hitched in his throat when he realized his father and bogum were closely monitoring them from inside the coffee shop the whole time, shivering when he could feel the power of their hard stares even through the thick glass panes. taking in a shaky inhale, he looked right into jungkook's solemn irises and said something he should've never thought of saying, "you're right. so, are we done here? i really need to get back with my boyfriend and my father."

jungkook felt like he just got stabbed by the way that taehyung carelessly dismissed his entire monologue without batting an eyelash. i guess i had no chance since the beginning.

"then i know what i should do now — i'll let go of you from today onwards, taehyung-ssi. i wish it could've lasted longer but i can only hope that your upcoming cooperation project with bogum's company will turn out great, as well as your relationship with him. thank you for everything you've done for me," jungkook finished with a little 90-degrees bow. "let's pretend that we never even met, yeah? well, goodbye."

the black-haired male could've sworn his heart actually shattered into pieces at that moment as he turned away to pitifully trudge back into the cafe with his head hung low, something that was completely out-of-character for him.

but it was fine, as long as taehyung's happy.

taehyung reached out his hand in front of him before slowly letting it fall back down to his side, unable to do anything as he simply watched the black-haired tattooist walk away from him and back into the cafe to fetch yugyeom.

i'm sorry, please don't leave, taehyung desperately wanted to say. the younger man's earlier speech was ringing in his ears like a broken record. i also have things i want to tell you.

but he couldn't possibly muster up the courage to let those words out when he knew his father was watching and always would be.

maybe this was all for the best.

maybe he won't live on to regret this.

unfortunately, only time will tell.