5

Here is the next part of the story — Taehyung discovers the truth about IU and realizes the woman Jungkook loved is still alive. The tone remains emotional, reflective, and heartbreaking as Taehyung faces a truth he never expected.

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Chapter: The Woman in the Frame

It began with a mistake—just like most things in Taehyung’s life.

He had been asked to deliver a confidential file to Jungkook’s private office late in the evening. The lights were dim. The halls quiet. Everyone had gone home except for him and the security guard half-asleep at the front desk.

Taehyung hesitated outside Jungkook’s office door, the file in his hand trembling slightly. He had been here before, but never alone. Never with the door slightly ajar. He knocked, softly, but no answer came.

He stepped inside.

The room smelled faintly of cologne and aged paper. Heavy bookshelves lined the walls, and thick velvet curtains hung around the windows. The file cabinet was locked. But on the desk—neatly arranged—were framed photos.

He had never seen them before.

One photo caught his eye.

It was slightly worn around the edges, like it had been handled too many times. A young woman stood beside Jungkook, her arms wrapped around his waist. She had a bright, delicate smile and soft eyes that looked like sunlight.

She was beautiful.

But more than that—she looked loved.

Taehyung’s throat tightened.

He knew he shouldn’t, but his fingers brushed the edge of the frame. There was something about the woman—her presence in the photo—that didn’t feel like a distant past. The photo wasn’t faded. The dust around it had been recently cleared.

This woman wasn’t gone.

He glanced toward the bookshelf. A small, barely visible key peeked out from behind a journal. Taehyung hesitated, then reached for it—heart racing with guilt and curiosity.

The cabinet clicked open.

He flipped through folders. Contracts. Legal papers. And then—

Medical records.

Taehyung froze.

There was her name at the top: Lee Ji-eun.

Patient at a private care facility. Condition: persistent coma. Admitted: 3 years ago.

Still alive.

Taehyung staggered back a step, the paper slipping from his hands. His chest ached. The world spun.

Jungkook… was married?

Still married.

And all this time, Taehyung had been falling. Deeper and deeper into feelings that had no place, no future, no space to bloom.

He felt like a fool.

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Later That Night

He sat in his apartment, the lights off. Only the soft flicker of the city filtered through the window. His hands rested in his lap, cold and still.

So that was why Jungkook had pushed him away.

Why he was cruel without cause. Why his eyes sometimes looked like they carried entire lifetimes of pain.

He wasn’t cold. He was grieving.

Still loyal to a love that hadn’t ended. A love still breathing in silence, sleeping somewhere Taehyung couldn’t reach.

And Taehyung?

He had fallen into a heart that was already taken.

He buried his face in his hands. “I’m such an idiot…”

But even through the pain, even through the shame, something inside him whispered:

He’s still the man who saved me.

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The Next Morning

Taehyung arrived at work early.

Earlier than usual.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t smile.

When Jungkook passed him in the hallway, there was a flicker in the CEO’s eyes—concern? Regret? But Taehyung bowed politely and kept walking.

No questions. No confrontation.

He didn’t need to ask why anymore. He already knew.

And even if his heart still beat painfully for a man who could never return the feeling—he would stay.

Because love, true love, sometimes wasn’t about getting something back.

Sometimes, it was about protecting what the other person couldn’t protect themselves.

Even if it meant protecting Jungkook… from his own heart.

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