chapter 3

PRESENT

Jungkook

The cooling of AC is able to help the hot atmosphere of outside place of my home office.

Working nonstop has become a welcome distraction, a way to drown out the relentless echo of my thoughts. Thoughts that always lead me back to her.

My perfect little doll.

I know what I’m doing is wrong.

Forbidden. But the mind has a way of straying into this dangerous territory with her, despite all reason and logic.

I was holding it together, keeping my distance, ignoring Taehyung so I wouldn’t

snap and do something that I’d regret and probably ruin her life.

It was supposed to be different with me. The Gurukuevan curse wasn’t supposed to touch me or my family. I never thought that when I agreed to this arranged marriage my parents concocted, that decades later, I’d find myself nothing short of obsessed with my youngest daughter.

I also couldn’t have guessed that my wife would betray me in ways I still haven’t fully grasped three months after the fact.

We went on to have three sets of twins, and I haven’t touched her since Taehyung and Jimin were born eighteen years ago.

There was never love, or attraction, if I’m honest, between us. I thought having a family with her might change my mind, but it was clear after her third pregnancy that it still wasn't enough.

If I’m honest, and I do try to be, I’ve never felt anything for any woman until Taehyung’s first visit home from college.

It was like being smacked in the face with how beautiful she is. I’ve always known she was pretty, smart, and kind, but I suppose being away from her for several weeks made it feel like I was seeing her for the very first time all over again. I knew right then and there that the curse was still thriving and alive in my veins.

Even though I never got an explanation for my wife’s snap decision to harm my entire family, I fully believe she knew what I was feeling for Taehyung. How could she not? I can’t take my eyes off the girl when we’re in the same room. I ache to hold her and touch her in ways I’d kill another man for if he tried.

My wife was successful in taking the life of one of my oldest sons, Hyunjin, and injuring twin, Yoongi, to the point he had to be hospitalized for several weeks after the stabbing. My daughter jinie was stabbed trying to protect her twin, namjoon, but she was released from the hospital the next morning.

Despite the fact that I’ll never have answers to what my wife’s objectives were that night, I can’t help but think she was only targeting my sons because she thought they were sick with the curse.

They are, well we all are, I suppose. Yoongi and Jimin live here in the mansion with me, and I don’t interfere with what they want to do.

They want to be together, and I’m not going to get in their way. I know Yoongi would kill anyone who did. Curse or not, he’s obsessed with her in a way that I now understand because I have to fight it every day trying to stay away from Taehyung. It has driven me to this solitary life in the wilderness, in this Mansion I always wanted to live in, but now that dream feels hollow without her here with me.

With each passing season, my obsession with Taehyung burns me from the inside out.

She’s etched into my mind, a constant presence that I know will never leave me.

Her laughter, the way she looks at me with those deep, knowing eyes, her gentle touch—it all torments me. She is a forbidden temptation, the one I can never allow myself to have. It’s different with us than Yoongi and Jimin.

He’s her brother, not her father. I’m meant to take care of Taehyung and protect her, not lust after her like some creep.

I pause in my signing some stack of office papers aggressively as the tip of my expensive pen broken due to the harsh hold, my chest heaving with exertion. The thought of what I can’t have with Taehyung intensifies as I see through my office cabin where Yoongi and Jimin are eating the breakfast she made for us.

Jimin's laughter is like the tinkling of wind chimes as she playfully tosses a piece of bacon to Yoongi.

Their dynamic is perfect, and while I’ve seen him handle her roughly before, I know he will do anything in his power to protect her.

Seeing him playfully pull her on his lap and kiss the top of her head makes my heart burn for Taehyung. My mind drifts to Seoul University, where Taehyung is studying.

The idea of going there to find her has been growing like a seed in my thoughts. I long to see her, to hold her, to beg her to forgive me for being so harsh with her when all she wanted was my comfort.

I couldn’t be what she needed. I couldn’t even be a father because all I wanted to do was cling to her, claim her, disappear from everything.

I pick up another pen from the drawer and continue my work with all the rage I have inside of me. The sound of the flipping of pages echoes through the office, a release for the frustration that simmers inside of me.

As I focused on completing the work now going through some emails, Yoongi saunters over, a devilish grin on his face. I already know he’s about to say some dumb shit that’s going to set me off.

He’s been testing my patience, taunting me ever since he used both of his brain cells to figure out how I feel about Taehyung. “Want to hear a fun fact?” he begins.

“No,” I say immediately because anything that is fun for Yoongi is never fun for anyone else. He’s a sadistic little shit and always has been. I glance over at Jimin who is grinning at me, and I don’t doubt that she’s in on whatever this joke is.

“The ratio of boys to girls at Seoul University is three to one,” he tells me, his deep voice going up an octave in his glee.

I glance at him, my grumpy demeanor not masking my curiosity. "Why are you telling me this?" Yoongi shrugs, raising an eyebrow teasingly. "Oh, I don't know. I’m sure it’s fine. Taehyung has three—"

“Don’t fucking finish that sentence,” I growl, reaching out to grab him by the shirt collar like I did when he was younger, but he expects it, dodging me.

When he sobers from laughing, he says, “You’re miserable without her.” I sigh, not willing to admit that I’m considering going to Seoul unless I can talk myself out of it again. "I have to run into Seoul later. Just make sure you look after Jimin while I'm gone." I know I don’t need to tell him that, but the fatherly side of me can’t help it.

We have a beautiful home, but the wilderness is not a safe place. Yoongi chuckles, his mischief evident. "Oh, you know I will." I roll my eyes at his innuendo before he takes off running toward the cabin.

I don’t need to look in that direction to know that he’s scooping Jimin up because I hear her giggling, telling him half heartedly to put her down.

Beads of sweat continue to trickle down my bare chest, but they offer no relief from the burning desire that courses through my veins.

I can't escape the relentless ache, the yearning for My little Doll that gnaws at my soul. I know what I have to do. I need to see Taehyung, to tell her how I feel, to ask her to be with me. It is a reckless, desperate plan, but I can't ignore the pull any longer.

Thoughts of Taehyung invade my mind, uninvited and unwelcome. I picture her with vivid clarity the way her eyes light up when she laughs, the delicate curve of her lips, the softness of her touch.

She's a forbidden fruit, tantalizingly out of reach, and it's driving me into an absolute rage. With a growl of frustration.

I throw the laptop down in frustration. It clatters to the ground, echoing exactly how I feel. I can't continue like this. I won’t survive it. But will she survive what I’ll do if she doesn’t agree to come with me?

Determined to find some semblance of calm, I storm into my room. The oppressive weight of what I need from her clings in the air around me and it’s suffocating.

I know there's only one way to momentarily escape what she does to me.

The water pelts my skin, stinging like a thousand tiny needles, but I welcome the pain as I step into the cold shower. The relief is fleeting. With each drop that courses over my body, I imagine Taehyung's touch, her fingers tracing patterns on my skin, igniting a fire that only she can put out.

My mind wanders to that one stolen moment, a memory I can't erase. The taste of her lips, the softness of her body pressed against mine. It's a dangerous thought, one that threatens to consume me entirely.

Taehyung completes me in ways I never thought possible, like a missing piece of a puzzle.

Fuck this shit. I shut off the water and step out of the shower, the cold air hitting my damp skin like a shock. I dry myself off quickly and pull on a pair of pants, a dark shirt, and formal shoes. I can't stay here any longer, wallowing in a disaster I created. I need to finish what I started, and I can only hope she’ll forgive me when I do.

I walk toward the store room, my heart pounding with anticipation. Opening the door, I reach for a coil of sturdy rope I have hanging on the wall. I might not need it, but I’m not willing to take that chance. I’m not coming back to this mansion until I have my doll at my side.

I throw it into the back seat of my car, the thud of it landing a promise to myself that I intend to keep.

A/n: A sturdy rope what's Jungkook gonna do with that ☠️☠️

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