Music & Butterflies

Chapter 42 - 18 August 2021

What was supposed to be a day of happiness and freedom had turned into a hell hole, a living nightmare. I was furious when Namjoon had told us at the family meeting about the fallout of our news. The love of my life had turned into ARMY's enemy #1, with calls for me to either break up with her or to leave Bangtan. There was no way either of those were happening, and I was so relieved when the guys all confirmed that to Astrid and I.

I didn't understand how ARMY were being so accepting of Hoseok and Mia's relationship, but were condemning mine with Astrid. The only differences between the two women were the fact that Astrid had money, was a single mother when I met her and did not look Korean. But two of the things I loved most about Astrid was that she had gone against society's norms and had adopted Sophie as a single woman, as well as her stunning looks and body.

I felt like throwing something when JK read out a tweet saying my love was a whore for having another man's child. Not only was that thoroughly disrespectful to my soulmate, if Sophie ever read that, she would think she was worthless and the reason why her mother was being vilified. I would sooner quit music and turn on all my dreams than to allow my daughter to ever feel that she was a burden or unwanted.

Joon, Hobi and I were on a phone conference with Bang Si-Hyuk, Sejin, a few lawyers and numerous managers. It would have been much easier to head into the HYBE building, but all of us knew there was no way we were leaving the house. Home was safe, and it was the one place where we weren't being scrutinised by others' eyes or cameras.

One of the lawyers was currently speaking about putting together a case for the defamation and abuse my girlfriend was currently receiving. I had seen a couple of vicious tweets, which broke my heart, but I couldn't bear to see some of the blatant made up lies being spread about Astrid. JK and Jin were watching what was happening on Twitter and Weverse, both taking screenshots of posts in case they were removed.

I heard Jungkook swear loudly, before stating they had found out. I heard my phone ding and quickly whipped out the device to see what he had sent me. I had buzzing in my ears as I furiously read the article. Because of me, every dark and sordid thing in my girlfriend's family history had been brought to light – including her bank balance. How they had known the exact figure she'd shown me two days ago was terrifying.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," I managed to get our before the tears flowed freely down my cheeks. "They know. It's all my fault. I'm sorry." I tried to hold in the sobs that I knew were moments from slipping out. I somewhat successfully broke down silently, the stress, anger and heartbreak consuming me completely.

Jimin's frantic voice pulled me back into reality. I turned to see him shaking my girlfriend, who was lying on the floor unresponsive.

I couldn't think.

I couldn't move.

I just froze watching everything unfold around me.

"Jiminie?" Joon's voice sounded worried as he ran over and tried to get information of what happened. "Sejin-nim, get the doctor here NOW!" he roared down the phone.

I felt arms wrap around me – at least I hoped they were arms and not my body shutting down in panic like it used to do. I tried to ground myself like my therapist told me to do by focussing on what I could see, hear and feel. Normally that would be enough to pull me from the panic attack, but seeing the love of my life looking lifeless while my brothers tried to rouse her, I let the guilt and panic wash over me and take me from the hell I was in.

* . °•★|∘°∘♡∘°∘ •┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈• ∘°∘♡∘°∘|☆•° .*

"Hyung"

"Yoongi-ah"

"Yoongles"

"Hey Mr Lazybones, wake up! You best believe my handsome face isn't raising your daughter while you sleep all day."

I groaned, trying to swat away the annoying voices pulling me from my slumber.

"He's coming to now. Oh, thank God."

"Joon baby, you're an atheist. We all know the only time you talk to God is when I'm buried balls deep in that beautiful, sexy ass of yours."

"For fucks sake, Taehyung, don't make me come and kick your ass so hard you can't sit for a week," there was no mistaking that my words held a promise and not a threat. I grimaced as my eyes fluttered open, the bright lights hurting my head.

"Take it easy," Jin spoke softly as he helped me sit up.

Why was I on the floor? And why was everyone looking at me like that?

"You had us worried there, hyung." I heard the stress in Namjoon's voice, bringing me back to what had happened.

Astrid. Floor. Unresponsive.

"Where is she?" I asked full of panic and worry as I looked around the room trying to find the love of my life, but only seeing Jin, Tae and Joon. My heart raced in my chest as tears welled again. I couldn't lose Astrid. I needed to find her, kiss her and never let her go.

Namjoon placed his hands on each side of my face, making me look him directly in the eyes. "Astrid's ok. You're both ok, hyung." I listened as he told me how Astrid had an anxiety attack after reading the news article. Luckily Jimin had been there to catch her as she fell unresponsive, preventing her from falling flat on her face. Seeing her like that had brought on a panic attack of my own. "She's in your room with Jiminie and Mia while the doctor checks her over. Hobi and JK met the girls outside when they came home and took them out to the pool area. We didn't want them worrying unnecessarily and scaring Soph."

"Thank you," I croaked out. While I panicked and shut down, my brothers launched into action. "How bad is it?" I knew they understood what I was meaning.

"It's not good," Tae said solemnly.

"The company is handling everything on the legal front," Joon stated. "But we need to put a stop to it. I have a plan, but we need you and Astrid to be ok first."

"Spend tonight with her, she's feeling fragile at the moment." Jin smiled sadly. "You and Astrid need each other right now; your bond has been through the ringer today. Don't worry about your little princess tonight, Nari and I are on babysitting duties. We're gonna have a camping sleepover in the pool house with lots of movies and junk food."