That evening, the Kim family sat around the dining table, enjoying dinner. Taehyung was feeling better, and he knew his mother had decided not to bring up the earlier incident with his dad—at least not for now. Still, he had a nagging feeling she might mention it the next day.

He sighed softly, his thoughts drifting to other things—mainly how he could meet that menacing alpha without stirring up more trouble." "So, anything you want to tell me?" The sudden voice broke him out of his haze. He looked up, startled, to see his dad watching him closely.

Swallowing nervously, Taehyung forced a small chuckle, setting his chopsticks down. "Me? No, not really," he replied, trying to sound casual. "It was all boring today—nothing much to tell you, Dad." He glanced at Jin, then at his mom, before looking back at his dad-

with a convincing smile. Daehyun studied him for a moment but seemed to buy it, nodding before returning to his food. Taehyung exhaled in relief, though his eyes caught his mom's. She shook her head slightly, a look of disappointment on her face, as if silently saying,

You're not off the hook yet. Taehyung lowered his gaze to his plate, guilt nibbling at him, but he pushed it aside. He still wanted to meet Jungkook—to stop him from making other's lives miserable.

The rest of the dinner passed mostly with Daehyun and Hana having their usual conversations, with Jin and Taehyung chiming in occasionally. After dinner, Daehyun retired to his room, Hana headed to the kitchen to clean up, and Taehyung and Jin found themselves lounging on the

sofa, speaking in hushed voices. "You really want to meet him, huh?" Jin whispered, leaning in so no one else could hear. "Yes," Taehyung replied with straight face. "I told you, I need to stop him from causing all these problems."

Jin poked him on the forehead. "And your dumb brain thinks he'll just stop because you asked him nicely?" Taehyung grabbed Jin's finger, squeezing it hard. "Ah, stop!" Jin yelped, pulling his hand away. "You stop with your negativity," Taehyung shot back, glaring at him.

Jin rubbed his finger and sighed. "I'm just trying to make you see reason." "Okay,and what's your big reasoning?" Taehyung asked, scooting closer to his brother. "That I'm not telling you," Jin said with a tight smile. "You're so confident Jungkook won't hurt you, so go ahead."

Taehyung's tone softened as he started fidgeting with his pajama. "He won't, Hyung. I just... know he won't hurt me." Jin rolled his eyes. "Fine. Go meet him and see if he stops." Taehyung sighed, frustrated. "That's the problem. How do I even tell him I want to meet?

And I'm not giving him my number. What if he starts stalking me? I don't want that." "Okay, then what?" Jin asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know," Taehyung admitted, rubbing his temples. "But I have to meet him. I can't sit here while people disrespect Mom and Dad because

of me. They've done so much for us. How can I just hide from some alpha who's causing all this misery? I need to make him stop." Jin straightened up, leaning back against the couch. Before he could respond, their mother walked out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.

She glanced at the two brothers and said, "Make sure you both sleep on time, okay?" "Okay, Mom. Good night," Jin replied with a small smile. Taehyung nodded silently, offering his own goodnight. "Good night," their mom said, giving them both a look before heading to her room.

Once the door clicked shut, Jin let out a long breath. "Okay,look," he said,lowering his voice, "I'm just gonna be honest. I really don't think you should meet him. I mean, what if something bad happens? But…" He trailed off, shaking his head. "If you're really going to do this,

I won't stop you. Just promise me—if something goes wrong, don't freak out. And don't even think about doing anything reckless." Taehyung looked at Jin, surprised by how serious he looked. "I promise,” he said quietly. Jin sighed deeply, his gaze distant for a moment before

he continued, "That said, I have no idea how you'll even meet him. He hasn't shown up at the door in two days, right?" Taehyung opened his mouth to answer, but the phone rang, cutting him off. The sharp sound made both of them look toward it.

Jin groaned, standing up abruptly. "If it's one of our aunt calling, then I suddenly have a lot of work to do. So good luck handling that," he muttered, quickly making his way toward the stairs. Taehyung glared after him. "Really? You're just gonna leave me with this?"

Jin grinned over his shoulder. "You got this. Besides, you're the one who put yourself in this mess." Before Taehyung could say anything else, Jin disappeared upstairs. Taehyung let out a long sigh, muttering, "Thanks a lot, Hyung…"

Shaking his head, he stood up and walked over to the phone. His hand hovered over the receiver for a moment before he finally picked it up. Pressing it to his ear, he cleared his throat. "Hello? Anyone there?" he asked, his voice steady despite the slight unease creeping in.

For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence on the other end. He was about to ask again when a low voice suddenly cut through. "So... I heard my omega wanted to meet me, no?" And Taehyung froze, his heart skipping a beat—though not in a good way.

It was Jungkook. "You—how do you know that?" Taehyung asked, his voice shaky. A low chuckle came from the other end. "Oh, sweetheart, I know a lot more than that. Let's see… what was it you said? Ah, right—you think I wouldn't harm you, don't you?"

Taehyung's eyes widened as he instinctively looked around the living room, alarmed. "You're here, aren't you? I—why are you—?" "Oh, Tae," Jungkook's voice interrupted smoothly, another chuckle escaping his lips. "You're so innocent. If I were there, you'd see me.

I wouldn't hide from you—I never could. Besides, how could I leave without getting one last glimpse of your beautiful face?" The sweetness in Jungkook's words only made panic rise in Taehyung's chest. He kept looking around the room, feeling more disturbed.

"No… I know you're here," Taehyung said, his voice trembling. "You—you're here somewh—," "Shhhh." Jungkook's voice cut him off. Taehyung heard him take a deep breath before speaking again, his tone calm but a little too serious. "I'm not in your house, so don't freak out."

Taehyung froze, his fear turning into confusion. "What do you mean?" 'It's an audio bug," Jungkook said simply. "I can hear you, but I'm not there. It's just a bug." "A… bug?" Taehyung repeated, his voice laced with disbelief. "Yeah," Jungkook replied, almost sounding bored.

"It's an audio bug. And only I can hear you, so relax—" "You are telling me relax?" Taehyung's voice rose, anger replacing his earlier panic. "You're spying on me in my own home? You planted devices here to listen to everything we say? Are you keeping tabs on my family too?"

Jungkook didn't say anything from other end, letting Taehyung rant. "You're everywhere—outside, inside—it's like you're always watching me! You pick fights, you could actually hurt someone! You're dangerous, Jungkook! And you even hurt my friend—"

"Are you done?" Jungkook interrupted, his voice colder now, with a hint of annoyance. "You really like running your mouth, huh? If you're finished, then come outside. I'm right outside your house. You wanted to meet, right? then come meet me."

Taehyung's eyes went wide, his breath catching in his throat. "You-you're lying, it's late, you—" "I don't lie, Taehyung, especially not to you. So just come out." Taehyung tried to protest, "I—I don't think it's right—" but the call ended before he could finish.

He stared at the receiver in his hand, swallowing hard. Slowly, he set it down and turned to look at window. Then, he walked toward the window, his thoughts racing. 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧… He gulped. "What if he does something?"

He mumbled to himself, the doubt creeping in. "But he didn't do anything last time…" Then again, that was during the day, he thought. He paused, taking a deep breath. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰, 𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢

𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱. He shook his head. "I don't want to cause any mess. I don't want problems for them. I just need to talk to him." He took another deep breath, trying to steady himself. He knew he had to do this.

But before stepping outside, he cautiously opened the window. At first, all he could see was the darkness and the faint glow of the streetlamp outside their house. His eyes scanned the area, searching for any sign of movement. Then, they froze.

His eyes saw Jungkook, standing in the shadows, leaning against his bike in the darkness. For a moment, Taehyung couldn't look away. His chest felt tight, there was a burning sensation spreading through him. His heart was thumping so loud, it almost drowned out his thoughts.

Then, suddenly, Jungkook looked up, their eyes locking. Taehyung's heart skipped a beat, and in a panic, he quickly slammed the window shut, his breath coming in quick, heavy gasps.

"What the hell am I doing?" he muttered under his breath, pressing his palms to his face. His skin felt warm, his cheeks undoubtedly flushed, and he couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment, frustration, or something else entirely. He stood there for a moment,

still and quiet, as if waiting for the ground to settle beneath him. Then after a deep sigh, he shook his head and mumbled, "Alright,let's go meet him." with a resigned sigh, he started walking. But instead of heading straight for the front door,he made his way to the kitchen.

He opened one of the drawers, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for—a bottle of red chili powder. Holding it up, he nodded to himself. "This'll work… just in case," he mumbled, stuffing it under the sleeves of his oversized sweater.

Feeling slightly more prepared, he walked toward the front door. The night was quiet as Taehyung stepped outside. He moved slowly, his grip tightening on the bottle hidden in his sleeve. And then his eyes darted to the alpha still leaning casually against the bike.

Jungkook was looking down, seemingly uninterested, but Taehyung knew better. Jungkook was a jerk, but he was still a strong alpha. He had probably sensed Taehyung the moment he stepped out of the house. Taehyung walked slowly toward him, his steps almost silent on the porch.