The house is dimly lit when Jungkook enters, illuminated by the faded glow of the small bulb hanging on the ceiling. As Jungkook stumbles in, his eyes flit over to the two women sitting on the couch.

"Jungkook, you're home," Brianna, the blonde-haired care-taker says as she places her tea cup down and stands up.

Jungkook smiles weakly at her. "Thanks Bri, sorry, the event took longer than expected. Is Seonnie asleep?"

Brianna nods, "yes, I put him to bed a while ago. He wasn't too happy about you not being here though."

Jungkook purses his lips and nods. "Okay, I'll go check on him later." The brunette then trails his eyes over to the other woman on the couch, her eyes closed as she snoozes lightly. "How's mum? Did she take her medicine?"

Brianna looks down, averting her gaze from Jungkook's. "Um, t-the doctor called in today about the recent scans."

Jungkook freezes in his spot. "What did he say?"

Brianna sighs and hesitantly looks back at the brunette. "Kook... she..." the girl pauses, eyes also glancing over at the sleeping woman.

"They said she has a tumour in her cerebellum...it...it's incurable and...and is likely to make her alzheimer's symptoms worse."

A silence settles over the living room, slipping into the crevices of the old structure and painting a grim picture on the walls.

"Alright," Jungkook says after a while, his voice a whisper that carries a tranquilizing numbness with it. "Thanks for staying in late. I'll see you soon."

Brianna stares at the boy carefully, observing for any flaws on his perfectly constructed expression. She sees none. She smiles gently and picks up her bag. "If you need anything, just give me a call," she says while patting the boy's shoulder and walking towards the door.

Jungkook smiles at her. "Yeah. Thanks again."

The door clicks shut.

Jungkook looks over the woman on the couch before approaching her with slow hesitant steps. He sits next to her, observing her peaceful features. He traces a delicate line along the slight wrinkles of her skin before letting out a small sigh. He kicks off his shoes and curls up on the couch next to her, digging his head into the crevice of her neck.

"Momma..." he whimpers softly into her neck. Jungkook closes his eyes and listens to the lulling sound of his mother's pulse, beating against his ears.

"I saw him today..." he breathes out quietly, his voice slightly muffled.

Minutes pass in utter silence, the only sound being that of their soft breathing. Jungkook's mind starts drifting off as he settles into the comfort of his mother's arm. Slumber slowly starts to consume him, dragging him into a pit of tranquil darkness.

"I'm scared, momma," he slurs sleepily.

Another small silence settles over the pair again before Jungkook's delicate voice mumbles out one final plea.

"Please don't leave me."

And as he speaks, a small tear rolls out from his closed eyes, tumbling down the apple of his cheeks and falling onto his mother's still beating heart.

~

~

Work the next day is suffocating . Mr Kim seems to still carry the foul mood from yesterday and as a result, all his workers are forced to face his scornful wrath.

Jungkook had almost forgotten how cruel and cold-hearted of a man his boss is. Having been treated some what nicely by him, Jungkook had gotten too used to the calm before the storm that is Mr Kim.

The dark menacing eyes boring deeply into his soul feels foreign yet irritatingly familiar. Jungkook feels his hands tremble as he stands in front of the man's desk, head bowed and eyes averted as he attempts to speak.

"Is t-there anything you would like me to do today, sir?" The brunette speaks, voice gripping onto the breaking threads of his confidence.

A silence ensues, forcing a hollow feeling into Jungkook's gut, rendering him into a mess of his own nerves. Silence means thought, thought means judgement, judgement means...is Jungkook going to get fired? His heartbeat accelerates at the thought.

"I'm surprised you turned up today," Taehyung finally, his gravelly voice resonating through the room.

Jungkook perks his head up at that, looking startled. Was he not meant to come? Was he already fired?

"I-I just thought..."

Taehyung snickers, "yes, Jeon. You seem to think a lot, don't you."

Jungkook doesn't know why but the name feels like a slap across the face. He doesn't know when he got so accustomed to his boss calling him bunny but he realises that he much rather prefer that over this hostile version of his name.

Jungkook once again ducks his head and looks at the floor as his bosses penetrating gaze becomes too overwhelming. He doesn't know what to say so he remains silent, feeling suffocated by the tense atmosphere of the room.

"Organise the data from these files into a spreadsheet," Taehyung finally speaks up. He hands the boy a stack of files, watching how the younger blinks in surprise and how his doe eyes light up.

"O-Okay, thank you, sir," Jungkook says, feeling giddy that he didn't get fired. He rushes over to his desk and immediately digs his nose into the files, setting off on his task.

~

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows in concentration as he continues to work, completely zoning out from his surroundings and channelling his entire focus towards the task at hand. He barely looks up when there is a knock at the door followed by a short man entering the room.

The blond haired man walks towards Taehyung, a hesitant smile on his lips.

"Good evening, sir," the man greets.

Taehyung nods at the man while placing down his files and leaning back against his chair. "What brings you here, Yoongi?"

The blond scratches his nape, looking reluctant to speak. "Sir..."

"What is it? Spit it out." Taehyung barks out, already sounding irritant.

"The project you were working on, the self-driving car... our rival company, Grey's Corp... they just came out with a very similar product. The cars are basically identical."

Taehyung stands up abruptly and slams his palms on his desk, startling little Jungkook who finally snaps his attention towards the pair.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?" Taehyung screams, a purplish vein in his neck bulging out amidst his fury.

Jungkook looks at the pair with widened eyes, not exactly sure what's going on. Yoongi ducks his head and cowers his form, feeling threatened by the heat of his bosses verbal rage. He shakily hands the man a file and quickly takes a step back, too scared to linger any closer to the visibly fuming man.

Taehyung's eyes scan over the files before he slams it on the desk with a thunderous roar, rattling the entire office and the hearts of those within it.

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT PROJECT COST US?" Taehyung growls at the small man.

The blond nods frantically, "2 billion d-dollars, sir."

"THEN HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU HAVE LET THIS HAPPEN?!" Taehyung screams while kicking his chair down.

Yoongi whimpers, "I-I'm sorry, sir. We really didn't expect something like this to h-happen."

Jungkook watches the scene while sinking further into the seat, feeling petrified by the intensity of his bosses anger. He watches helplessly with wide eyes as his boss continues to yell at the smaller man.

"You know what, just get out of my office. I don't want to see you right now," Taehyung says while trying to calm his breathing.

The smaller man nods frantically before practically racing out of the room, leaving poor Jungkook to face the rest of Taehyung's temper tantrum.

"FUCK," Taehyung screams as he pushes all the contents off his desk, causing papers to fly in the air and cups to shatter on the floor. He grips onto the edge of the now empty desk as he breathes heavily, his eyes wide and hair a mess.

Jungkook looks comically alarmed as he stares at his boss, caught off-guard by how wrecked the man looks. The once finely groomed man now has wild hair tumbling off his head, his suit crinkled and his tie messy. He looks so unlike his usual self, it's shocking to the younger to see him so frantic. It feels like he's finally witnessing a flaw in Kim Taehyung's well constructed persona; A crack in his mask.

Jungkook gulps and slowly walks towards his bosses desk. His tone is frail, hesitant as he call out to him. "Sir?"

The man is silent for a moment before he looks up, his piercing eyes scorching into the younger. "Leave, I want to be alone right now," he states firmly.

Jungkook frowns, noticing the way his bosses hands are trembling and his breath is coming out in short puffs.

"Sir-"

"Leave!" Taehyung raises his voice slightly, the demand breaking off into a hidden plea as his voice quivers.

Jungkook nods slowly before reluctantly walking away. He takes one final look at the man as he grabs his files and exits through the door. Jungkook frowns, not quiet understanding his boss. It is clear that he is feeling distressed, his tense features and agitated curses being a clear give-away, but Jungkook fails to understand why he wishes to be alone. When Jungkook's feeling upset, he would rather merge himself into a crowd of people, let those who surround him carry away his own thoughts as he succumbs to the feeling of being deindividuated. When Jungkook feels overwhelmed by emotions, he craves for human presence, whether it be a stranger or a friend. He finds comfort in another beings warmth when the blood inside him is running cold. Solitude for him means a restriction, something he would be forced upon. He doesn't quiet understand why people like Mr Kim would choose it out of will.

But it seems Jungkook's assumptions of the raven haired man is wrong. Sitting, looking utterly frail and broken in his large chair in the middle of the threateningly silent room, it's clear that Taehyung didn't choose solitude. Being scared to show vulnerability, fearing other's judgement of him, Taehyung was forced into isolation. Forced to be trapped in his own suffocating thoughts. Forced to breath the air that his body deemed unbreathable. And all he does in the emptiness of the polished office room is let the feelings of loneliness consume him, let it seep into his bones and poison his core, let it slip past his chapped lips in the form of an incoherent mumble...

"I deserve this, a-all my fault...I-I'm sorry."

Taehyung didn't choose solitude, it just resided within him like a deadly parasite, slowly tearing him from the inside out.

~

"Oh, Jungkook, what are you doing out here?"

Jungkook perks his head up to meet the eyes of Kim Namjoon, staring down at him with a dimpled smile. Jungkook reciprocates the expression with a smile of his own while noting the look of surprise painted over the older Kim's face. Well, seeing a grown ass man surrounded with files and working adamantly on something while being cushioned in a bean bag isn't a common sight in the office, that's for sure, so no wonder Namjoon looks surprised.

"Mr Kim was angry over something and he made me leave," Jungkook responds, not even realising the way his lips droop into a pout.

The older man chuckles before plopping down onto the bean bag next to the brunette. Jungkook finds it a bit funny how Namjoon's ridiculously long legs splay across the cushion like two chopsticks.

"Ahh, did my baby bro have another one of his temper tantrums?" Namjoon questions.

Jungkook looks up with wide eyes, somewhat surprised by the way Namjoon refers to Taehyung. It almost makes him laugh out loud, the thought that his big scary boss is actually someone's younger brother is rather amusing to him.

"Yeah..." Jungkook finally answers after shaking off his thoughts of a baby version of Taehyung. "He's been in a bad mood since the morning. I think he's also mad at me because I embarrassed him at the gala yesterday."

Namjoon raises his eyebrows in surprise. "So you're saying that you embarrassed Taehyung and you're still working under him? You know Taehyung's last secretary got fired because she accidentally added extra sugar to his coffee. What kind of sorcery did you use, kid?"

Jungkook looks up anxiously, "D-Do you think he'll fire me then?"

Namjoon shakes his head, "if he was going to fire you he would have done that right then and there. Taehyung's not someone who leaves room for mercy."

Jungkook's frown deepens at that as he thinks back to the countless number of times he's messed up in front of his boss. Come to think of it, he's made so many mistakes while working here yet Mr Kim hasn't really done anything other than slightly scold him. It makes him wonder why his boss would treat him any differently than his other workers.

And suddenly, Jimin's words ring in the back of his head.

'Maybe he likes you'

No no, that's absurd. There's no way. Jungkook dismisses his thoughts as he averts his attention back onto Namjoon who is babbling away about some business trip. The older man then looks over at the time and sighs.

"Well kid, I better get going. Catch you around," he says while jumping up from the cushion. He straightens his suit and heads out the break room with giving the brunette a small mock-salute.

Jungkook sighs and stretches out his aching limbs, cursing at the fact that the bean bags look deceivingly comfortable when clearly they are not. He looks up at the clock on the wall, noticing how its been 3 hours since Taehyung asked him to leave the office.

Surely he has calmed down by now, right? Jungkook frowns as he contemplates on what to do. He can't stand sitting in one of this saggy bean bags a second longer, feeling that his back would dislocate if he does so, but he also doesn't want to go into the office room unannounced and have his head bitten off by his fuming boss.

Jungkook slightly tugs at his chocolate locks as he debates on what to do. Maybe he could do something to uplift Taehyung's foul mood? But what exactly? He barely knows his boss well enough to know what kind of things cheer him up. All he really knows is that he has an unhealthy smoking addiction and has weird ice cream cravings in the middle of freezing cold weat-

An idea pops into Jungkook's head.

No no you idiot, thats never going to work. Are you crazy? He'll probably get mad at you.

But it's the only thing that could work. And plus, ice cream makes every one feel better. Probably even his workaholic, cold-hearted, hot-headed boss.

Jungkook sighs out deeply as he finally comes to a decision. He pulls out his phone and opens up his Zuber-eats app and types in the name of the ice cream parlour they visited a few days back.

Jungkook taps on the confirm order option before letting out a shaky breath.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

~

Jungkook anxiously stands in front of the office room, tightly gripping onto the bag holding the cup of ice cream. He contemplates on whether to knock on the door or just run away while he has the chance.

Get a grip, Jungkook. You're acting as if you're about to propose, not give someone some damn ice cream.

With that, he takes a small deep breath before knocking on the door.

He hears the muffled voice of his boss telling him to come in and so he does. When he steps in, he's instantly met with the bitter scent of cigarette smoke, causing him to slightly crinkle his nose in disgust. His eyes then trail over to his boss, seated on his leather chair, looking much more calm and composed than earlier but he can't ignore the dark gloomy aura that surrounds him.

Jungkook gulps, already feeling intimidated by the man who casually continues to type away on his lap top. He waddles towards the front of the desk and then awkwardly stands there, not knowing what exactly to say.

"What?" Taehyung asks in a bored tone, his eyes snapping up towards the boy.

Jungkook squirms under the mans gaze, wishing that he had just run away like he had contemplated earlier.

"What is it Jeon, I don't have all day."

Jungkook frowns at his bosses cold tone. It's clear that he's still in a bad mood. Jungkook gulps down his fear and hesitantly lifts up the plastic bag. He places it on top of Taehyung's desk and takes a small step back while ducking his head down, too afraid to meet the man's eyes.

"What is this?" Taehyung asks, his cold tone shifting into a sound of curiosity.

Jungkook fumbles over his words, "I- uhm- it's- uhm."

Taehyung tsks at the boy's antics and pulls the bag towards him, taking a peek at what's inside.

"Ice cream?" He questions with a raised brow.

Jungkook nods, "y-yeah, for you," he squeaks out embarrassingly.

Taehyungs stares at it for a moment longer before rolling his eyes, "I don't get why you would spend the company money on something so trivial-"

"-I bought this with my own money," Jungkook mumbles out quietly.

Taehyung pauses his actions and looks up at the boy, an indecipherable look flashing past his eyes. He pulls out the ice cream from the bag and raises his eyebrows in surprise.

"This is from the place we went to last time," he says while opening the lid of the cup.

Jungkook nods while awkwardly scratching his nape, feeling wary of his bosses reaction.

"It's vanilla," Taehyung says, again sounding surprised.

Jungkook nods again while he plays with his fingers, "Mint choc chip is better," he whispers to himself, not expecting his boss to hear him.

But to his horror, Taehyung does, and Jungkook is utterly shocked when the man's eyes crinkle into crescents as he lets out a chuckle. The sound is warm and velvety as it settles into the cold office, making Jungkook stare at his boss with widened eyes.

Taehyung notices Jungkook's startled expression and so he lightly coughs to cover up the sweet sound passing his lips. He clears his throat while shuffling through some random files before looking back at Jungkook.

"Well- uhm- you can go back to work now," the ravenette says, sounding slightly awkward.

Jungkook nods and hastily walks over to his desk, not caring how his boss didn't even spare him a 'thank you' because he's just glad to get away from the rather awkward situation. As Jungkook finally seats himself in the comfort of his own desk chair, Taehyung calls out to him once again.

Jungkook looks over at the man hesitantly, "yes, sir?"

The man pulls out the spoon from his mouth before speaking, "the building is having it's yearly clean up tomorrow. We can't be in the premises so don't show up unless you want to work alongside the cleaners."

Jungkook nods, "so I'll just be working from home?" He questions while fiddling with some papers on his desk.

At this, Taehyung smirks, causing Jungkook's blood to run cold at the notorious signs of mischief painted on his bosses face.

"Bunny, you're my personal assistant. You have to work near me at all times so you can assist all my demands. So no, you won't be working at your house tomorrow..." Taehyung's smirks widens as he watches panic run across Jungkook's features.

"...You'll be working at mine."