|| CHAPTER - 38 ||

•| CHAPTER ~ 38 |•

•| "This Was Just the Beginning" |•

✿───❀  ♡  ❀───✿

The cold night air hit him like a slap, but not even the chill could numb the storm raging inside him.

Taehyung stumbled through the dark, empty streets, his breath ragged, the bitter taste of alcohol still burning on his tongue. His steps were uneven, swaying, but he didn't care. He didn't even know where he was going. All he knew was that he had to get away.

Away from her.

From the house where his heart had just been shattered into a thousand pieces.

His hands were trembling, fists clenched at his sides, but his chest—God, his chest hurt like hell. Like someone had reached in and ripped his heart out with bare hands.

"She said I'm a stranger now..." he whispered to himself, bitterly , painfully. "A stranger..."

He let out a sob, dry and broken, the kind that held lots of pain. "After everything I did... after everything we had... she called me a stranger."

The slap still stung on his cheek, but he didn't even flinch when he thought about it. It wasn't the slap that hurt.

It was her words. Her eyes. Her betrayal. The way she looked at him like he was nothing. Like the love they shared had meant nothing.

"She said I was disgusting..." he muttered, his voice cracking as he dragged his feet through the deserted street. "She said I'm the worst man she's ever seen..."

His eyes welled up with tears again, but he didn't stop walking. He couldn't. If he stopped, he'd break down right there on the pavement, and he didn't want to be that weak–not tonight.

"She chose him..." he spat out suddenly, hatred lacing his voice. "She chose that bastard Jungkook... after everything I gave her. After everything I was to her."

He staggered, catching himself on a lamppost, breathing hard. The world spun, but he didn't care. The pain inside him was far worse than the alcohol or the dizziness or the chill of night.

"She broke me..." he whispered. "She betrayed me. She fucking tore me apart and now she's acting like I'm the villain..."

He pressed a trembling hand over his chest like he could stop the aching. But it only burned more.

"I loved her..." he said, louder now, to no one. "I fucking loved her more than anyone in this world. And she threw me away. She said I'm nothing now..."

A tear slipped down his cheek, but he wiped it harshly, swallowing back the lump in his throat. His jaw clenched, his voice turning cold, sharp.

"She'll regret this," he hissed. "One day... she'll regret every goddamn word she said tonight. She'll cry for what she did to me. She'll suffer for choosing him. For breaking me."

His vision blurred, not just from the alcohol, but from the overwhelming waves of pain crashing through him.

"You said I'm a stranger?" he said into the night, like he was speaking to her ghost. "Then fine. I'll be a stranger. I'll leave. I'll disappear. You'll never have to see my face again. You don't deserve to."

He pushed forward, stumbling past streetlights that flickered above him, past shuttered stores and empty sidewalks. The world felt too quiet, too cruel.

"I hope he hurts you the way you hurt me," he whispered. "I hope you think of me every time you cry. I hope you look back and realize... you lost someone who would've loved you endlessly."

And then he went silent.

The weight of everything finally crashing down on him. No one was there to see the tears that fell freely down his face. No one to hear the sob that escaped his throat. No one to witness the moment he truly fell apart.

Because tonight, Taehyung wasn't just heartbroken.

He was destroyed.

And with every broken step he took away from her, he knew something inside him would never heal again.

Meanwhile,

The night was filled with smoke and city noise, but none of it could drown out the satisfied smirk tugging at Jungkook's lips.

He leaned back lazily against the leather seat of his gleaming black sports car, one arm hanging out of the open window, a cigarette between his fingers and a bottle of whiskey resting near his thigh.

All his attention was focused on the scene playing out just a few meters away.

Beside him, his friends were laughing, whispering, nudging each other like a group of schoolboys watching a drama unfold in real-time. But this wasn't just any drama. This–this was the sweet climax of something Jungkook had carefully planned for weeks.

And watching it happen in real time?

Even better than he imagined.

Earlier that evening, it had all started with one unexpected sighting.

Jungkook had just been sitting around with his usual gang, half-drunk, fully bored, when one of them spotted Taehyung sitting alone at a bar–a place he never usually stepped into. The guy looked completely out of place, slouched over the counter, glass after glass disappearing into his hand like water. His expression was broken. His body language screamed defeated.

And that's when Jungkook knew–tonight was going to be interesting.

Then Jungkook told his boys to shut up and follow Taehyung. No questions. He didn't know exactly where Taehyung was headed after that, but his gut told him it would lead somewhere juicy. And oh, how right he was.

Now, here they were. Parked in a shadowed corner just across the street from Evie's house. Watching from the distance like wolves observing prey. Watching Taehyung get thrown out–literally. Evie had grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of her house. The guy landed hard on the pavement, half-drunk, humiliated, and broken.

Even from where they sat, they could hear the shouts. The insults. The sound of a door slamming. And after that–just Taehyung's muffled, pathetic voice, begging her, hating her, cursing her... falling apart right there on the street.

Jungkook took a long drag from his cigarette and exhaled slowly, watching the smoke swirl upward as if it, too, was dancing in satisfaction.

"Damn," he muttered with a slow chuckle. "I thought we were just following him for fun, but this –this is golden."

One of his friends, leaned forward in the passenger seat, laughing under his breath. "Bro, I didn't think Taehyung would actually go to her place. Drunk and all. Man's bold–stupid, but bold."

Jungkook laughed too. Not loudly. But in that cold, smug way that only someone who had everything under control could. He took a sip straight from the whiskey bottle, letting it burn his throat, fueling the fire in his chest.

"This is what happens," Jungkook said darkly, looking toward the scene where Taehyung now stumbled away down the road like a ghost, shoulders hunched, eyes red, voice trembling, "when someone dares to go against me."

His words are sharp and venomous.

"They thought they were smart," he sneered, shifting his gaze toward the closed door of Evie's house. "She thought she could insult me, slap me, call me disgusting in front of people. And him–he thought he could play the hero. The moral one. Always so righteous, so full of himself."

He scoffed, throwing the half-burnt cigarette out the window before lighting another.

"But look at them now. Two broken fools. She just kicked him out like trash, and he didn't even fight back. He just stood there and took it. That's what I call poetic fucking justice."

The boys snickered again, high-fiving each other, watching Taehyung's figure grow smaller as he stumbled farther into the dark.

Jungkook leaned forward now, elbows on the steering wheel, grinning like a devil. His eyes were glowing with a dangerous fire.

"Man, Raven would've loved this," he said. "She would've been screaming if she saw how messed up Taehyung looked. Poor baby got slapped and kicked out by the same girl he defended and hit me for."

He laughed again, low and bitter.

"God, I should've recorded this shit," he growled. "This was legendary. Missed a golden chance."

Then, his voice dropped, tone turning colder, deadlier.

"But you know what?" he said, glancing toward his boys. "This was just the warm-up. The real show hasn't even started."

He took another long swig from the bottle, lips curling upward as his mind ticked with cruel satisfaction.

"Let Taehyung slide for now. He got what he deserved. Let him roam these streets, drunk and heartbroken, hating himself and her. That pain–that humiliation? That's only the beginning."

He turned his gaze back toward Evie's house.

"But Miss. Evie Parker... oh, sweetheart, your turn's coming next."

He leaned back again, finishing the cigarette, flicking it away as his grin turned darker.

"She thinks this was a fight between hearts," he muttered. "But this is war now."

The boys went quiet, sensing the shift in his mood–the pure darkness in his voice.

"She turned Taehyung against me?" he whispered. "She slapped me, looked at me like I was beneath her? Thought she could choose him over me? No one... no one disrespects Jeon Jungkook and gets away with it."

His hand tightened around the steering wheel, knuckles turning white.

"She'll cry for what she did. She'll scream. And when I'm done with her... she'll beg for mercy."

And then, just like that, he started the car, the engine purring like a beast ready to devour.

As the tires rolled silently down the road, Jungkook looked one last time into the rearview mirror–where Taehyung had vanished, and Evie's house stood still behind a locked door.

With a final smirk, he whispered to himself, "Let the real games begin."

✦───────────────✦

Two days had passed, but Evie still couldn't get over what happened. The memory kept replaying in her mind–her hand slapping Taehyung across the face, the way she screamed at him, how she threw him out of her house. But more than anything, it was his words that haunted her.

Drunk or not, they were cruel. Ugly. Disgusting.

She had tried to calm herself down these past two days. She stayed in her room most of the time, cried quietly into her pillow at night, and avoided checking her phone. She didn't want to talk to anyone. Not Taehyung. Not her friends. No one.

Now that college was over and she had finally graduated from one of the most prestigious colleges in the city, she told herself it was time to grow up. She had to look for a job, focus on building a stable future. She had no reason to meet Taehyung anymore, and honestly, she didn't want to.

Even though she could still see his tear-streaked face in her mind, even though his broken voice still echoed in her ears–she told herself it was nothing. Just a teenage mistake. Puppy love that went too far. She was turning 22 soon, and this drama wasn't worth it.

Love, she thought, was useless. Messy. And she didn't want to be a part of it anymore.

That morning, she sat quietly at the dining table, picking at her breakfast. Her father sat across from her, already dressed in his office clothes, sipping his tea and chatting casually about his day.

He had no idea what had happened two nights ago. No idea how broken his daughter felt. No idea how much she was pretending just to get through the morning. For a moment, everything felt normal–like nothing had happened, like her world hadn't just turned upside down two days ago.

"By the way," her father said casually, setting down his tea cup, "did Taehyung tell you he's moving to Washington?"

Evie's hand froze mid-air, her spoon hovering just inches above her plate. Her heart skipped a beat. She blinked at him, unsure if she'd heard that right.

Her father glanced at her and raised an eyebrow, surprised by her sudden stillness. "I thought he might've mentioned it to you... you two were good friends, right?" he added with a soft chuckle, not sensing the storm that had suddenly brewed in his daughter's chest. "My boss told me at the office yesterday. Everyone's quite happy for him. Says he's leaving next week–wants to pursue his career seriously, and it's full of opportunities, you know. Good choice, I'd say."

Evie didn't respond right away. She forced her eyes down to her plate, suddenly feeling like the air had been sucked out of the room. Something inside her twisted. She didn't know why it hurt so much to hear about it.

She thought maybe... maybe he'd come back.

Maybe he would knock on her door again.

Maybe he'd apologize, or explain. She wasn't sure what she had hoped for, really. But she had waited—silently, stubbornly. And now, as her father sipped his tea beside her, telling about Taehyung, she realized how wrong she'd been.

But she held it in. She didn't let her face change. She didn't ask questions. She simply nodded a little, her voice stuck in her throat.

"Oh," she muttered, keeping her tone neutral, "he didn't mention anything."

And that was it. She didn't let herself ask more, didn't allow her thoughts to wander too far. She quickly picked up her spoon again and shrugged it off as if it didn't matter. As if his leaving wouldn't affect her. As if it wasn't breaking something deep inside her that she didn't want to admit was even still there.

After finishing breakfast, her father stood up from his chair, buttoned up his blazer, and gave her a small, warm smile.

He kissed the top of her head like he always did and said softly, "I'll be late today, lots of work to catch up on, so don't wait for me." Evie just nodded quietly, forcing a smile.

Once he left and the door shut behind him, silence took over the house, a heavy, suffocating silence that made her feel even more alone than she already was. She sat still for a while at the dining table, not moving, just staring at the empty plate in front of her as if she could somehow distract herself from the thoughts racing through her head.

But no matter how hard she tried to push it away, it hit her all over again—Taehyung was gone.

Really gone.

He left the city, left her, left everything behind like none of it ever mattered, like she never mattered.

She had waited, foolishly hoped maybe he'd come back, maybe he'd realise his mistake, maybe he'd show up at her door and apologise with guilt in his eyes and regret in his voice and if he had, maybe she would've forgiven him.

Because the truth was, she really did love him, deeply and honestly, with her whole heart. But instead of fixing what he broke, instead of owning up to what he did, he chose to run away. He just walked out of her life as if she was never important, and now he was starting a whole new life without even looking back once.

And that thought alone was enough to make her break. Her body curled into itself, her knees drawn to her chest as she sat there on the chair, sobs slowly escaping her lips one after another, until the quiet house was filled with the sound of her crying.

She cried for everything–for the love she gave, for the pain she was left with, for the humiliation he caused her without any reason, and for the way he made her feel like she wasn't even worth an apology.

But eventually, the tears slowed down. Her chest still hurt, her head throbbed, but she wiped her face with shaky hands and forced herself to stand up. She had cried enough, she told herself. Now she needed to pull herself together, because whether her heart liked it or not, life would not pause just because she was hurting.

She looked around at the mess in the house, the clothes that needed folding, the kitchen that needed cleaning, and even though her whole body felt weak and heavy, she began moving, slowly completing each chore just to keep her mind from falling apart again.

By afternoon, she made herself a simple cup of tea and walked out to the balcony. The sky was dull and heavy with clouds. She sat there for a while, letting the cool breeze brush against her face, her eyes staring blankly at the sky, trying to feel a little peace, trying to forget him for just a few minutes.

But then, the doorbell rang.

The sound startled her because no one ever came around unannounced, especially not at this hour. She stood up slowly, confused and curious, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she froze in shock.

"Dad?" she said, her voice filled with confusion.

He was standing there, but something was very wrong–he wasn't the same man who left the house a few hours ago. His shirt was wrinkled, his tie was loose like he had pulled it in frustration, and his face... his face looked pale, tired, and completely devastated. He didn't say a word. He just walked inside slowly like he was carrying a thousand bricks on his shoulders.

Evie blinked, still standing at the door, too surprised to move. "Dad, what... why are you back home so early? What happened?" she asked, her voice shaky with concern.

Her father didn't answer. He just sat down heavily on the sofa like he was too drained to stand any longer. His hands trembled slightly as they rested on his knees, and his shoulders slumped like he had aged ten years in a single day.

Evie's chest tightened as she walked closer, her heart beating faster. She crouched beside him and looked up at his face, which still hadn't met hers. "Dad, please tell me what happened... You're scaring me," she whispered, her voice breaking.

Evie watched her father carefully, confused by how silent he'd been ever since he stepped into the house. He didn't even look at her properly–just walked in like a ghost and dropped himself onto the sofa like the weight of the world had collapsed on his back. Something was off. Way off. He wasn't just tired... he looked broken. Hollow.

Her voice got a little shakier. "Did something happen?"

Still, nothing. He wouldn't meet her eyes. His jaw tightened like something he didn't know how to say. And that's when Evie started to really panic. Her fingers gripped his knee. "Dad, please... say something."

It took a long moment, but finally, he let out a shaky breath. "I... I got fired," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Evie froze. "What?"

He closed his eyes, struggling to even speak. "They said I stole money from the company."

"What?" she repeated, this time louder–like maybe if she said it again, it'd make more sense.

"I got called into the office this morning. No warning, nothing. Just straight into the boardroom. They said someone had been manipulating the internal accounts–stealing money in small amounts but over time. And the records... the records showed my name." His voice cracked, and for a second, he looked like he couldn't breathe. "They had emails, fake transfers, logs... all pointing to me. Stuff I've never even touched. They made up an entire paper trail and pinned it on me. Said I'd taken almost seventy-five thousand dollars."

Evie's stomach dropped. "What...? That's-Dad, you didn't, right? You didn't—"

"I would never," he said immediately, his voice rising in desperation. "Evie, you know me. You know I've never touched a single cent that didn't belong to me. I've worked in that company for twenty-six years. I gave them everything I had, and they just–threw me out like this."

He was trembling now. "They didn't even ask. They didn't listen. They just said they're reporting it. And that if I don't pay the amount back within two weeks–along with a legal fine–I could be arrested. They handed me a termination letter, a settlement paper, and that's it. Just like that... everything gone."

Evie sat back slowly, her lips slightly parted in shock. She didn't even know what to say. Her mind couldn't keep up.

Her father–a man who didn't even take more than one cup of free coffee from the office lounge–accused of embezzlement?

Her chest felt tight. "But... how? How could this happen out of nowhere?"

He shook his head, face pale. "I don't know. I don't know who did it or why. But the way they spoke, the way they looked at me like I was already guilty... Evie, I've never felt so humiliated in my life."

He broke then. The strong, quiet father she had grown up with, who never once let his shoulders slump no matter how hard life got–now looked like a man who had lost everything in a single morning. His shoulders shook with silent sobs, his hands covering his face.

Evie reached for him immediately, holding his arm, her own tears starting to fall. "It's okay, Dad... please, it's okay," she whispered, not knowing what else to say. Her throat was burning. Her heart was heavy. And somewhere deep inside her... a switch flipped.

Because this—this wasn't some random accident.

Someone did this. Someone set this up.

And slowly, a single name crept into her mind, uninvited but loud.

Taehyung.

Her hands slowly curled into fists.

He left without explanation. Broke her without even looking back. And now, her father—who worked under his father—just happened to be framed, fired, and fined out of nowhere?

No. This wasn't just bad luck.

This was revenge.

And her heart, which had only just started to heal from Taehyung's betrayal, now burned with rage so fierce it nearly swallowed her whole.