✨27✨

So finally, after weeks of being lost, and stuck in a writer's block, which I tell you, was really depressing, I am here with a new chapter.

This one is really close to my heart. Hope you guys will enjoy it.

You guys read the chapter, I'll treat myself with a chocolate✨❤️

4.2 K words!!

*******

^TaeTae and his uncle Jeon 💖

And uncle Jeon's eyes. 🫠🫠

_________

Knowing everyone would be down for breakfast, Taehyung avoided the front door. 

His shirt was dry enough not to cling to his skin but the air passing through it made him shiver.

He didn't realize they had been in the cave for hours.

Blushing like an idiot, he walked inside from the backdoor. He could hear the voices from the hall. Carefully, he tiptoed and took the staircase which lead directly to the first floor from the back itself. His steps held an excitement.

He was too giddy.

His lips still tingled with the kiss that was too innocent. They have done things far filthier. Things that should have made that kiss seem like child's play, right there in the cave, just a few minutes before that kiss. But it didn't.

That kiss... it was different. It made his stomach flutter like he was some lovesick teenager sneaking home after his first date--not a wrecked idiot who could still feel his uncle's fingers bruised into his hips. 

And for some reason, Jungkook's reaction to it just made it better.

He didn't remember catching his uncle off guard, even once, in all his life. Not when he threatened him to bite back at the mall, not when he had whispered seductive words in the kitchen, not when he accepted that his uncle made him weak on his knees. Never.

He had always been a confident man, who was always in control of the situation. His smirks were calculated, his words teasing and silences loaded. Even his glances had intent. He had always been the one leaving Taehyung on edge.

But not in that moment.

Taehyung didn't know if Jungkook's eyes have widened when he kissed him, if he was frozen, or if his lips parted slightly like he hadn't expected it, because Taehyung has refused to stop and look at him. But he knew he had shocked him.

That was a first.

A feather-light kiss on his cheek, and Jungkook had looked like someone had snuck into his fortress and painted the walls pink.

A giggle bubbled in his throat remembering the moment. 

Maybe it was stupid to feel victorious over something so small. But Taehyung did feel victorious. He regretted not looking back. He should have turned, should have raised an eyebrow in challenge and looked at Jungkook with the same eyes his uncle watched him every time after leaving Taehyung breathless.

The damn smile, and the mushy feeling bubbling inside like a fountain, refused to fade. Reaching the first-floor landing, he peeked toward the hallway. It was empty. Carefully, he padded quickly towards his room, his blood still annoyingly loud in his ears. 

It was when he closed the door behind him that he allowed himself to stop.

Everything within him trembled. He was not sure if it was because he was sneaking in, praying he encountered no one because he was not in a very decent condition, or was it because of what happened in the last few hours.

His heart still thudded wild in his chest.

Taehyung threw his head back as he leaned against the door, and allowed himself to breath, the smile on his face still lingered as he went through everything they did back at the cave. The words his uncle said and did back at the cave.

If you were mine.... Those words echoed in his ears. He tried not to think about them, but they kept returning.

"Aaah!!" He scolded himself for behaving like that. "It was a role play, Taehyung!!" He knew it didn't mean anything. But it had felt so much more than just a role play.

Pushing himself off the door, he walked towards the washroom.

He felt cold. And dirty. Jungkook had cleaned him, but he could still feel him dripping down his thighs. No. Not just that but he could feel his touches too. Still imprinted into his skin like he was marked.

He needed to clean himself. Take a shower. Get some breakfast because his stomach was grumbling. And get some rest too because his body was crying for it. 

He hopped into the washroom happily, only to wince again. The throb between his legs made it difficult for him to walk without a limp. He had been so occupied with the kiss that the pain couldn't make it to his mind. 

But now, it was. 

And it was impossible to ignore.

Against his initial plan, he took a painkiller before anything.

Kicking out his sneakers where sand clung to them like they were in love, he walked into the washroom. The first thing he noticed was his reflection in the mirror.

It made him pause.

His hair was a mess-tangled and wind-swept, pieces of grass and sand still caught in a few curls. His lips were swollen. His skin was flushed. His neck, exposed through the stretched collar of his shirt that wasn't tucked in his shorts anymore, had clear bruises blooming in places no shirt could hide.

Taehyung stepped closer to the mirror to have a good look at himself.

His skin... it seemed to be glowing. A beautiful shade of gold kissed by the sun that poured in through the bathroom window, but more so by the heat of what had happened hours ago.

He looked sinful. Like a painting stroked with lust and love all at once.

He removed his shirt to the side before his fingertips ghosted over his chest, tracing a faint red mark near his collarbone.

He didn't look like himself. Not the version of him his family saw, or the one he usually pretended to be. He looked wrecked. Spent. Desired. Owned. Loved.

Loved?

He blinked at that last word. Heart thudding a little faster. That's when he realized he used the word twice within a minute, without any thought. 

"No," he whispered to himself, as if saying it aloud could erase the thought. "No!" What the fuck! Where did that even come from? He let out a sound in disbelief. And mocking laughter. 

His reflection stared back at him.

"No!" He said out loud once more.

His fingers trembled, and his nerves buzzed as he unbuttoned his shirt, but he ignored it. Sparing another glance at his wrecked self--at his messy-hair, skin flushed in a shade that was becoming his favorite lately, and the bite marks across his collarbone--uninterested, he walked away only to come back the next moment.

His eyes found the wildflower tucked in his ear, and a memory returned like a flash of lightening.

His eyes widened.

That evening had been soft.

They'd gone out for a walk. Taehyung had turned six that summer. Naïve. Innocent. Small in all the ways a child should be--but even back then, he'd been strangely drawn toward his uncle. Not because of how tall he was or how golden he looked against a sleepy sunset, but because of everything else.

Taehyung liked the way he talked. And laughed. And looked.

He was so handsome. Like those princes from the story books.

His eyes were always pretty. Like night sky. Dark. Endless. Mysterious. Quietly alive with storms you couldn't see unless you looked long enough. They didn't just stare, they pulled. Like gravity. Fun fact was Taehyung didn't even know about gravity back then, but still, he was drowned towards them.

They shone so bright when he smiled. Or laughed. His long, thick lashes just made them more attractive. His hair was the kind that only ever existed in fairytales, tousled and black and always touched by the wind.

Unlike the other adults, Jungkook was soft. Warm. Adults said he was careless, but Taehyung liked him the way he was. He let the kids scream and jump on couches, and he never told them no. He played with them and brought them ice cream and told stories of his dangerous adventures that made their eyes widen.

While the other kids crowded around him in awe, doing and saying things to get his attention, because, apparently, he was everyone's favorite, little Taehyung would sit at a distance. Holding his worn-out kitty plushie. Watching. Just... watching.

Imagining himself in the wide world Jungkook spoke of.

That evening, he was left behind again. And like always, all the kids have surrounded Jungkook. Taehyung followed them dragging his kitty plushie by its leg.

He was bored. Jimin, who was seven, was walking ahead with all the others, talking and laughing with his other cousins. Taehyung followed them behind uninterested. He didn't even want to come. He wanted to read the story book someone left at his nightstand the previous night, but Jimin had dragged him out.

And now.... he had left him alone. Ditched him for Uncle Jungkook and the rest. 

He was sad. Or maybe sad was a small word. His six-year-old, innocent heart was possessive. For Jimin. And for Uncle Jeon too. Uncle Jeon who never noticed him. Never stopped for him. Never looked back even once to see if Taehyung was following. Or if he was left behind and kidnapped by bad uncles.

The sea glowed orange under the evening sunlight. His eyes found a patch of red and purple flowers swaying to the morning breeze.

He crouched down, brushing his fingers over one, his plushie in the other hand. A small smile appeared on his lips at how soft the petals were. He played with the flowers with his doe eyes shining brightly.

"You like those?" Jungkook's voice came from behind him.

Taehyung flinched initially. He thought all of them have walked away. But when he saw his uncle standing there against the sun, watching him with those curious eyes, he bit his lower lip and nodded.

"Why?" He asked again.

Six-year-old Taehyung who barely reached his uncle's hips, just kept watching him. He was too young to put it in words. And honestly... he didn't even know. He just... liked them. They were... unique. 

So unique from the flowers he had usually seen.

He blinked innocently when his uncle crouched beside him. "They are called wildflowers." He told softly turning towards him.

Taehyung pushed his round framed glasses over his nose, while with other hand, he clutched his plushie tightly, forgetting flowers and only watching his uncle who was twenty-one. Twenty-one and so pretty.

Jungkook smiled at him. "You know, no two wildflowers are same." He turned back towards the flowers. "Each one is unique. They're not fancy, they don't grow where they're planted. They just... show up. Freely. At their own will. Even against harsh conditions. They grow where no flower can."

Taehyung nodded faintly. He liked that part. "A-And?" He asked, curiously.

He saw his uncle smile. "They represent pure, unplanned love. Love that grows without rules. Love that simply happens."

Taehyung watched him blinking innocently.

He didn't know what that meant. He was too young to understand but still, it sounded something good. He bit on his lower lip when his uncle kept watching him with that soft smile.

He didn't know what he should say.

Jungkook plucked a flower. A purple one.

Reaching forward, he tucked it behind Taehyung's ear. His fingers brushed over the boy's soft curls, then lingered a second too long against his cheek.

"There," he murmured, his voice low, fond. "You look like one now."

Taehyung's brows drew in, confused. "Like what?"

"A wildflower," His uncle explained, his pretty eyes shining the way they did, again. 

Taehyung stared at him, his eyes shining happily at being called that. His fingers reached up to touch the flower and gently pressed it back into place so that it doesn't fall.

"That m-means I am also special?" He stammered. "Like a wildflower?"

"You, Taehyung" his uncle said, brushing a finger under Taehyung's chin to lift his face, "are the most special kind of wildflower."

Taehyung stared at him through his glasses, a happy feeling making his stomach feel funny. A smile threatened to spill on his face, but he bit on his lower lip to stop it. Sunlight made his face feel hot. Not just his face--his whole chest felt warm. All fluttery, like there were tiny wings brushing against his ribs. 

He looked down at his tummy to see if there were fairies trying to tingle him with their wings. There were no fairies. But it was tingling. He wanted to giggle but ended up biting on his lower lip.

"You look pretty." His uncle smiled at him softly.

A pink made it to Taehyung's cheek at the compliment. His smiled shyly but pushed his glasses back on his nose to hide it. His uncle chuckled and offered him his hand. "Let's go. Everyone is waiting."

Taehyung looked at it, only to look at him. He held the hand when the elder nodded and they walked away to where everyone else was. They didn't talk after that anymore, but he stayed beside Jungkook for the rest of the day. Sitting in the grass. Picking more flowers. Watching each one and looking at his uncle, wanting to give him one, but deciding otherwise every single time.

That night, when his mother came to comb through his curls before bed, she found a slightly wilted bloom tucked above his ear.

He didn't let her throw it away.

Taehyung stared at the wildflower, a purple one, again, in his reflection surprised. That memory. It was so old and came back out of nowhere. He had totally forgotten about it. He was barely six.

He bit on his lower lip.

A fluttering feeling, like the one he got that evening almost twelve years ago, made it to his stomach once more. He tried to remember if it had meant anything other than some innocent admiration.

Back then, it didn't. He was innocent, and his thoughts were innocent. His admiration was pure.

It was just the teenage hormones growing up that changed it into something dirty.

He scrunched his nose cutely at the thoughts. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with that innocent encounter from a random day years ago.

He shook his head and walked into the shower with his heart racing happily in his chest. He stepped out of his shorts only to wince once more. God. He was so going to feel this for a while.

As soon as he turned the water, steam curled up like fingers calling him in. He stepped under the stream, groaning softly as the heat hit his skin. It hurt at first. All over. His thighs. His back. His neck. The bruises. The bite marks. The ache deep inside him.

He tried to focus on his aching muscles and to push the memory where it belonged. At the back of his mind. But even though it might not mean something, it kept replaying in his mind. 

It was the first day his uncle has called him wildflower.

He was barely six. Twelve years ago.

It was not supposed to mean anything. But it did.

It meant something.

To him. It meant so much.

And today, just a few hours ago, he had called him 'my wildflower' as he made him scream his name, just the way he said he would have liked if Taehyung was his. As he showed him what it felt like to belong to him.

He tilted his head back, letting the water soak through his curls, hands braced against the wall as he tried to steady himself. His body was sore, yes--but his heart? That was the real mess. Everything that happened today, the sex, the roleplay, the innocent kiss, and then that memory... it all left him overwhelmed.

He washed himself clean. His fingers brushed lightly over his inner thigh, a sharp breath leaving him at the sensitivity there. His heart pounded in his chest. 

This.... whatever he was doing, it was supposed to be simple. A simple, one summer thing with no overwhelming feelings. It was supposed to get his uncle out of his system. It was just lust.

And it was supposed to stay just that. And not get complex.

But the hard pounding of his chest told him otherwise. Something happened there in the cave that shifted something inside him. He couldn't put a finger on exactly what, but it changed something.

It changed something within Taehyung just a fraction.

It was not him anymore.

The boy who kissed Jungkook on his cheek, it was not him.

The guy in the mirror who smiled at him knowingly as he glanced at it on his way out of the washroom, it wasn't Taehyung he knew. It was a stranger--someone unfamiliar, someone wearing his face but not his soul.

*****

He closed the washroom door behind him, still lost somewhere in his mind but paused as soon as he noticed Jimin on his bed, staring at his phone.

He hadn't expected him to be there.

He locked the door behind himself, grabbing Jimin's attention. He locked his phone and turned towards Taehyung, his eyes glinting bright with some mischief. "Hey... I have been looki-" He began but trailed off.

The smile on his face faltered. 

Taehyung saw him get up, his eyes drifting to Taehyung's lips, down to his neck before it slipped even lower when Taehyung shifted in his place unknowingly. A quiet hiss escaped him at the movement. 

Jimin looked at him as if he couldn't believe it.

Taehyung's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was when Jimin's eyes returned back to his neck that it dawned upon him. His eyes widened and his hand flew up to hide the blooming marks on his neck. 

His heart thudded wild in his chest. He was so lost in his thoughts that he totally forgot about covering them up. 

Jimin's eyes met his. And Taehyung was sure that Jimin had put two and two together. He wasn't naive. And Taehyung's condition screamed everything. He was limping. His lips were swollen. His skin was glowing despite the energy drain, and his body was covered with hickeys that were not subtle at all. 

Jungkook had always been careful about not leaving marks, at least not at places where they could be seen, but not today. He hadn't even tried to keep it low. He had marked him for everyone to see. 

His hands turned clammy.

"I--" Jimin began but shook his head, as if not finding the right words. There seemed to be so much he wanted to say, but he clenched his fists. "How long has it been going on?" His words came out strained.

Taehyung swallowed as he fidgeted within his mind. 

This was not the reaction he expected from Jimin. He had always been the one telling Taehyung what he was missing on, always the one urging him to try sex once.  He had expected Jimin to jump on him, tease the hell out of his being, and ask for details. But not the silent anger Taehyung could see in his eyes.

"How long, Tae?" Jimin questioned him again, sharply. 

Taehyung licked his lips. "Since Jake's party!" He replied, trying to ease the tension he felt in the air. 

"Who is it?" 

"W-What?" 

"Name, Tae!"

Taehyung's lips parted but nothing came out. He couldn't lie. But he couldn't be honest either.

A silence filled the air between them.

"You were not going to tell me about this. Were you?" Jimin finally asked, his eyes sharp. Each of his words held a sharpness that stung at all the right places.

His pulse roared in his ears. "Chim...." He tried to find words but couldn't. He didn't know what to say.

It was supposed to be a secret. Always. Just a secret. He didn't know why he felt a sudden pang at his chest at the thought, but he pushed it away. Jimin was looking at him with those accusing eyes.

"I thought we were best friends." 

Taehyung shook his head desperately. He had kept a secret from Jimin when they promised to keep none, but it didn't mean he didn't consider him the closest person to him. "We are. You are my best friend, Chim. But I don't understand why you are mad. Were not you the one who wanted me to go out and have fun?" He quoted with his fingers.

"Fun, Taehyung. I said have fun." Jimin gritted clenching his fists tighter. "Not to fuck the first person you met out there!"

"But what's wrong in that?" He questioned back in pure disbelief. Jimin's anger didn't even make sense. "I am not a minor. I can do that. You do that all the time. You keep fucking around like there's no tomorrow. What's wrong if I did that? You are being totally unreaso-" 

"BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT ME!" Jimin yelled, not letting him finish. Taehyung jumped, startled, his hand going to his heart as it threatened to come out. He had never seen his cousin yelling before today. Neither he had seen him so mad.

"You are not like me, Taehyung." He growled, while Taehyung still held his heart. "You are different. Sacred. You... You are a good boy. You don't fuck around!"

Taehyung's breath refused to come out of his chest. But rage did.

Those words, they snapped something within him.

He gritted his teeth. "I AM NOT!" He yelled back, breathless. Trembling. Shaking. His eyes burnt with defiance. "For fuck's sake, I am not a good boy, and I am not different. Look at me, Chim." He pointed towards the marks on his neck. "This is exactly who I am." And he was not ashamed of it. In fact, he was tired of people's preconceived notions about him.

He was not a saint. He was not fucking sacred. He hated the word good boy. He was a grown-up man who knew what he wanted and who did things that made him happy without any shame. He didn't want to be the good boy.

He was hurt that he was having this conversation with his best friend. That Jimin was judging him. Fighting with him. That he was accusing him of being desperate. He thought they knew each other. He thought Jimin knew him.

"So sorry I didn't come out to be who you thought I was but just because I gave myself to someone, it doesn't make me less. And you have no damn right questioning who I am sleeping around with!" He retorted.

"Oh I have!" Jimin announced, seething. "I have every fucking right to question you because you are fucking mine to protect!"

That. Almost made Taehyung laugh.

"Oh please! You are not my father. You are my best friend. Just that.... Or--" he trailed off as the word made it out of his lips.

Jimin's head shot up. Something flickered in his eyes.

Taehyung's breath stuck in his throat. An anticipation filled him. All the incidents of Jimin flirting with him, offering him sex, they flashed in front of his eyes.

It dawned upon him then. "You're not angry because I didn't tell you. Are you?" He questioned, his voice a breathless whisper. His question, it didn't make sense, but it did, all at the same time.

Jimin looked away, hiding his eyes from Taehyung but he refused to let him. He stepped ahead. Walking over to stand in front of Jimin, he looked at him sharply.

"You're angry because I slept with someone."

Something curled in his gut. Something like anxiety but Jimin looked at him, his eyes holding a mocking chuckle. "You think I'm jealous?" he laughed. "Is that what you're trying to say?"

That laugh eased Taehyung's nerves. That laugh... it sounded genuine. Almost.

"I don't know," Taehyung replied, shaking his head. "But you're acting like it. You're angry like I cheated on you. Why, Chim? What's really going on?"

Jimin's nostrils flared as if he was at the verge of it. Taehyung thought he was going to break something, but all he did was curse him. "Oh fuck you, Kim Taehyung!" 

He said and walked away, shutting the door behind him with an angry thud.

That annoyed the fuck out of Taehyung.

They were talking. He can't just demand answers from Taehyung and run away when it was his turn.

"Oh, fuck yourself, Park Chimin!" He yelled staring at the door Jimin had just slammed.

His chest ached with anger and sadness. It was the first time they fought in eighteen years. And the fact that he didn't even know why they fought only made him even more angry.

He threw his book of ancient medicine in anger.

"Asshole!"

__________

^Two moods🤧

So now you know when Taehyung became a wildflower for Jungkook.

And how Jimin feel about Taehyung having fun.

While first one melted my heart, left me screaming and kicking my feet, the later one scared me!! What do you think is wrong with Jimin? Why did he react like that?

And how will he react when he comes to know it's none other than Jungkook that Taehyung is having fun with?

Hehehe!! *That's supposed to be an evil laugh*

Any guesses what next chapter is gonna bring?

For answers, stay tuned. I promise I will come back sooner this time 😘

Don't forget to press the star below, and leave your thoughts in comments. I'll see you soon. Till then, take care. Love you. Muah muah!! 😚