Closer Than This...(vsoo)

The night stretched on in a comfortable silence, the world outside forgotten as the two of them simply existed in the warmth of the moment. Jisoo sat beside Taehyung, who's head on her laps.

Her fingers running gently through his hair, her touch soft and soothing as it slowly eased the tension from his body. Taehyung had always been the strong one, the stoic CEO who carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, but tonight, he allowed himself to let go.

Jisoo could feel the weight of his emotions, the layers of pain and regret that had built up over the years. As her fingers threaded through his hair, she could feel the trembling beneath the surface, his vulnerability, his fears, and she knew he needed this.

Needed her. And so, she continued to comfort him, her hand gently caressing his hair, lulling him into a calm, peaceful state.

"Taehyung," Jisoo's voice was soft, almost a whisper, as she spoke his name in the quiet of the night. "It's okay. You're allowed to feel everything you're feeling. You don't have to carry it alone."

Taehyung didn't respond at first, lost in the comfort of her touch. But slowly, his voice broke through the silence, a low murmur that carried the weight of years of pent-up emotion. "I remember... I remember when I was young, my father would always tell me that I was going to be someone great. That I was going to follow in his footsteps."

He paused, his voice catching for a moment as memories from his childhood rushed back, vivid and uninvited. "I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to make him proud. I remember every milestone... every victory, and how I always wanted him to be there, to see me stand tall."

Jisoo's hand continued its soothing motion, and she listened quietly, giving him the space to speak, to let out what he had kept hidden for so long. "I remember the first time I got promoted, the first time I stood in front of an important client and closed a major deal. I wanted him to be there to see it. I wanted to tell him, ‘Look, Father. Look at what I’ve done.’ But he was never there. And then... I started to think maybe I wasn’t enough. Maybe I could never be what he wanted me to be."

Taehyung let out a deep, shaky breath, the weight of those years of unspoken expectations hanging in the air. "And now... now I see him like this. This... shadow of the man he once was. I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t know how to fix me."

His words hung in the space between them, heavy with years of disappointment and longing. Jisoo felt a knot tighten in her chest as she heard the raw pain in his voice. She knew how hard this was for him, how deeply the loss of his father had affected him...long before Alzheimer’s had stolen that man away.

She leaned down, pressing her forehead against his, her voice soft but filled with unwavering warmth. "You don’t have to fix everything, Taehyung. You don’t have to be perfect. You are enough. You’ve always been enough. And even if your father... even if things aren’t the way you hoped, you’re still his son. You’re still the person he shaped, the person he loved."

Taehyung’s eyes fluttered closed, the weight of her words sinking into him, even as the tears he hadn’t been able to cry earlier finally came. His hand reached out to grasp hers, holding it tightly as though it were the only thing keeping him grounded. "I just wish I had more time," he whispered. "More time to make him proud. To have him see me, see what I’ve become."

Jisoo's heart ached as she felt the raw vulnerability in his voice, and she held him even closer, wrapping him in the comfort of her presence. "He’s proud of you, Taehyung. Maybe he can’t show it now... but he’s proud. He knows who you are. He knows the person you’ve become."

Taehyung nodded silently, his breathing starting to steady as the tension in his body slowly melted away. He allowed himself to rest, to let the warmth of Jisoo’s presence wash over him. Her touch, her words, they were like a balm to his soul, easing the pain he had carried for so long.