Chapter 4: The Bitter and the Sweet

The kitchen of the grand Kim estate was Jin’s sanctuary.

It was a massive, professional-grade space with marble countertops, copper cookware hanging from the ceiling, and a massive dual-fuel range that could heat a small village. Here, Jin wasn't the elite software engineer or the perfect corporate heir. Here, he was a creator.

He was currently wearing a simple white linen apron over his shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The air was thick with the heavenly, comforting aroma of freshly baked vanilla bean tarts and caramelized sugar. Jin was meticulously piping delicate peaks of meringue onto a golden pastry shell, his movements precise, artistic, and entirely calm.

Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the kitchen burst open, shattering the peace.

Taehyung rushed in, his face pale, his breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. His backpack slipped from his shoulder, clattering against the tiled floor. He looked entirely undone, his eyes wide with a lingering, visceral panic.

Jin immediately dropped his piping bag, his protective older brother instincts taking over. He wiped his hands on his apron and rushed across the kitchen, wrapping his arms around his trembling little brother.

"Tae! Tae-ah, what's wrong? What happened?" Jin cried out, pulling Taehyung close against his chest. He could feel the young omega’s heart hammering like a trapped bird.

"Hyung... hyung, he was there," Taehyung sobbed, burying his face in Jin’s shoulder, his small hands clutching the back of Jin’s apron as if he were drowning. "He... he sent me messages. He knows what I'm doing. He was watching me at the library. He’s crazy, hyung. I'm so scared."

Jin’s face hardened, a cold, protective fury flaring in his eyes. He didn't need to ask who 'he' was. He knew. Jeon Jungkook.

"Shh, I've got you. You're safe, Tae-ah. Breathe. Come here, sit down," Jin murmured softly, guiding Taehyung to a high wooden stool near the marble island. He poured a glass of warm water, handing it to his brother, watching with a heavy heart as Taehyung drank it with shaking hands.

"Did he touch you?" Jin asked, his voice low, his jaw tight. "Tell me, Tae. Did he get close to you?"

"No," Taehyung whispered, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "He just... he just stared at me from the steps. And he sent texts. He called me his sweet omega. Hyung, why is he doing this? I don't even know him."

Jin closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against Taehyung’s. The sibling bond between them felt like a heavy weight in his chest. He hated that their parents' corporate ambitions had thrown them into the path of the dangerous Jeon family.

"I won't let him hurt you, Tae. I promise," Jin said fiercely. "I'm marrying into that family next month. Once I am there, I will have the power to keep him away from you. I will protect you, no matter what."

Before Taehyung could respond, the kitchen phone rang. Jin patted Taehyung’s shoulder, walking over to answer it.

"Hello?" Jin said, his tone still sharp from his lingering anger.

"Kim Seokjin-ssi. It is Jeon Namjoon."

The deep, clinical baritone on the other end of the line made Jin stiffen. He looked at Taehyung, then turned away to face the wall, keeping his voice low.

"Namjoon-ssi. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Jin asked, his tone dripping with cold, polite sarcasm.

"I am currently reviewing the structural layout for our joint press conference next week," Namjoon stated, the sound of papers rustling audible through the line. "I require your confirmation on the software presentation slides. I have emailed them to your corporate account. Please review them and send your approval by seventeen-hundred hours."

Jin let out a dry, bitter laugh. His little brother was currently traumatized by Namjoon’s brother, and here Namjoon was, talking about presentation slides like a literal machine.

"Is that all you care about, Namjoon-ssi? Slides? Efficiency? Timelines?" Jin snapped, his anger finally boiling over. "Do you ever stop being a Managing Director for five minutes and act like a human being?"

There was a long, dead silence on the line.

Namjoon paused. In his high-floor office at Daesung Automotive, he sat back in his leather chair, holding the phone to his ear, his brow furrowing in genuine confusion. He wasn't accustomed to people snapping at him. Everyone in his life spoke to him with absolute, terrified deference. But Kim Seokjin spoke to him as if he were a nuisance.

"I am ensuring that our families' merger is flawless, Seokjin-ssi," Namjoon said, his voice dropping into a deeper, slightly firmer register. "That is my duty. If there is an issue affecting your emotional state, you can state it clearly. I am capable of processing data if it is presented directly."

"I am not a piece of data, Namjoon-ssi!" Jin hissed, his fingers gripping the phone so hard his knuckles turned white. "And neither is my family. Tell your brother Jungkook to stay away from my campus. Tell him to stay away from Taehyung. If he so much as looks at my brother like that again, I don't care about the EV lineup or the encryption software—I will tear this entire merger to pieces with my own bare hands."

Without waiting for a response, Jin slammed the phone down onto the cradle. He stood there, his chest heaving, his breathing heavy as he tried to calm his racing heart.

Taehyung looked up from his stool, his eyes wide with a mixture of awe and fear. "Hyung... you shouldn't have done that. What if Mr. Jeon gets angry?"

Jin walked back over to the island, picking up his piping bag with a steady, determined hand. His face was a mask of fierce, unbreakable resolve.

"Let him get angry," Jin said, his voice soft but ringing with absolute steel as he piped a perfect, beautiful meringue peak. "They think we are just soft omegas they can buy and control. They are about to find out exactly what happens when they push a Kim sibling too far."

Thank you for reading

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