Chapter 1 : “Before Dawn Breaks”

The alarm didn’t wake Jungkook.

He had already been sitting on the edge of his bed long before it rang, elbows on his knees, palms pressed over his face. The apartment was silent.. painfully silent. Silence meant he had time to think, and thinking meant remembering.

He hated remembering.

A small rustling echoed down the hallway.

Tiny feet.

Soft breathing.

A slow, hesitant step.

“Dad..?”

Jungkook lifted his head immediately. His shoulders straightened, his expression smoothing into something calm, practiced.

His daughter stood at the doorway, rubbing one eye, hair a messy halo around her small face. Her yellow pajamas were wrinkled, sleeves too long for her arms, and she clutched a stuffed rabbit so worn its ear hung by a thread.

“Eunha,” Jungkook said softly, his voice gentler than anything he used on himself. “You’re up early.”

She nodded, stepping inside quietly, as if afraid she might disturb something fragile.

She always walked gently in the mornings, like she had learned her father’s sadness and didn’t want to tread on it too loudly.

“Had a bad dream,” she whispered.

Jungkook opened his arms immediately, and she climbed into his lap with practiced ease. Her tiny hands held onto his shirt, grounding him in a way nothing else could.

“What was it about?” he asked.

“You were gone,” she murmured. “Everyone was gone. I was alone in the dark.”

Jungkook closed his eyes for a moment, a too-familiar ache twisting inside his chest.

“You’re never alone,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “Not while I’m here.”

She pulled back slightly and touched his face with both hands, palms cool on his warm skin.

“You look tired, Dad.”

“I’m fine,” he lied smoothly.

Eunha blinked at him, a long, knowing blink. “You always say that.”

Jungkook managed a ghost of a smile. “Because I’m always fine.”

She didn’t believe him.

But she nodded anyway.

By 7:15 a.m., the apartment was alive with soft domestic sounds. Eunha humming while tying her shoelaces; Jungkook quietly preparing her breakfast; the kettle whistling.

Eunha sat at the table, legs swinging, cheeks puffed as she blew on hot porridge.

“Dad,” she said suddenly, “today I’ll draw you a picture.”

“Oh?” Jungkook asked, spreading jam on toast.

“Yeah. Teacher said we draw someone we love for our Monday project.”

Jungkook’s hand paused– just a fraction.

Someone we love.

The words should’ve been warm.

Instead, they scratched against old wounds.

He forced a smile. “I’d like that.”

She grinned, and the room felt less suffocating for a beat.

Outside, the city was awake but grey, clouds heavy as if mirroring the weight inside Jungkook’s chest. He held Eunha’s hand tightly as they walked to the hospital daycare. She skipped, rabbit plush bobbing in her other hand, unaware of the shadows clinging to her father.

“Dad, pick me up early today?” she asked hopefully.

“I’ll try,” he said.

“You always say that,” she said quietly.

And it hurt.

Because she was right.

He knelt in front of her and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“I promise I’ll try harder today.”

Her eyes softened. She hugged him around the neck, tight, warm, reassuring despite her tiny size.

“Okay, Dad.”

He watched her go, watched the daycare door swallow the only bright thing in his grey world.

Only when she disappeared did his shoulders sag.

 –––

Walking into the cardiology wing felt like slipping into a second skin. One that fits too well, too tightly. Work was where his emotions were buried under routine. Under discipline. Under exhaustion.

The hospital felt colder today.

Maybe it was the rain against the windows.

Maybe it was the exhaustion settling into Jungkook’s bones.

Or maybe it was just another morning he’d woken up without warmth beside him.

Whatever the reason, Jungkook kept his head down, coat clutched tightly around him as he walked through the hallway. Work was predictable. Safe. Quiet. He needed quiet.

He didn’t get it.

“Dr. Jeon?”

Namjoon’s voice echoed from behind. Calm, careful, the tone he always used around Jungkook these days.

Jungkook turned. “Yes, Director Kim.”

Namjoon stepped closer, lowering his voice so the interns wouldn’t hear.

“There’s a new transfer arriving today. Dr. Kim Taehyung.”

Jungkook blinked. “Today? No prior notice?”

Namjoon hesitated. “We.. wanted to make sure the transition would be smooth.”

Smooth.

Everything in Jungkook’s life was supposed to be smooth after the accident.

Predictable. Controlled.

He exhaled slowly. “Which department?”

“Pediatrics rotation, partly under cardiology.”

Jungkook’s chest tightened. Pediatrics always hit a sore spot, but he nodded. “I’ll manage it.”

Namjoon gave him a careful look, the same concerned one Jungkook had grown tired of.

“You don’t have to take everything alone, Jungkook.”

“I am.”

“I know.”

The words hung heavy between them.

Before Jungkook could escape, a ripple moved through the hallway, nurses whispering, interns straightening, someone adjusting their coat too fast.

“He’s here,” Hoseok murmured from beside him.

Jungkook ignored at first but commotion made him follow their gaze.

A tall man walked in through the glass doors, rain clinging to the shoulders of his white coat. His hair was slightly damp, framing his face in soft waves. The kind of beauty that made people pause without meaning to.

Taehyung.

Tall. Composed.

Eyes warm but with a shadow behind them, like he carried his own ghosts.

No overly bright smile.

No loud energy.

Just a quiet, calm presence that somehow made the hallway feel.. softer.

Jungkook hated it instantly, that silence behind the eyes he recognized in himself.

Namjoon gestured. “Dr. Jeon, this is Dr. Kim Taehyung.”

Taehyung extended a hand.

“Dr. Jeon… it’s an honor. I’ve heard you run the tightest unit here.”

Jungkook shook his hand stiffly. “I run it efficiently.”

Taehyung’s lips curved faintly. “Efficiency can be comforting.”

Comfort. Jungkook didn’t know what that felt like anymore.

They walked through the ward together, paperwork in their hands. Taehyung reviewed each file carefully, eyes lingering longer than most doctors would.

“You pause too much,” Jungkook said suddenly as they reached the observation room.

Taehyung looked up. “Is that bad?”

“It wastes time.”

Their eyes held for a moment longer than polite.

A moment that felt.. Unsettling.

Like Taehyung saw more than he should.

Taehyung nodded once, accepting it without argument.

But there was something unspoken in his gaze, something like, I pause because I don’t trust myself to rush anymore.

Jungkook didn’t ask. He didn’t want to know.

They worked in silence until a soft knock sounded on the door.

Then Namjoon walked up, clipboard in hand.

“Jungkook, Taehyung will be joining your rotations starting today. You two will be handling the pediatric-cardiology overlaps together.”

Jungkook stiffened slightly. “Both of us?”

“Yes,” Namjoon confirmed. “He’s excellent with children.”

Jungkook didn’t reply, but something tightened in his chest. Children meant Eunha. The possibility of someone new entering that part of his life felt dangerous.

Taehyung noticed the shift. Jungkook saw it in the brief flicker of concern in his eyes.

“I’ll do my best not to get in your way,” Taehyung said softly.

Jungkook didn’t answer.

He couldn’t.

Something about Taehyung’s tone, calm, steady, warm in all the places Jungkook was cold, made something inside him flinch.

Because warmth meant risk.

Warmth meant opening doors he’d sealed shut long ago.

But fate didn’t care.

Because at 11 a.m., while Jungkook and Taehyung stood beside the pediatric ward reviewing charts, a small voice pierced the silence:

“DAD!”

Jungkook froze.

Taehyung looked up.

And Eunha, holding her half-broken rabbit, ran straight into Jungkook’s legs, her small hands clutching him tightly as if afraid he might vanish.

Taehyung’s eyes softened instantly. Shock. Admiration. Something else.

But Jungkook..

He wished the ground would swallow him whole.

Not because he was ashamed.

But because Taehyung saw it.

Saw the single father version of him, fragile, exhausted, human.

And Jungkook had never let anyone see that in years..

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