Taehyung Series - Tumblr Posts

Little do You Know | OT7 | Two

Pairing: Bangtan (ot7) x f!reader 

Summary: In a world where idols and actors can’t date, whether it be because of contracts, lack of time, or the dangers that involve having your personal life leaked, the market opened up for a new work field. Playmate Agencies emerged to supply the entertainment world with highly trained companions for hire. Bangtan is looking for new playmates. And you just happen to be the one all of them choose. 

Genre: Fluff, angst, smut, playmate au, idol au. 

Chapter warnings: You get two visitors and someone takes you out to dinner.

WC: 3.2k

Taglist open!

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You were already in the meeting room when Sejin arrived, sitting next to Deji. The red haired woman was Hyeon’s right arm, the one who actually finalized all of the contracts between the playmates and clients. So she already knew your fate by the time you arrived, letting you know you had been chosen by all seven. You were half certain three of them might choose you, but got very surprised about the others. Especially since Jungkook hadn’t even met with you yesterday. 

“Your contract will be three months long, as a trial, and if all parties are still happy about it, the period will be extended.” HYBE’s lawyer explained, sitting next to Sejin and in front of you. “You will need to be exclusive, so I hope breaking contracts with other idols won’t be a problem.”

You looked at Deji. You didn’t have any idols that demanded as much attention as you could guess a seven member group would, but you still had responsibilities with them. 

“I’ll see to it.” Deji said. “It’s not really part of our policy to grant exclusivity, but we hope to be partners with HYBE for many years to come.“

Both men seemed pleased with that.

"Miss Yn will be provided with accommodation and will receive weekly pay.” the layer proceeded. “What you do with them is up to the two- well, to the eight of you, I suppose.”

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Little do You Know | OT7 | Five

Pairing: Bangtan (ot7) x f!reader 

Summary: In a world where idols and actors can’t date, whether it be because of contracts, lack of time, or the dangers that involve having your personal life leaked, the market opened up for a new work field. Playmate Agencies emerged to supply the entertainment world with highly trained companions for hire. Bangtan is looking for new playmates. And you just happen to be the one all of them choose. 

Genre: Fluff, angst, smut, playmate au, idol au. 

Chapter warnings: Someone asks you to ride with him and someone else asks you to cook. Food warning for those who asked for it 🍜 lol Things start to get playful! 

WC: 2.4k

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Could you actually get ready in twenty minutes for a bike ride at seven am? Probably not. But you’d do your very best. At least you were already up and had already eaten a small breakfast as preparation for the day. 

You could attempt putting on some makeup to make your face a little more presentable, but the beginning of October still had pretty high temperatures compared to the rest of the month, plus the fact that you’d be doing exercise. So you just put on one of the little options of sport’s clothes you owned and hoped whoever was waiting for you didn’t mind it.

As a barefaced Namjoon smiled as you got out of the building, you felt a little better. God forbid if it was Park Jimin with a full face and perfect eyeliner. 

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With a Brush of Fate | KTH | Series Masterlist

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Pair: Kim Taehyung x f!reader 

Summary: Your roommate was sure she found you the perfect man. Her boyfriend believed he found Taehyung’s soulmate. The only problem was that you never wanted to date an idol and he never wanted to drag you into this life. Taehyung didn’t even know what he wanted anymore and was tired of being criticized for simply growing up. You just wanted to finish university and do something for yourself. What started out with the meddling of your friends became something neither of you expected. Could the two of you be what the other is missing? Or would things just fall apart?

Genre: Fluff, angst, smut, idol au, strangers to lovers.

Warnings: Another idol au because I can’t be fixed. Idol!Tae x ArtStudent!reader. Choi Wooshik and wooga are part of the story. We follow BTS’ 2021 schedule, but there’s no c*vid. More to be added. 

Taglist: Open! 

Updates: Every monday, wednesday and friday.

One.

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty one - finale

🎨

Nothing Even Matters.

genre>> eventual smut. fluff. angst. childhood best friends to lovers au.

synopsis>> he was your best friend. nothing more. nothing less. you never thought he reciprocated your feelings... until he did, but you wanted him to achieve his dreams so you lie and deny any feelings for him. but at what cost?

warnings>> unrequited love (that's actually requited), a shit ton of angst, hurt feelings, strong language, mentions of alcoholism, implied sexual content (nothing explicit), reader is a bit of a bitch, terrible coping mechanisms, reader passes out, mention of throw up! this chapter is really quite sad for the first one but the beat goes on.

word count>> 2.8k

note: whew! let's get this bread!! welcome to my first chapter of "Nothing Even Matters" This randomly came to me as I listened to the song- well Nothing Even Matters by Big Time Rush lmaoo. The contents in this chapter doesn't quite sync with the lyrics, but as the story develops the more it'll sync. Anyway! Thank you for reading <3

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🎧: Cry by Cigarettes After Sex

or

🎧: Hentai by Cigarettes After Sex

Maybe drinking away the rest of your remaining brain cells and sorrows wasn't the "smartest" or "rational" thing to do at 6 pm on a Sunday evening. The sun had barely set and you were already on to your 4th shot in the measly time of 15 minutes. You couldn't care though you've had enough of being sober.

You were completely and irrevocably in love with your best friend, but he didn't reciprocate; not his fault. You knew you couldn't control who he does and doesn't have feelings for, but some part of you had always hoped maybe? But when you came down from being too hopeful it shattered you. Each and every time.

You sniffled at the thought and shook it off, you signaled for the bartender who's name you had learned was Min Yoongi. His skin was milky white, he had cat eyes and a button nose that was to die for. The best part was his pearly white teeth and cute gummy smiled that followed though.

"Another one? It's barely 7, don't you want to... I don't know slow down? Why're you drinking so much anyway? And on a Sunday, what's that all about?" He questioned cautiously. You'd come to this bar a lot and from your frequent visits Yoongi has no doubt in his mind that you suffered with alcoholism.

"I'm sorry do you get paid to interrogate or to pour drinks? I wanted a shot not a therapist." Your words slurred, but they still came out as venomous as you wanted.

"Jeez. Sorry for being a decent human being." He spat sarcastically. You were too buzzed to care though.

To anyone who was close to you they knew of your unrequited feelings for your best friend...everyone except who mattered that is. You dealt with the rejection, but when you saw him you acted as normal as can be. He didn't see how you were when he wasn't around and you liked it that way. You always knew no matter the feelings you had for him he was still your best friend before anything.

It has been different though recently. Taehyung hadn't contacted you in almost 3 weeks and it broke you more and more as each day passed. That's when you started drowning yourself in liquor and despair.

Cause and effect, you see?

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You knew the phone worked both ways, but you couldn't bring yourself to text or call him first. Too worried about what he'd might tell you if you did.

You shook your thoughts off as Yoongi had slid you your shot of tequila making you buzz with excitement to feel the burn down your throat.

"Keep 'em coming too and you'll get quite the hefty tip from me mister." You lifted your shot and scarfed it down in one gulp. Yoongi just blanked at you and continued wiping the bar down while pouring you shot after shot.

1 hr 30 minutes and a tequila-full bladder later...

"I-I'm gonna go p-pee." You hiccuped and stumbled to the bathroom. Your vision began to blur and you thought maybe you should have stopped after the 10th shot, but your mind wasn't racing at 1000 mph...you were happy and as temporary as you knew it was you were relieved.

You looked at your reflection and wanted to heave whatever alcohol you had drunk this evening. Your hair was frizzy and your pupils were blown. You hated how you looked. You knew you didn't have healthy coping mechanisms, but this was better than sleeping around you tried to argue with yourself.

You looked away from the mirror and went into a stall; fighting the urge to throw up as each minute passes. You finished emptying your bladder when a knock sounded on the door.

"O-occupado!" You tried to yell, but wound up hiccuping instead.

"Y/n?" You froze. What the hell is he doing here? You couldn't ever mistake that deep, baritone, tender voice.

You flushed the toilet, washed your hands, and swung the door open and therein was your best friend standing before you. If not for his addicting scent of sandalwood and maple, maybe you'd think you were hallucinating, but in your peripheral you noticed Yoongi wiggling your phone in his hand and you huffed.

That traitor. What was the big deal? So you drink everyday at hefty amounts, but who cares? You're only 24 you're not going to die.

"W-what are you doin here Tae?" You spoke voice less slurred as his presence made you somewhat sober up.

"Worried about you is what. Do you know the amount of predators out there waiting to take advantage of intoxicated women?" He furrowed his brows at your carelessness.

He cared about you. More than you thought he did and seeing you like this was killing him inside. He wondered why and when did you start drinking so much and he hated himself for not being there for you.

"I can take care of myself thank you very much. Sorry to have put a stump into your night, you can go now though. I'll get a Uber home." You brushed him off. Your heart was beating so fast and hard it felt almost hard to breathe. You huffed softly and walked towards Yoongi giving him a scowl.

"Hey now, who leaves their phone unlocked while they're drunk as fuck? Better me than a thief I like to think, I do think you need to go home you had enough to drink." He said calmly not caring about the amount of daggers you were throwing him right now.

Was he serious right now? Fuck him.

"Are you fucking serious right now? Fuck you." You decided to voice your thoughts. He simply shrugged and threw his cleaning rag over his shoulder walking away.

"Look Y/n, let me drive you home so you can lay down. You must've had a long day." Taehyung suggested. You scoffed at that. A long day it was indeed. Not that he needed to know that, but maybe it was your alcohol induced mind that made you think he didn't deserve to know about your day.

"Taehyung no. You go home. Like I said I'll take an Uber home." You said dismissively. You walked past him and quickly exited the bar secluding yourself on a bench in the parking lot.

Truth was you didn't even trust an Uber. You knew you were wasted 10x fold, but you were stubborn. Always have been. You were too embarrassed to even be in Taehyung's presence, which is ironic because he's seen you at your absolute worst. But even so you couldn't hide your humiliation right now.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you take an Uber? My mom would behead me." Taehyung spoke softly. You simply glanced at him and inhaled sharply. You've been so keen on ignoring him you failed to take the time to admire how he looked.

Dressed in denim jeans and a leather jack with a Metallica t-shirt underneath he looked straight out of your wildest dreams. You bit your lip and just shook your leg up and down anxiously. A habit you ensued at the measly age of 4.

"Look Tae-" You started but was interrupted by Taehyung.

"Stop fighting me on this, okay? I care about you so let me take you home and-" This time you interrupted him.

"Care about me? That's fucking rich." You scoffed to yourself but Taehyung had heard you.

"And what's that supposed to mean Y/n, huh?! All I've done for the past 15 years is care about you so I don't know if you've lost some brain cells in the amount of alcohol you drank tonight, but don't dare insinuate that I don't care. That's just cruel." He seethed through gritted teeth.

In hindsight, you weren't sure why you said what you did. You had no reason at all to believe he hadn't cared for you, but it's as though you wanna push him away. Hoping it'd make things better for you.

Was that selfish? Maybe.

Were you thinking rationally right now? Nope, not at all.

"Listen Kim, call me cruel all you want, but from the time we turned age of 16- well you 17 and you got all popular and became a male model or whatever the fuck it is that you do," That was uncalled for. You knew his job meant the world to him, but the ball was rolling and there was no stopping now. You noticed him wince and it made your heart crack but instead of stopping you continued. Digging the knife you thrust into his chest deeper. "So excuse me for thinking you give any fucks about me at all anymore. Why're you here anyway? You haven't contacted me in almost 3 weeks and now all of a sudden you come to my "rescue" what, do you get off on being the superhero? Well guess what? I don't need you," Deeper the knife plunged as you continued to speak. "Never have. So go fuck yourself."

You said those words...so carelessly... so vehemently.. without thoughts about the repercussions of your words and actions. You were far too drunk and your mind wasn't even on the Earth's axis. You reckoned you probably wouldn't even remember these events the next day; you sure hoped you wouldn't

"I haven't contacted you in 3 weeks because I was offered a job in Paris. I wasn't sure if I was gonna take it because," Taehyung clenched his fists as his eyes glossed over. "I wanted to make sure you'd be alright without me. Thanks for that confirmation by the way. So yeah, maybe I'll go fuck myself there and respect your wishes." He chuckled humorlessly.

You froze. The world was spinning and you felt bile rising in your throat before you suddenly hurled everything you had consumed in the last couple of hours. The world never stopped spiraling from underneath you and finally the world went black.

The next morning...

You woke up as the shine was beaming against your face. You looked around squinting as your eyes struggled to adjust to the brightness of your surroundings. You looked down and noticed you were no longer in your outfit from the previous night, but you were in a t-shirt much too big for your frame.

You continued to look around as you noticed a picture of you and Taehyung framed on an oak wood dresser. You stalked towards it cautiously finally coming to the realization of where you were. Of course, this was Taehyung's room. Where else would you be? You knew Taehyung would never leave you in the streets even after those venomous words you spat him last night.

Wincing at the memory you walked down the stairs slowly and noticed Taehyung sitting at his desk, glasses on, his dog Yeontan on his lap, reading a book. What a sight. You didn't have time to admire though because you didn't want to seem like a creep so you cleared your throat instead.

"Do you have aspirin? My head is killing me." You rasped shyly. He didn't spare you a glance as he answered dryly.

"Bathroom cabinet. Water is in the fridge." Was all he said. You nodded solemnly, but you knew you deserved it. This wasn't worse than what you had done, but this felt so very shitty.

You were in denial but deep down you knew you were a struggling alcoholic. You knew this for a fact because at the moment you craved pineapple vodka. You were hungover for fucks' sake, but you were still craving alcohol? If that wasn't alcoholism you didn't know what was.

"Fuck." You sighed softly to yourself. You knew you had to apologize and it couldn't be anything simple. No you had to apologize from deep within your heart. No words could even begin to fix what you broke, but you could try. Never was there any harm in that. You grabbed two aspirins and just decided to open the tap to take the pills.

You rinsed your face and stepped out the bathroom. Yeontan yipped at the sight of you and it made you smile sadly.

"Taehyung could we talk?" You cautiously spoke. He closed his book and took off his glasses. His demeanor at the moment was intimidatingly sexy as he stood up tall, dark, and handsome as always. Boy, did you have feelings for this man.

"No. I'm going to talk and you're going to listen, got that?" He asked you arms crossed over his chest as he sat on his desk now staring at you intently with dark eyes. You nodded in response to which he clicked his tongue. "I didn't appreciate being spoke to in the way you spoke to me last night. I didn't deserve that whatsoever and you didn't even have a care as you spoke," You were about to protest when he simply put a hand up stopping you. "Especially not with how much I love you." He spoke more softly at the last sentence.

Your heart stopped and your breathing halted. What did he just say? Those words were like a sweet melody that you'd like to play over and over on repeat. Like a song you'd never get tired of- a tune that gave you a sense of comfort.

Taehyung began walking towards you slowly, stopping a safe 5 feet away.

"I love you so much and it wounded me as you spoke those words to me last night. I don't know why you said all those things, but I don't care. I want to be yours. And I want you to be mine." His eyes began to pool and you wanted to wipe his tears, but fought against it. "Say those 3 words and 8 letters and I'm yours forever. No Paris. Nothing will stop me from loving you." He said softly staring into you so intently you felt as though you would melt.

Part of you was so happy. You wanted to tell him you loved him- that you had for as long as you could remember, but one thing in his confession stuck out the most; "No Paris." You couldn't possibly be the one to stop him from pursuing his dream. For as long as you knew him, Paris had always been his endgame. What kind of person would you be if you were to prevent him from going? He'd grow to resent you, you were sure.

You closed your eyes and tried blinking away the tears in your eyes. What you were about to do would fucking ruin you, but it had to be done. He deserved that job in Paris. You knew he needed it much more than he wanted it and you'd be a complete fool to let him throw that away.

"Taehyung... I love you. But purely as a best friend. Nothing more. Nothing less. I- I don't see you that way and I never will." You stared down at the hardwood floors fighting the urge to throw yourself into him and kiss him into oblivion.

A couple beats passed and he'd still not said a word to you so with great hesitancy you looked up at the 5'11 male. His eyes were bloodshot and tears were staining his cheeks. It fucking broke you. Broke you beyond repair. There was no fixing what was broken here.

Without another word he stormed out of his house slamming the door in his exit. As soon as the door closed you choked out a gut-wrenching sob. With wobbling legs you walked up the stairs to his room staring at the picture on his dresser. Another choked sob escaping you as you recalled the day it was taken.

It was Christmas day, Taehyung decided to throw a house party with only close friends and family. You were dressed as an elf and Tae dressed up as Santa. It was comical really. You both were under a mistletoe and Taehyung had lowered his beard, but instead of kissing you he licked your cheek. A close family-friend of yours, Jungkook , had captured the moment just in time.

Smiling grimly as you reminisced that moment you made a promise and swore to Taehyung and to yourself.

"I promise you Taehyung. The sun will shine on us again... I will find you and we will be who we could've been. I love you. Don't give up on me." You whispered to the framed picture. You placed it back to its place, got dressed and folded the clothes Taehyung had let you borrow for the night.

You left.

Not a single trace of your being there except the neatly folded clothes on Taehyung's bed. Duvet made and two tear drops on it.

They say there's no greater feeling than love. They're wrong.

Loss is a bigger feeling than love because you knew this feeling in your chest wouldn't go away.

There was a Taehyung shaped hole in your heart and nothing will be the same until you see him again.

But until then... you'll wait.

After all... love conquers all.

It's making you cry every time You give your love to me this way Saying you'd wait for me to stay I know it hurts you - Cry , Cigarettes After Sex

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7 Rings Masterlist

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note: if you’d like to be added to the tag list feel free to send me a message or leave a comment <3

♛ pairing: taehyung/reader

♛ genre: richboy!taehyung ⋆ blackmailer!reader ⋆ infiltration au ⋆ slow burn ⋆ smut ⋆ angst

♛ warnings : see each chapter 

♛ word count: tbd. 

♛ status: on-going 

♛ summary:  In need of money for your mom’s medical bills, you and your best friend come up with a plan to infiltrate one of Seoul’s richest families, the Kim family. The plan was simple, blackmail, get your money, and disappear, but of course things don’t always go as planned. Especially not with someone like Kim Taehyung.

━ ❝ Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve 'em. ❞

Main Storyline 

✓ teaser 

✓ chapter 01 

✓chapter 02 

✓ chapter 03 

✎ chapter 04

✎ chapter 05

✎ chapter 06

✎ chapter 07

✎ chapter 08 

..... more to be determined 

In-Universe Drabbles / Side Stories 

coming soon 

7 Rings [Teaser]

note: feel free to comment or message me if you’d like to be on a tag list for when the first chapter is posted :)  Also if you can please like & reblog as it’d be very much appreciated 😭🤍 this is my first fic ever, and reblogs would make me update faster ! 

estimated!publish date: august 14-16, 2020

♛ pairing: taehyung/reader

♛ genre: richboy!taehyung ⋆ blackmailer!reader ⋆ infiltration au ⋆ slow burn ⋆ smut ⋆ angst

♛ word count: 680+ 

♛ summary:  In need of money for your mom’s medical bills, you and your best friend come up with a plan to infiltrate one of Seoul’s richest families, the Kim family. The plan was simple, blackmail, get your money, and disappear, but of course things don’t always go as planned. Especially not with someone like Kim Taehyung.

━ ❝ Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve 'em. ❞

♛ chapter index/masterlist || series masterlist

She finishes whispering in his ear.

He immediately feels the blood drain from his face, the churning feeling in his stomach making him feel physically sick. He looks at you one last time before you go on stage, how had he not noticed it before? God, he could see it in your eyes.

The tug in his heart screams at him to go up there, and put a stop to everything. Whisper to you that everything was going to be just fine, that you were going to be just fine. To take you home, and caress you in the endless numbers of ways he knew he could. That the resentment he thought he felt, was in fact never that. It was all simply a disillusion he had made for himself, a way subduing the guilt from the things he said. The things he’s done. All because he thought it’d easier to pretend to hate you than to face the reality that he never could.

He expected anger to form from the sight of seeing you tonight, it’s what he desperately wanted. The same anger he felt six months ago, but he couldn’t say he was surprised to find out that the anger simply no longer existed. Maybe the anger never even existed to begin with, maybe all he had been was just hurt. Heartbroken to say the least.

That feeling of heartache was what kept him up most nights. At times the feeling was quiet, allowing him to function, while other days it would rise to a crescendo and the anger would feel as if it were going to burst from his chest. But then there’d be the days where he was able to remember you with fondness, that was rare though, though he never took them for granted, enjoying the moment nonetheless.

But tonight he realized that the same warm feeling was indeed still there, it had always been there, lingering deep down in his heart. Desperate to escape the shadow that was engulfing it, while longing to fly like a bird again, stretching its wings and soar in the endless blue sky. Desperate to shower you with kisses, and playfully tickle you in bed after a night of countless rounds of sex. His arm draped over you, while your body was perfumed by his musky scent, the mumbled sound of “I love you” along with tiny moans escaping your lips as he’d slowly graze his lips along your neck.

He could no longer deny that all he had for you was love. He was tired of forcing himself to hate you, tired of the countless women he’d seen replace your side of the bed for the past six months, he was just tired.

You needed him right now more than ever. And God, did he need you. If he goes up there, everything would change. Whether it’d be for the better or worse, it didn’t matter, because he’d be with you. It’d be like one of those perfect endings in a movie, the cliche happily ever after the two main characters have after reuniting. It would be perfect...

But instead his muscles stayed tense, and his feet remained planted at where he stood. The feeling just wasn’t enough. Maybe in another world, he would have acted on that heavy feeling in his chest. Maybe in another world, he would’ve unhooked his arm from hers and gone to stop you. Maybe this is what needed to be done. No forget that, he was merely just a coward.

The sound of metal clinking on glass brings him back to reality, watching you as you made your way to the stage after being introduced. There was nothing but absolute stillness, an eerie sort of tranquility being radiated from you. But he knew.

He knew you weren’t fine and it killed him inside. You needed someone, a friend, a lover, just anyone. But all he could do was cross his fingers, and hope for the best as you took one last sip of your drink, double tapping the mic, ready to speak.

7 Rings | 01

♛ pairing: taehyung/reader

♛ genre: richboy!taehyung | blackmailer!reader | infiltration au | slow burn | eventual smut | angst | fluff 

♛ rating: mature

♛ word count: 12,000+

♛ warnings for this chapter : explicit language, terminal illness, this chapter basically just sets the foundation of this story up so sorry if it’s a little boring 

♛ summary:  In need of money for your mom’s medical bills, you and your best friend come up with a plan to infiltrate one of Seoul’s richest families, the Kim family. The plan was simple, blackmail, get your money, and disappear, but of course things don’t always go as planned. Especially not with someone like Kim Taehyung.

━ ❝ Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve 'em. ❞

♛ chapter index/masterlist || series masterlist || next chapter 

Chapters⇢ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08

“Why Y/N?” his voice cracks, the look of betrayal evidently on his face. 

"I never—" you sobbed. Your throat felt swollen and you stuttered, pitifully trying to speak the words in your head. "I never meant for it to go this far," you said at last. 

How did you end up here? Where did everything go wrong? When had the rabbit hole simply become too deep? The sounds of several voices echoed in your head. 

You could hear him calling your name, begging  no demanding an answer, but all you could do was stare off into space, thinking of everything that led up this exact moment. 

If only you could turn back time. 

3 Months Ago.

Friday Morning.

“In today’s news, the Kim family’s multibillion dollar deal has been officially confirmed. Their partnership with Hyundai is estimated to bring in at least seven billion in revenue to Korea’s economy over the next 5 years. Both parties have agreed to terms that will lift…”

Oh the irony.

Sighing, you turned off the radio of your run-down 2006 grey Hyundai, which every morning you had to cross your fingers and hope that the engine wouldn't burn out on you. The rumbling sounds of the engine starting up never failing to catch the attention of pedestrians walking by. 

After several frustrating minutes of struggling to parallel park, you sat in your car and allowed yourself to sulk for a moment. Another day, another dollar to make. Even if it meant having to deal with rude and entitled customers all day, your school loans plus your bills just weren’t going to pay themselves off anytime soon. 

“One day at a time Y/N, just one day at a time,” you reassured yourself, placing on your mandatory logoed hat, and mentally preparing yourself for another day. If only you were rich.

Friday Night.

Despite being tired from work, visiting your mom was something you always felt like you needed to do every so often, plus her homemade meals were quite often a bonus considering how lazy you’d often get to cook food for yourself. In fact, the pizza shop near your apartment not only having your order, but voice completely memorized for whenever you called. The young employee quickly interrupting your greeting with a, “Pepperoni pizza, half sausage, half Hawaiian, and a pink lemonade?” surprisingly no longer offended you as much as it would back in the beginning. 

Your mom certainly didn’t mind the company as it inevitably got quite lonely living by herself, but she knew she couldn’t smother you forever as much as she would love to. College was a necessity for you in her eyes, a ticket to a better life that wouldn’t require you to scrub the floors of the rich as she did. 

And maybe it was because you were more mature nowadays, but conversations with her had now also seemed to be much more meaningful. Well that and the two of you didn’t butt heads as much as you used to compared to when you were nothing but a temperamental teenager whose biggest life crisis was whether your crush glanced at you in the hallway or not. 

Of course the boundary and respect of a mother-daughter relationship was always there, some of your jokes sometimes garnering a “I’m not your friend, I’m your mother” speech from her, but nonetheless your relationship with her in a way was very much like a friendship. It seemed as if with every visit you learned new things about her, the different stories she shared with you from her youth always having an underlying lesson that you could apply to your own life.

“I really needed this,” you said while chewing on a mouthful of bulgogi. Small stains of sauce at the corners of your mouth, as your mom’s cooking never failed to make you feel like a little kid. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her now twenty one year old daughter who in her heart was always going to be just a little girl.

She got up from the small wooden dining chair, picking up any leftover dinnerware as she prepared to start washing dishes, all while at the same time listening to you as you babbled on about work.

“I mean really, how hard is it to say thank you,” you rolled your eyes, dramatically sticking your chopstick into your bowl, as you were recalling one of today’s customers who kept snapping their fingers at you as if you were their very own personal servant. 

“Well it’s a good thing it’s summer, you don’t have to worry about college so mu—” The sound of glass shattering on the floor abruptly caught your attention. You looked up at your mom who was now dead silent, her face which was now extremely pale, and her breathing which had suddenly became erratic. What you didn't know was that your mom had suddenly felt as if the world spinning, the feeling of disorientation becoming too overwhelming.

“Mom? Are you okay?” you quickly got up, grabbing your mom by the forearm in a means of trying to redirect her from the kitchen to the couch at an attempt to get her to relax. You unlocked your phone, fingers slightly trembling as you called the ambulance. 

“Just breathe okay. You’re gonna be okay,” you kept trying to reassure your mom as you waited for them to pick up which at the moment felt like an eternity. Your leg was bouncing up and down in anticipation as you kept glancing at your mom who was trying to keep her breathing in control and her eyes open. “Do not close your eyes on me, you hear me?” your voice began to feel shaky, eyelids brimming with tears, the pulsating feeling of panic flowing through your veins.

“Hello, what’s your emergency?”

You hated hospitals. Who didn’t? The smell, the yellow-toned ugly lighting, and the feeling of anxiousness the whole place gave people. For you though, the hospital was a reminder of tragedy, a reminder that whatever comes in here never walks out the same whether you’re a patient or not. Fifteen years ago, it made your mom a widow left having to pay remaining hospital bills all while having to raise her six year old daughter.

So here you were now, fifteen years later sitting at her bedside waiting for her to wake up, stuck in the same position she once was. You stared up at the ceiling counting each time the overhead lights flickered as you tried not to get so lost into your thoughts. Everything had happened in what felt like was the blink of an eye, guilt was beginning to seep in. Why hadn’t noticed anything earlier? Maybe in some miraculous way you could’ve prevented this, you thought to yourself. 

You turned on the small TV that the hospital provided in every room, flipping through several channels hoping you'd find something that would be able to distract you.

“Shut up and kis—” K-drama. Next.

“Watch ou—” Action movie. Next.

“Kim Taehyung gets physical with paparazzi, the heir to Kim Enterprises spotted —” but before you could place your full attention to the entertainment newscast you turned your attention to your mother who was now beginning to shift in her sleep, her eyes now slowly opening, clearly in a daze as to where she was and how she got there.

“Hey ma,” you softly whispered, giving her a warm smile as you held her hand tighter, beginning to rub small circles on her palm.

“W-what happened Y/N?” 

“You fain-”

“Ah you’re finally up,” you turned towards the door, seeing who you assumed was the doctor in charge now walking in. 

For a doctor she appeared quite young, her petite figure and wrinkle free skin a defining factor in her appearance. You formally greeted her, a wave of anxiousness now overcoming you. “Dr. Whitney Han'' is what her name tag read, but it was what was in small font beneath her name that made your heart feel as if it feel down to the pit of your stomach. “Oncologist,” meaning doctors who specialize in the study and treatment for cancer.

Faintly clearing her throat, “Hello, I’m Dr. Han,” she introduced herself, reaching her hand out for you to shake. She smiled at your mom who was still in a slightly groggy state, but aware nonetheless. “So Ms. Y/L/N, you seemed to have suffered from what we call a syncope, meaning an episode of passing out, it’s usually caused by insufficient blood flow to the brain, a result of hypotension,” you nodded following along with what she was saying,

“When episodes such as these occur, it tends to mean that there’s an underlying cause and so we decided to run some tests on your mother to cross out any possibilities, and well there’s never an easy way to tell anybody this...” her gaze lowered for just a slight moment until she quickly regained her composure, but it was just enough for you to just know. She continued with what you assumed she’s told hundred’s if not thousand’s of patients in her career. For her it’d be just another day of work, but for you it felt as if the world stopped.

Whatever she had said after couldn’t be heard because the only thing you could hear was the sound of your blood pounding in your ears, and an intense beating against your chest. You could see her mouth moving, but nothing seemed to be coming out, everything suddenly becoming a ringing noise to your ears. 

Fight or flight is what they call it. When a stressful situation triggers you to either run or stay, and at this moment you just wanted to run, but you knew you couldn’t. You knew that at this exact moment, everything was going to change because whether you liked it or not, the carousel never stops turning. 

You slowly glanced at your mom who seemed to be in the same paralyzed state as you, her face stoic of any possible emotion. 

“With treatment chances of survival are of course immensely improved, the treatments are harsh, but taking your mom’s age and clean medical history I think she can definitely handle it,” Dr. Han tried to give you a small smile, but even she knew situations like these were always tough. No matter how many years of experience she had, the countless tragedies and rare miracles she’d witnessed in her career, every case was different. Her job as a doctor was to make people like you and your mother feel more comfortable with their situation, but never make any promises. 

“Now treatments are done in intervals, and will probably have to be done starting from now until about three to six months which is when we usually see improvement, meaning you will have to permanently stay here for that time. From what I’ve seen with past patients is that treatment can be very costly  without insurance, and well I know a lot of physicians don’t like to talk about expenses with patients, but—”

“My mom doesn’t have health insurance. I know,” you harshly broke the deafening silence, interrupting her before she could continue, not wanting to hear anymore of her pity. You had no reason to give her attitude, no reason to direct your anger towards her, it wasn’t like she caused any of this to happen, but you just couldn’t help it. The atmosphere in the air was stiff, any next word out of her mouth and you’d probably go ballistic. “C-can we just have a moment alone? So we could just um process everything,” you stammered, lacking to make any eye contact with her. 

“I’ll be right outside in the hallway, let me know if you have any questions,” she gave you and your mom one last tiny sad smile before making her way out.

Once the door closed, you thought that you’d be able to breathe properly again, but the same heavy feeling on your chest remained. It wasn’t until you felt a grab at your hand that you were brought back to reality.

“Hey we are going to be just fine Y/N,” your mom whispered to you as it was now she who was rubbing your hand in an effort to comfort you. A weak smile appearing on your face, of course your mom would be comforting you despite it being her who's sick. “Come on lay down with me,” she then began to scoot to the side in her already tiny hospital bed, trying to make space for you.

And for a small everlasting moment you felt like a little girl again as you hugged your mom, tears silently falling from the corner of your eyes, the soft sound of her humming comforting you. You let your head relax onto her shoulder, your breathing somehow finally under control. The question of “What are we going to do?” slowly disappearing from your mind, letting yourself drift off to sleep in the arms of your mom.

Sunday Morning.

In the following days after, you had helped your mom move her necessities into the hospital room that she’d be staying in until her treatment was over and she could be discharged. You had contacted your landlord informing him that you’d be cancelling your lease as you now had plans to move back home. The only reason you had your own small apartment in the first place was because your mom thought it’d be better to live near campus and not waste so much money on gas going from campus to your job and then back to your moms place. Despite her protests on the cancellation of your lease, you had done it anyway.

“Ma someone has to live there, or else it’d just be useless to continue paying rent. We can’t just leave it empty for the whole year, someone could break in or even try to live there for the while that you’re not there. I mean imagine walking in on some strang—”

“Exactly, which is why I don’t want you living there, and move the decoration a little more to your right,” she says while making a motion with her hand as a way to guide you. For the past hour you had been putting up flimsy removable decorations all across the beige hospital walls at an attempt to make her room look less depressing than it already was. 

“I already told you, I’ll be just fine. I already asked Yuna to help me get my stuff, and you’re acting like everyone in the neighborhood doesn’t know who I am, and it’s a lot faster to get here from home. I just need to start looking for a second job in the meant—”

“Ah about that,” your moms sudden interruption causing you to stop what you were doing , now tilting your head in confusion, “I called Mr. Choi and told him about me no longer being able to work for the meantime that I'm here and well that’s when he mentioned something about going on vacation, and needing a temporary assistant… and that he needed someone to run some business like errands for him and well I may have mentioned you and that you’re majoring in business and how you’d love to work for him…” she tried zooming through the last part but you had heard it all.

“Wait what!”

Mr. Choi was your mom’s boss, having been his housekeeper for as long as you could remember. Endless long nights of making sure whatever multimillion dollar penthouse he or his other snobby friends owned looked squeaky clean, just to be paid like any other minimum-wage worker minus the tip.

You could still vividly remember the nights when you were younger being babysat by your neighbor, anxiously waiting for your mom's knock on the door signifying that she was back home, and just how exhausted she’d look as she took off her housekeeping shoes, too tired to even look at the pile of sealed letters on the sturdy coffee table. A constant reminder that she was going to be working for that man for a very long time. 

For a long time you had wondered how she was able to do it all. Were there nights where she felt like just giving up and simply letting everything she’d work so hard for to collapse? 

Your mind flashing back to the night before you moved out for college. It was about 3 in the morning and anxiety had been keeping you up the whole night, the fear of moving somewhere you were unfamiliar with creeping into your mind. The sound of muffled tears coming from the living room snapping you back into reality. Slowly you had gotten up from bed, opening your door wide enough to leave a crack that you could visibly see through, desperately trying to avoid having the door loudly creak. 

And so there she was with a wax stick candle in her hand, quietly whispering to herself a small recital, the sound of several wailed “thank you’s” coming out of her mouth, grateful that she had made it this far. The old framed picture of your dad on the coffee table making it hard for you to fight back your own tears. 

Nights where she was sure your landlord would knock at any moment to kick you guys out because the rent was going to be late, nights where she’d silently cry herself to sleep because it killed her to say no to something you desperately wanted from the store, and nights where she merely missed the love of her life. Doubting herself as to whether she was doing a good job in raising you, simply wishing she could have someone give her some reassurance. And having to hide those feelings because she didn’t want her daughter to find out that the person she had once given a “Happy Mother’s Day to the Strongest Mommy in the World” card with a colorful doodle of herself in a cape was in fact not strong at all, but acted like she was because she simply loved her daughter too much. 

And so that night instead of going back to sleep, you slowly made your way into the living room, silently enveloping her in a hug, no words having to be spoken. Promising yourself that you were going to work hard in college, and get each other out of the small cramped apartment to which you guys called home. Life of course had different plans, which brings you back to one of the causes of your stress and worries: Mr. Choi. 

Oh how you despised that man. One would think a rich man like him would’ve offered by now to pay for all of your mom’s expenses considering the years of servitude, but no. He only fed into the stereotype you already had of the rich, the only people they cared for were themselves.

“So you’re basically telling me I have to quit my job by tonight, and do something I have absolutely no experience with?”

“Yes! You need to start getting all the experience you can get in the world of business, and him being on vacation is perfect. Less stress, and I assume it’ll be better pay than that restaurant you’re working in.” Oh how you hated how naive your mom could be sometimes, it always led to Choi taking advantage of her and her kindness.

“Mr. Choi lives—”

“In the city which is not at all far from here, the only reason you work at that lousy restaurant is because it’s near campus, yes or yes?”

“And when school starts?”

“Mr. Choi should be back by then and he can find someone new to replace you,” you dramatically groaned, the fact that she had reasonable answers to your questions bugged you. 

“But-”

“But nothing! You’re a hard worker Y/N, who knows you may even meet someone who could change your life around in that area. You’re young, about to be a college graduate, you need to start printing out resumes and Mr. Choi is a big name in the indust—”

“I get it, I get it,” you said chuckling at your mom’s enthusiasm, “and who's going to keep you company then?”

“Ah well the nurse was telling me last night about the events they throw here every week for people like me who are staying here for a while and trust me I’ll be just fine,” she winked at you which raised a laugh out of you. Who knew your mom could be so… social. “Just try and visit hmm... at least once a week.”

“Once?”

“I’m telling you Y/N, we will be just fine. Stop acting like I’m dying anytime soon.” she said, “now what do you say? It’s just until the end of summer.” You began to consider your options, money was definitely the weighing factor here.

Sighing once you had made your decision, “When do I start?”, a giant grin now appearing on her face. 

Sunday Night

“Well that’s the last of it,” you sighed in relief as you finally were able to close the trunk of your car after several minutes of struggling to compress your things in order for everything to fit in your small car and not make any double trips back. 

“Finally! You know for someone who claims they need to save money, you sure do like spending it on such small useless things,” your best friend, Yuna, complained.

“Oh because you were so much help,” you huffed, she had no right to complain considering all she did was loudly munch on her chips, watching the pitiful sight of you nearly fighting your trunk after several failed attempts of it not closing. She raised her hand in defense. 

You and Yuna had met in the 8th grade after the two of you were assigned as partners for your geometry class, casual conversation about latest idol debuts and fashion trends had blossomed a beautiful friendship. For a while you thought that college was going to cause the two of you to grow apart, but in fact you two became even closer. It had become a friendship where you didn’t need to see each other everyday, nor talk about absolutely everything all in one moment. Everything was always at its own pace between you two, the boundaries having been silently set.

You had told Yuna of your situation and rather than try to get you to cry about your feelings and awkwardly comfort you, she instead agreed to help you move out, letting her actions speaking louder than words. Of course Yuna’s definition of help differed from yours. but it was the thought that counted. She knew that when you were ready you’d talk to her about everything. 

“Well apartment D2 you’ve been... “ you paused, recalling the amount of times you’ve nearly burned something, now scratching your neck,  “...decent to me, but it’s time for a new chapter,” you whispered to yourself, anxious for the weeks to come. 

The drive home like almost all of them had the two of you singing to both current and childhood songs without a care in the world even though you two weren’t exactly what people would consider “good” singers. Occasional voice cracks seeping through the bass of the speakers, garnering a laugh from the two of you. 

By the time you got home and finished unpacking, you were not only exhausted but extremely hungry.

“I’m gonna go get us take out,” Yuna announced, getting up from the couch and grabbing your car keys from the rack, almost as if she read your mind. 

And so while she went to get that, you laid on your small childhood bed, staring at the ceiling. You laughed at the multiple glow in the dark stickers you had crookedly placed onto it several years ago, and cringe at the posters of second generation idols you had sloppily posted up on your walls when you were fifteen, now unaware that you were subconsciously grinning. 

It surprised you that your mom for the most part hadn’t moved anything around from your room, for the most part it looked almost exactly as how you left it years ago. The same old baby blue duvet covered your metal twin-sized bed frame, decorated with grey fluffy throw pillows which at the time you thought made you a professional interior designer. Your fingers grazed over the framed pictures you had on your small desk (minus the ones you took to college) of past memories including a photo of your dad piggy back carrying a five year old you who had the biggest smile on her face. A small reminder of what life once was. 

You could feel your eyes getting watery as you continued to stare at the photo, and so you quickly snapped yourself out of it, deciding that you already had enough emotional turmoil on your plate. Instead you plopped back onto bed, unlocked your phone and began to scroll through Twitter occasionally laughing at some memes.

A certain retweet had caught your eye causing you to let out a scoff, “Kim Taehyung NASTY fight with girlfriend Sunhi. Click here for more.” The Kim family were almost insufferable, their names practically plastered everywhere across Korea. Especially Mr. Kim’s son Taehyung who somehow always managed to get his name across the headlines whether it be on TV, magazines, or social media.

“Famous for being a brat,” you muttered to yourself, but ironically before you could click on the link you had heard the door open and close, resulting in you locking your phone and immediately getting up from bed, your stomach desperately ready to stop growling. 

“Im baaaack!” Yuna dramatically squealed, placing the foam takeout containers on your small kitchen table. The scent of the warm food making your mouth water. “I know it’s chilly right now, but the stars are out tonight, so I say we go eat at the top,” she then gave you the puppy dog eyes.

“You don’t need to make such… disturbing...faces for me to agree, you do know that right?” you teased, trying to hide your smirk. 

“Fuck you,” she responded to you while playfully hitting your shoulder.

Despite it being summer, when you had walked outside you immediately felt the crispy cold weather, but it was something you and Yuna had grown accustomed to. The countless number of late nights climbing up your metal ladder to get to the rooftop and watching the small tiny stars had made you two somewhat immune to the nightly cold. Your mom sometimes would even climb up herself to bring hot cocoa, rightfully worried that the two of you would freeze yourselves to death. 

You see your apartment, like the rest of your complex, wasn’t in the greatest condition. The infrastructure of it mostly relying on a mix of cement and brick, rust engulfing most things along with metal bars on each complex’s windows in order to prevent break ins. Crime was not something uncommon in your area, but something that you were used to hearing about as you got older. 

What made the whole situation more ironic was that the rich were separated by a simple six way motorway, acting almost as a bridge between two completely different worlds with their skyscrapers and condos looking down upon you guys. It was only at night when the stars were out and you looked up at the navy blue sky that you felt like for a small moment none of it mattered. The warm milky glow of the moon never failing to soothe you, reminding you that even in the dark there was light. Reminding you that even now which felt as if was one of the darkest hours in your life, there was going to be light. At least that’s what you hoped. 

“This view just never gets old,” you whispered, amazed at the moonlight’s reflection, the speckle of stars only adding to its beauty. Your eyes had once again become watery, a sudden state of reflection washing over you, but you quickly composed yourself before Yuna could notice. 

“What time do you even go in tomorrow?” Yuna asked, her eyes still primarily focused on the view above. 

“Well their flight is at 1PM so my mom told me I should get there by at least 11AM so he can explain everything to me, show me around, and all that other stuff.”

“I don’t see why you have an attitude about it, you’re acting like it’s the worst job in the world!” she scolded you. 

“I know I know, I’ve heard it all already,” you rolled your eyes recalling your mom's lecture and that she expected your attitude to be fixed come Monday morning.

“Well you gotta do what you gotta do,” Yuna mumbled while shrugging her shoulders and continuing to eat her food. 

“You can say that again.... ” you acknowledged her remark, secretly scared for tomorrow, silently hoping that all went well, “and I thought I was a slob,” you snorted, watching how sloppily Yuna was slurping her noodles. She raised her hand, smacking you on the shoulder. 

“Hey, watch—” 

Monday Morning.

“Where you’re going, you asshole!” you shouted over your window, your irritation fixated at the man who cut you off without signaling. God how you hated driving in the city. All the one way signs, the assholes who called themselves drivers, and the narrow streets which were hard to maneuver in. It all caused unnecessary stress, but here you were nonetheless. 

“Turn right in 1.2 miles,” you let out a snide scoff as you entered the parking lot, there was nothing but car of the year models ranging from Mercedes Benz’s, BMW’s, Range Rover’s, and more. All making your car look worse than it already did. 

Making your way into the lobby, you were in complete utter awe of the place. From the giant diamond chandelier hanging from above to the sparkly interior design which screamed Hollywood glam. The ivory colored double staircase reminded you of Titanic, the color scheme of the whole place was overwhelmingly beautiful. You could only imagine what Mr. Choi’s condo could look like as you made your way to the front desk. 

Ding. 

To your surprise a boy, a very handsome one to say the least, appeared from what you assumed was his office. He looked no older than you, his hair dyed a crimson-red color giving him a youthful appearance accompanied with a face that had both sharp and soft features. Before you could ponder on why such a good looking person was working and not living at a place like this, your thoughts were interrupted. 

“Hello, welcome to The Oaks condos, how can I help you?” he asked, sounding eerily similar to a robot. It reminded you of yourself at your old job, something you certainly would not miss.

“Um I’m Mr. Choi’s new assistant,” you looked for his name tag which coincidentally he didn’t have on, but you could immediately see his shoulders relax once he had heard the words “new assistant”. 

“Ah yes! You’re Ms. Y/L/N’s daughter right? Y/N right?” you nodded in agreement, a smile now appearing on his face, causing the corner of your lips to turn upward. Wow was this guy handsome, you only hoped that the heat you felt on your cheeks wasn’t visible to the eye. 

“Your mom called me to give me a heads up. I’m Hoseok, I’m what you can consider the receptionist around here,” he said, reaching his hand out for you to shake. 

Hoseok. The name sounded so familiar, you could’ve sworn you'd heard your mom mention the name a couple times. 

A light bulb then went off in your head, as you remembered the countless number of times she had tried setting you up on a date with him, but wow did she fail to mention that Hoseok had the literal face of a GQ model. 

An awkward cough brought you back to reality as you had realized that Hoseok’s hand had been stuck out for quite some time, you were now certain that your face must’ve resembled a ripe tomato. You quickly returned the handshake, internally scolding yourself for making yourself look like an idiot. Here you were, a grown woman, acting like a teenager again. 

“So um, you seem um ... pretty young to be working here?” 

“I could ask you the same thing,” he teased, “I replaced my aunt after she retired and the owner of this place trusted her to teach me well, and well I guess I’ve been doing a pretty good job if I’m still employed,” he explained, playfully winking at you, confirming that he knew the effect he had on people. You stood there in silence, deciding that it was just best to say nothing, look pretty, and nod. Thus causing him throw his head back and laugh, making small claps with his hands. With the way you were acting, you couldn’t blame him. He must’ve thought you were some kind of walking circus act. 

“You’ll get used to it, you know...” you now had a look a look of confusion on your face which only made him laugh harder, but before you could ask him any questions, he changed the topic. 

“Well I assume your mom gave you Mr. Choi’s key pass, correct?” you shyly nodded no in response. “Ah I see, let’s go ahead and get that set up for you then,” you watched him as he began to type some things onto the computer in front of him. Compared to how fast his fingers were moving across the keyboard, he made you like a complete newb on the keyboard. The boy was clearly now in his own zone. 

“First name, Y/N?” 

“Yes.” 

“Last name, Y/L/N?” 

“Yes.” 

“You see where that X mark is on your left?” he pointed at the microscopic mark on the floor to which you followed, “Okay now look at where that pretty gold flower is on the wall, and say cheese!” Before you could even properly prepare yourself you heard the sound of the shutter go off, immediately causing Hoseok to begin cracking up. 

He turned the desktop computer to face towards you, showing the horrendous picture the camera took of you. One eye had come out mid-blink, your mouth slightly agape from fixing your hair in the moment. “Hey that’s not—!” Before you could start complaining, Hoseok had quickly interrupted. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! It’s only for the program’s database which only Rachel and I see? Ain’t that right Rachel?” Rachel? Who the hell was that? 

Glancing around to see who this Rachel person was, you were surprised to see a very old woman seated behind the front desk seemingly caring less about what he had said, a permanent scowl on her face along with a small groan coming out of her mouth as a response. “That’s my girl,” Hoseok jested, “Now you,” he dramatically pointed at you, “come back over here.” 

You muttered a quiet “Whatever,” peeved by his little antics. Maybe it was because Rachel was old but you could slowly see why she had that look on her face.  

“Place your index finger on the small machine when it lights up,” he pointed to the small biometric scanning machine, similar to the ones used at the DMV. Following the simple instructions you allowed the machine to scan your finger, assuming it was going to be used for something important around here. 

All you could do was observe him as he finished typing who knows what. You observed how his eyebrows quirked as he continued to type, a satisfied smile gracing his lips once he was done. 

Too caught up in his appearance, the sudden tug at your hand had caught you by surprise, yanking you from where you were standing. “I’ll be back Rachel! I’m going to show little Ms. Y/N here around,” Rachel as before. only grunted in response. 

“So here of course we have the lobby, this is where all the..” he glanced around making sure no one was around before whispering, “snobby folks come in and out of every day. Them and their visitors of course, so hopefully you don’t have to interact with any of them.”

“I don’t think all of this will be neces—” before you could continue he pulled your hand again now guiding you towards another area. You glanced at the time on your phone, hoping this so called tour wasn’t going to take too long. 

“Right here is the entrance to the patio and pool area, which is what you’ll use your fingerprint for as well as entering Mr. Choi’s condo and any other amenities we have around here,” he reached into his pocket pulling out a laminated card, “but if for any reason our system’s down then this right here should do the trick for amenities only, you’ll have to come up to the front desk if the finger pad in the elevator isn’t working. For precautionary reasons of course,” he explained, most of it pretty self explanatory, except the elevator part but you assumed he’d get to that soon.  

“So the entrance to every apartment is through the elevator which is right there on your left,” You followed him as he began to walk towards it, placing his finger on the elevator’s finger scanning pad, “The stairs are really only here for decoration considering no one uses them, I mean unless of course you want to climb up 7 flights of stairs everyday,” You quickly nodded your head no, “Only resident’s and employee fingerprints allow the elevator to open but,” the two of you stepped into the elevator, “the fingerpad inside the elevator only allows certain people to access certain floors. Since Mr. Choi’s going to be out on vacation with his vacation, you are currently the only person with access to his floor,” you raised your finger, slightly confused. 

“Don’t you technically—” 

“I do, but let’s say I were to enter a resident’s condo without their explicit permission, they’d immediately be notified through their phone as I’m also under strict contract.” Your mouth made an “O” shape, impressed by how everything was ran around here. Another question then popped up in your mind as he clicked the elevator’s 7th button. 

“Well what if there’s more than one person in the elevator? What then?” 

“Ah good question! Since you don’t know any of the residents here yet, I suggest you always try to go into the elevator by yourself, and if the situation arises where you feel uncomfortable or paranoid about who's in the elevator with you then just go back down to the lobby of course and wait it out, but we’ve never had any cases of break ins or anything like that. Especially not in an area like this. Things around here are ran very smoothly,” he shrugged, “I mean around here the burglars don’t wear black ski mask and carry scary weapons. In fact the real criminals live on these same floors,” he deadpanned, slightly catching you by surprise. 

1.

“I know what you’re probably thinking, who the hell makes an elevator an entrance to their home? I thought the same thing when I first started, but for some reason they see it as some kind of luxury feature around here...”

2. 

“Mm it’s expected if I’m being honest,” you chuckled, slowly finding the confidence to make small talk with Hoseok without getting so flustered. A pregnant silence had made it’s way into the elevator. 

3.

“I’m sorry about your mom by the way...” though he had said it out the blue, you could feel the sincerity behind his words. All you could do was give him a small smile of acknowledgment, feeling as if it was too early to feel someone’s pity. “She talks about you a lot...” he said, causing you to smile. 

4. 

“My Y/N is going to one of the top schools in all of Korea! My Y/N is going to become a successful businesswoman! My Y/N is so pretty Hobi, a boy like you should take her out some time!” he mimicked your mom’s voice, now causing you to genuinely laugh. 

5. 

“That definitely sounds like her,” you giggled, your cheeks now becoming a tinging shade of pink at the mention of her trying to playing matchmaker. 

“You should’ve seen her face when I told her I was gay,” your eyes immediately felt as if they had bulged out of your eye sockets, your face now completely red at his previous words. He on the other hand was now laughing as hard as ever, his hand clutching onto his stomach from laughing so hard. 

6. 

“I told you you’d get used to me,” he said in-between laughs, tears now welting out of his eyes from his laughing fit. Things definitely started to make sense, especially now that you were inconveniently remembering how your mom had completely stopped mentioning Hoseok in any romantic way to you. You covered your face with your hands in embarrassment because here you were already fantasizing about the dude. 

“You're also probably wondering why I’m working at a place like this, that’s what most people ask me when they visit round here, but...”

7. 

“I’ll have to answer your questions some other time Ms. Y/N because well here we are! I’ll have your parking pass ready by the time leave but for now just place your finger on the scanner and off you go,” you followed his instructions, opening the doors of the elevator, stepping out, and waving a small goodbye watching him return the wave as the doors slowly closed. In all honesty you were genuinely happy at the fact that you had made a friend around here even though you were still slightly embarrassed about the moment that had played out only minutes ago. 

But before you could dwell on it any longer, you heard a voice call out your name, “Ah Y/N, good you’re here right on time!” You formally greeted who you presumed was Mrs. Choi, slightly surprised at the fact that she even knew your name. 

“You don’t have to be so formal. Muah. Muah,” she pulled you in for a hug and giving you a kiss on each cheek like the French do. “I’m so sorry to hear about your mother, tell her I send my condolences.” You returned her fake smile, not expecting yourself to despise her this early on. Oh were you glad she wasn’t going to be around.

Mrs. Choi in a way reminded you of Regina George’s mom despite not having any kids. Needles and plastic were definitely her best friends, and her attempt to try and act younger than her actual age was quite cringe to watch. 

Soon after greeting each other, two pomeranians began to circle around you barking. You bent down trying to pet them, but you guess they picked up the snob’s attitude because all they did was continue barking and one even tried to bite you. 

“If it isn’t Y/N, I feel like I haven’t seen you in years!” you snapped your attention to the man himself, Mr. Choi, who was coming down his stairs with a thick black luggage case in his hand. The last time you saw him was around 9 years ago when he had lived on the other side of the city. Your mom had to take you to work with her that day because your neighbor was unavailable to watch after you and you were still too young to be home alone.

Mr. Choi had definitely changed in appearance, his once full head of black hair was now clearly balding, he had gained some weight, and overall looked like a man who had long been worn out. You couldn’t help but think that this vacation was probably needed, especially with a wife like his.  

“I’ll wait for you in the car my love. It was nice seeing you Y/N, I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!” she squealed, waving goodbye as she stepped into the elevator, the dogs following right behind her.

You could hear Mr. Choi sigh, probably already mentally preparing himself for the next 10 weeks. So this is what a pretentious marriage looks like, you thought to yourself. You theorized that Mr. Choi must’ve only married her for her looks and she for his money, and well no wonder there were no kids in the picture. It’d be the ultimate death of both of them. You actually felt pity for the man, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have a choice in marrying her.

You brought your attention back to Mr. Choi who must have been rambling on for some time now, “My most recent assistant just quit on me for no reason,” a genuine puzzled look on his face, “something about me being too overwhelming for her, as if I'm supposed to know what that means,” he scoffed. “So when your mom mentioned you well I knew I could trust her!”

Your mom truly never failed at mentioning you to whoever and whenever she possibly could, it was both a blessing and a curse. 

“So… what exactly am I going to be in charge of?” You blurted out, the question had been lingering in your mind since the night prior.

“Good question, I’d show you around, but time is on the essence. I basically just need you to organize my office, file paperwork, organize Amelia’s closet, go run errands for me, pick up documents, but most importantly I’m going to need you to attend certain events in place for me, but of course just introduce yourself as my assistant, apologize as to why I couldn’t be there, and most importantly keep your eyes and ears open. In my world we like to keep… tabs… on one another,” your eyebrow quirked in curiosity, “and since I won’t have any signal I expect to have a report ready for me when I come back so I’m caught up with everything of course,” he grabbed something from the coffee table, “I made a planner for you with everything that needs to be done on a day to day basis,” he then proceeded in handing you the bulk gray planner, “It includes passwords, data sheets, and all that good stuff.” 

You were amazed at how his demeanor had changed from clumsy-like to serious businessman in the blink of an eye. It was actually quite intimidating.

“Finances need to be kept in check, investors need to be accommodated, and well I just want to come back to everything being normal,” he began to gather the remainder of his stuff, “also your money is going to be wired to your bank account on a weekly basis and well that’s really it. I’ll see you in 10 weeks Ms. L/N! Good luck!”

“Good luck..” you quietly repeated his final parting words back to yourself, watching as the elevator doors closed. You could see why his last assistant quit, you didn’t even know where to start. You took a deep breath deciding to make your way up to his office, your day was just getting started.

The condo may have looked like it came out of a show from HGTV, but Mr. Choi’s office looked like it came out of an episode of Hoarders Buried Alive. There were scattered papers everywhere, his desk was practically hidden by all the stacks of papers. Food wrappers and aluminum soda cans thrown around like the slob he was, the stench making you want to throw up. 

“Oh my God…” you said to yourself, this man was just a mess. 

You skimmed through some of the papers all of them having to do with different things ranging from firm performance, finances, legal forms, and much more. You could already feel a headache coming, but at the end of the day this was your job. You grabbed some storage boxes and began to label them with a black marker.

Your plan was to separate the papers into two sections: Important and Unimportant. Once you finished separating, you’d then shred what you deemed unimportant, and further organize what was important by date and then transfer them to his filing cabinets. It would take time, but it was the only method you could possibly think of. Your goal was to stop by 3 and then start working on Mrs. Choi’s closet.

You put on your earphones and began to play some music so that you wouldn’t be so stressed while organizing everything.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and bottles of bubbles…” you hummed to yourself and before you knew it, it was already 3. You had thrown out all of the trash in his office, and for the majority part most of his papers were organized. 

You sighed, now to get started with her damn closet.

Mrs. Choi’s closet was its own giant room, marble shelves stacked with bags and shoes, racks full of clothes, jewelry sparkling under their display showcase. The sparkling glass chandelier on the ceiling adding an extra oomph to the room. 

Hermes. Gucci. Chanel. Versace. Burberry. Balmain. Louis Vuitton. Saint Laurent. Fendi.

Any brand you could think of was in this closet, it was unbelievable. The closet had to be worth several thousands, no millions. So many questions were running through your head. How could someone just have so much? What do you even do with this amount of clothes? You were truly left speechless.

Shaking your head, you began to pick up all the clothes on the floor deciding that it was best to organize everything by color, your day almost done.

By the time your alarm went off it was already six which is the time that Mr. Choi had said you could leave, and it wasn’t like he was paying you extra for staying any longer and doing more work. For the most part, you had finished with both the office and closet and were just ready to go home, jump into bed, and watch some Netflix.

You went down the elevator,  satisfied at your first day on the job. This was going to be easy, you thought to yourself.

Just as you were leaving the lobby you heard Hoseok, “Hey I had your parking permit printed out!”  You stopped dead in your tracks, turned around and walked towards his desk. It wouldn’t hurt to make a little bit of conversation, right?

“Ah I had forgotten about that, thanks,” you chuckled.

“It’s no problem! The parking officer loves giving tickets.… so how was your first day?”

“Um not bad actually, a little boring to be honest,” you pondered at his question, for the most part you were being truthful, “Tomorrow I’m supposed to go and get Mr. Choi’s Mercedes Benz checked out, and then from there go and pick up some paperwork from some legal firm, transfer it onto his computer.”

“Well at least he’s not around to be over your shoulder, he practically had his last assistant going nuts,” he responded, laughing at the memory.

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow,” you yawned, giving him a small wave goodbye.

“Hey well let me know if you ever need anything, and I’m being serious,” and to that you nodded, taking note of what he said.

Monday Afternoon.

[Incoming Facetime from: Ma 💞💗💓💕]

Immediately you clicked “accept”, having just gotten home and tidying up a couple things around the apartment. 

“So how was your first day?” your mom immediately questions you, clearly eager to know. 

“It was pretty decent ma, nothing I can’t handle,” you chuckled, “but wow was that man’s office practically a pig pen,” you complained only causing your mom to start laughing. 

“Oh I know,” she comments, only causing you to roll your eyes. 

“I think these 10 weeks should go by quite smoothly if I say so myself,” you sounded genuinely optimistic, “I met Hoseok you know,” your embarrassment had long subsided, instead finding it hilarious.

“Ah my Hobi!” your mom sounding delighted at the mention of the young boy, “a hard worker that boy is I'm telling you.” 

“He seems like it,” you had long concluded that he was when he had been explaining everything about the residency to you. He seemed like one of those people who even though they disliked their job, still put in their absolute everything into making sure they were the best at it. “You shoud’ve seen me giving him the googly eyes earlier,” you joked around. 

“Hobi is—” 

“Gay, yeah I know. I had to find that out the hard way,” you covered your face with your hands, playfully sulking. 

“Why do you think I stopped trying to set the two of you up,” your mom laughed. 

“Mm really ma? I would’ve never guessed,” sarcasm dripping from your words. 

“Hey remember who you’re sp—” 

“Anywayssss, how are you holding up out there?” you took a sip from the cup of juice you had served yourself earlier, your mom’s dismissive expression returning back to a smile. 

“Well the food around here is horrible! I told my nurse that they should let me in the kitchen for a change, but all she did was laugh!” You grinned at the idea of your mom actually working at the cafeteria for the sake of it. 

"Ah well I’lll make sure to bring you something on Wednesday.” 

“Did anything arrive in the mail today about the invoice for everything?” your mom asked, a look of worry now on her face. 

“No ma, and don’t even worry about anything like that okay? Focus on your treatment, and you let me handle the rest alright?” your voice now becoming stern, leave it to your mom to start worrying about finances. 

“I know, I know, but I know some fees were coming up and well—” 

“And I’m telling you to leave it to me, okay?” 

“Ah okay then, well I'm going to sleep already,” she yawned, “they’ve been prodding needles in me all day,” she tried to say it as lighthearted as she could, but she quickly regretted it as she saw the sudden sad look on your face. 

“Goodnight ma, I’ll see you Wednesday alright?” 

“Okay then Y/N, I love you.” 

“I love you too,” and with a small pressured smile, you clicked “end call”. An immediate sigh coming from your lips as you glanced at the several unsealed envelopes on your coffee table, many of the scattered papers stamped with a red “PAST DUE”. 

School, rent, the water bill, the light bill, the gas bill, your phone bill, the old hospital bills, the new ones, all due in such small amounts of time with almost no room in-between dates to rest. 

And so that night you laid in bed staring at your ceiling for what felt like hours unable to go to sleep. The only thing on your mind was how you were going to get the funds to pay for everything because well if you didn’t then you’d be left in hospital debt with an eviction notice right at your door and a whole bunch of other problems that you didn’t want to think about.

Deciding that it was best to get a breath of fresh air, you made your way to the rooftop, watching as the scattered stars glimmered in the sky. You sorta wished that life could be like those childhood TV shows where a shooting star would pass by and make your wish all come true, but the fact was, is that your life isn’t a movie or a tv show. This was your reality, and you were just going to have to suck it up.   

You unlocked your phone and texted the only person you possibly could.

[To: Yuna 🤍]

[10:09] you up??

You tapped your foot, waited for her to reply.

[From: Yuna 🤍]

[10:10] i'm offended that that’s even a question tbh

[you]

[10:11] you think you can come over? pleaseeee 🥺

[10:12] ik it’s late and you’re probably tired and work tmrw but i just rlly need some company rn

[From: Yuna 🤍]

[10:13] i’ll be there in 10, don’t judge how i look

[you]

[10:14] when have i ever…

Soon enough you heard a knock on your door.

“I brought your favorite snacks,” Yuna had a giant grin plastered on her face to which you couldn’t help but smile at. Her makeup-free face and bright Hello Kitty pajamas told you that she was probably in bed when you texted her. 

Once she slid off her shoes, she was quick to make herself feel at home by jumping onto your couch. Hell, this was basically her second home.

“Do you work tomorrow?” you asked her.

“I called off, I’ve already accumulated a lot of hours anyway and well I might as well start putting them to use,” she stated, as she munched on a freshly opened bag of barbeque chips. 

Yuna was a retail clerk at the local mall, attending fashion school at night in hopes of landing herself a future internship, but like you was currently on summer vacation. Even in middle school, becoming a world renowned fashion designer had always been her dream, having gone to the the principal’s office a countless number of times because she added some kind of tailor to the plain old school uniform whether it be bedazzles or embellishing some kind of bizarre pattern onto it. 

Yuna though was sadly a case of a prodigy without the resources, accepted to one of Seoul’s top fashion schools when the two of you had graduated high school. You were there the day she opened her letter of acceptance, the two of you along with her family celebrating by going to one of Seoul’s most expensive restaurants. But just as you were there the day she was accepted, you were also her shoulder to cry on the day she realized that the money she had saved up wouldn’t even cover a quarter of tuition costs, and her applications for scholarships had all fallen through. 

What you admired most about Yuna was that disappointment didn't stop her from trying. Her designs were truly one of a kind, and you weren’t even saying that because she was your best friend and had a bias towards her. You could only hope that one day she’d be recognized for her talents. 

You grabbed your blanket from your room and sat next to her on the couch. She stared at you while you flicked through different channels on the TV, sensing that something was wrong. 

You could practically feel her burning a hole through your head and so you decided to answer the question you knew was looming in her head, “I’m not okay,” you mumbled, letting out a sardonic laugh. “I’m trying to act like I am, but I'm just not,” you stared off into the TV not wanting to make eye contact with her, “it’s just not fair,” you whispered, confused with yourself as to whether you were sad or angry.

Yuna could feel her heart wrench as she listened.

“My mom’s been nothing but a kind person, I’ve been nothing but a kind person, and so I can’t help but ask why? What did we do to end up in a situation like this?” you hadn’t even realized that tears were falling from your eyes until you felt the salty drops of water make their way onto your lips, dripping from your chin, “The whole time I was in Mr. Choi’s condo looking around at the million dollar paintings, and organizing his wife’s thousand dollar outfits I kept thinking to myself how can a man like Mr. Choi just not care? He didn’t even bother to ask how she was...” you seethed, the emptiness in your voice had now become anger.

Yuna scoffed, “The rich are always looking down on us like we’re just nothing but money makers to them, demanding their respect like they deserve it for free.”

“I just,” you paused for a second, “I just don’t know what to do, I think I might have to start looking for a second job or something, or maybe even take a gap year...” you breathed out, running a hand through your hair in distress. 

And maybe one could call it fate with what you and Yuna had seen on your TV that night. Destiny perhaps. Whatever it was, it was going to open the doors to a brand new world. A world that you had only ever caught small glimpses of.

“Kim Taehyung is officially Seoul’s most eligible bachelor, our sources have confirmed that he and on and off again girlfriend Sunhi have called it quits permanently this time. The reason you may ask? Rumor has it that she was caught cheating on him,” the entertainment reporter had a giant grin on her face, “That’s right ladies, the heir to Kim Enterprises is back on the market.”

Pictures which you assumed were recent showed Taehyung partying, drinking, flashing expensive cars, and at red carpet events for major fashion brands. “Tweet us using hasht—” you changed the channel on the TV, bored of the topic at hand.

“I swear he’s the only person they talk about nowadays, I mean literally he’s everywhere!” you chuckled, turning your attention to Yuna who for some odd reason now had a look of disbelief on her face.

“Y/N… how did I— no how did we not think of this earlier?” Yuna got up from the couch like an excited toddler causing you to tilt your head to the side in honest confusion. 

“What the hell are you talking about now,” you said, laughing at how childish she looked. She was now pacing herself back and forth across your living room, her adrenaline practically visible.

“You know I don’t normally believe in this stuff but holy shit this has got to be a sign!” At this point you were convinced she was talking to herself considering she wasn’t even making direct eye contact when she said that. She frantically ran her hands through her hair, “I mean you have the quote on quote resources, the clothes, my fashion expertise, the car, the events, and he’s single now. Oh my God how did we not think of this,” you carefully listened to what she said trying to piece everything together. Resources? Clothes? Was she talking about Kim Taehyung?

Your eyes immediately widened when you put two and two together and realized what she was so excited about, and it was now your turn to get up from the couch.

“You’re literally insane you understand that right!?” you stared at her, completely baffled. You thought stopping her from pacing around would bring her back to reality and get that grin off her face, but if anything it did the opposite.

“Y/N! What are the chances that as we’re talking about your finance issues and then something like that comes up! What are the chances that you literally work for a millionaire who's going to be gone for several weeks and expects you to attend his events! You can’t tell me that this isn’t hmm…  I don’t know… Fate!” All you could do was stare at her in disbelief as she began to mumble something about this being something “straight out of a movie”. You were waiting for her to laugh and tell you this was all some kind of joke, but you soon realized she was being serious.

“The fact that you’re actually being serious about this is ridiculous!”

“And the fact that you think it’s ridiculous is what’s really crazy!” you shook your head refusing to accept what she was alluding to.

“Yuna! Let’s be rational he—”

“No, just listen to me Y/N. Please,” you looked at Yuna who had now calmed down, her face completely serious, “I know it seems out of the ballpark…” you nodded in agreement, “You have the opportunity to infiltrate the rich, and not just anyone but the Kim family! You know how many rumors there are about that family and their business!” she shouted while adding extra emphasis on the word infiltrate as if this was some kind of spy movie.

You sighed, “And how exactly would I do that? How could I not get caught up in lies? Why the Kim family? Why not not just steal some of Mr. Choi’s belongings and sell them on Ebay or something? Just what exactly are y—”

“You didn’t let me finish!” you grunted in annoyance. There were just so many questions running through your head, did she not realize the risk in what she was proposing? The consequences?

“You’re a stranger in their world, a brand new person … a brand new identity! You already have to go to these events as it is, and you can’t steal anything from Mr. Choi and sell it because I mean clearly he knows who you are. They, as in the rich, do not,” Yuna knew she had managed to grab your attention based on the look of skepticism on your face, “And technically you’re not going to be stealing Mrs. Choi’s clothes, you’ll be um ... borrowing them.” she flashed a giddy smile, “10 weeks Y/N, 10 weeks to get Kim Taehyung to fall in love with you, blackmail money out of that family, and then poof you disappear without a trace!”

“You have no idea how many questions are running through my head at this very moment.”

“And I think I can give you answers to them all, but please Y/N just think about it! It would solve all of your problems, financially at least,” you jokingly hit her shoulder as she teased you with the last part of her sentence, “you wouldn’t be doing it for yourself, you’d be doing it for your mom.”

“For my mom…” you mumbled to yourself. Yuna stared at your blank expression. She could only assume that you were letting everything sink in before making a decision. On one hand you’d be able to pay for all of your expenses while still getting your job done, but on the other you'd be using someone under a false pretense in order to blackmail money out of them. You’d literally be infiltrating the rich. You were scared. What if you got caught? Would you go to jail? What would happen to your mom?

You had made your decision.

“I trust you Yuna… I really do…” she now had a worrisome look on her face, “and so..” without even realizing it Yuna had been crossing her fingers, “I’m in.”  

“Oh my God,” she let out a sigh of both relief and disbelief, a beaming smile on her face.

“But!” her smile quickly disappeared after hearing your tone, “we need to plan this thoroughly, like a solid proof plan by tonight on pen and paper, you got me?” she nodded in agreement, “and I think there’s someone we need involved in this... “

She tilted her head in confusion.

“Who?”

Tuesday Morning.

“Yuna this is Hoseok, Hoseok this is Yuna,” the two shook hands giving one another a warm smile.

Yuna began eyeing you in a way of saying “Are you sure about this?”. You understood why she was skeptical of Yuna whether or not she’d agree to everything, hell you had your own doubts. What if Hoseok said no? Worse, what if he completely snitched you out? Then you’d be stuck with no job, no money, and probably blacklisted from all major companies in Seoul by Mr. Choi himself with the label “thief” over your head. You had to reassure yourself that everything would be just fine, “So what brings you guys here?”

“Well I was hoping I could talk to you um…” you glanced around, “somewhere private,” you whispered giving him a shy smile, “maybe up in Mr. Choi’s condo,” you offered remembering that Rachel could possibly be hearing (though you highly doubted she’d care).  

“Oh um… sure, let me just tell Rachel to cover for me,” he awkwardly dismissed himself to the back.

“I don’t know Y/N … he seems like the type of person to not want to risk his job..” Yuna whispered to you, she was clearly on high alert.

“He told me I could ask him for anything, and well I know I’ve only known her for about 24 hours, but I don’t know… something about him just seems reliable, I can't explain it. It’s just better to have him on our team than to be suspicious of us. I can’t do this whole infiltration thing being paranoid that the receptionist is going to snitch on me when he sees me walk out with clothes worth thousands of dollars,” you replied, “And if this really is playing out as a movie like you say, then we need someone whose tech savvy.” 

“You have a point,” she chuckled, “wait how do you know he’s good at computers again?” 

Your mind flashed back to the night before, while Yuna was asleep you had gone full stalker mode on Hoseok to get to the bottom of who he was. After hours of looking through different social media platforms you had ended up finding both his Twitter and Instagram @/junghsk, where he had pictures of his college graduation from 2 years ago. Major? Computer Science. It explained why he looked like he was in some Matrix movie the other day, and though of course it didn't mean automatically he was an expert, he definitely must’ve been better than both you and Yuna combined when it came to programming which is something (based on your plan) you were going to need for future endeavors. 

You also came to find out that he was an avid animal lover, taught cardio dance classes on morning weekends, likes to live tweet show series such as Games of Thrones, and is in a committed relationship with someone named Min Yoongi. What could you say? You liked to do intensive research. 

Once Hoseok returned the three of you went up to Mr. Choi’s condo, the elevator ride up was definitely awkward compared to the day before. 

Yuna was in clear awe of the place. You could tell she wanted to give herself a personal tour, but you shot her a look dismissing the idea as she could easily do that later.

“We should sit,” you suggested pointing to the kitchen’s island, "Yuna can make us all some instant ramen,” she immediately shot you a look of annoyance, but didn’t argue with you making her way to the pantry.  

“So...” he quietly mumbled at an attempt to break the ice, making small tapping noises on the island’s surface with his fingers. 

Flashing him a pretentious smile, you awkwardly glanced around trying to think of something to make small talk with, “Um do you like Games of Thrones?” 

Immediately he grinned, you expected a “yes” to come out of his mouth but instead he said, “Ah so that was you yesterday!” 

The color drained out of your face , wait what? He began to laugh, making small claps as he threw his head back, “You were stalking me,” his face scrunched up as he began to tease you. 

“What are you talking about?” your tone becoming defensive along with your eyebrows furrowing, only causing his fits of laughter to become louder. His index finger wiping the tears that began to form in his eyes. 

“Don’t act like you didn't like and unlike my picture at like 3 in the morning!” He suddenly pulled out his phone, showing the notification which he hadn’t cleared from his phone, showing your username and the words “liked your photo” following right after. You had forgotten about that... 

It was already 3AM and you were beginning to doze off, eyelids barely even open. You saw the white heart on Instagram appear on a 56 week old picture which you immediately unliked, also causing you to jolt out of your comfortable position in panic. 

Damn you Instagram. “Whatever you need must be pretty important if you’re up at 3AM instastalking me.” 

“Oh shut up—” 

“Well since you were on there, what hair color do you prefer on me: red, brown, or black?” You scowled before muttering a quiet “brown”. “Really I’ve been told red looks best on me, hmm...” he pondered, pressing his index finger onto his bottom lip. "So are you going to tell me what this is all about anytime soon or ...” he said, his tone coming out more demanding than he intended, but Hoseok was the kind of person that didn’t like to beat around the bush, rather preferring to be told things straight up as they were. 

“Okay..” You started, explaining to him of your situation starting from your mom, to the bills you needed to pay, why this job just wasn’t enough, why you needed to go ahead with your plan, why you needed him to be in on everything, and emphasizing that you weren’t doing this for yourself but your mom. By the time you finished explaining, Yuna was already done making the noodles.

Hoseok sat there in silence, you could hear your heart from your chest, your fingers getting slightly sweaty as you thought of the different possible outcomes. The deafening silence had made you feel like you guys were there for hours. Honestly, you could have heard a pin drop. 

It wasn’t until you saw his signature smile beginning to form on his face that you could’ve sworn you felt bricks actually fall off your shoulders.

“Okay let’s do it,” he stated as he began to slurp on his noodles.

“You’re in?” Yuna asked in complete shock, eyes completely widened. He nodded in return clearly enjoying his food, “You don’t have any questions? No concerns?”

Hoseok shrugged, “Mm well of course I’m curious as to what exactly the plan is, which I’m sure you’ll be explaining to me soon, but nope. I’d probably say no if the cause wasn’t for something important,” he looked at you giving a warm compassionate smile, “and this has got to be the most interesting thing that’s happened on this job for the past 2 years so there’s that,” his brows knitting remembering past situations with residents, “and lastly these snobs deserve what’s coming to them,” he finished off causing all three of you to laugh. 

“Well then cheers to mission… ummm... “ Yuna placed her finger on her chin, causing you to facepalm yourself as she was trying to think of a name for something so irrelevant.

“7 Rings,” Hoseok interjected , “like the Ariana Grande song. I want it, I got it!” 

“You like my hair gee thanks just bought it!” you guys simultaneously sang at the top of your lungs, clinking each other’s drinks.

And so that was how mission “7 Rings” came into fruition, but of course like everything else in the world, nothing ever goes as planned. If only you had realized then that things were going to change, whether they were for the better or for the worse… well that was for you to find out on your own.

author’s note 🧚🏻 : SK has universal health care but for the sake of the plot we’re going to have to pretend they have a private healthcare system so please don’t attack me lmao. Also please like & repost as it keeps me motivated to write and update faster !! Thank you in advance if you do 💞

7 Rings | 02

♛ pairing: taehyung/reader

♛ genre: richboy!taehyung | blackmailer!reader | infiltration au | future smut | angst.

♛ rating: mature

♛ word count: 9,990+

♛ warnings for this chapter : explicit language, usage of alcohol (legal)

♛ (please read) author’s note: This chapter basically goes back in time to the day in which Y/N finds out about her mother, but instead we now get a glimpse of tae’s life so there is not much y/n in this chapter !! Just to let y’all know so you don’t get confused :)

♛ summary: In desperate need of money, you and your best friend come up with a plan to infiltrate one of Seoul’s richest families, the Kim family. The plan was simple, garner some money and disappear, but of course things don’t always go as planned. Especially not with someone like Kim Taehyung.

━ ❝ Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve 'em.❞

♛ chapter index/masterlist || series masterlist

Chapters⇢ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08

Friday Morning.

“In today’s news, the Kim family’s multibillion dollar deal has been officially confirmed. Their partnership with Hyundai is estimated to bring in at least seven billion in revenue to Korea’s economy over the next 5 years. Both parties have agreed to terms that will lift…”

Kim Taehyung stared at the coffee shop’s mounted TV as he waited in line to order, feeling as if it was already too early to be stressed out. The weary feeling of 4 hours of sleep was beginning to manifest itself, irritation slowly beginning to take its form. Honestly, it was a feeling he found himself feeling quite often these days. In a few years, the responsibility of a billion dollar empire would be under his hands, something he wasn’t exactly looking forward to. The images of his dad shaking hands with Hyundai’s CEO appearing on the TV, the man was basically hailed a hero. Taehyung’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

One could say his relationship with his father was not only distant but … complicated. As Taehyung grew up watching his dad’s empire become almost unstoppable, it also meant that he was always away from home. Though for the most part, Taehyung didn’t mind. His mother was everything a child could ask for, compassionate, hard-working, and never failing to provide her almost endless unconditional love for the young boy.

When he was younger though, his father seemed like an unattainable hero, an inspiration, and at some point it was a relationship he longed for. He often felt guilty whenever he’d hear kids in his school mention not having a father figure in their lives, either due to tragedy or other unspecified reasons. He was lucky enough to have his father in his life … so then why didn’t it ever feel like it ? Not like he had a right to complain.

Without his father he wouldn’t have grown up in the world of luxuries as he was fortunately able to. You see, there was a reason why Kim Enterprises was plastered all over Seoul (if not all of Korea), and that was because they were the IT company. A multi-conglomerate holding company who owned stakes in almost every major company from South Korea that you could possibly think of. Their rise in power was truly undeniable.

The company had been founded just a couple of years before Taehyung had been born, originally starting off as an insurance company which had done small investments in prospect companies, slowly rising in their investment and stakeholder shares. At least that was the story Taehyung’s father told him growing up, never failing to remind him that he came from nothing, and for that reason Taehyung should be nothing but grateful, stating that because of him he’d never know what it was like to feel the stigma of being poor in his own home and the powerlessness that comes with it. And you see Taehyung had absolutely no problem with that because well… it was true, and there was no denying that. What bothered him though, was that those speeches never seemed to come out of a place of genuinity, but one of animosity. As if to remind Taehyung that without his father he was, is, and would’ve been nothing.

To a certain extent he respected his father, but he didn’t love him. There was no genuine relationship there, and he knows it may sound horrible to say, but Taehyung most definitely had his reasons. But some things were just simply better left unsaid.

“Hello? Next in line,” a voice (an annoyed one at that) interrupted his thoughts, as he failed to realize that the cashier had been calling out for him for who knows how long. Though he didn’t take her harsh attitude to heart, if anything sympathizing with her and what he assumed was a stressful job, and it wasn’t like he was making it any easier by being a slow-poke.

“Welcome to Seoul’s Magnificent Mocha, what can I get for you this morning?” she asked once he had made his way up front to the cashier counter. Taking off his sunglasses, he couldn’t but want to laugh at how quick her facial expression had changed. It was the face that people made when they recognized him. It was amazing what a simple baseball cap and some shades could do, he hadn’t even worn his black face mask this time. “Y-You—” she began to stutter her words, instead slowly pointing at the TV. He gave her a small smile along with a small nod as a way of confirming what she was trying to say.

“That would be me,” he smiled, “Can I get an iced Americano and um a,” he paused trying to remember what Namjoon had wanted, “strawberry iced tea. Both medium please,” he finished off the order clearly sounding very uncertain.

“It’s g-going to b-be um,” the poor girl was so nervous she couldn’t even tell him his total without stuttering, “15,000 Won,” He proceeded in handing her a 50,000 note.

“You can keep the change,” he winked at her before putting his sunglasses back on and politely dismissing himself towards the waiting area, quietly laughing at how quickly she facepalmed herself when he was out of her line of sight.

Taehyung always did have a special charm on people, plus he was good looking, and he knew it. He didn’t have any special talents, nothing he could actually proudly boast about. It would be dense of him not to acknowledge that the only reason he was so famous was because of both his status and looks.

There were many people who swooned over him such as the cashier, but there were also many who believed he was still the same old spoiled brat who was nothing but a troublemaker from four years ago. It didn’t help that gossip blogs were still using the same clips from years ago when he really was nothing but a troublemaker who liked flashing his expensive cars for the paparazzi, and purposely kept a high profile. He had been naive, nothing but an eighteen year old teenager who thought fame was better than anything else in the entire world. Four years later, now at the age of twenty-two, and he had long learned that fame was horrible. But he had changed and that’s all that mattered, right? A complete 180, if you will.

Those people didn’t know him, so what made them think they had the right to judge him? To act as if they’d do things any better if they were in his position. The only Kim Taehyung they ever knew was the one they’d seen through a screen. He remembered the first time his name had made its way on the headline of gossip blogs and the comments that came with it.

[Kim Taehyung, son of Kim Jeong  spotted out having a wild night out in Hongdae. Pictures leaked from last night with some steamy footage. Click here for more.]  

[+3,623,  -59] he better pray he doesn’t catch any STD’s while he’s at it ㅋㅋㅋ wouldn’t be surprised if he already has some

[+3,100, -100] i feel bad for his dad, he expects someone like this to run the fortune he’s worked so hard for??? he’s so young as well…

[+2,547, -57] leave him alone and respect his privacy

[+2,100, -23] ah he’s so cute!! whoever was dancing with him is one lucky lady!

[+1,022, -34] a brat like that doesn’t deserve the things he has

That night had only been the beginning to years of nothing but front covering gossip magazines and having his privacy invaded on a daily basis. People became invested in what he was doing with his personal life, his friends, who he was seeing, what he was wearing, and anything else you could possibly think of. He often wondered why, but he assumed it was the same reason as to why people continue to give someone like Kim Kardashian attention despite claiming to hate her. Because people want a glimpse of a world that isn’t their own, simply fascinated by the rich. That and their obsession for scandal only adds fuel to the fire.

With fame came pressure though, pressure to uphold an image for the family company, one his father fairly cared about these days. Hell, nowadays his dad gave him more attention than he ever did as a child, all because he knew that Taehyung was and is the future for Kim Enterprises. It was his father’s pressure that led to his current relationship with— ah speak of the devil.

[From: Sunhi]

[9:10AM] I know you see my texts.

[9:11AM] why are you ignoring me???

[9:12AM] hello???

“Taehyung! Your Iced Americano and strawberry iced tea is ready!” Taehyung rolled his eyes as he glanced through the several number of text messages, instead locking his phone and going up to grab the drinks.

Sunhi was the granddaughter of Hyundai’s CEO and had long been in the picture as early as Taehyung could remember. The two went to the same middle and high school, a one sided crush on her side forming at some point. It wasn’t until about a year ago after returning, that his father had basically forced him to take her out on a date citing that it was in his words, “good for business”. And well today the “good for business” approach had its results, the confirmation of a multibillion dollar deal.

The media loved the two together, hell, they were even labelled as Seoul's next generation’s power couple. Their names amassing a fortune worth billions behind them, their good looks garnering both of them ambassador deals, all in the meanwhile social media was the backbone of the phenomenon that was their so called “relationship”. Not that Taehyung considered it much of one, in his opinion it had stopped being an actual relationship a long time ago.

It wasn’t that Taehyung hated Sunhi, in fact in the beginning of their relationship he was smitten for her, but it wasn’t long until the spark burned out. “Wasn’t long” meaning a couple of weeks in and she actually turned out to be the real definition of a brat, the actual real-life manifestation of Blair Waldorf. Constant up and downs with her had quickly worn him out, and the constant badgering from the media only made things worse. But that doesn't mean he hated her, in order for him to hate her he’d actually have to care about her, and well in all honesty…  he didn’t.

Sometimes he’d ask himself why he was still with her considering the deal had long been confirmed even before today. Taehyung had been free to do what he’d like for a long time, meaning there had never been a need for him to have kept this going for so long, he just did. One must ask, why?

Maybe it was because he knew she was the safest option, the person everyone expected and wanted him to be with. Breaking up with her right now would only further his stress, something he definitely didn’t need more of. Plus she knew him from the surface, and he knew her from the surface, and maybe that was just enough. He didn’t need, or want, anything more than that from her or anyone else for that matter. Sunhi was just enough.

It wasn’t like she was using him for anything, especially considering she already has everything. But by being with her, he was satisfying others, he was becoming the person everyone wanted him to be, the person he always should’ve been.

Hell, who knows, maybe he could truly fall in love with her one day … though in the back of his mind he knew the answer to that.

“Took you long enough,” Namjoon complained as he turned on the ignition of the car. He glanced at the drinks in Taehyung's hands, dramatically sighing at the sight, “and you somehow still ended up ordering the wrong drink for me,” he sighed, grabbing the drink from Taehyung’s hands nonetheless.

“My bad, I had forgotten in the moment…” he shot an apologetic smile towards his newly dyed platinum-haired friend.

Namjoon was the son of another one of Seoul’s elite, but also Taehyung’s right hand man. The two had met during their freshman year of high school, but funnily enough the two originally hated one another. Now looking back at it, Taehyung could admit that the two had acted extremely childish over a girl who’d end up picking neither of them, but that was a story to tell for another day.

Luckily Namjoon seemed to enjoy the drink, no longer complaining about it during the ride to Lotte World Mall. The two needed to go buy some new suits for tonight's event in celebration of the brand new deal between Kim Enterprises and Hyundai. The paparazzi were definitely going to be there and with all eyes on him, Taehyung decided that he might as well look good.

Friday Evening.

By the time Taehyung had returned to his place, he was both drained and exhausted, the idea of taking a nap and ditching the event seeming all too tempting. Namjoon this morning had felt the need to visit almost every high end store he could think of and try on the most useless things including scarves, gloves, and a whole bunch of other things. Basically going back and forth all across the mall whenever he’d regret not buying something.

He carried his bags upstairs to his room, ready to plop onto his bed and take a well deserved nap, but of course as always the universe seemed to work against him.

“I’ve been waiting for you!” he silently cursed to himself, asking himself why he thought it was a good idea to give Sunhi access to his penthouse. “Of course you went shopping without me, and to think I wanted to color coordinate,” she puckered her lips attempting to give him a small kiss on the lips, but before she could Taehyung had turned his cheek causing her to almost entirely miss.

She quickly composed herself acting as if that didn’t just happen, instead beginning to rummage through his bags, complimenting the things he chose while he just laid in bed slowly taking in deep breaths trying not to snap at her for coming unannounced. “So what exactly is that you came here for Sunhi…” he mumbled, failing to hide his annoyance.

She pouted, “Well you weren’t answering my texts, and I wanted to know whether you’d be going tonight…” she began to give him small pecks on his face, hoping that he’d show some kind of affection.

“I am, I am. I’m just really tired right now and in desperate need of a nap,” he responded, ignoring her obvious attempts to initiate things. His eyelids were half way closed, clearly ready to knock out at any second.

“Oh well I’ll just stay—”

“No, no. Just go back home, get ready, and I’ll see you over there okay?” his voice was much harsher this time, turning to face the other direction of his bed which was no longer facing her, a cold gesture on his part.

Sunhi sat there for a moment, feeling a mixture of both anger and disappointment. She wanted to say something, but instead crossed her arms, and let out a huff of air in response. Taking one last look at him before getting up from his bed and walking herself out. The same old feeling of being unwanted creeping into her mind, a feeling she knew all too well.

Friday Night.

By the time he had arrived, Taehyung thought that the paparazzi would’ve grown impatient waiting for him and end up leaving, but as per usual he was completely wrong. If anything, him being late had only caused them to triple in numbers. Those men really had no shame, their camera flashes penetrating through the Mercedes Benz’s tinted windows.

“You let me know when you’re ready Mr. Kim,” his security guard said. Taehyung took a deep breath, fixing his YSL brooch before nodding to him, letting him know that he was ready. He was quickly greeted with a stammering number of questions.

“Where’s Sunhi?”

“Over here! Over here!”

“How’s your night been?”

Taehyung tried to not make any faces, knowing that even the slightest lift of the brow would be taken out of context, and that by tomorrow morning there’d be a whole bunch of rumors trending on Twitter. The only thing was that the paparazzi always knew how to push his buttons whether it was shouting something rude, roughly grabbing at him, and etc. 

At this point he just needed a drink to relax and take his mind off of these low life men who had nothing else better to do than to try and make a quick buck off his name.

“Finally! Took you long enough,” he heard, quickly spotting Namjoon the moment he entered the venue, wondering if he had been waiting up front for him the whole time.

“You didn’t have to wait for me you know? And plus it’s not my fault you had me running circles around the mall,” Taehyung said causing Namjoon to scoff in response, “Has he given his speech?” the “he” Taehyung was referring to was his father.

“I honestly don’t know,” Namjoon shrugged, who like Taehyung, never did like these kinds of events as they always had him wanting to knock out halfway through, the only thing he really did appreciate was the food they served. 

The two walked towards the bar which caught their attention much more than the cathedral-inspired venue, deciding that a drink was necessary to kick the night off right.

“Two gin and tonics please,” the bartender nodded, beginning to prepare their drinks. Taehyung watched the bartender pour gin into his jigger, curious as to how someone could memorize the recipes for so many drinks. “How many years does it take for one to learn the ways of bartending?” he asked the brown-haired man, an attempt to strike conversation.

“Ah well a simple gin and tonic is something every bartender should know like it’s the back of their hand,” the man chuckled, “but if you’re talking about something like hmm,” he paused for a moment, “something like a bloody mary perhaps.”

A bloody mary? Isn’t that just vodka with some tomato juice?

“It’s much more than that,” the bartender laughed at Taehyung who was slightly taken aback, not realizing that he must’ve said what he was thinking aloud. “Though those are the two the main ingredients, it includes salt, pepper, hot sauce, garlic, herbs,” Taehyung was now genuinely curious as to where the bartender was going with this, “It covers the entire range of the human palate from sweet, salty, sour, unami, and savory but you have to make sure it doesn’t taste bitter.”

He continued talking as he poured the tonic water onto the frosted drinking glasses, “A little too much of one ingredient or a little too less and the whole drink goes to waste. You have to find a balance,” he emphasized the last part, almost as if this went beyond drinks, “Someone who wants a bloody mary is someone who definitely knows what they’re looking for,” he concludes his sermon-like speech, intensely staring at Taehyung. Namjoon looked at the man like he was crazy, who the hell overanalyzes a drink to this extent? Taehyung on the other had a look of fascination on his face, instead returning the stare.

“Well … cheers!,” Namjoon breaks the tense silence by raising his drink, momentarily being left hung dry until soon enough Taehyung lifted his drink up as well, the two of them clinking their glasses before chugging the bittersweet drink down their throats.

“Ah there he is!” Taehyung turned around, watching as his father made his way towards him, right alongside Sunhi’s parents. The two gave each other an awkward hug, “You better have a good damn reason for being so late,” his father harshly whispered into his ear before pulling back, the famous fake grin that Taehyung had grown to hate still plastered onto his face. The man was an expert at saving face, like father like son.  

Taehyung remained silent instead politely greeting Sunhi’s parents before watching the trio as they made their way to greet other guests.

“I’m going to need a second drink,” he exasperated, causing Namjoon to let out a laugh. The bartender nodded, immediately beginning to prepare their drinks.

“I’m surprised Sunhi hasn’t gotten her claws on you yet, I could’ve sworn she was here earlier,” Namjoon mentioned causing Taehyung to shrug, his expression now dulled at the mention of her.

“I feel bad, I sorta snapped at her earlier, but she kept on nagging me, wouldn’t let me sleep in peace. I blame you,” he said, commenting on the situation earlier.

“Hey I’m not the one whose forcing you to be with her,” Namjoon remarked, causing Taehyung to shoot him a glare, his eyebrows now furrowed.

Instead he changed the topic, accustomed to Namjoon’s dismay of the relationship, “I just want to go home and sleep,” Taehyung yawned, the event was boring him more and more by the minute.

“Same he—” Namjoon suddenly stopped mid sentence, something more “important” now having caught his eye.

“You’re practically drooling, you do realize that right?” Taehyung deadpanned, glancing at the girl who had caught his friend’s eye. She was pretty, he wasn’t going to lie, but she seemed like someone who was quite stuck up to be honest. But he assumed that about everyone around here as it takes one to know one. “So are you going to just stand here and stare like a creep or …”

“You don’t mind me leaving you here?” Namjoon’s voice sounded a little too excited. Taehyung shrugged his shoulders, he wasn’t the type of person who couldn’t stand being alone. In fact, he enjoyed his own company sometimes, he had actually read somewhere that it was quite important for one’s own mental health.

“I think I need to go find Sunhi either way, or else she’ll be nagging me the whole night as to why I didn’t find her sooner, that and apologize for earlier,” Namjoon nodded, lightly patting on his shoulder before making his way to the woman who had caught his eye, trying his best not to gawk so much.

“Now where could she be…” Taehyung mumbled to himself, having now left the bar and instead walking around the venue, making a half-assed attempt at looking for his girlfriend.

Taehyung could feel his legs swaying left to right, the lack of balance he had was probably laughable to anyone who wasn’t him. He wasn’t drunk, at least that’s what he was telling himself. The way the world was spinning told him otherwise. In all honesty he had only asked for a couple more drinks after the second one, but nonetheless he always was a lightweight drinker to begin with. His bladder felt as if it was going to burst at any moment so instead of Sunhi being his top priority, going to the restroom now was.

He looked around, the signs on the doors now looking slightly blurry. He grabbed the handle to what looked like could be the men’s restroom harshly pushing the door open.

Everything happens for a reason… right?

“Oh my God, It’s not what it looks like,” Because what were the chances that he caught her right in the act, with none other than Jeon Jungkook.

Taehyung had seen this situation play out in so many movies and TV shows, whereas the boyfriend usually destroys everything in his way and immediately begins to throw punches at the lover, and yada yada yada. But for some odd reason all Taehyung could do was stand there and watch as she hurriedly tried placing her bra back on.

He couldn’t help but actually want to … laugh. Really, because what were the chances? What were the chances that instead of walking into what he thought was a restroom, he instead walked in on his girlfriend and Seoul’s biggest man-whore about to fuck in a janitor’s closet.

He glanced at Jungkook who had nothing but a giant smirk plastered on his face, not even bothering to put his shirt back on.

Taehyung gathered his thoughts… What was he supposed to do again?  

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing left for Kim Taehyung to do, but to turn around and walk away. And so that’s what he did, drowning out her pleads for him to stay, a small smile gracing his lips. He was finally free.  

Namjoon must’ve left early because once Taehyung had returned back to the bar, he was nowhere to be found. He decided it was just best to leave before Sunhi could find him and start begging him to hear her out. After texting his security guard to meet him out front, he asked for a bottle of water and attempted at fully sobering up before he’d have to face several rapidly flashing lights in his face.

Did it end up actually helping? Fuck no. God, why did they have to park his Mercedes so far away. It was as if no matter how many steps he felt like he was taking, he was no closer to where he wanted to be.

“Smile for the camera man, come on!” The rapid flashes of light caused Taehyung to stumble his footsteps worse than before, the responses he gave to the multiple questions being thrown at him coming out more like mumbles and slurs. He knew that deep inside his brain was sending him signals on what to do, whether his body was listening was another story.

“Watch where you’re going man! Momma’s boy can’t handle his liq—” one of the paparazzo shouted at him while grabbing at his arm, and maybe it had been cause he was drunk, maybe because he was simply just tired, but in an instant Taehyung had felt his fist collide with the man’s face throwing everyone and everything into a frenzy. The questions and comments now coming out of their mouths at a lightning speed, some were cursing him out, others were pretending to praise him at an attempt to get him to say something, but none of it mattered because by the time he got into the car it was too late to take any of it back, and soon enough everything had gone black.

Saturday Evening.

The hangover the next day was literal hell, Taehyung felt as if the inner surface of his skull was practically being thrashed upon, his eyesight struggling to cope with the rays of daylight that directly shone on his eyes. Not only that, but his mouth had felt so dry, however having to get up for water seemed like so much work to do considering how much his back was aching.

It was like the flu except it had been self-inflicted. He attempted to raise his heavy eyelids all in one go, just for them to immediately fall shut. He could feel the constant vibrating notifications from his phone, choosing to ignore it altogether as he figured it was probably Sunhi sending him several text messages. Even if it wasn’t her, he was too lazy to even stretch his arm out and disconnect his phone. Maybe he could sleep it off, he thought to himself, curling himself back under his thick duvet.

How was it that he was barely 22 and already facing the repercussions of intense hangovers when just a couple of years ago he could drink all night long and wake up the next day hangover free. It was as if with each passing year it just got worse, no wonder so many older folks didn’t get drunk anymore, they had learnt it the hard way.

And just as he was about to fall asleep, of course his stomach had to both lurch and gurgle like some kind of trapped animal. He groaned, swinging his feet around in bed like a kid who had just been told “no”. Sadly, he was going to have to force himself to get up and so he did.

Once on his feet, he immediately felt the room sway almost causing him to lose balance until he managed to grab onto his bedstead in order to keep himself standing. He yawned and stretched out his entire body, lowkey loving the sound of his bones cracking. Time to start a new day.

After brushing up, he began to prepare himself something quick to eat fearing that his stomach was going to lash out on him any moment and so he decided to make some scrambled eggs. Quick and easy. Right?

Wrong.

The rare occasions that Taehyung did cook were always 50/50, as in there was half a chance whatever he cooked would come out either decent or completely under/over cooked. The boy practically lived off of takeout, restaurants, and microwaveable food, but at this current moment he needed food and quickly at that. Today his eggs had come out slightly undercooked with some of the yolk still a little slimy, but it was edible nonetheless.

As he ate he was genuinely surprised at the fact that Sunhi didn’t ambush his home this morning, causing him to set a reminder on his phone to remove her fingerprint off of his security system as soon as possible. He scrolled through her long thread of texts that consisted of her going back and forth between apologizing, begging, and guilt tripping him, only causing him to roll his eyes and sigh.

[Incoming Facetime from: Namjoon 🐨]

Taehyung quirked his brow before clicking “accept”.

“Weren’t you the one who scolded me about facetiming without sending a warning text,” he laughed, it wasn’t like he was lying.

“Ah I know, I know, but I felt sorta bad for just leaving last night without saying goodbye, but a man has his needs,” Namjoon now sported a giant grin on his face, probably recalling last night’s events, “and well I thought you’d be in bed hungover, in need of a wake up call,” he joked only causing Taehyung to flash him the middle finger through the screen.

“Well I’m up,” Taehyung wondered if Namjoon knew, maybe Sunhi had told him or something. He quickly scratched the idea as he knew Sunhi was the type of person to try and keep everything under wraps … but Jeon Jungkook was not.

Jeon Jungkook.

Remember the small mention of Namjoon and Taehyung fighting over the affections of a girl only for her to end up choosing someone else. That someone else was none other than Jeon Jungkook, one of Upper Seoul’s biggest man-whores, if not the biggest man whore. If Sunhi was actually someone Taehyung loved, he probably would’ve punched that stupid smirk off of Jungkook’s face last night, but luckily he didn’t have to. Did Jungkook have it out for Taehyung? It was unclear to be honest. This definitely wasn’t the first time Jungkook has attempted at sabotaging him despite Taehyung clearly showing he could care less.

In fact the two before yesterday’s incident had actually been mutual acquaintances being in the same “circle” and all. That circle being the sons of the multi million/billionares of Seoul which included names such as Kim Seokjin and Park Jimin. Namjoon in particular was good friends with Seokjin, who in return was very close with Jungkook. Seokjin and Namjoon both being the “neutral” bridge between the two. So Taehyung wasn’t going to be surprised if Seokjin had in fact informed Namjoon of yesterday’s dilemma. It had been Seokjin who told Namjoon of Jungkook’s actions of the past such as leaking Taehyung’s location to paparazzi on a number of occasions, stealing brand deals under Taehyung’s nose, and many other things.

“So…”

“I know that you know,” Taehyung chuckled out, causing Namjoon to let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh great, I was really not looking forward to beating around the bush and forcing it out of you,” he laughed, “well it looks like you got what you wanted.”

Taehyung’s nose crinkled in confusion, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh come on!—” Namjoon’s mouth curved into his famous dimpled smile, obviously trying (but failing) to repress his laugh, “Don’t act like you’re not the happiest man on Earth right now! You’ve probably been praying for something like this to happen for forever,” Taehyung’s face went sour, “You’ve needed an excuse to break up with Sunhi without you ending up being the bad guy for so long, and that’s why you probably haven’t even shedded a single tear since you found out,” he insisted causing Taehyung to let out a bitter scoff , mumbling a silent “That’s not true.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night Tae—” suddenly the sound of something abruptly falling grabbed Namjoon’s attention, “Moni! Put that down! Uh I gotta go, just text me later alright,” and with that he clicked, presumably to deal with his white feisty Eskimo.

Taehyung glanced at the clock which read 3:25PM, a small nap wouldn’t hurt right?

Sunday Morning.

So much for a “small nap”. Despite him having slept the whole Saturday off, Taehyung had woken up very early and in a good mood, ready to have himself a productive day.

He made himself breakfast that even a 5 year old could make: avocado toast with different slices of fruit and a simple protein shake. While letting his breakfast settle down in his stomach, he began to do his pre-workout stretch, with his goal in mind for today’s run being at least 6 miles.

After he was done stretching, he went down to the lobby making sure to politely greet his “neighbors”. They were the same people who kept tabs on him and sold him out to the press every chance they got, but not like he could lash out on them so instead he was forced to give them fake smiles along with stiff waves.

During his morning run, Taehyung took into appreciation of the crisp morning air which was both cold and dry. The view of the river brought him a sense of relaxation and before he knew it, he was done with his workout.

“What a beautiful day,” he had thought to himself as he walked back to his penthouse’s building, ready to take a much needed shower, but of course he should’ve known she was going to ambush him at some point because there she was, sitting in the building’s lobby.

Once she spotted him she immediately got up from the couch. He tried to quickly outpace her and get into the elevator, but she yanked on his hand preventing him from going any further.

“Stop avoiding me… please,” she sounded distraught which confused him. She certainly didn’t look distraught when she was getting her neck sucked on by Jungkook.

“Can we do this,” he pushed her hand off, “some other time. You’re gonna make a scene,” he scolded her. The two of them were in the middle of the lobby, and even though there seemed to be no one around, he could never be too sure.

“No because it seems this is the only way I could get your attention,” she muttered , “especially considering you removed my access,” causing him to let out a stifled laugh.

“Well that’s what someone does when they’re significant other hmm I don’t know cheats on them,” his voice emphasized the last words.

“I didn’t,” she quickly lowered her voice once she realized she had shouted that part out, “cheat on you,” she mumbled. “I was about to, but I didn’t,” she dramatically waved her finger at him.

“Yeah because I walked in on you?” he wondered if she knew how stupid she sounded.

“Well maybe if you showed me some affection every once in a while I wouldn’t have resorted to such acts!” What the two hadn't realized was that there was someone in the lobby quietly hiding behind a pillar, secretly recording the interaction between the two.

“Sunhi,” he ran his hand through his hair, letting out an exasperated sigh, “can you just leave me alone? There is no fixing this, especially since this,” he made a motion with his fingers pointing to the both of them, “has been broken for a very long time.” And with the final word, he turned around and walked away, not bothering to look at her face which had now fallen from expression.

Sunday Night.

“Kim Taehyung NASTY fight with girlfriend Sunhi. Click here for more.” was what the Twitter article headlined their argument, and of course the link provided the video of the whole thing.

[From: Namjoon 🐨]

[10:10] you really can be an ass [link to video]

[To: Namjoon 🐨]

[10:11] how!!

[10:11] i just told her the truth, at the end of the day no one can tell me that I was in the wrong 🤷🏻‍♂️

[From: Namjoon 🐨]

[10:12] you’d be surprised with what knetz have to say…

[10:13] them and the media are going crazy over you unfollowing her

Taehyung scoffed while unplugging his phone and rolling to the other side of bed now that his phone was at 100%.

[To: Namjoon 🐨]

[10:14] yea well idc.

[From: Namjoon 🐨]

[10:15] well at least ur out the relationship, that’s all that matters right 😬

[10:16] looks like ur back on the market … we all know how crazy that can get

Taehyung could feel himself become stiff at the last text. What was that supposed to mean? Maybe he was overthinking it too much…  

He was a different person now, he reassured himself. Before he could dwell on it any further he decided that it was best to just go to sleep.

Monday Afternoon.

The next day Taehyung continued with his routine of making a somewhat decent breakfast, and running his daily number of miles, crossing his fingers that he wouldn’t be ambushed like the morning prior. Luckily he wasn’t.

The sensation of steamy water hitting his body was calming to him, the shower was very much needed. Trying not to get so lost in his thoughts, he began to sing the random songs that first came to mind. He’d been told by Namjoon on multiple occasions that his singing was good, but Taehyung at this current moment was just glad he lived alone. Namjoon, or anyone for that matter, would probably make fun of him for the song he was um … rapping.

“Ain't got enough money to pay me respect. Ain't no budget when I'm on the set. If I like it, then that's what I get!” his sudden motions almost made him slip, but luckily he had caught himself just in time, “yeah,” he finished off the lyric despite his near death experience.

It was once he got out the shower that he was in for a surprise.

“7 Rings… really?” Taehyung’s towel almost fell from his waist because of his jump in surprise. Thankfully he had held onto it before it could completely fall. “I didn’t take you to be such an Ariana Grande fan,” Taehyung rolled his eyes to the teasing Namjoon.

“It’s the song of the summer for your information,” he interjected, “And how the hell did you even get up here?”

“Hmm I don’t know maybe because you practically forced me to get my fingerprint and memorize your code so that I would,” Namjoon mimicked quote signs with his fingers, “stop bugging you when I could open the door myself,” causing Taehyung’s stern face to quickly become one of dumbfoundeness.

“Oh…”

“I’ll be in the kitchen making myself some food,” he playfully sighed before making his way out of Taehyung’s room.

Taehyung quickly lotioned his body, put on his overnight hair products, and threw on a baggy sweater along with some black sweatpants, assuming that Namjoon hopefully wasn’t going to try and drag him to go outside. He had a long week ahead of him which included photoshoots, interviews, meetings, and overall promotion for this brand new deal considering he currently served as the “face” to his family’s business.

“Wow making japchae, who put you in a good mood?” Taehyung laughed as he peeped over Namjoon’s shoulder, catching a whiff of the food he was making causing Namjoon to flash his dimpled smile at him.

“Well I have a date in a couple of weeks and so I’ve been practicing every chance I get,” he admitted catching Taehyung by surprise, “and before you ask, yes it’s the girl from the event on Friday.”

Taehyung tried to subdue his shock, “If I’m being honest I thought she was kind of a…” he contemplated his next choice of words, “um…”

“A one night stand,” Namjoon completed the sentence, a look of understanding on his face. “Well if I’m being honest I thought the same thing,” he cheeks reddened, “but she actually ended up being really sweet, and well I really li—”

“Okay I think I’m done hearing your little sap story that you haven’t even started,” he pretends to yawn, causing Namjoon to flash his middle finger at him which only makes him laugh, “Sorry I’m not a hopeless romantic like you.”

Namjoon scoffed as he stirred the noodles around, “So what? Deep down you know you’re one as well.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’ve heard it all before. Why are you here again?” Namjoon flashed his middle finger again now causing Taehyung to laugh even harder than the first time.

“You sure know how to be rude sometimes,” Namjoon was now serving the japchae onto some plates, “and I’m here because one, I was bored, and two, because I was wondering if you were going to Thursday’s brunch,” the look on Taehyung’s face gave Namjoon the answer he was looking for.

“I completely forgot about that…”

“Why am I not surprised,” Namjoon sighed while giving Taehyung his plate of food.  

“It’s always the same old place, same old routine, and most importantly the same old people,” he made sure to emphasize that last part, “you’re telling me you don’t get bored?”

“I do, but look what happened last time, I met someone new!” Namjoon bragged, only resulting in Taehyung rolling his eyes once again. “You’re like the grinch, but for love I swear,” Namjoon groaned, mentally taking note that the pleasant look on Taehyung’s face meant he had done a good job at making japchae. As long as he followed the exact amount of ingredients and steps as he did today then his date would go along just fine.

Taehyung slurped the final remaining bits of food on his plate before responding to Namjoon, “I’m fresh out of a relationship Joon, let me enjoy being single for the time being.”

“In the media’s eyes you’re fresh out of a relationship, but you and I both know that you’ve been single for a very long time,” Taehyung stayed silent at Namjoon’s words, a sudden pang of guilt now hitting him as he recalled what he had told Sunhi in the lobby that past Saturday. Did Taehyung see Namjoon’s point? Yes, of course he did. Did it feel good hearing it? No, it didn’t.

“Well um guess what, she cheated on me. I remained faithful, which honestly,” he scoffed in between his words, “was the least I could do. So stop trying to paint me as some big villain,” he sneered.

“All I’m saying is that the Taehyung I know would have never even gotten into that relationship to begin with,” Namjoon silently muttered to himself, a dismissive look on his face, causing Taehyung to let out a sardonic laugh. As if Namjoon was a better person than he was?

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” he snapped, “You know I’m getting real tired of your little sly comments, as if i’m not going to catch on at some point, if you have something to say then grow some balls and say it,” Taehyung's voice echoed across the kitchen walls. Taehyung’s heart was practically pounding out of his chest, his jaw now completely clenched, glaring at Namjoon. The light atmosphere in the room had become stiff in the blink of an eye.

One would think that Namjoon would be shocked, maybe even angry at Taehyung’s outburst, but all he did was stare back, seeming completely unfazed, a pot that had been bubbling for quite some time between the two finally bubbling over. Withheld opinions, finally lashed out, “I’ll just never understand why you couldn’t break up with her from the moment your dad didn’t need you to date her anymore, or why you even got with her in the first place. All you did was waste her time and let her convince herself that she was in love with you knowing damn well you’ve never felt anything from day one. I mean even now she thinks there’s something worth saving,” he cursed, his voice now elevated up several notches, “And it’s the fact that you see nothing wrong with it that makes me sick!”

Taehyung’s face immediately fell, hurt by his friend’s words, but it didn’t stop Namjoon from continuing on, “I mean the Taehyung I knew would’ve never in a million years agreed to do something like this for anyone,” disappointment evident in his voice, “let alone for your dad,” he spat. “It just,” he pauses, “It just isn’t like you Taehyung. None of this is.”

Taehyung could feel his tough demeanor crumble, “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, so stop acting like you do,” he scowled.

“It’s just funny to me, years ago you’d talk about becoming nothing like your dad, but nowadays it looks like I’m looking at his clone,” Namjoon muttered, “You’ve changed Taehyung. You may joke around with me here and there, but I can tell you’re always holding back. You leave for a whole year to God knows where, and come back a completely different person, acting like your dad’s very own fucking puppet. You’ve closed yourself off. Like, like you’re mad at the world or something, or I don’t know—”

“And what, you want the old reckless Taehyung back?! The one who destroyed everything in his fucking path! Is that what the fuck you want?” his voice boomed, but even Namjoon could see it was merely a facade, the mixture of both guilt and sadness seeping through the cracks of his voice.

“Of course not! But the Taehyung standing in front of me is no better than the one before. You may not be as reckless as you used to be, but you’re definitely just as careless,” Namjoon condemned him, “And so then I think about everything and all I could ask myself is why? Why don’t you find something or someone, you genuinely love, something that makes you happy, not your dad, not the media, YOU.”

“Because I just don’t want to Joon…”  Taehyung looked away, ashamed to make eye contact, his voice had now become a mere whisper.

“And all I can think about is if it has something to do with —” Namjoon could see Taehyung physically tense up, “Taehyung what the hell happened that night?” he pleaded desperately.

“Just don’t Joon,” and with that Namjoon knew that even he was pushing the boundaries, deciding that it was best to just keep quiet, “I came back didn’t I? ” he harshly spat.

There was a pregnant pause, “I’m sorry,” Namjoon apologized, but was only met with silence. Taehyung got up from the kitchen chair, and placed his dish into the sink, harshly passing by Namjoon.

“Make sure you lock the door on your way out,” he muttered, before making his way upstairs into his room, leaving Namjoon standing in the kitchen by himself.

Monday Night.

And so that night, Taehyung stared up at his ceiling thinking about what Namjoon had told him. He was hurt by his friend’s words, but he couldn’t deny that he didn’t understand where he was coming from …

But it wasn’t like Taehyung was a cold hearted person, or at least he’d like to think he wasn’t. Behind it all, he was still the same kind and polite person he’d always been. He was just more mature nowadays, finally growing up like he should’ve years ago. It was simply for the best.

So then why did he feel so wrong?

He felt conflicted, he felt guilt, but honestly he had been feeling guilty long before he got into a relationship with Sunhi. Maybe it was that same guilt he’s felt eating him alive for the past several years that’s made him close himself off to others. It was the same guilt that led to disappearing one night and not coming back until about a year later.

Feeling overwhelmed, he decided to get up from bed, and stepped onto his balcony just wanting to just look at the stars before going to bed. Tonight they had seemed to be shining extra bright, he attempted at counting each one, losing count mid way. 

He couldn’t help but reminisce about his childhood, when he and his mom would go camping at Noeul Campground at least once a year, and oh how the stars would shine like never before. The two of them making a game of who could come up with the best figurines using the stars. It was nights like these that he truly did miss her, but he knew she was watching over him. Forever and always.

“I know I haven’t talked to you in a while, I hope you’re not mad. I know it’s no excuse, but time nowadays just goes by so fast and well I’m coming to a point in life where I feel like I have nothing figured out. Like as if I’m not truly satisfied, and not truly well … happy. I just feel lost, Ma. I thought coming back here, I could put the facade that I was fine but,” he lets out a deep breath,”I’m just not. God I wish you were here, you’d know exactly what to say right now,” he could feel the warm droplets of water falling from his face, not bothering to wipe them off. “I’m so sorry Ma,” were his final words before stepping back inside, a peaceful slumber waiting for him in bed.

Thursday Morning.

“Ah now this is what I’ve been looking forward to,” Namjoon grinned as politely grabbed the mimosa from the bartender’s hand. Taehyung made a motion with his hand once Namjoon offered him his cup, instead leaning against the bar watching as guests made their way in and out of the venue.

Taehyung and Namjoon had made up in the days prior, Taehyung sending a “btw the japchae was too sweet 🤭” text message, as a way of telling Namjoon that all was forgiven. Taehyung in return, reflected on Namjoon’s words, deciding that he was right, something needed to change.

“This place, it’s …” Namjoon expected a complaint out of Taehyung’s mouth, “really pretty,” he finished off, genuinely surprising Namjoon.

The venue resembled some kind of greenhouse, the arrangement of dangling flowers and potted plants, along with the rays of natural sunlight peeking through the glass exterior, and the minimalist design in seat arrangement truly was a work of art. The air itself felt crisp and fresh, he assumed it was because of the mixture of the plants’ scent along with the air ventilators.

“Wow, look who's in a good mood,” Namjoon teased him, Taehyung flashing him a small smile. Despite it only being 9 o'clock in the morning, he was glad he came. It was a brand new day, and he felt optimistic that things were going to start looking up for him.

“Ah well, let’s just enjoy it while it lasts,” he responded clearly joking around, “Let’s just say I thought about everything you said, and well I just want to start fresh. No more getting pressured into things, and being so tense about everything all the time, just me going with the flow,” Namjoon quirked his eyebrow, genuinely interested in what Taehyung had to say, “Whatever happens…” he pauses, “happens,” he finishes off, a grin now on his face.

As the brunch event went on, Taehyung continued to observe people, examining what they wore, the way they spoke, how they acted, as it usually told him a lot about a person.

“I’ll take a bloody mary, light on the vodka please,” Taehyung’s ears perked up at what he heard, a bloody mary? This early in the morning? He remembered the bartender’s words from a couple of days ago.

He tried to glance at the figure who was only a couple of feet away from him, sitting in one of the many empty seats aligned at the bar. He tried using his peripheral vision to try and make out a face, but sadly whoever this was, the angle that they were sitting along with their honey colored straw hat helped cover most of their face. The only thing he could see was that whoever it was, was a female and clearly a reckless one as a bloody mary was most likely going to result in an embarrassing stain.

He wondered if she was new around here, the way she was sitting clearly told him that she probably was. You see there were almost unspoken rules in the upper class, methods on doing things, and a high regard for appearance and well her posture wasn’t exactly… the best, and the blatant disregard for the all white dress code made him curious as to who she was. Like there was some kind of pull that made him feel the need to go up to her. She seemed … different.

“And you wanted to come at me for gawking last time! You can’t even see her face from here,” Namjoon’s undeniably loud voice interrupted his train of thought.

“Um any fucking louder and I’m sure the whole place will hear you,” Taehyung face was flushed, hoping the woman didn’t hear. Namjoon raised his hands in defense.

“Hm …” Namjoon stayed silent for a couple of seconds, before a mischievous look appeared on his face, “Hey well since you’re so keen about going with flow,” he mimicked Taehyung’s word’s from earlier, “how about you go get her number and see where things go from there,” he winked. 

Taehyung quickly shook his head, garnering a laugh out of Namjoon. “Since when has Kim Taehyung been too scared to ask for someone’s number,” he teased, “Come on you know you want to, I’ll even go find something else to do just in case she rejects you, I won’t be there to see it.”

He contemplated going up to her, what if she was just another Upper Seoul brat? Worse, what if Namjoon was right and she just completely shrugged him off? No, no one shrugged Kim Taehyung off. Namjoon's grin became wider once he saw Taehyung’s eyebrows furrow, and a determined look appearing on his face.

And so with that he decided he’d go up to her, maybe try and make some small talk. It wouldn't hurt , right? At least he wouldn’t be as bored as he was now. Slowly he made his way over to the seat next to her, trying not to look so much like a creep.

“I’ll take a mimosa please,” he ordered, the bartender nodded, “So you’re not scared of spilling your drink?” Taehyung quickly noticed how tense the woman became from his question, her posture going from relaxed to completely stiff. It wasn’t until she turned to face him that Taehyung felt taken back, his heart now pounding out of his chest, and the feeling of nervousness hitting him like a wave. As cliche as he thought it sounded, she was completely mesmerizing.

“Oh uh well,” she stuttered her words out bringing him a sense of comfort that he wasn’t the only nervous one,“um,” she was looking anywhere but his eyes, “No not really, I tend to be careful with things like this,” she explained now fidgeting with her fingers. 

Maybe it had been bad luck, but a couple of seconds later Taehyung suddenly now had red tomato juice mixed with vodka plastered all over his shirt. “Oh my God! I am so sorry!” she exclaimed. 

Several guests were now staring at the scene in front of them, the unknown girl now had a look of horror on her face, but instead of being upset all Taehyung could do was genuinely laugh. “I really didn’t mean to do that, oh my—”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he reassured her, slowly pushing her hand away which was uselessly blotting his white buttoned up shirt with a napkin.

“No it’s not, I really didn’t mean to do that, I just—” her face was as red as the spilled drink itself, her words coming out completely jumbled almost as if she was talking more to herself than him.

“And I’m telling you it’s okay,” he insisted, “I think you’ve done the most interesting thing around here in a very long time,” he then stuck his hand out, “I’m Taehyung,” he introduces himself, giving her a small smile along the way.

It felt like she was staring at him for an eternity with nothing but a doe-eyed look on her face, and he wondered what was going through her head. Was he really that intimidating? With several thoughts running through his head, the feeling of regret now creeped onto the back of his mind, maybe he shouldn’t have ever come up to her. What was he thinking? This was practically all his fault.

His panic came into a halt once he felt the touch of her hand now moving along with his, “I’m Y/N.”

🧚🏻 a/n: here we goooo! finally kicking things off hehe, things should defiantly move faster from this point on, I just felt like it was important for me to establish both y/n and Taehyung’s personality, background, and all that good stuff before diving into the basis of the whole story. feel free to send me any theories, comments, asks, etc ! I shall update very soon. 

7 Rings | 03

♛ pairing: taehyung/reader

♛ genre: richboy!taehyung | blackmailer!reader | infiltration au | eventual smut | angst | fluff 

♛ rating: mature

♛ word count: 7,000+ 

♛ warnings for this chapter : light descriptions of anxious behavior (but nothing intense)

♛ summary: In desperate need of money, you and your best friend come up with a plan to infiltrate one of Seoul’s richest families, the Kim family. The plan was simple, garner some money and disappear, but of course things don’t always go as planned. Especially not with someone like Kim Taehyung.

━ ❝ Whoever said money can't solve your problems, must not have had enough money to solve 'em.❞

♛ chapter index/masterlist || series masterlist

Chapters⇢ 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08

Present Day: Thursday Morning.

This was not supposed to happen, no, no, no. This was not what was planned, rehearsed, nor memorized. No, no, no!

You anticipate for him to scream, to snap at you and tell you off in front of everyone. It seemed fitting for someone like him to do, it’s what you expected.

You could feel all eyes on you, the venue itself had gone deaf silent, almost as if everyone else was holding their breath along with you, waiting to see your demise. You couldn’t blame them, you had spilled your drink on one of the most prestigious guests here, and though it wasn’t as if the world was going to end because of this, to you it felt like it. Your “mission” was going to end before it could even start.

Panic immediately overwhelms you. This was not at all how this was supposed to go. You wanted, no, you needed words to come out of your mouth, to say something, anything, but you couldn’t. Your mouth was completely frozen in place, and all you could do at the moment was stare at the big blob of red on his white buttoned up shirt, to which you were at fault for. Slowly you watch his mouth open, your mind immediately beginning to think the worst, but what comes out of his mouth completely surprises you.

He laughs.

The formation of a boxy smile takes its place on his face, his eyes now crinkling out of sheer laughter, and his hand now covering a portion of his face.

“I really didn’t mean to do that, oh my—” you finally blurt out, quickly grabbing a napkin and beginning to uselessly blot onto the already bleeding stain, but almost immediately feeling a hand grab at yours, stopping you from what you were doing.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he reassures, slowly pushing your hand away from his shirt.

You immediately shake your head, your words now faltering in cohesion, “No it’s not, I r-really didn’t mean to do that, I just—”

“And I’m telling you it’s okay,” he repeats himself, “I think you’ve done the most interesting thing around here in a very long time,” he whispers, sticking his hand out for you to shake, “I’m Taehyung,” he introduces himself, as if you didn’t know who he was.

The words themselves come out exactly like how Yuna would imitate during “rehearsal”. Though his voice was of course much deeper, almost reminding you of silk, seductive in it’s own way. You finally look up to see him, to actually see him face to face, immediately feeling your face get red.

It surprised you really, you had seen Kim Taehyung a countless number of times on TV, on several gossip blog headlines, posters, magazine covers, and an endless number of promotional advertisements all across Korea, but wow did they do him no justice. The man was truly stunning, and with every passing second you made eye contact with him, you could see why he was South Korea’s most sought out person.

From the sharp facial features, to the slightly sun-kissed skin that seemed to have its own natural glow, and his (what you assumed was permed) black softly-waved hair, made him in every way … dangerous. Kim Taehyung was dangerous, and you knew it. And it was important that you remembered that, because if you didn’t then things were not going to go as planned and quickly at that.

It took you, what felt like a whole hour, to finally process that his hand had been stuck out for who knows how long. “Get a grip of yourself y/n,” you thought to yourself, the only reason you were so nervous was because you knew what your intentions being here were, no one else here did.

“Don’t panic, breathe, recuperate, and adapt,” Yuna’s words rang in your head, as it was what she’d emphasize you do, just in case something went wrong or unplanned, “You are someone confident, you are someone poised, and most importantly you are someone rich,” she’d scold you, practically drilling the words into your head. You just hadn’t expected that you were going to have to use her advice this early on. “You got this,” you silently whisper to yourself, just breathe.

And so just as you saw him beginning to pull his hand back, you quickly grabbed it and began to shake it in return, “I’m y/n,” you nervously grin, “I’m so sorry about that, I just—” you faintly pause, “I guess you can say I just get shy around people I don’t know and well I just got so nervous,” you embarrassingly ramble on, pushing your hair behind your ear.

“Like I said it’s fine, really,” he says, looking down at the stain which for the most part was no longer as wet as before, now only damp in moisture, “It’s just a shirt really,” he chuckles.

“I know, but still,” you reiterate. You silently take a look around the venue. People had seemed to have quickly forgotten about what had transpired, going back to their regular day to day conversations without a care in the world, “It’s just that I’m new around here and well I just want to make a good impression on people,” you explain, your words clearly catching his attention.

“Oh, where are you from?” he harmlessly asks, genuine curiosity emitted from his tone.

“I’m from—”

The Day Before: Wednesday Evening.

“The United States?—No, No! Seoul! No! Uh—” you immediately feel the squirts of ice cold water on your face from Yuna’s plastic spray bottle, the twentieth time today.

“Wrong!” she scolds, spritzing you one more time for the heck of it causing Hoseok to burst out in fits laughter, for again, the twentieth time today.

You dramatically let out a huff of air in irritation, as well as pouting and crossing your arms in annoyance, “How many times do we have to go over this y/n!” Yuna screeches, grabbing her metal pointer stick, and harshly hitting the cheap whiteboard covered in red messy scribbles that you two bought the night before, “You’re from Seoul, but you moved with your rich old family to the states a couple of years ago, and you’re back here on vacation for the next ten weeks because you were “homesick”, which explains why he’s never seen you before in his life!” she explains, “What’s not clicking?” she says, now tapping her forehead with her index finger.

“You don’t have to be so mean about it,” you sneered.

“Well y/n! We can’t afford any mistakes, and it’s very important you know the basics because the moment he catches you in a lie, all bets are off on that money,” she sighs, her face now softening, “I know that right now you may think I’m being a bitch right now, but trust me, you’ll thank me later,” she snaps her head towards Hoseok’s direction, who for the past hour had been doing nothing but devouring snacks while watching the two of you bicker, “Am I right or wrong?” she asks, causing him to raise his hands as a way of saying he wanted no part in this.

You squint your eyes at him, “Maybe if we had more time, I’d be less strict about all this, but time is on the essence! Ten weeks will go by in the blink of an eye,” she adds, causing you to grunt because sadly she had a point, “So back to the top!” she yells, her facial expression going back to being firm, “Where are you from?”

You roll your eyes, “I’m from—”

Present Day

“Seoul, but you’ve stayed in the states, huh? That’s really cool, I’ve only been to LA and New York a couple of times for certain events… so what was your experience like over there?” he asks, taking a sip from his mimosa.

You don’t hesitate to answer, the response ingrained in your brain, “It was really nice, though I found myself being homesick quite often if we’re being honest,” he nods his head.  

“Ah, yeah I completely get where you’re coming from, I—” he catches himself mid-sentence, shaking his head, as if disappointed with himself, “There’s just no place like Seoul huh,” he says instead, to which you nod in agreement.

You proceed in planting the seed to Yuna’s plan, “I have to go back in a couple of weeks though, I still have a year left to go for my bachelor’s, and well I’m really just here for visits sake,” you explain, your nerves slowly withering away. The more you spoke, the more natural things were beginning to feel, smooth and easy like melted butter on toast.

And in a way you weren’t entirely lying. You were going to have to leave at some point, you did have a year left in school, and technically you were just a temporary visitor in this whole world of the rich. Of course, there were some major differences between the truth and what you were leading him on to believe, but at the end of the day this wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

“Oh I see, what are you majoring in?” he politely asks, silently hoping he wasn’t intruding too much. Taehyung for the first time in a very long time, felt nervous. For one thing, you were very pretty, breathtakingly so, he almost felt like a kid with a schoolboy crush. It was quite embarrassing really.

But Taehyung was waiting. He was waiting for you to do something or say something that would confirm that you weren’t the person he’s hoping you to be, that you were in fact a stuck up brat just like the many he’d seen and met before. That you were just like anyone else here who solely cared for numbers, and their own personal riches. It was as if he was anticipating the feeling of disappointment.

“Business, accounting if we’re being specific,” you respond to his question, breaking him from his train of thought, “I’ve always been pretty good with numbers,” you say, “but not enough to become a full on STEM major or anything like that,” you joke, garnering a light chuckle from him, which you could easily tell was completely fake.

Maybe he was right, maybe you were just like the rest of them.

“I see, I see, I just finished my studies recently,” he comments, “I majored in finance though,” he says, which ultimately doesn’t surprise you. Not only because it seemed fitting for someone like him to get a bachelors in that field, but because you basically memorized his Wikipedia page as well. Supposedly having gotten into and graduating from SNU based on his own merit. Though you had your doubts of course, it was probably just best to keep your thoughts to yourself.

What you needed to focus on was getting him to ask you out on a date, considering an awkward silence on both ends had now arisen. A part of you was now severely worried about that date not happening anytime soon. Did you say something wrong? Maybe he wasn’t as interested in you anymore? Business is a pretty boring major, but it’s what Yuna told you to say, and well it is what you were actually majoring in. Maybe you should say something? No, just stick to the script. He isn’t saying anything though….

“Originally I wanted to major in photography,” you blurt out, catching him by surprise, “I was gonna minor in it, but being an accounting major was hard enough as it was, and well family pressure,” you say, your fingers tapping against the surface of the bar, “Nowadays it’s more of a hobby I do, here and there,” you say, curiosity now apparent on his face.

What you were telling him was in fact true, you loved photography, at one point even wanting to make a career out of it, but to become a professional photographer was hard enough as it was. In all honesty, you respected those who had the ability to confidently pursue their dreams. People like Yuna for example, who despite the risk of failing being high, never gave up. It was a risk you were unwilling to take, preferring a secured financial future over the latter.

“I especially like candid photography, there’s just something about it,” you ramble on, “it’s relaxing in a sense, like you learn to be more appreciative of what’s in front of you,” you gush, almost forgetting why you were talking about this topic to begin with.

Taehyung on the other hand looked at you with a grin on his face, finding your babbling amusing to say the least. It was in every way adorable.

“I have these binders at home filled with—” before you could continue on, the sound of a phone ringing interrupts. A look of annoyance now appears on Taehyung’s face, as he begrudgingly took out his phone from his pocket, hesitating to accept the phone call.

“You don’t mind if I—” you quickly nod your head, flashing him a superficial smile, as he momentarily stepped away from the bar.

You quickly took a sigh of relief once he was no longer in view, taking this as an opportunity to take a breather. Personally, you didn’t like this tense feeling, and you could imagine how much more heightened it’d be in these upcoming weeks. “Could it perhaps be … guilt?” you think to yourself, you quickly shake off the idea.

“I’m sorry about that,” you hear his voice, failing to hide the peeved look on his face.

“No, it’s fine, really,” you insist. A pregnant pause now in the air.

“I was hoping—”

“Are you—” both of your cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“Oh my bad, what were you going to say?” you ask.

“No, you can go first,” he smiles.

“No, no, you go ahead,” you persist.

“You sure?” he asks, to which you nod in return.

“Well I have to go right now, attend to some personal errands and stuff,” he glances down at the stain, “also change out of this shirt,” he jokes, “but um,” he momentarily hesitates, “But I was hoping we could go out some time, grab some coffee or something.” Bingo. Step one, check. “I mean unless you don’t like coffee, I don’t know why I assumed you did, we can always get like smoothies or something, um,” he falters, his hand now scratching the back of his neck. “Hm cute,” you think to yourself.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” you grin, “I was going to say the same thing actually, but yes I would love to get coffee with you, ” you respond.

“Perfect! I was thinking maybe tomorrow evening, around 10AM? I’ll pick you up,” he states, the excitement clearly evident.

“Yeah, sounds great,” you giggle.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he waves, before turning around and beginning to walk away. But after a couple of seconds he abruptly stops in his tracks and turns back around, causing you to genuinely laugh as you knew why he had stopped.

“I really forgot to ask for your number…” he facepalms himself.

Thursday Night.

“You had one job!” Yuna dramatically flails her arms around, she and Hoseok now having been filled in on everything that happened this morning.

“And I got it done, didn’t I?” you retort, causing Yuna to roll her eyes, mumbling a sassy “I guess” in return.

“You’re so lucky I don’t have my spraying bottle on me right now,” she jokes around, but a part of her was more likely than not actually serious about it.

“Anyways, I’m surprised he actually ended up going up to me after all,” you mused, “Didn’t think it’d actually work.”

“Well with what I had you wearing, of course he was going to go up to you little miss y/n! A ruched floral dress with a summer straw hat at an all white attire event? Do you have no faith in me woman! Actually no, have some faith in yourself!” she loudly lectures you, playfully hitting the side of your arm. “The bad posture was something you already had experience with on your own merit,” she teases, causing her to start dying of laughter at her own joke.  

You scowl in return, “Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny,” you grumble out, subconsciously fixing your posture.

“Anyways, what was the famous Kim Taehyung like? Is he really the heartthrob everyone makes him out to be,” Hoseok chimes in, his chin resting against his hand, eager to know the more about your encounter, “Come on, I need details, not no flimsy recap.”

“Um…” you hesitate with your next choice of words, “he’s um..” how could you describe Taehyung? He certainly wasn’t what you thought he was going to be like, “He’s a,” you pause, the two in front of you now looking at you with eager eyes, “He’s a nice guy… for now at least,” you conclude, surprising both Hoseok and Yuna alike. “I—” you sigh, “I think apart of me, like a very little tiny part is already starting to feel gu—”

“Ah! Don’t you even say it!” Yuna interjects.

“You didn’t let me finish!” you scold, immediately causing Yuna’s mouth to go shut. “Though a small part of me does feel guilty,” you pause, “at the end of the day Kim Taehyung is nothing but a rich boy with a grand old penthouse, flashy cars, and has enough money that could last him for several lifetimes. His father is a multi millionaire tycoon who from what I’ve heard exploits people for his own personal gain. Two sides of the same fucking coin. And so maybe right now he may seem like some nice guy, but it’s probably all an act. I’m not the bad guy here, I know I’m not. And I’ll be damned to let anyone, even if it’s myself, convince me otherwise, not with what I have at stake,” you finish off, staring at the invoices which were held up by magnets on your refrigerator, a reminder of what you were doing all of this for.

Kim Taehyung is nothing more than a pawn in a game of chess, and it was your job to make sure he stayed in that position. Nothing more, nothing less.

Earlier That Day.

“You called me?” Taehyung enters his father’s office, still feeling aggravated at the sudden interruption from earlier. His father doesn’t even bother to look up from his pile of papers, only making a quick motion at Taehyung to sit down on the arm chair placed across his desk.

The sound of silence filled the room, as his father continued to scribble down who knows what, on his sheets of papers, clearly focused on what was in front of him which only bothered Taehyung more. “Was there a point to all of this?” he thought to himself.

“Yes there is,” his father suddenly said, causing Taehyung to straighten up, not realizing that he must’ve said what he was thinking aloud. He finally looks up to face Taehyung, the stern look he always had on, well placed on his face. He quickly pulls open his drawer and grabs what seems to be a magazine out, smacking it on his desk for Taehyung to see. He sighs, “So you care to explain what this is all about?”

The title, in a big bold yellow colored font, reads, “Kim Taehyung Gets Physical With Paparazzi, Trouble in Paradise?” accompanied by a collage of photos which included Taehyung post physical-assault on the paparazzo and his argument with Sunhi, all painting him as some kind of villain. Taehyung remained silent, instead avoiding eye contact, only causing his father to let out a sardonic laugh, his frustration clearly evident.

“Ah Taehyung,” he starts off, “I feel like we’ve had this conversation many, many, times,” he lets out another sarcastic chuckle, “and I have to say, you had me fooled when you told me you were ready to come back,” he continuously taps his fingers on his desk in a rhythmic pattern.

“You don’t get—”

“I don’t care for the sob stories Taehyung, I really don’t,” he interrupts, finally snapping, “In fact I have staff telling me that is was Sunhi who cheated on you, something along those lines,” he mumbles, “What you do on your free time, or who you’re seeing is really none of my concern,” he pauses, “until it has the potential to affect my business, and the image it upholds,” he clarifies.

“I know,” Taehyung hisses.

“Then those little antics you used to like to pull off shouldn’t be making a return,” he narrows his eyes at his son, “because we all know the results of those,” he harshly reminds him, causing Taehyung to ball his fist in anger, “So I suggest you get a hold of yourself, quickly at that, so that I don’t have to clean up your messes like before,”

“You don’t have to remind me every waking fucking moment,” Taehyung harshly says, getting up from the chair. His father is quick to do the same, the two now facing each other, the desk being their only barrier.

“And who the hell do think you’re talking to like that,” his father spits, “It was me who got you out of that mess that night, hell if it weren’t for me you’d be behind prison bars at this very moment,” Taehyung looks away, his eyes now watering, “You should be nothing but grateful,” Taehyung quickly wipes the tear that uncontrollably rolls down his cheek. The feeling of shame now overshadowing the feeling of anger he originally felt. He attempts to take deep breaths, anything to prevent himself from looking any more like a coward. He didn’t want to cry, no he refused to cry, especially not in front of his father.

“A house made of glass trying to throw brick stones,” his dad scoffs, “Ironic really,” a vile smirk now on his face, “just get out my sight already, consider this a warning,” he concludes before sitting back down and continuing his work, acting as if nothing had happened. Taehyung stood there for what felt like forever, his eyes still brimmed with tears, before silently making his way out into the hall.

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry,” he kept telling himself as he made his way down to the lobby, but it was hard. He could feel the lump in his throat waiting to be let out, as well as how his lip would quiver whenever he’d force himself to smile at the several staff members who would politely greet him. It was almost as if he was suffocating.

He unlocked his car door and made his way inside, immediately punching the steering wheel in subdued frustration. He looked at himself from the car mirror, staring at his red puffy eyes, still refusing to allow himself to cry despite being alone. Instead he took more deep breaths, once again tucking away the turmoil he’d been feeling for a very long time back into the depths of his heart.

Turning on the ignition of his car, he made his way out of the building’s parking lot, quickly shaking off what had happened. He had a date to look forward to tomorrow morning, and he wasn’t going to let anyone ruin that.

Friday Morning.

“Ta da!” Yuna shimmys her hands, proud of the outfit she’s ensembled. She was definitely making use of Mrs. Choi’s closet, “You don’t think this is a little too much?” you question, feeling slightly insecure about what you were wearing, the tan beret on your head slowly becoming crooked. This was definitely better than anything you’d pick on your own for a morning cup of coffee, that was for sure.

“Oh of course not!” Yuna exclaims while quickly fixing your hair,  “Now put this on top of the turtle neck,” she says, passing you a brown plaid double-breasted coat, “and then,” she glances at the two bags in her hands, debating which color would look best before ultimately picking the cream colored cross-bag, “put this over it.”

She claps her hands together, clearly proud of her fashion sense. “The perfect outfit for your date, doesn’t she look so pretty Hobi?” she gushes. Hoseok looks up from his phone, the three of you were now on a nickname basis.

“So she does,” he smiles, “but maybe a black bag might fit the outfit better,” Yuna’s eyebrows quickly furrow.

“Hey leave the fashion to me, computer boy!”  Yuna playfully squints her eyes at him.

“I’m just saying! A white turtleneck and a cream colored bag isn’t the look you think it is.”

“Yeah well,” she puckers her lips like a kid, unable to think of anything to counter with, she instead says, “that uniform you’re wearing is ugly!” causing a dramatic offended look to appear on his face.

“Oh I’ll have you know—”

“Will you two stop with the bickering?” you interrupt him before he could attack in return, “Taehyung is going to get here any moment, and you,” you point at Yuna, “need to start heading to work, while you,” you point to Hoseok, “need to get back to work,” you reaffirm, silencing the two who were now staring at you like lost puppies, “Well what are you waiting for, shoo!” you commanded, your statement coming off a little more harsher than you intended, but you blamed it on your nerves. You couldn’t help it because well, you were indeed very nervous.

“Ah okay, okay. Let us know how it goes!” Yuna says, before dragging Hoseok by the arm and leading eachother out. “And remember to stay calm and collective!” he shouts before being yanked on by Yuna.

You let out a deep breath of air. You hadn’t been on a date in a very long time, and though one could consider this a “fake” date on your part, it was a date nonetheless. You needed to leave a good impression, enough that he'd be willing to take you out again after today.

[From: Taehyung]  

[9:55] Hey, I’m around the corner from the address you texted me :) I should be outside in like 2 mins

[9:55] i'm in the black mercedes benz btw

[To: Taehyung]

[9:55] perfect ☺️ i’ll be out right now then.

You fix your hair one last time, making sure everything looked perfect. “It’s not a date, just two strangers getting coffee together,” you reassure yourself one last time before making your way out.

The car ride to the coffee shop per se wasn’t awkward, but formal to say the least. Of course, Taehyung didn’t exactly expect you to immediately be talkative once you stepped into the car, but judging by how stiff you remained the whole car ride, and the lack of conversation there was, he also knew that he didn’t want you to feel timid to talk or as if you had to hold yourself back in front of him. He wanted things to feel natural, like how you were when you were talking about photography, where he could tell you were genuinely just being yourself.

Honestly he was used to women usually going out of their way to show off in front of him, or to make themselves seem like someone they weren’t simply to impress him, so this was definitely... different than what he was used to. But for some reason it made him even more curious to get to know you, eager to see what you were hiding behind that brick wall of an exterior you’ve seemed to have set up for yourself. He assumed it was going to take time for you to warm up to him, but the problem was that Taehyung wasn’t much of a patient person to begin with.

“After you,” he says, politely opening the door to the coffee shop for you. You whisper “thank you” to the small, but kind gesture.

The coffee shop in itself was very cute. From the cushioned cream-colored loveseats decorated by pillows you’d find overpriced on Wayfair, to the bright lighting provided by a massive roof skylight, and lastly the wooden bookshelves decorated with a variety of different novels, all which gave the coffee shop a very pleasant home-like feeling to it. If you could describe it in one word it’d be “warm”.

You stood there like a lost child for a moment, unsure of what to order as you studied the menu. They had a variety of drinks, things you were sure you had never even heard of, either that or they just had a fancy way of describing everything in order to boost up the price. “So any idea on what you want?” he asks.

“Um,” honestly you really weren’t much of a coffee drinker, having ordered the same drink at Starbucks for the past several years, “Surprise me,” you awkwardly smile, before making your way (practically running) to a wooden table next to a window view.

You were definitely peeved with yourself because you knew that you needed to stop being so damn quiet because God was that car ride awkward, insufferable almost. But you just weren’t good at this kind of stuff, never had been.

Even during high school when you had gone on your first ever official date, you ended having an utter meltdown in the restroom after your date awkwardly pointed out that you had a piece of spinach stuck in between your teeth, a waitress on break had to comfort you before you could even step out again. Even then you had your mouth glued shut afterward, paranoid about embarrassing yourself again.

And that wasn’t the only embarrassing incident you’ve encountered in past dates, there had been plenty more, but that would take a hefty amount of time to talk about.

Point was, you’d always find yourself acting like a turtle hiding in its shell or like a pufferfish, blurting out the most random and embarrassing things at any given moment. It was always one or the other and it always left you with a humiliating story to tell Yuna, a prime example being accidently spilling your drink on the son of a multimillionaire. You kept anxiously bouncing your leg as you watched him order at the cashier register, thinking of ways to start a conversation.

“I got you a heavenly toffee, it’s an espresso with toffee nut syrup, caramel cream, almond milk, and whipped cream,” he places the drink on the table for you, “I figured you could never go wrong with something sweet,” he smiles.

“Oh wow,” you say, genuinely delighted with his choice, “their mugs are so pretty,” you quietly comment, observing the intricate design on the ceramic mug.

“Yeah it’s definitely one of my favorite coffee shops in the area, I also recommend this one called Seoul’s Magnificent Mocha, they have good drinks as well,” he chuckles, recalling his last visit there.

“Well if I’m being completely honest, I’ve never been too enthusiastic for coffee, but,” you take a sip of the drink in front of you, “I have to say this is really good,” you laugh, pleasantly surprised at the sweetness of the drink, you could hardly even taste the bitterness of the coffee.

“So y/n, tell me a little bit about yourself,” he says while taking a sip of his own coffee.

“Oh well hm—” you try to recall the things Yuna would tell you to say, but with Taehyung intensely staring at you, your mind had gone completely blank, “well,” you felt your face getting red at the pressure you felt, your ears definitely feeling hot, “there’s not much to say really. I’m a pretty boring person,” you let out a very awkward chuckle, looking down in embarrassment.

“Don’t say that,” he says, “we could start off with something simple, like,” he looks up for a moment in thought, “what’s your favorite color?”

“Yellow,” you simply state, no commentary, no “What about yours”, no nothing, Yuna would probably squirt you with her bottle 100 times if she was there. Your brain was having a “we threw out his name” moment from Spongebob. Nothing but fire and chaos going on in there.

“Oh…” he pressed his lips together, slightly disheartened at your lack of enthusiasm. Was there something wrong with him? Maybe he was just badgering too much? Before he could dwell on it too long, the sound of a camera flashing caught both his and your attention.

“Oh no,” you quickly think to yourself, immediately turning away from the window in order to cover your face. Taehyung didn’t bother to question as to why you had turned so quickly because he was quick to do the same. Your reason being was that you couldn’t afford to land on the front cover of a magazine or appear on a gossip channel because the moment your mom saw from her hospital bed, it’d be a wrap for you.

“Damn it,” he groaned, “I thought it’d be too early for them to follow me out here,” he says. Honestly, Taehyung didn’t mind the paparazzi taking pictures of him, at this point he was used to it. But what he didn’t want was to put you in the spotlight with no say on your part, especially knowing how stalkerish the paparazzi could be. The moment they got a clear identity as to who you were, you’d be followed until the end of time, and he would definitely feel guilty for that.

“We gotta get out of here before more of them arrive,” he cursed, “Just don’t look back,” he directs, slowly turning his head back to see if he could spot where the person taking pictures was. “Alright the guy seems to be planted from afar, so I think we can walk out the entrance, just make sure you cover your face with your hand or something or you could use your beret,” he jokes around. “You don’t gotta tell me twice,” you think to yourself.

You nod at his directions, the two of you quickly getting up and putting your mugs away, before speed walking back to the car. You could only cross your fingers that a clear photo of you wasn’t taken.

Taehyung quickly zoomed out of the area, but despite his efforts, everytime he glanced at his rear-view mirror he could spot the black van still following him, which only put him in a bad mood.

“I’m gonna have to drop you off at the back or something, or else you’ll find men always outside your building for the rest of your trip until they find out who exactly are you,” Taehyung scowled, mad at himself for being so careless. You wordlessly nod your head, a little intimidated at how angry he looked.

The car ride back to your place is quiet, nothing different than the car ride to the coffee shop. “I’m sorry,” he exhales once you guys are outside the building, “I should’ve been more careful,” he mutters, internally scolding himself.

You shake your head in disagreement, “Trust me, it’s fine, it’s expected really,” you mumble, your words causing him to feel a slight sting to the heart. Though he didn’t even know you well enough for your words to genuinely hurt, for some reason they did.

“Well I’ll text see you some other time Taehyung,” you formally bow your head, getting out of the car, and quickly walking into Mr. Choi's building, leaving him taken aback by your words. One could say he was looking into your word choice a little too much, but no, he knew exactly what you meant. And so with that he left feeling disheartened.

“So how’d it go?” Hoseok catches you right as you enter the elevator.

“Horrible, it went horrible,” you state, the elevator doors closing before you could say anything else.

Saturday Morning.

“Your kimchi came out way too salty,” your mom criticizes, taking a bite of the food you’ve brought, “should've added root vegetable or something,” she shakes her head in dismay. She expects you to fire back with a remark, but instead she watches as you just sit in the hospital chair, eating your food in pout.

Today was your visiting day, and though you tried to hide your dismay at yesterday’s date when talking to your mom, it kept popping up in the back of your mind like an annoying itch. Of course your mom had noticed your odd behavior from the moment you walked in, but for you to be eating in pout meant that whatever it was that was on your mind, must've really been bothering you.

“Now are you gonna care to explain why you’re feeling so down,” she questions, “or are you going to keep sulking in your seat,” she chuckles.

You wrinkle your nose, “It’s nothing ma,” you try deflecting the conversation, your gaze wandering to the TV.  

“Ah so it’s about a boy,” she laughs, causing your head to snap in her direction, a puzzled look now on your face.

“And what makes you so sure?”

She shrugs, “Because I’m your mom and I’ve seen that look many times,” she grabs the remote from the hospital’s bed stand, subsequently turning off the TV, “come on, I’m in cool mom mode now,” she cringely says, causing you to roll your eyes.

“Oh god,” you mumble, loudly sighing before beginning, “so there’s this boy,” you start off.

“I knew it,” she sings, jokingly winking at you.

“I went on a date with him the other day and well I don’t know, I tensed up, you know how I get,” you explain, downwarding your gaze to the floor in shame as you recalled your behavior from the day before.

“Mm,” she hums, sounding unconvinced, “well there must be a reason as to why you got so tensed up, and I’m sure you know why,” she deadpans, her face now becoming stern. So much for being in “cool mom” mode.

“Well I don’t—”

“No, no, no, I’m not accepting your excuses,” she vigorously shakes her head.

You sigh, “I just,” you pause, remembering that you needed to be careful with your words, “I just really want him to like me that’s all.”

“And?”

You groan, “And well I feel like I have to act a certain way or be a certain way in order for him to like me,” you explain, “and I just don’t think I have it in me. I don’t think he’s the type of person to like me, well for me, I guess you can say he’s like the popular kid in those high school movies, you know?” you let out a dry laugh knowing that the situation was much more than that.

“Well can you tell me a little about this boy?” she quieres, grabbing a strand of your hair and beginning to play with it.  

“Well I’m not going to give you details because for all I know we might end up bad,” you say,  making an excuse so that you wouldn't have to give a name, “but this guy, well he’s been told to have a reputation. He’s selfish, he’s reckless, he’s rude, and the only person he cares for is himself,” you rant, your mother now seeming taken aback by your description.

“Is that what people tell you, or is that what you think?” she laughs, “because the way you just said that, it seems like those are your personal feelings about him, and so I can’t help but wonder why you would want to go out with someone like that,” she wonders. “Oh honey, you have no idea why,” you think to yourself.

“Well because that’s what people like him are, that’s what they’ve always proven themselves to be, it’s what—”

“You assume he’s going to be like,” she cuts you off, her tone now dismissive.

“It’s what I know he’s going to be like,” you retaliate, crossing your arms like a little kid, causing her to laugh.

“Oh y/n y/n y/n,” she continues playing with your hair, “I want you to listen to what I have to say, okay? And then once I’m done, you can either take my advice to the heart, or let it go in one ear and out the other, alright?” you hum in response.

“Okay so the first thing I want to talk about,” she clears her throat, “is that it’s wrong of you to make assumptions about this person, or anyone in general.”

“I know but—”

“Ah, what’d I tell you about listening. You didn’t let me finish,” she scolds, gently tugging the strand of hair she was playing with, “I want you to go on another date with him, but open minded this time y/n. No preconceived notions, no overanalyzations of the things he does so that you can make him fit into the mold you’ve made for him, no nothing, and the same goes for you,” she takes a sip of her water bottle, giving you a chance to quickly say something.

“But ma, the girls I’ve seen him date in the past, I’m,” you sigh, “I’m nothing like them,” her eyebrows immediately furrow.

“And who said you had to be anything like them?” she grabs your hand, causing you to quietly stare at her, “but this leads to my second point. No more putting pressure on yourself to be someone you’re not,” she softly nudges your shoulder, “Just give him one genuine chance, just one, and if it’s not meant to be then it’s not meant to be,” she says, finishing her little speech.

“But I want him to like me,” your voice cracks, desperately wanting to replace the word “want” with “need”.

“Hey don’t cry,” she chuckles, quickly pulling you in for a hug, “Trust me y/n, as long as you be yourself, any boy who's lucky enough to get to know you will fall in love. I promise you that.” she softly whispers into your ear. And with her words you could immediately feel the pressure come off your shoulders, the words not only comforting, but hitting home. “Okay so I need you to promise me that the next time you see him, it’ll be a fresh new slate for both him and you, alright? Shake off, whatever you have on your mind, and just enjoy what’s in front of you.”

“Okay,” you breathe out, deciding that your mom was right, things needed to change, and you were going to do just that.

Saturday Night.

“So how did that coffee date of yours go?” Namjoon mentions, causing Taehyung to frown at the memory.

“If I’m being honest, not that well,” he sighs, pouring himself a glass of whiskey from his alcohol shelf.

Namjoon’s face scrunches in confusion, “Well, what went wrong this time?” he laughs.

Taehyung shrugs, trying his best to seem unfazed, “I don’t know, I guess she just wasn’t that into me,” he comments on you lightly, “Maybe it was for the best, I don’t really have time for another relationship anyway, not with my busy schedule,” he says, taking a sip from his drink.

“Busy schedule, but you had the time to go get coffee immediately the next day after meeting her, with no second thought? Yeah that makes sense,” Namjoon teases, causing Taehyung to roll his eyes.

“Like I said, I don’t know, she just was not budging, it was like speaking to a brick wall the whole time, and I’m sure if the paparazzi hadn’t interrupted it would have remained like that the whole time,” he sneers while pushing his hair back, “which is weird cause I don’t know there was just something about her, I just can’t describe it, but I just know she was holding back.” he explains, causing Namjoon to snort, “But anyways, it’s my fault, I set my expectations too high, thinking I was going to find love at first sight, actually no I blame you for putting those thoughts into my head.”

Namjoon raises his hands in defense, “Hey, all I did was pressure you to go up to her, everything else was your own head’s doing.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right, I’m just gonna be a lone wolf for a —” the sound of a “ding” interrupts Taehyung before he could complete his sentence, and so he checks his phone to see who could’ve texted him.

Namjoon stares at Taehyung who was now intently staring at his phone, looking quite flabbergasted, “Well, what is it?” he questions, a goofy grin now slowly appearing on the wavy haired young man’s face.

“I,” he lets out a chuckle, “I think I’m going on a date tomorrow night,” he faintly blushes, turning his phone to show Namjoon the text he just read, which reads:

[From: y/n]

[9:02 PM] you + me, tomorrow @ 5:30 , Ilsan lake park, i’ll bring what we need.

[9:02 PM] yes or yes?? 😇

[To: y/n]

[9:03 PM] i’ll see you then 😅

a/n 🧚🏻 : did I mention this is slow burn???? LOL. originally I was going to include date #2 on here because I only want this series to be a max of like 8-10 chapters, butttt I also wanted to update so ... but all the buildup will (hopefully) be worth itttt. the smut is coming soon in other words LMAO. I also took a while to update bc I was trying not to make y/n too annoying and just make the characterization how I pictured it to be, like I needed to establish the generalization she has on the Taehyung but IDK lmk what you think, message me, comment, send an anon, anything is welcome 🤍 

The Final Chess Piece

HaremAU!

Synopsis: As a child, he found himself buried in the warmth of his mother. When that is taken away, he desperately clings to other. But of course, Taehyung with his unique mind found himself fated to be alone; like the bright stars that together light up the sky but is forever separate by the thousands of miles between them. Amidst the darkness, however, there is a guaranteed light source in every black hole. When Taehyung found his, it is guaranteed to be a euphoric moment. 

Warnings: Profanity, child abuse, indirect kills, Angst

Word Count: 11.6k

A/n: Finally finished the first part of the ongoing serie. This is an introduction to how Taehyung has meet Y/N. Took me over a week but here we are. If you spot any errors, please simply skip it. Thank you and enjoy 🌿

Masterlist 

His first memory was of a brunette, one with very stunning and bright eyes. Their eyes were comparable with the stars above him as he found himself sobbing, unable to stop himself. The lady, as he later found out, held him weakly and she tried to swing back and forth to help him sleep. Unfortunately, he was a newborn back then so he did not understand her and continued crying; it only stopped when he heard the door slam open.

Turning his weak body to gaze at the direction of the ruckus, he found himself being stared at by a black-haired male. He looked so delicate that if a gust of wind were to pass by, the force would probably knock him over. His face, however, clearly showcases a malicious intent but quickly dissipated when the person who held him raised her voice. They then began to exchange their opinions but the conversation ended with the female raising her voice. The sudden loud roar startled him while causing the male to run out of the room.

The brunette quickly brought him closer and ushered him to quiet down. She then turned to one of the maids and silently whispered something into their ear before turning back to him. The next thing he knew was her roughed hands interacting with his, gently playing with them. He then looked up at her after hearing a soft chuckle above him.

Suddenly, another person was in his view, blocking his view of the person who held him. Instinctively, he let out little whimpers that escalated to thundering screams. Unexpectedly, the woman only offered him a forced smile before leaning down and kissing his little forehead.

“ Everything will be fine, Taehyung-ah.”

♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟

Taehyung’s next significant memory took place on his 23rd moon cycle. It was the night when the moon was at its peak in the bright night sky. The young boy had decided to slip away while his nanny was distracted to gaze at the midnight sky. As Taehyung was still young and was protected by his mother, he was not accustomed to the format of the courtyards within their property. As a result, the young boy wandered through the unfamiliar place as he tried to return to his courtyard.

Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible for the 2 year-old as he was unable to see where he was going under the pitch-dark sky. The gleaming moon was likely to be teasing him, not allowing him to use any bit of its light to find a way back. It was as if the moon wanted to forever trap him within its webs and not let him leave.

Burdened by the thought, the poor child was unable to refrain himself from breaking down, little sobs turned into loud, painful screams that seemed to go on for hours.

Taehyung was now sitting on the dirty ground, his clothes covered in mud and dirt, seemingly having a tantrum. It only increases as the moment lengthens as the poor boy wanted his mother and nanny to come and rescue him.

*****

General Kim’s main husband, Minjun, had found himself unable to sleep and had decided to go on a walk through the Lily Blossom Pavilion. Unexpedly, he had decided to by himself instead of getting guards to accompany him.

He had a lot of problems on his mind and if a servant were to ask about his well being every time they saw him grimace, he would most likely deduct their salary before kicking them out.

With that settled, he took his time to walk to the pavilion. Once he got there, he gently walked through the countless flower bushes to admire the various types of flowers.

The Lily Blossom Pavilion was created by the previous general who gifted it to her lovely main husband as a gift. It was designed to host different types of flowers from around the world which was why the temperature inside the pavilion is so different compared to the outside.

Minjun unconsciously scoffed at the thought when he compared the couple to his current wife. The current General Kim was far different from her parents. She was instead cold, and distasteful; not caring about his health at all. Granted, they married for the benefits of alliance for the family but still, she should have reserved some affections for him and not for a lowly concubine. He is, after all, the main husband who has absolute control over his wife’s harem and was the one who helped create 3 daughters. What does that whore have that he does not?

Angered by his wife’s clearly unfair treatment, he kicked the flower bush nearby. Unexpectedly, the bush let out a painful screech which surprised him so much that he tripped over his robe and landed on the rock-covered floor, scratching his pale knees in the process. He then desperately yelled out, alarming countless people.

Soon enough, everyone in the Kim household was awakened by the terrible sounds. Many quickly rushed to the pavilion finding the main husband still on the ground, yelling for help. Minjun only stopped when he saw how many people had come. He then motioned to the nearest guard to see what was behind the bush.

The said servant then unsheathed his weapon as he strategically approached the bush, separating the branches to see what was underneath. When he was finally able to see who was hiding in the bush, the result surprised him. A boy was sitting behind the bush, with an arm clasped over his other one, tears running down his swollen cheeks, looking at him with a terror-filled gaze.

The guard quickly comforted the boy before he carried the bruised boy out. This, however, caused the boy to cry louder when he saw the amount of eyes staring at him.

Embarrassed that he was scared by a boy, Minjun quickly rushed to the boy, “ HOW DARE YOU INJURE ME!” After that, he raised his hand and swinged it with most of his force.

The sudden reaction caused the guard to freeze making him unable to shield the boy from the attack. This caused the boy to receive the full force of the slap, almost causing injury to his neck.

The next time Minjun attempted to cause harm to the boy, the guard was quick to intervene, quickly shielding himself.

“ You filthy servant, who dare you block me? I’m your master, you betrayer.”

“ Main husband, should not do this. He looks like the young master.”

The comment made him stop his yells, as he tried to examine the boy after the guard had removed himself. The crying boy in front of him did somewhat looked like the young master but he had not seen him ever since his birth, that he was not so sure. Believing that it was a bluff, he continued his glare at the guard.

“ Filthy servant, you dare to say that this is the young master? Do you think that you have made a severe mistake? Guards, bring him down and give him 50 sticks to avoid future lies.”  

The guards then immediately rushed to the soon-to-be-ex guard and dragged him out of the pavilion and towards the punishment yard. Some quietly scolded him while some apologized.

After he was dragged out, Minjun turned his attention back to the rest of the servants and ushered them to leave. After they left, it was only the 7 daughters that are still present there.

“ Daughters, if this were the real young master then we should cripple him. How dare he take all of General Kim’s attention away from us? Hmph, and a boy just at that. Does the sluttiness run through the family? From your father to you? Such an interesting bloodline.”

“ Father, what if he is not the main master?” Minjun’s youngest daughter asked.

Minjun turned towards the girl, and gently patted her head, “ Sooyoung-ah, don’t worry. If he is not the young master just pretend he is and vent your anger, alright?”

The comment made her nod, and she confidently walked to word the boy. Slowly she crouched down to the boy, looked at him and grabbed the material behind his neck and lifted him up.

The boy instinctively started to struggle against the grip that was slowly choking him, yelling and kicking to attempt release.

Chuckling at his weak attempt, Sooyoung dropped his fragile body to the ground. “ You are young, but you fall like a sack of potatoes... What are you waiting for just standing there?” Sooyoung yelled back at the crowd.

Slowly, some people decided to join Sooyoung until all of them did.

Laughters and threats were heard as the girls enjoyed their time torturing the poor boy.

One of the daughters was about to kick him in the stomachs when she was stopped by an angry scream.

“ WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

The group of people turned towards the voice’s direction and was stricken with waves of anger. Immediately, they all kneeled down, scared that they might have made a terrible mistake.

“ W-w-we did nothing, general,” Minjun stuttered.

General Kim looked at him unconvinced before she glanced at the hidden figure behind all of them. She squinted her eyes as the familiar body but soon realized who it was.

Angered by their outrageous actions, she kicked Minjun out of her path and quickly went to the boy’s side. Gently cradling the boy into her chest, she looked back at the group and contorted her face in distaste. Quickly standing up, she made her way out of the pavilion not sparing them any comfort.

“ If Taehyung does not make it, then consider yourselves done. I will properly punish you when he has recovered.”

And with that, they were no longer able to see her.

*****

“ Physician Kwon, is he alright?”

“ General Kim, he suffered many deathly injuries but he is thankfully past the risky point.”

General Kim quickly nodded her head, motioning him to continue but when she saw him hesitate, she didn’t know if she truly wanted to be informed of the upcoming news.

“ sighs, my general, even though his condition is stable. I am not able to predict that he would be able to wake up or not. I’m sorry for my mediocre abilities to not be able to help the young master. “

“ …” the comment shocked the general but quickly got morph into anger. She would definitely punish them when Taehyung has recovered… if he would even wake up.

“ Thank you, physician Kwon. Hwa, escort him out.”

When the door closed, General Kim made her way to Taehyung, and slowly caressed his hair.

That was the start of her own journey of taking care of Taehyung. So when he finally opened his eyes, general Kim was by his sides.

The poor boy started crying as waves of memories rushed into his head before he lost consciousness. Holding onto his mother as best as he could, while explaining what had happened. All the general did was to hug him and comfort him as best as she could, promising to punish the people who had caused him harm.

Slowly he began to recover and by the time he turned 2, he was back to his little minx self. Taehyung, however, acted as if he had not experienced such dangerous events but everyone else did not dare to forget about it, especially Minjun.

After Taehyung had awakened, general Kim punished her 7 daughters and Minjun, disappointed that he could act in such a way in front of a child. General Kim had decided to let each of her daughters sent to a temple to retrain their behaviours, and have Minjun get hit 30 times.

Sighing as she returned back to her room from a stressful day, she quickly changed into her night outfits and gently climbed up to bed and hugged Taehyung. She played with his hair and began to calm down. Before she fell asleep, she kissed his forehead.

“ Everything will be alright, mother’s here.”

And with that, the tired women went to sleep.

♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟

“ Mother, what are you and uncle doing?” a 5-year-old taehyung asked his mother. His bambi eyes looking at the board curiously.

“ Mother is playing chess with uncle, do you want to see?”

Taehyung quickly nodded, holding his arm out wanting her to carry him.

The woman chuckled as she carried Taehyung into her lap. “ Aigoo, Taehyunggie is getting so big.”

The comment made the person opposite of them unable to refrain the laughters bubbling inside of him. When general Kim looked over at him, questionably, he let out a chuckle.

“ Is this the young master of the Kim household?”

“ What do you think?” General Kim asked as she looked at the man, wearing an annoyed face, “ Taehyung, this is Park Jinsung, he’s my right hand.”

“ Nice to meet you, I’m Taehyung.”

Jinsung smiled at how cute the boy was but was drawn back to the game as Taehyung continued to ask about it.

“ Mother, what is this?”

Before she could answer, Jinsung beat her to it, “ This is called chess.”

Taehyung tilted his head cutely, “ Chess?”

“ Yes, chess. Do you want to learn it?”

Taehyung quickly nodded and got of his mother’s lap, and quickly headed to get an apple?

The adults looked at each other confusedly, curious at what the young boy was doing but could only chuckle when Taehyung with an apple in hand.

Taehyung quickly made his way to Jinsung before bowing, offering the apple to him.

“ Master, please accept this disciple’s offering.”

General Kim then let out a snort before cracking up while Jinsung pretended to think before carefully accepting the apple.

“ Hmm… I will accept the disciple’s gift. Now come, let me show you.”

Taehyung did a quick celebration before running to Jinsung’s side.

General Kim watched the two fondly, finding how they somewhat resemble each other.

Jinsung started to explain each of the piece’s worth and from the start, he was already impressed by Taehyung’s unique thinking.

“ There are 8 pawns on one side so does that mean that older sisters and I represent each of them?” Taehyung unconsciously asked.

General Kim, however, was shocked by how he managed to know that the ones who had beaten him were his half-sisters.

Bewildered, she asked, “ Taehyung, how do you know that you have 7 older sisters?”

Taehyung, who had previously been focused on the board froze at his mother’s question. His curious expression slowly changed to one that was almost guilty, his doe eyes refused to look at hers, hands repeated grasping to further indicate his nervousness.

Seeing how uncomfortable Taehyung is, Jinsung teasingly shielded his petite body and defended him. “ Yah, Taehyung is still young, why are you bullying him?”

“ I’m his mother, I should be asking him why he lied to me.” General Kim eyed Taehyung, “ I’m waiting, Taehyung.”

Taehyung gulped hearing his mother’s calm tone, knowing that he is unable to escape her questioning this time around. Begrudgingly he lift his head and looked at her piercing eyes, and answered, “ Siwon and I were secretly playing with each other, a-and she told me about the rest of my sisters.”

“...”

Hearing his mother’s non-responsive reaction, the poor child continued to quiver in his seat on Jinsung’s lap.

“ I-I-I also sometime play with Sieun... and she would tell me stories from different books that I couldn’t read yet.”

“ …”

General Kim then looked at Jinsung before she subtly nodded her head, she then stood up and began walking out of the room.

Not knowing what was happening, Taehyung cried out for his mother.

“ Mother! Mother! Mother come back, I won’t lie to you anymore.”

Seeing how distressed Taehyung was, Jinsung tried to comfort him, “ Your mother isn’t mad at you, Taehyung. She just had some businesses to take care of.”

Taehyung's eyes then looked into Jinsung’s, searching if he was being truthful or not.

“ Really?” Jinsung nods his head, silently patting his head.

“ Mother loves you too much to leave you.”

Taehyung then turned his gaze to the floor, “ If she loves me, then why does she always prevent me from playing with my sister?”

The comment made Jinsung sighed, knowing that he would never be able to fully explain the child.

“ Your mother is trying to protect you from the outside world, Taehyung. Because you were born into this family, you will face a lot of dangers and she is trying to prevent them.”

“ Then what does my sisters have to do with this? They are not outsiders!”

“ They are not outsiders but you never know what they will ever do to you. Now, how about we get back to chess, alright?”

Taehyung begrudging nodded, not satisfied with the answer but knows that he won’t be getting any more information out of Jinsung.

*****

“ Jinsung, how was it?”

“ What do you mean?”

General Kim looked over to Jinsung, before smacking him in the head, annoyed.

“ OUCH! You didn’t have to hit me, I was just joking. Taehyung is doing great.”

“...”

“ Alright, alright, he is proceeding at an incredible speed. Understanding the logic of chess and how to play it would take one at least a few days but he managed to learn all of that within one day. He could even be compared to mine… no even I won’t be his opponent if he is nurtured correctly.”

“ …”

Seeing general Kim not utter a word, Jinsung started to agitate, not knowing what was inside her head.

“ General?”

“ Is he really that outstanding?” Jinsung nodded, reconfirming his statement.

“ That boy is becoming more like his father— stubborn yet witty, he even said that he was part of the 8 pawns along with his sisters. If this continues, I believe that he will become the queen, the most important piece to…”

Jinsung then immediately turned his head up to look at general Kim’s figure, who was standing by the spacious window, staring at the bright sunset. He was shocked that Taehyung could even get involved in such a game.

“ General, he won’t be part of it. We will do our absolute best to protect him.” Jinsung then kneeled down on his right knee, bowing to her, showing his definite loyalty.

General Kim, however, does not look at him, her face not showing any emotion.

“ How can I ever guarantee that he will always be under protection? Especially with him being a male in a matriarchal family? When he turns old enough, people would want his hand in marriage to secure ties with our house. Even you know that this is almost impossible. After all, we are only pawns who are loyal to the throne. We cannot rebel because of the oath.”

“ You are right, general but we are only pawns for the citizens. We swore an oath to protect them, not the royal family. Even though we are not able to protect Taehyung forever, it is within our abilities to protect him until he matures enough to stand his own battle.”

Jinsung’s statement made General Kim look at his bowed figure, before she chuckle.

“ I always knew that you and Jinkyu were interesting kids… good, we will train him when he is able to stand on his own. Tell Jinkyu to secretly teach him physical combats, while you teach him chess and military planning.”

Jinsung happily nodded, before doing his last bow before he stand up.

“ Yes, general.”

General Kim nodded and started to leave the room before she halted in her steps, seemingly forgetting to mention something. After a moment, she then turned around, “ Jinsung, let Siwon and Sieun play with Taehyung more openly but make sure that those three are always protected from Minjun and his daughters. “

“ Of course, general.”

Satisfied with his answer, she then turned around and left the room.

“ … you hear that, Jinkyu? You have another disciple to take care of.”

From one of the poles holding the building, a shadow jumped down meeting Jinsung in his spot. The two, surprisingly, looked very similar that if someone were to pass by, they would not be able to differentiate between the two.

“ It’s because of your stupid mouth that I have to train a brat.”

“ If you say that in front of the general, she will kill you.”

“ I’m not saying it in front of her.”

“ You don’t believe that I won’t backstab you and report to her?”

“ She won’t believe you.”

Jinsung sweatdropped at his blunt answer, somewhat understanding where he was coming from.

“ It is her command, you have to do it even if you don’t have to.”

“ Of course, she is my master after all.”

“ … there is a chance that he will be involved so make sure to train him well.”

“ I always train them well when they are in my hands but it’s hard to escape them.”

“ sighs, I know, we were a part of it after all. Two little knights for their little playground.”

“ We are still those piec—“” but just on the opposite side,” Jinsung interrupted, “ Living happily at that.”

“ Mhm”

“ Young master will become a legend.”

“ Let’s see.” The two brothers then looked at the dark sky, each with their own opinion but just about the same person.

♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟

“ I want a rematch!” an annoyed voice yelled out.

“ Admit that you lost already, fourth sister,” Taehyung teased Siwon.

Siwon then stood up from her seat and turned her head arrogantly, “ I did not lose against a brat like you! I just went easy on you since you’re still so young.”

Taehyung giggles before turning his attention towards the other girl, asking her for help.

“ Fifth sister, what do you think? Did she win or did I win.”

Sieun, however, did not dare to look at Taehyung, already knowing that he looking at her with his infamous doe eyes. Sieun sighs at the thought, silently apologizing to Siwon.

“ Fourth sister, you already know that you can’t win against him.”

Siwon then looked at her, bewildered, looking shocked that she took Taehyung’s side but they all knew that none of them could escape Taehyung's cute acts.

“ HAH! I did win!” he cheered, running over to Sieun, “ I knew you would understand me, fifth sister! You are the best!”

Sieun patted his head, and congratulated him while Siwon went back to her previous position, and demanded another round which was wholeheartedly agreed by Taehyung.

*****

From the other side of the pavilion sat both Jinsung and Jinkyu as they were supervising the general’s children.

“ How is he?”

“ What do you mean?”

“ You know what I mean.”

“ …”

“ Aishhh, how is the young master doing with his training.”

“ …”

Jinsung turned to his twin brother, annoyed, “ YAH, an—” “ He is terrible.”

Jinsung then looked over to meet Jinkyu’s eyes, trying to detect if he was saying the truth or just bluffing, “ Are you serious?”

Jinkyu holds his gaze as if to silently challenge the worth of his words, “ What do you think?”

“ sighs, I guess there is no one in this world who is good at everything. Even the young master, who is amazing with strategic planning has a weak point.”

“ The young master is the worst. He can’t even run a lap without quitting and it has been 2 years already.”

“ Don’t be harsh on him, you just need to train him to help strengthen him, he doesn’t need to master it.”

Jinkyu then turned towards Jinsung and denied his suggestion, “ When he’s under my care, he has no choice but to become a master.”

Jinsung could only sigh, deciding that it would waste his time if he were to reject the idea.

“ It’s been two years since I’ve become his master. He will sooner or later surpass me.”

“ That would never happen with me.”

Jinsung then suddenly launched towards Jinkyu, knocking him down before trying to injure him.

“ You damn brat! How dare you be so rude to your older brother? Where is your manners?”

Before Jinkyu could open his mouth to retort, they both heard footsteps coming their way. The brothers turned their head around to see that Taehyung, along with Siwon and Sieun had approached them when they heard a loud sound.

“ Are you okay, master?” Siwon hurriedly asked as she quickly ran to them, attempting to lift Jinsung off her master, “ Jinsung, get off my master!”

“ Fourth miss, what do you mean? This brat is annoying so as a brother, I should help to get rid of that nasty habit.”

“ I don’t care, get off him!”

Jinsung and Siwon continued to argue with each other until Sieun was forced to stop the two, complaining that they were behaving like children which they both denied.

“ What is this commotion?” A sudden voice asked from behind the group.

Taehyung turned around to quiver under his burning gaze while the others stopped what they were doing and properly stood up.

“ You must have misheard something, main husband.” Jinsung said.

“ You think you can lie to me, right hand?”

“ We do not dare.”

“ Hmph,” Minjun then turned his attention to Taehyung, “ Young master, I see that you have grown up very well.”

Taehyung, who was now hiding behind Siwon flinched under his gaze. Too afraid to utter a word.

“ What had caused the main husband to be in the Lily Blossom Pavilion?” Siwon asked.

The main husband then looked at Siwon, before letting out a disgusted expression.

“ Oh… isn’t this one of the backstabbers? Wait where is the other one?”

Minjun began to look around before setting his eyes on Sieun, who was wearing a very ugly expression.

“ Ah there you are. How are you both doing.”

Before Siwon can blow him up, Sieun pulled her back to prevent any physical damage.

“ We have been doing extremely well these past few years? Especially after getting beat up, we have change for the better, right fourth sister?”

Siwon immediately nodded, “ We have become better people and befriended the eight brother.”

“ So you called him eighth brother now?” Minjun amusedly asked, “ I used to remember when you guys were younger, you used to call h—”

Sieun interrupted, knowing what trap he was about to set, “— that was the past, main husband. I prefer that we should forget about the past and move on. If we compared ourselves to you, the main husband was… much worse than us.”

Seeing that Sieun managed to help the memories of such humiliating actions resurface into his conscious mind, the main husband was not very pleased.

“ Good, really good, you dare to even mock me. Fourth and fifth miss, you must remember what you have done today.” He then turned away and walked to the opposite direction of the group.

“ Whew,” the entire group except the youngest slouched their previously tense posture.

Sieun then turned around to look at Taehyung, who was still frozen in his spot. Slowly, taking his little hand and gently caressing them while waiting for him to come back.

“ Taehyung-ah, he’s gone now. It’s safe, older sister promise.”

Slowly but steadily, Taehyung began to relax until he was able to move again.

“ How about we go back now, you look exhausted,” Jinsung suggested.

Taehyung nodded as he rubs his eyes, seemingly becoming sleepier as the moment passes.

“ Jinkyu, carry him.”

Taehyung then let himself be tug onto Jinkyu’s back before the group walk back to Taehyung’s courtyard.

On the way, Siwon suddenly had an excellent idea.

“ Sieun, I should go to the market and buy something for Taehyung.”

Before Sieun could even react to Siwon’s words, Taehyung had yelled out excitedly, “ Fourth sister, are you going outside? I want to go outside! Take me with you.”

“ No you cannot.” Sieun firmly replied.

“ Wh—“ Siwon was about to ask but stopped when she saw three people glaring at her.

“ But I want to go outside. Please, please, please, fourth sister.” Taehyung asked using his infamous bambi eyes, practically begging to allow him to follow her.

“ No, young master,” Jinsung said, “ It’s too dangerous.”

Taehyung pouted, “ It won’t be if the fourth sister is by my side, right fourth sister?”

He then looked over at Siwon but she had decided to look anywhere except him. Taehyung’s irises gloomed down after seeing her reaction but went back to its previous form when he found another solution.

“ I know! Jinkyu can accompany us to prot—“ “ I will not, young master. I am too busy for that.”

The young boy huffed, frustrated with the rejection, “ Fine, if you will not let me then I guess I will have to ask mother.”

The group then returned quietly to the young master’s courtyard, the tension between them and the young master was so tense that no one wanted to utter a word, afraid that it would worsen the situation. Looks like the young master’s mother would be dealing with this matter now.

*****

Later on that night, general Kim and her three children were having a peaceful dinner before Taehyung thought that it would be a good idea to bring up his peculiar request.

“ Mother, may I go outside with my fourth sister tomorrow?”

The seemingly-innocent question made the general stop her from grabbing another piece of vegetable. Setting her pair of chopstick down, she looked over to Taehyung, confused by his sudden request.

“ You want to go outside? Why so suddenly?”

“ I heard that the markets are very fun, with many food stalls and games. OH, there are also many people that I can befriend with, too!”

“ If you want those foods, I will send someone to get them for you. There’s no need for you to go by yourself. It is true that the market is filled by many people, but if you were to get lost in them, what would you do?”

“ I won’t be there by myself! I will go with my fourth sister and Jinkyu.”

“ People know Jinkyu’s face as my left hand, if you were to go with him, they would know your identity.”

Taehyung frowned, “ He can just wear a mask.”

“ Still a no.”

“ Why, mother?”

General Kim sighs, exhausted from her audience with the emperor, “ Do you want me to say it, Taehyung?”

“ Yes,” Taehyung nodded, “ I will try my best to be able to go outside.”

“ You don’t know enough about the outside world to even grasp the most basic concept of it. How do you expect me to let you do outside.”

Not knowing what to say, Taehyung could only try to protest, “ BUT, but, I really want to go outside. Won’t you let me, mother?”

General Kim looked into Taehyung’s curious eyes, before shaking her head, sighing, “ If Jinkyu can approve that you are qualify to go outside then you will be able to go outside.”

Taehyung’s mouth then dropped, “ NO, mother, that would take forever. I am not even able to run a lap after 2 years training with him so how could I? Please, please, please, mother. I want to go outside.”

Taehyung the jumped down from his spot before waddling his way over to his mother’s spot, arms wrapped around her right bicep, begging her for permission.

“ NO,” general Kim firmly answered.

Frustrated, Taehyung released her bicep before angrily stomping his feet, “ I HATE YOU MOTHER! YOU NEVER LET ME DO ANYTHING FUN! IT’S ALWAYS STUDY AND TRAINING. I HATE YOU!”

After his rant, Taehyung then left the dining room and ran back to his room while the rest were just frozen in their spot, shocked at the young master’s words.

General Kim then sighed before standing up and left the room along with Jinsung and Jinkyu. After that, the rest began to leave until no one was left there, too stunned to even comprehend that the food was yet to be taken down to the kitchen.

*****

“ Jinsung, was I too rough with him?”

“ No, general. He was so used to you spoiling him tha I believe that denying him of one of them is necessary. Besides, going outside is too dangerous for someone as young and inexperienced as him.”

General Kim could only nod, not knowing what to say.

“ I’m afraid that I won’t be able to apologize to him.”

It was now Jinsung and Jinkyu’s turn to be confused.

“ Why is that, general?” Jinkyu asked.

General Kim stood up from her spot before walking over to the window, silently admiring the moonlight.

“ During today’s audience, his majesty had announce that every general will have to go to the south to help with the ongoing battle.”

“ WHAT!” Jinsung yelled out.

“ How could he do that? It’s too risky,” Jinkyu added.

“ I have no choice but to leave tomorrow.”

“ So soon? Is he crazy?”

“ Careful, Jinkyu. You can get your head chop off if anyone were to hear.”

“ Will you go, general?”

“ Of course, I have to after all.”

“ You don’t have to, my general.”

“ I don’t but if I were to deny it, Byungseok would also deny it. Other ministers would start to get more suspicious, it will be too much of a problem. Besides, we are just play toys. Just two little rooks that could easily be replaced by someone else.”

Jinkyu immediately denies her claims, “ General, you are wrong. Right now, you are one of the strongest pieces on the board, against the king, himself. You cannot be replace by just anyone.”    

General Kim chuckled, hearing his almost immediate response, “ You’ve mature, Jinkyu. Both of you have grown so much that if I were to not be here, I would not be able to recognize the two of you.”

“ We’ve matured because of your care. You’re our savior and we swore our absolute loyalty to you because of that.”

“ Yes, without you, we would probably be dead that night,” Jinkyu added.

General Kim shook her head, “ You both have done too much, there’s not much more to do except the last few steps and we will be done.”

“ Even when we have accomplished our goal, we will still follow you, general.”

General Kim turned around and faced them fully, observing their body language before letting out a proud smile.

“ Fine, you both better stay true to your words.”

The two nodded before kneeling down, “ We will accompany you until we are unable to. Even then, our loyalty will still be yours.”

“ Sounds like you guys are courting me,” she laughs, “ Remember what you have say today. Now go and pack up, we have a lot of things to deal with.”

The pair quickly stood up before running out of the room, getting ready for tomorrow’s trip.

“  They never really change right? Right?”

General Kim then made her way back to the table, before pouring herself a cup of tea. The tea was now lukewarm yet she still found it tasty. Setting the glass cup down, she made her way out of the room and left.

“ Taehyung-ah, mother is sorry. Mother won’t be there for you anymore. Mother hope you will be able to grow up safely and happily.”

*****

As the sun started to creep up on the horizon, Taehyung found himself unable to fall asleep. All night long, his body was constantly in discomfort and itches causing him to create some rashes along his arms. He did not know why this was happening to him until his nanny came running into his room.

“ YOUNG MASTER, YOUNG MASTER, quick get change!”

“ Nanny? Why are you yelling? It’s still early in the morning.”

As the old woman bounced around the room trying to find an appropriate attire for him to wear, she announced, “ General will be leaving soon, you must greet her before she goes.”

As the mentioned of the general, Taehyung huffed and denied to go meet her, “ If mother needs to go, then she will go. There is no need for me to go and greet her.”

The nanny stopped herself when she heard the young master’s odd words. The nanny was unable to comprehend what he means? Doesn’t he adore his mother that when she has to go to the palace for her weekly audience, he would whine and cry, begging for her not to leave?

The nanny dropped multiple articles of clothing that was previously in her hand before running over to the young master. She then proceeded to set her hand on his forehead, trying to examine if he was ill or not.

“ Young master, are you ill?”

Taehyung quickly shook his head, pulling the nanny’s desperate arms off him.

“ I am fine, great at that! I will not greet mother, end of discussion.”

The distressed nanny sighed, knowing that it was not her position to yell at him.

“ Young master, the general will be gone for a very long time. If you don’t greet her now, you will regret it.”

Yet, Taehyung only huffed and ignored her. Not knowing that his rash decision would make him regret for his entire life and even beyond that.

*****

Six months have now past since the day the general has left. Taehyung was now starting to feel the regret of now greeting her but was too prideful to say anything. He was also starting to get anxious if his mother was safe or not.

“ Fourth miss and fifth miss! I received a letter from the general’s camp!” A maid announced, running towards the group with a letter in hand.

Sieun quickly stood up and the maid immediately handed her the letter. She then hurriedly opened the letter and read its content. Unexpectedly, she dropped the slip a few moments after, her face showcased a horrified expression.

Seeing how shocked Sieun was, Siwon rooked over the role and read the slip. It says,

The battle against the Ryrgs is proceeding extremely well and we currently have the upper hand. Unfortunately, during the last battle, we had some major fatalities. 200 soldiers had died along with some commanders. Within them General Kim and her left and right hands were included. They had died trying to defend the camps and were killed by a spy that had managed to enter our camps. As one of the commanders, we were unable to save them. They all had made great contributions to the nation and will forever be honoured.

Commander Park Jaekyun

By the end of it, the group was stunned from the unexpected news.

Sieun was the first to come back and quickly commanded the maid to inform everyone in the house of the general’s passing.

Taehyung, who had not uttered a single word, was impacted the most. He was the general’s only son and was the most treasured by her but what did he do? Ignore her when she could possibly not come back.

“ MOTHER! MOTHER! Taehyung is sorry, Taehyung is sorry. I won’t disobey you again. I will not be a bad son! COME BACK, MOTHER!” He yelled out before he ran towards the door with Siwon and Sieun behind, chasing after him.

“ Taehyung!” Both of them yelled.

Taehyung, who has tears running down his cheeks by now, did not hear them as he continued to run towards whatever direction. Because of his weak physique, Siwon quickly caught up with him before capturing him into a tight embrace.

“ Taehyung, it’s alright, we are still here.”

“ Mother is gone now. It was because of me! IT WAS MY FAULT THAT S-S-SHE…”

“ NO! It was not your fault that she passed away. She died on the battlefield, Taehyung. It wasn’t your fault,” Sieun quickly intervened.

Taehyung, however, continued to cry in Siwon’s embrace, unable to comprehend Sieun’s words amidst the moment.

The two sisters did not know how to comfort the boy but before they could do such things, all Taehyung could see was red.

In front of him were his fourth and fifth sister lying on the floor, each with an arrow penetrated in their backs.

Terrified, Taehyung could only freeze in his spot on the floor. Apparently, he was knocked onto the floor when the impact on the arrow caused Siwon to release him.

“ The traitor’s daughters are here.” A familiar voice said.

Taehyung looked over to the voice to see a crowd of guards that was lead by the main husband.

“ Main husband,” he whispered out, shock.

“ Ah, young master, … no I should say Taehyung, how are you?”

Minjun’s eyes were somehow red and had a bloodlust that Taehyung had never experienced.

“ …”

Minjun then turned towards the guards before motioning them to come over. The soldiers then quickly ran over and picked up the fourth and fifth miss’ lifeless bodies.

“ Main husband, what about this little boy?”

“ You can leave him, I will deal with him on my own.”

“ Yes, main husband.”

As they were carried, Siwon managed to insult Minjun one last time.

“ You will pay for this, you whore!”

“ Of course.”

After all the guards had left, Minjun and Taehyung were the only ones left.

“ Taehyung, do you know why I despise you so much?”

Taehyung was now too terrified to even answer, unable to keep his gaze away from Minjun’s burning eyes.

“ It all started with your damn father, he was just a commoner but he managed to even capture the general’s heart. How he did it, I will never understand.”

Minjun began to walk towards Taehyung, his steps were silent yet powerful.

“ When the general and I had three daughters, I thought that she would finally look at me but no. She continued to look at that whore like he was the best thing that came into her life. I understand that we were tied because of a political reason but she could have been more courteous and showed me some face.”

Minjun’s expression surprisingly saddens when he talks about those memories.

“ I decided that I won’t harm him if the general at least shows my children some affection. That was what happened for some time until she had you! Your damn father had died during the process but she still managed to keep you. After your birth, you became her most treasured child.”

His steps were now much harsher as it landed on the ground.

“ Just like your father, you managed to woo the general and left the rest of us desperate for her affections. YOU GREEDY BRAT! YOU CAUSED ME AND MY CHILDREN TO SUFFER FROM HUMILIATION! Do you even understand how humiliating it was, you brat!”

Taehyung, still on the ground, was now crying as he continues to plead for forgiveness.

“ But now it’s all good, the general is gone now so no one will be able to protect you. My eldest will inherit the position as the head of the house and no one will be able to bully us again.”

By now, Minjun had finally reached Taehyung. He then kneeled down and took Taehyung’s face into his grasp, tilting his chin for him to look up into his eyes properly.

“ You will become our slave and serve us for the rest of your life. You will suffer humiliation and pay for what you and your father had done to us.”

“ I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Taehyung continued chanting yet Minjun was unfazed by it.

“ Welcome to your new life, Taehyung. A little queen that has been captured.”

♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟

“ You damn brat! Do something right for once!” Sooyoung yelled while continued to kick the frail body of a servant.

“ Sooyoung, you shouldn’t kick his body like that. If you managed to injure him, he would not be able to serve us.”

“ HMPH!” Sooyoung let out before walking back to her original seat.

“ Taehyung, you may leave.” Seoyoon said.

Taehyung then gently lifted his limp body up, one hand instinctively shielded his stomach before bowing to them and left.

“ Second sister, you ruined the fun. I was going to beat him up until he couldn’t even stand.”

Seoyoon scoffed, “ For what? You’re going to beat him up like 6 years ago. He could barely even work for us and had to heal for a month.”

“ Unnie, he’s older now, stronger than when he was 7.”

Seoyoon then hit Sooyoung’s head using her knuckles, “ With how much you beat the boy, it most likely will be the opposite. He’s probably a child in an old man’s crooked body.”

“ OUCH! But he just annoys me whenever he is nearby! How can I prevent myself when there is a delicious prey in front of me, literally waiting for me to conquer?”

Seoyoon sighed, and continued to drink her tea, too tired to talk back with her younger sister.

*****

As Taehyung continued to make his way back to his shared room, he began to hear the same old words from the other maids again.

“ So filthy!”

“ Was he really the young master?”

“ He deserved it! A spoiled brat should understand how we commoners live.”

At the beginning, he would constantly stand up and defend himself but that only resulted in more humiliation and even getting beat up. 4 years later, he knew better than to just speak out.

Finally arriving at his shared quarters, he unexpectedly got a surprise visitor.

“ Nanny? What are you doing here?”

Sitting on his bed was his nanny that had helped nurtured him before the incident. Taehyung ran towards her and captured her into a tight hug.

“ Oh, young master I have finally found you!” The nanny hushed out, “ Oh, young master! Why are you so thin?”

Taehyung ignored her questions and continued to hug her, “ Nanny where were you?”

At his question, the nanny only sighed and patted his head.

“ Young master, I apologized that I wasn’t there when you needed me the most. After the main husband got notified that the general had passed, he immediately sent me to another place to work. Over the years, I had tried to sneak into the main house to help you but I couldn’t. I finally managed to sneak in after so long but we need to hurry.”

Taehyung then let go of her, confused at what she was hinting.

“ What do you mean, nanny?”

“ Young master, there is a secret that the general and her right and left hand have always kept hidden. Only people that are involved in it know. When she first had you, she never wanted you to find out as it would cause you to be in danger. She knew that the moment you are announced, many eyes will constantly be on you so she was very protected by you.”

“ What do you mean, nanny?” Taehyung grasps his nanny’s hand and held them tightly, “ What was my mother involved in?”

The nanny then quickly stood up before opening the door and peeked her head out, looking to see if anyone was around. After making sure that no one was, she then proceeded to close the door and returned to her previous spot.

“ Young master, you must not tell anyone,” the nanny then leaned into Taehyung’s ear and whispered, “ We are a part of the Scarlet Phoenix organization.”

Taehyung looked at his nanny in disbelief, “ No, you must be lying. My mother has always been loyal to the nation that she won’t be a part of an organisation of another nation.”

“ No, young master you are wrong. The Scarlet Phoenix is not a rebellion group, they are much more than that. The organization has at least a branch in every country but not many know that. For example, our clan is one of the branches of Corea.”

With the added information, taehyung was even more confused, “ If we are the one of the branches of the organization, then does that mean that Seolhee is the head?”

“ No, of course not, young master. Minjun was married into our family because of a political marriage. Except for him and your father, everyone is a part of the organization here.”

“ My father wasn’t a part of it?”

“ Yes, young master. He was a commoner that the general had fallen in love with. He is also should have been name main husband.”

“ Then if it was like that, then why did Minjun…”

“ He became the main husband because of his majesty’s direct command. He was also the only one that had children with your mother except for your father.”

“ … you mean that except for the three eldest, the rest are not my sisters?”

“ Yes, young master. They are your cousins that have been brought from your mother’s side to make it easier for interacting with each other. Their ‘fathers’ are also a part of the organization and have been secretly working with them. Unfortunately, the fourth and fifth miss’ got exposed and was… disposed of.”

“ If they were part of it, why did they not tell me?”

The nanny then stroked his head, trying to comfort him.

“ I know that this is a lot of many but you were too young to be exposed to it.”

“ So I’m old enough now?”

“ No, my little master. It’s just that I am not sure if there will be any opportunities to escape in the future.”

“ Escape?”

She excitedly nodded, “ Yes escape, young master. You will be able to be free from the main husband.”

“ How?”

“ Listen to me, young master. Today next month, a group from the organization will arrive in Corea. I have already sent them a message that you will be waiting for them near the river. You just have to find a way to go there before the moon is at its peak, and they will help you.”

“ … you will not be going?” He asked, looking into his nanny’s eyes, desperately finding any trace that could tell him the opposite.

“ My little master, this nanny is too old to do that. Besides I need to be here when the time comes when one of the other miss takes the head role.”

“ I don’t understand. No… I don’t want to know. Will we ever meet again when I have to escape, nanny?”

She sighs, not knowing what to say except for a hesitant nod.

Seeing how uncertain she was, Taehyung could only stay silent, trying to absorb all the information that was given to him.

“ I understand, nanny. I will go.”

The nanny perked up at his decision, glad that he had decided to escape.

“ Young master, I’m glad that you have made this choice. There is not much time left before someone would grow suspicious of my missing presence so I will leave now.”

Taehyung nodded, not looking at her, knowing that if he were to see her leave, he would not be able to let her leave.

Before she left, the nanny looked into his eyes.

“ Young master, you must know that even if your loved ones have left you, they will always be in your heart,” she then motioned to his chest, “ When you get there, make sure to train hard and become someone outstanding, alright?”

After she said that, Taehyung could then see her figure leave the room before falling on top of his bed, exhausted of the recent events. After a few moments, he fell asleep in the same position.

*****

A month quickly passed by with Taehyung’s usual routine; wake up, work, get beat up, work, get yelled at, work, eat, and sleep.

The day before the grand escape, he got beaten up quite badly that he was unable to work properly. Of course it was by the hand Sooyoung, who had vented her anger because one of the maids had ‘accidentally’ destroyed her precious vase that was given by her lover.

Unfortunately, the maid knew that Sooyougn especially has a distinct distaste towards him so they blamed them.

“ You damn brat, you’ve done nothing helpful in this house yet you even dare to destroy my stuff?”

“Oof!” He called out on a partially sharp hit to his stomach. That would probably take a few days to heal.

The treatment continues Seoyoon had to intervene, claiming that it was enough. For him, Seoyoon was a very neutral person. He didn’t know if he should hate or like her. She was always the one to intervene when Soonyoung decided to beat her up, yet she always chose to stand by when others bully him so he doesn’t really know her true intentions with him.

“ HMPH! Because of my second sister I will let you go, if you repeat the same mistake then don’t think I will repeat mine! NOW GO!”

Taehyung hurriedly pushed himself up despite his obvious injuries and ran out the door.

“ Just another day, just another day, just another day,” he tiredly muttered.

“ Just another what?” A voice behind him asked.

“AH!”

Turning around, he was met with a pair of amber eyes looking down at him.

“ Sixth miss! Pardon me, I d—“

“ You don’t need to be that formal, come with me. Looks like you got beaten up quite a bit.”

If he didn’t know about the organization and how many people were involved in it, he would not do something so rash. But because he trust his nanny, he decided to follow Siyeon.

The two walked in silence to Siyeon’s room, not knowing how to start a conversation with each other as they have never been close.

When they arrived at her courtyard, Taehyung was invited for a cup of tea offered by the miss herself.

“ There aren’t much servants here.”

“ We prefer little to none as it becomes quite difficult to gather and plan when there might be a potential spy,” Siyeon nonchalantly answered as she brought out a medical kit from within her room.

“ You know how to disinfect wounds?”

“ Are you that surprised?”

Taehyung quickly shook his head, trying to not offend her.

“ No, of course not. I just didn’t expect you to be knowledgeable with medicinal herbs”

“ You don’t know a lot about our organization. Nanny must be in a hurry and didn’t explain it to you.”

“ Explain them to me, then.”

Siyeon chuckled, “ Such a curious child… the Scarlet Phoenix organization is infamous for its skills in a wide range of aspects. From medical to physical, financial to materialistic items, the Scarlet Phoenix is at the top of the rank. As long as their customer has a good enough currency to exchange for our service, we will literally do anything.”

Using tweezers to grab a disinfectant cotton ball, she skillfully dabbed them onto Taehyung’s minor wounds.

“ Like many other members, we are born into a family that is part of the organization. As a result, we are trained about a specific skill starting at a very young age.”

“ If you say it like that then shouldn’t I also be trained at a specific skill?”

Siyeon looked up at him, before pointing her pointer finger against his forehead.

“ Taehyung, you have been training ever since you were 5. Starting with chess, you were already training with your logical mindset. Seeing how much talent that was hidden in your tiny little body, the general must have seen that and told Jinsung to train you. He frequently notified me about your progress and I’m truly impressed with your talent.”

Met with an unexpected compliment, Taehyung could feel his cheek slowly turn crimson.

“ When you reach a certain level, you will be able to take missions.”

“ Missions? Have you ever done them?”

“ Yes, Taehyung, I have. Countless, even. I accomplished my very first mission when I was 13, just around your age. Siwon, Sieun, Sora and I became a group that very day also.”

At the mention of their names, Taehyung’s expression saddens.

“ I’m sorry, it was my fault that they are not here anymore. I’m so—”

Taehyung’s words were interrupted by a pat on the head.

“ You don’t have to apologize, they died during a mission in which they understood the risks very clearly. Instead, I should apologize to you for not being there when you needed me.”

Taehyung quickly shook his head.

“ No I understand that you didn’t have a choice.”

“ I’m happy that you can forgive me.”

Siyeon then came closer to him and gave him a hug, avoiding the bruise on his stomach.

“ Alright, now let me apply some medicine on your bruise to hopefully make tomorrow’s plan easier for you.”

“ You know about the plan?”

“ Of course, Sora and I are in charge of it after all so you won’t have to go alone.”

“ Really? You would do that?”

Siyeon happily nodded, “ Of course, just think of it as a way to compensate you for our negligence these years.”

“ Mhm.”

“ Listen to me, Taehyung.” Siyeon crouched down to look into his eyes, “ When you are dismissed from your duties tomorrow, immediately go back to your room. Make sure that no one is suspicious of your doings and start packing your belongings. Only bring things that you absolutely need, make it as light as possible. After that, quickly run to my courtyard but make sure that no one is following you. We will be waiting for you here.”

Taehyung nodded, determined to escape.

“ We will then help you go to the destination where the people from the main branch will pick you up. After that, it is up to you to train hard. Maybe in the future we would be able to meet each other again.”

Taehyung this time, however, did not reply and the two spent the rest of their time in Siyeon’s room in silence. After Siyeon finally finished disinfecting his wound, she lead him to the entrance of her courtyard and bid him goodbye.

After he left, she sighs, “ Please, let tomorrow go smoothly.”

*****

“ You are dismissed, Taehyung.” The head maid said.

Taehyung then thanked her before making his way back to his quarter and started packing.

Initially, he had very limited belongings but after he finished packing up, he barely has anything in his luggage. Before another person entered the room, he quickly exited the room after rearranging his bed to how they were before he had entered. He then secretly made his way over to Siyeon’s courtyard as promised.

When he got there, he saw both Siyeon and Sora were both present. They were sitting on the table near the entrance, drinking tea and acting like everything was normal.

The moment they saw Taehyung, the two quickly led Taehyung to Siyeon’s private quarter.

“ … wow…” Taehyung uttered out as soon as he entered Siyeon’s quarter.

There were weapons of many kinds displayed on the walls as a map was placed on the table in the centre. This was not what he expected.

“ It’s not what you expected?” Sora asked.

“ Mhm.”

“ Come, Taehyung. You can’t wear that when escaping.” Siyeon said motioning at his outfit.

Taehyung was currently wearing a servant’s clothing which was quite bright in color and will be easy to spot out. He walked over to where Siyeon was which was in front of a massive closet. Siyeon then proceeded to take out a black cloak and told him to wear it.

“ I don’t think you will be able to fit any of these so just a cloak will do.”

After getting it on, Siyeon and Sora did the same, wearing similar cloaks that hid their figure and face.

After that, the trio hurriedly ran out through the back door to avoid anyone possibly seeing them leave. They all knew that there was a time limit until someone has notify the head that one of the servants was missing. Especially if it is Taehyung, they will immediately start their search right away.

As Sora carried Taehyung on his back, his anxiety started to overwhelm at the thought of getting caught. Gripping on to her cloak tightly, he prayed that he would safely escape.

The closer they are to the river, the faster his heart beats, scared that he would be caught.

“ It will be alright, we’re almost there.” Sora whispered, feeling how fast his heart was beating.

Not knowing what to say, Taehyung could only nod.

However, the exact scenario happened to them as soon as they reached the river. A group of guards had surrounded them, their weapons unsheathe and ready to attack.

“ We were waiting for you, sixth and seven miss.” Minjun greeted from behind the guards.

“ Took you long enough.” Sooyoung said, standing with her father and sisters.

Siyeon looked at them and the guards around them, trying to prolong their time.

“ What do you want?”

“ What do I want? I want that boy… no I want to finish all of you.”

“ Why?”

“ Are you really asking me that sixth sister? You are a traitor by being a part of a rebellion organization. It is my job as a minister to help get rid of any threats.” The current head of the clan answered.

Sora smirked, “ Soonyi, you finally decided to appear. It’s been a while since we have met. Can you still beat me?”

“ Me beating you or not does not matter. What matters now is that I am a minister and head and you are neither.”

“ Really? If I remember correctly you can barely even understand politics, how did you even get that position when you were 20? I bet you are still unable to fully understand what politics truly mean.”

“ YOU Dare to mock me? I might not be smart and talented as you but my family is much more powerful than yours. Besides, mine is loyal to the Min unlike you.”

“ I don’t fucking care about those damn royals. I will never ever be loyal to a family that kills and uses dirty tricks to win a battle.”

“ Good, good, Sora. GUARDS, ARREST THEM!”

Immediately after Soonyi’s command, dozens of guards from all sides rushed towards the trio. Sora and Siyeon then unsheathe their weapons and the fight begins.

“ YAH!” A guard yells behind Sora, aiming to slash Taehyung to distract her.

“ You damn guard, don’t you dare injure that child!” the main husbands yelled out.

Fortunately Siyeon managed to spot the guard and quickly threw multiple needles towards him, killing him on the spot.

Siyeon and Sora then looked at each other before moving towards each other until Taehyung and Siyeon’s touched each other.

“ We need to lengthen the time, the moon is almost at its peak.” Siyeon whispered.

Sora nodded while Taehyung was desperately clutching Sora’s body, his face covered by the cloak and hidden in her neck.

Siyeon kicked the guard near her, opening a space for them to move forward. The two sisters continued to fight, not breaking their formation. It was until one of the guards managed to slash Someone's right arm that they broke.

“Gah!” Siyeon yelled out after the guard had managed to injure her. She was about to fall from the impact but was quickly pulled towards Sora for balance.

“ You alright?.”

Siyeon gritted her teeth and nodded as she continued to attack the guards.

“ How much longer?”

Taking a look at the moon as she managed to slash another guard’s chest, she answered, “ A little bit more. Hang on.”

“ Mhm.”

They continued for what seem like hours, each slowly getting more injuries until they were no longer able to fight any longer.

“ Do you admit defeat?” Soonyi asked as she tightly gripped Sora’s hair, tilting them to get her to meet her gaze.

“ Never!”

“ Hmm, you are so close to death’s door but still struggling. Why do you have that much motivation?”

Sora did not answer but only spit at her.

“ YOU DARE!” Soonyi yelled out as she wiped her face disgustingly, “ Fine if you really want to die, I will do you a favour. But not after killing him.”

Knowing who she was referring to, Sora let out a threatening growl.

“ Don’t you dare!”

Seeing how affected she is, Soonyi continued to tease her, “ Why can’t I? Especially when he had ruined my childhood. Because of him, mother began to disfavour me until she no longer cared about me. I was only able to become the head because of her sudden accident. Ah, how coincident, just when I wanted to be the head.”

Soonyi then walked over to Taehyung, who was now lying on the floor. Grabbing a guard’s sword, she slowly raised her arm up.

“ Soonyi! Don’t you dare! You must let him live!” her father yelled out.

Rolling her eyes, she turned around, annoyed by him interrupting her playtime.

“ Father, you have no right to control me.”

Minjun, angered by his daughter’s arrogant answer, lifted his hand and pointed at her.

“ You unfilial daughter! How dare you disobey your father!”

Soonyi, however, ignored his words and turned around.

“ Guards, the main husband is exhausted from today’s event. Escort him back and do not let him leave.”

Some guards began to approach Minjun’s direction before grabbing him and dragging him away.

“ How dare you filthy servant touch me! Seoyoon, Sooyoung! Why aren’t you helping me? HELP ME!”

The two mentioned daughters ignored him as they made their way to their eldest sister.

“ Eldest sister, continue.”

Soonyi once again lifted her arm along with the sword and let it fall with gravity.

Unexpectedly, before it can reach the boy, a powerful force penetrated her arm.

“ GAH!”

The two other sisters turned around, alarmed at whoever just attacked Soonyi.

“ Who?”

Behind the cherry blossom tree nearby then walked out a figure.

“ I didn’t know that this was a part of this escort.”

“ Me too,” another voice said as he slowly brought out multiple figures that all of them were able to recognize. It was the guards that had escorted the main husband not long ago.

“ Gosh, you guys are a mess, Windflower, Black Wolf.”

“ You are finally here, Phoenix.”

“ Of course, I’m always on time.”

“ Doesn’t hurt if you arrive a bit earlier,” Sora said.

“ Hush, let us deal with this and we’ll talk later,” Phoenix said as they turned their attention towards the crowd. Skillfully they began to skillfully finish all of them with the help of Bear.

“ YOU CAN’T KILL ME! I HAVE VALUABLE INFORMAitON tHAT CAN be USEFUL! PLEASE, DON’T KILL ME!” Seoyoon cried out as she saw Phoenix moving towards her.

“ Boring,” they said before slashing her.

“ Is that it?” Bear asked, looking around.

“ That must be it. They probably did not expect reinforcement would come and help. Such stupid people.”

“ … Phoenix, that’s the boy you need to escort.” Siyeon said pointing at Taehyung.

“ This is Taehyung? Are you sure he’s 13? He looks like a baby… nevermind, Bear, Panther, go and help them get back to their quarters. I’ll escort this little guy here,” Y/N said, “ you guys are lucky, having the chance to be escorted by the two bishops. 

Phoenix then crouched down and faced Taehyung, smiling at him to try and comfort the terrified boy.

“ Hi, Taehyung. I’m Y/N but use Phoenix for now, alright?”

Taehyung nodded. If his sisters trusted you, then he will trust you as well. Grabbing your offered hand, he stood up and patted his clothes.

“ Taehyung, your mother has told us how talented you are. We are willing to offer you a spot and help train you. After you have finish training, you will forever be part of us and never betray us, alright?”

“ My mother told you about me?”

“ Mhm, she told me very wonderful things about you.”

“ Really? But she is gone now, how can she guarantee that I am that talented?”

“ She is… was the infamous General of the Wind, I believe that she has enough nights that she can differentiate who is special and who isn’t, Taehyung.”

“ Was… my mother there a lot? The main branch I mean.”

“ Aside from her home, she probably is there the most. Just seeing you now, I can understand why your mother assigned you queen.”

“ Queen?” Taehyung asked, curious, “ What do you mean?”

“ Ah, it’s a tradition for an older family member to name our alias. Mine was given by my mother. Your mother has decided that yours will be Queen. Just like the most valuable piece in chess.”

“ Haha, that sounds like mother.”

“ Of course. Oh! Before she left last time, she gave me a letter that was meant for you.”

Taehyung looked up to gaze at Y/N’s eyes, surprised

“ Really?”

“ Mhm so let’s quickly go back and ready it, shall we?”

Taehyung excitedly nodded and pulled Y/N towards the direction of the sunrise.

♟ ♟ ♟ ♟ ♟

“ Taehyung? Are you ready?” Y/N asked him, entering his room.

“ Mhm. I’m ready.” He said, pulling Y/N out of his room and ran down the stairs, pulling them with him.

“ You look excited.”

Taehyung then pouted, “ You know why, Y/N. Don’t act why?”

“ I know? Really? Wait let me see…” Y/N said, pretending to think.

“ Aish, how can you forget such an important day? Today is the day where I get my first mission!”

“ AHAH!” Y/N sarcastically yelled out, keen on teasing the hell out of their junior.

“ Don’t you dare, Y/N!” He said chasing them.

“ Don’t be hasty, little junior. As your senior, you need to respect me.” Y/N sassily said, pointing their finger towards Taehyung.

Taehyung rolls his eyes, “ If you are my senior, act like one. No senior would forget their junior’s first mission day.”

“ OH! You will be surprise of how many people have done that.”

Instead of answering, Taehyung only pouted, obviously sulking that he was never going to win their little competition.

Y/N then walked towards the door and offered him their hand, “ Come now, Queen. You have a busy day in front of you. Don’t want you to be late now do we?”

Taehyung then happily nodded, grabbing onto their hand, the pair made their way out of the building to their first ever mission together.

At that moment, Taehyung was unlike the past. Instead of being a pawn, he had become a knowledgeable queen who is worthy of respect, alongside him is a king then cannot be captured and will always be there for him.

Copyright © 2021 MintVender

All rights reserved. 

ruin you: positions | kth & jjk (m)

Summary: A bat of your eyelashes suffices to have them kneeling for you – and you never anticipated just how much your body would revel in this new position.

pairing: Taehyung x female reader x Jungkook

rating: 18+

genre: established relationship, fwb; light angst, fluff i think?, smut

warnings: some alcohol consumption; explicit sexual content: sub!taehyung (who would’ve thought!), dom!reader, sub/switch!jungkook, big dick!taehyung, bondage, oral (f. & m. receiving), 69 + face-riding, cum swallowing, soft + rough sex, unprotected sex (don’t forget to wrap it), handjob, dirty talk, masturbation (f.), begging, cockwarming, jk’s lip ring, some aftercare; honestly the first time ever that oc and tae are having a proper convo

word count: 6.1k (i expected 3k…)

a/n: i know a 6k piece isn’t a drabble, pls don’t mock me :’) but anywayyy, here we go with another ‘ruin you’-piece. writing sub/switch!members was harddd ngl, but @hobisuniverse​​​ and her sexy brain made this so much better, thank you so much boo <3 hope you guys like it !!

⁂ part of the ruin you series

⁂ playlist 🎶

MASTERLIST | WIPS

“What?”

Two pairs of eyes stare at you as if you’ve solved the riddle of Area 51 and black holes in a single breath. Your demeanor remains steady and calm, because even before blurting out your daring suggestion, you knew they’d react like this. Their parted lips and frozen limbs don’t faze you.

You believe that Jungkook will oblige happily – despite his growing doe eyes and his newfound raging dominant nature, he is willing to drop to his knees the second you command him to. Taehyung, however…

“What do you mean by what? You two told me anything I want. And this is what I want,” you clarify with a cocked eyebrow as you feel a warm palm rub your thigh softly.

“You’re quite something,” Jungkook says, a proud smile playing around his lips.

Keep reading

𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒃𝒓𝒂 (𝒌𝒕𝒉) | 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒙

𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 ⟶  mafia boss!taehyung x undercover cop!reader

𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒓𝒆 ⟶  mafia au, arranged marriage, undercover cop, crime/thriller, enemies to lovers, smut, fluff, angst.

𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔  ⟶ PLEASE READ. 18+, dark themes, mentions of gang violence, mentions of death, mentions of car accident and vehicle fire, brief smut, angry tae, sad jimin. 

𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 ⟶ 8.6k

𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 ⟶ heaven in hiding, don’t play, idfc + more.

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚  ⟶ when your boss offers the chance to take down the nation’s most lucrative gang from the inside out, you know you’ll do it no matter what the cost… even if that means entering an arranged marriage with the kingpin himself.

𝒂/𝒏 ⟶ hello again! this chapter has been a long time coming, and I really hope you guys enjoy it! thank you once again for being so patient with me. there’s a lot of big reveals in this chapter and I’m super excited to share it with you!! (extended a/n at the end). 

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* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚

* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ • 。* 。° 。* 。 • ˚

Keep reading

The Good Boy- pt. 2 | KTH

⌖ Pairing: f reader x taehyung ⌖ Rating: 18+M  Words: 4.6k ⌖ Genre: Librarian!Taehyung, Yandere!Taehyung/Obsessive!Taehyung ⌖ Warnings: dub-con behavior, mentions of insecurities of self, flirting, pining, stalking of sorts (not really), dirty talk, phone sex, dom themes, sub themes ⌖ Summary: As the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover, but when you find yourself falling for the new employee at work, you throw caution to the wind, letting temptation lead you down a spiraling path of deception.

Your nerves were on edge, something that never happened to you, but it was getting harder and harder to contain. The energy between you and Tae had shifted somehow in the recent weeks you’ve gotten to know him. Whenever you were scheduled near his section, you couldn’t help but to peek at him through the tiny cracks on the bookshelves, pretending to put books away, feeling a shiver run down your spine when he would glance in your direction almost as if he could see you. And it really did seem like he was looking right into your soul with the way he’d lick his pretty lips locking his eyes with yours. He couldn’t really see you though, not with the way you hid so well, but sometimes you weren’t so sure.

Keep reading

I’m Not Yours | kth. masterlist

“When the rain stops you shine on me, your light’s the only thing that keeps the cold out.”

↠ pairing : Kim Taehyung x Female Reader

↠ summary : When your childhood best friend, Kim Taehyung moves back into town, you expect the next few years to be reminiscent of your younger years. Awkward, tense and quiet. What you don’t expect is being forced to distract him from his overbearing crush on your mutual best friend, Eunji.

↠ genre : university au, estranged childhood friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, idiots to lovers, art student!taehyung, literature student!reader, angst, fluff & smut

↠ rating : 18+

↠ warnings : swearing, mentions of anxiety and depression, bad & toxic friends, lots of feelings, small forms of violence (with other characters), explicit sexual content. (additional warnings will be given with each chapter!)

↠ banner : by the sweetest @lavienvante 🤎 thank you so much for making me the prettiest banner!! <3 go check out her works 🤎

↠ a/n : here is the masterlist for my first series! i am beyond excited to share this with you & i hope you enjoy this journey as much as i do! happy reading <3

↠ series song : christmas tree - taehyung (the lyrics fit this series oh so perfectly 🤎)

❦ chapter 1 : a lane in the public gardens at arles - 1888 [7K]

❦ chapter 2 : water lilies and japanese bridge - 1899 [10K]

❦ chapter 3 : the weeping woman - 1937 [22K]

❦ chapter 4 : at eternity’s gate - 1890 [writing…]

❦ chapter 5 : starlight street at night - 1990

❦ chapter 6 : the night cafe - 1888

❦ chapter 7 : snow at argenteuil - 1874

❦ chapter 8 : almond blossoms - 1890

❦ chapter 9 : the artist’s garden at giverny - 1900

❦ chapter 10 : view from the artist’s window - 1823

❦ epilogue : the starry night - 1889

❦ extras :

↠ glossary - a closer insight to the iny!world & characters. here you can find the answers to any important questions and information about the characters. this will be added to as the story goes on.

↠ playlist - have a listen to their songs (thank you @lavienvante for helping 🤎)

↠ your thoughts - a collection of our thoughts

start date : 30.12.21 || 00:00 KST

finish date :

↠ FAQ :

how often will you update?

updates for this series will be random! i will be writing as much as i can in my free time. i am busy right now with my jobs & uni, so my updates will be scheduled around that. i do however, work on this series daily and love seeing what everyone has to say about it <3

how i envision y/n & eunji?

here you can find moodboards that portray how i personally see both y/n & eunji !! you’re all open to your own interpretation of course, but i wanted to share mine :) feel free to show me how you paint them in your minds!

how i envision iny!tae?

here you can find a variety of pictures that i feel remind me of taehyung in this story. everyone is of course entitled to envision whatever they want to. also, these taehyung’s are not just iny!tae , they can well be a taehyung in another writers story. please understand that i am not gatekeeping any of these taehyung’s to my story.

what do the dates next to the chapters mean?

all of the chapters are named after famous paintings because iny!tae is an art student and iny!oc adores art. the dates beside the chapter title represent the year in which that specific painting was published!

why does taehyung call oc ‘peach’?

peach is a nickname that taehyung gave to oc when they were younger. it is something that has stuck with him since then! the story behind the nickname can be found in chapter two <3

Zaddy ‖ one

Daddy pays you a visit.

word count: 4.1k genre: smut 

Keep reading

—who cares | 11—final (m)

pairing— kim seokjin x oc genre/warnings— angst, adultery mentions, mature themes, smut && fluff words— 8,762

:: summary— what happens when Taehyung falls for someone who’s already taken? Can he control his feelings or will they take over and render him powerless? In the end is it all her fault or his…?

note— inspired by Dean’s album 130: trbl

» 01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 ::05 :: 06 :: 07 :: 08 :: 09 :: 10 :: 11 ✓

Keep reading

x. rotten angelcake ⇾ kth. [M]

chapter ten : kim’s cottage  ⤑ uncertainties captivate you. though, they are not at all as enthralling as taehyung.

⇽ prev. | masterlist | next ⇾

⌁ pairing; ceo!taehyung x curvy!reader (f.)

⌁ genre/rating; s2l, ceo au, sugar daddy au, smut, fluff, 18+

⌁ word count; 14.7k

⌁ warnings; mentions of a razor (for the context of shaving only), mentions of smoking (cigarettes), dom!taehyung, daddy!taehyung, sub!reader, brat!reader, virgin!reader, daddy kink, praise kink, corruption kink, dirty talk, exhibtionism, degradation, overstimulation, slight dry humping, choking, panty gagging, panty sniffing, handjob, groping, teasing, mentions of fingering, finger sucking, thigh riding, clit rubbing, breast slapping, begging, biting, cum swallowing, cum feeding, spit swallowing, breast play, nipple play, clit play, spit play, cum play

⌁ le playlist

ও as always a hundred thanks to cam ( @sunshinejunghoseokie ) for the pretty, pretty banner!! millions and millions of thanks to my beta readers indigo ( @playmetheclassics​ ) and eva ( @nottodayjjk ) for reading this over and on such short notice too!

Keep reading

—cinema | kth

→ posted: jan 1, 2023 → pairing: kim taehyung x reader → genre/au: strangers2lovers, camboy!au, angst, fluff, smut → chapter rating: +18 / M for Mature → wc: 2,672 → warnings: very minor angst is introduced, taehyung is forever hot, misreading a situation, reader is jealous, use of pet names, light sexual punishment and praise, explicit sex, multiple orgasms, begging, if you squint there’s daddy/brattybabygirl vibes, aftercare, recording sex. → credits: biggest thanks to sunkissedwriter, you are the best for the most perfect ‘destroyer of the delulu’ plot issue. @moonleeai @downbad4yoongi​ and whippedbywonho1 for beta reading this for me! → taglist: @bts-ruu @missxmarisa @1-in-abillion @yourtmblrgirlfriend @fairy-jaykay → summary: i guess we’re in time, if you’re getting yourself wet for me. KTH is your favorite camboy, & after winning a contest, the two of you have grown closer and gotten to know each other after a one-on-one session. After realizing you live in the same city, he asks to meet you—IRL.

part 1 | part 2 | series masterlist

Keep reading

could you (kiss it better)? - k.th.

genre: fluff (11.7k)

summary: will you ever be able to get over your crush on kim taehyung?

a/n: this marks the end of the fools universe (which can be read individually)! i’m very overwhelmed and excited for this final part, but i will miss writing this universe a lot, i struggled a lot with this one but i’m happy with the ending, thank you to every single one of you who’s read it, it means the world and more to me, i hope you enjoy this last part a lot <3

masterlist       series masterlist

“i don’t know what to say, kim taehyung” taehyung hangs his head low as his professor chews his ear out, he really should have just finished his assignment instead of being curious about jin’s love life.

“you are not even close to passing this semester, let alone having a decent grade, i know you take this subject as a minor but it still affects your overall score” taehyung nods at his words, wincing every now and then because he didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until his professor narrates it to him.

“you know that this could potentially harm your scholarship, right?”

“i am aware” taehyung shamefully replies and his professor sighs at him.

“taehyung, as your parents friend and well-wisher, you worked hard for this scholarship and i can’t just watch you throw it all away” taehyung absolutely hates when his professor gets personal with him.

why not just lecture him and let him go?

he can take the harshest words without feeling a lot but the second it gets personal; he feels guilty for slacking off.

and taehyung hates feeling guilty.

“because i know how much this will hurt your record in the long run, i will pass you this one time, only once” as soon as those words leave the professor in a disappointed sigh, taehyung internally cheers but it’s short-lived. someone enters the same classroom and taehyung doesn’t know who they are which is weird considering he knows all of his classmates. at least he thought he knew everyone. he carefully eyes the new person in the room, with furrowed eyebrows and pouted lips, trying to identify her.

“ah, y/n, right on time as always” so her name is y/n.

taehyung doesn’t understand why she looks so nervous but he just assumes she’s just one of those people who doesn’t like being around people.

“you asked me to come, sir?” you trail off, already feeling a blush crawling at the back of your neck with taehyung in the same room.

it’s no secret (to yourself) that taehyung has been your crush since you started university and saw him having a playful banter with the professors and just seeming to have a blast with his friends, he was simply the coolest person you saw, and that led to a hopeless crush on your side, but you also know that he has no clue about you.

and suddenly being in the same room with him, you feel flustered and intimidated, not in a bad way, more so in a ‘wow, you’re even more gorgeous up close’ way and your hands don’t keep still, they keep shaking with a mind of their own and your head is nothing but a fumbled mess.

“yeah, your assignment was perfect, you covered every important point but still managed to make it easy to read, keep it up, y/n.” you stay silent with the praise you get as your professor hands your graded assignment with a smile on his face and you bow before taking it from him.

A.

you sigh in relief and look up to notice taehyung giving you a weird expression, and you didn’t know what to make of it, you were sure you didn’t look that ugly today nor was your hair a mess, today had been a good day, looks-wise for you but then again, you imagine that a guy like taehyung has higher standards.

taehyung, on the other hand, just couldn’t understand how you don’t react to the praise or the high grade, if it was him who got an A, he would be busy getting smashed in some bar but your nonchalance confuses him.

whatever, he’s got a failed semester to care about right now.

“and right, you asked me if you could tutor someone for extra credit?” the professor asks you and you nod in response, you need that extra credit for your scholarship to hold for the next few semesters, and a little extra money from it wouldn’t hurt you either.

“yes, i did”

“what about him?” the professor points to kim taehyung and your eyes widen, but it seems like you’re not the only one taken aback because taehyung immediately turns to the professor with a frown on his eyes.

oh, he does not like the idea.

you can’t help but be a little disappointed when he looks that annoyed over this.

he doesn’t even know you so you can’t exactly blame him but his reaction makes you internally wince.

“you didn’t even ask me” taehyung complains noisily to the professor and you just keep your head low, deciding to talk only when you’re spoken to.

“you really don’t have a choice here kim taehyung, you are failing and only passing because i passed you, and the least you can do to improve is get a tutor, i would be grateful if i were you, y/n is one of the best students we have.” you feel a little bashful with all the praise you’re getting, the professor is always this way with you but you can’t take it gracefully with your crush is standing right there.

but it’s just dawning on you that you have to tutor him, your crush, actually spend time with him, help him out and improve his grade, spending time with him is the only thing you could think of right now though even if it both terrifies and excites you the slightest bit.

mostly terrified though.

“fine” taehyung surrenders with a not-so-subtle glare thrown to the professor who really couldn’t give less of a shit by the looks of it.

“good, you two can work out a schedule together” the professor says dismissively, grabbing the papers off his desk and his bag, nodding at you two and leaving the room.

the room felt suffocating with taehyung’s heavy mood and your inability to defuse it, you are supposed to discuss the plan with him but you’re not going to initiate it, you don’t want to seem that desperate, besides you think it’s better to leave him when he looks annoyed, you don’t want to accidentally piss him off.

so, you quickly turn towards the door and speed walk out of the room, taking a deep breath and leaning against a wall outside the room, you didn’t expect this from the end of your day. seeing taehyung from anywhere closer than ten feet away is definitely not what you expected and your heart is still pounding from being in the same room as him, you feel warm all over and you don’t know if you feel elated or embarrassed.

-

you groan and take your glasses off to rub at the bridge of your nose, classes were a drag and you have work piled on for the weekend, it’s not like you had any plans but it would have been nice if you could rest for a bit, and the lunch in front of you isn’t helping at all. it doesn’t look appetizing and smells old, you are not even sure if you can eat it.

“what’s up?” you hear from right beside your ear making you gasp and flinch, moving away from the sound and your glasses slide off the table, making a clattering sound that makes you flinch more.

“woah, calm down” you lift your head to see taehyung standing there with a huge smile and your eyes widen, he picks your glasses up and holds them out to you, you take them back with shaky hands and put it on yourself.

when did he get here? you usually notice when he’s in a room.

“you scared me” you mumble and push your glasses up, unable to look straight at him for more than a few seconds, you don’t think you can handle that, so, just imagine the way your heart jumps to your throat when taehyung takes a seat right beside you.

“didn’t mean to do that, sorry” he smiles brightly as he leans his face on his propped-up hand and sits wide-legged in front of you, his knees are brushing over your legs and if he noticed, he doesn’t care about it but you do, you care about the way your heart slips continuously when his skin carelessly touches yours.

he definitely looks like he is in a better mood than he was a few days ago.

“it’s okay, did you need something?” you look down at your food, picking at it with a small whine caught in your throat as you wait for him to answer.

“we need to discuss our schedule” you raise your eyebrows at him, you thought because he never got in contact with you again, that he simply just didn’t want it and you brushed it off, thinking it was probably better for you too, your crush on him was embarrassingly huge and you know how nervous you will get, so you were relieved when he didn’t try to contact you.

“i thought you weren’t doing it” your response is as nervous as you feel.

“i wasn’t but i don’t have a choice” he chuckles awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. he looks ridiculously attractive in his simple oversized t-shirt and cream-colored trousers and his awkward habit is endearing, your cheeks flush as you look away from him and back to your food.

“can we talk about this after i’m done eating?” you never really prepared yourself to have a conversation with him so you just wish he leaves you alone for now and comes back when you’re not feeling and looking like shit.

“you’re going to eat this?” taehyung murmurs in disbelief, side glancing the less-than-appetizing food in your tray.

“i don’t have a choice” it feels weird to repeat his words to him but from what you can see, he doesn’t think too much about it which is a huge relief.

“yes, you do” he says with a sigh, getting up and you look up at him with scrunched eyebrows.

“you’re coming to lunch with me and don’t worry, it’s my treat, one of many now that you’re my tutor” he grins easily at you, grabbing your backpack from the seat and eagerly waiting for you with bright eyes and his entire posture is relaxed, like having lunch with a stranger is totally okay with him.

is this what extroverts are like?

why was he so comfortable with you? this is your second time meeting and you didn’t even speak directly the first time.

it didn’t seem like he was asking you to come either, more like just waiting for you to join him, so you get up with a stammer in your step, anything that is not your college lunch is something you would welcome happily and lunch with taehyung doesn’t seem like a bad idea, not yet.

but you’re nervous, though one thing that saves you is that you have always been good at hiding how you feel.

taehyung smiles at you one last time, so easily, so beautifully, like it wouldn’t make you stutter, before turning around and leading the way, with your backpack slung over his shoulder, you feel too shy to ask for it and that you will probably stutter through your words when you speak to him, so you just silently follow him out of the cafeteria, ignoring the weird looks you two got on the way out.

you cautiously step into the classy bakery that taehyung takes you to, he tried to make conversation on the way but your answers were so short that even you felt embarrassed, taehyung though, didn’t look like he cared, if he found you awkward, he didn’t show it and you were grateful to him for that.

“namjoon hyung is the manager here, so i can get us a pretty discount” he winks at the end of the sentence, obviously as a joke but you can’t help how flustered you feel with a simple wink.

you are eating lunch with your crush who you thought was way out of your league, is something you have dreamed about, you never actually expected to sit across taehyung as he talks animatedly about how good the coffee and desserts are here.

judging by the fruity and addictingly sweet smell that fills the air around you, you don’t question his praise, your own mouth waters at the thought of the pretty pastries you see lined up right at the counter and the coffee bean smell is so soothing, you might have just found your favorite place that wasn’t your apartment.

a waiter (you can’t believe he’s a waiter with how handsome he was) comes up to you both but taehyung already seemed to know the guy who groaned as soon as he saw taehyung, taehyung leans back lazily in his seat with an ever-present grin on his face.

“why do you come back with a new girl every week?” the pouty guy whines at taehyung and your eyes widen with your head still down, so you’re not the first one he’s brought here, it was foolish of you to think so as well and taehyung playfully swats at the guys arm, his grin unwavering and you only purse your lips at the empty table.

god, you want to run away.

“order whatever you want” he gestures to the menu and you quickly scan over it, a low squeal in your throat when you see that they have your favorite, pho and fudge brownies. you lift your head to tell taehyung to see him in an animated conversation with the waiter, nudging him from time to time and just looking like he was having the time of his life, like he always does, you lightly tap the table to get his attention and he immediately abandons the conversation and leans over, making you move back at the sudden movement, he only seems amused by your reaction.

“you’re a little quiet, so i just wanted to listen to you better, what did you decide on?” he explains simply and you can’t help but gaze into his eyes as he keeps them steady on you, for someone like him, eye contact isn’t a problem, isn’t a big deal but it makes your heart pound, you nod slowly and mumble your order, sinking back into your seat.

“excellent choice, pho and brownies for two, and is it alright if i order the drinks?” he turns to you for confirmation and once he’s received a mumble of agreement, turns back to the waiter.

“two peach iced teas” and with that, the waiter leaves but not without smacking taehyung one last time. taehyung pretends that he’s in a lot of pain and winces childishly which has you holding back a smile as the waiter shakes his head at him before disappearing to the back, your eyes curiously follow him to the counter where all the desserts are laid out.

taehyung is quick to catch your wandering eyes and finds it funny that since he’s met you, the only time he’s seen you smile is when you’re looking at desserts.

“you want to take a look?” taehyung walks towards the counter, which has you trailing behind him. you slowly take in the view of all the chocolate pastries that could be in your stomach and taehyung stays right at your back, watching you move around excitedly and admire them.

“are you into baking or something?” he finally asks after five minutes of you moving around him with big, fascinated eyes.

“no, i just like to eat” your answer comes out before you can even think about it and you only realize it when taehyung breaks into a chuckle at your words, making you shuffle on your feet, clearing your throat and looking back at the especially good-looking tiramisu.

“are you always this quiet or is it just with me?” the question takes you off guard, and you think taehyung is upset but there is no hint of frustration or annoyance on his face, only genuine curiosity.

“i don’t like to talk much, it’s nothing against you i promise” you try to reassure and be as honest as you could.

“that’s a relief” he smiles and walks back to the table where your food is waiting, you walk back with a bounce to your step because you haven’t been this hungry in a while. and as soon as you sit down, you reach for your steaming bowl of pho and sigh in bliss.

taehyung notices your exaggerated reactions to your food and simply smiles to himself.

something about you, he likes it, he doesn’t mind being the only one talking the entire time, he doesn’t mind how you only seem to talk when spoken to, it’s new to him, he’s always surrounded by people just as extroverted as him, so this isn’t something he’s used to but taehyung doesn’t mind.

taehyung doesn’t mind at all.

-

you walk home with rosy cheeks that day, because you can finally confirm that taehyung is just as charming, just as care-free as he looks, and he’s very good company, usually people get annoyed that conversations with you feel one-sided and you don’t blame them but it’s freeing with how comfortable taehyung tried to make you feel.

it isn’t very good news to the crush you already have on him; you feel like it’s grown ten-fold. and it’s only the second time meeting him, you are nervous for your poor heart which jumps with every glance he gives you.

and with the schedule you two planned, consisting of meeting up almost every other day because taehyung simply wants his grades to not be on the ground, you are sure that your heart only will go through so much more.

your nerves don’t calm down as your legs bounce up and down below the table at the library you’re sat at, your lip hurts from how much you’ve bit it as you anxiously look around for taehyung who is yet to show up for your first tutoring session. you can’t look like this in front of him so you’re doing whatever you can to be as normal as you can be.

you have to get over him at some point, you can’t tutor him while giving him heart-eyes.

“hey!” a bright greeting comes from behind you and you almost fall out of your seat, your elbow slips on the table and your chin hits the table, as if scaring you at lunch back then wasn’t bad enough, you begrudgingly think and groan at the pain on your chin.

taehyung does nothing to help and just sits down beside you with a happy hum, his books dropping in front of him in a heap and his smile doesn’t budge even when you glare at him while rubbing your chin.

“do you have to scare me every time?” you whine, your chin already becoming sore, you’re in enough pain to not have the mind to worry about how stupid you just looked. he simply shrugs at you.

“do you have to get scared every time?” comes his almost immediate retort and how will you argue with that logic while processing how close these library seats are next to each other? your reply comes with a roll of your eyes, though you’re sure that your cheeks are as warm as the sun blaring outside.

taehyung finds absolute satisfaction and amusement from your reaction and it shows in the way he leans back proudly in seat as you pretend to jot down notes, at this point, you don’t even know what you are writing anymore but you’re writing.

suddenly, just as you’re about to finally stop acting like you’re busy and get back to him, your glasses are snatched from your face and you don’t even have to look to see who took it. taehyung twirls the glasses in his hands with a smug grin, and then puts them on, wiggling his eyebrows and pouting every now and then. and you feel your heart burst with how cute he looks.

if it was anyone else, you are sure you would have hated it. but it’s taehyung and you don’t think you could ever hate him.

you watch with curious eyes as he gets all serious and grabs a book, writing with an invisible pen furiously. you tilt your head because you don’t quite understand what he’s doing.

it takes quite a second to dawn on you that he’s actually imitating you.

“look at me, i’m y/n, star student” he squeals in a high-pitched voice that most definitely is not yours.

your mouth falls open in offence, and even before you could think about it, you swat his arm with a loud complaint leaving your lips, as he laughs at you, pushing your hand off and continuing to act like he was you. you groan and throw your head back in annoyance, though you really don’t feel as annoyed, you just feel a hundred times more comfortable with taehyung now.

after a string of complaints from you, taehyung finally gives your glass back but instead of just handing them back to you, he slides them on your face himself and you feel every bit of you twisting and turning at the simple action. you cough awkwardly into your hand and turn away from him, moving your books out of the way so you could get started.

“which subject do you want to start with?” as a response, taehyung drops a thick book right in front of you.

art history.

tricky but you can work with it.

“okay, how much do you know already?” you ask him and he thinks with lips pushed into a pout.

“can i be honest?”

“of course.” you nod at him.

“i know nothing, i slept through all the classes” he admits sheepishly and you giggle a little at his confession.

of course, not to be creepy or anything but you knew about this, you have unconsciously turned to see him in class more than a few times, only to see him passed out on his bench with his backpack covering his head.

“that’s alright, one thing that’s helped me with art history is memorizing it all like a story” you let him in on your secret, you always envision history like a story book, or a tv show that you’re invested in, thinking up characters in actual scenes, it helps you remember a lot better than just book material.

so, you tell him the same thing, you start explaining in brief various parts of print culture, origins of different eras, the rise of modern art that we usually see today, and artists that revolutionized the world of art, all in the form of a movie that taehyung intently listens to.

you didn’t expect him to listen as well as he did, but he stays quiet for the most part, politely lifting his hand to ask questions like he was in an actual class which made you grin the first time and taking notes when something seemed complicated.

by the time you’re done, it’s almost dinner time and the library is much emptier than it was before but taehyung still looks excited to learn more. it’s endearing how he listens to you like nothing else matters and makes you feel the tiniest bit special.

“that’s it for today” you announce with an exhausted smile on your face and taehyung stretches his sore limbs while yawning.

“that was a lot but it is more fun when you explain it” he drops the compliment casually, no regards to how that makes your nerves dance in sheer excitement.

“i’m glad you enjoyed it” you mumble shyly while packing your books into your bag. you get up, throwing it over your shoulder and look at taehyung only to see him already looking at you.

“i’ll go now, goodbye taehyung” your voice unwillingly pitchy at the end.

“goodbye, y/n” he repeats in the same tone as you and you roll your eyes yet again while walking away from his gleeful laughter and right outside the library, you break into the biggest grin ever, the butterflies in your stomach raging and tumbling over themselves because you simply can’t believe that the last couple of hours are real.

how will you ever get over him?

-

you groan as you plop down in your seat, you slept weird last night and your neck cramp still hasn’t gone away, your body aches all over, you don’t even know why, walking feels like you’re carrying a million stones and honestly, you would be anywhere but here if you had the chance.

there’s still a good 20 minutes left before class starts so you rest your head on the table and pray that you aren’t sick, you still have taehyung’s class today and it would be rude to cancel on only your fifth session with him.

just then, taehyung walks into the classroom, seemingly bustling with endless energy, surrounded by his friends who are just as bright and loud as he is, and with your head still on the table, you admire him. he’s wearing this red hoodie today and his hair looks very soft beneath, a quick thought that he looks perfect to cuddle comes to you and you want to slam your head on the table to stop thinking about him.

he suddenly glances around the room, as if he’s looking for someone and you try to lift your head from the table to look away but you feel way too weak to do anything so he catches your gaze, his face breaking into a huge grin as he waves at you gleefully, you slowly wave back, mentally wanting to disappear.

and you think that’s it, he will go to his seat and you will have to finish this class while looking like you’re going to die any minute.

but you were so wrong.

as soon as your hand drops back on the table, taehyung starts walking towards you, where his usual seat is definitely not there and stands right beside you with a worried look on his face.

“oh, hey” you try to cover your face a little more with your hoodie and your heart gets caught in your throat when taehyung pulls a chair to sit right by your side. you look like crap right now and the last person you need seeing you like this, is kim taehyung.

“you don’t look okay” he mutters with scrunched eyebrows and before you can say anything, he presses his hand to your forehead and your eyes go wide as he flips his hand and holds it there for a second.

“you’re literally burning, how long have you had a fever for?” he pulls his hand away and you finally feel like you can breathe again.

“i don’t know, woke up sick” you strain your answer, your head lulling back to fall on the bench, now that he’s confirmed you have a fever, you feel even sicker.

“come on, let’s go” taehyung gets up suddenly, gathering the books on your table and shoving them into your bag, then taking your backpack and his in one hand, looking at you expectantly.

“go where?” you frown up at him, class is going to begin in 10 minutes now, where could you possibly go without missing it?

“i’ll take you home” your mouth drops open at his words.

“but class is going to start” you try to reason but get interrupted with your own cough and he only looks more concerned.

“you shouldn’t care about class with a fever like that” he scolds lightly, taking your wrist and helping you up to stand, and you almost fall down in a slump again if it weren’t for him holding you.

maybe you are sicker than you thought.

“what will we even tell the professor?” you almost shout at him as he pulls you towards the back exit of the classroom, and when the two of you are out, he checks to see if there’s anyone else in the hallway and turns to you with a coy smile.

“who said we’re telling them?” is the last thing he says to you before he ducks and runs, pulling you with him but you don’t stop him or complain anymore, you know that it’s not only because you’re sick everywhere, maybe the thought of skipping classes shouldn’t have excited your tired body that much but the thought of skipping classes with taehyung made your body flush in new-found energy.

so, you let him pull you all the way out of campus, ducking here and there when you see a teacher or person in charge, giggling at each other with wide eyes only to shush each other the next second whenever there was a narrow escape, whispering your address to him part-by-part and him having to support your sick body from time to time.

even if it was wrong, and something you promised to yourself that you would never do, skipping classes with taehyung, with his hand securely around your waist (that had goosebumps trailing on your skin), even just as an acquaintance to you, felt better than anything you’ve experienced in your life. hell, he didn’t even feel like an acquaintance anymore, whether it was because of your raging crush on him, or just taehyung being taehyung, you’re not sure.

the pure adrenaline in your body had you gasping for more, more of what?

you are not sure.

you two eventually make it to taehyung’s car in the parking lot. he gently pushes you into the passenger seat and slides into the driver's seat, only to find you knocked out with your head on the window. and with one final look at your peaceful face, he drives away with a fond smile of his own. taehyung doesn’t know what he’s feeling either.

and the next time you open your eyes, you feel just as sick and it’s late afternoon and you’re in your bed, still in the clothes you wore to college, you sit up too quick, instantly whining at the throbbing in your head while looking around with confused eyes.

when did you even get home?

“oh good, you’re awake” taehyung emerges at your door, seemingly out of nowhere and you jump in your place, clutching at your heart as you look at him with a gulp.

“w-what are you doing here?” you ask as he stays at the entry to your room.

“you fell asleep in the car and i didn’t want to wake you so i found keys in your bag and brought you up here, i hope that’s alright” he looks nervous for the first time since you’ve met him as he waits for your reaction with pursed lips. he doesn’t want you to feel uncomfortable with the situation, he just couldn’t wake you when you were both sick and looking as cute as you did in your lilac hoodie.

“did you..carry me? all the way up here?” you mumble worriedly.

“of course, how else would i bring you?”

wow, he says it so simply.

“you really didn’t have to do all of that, i’m sorry if it was a lot of trouble, i really appreciate it, thank you taehyung” you say with disbelief clear in your voice and with your jaw slightly slackened because you really can’t think of anything but a mental image of taehyung having to carry you because your lazy ass fell asleep in his car and didn’t get up. and you really want to bury yourself six feet under.

“can i come in?” he asks, polite as ever and you don’t even think before nodding, he slowly walks inside, sitting right by the edge of your bed, maintaining distance between you as if he didn’t put you on the bed himself.

he reaches forward and puts his hand against your forehead, and you feel your breath being taken away just like the first time and he hums while pulling it away.

“it’s better than before but sleep for the rest of today” he instructs you and gets up from the bed, you don’t want him to leave. something in you wants to make taehyung stay by your side but you don’t have anything that will make him stay so you just watch him walk himself out of your room.

“i got a few pills, they’re in your kitchen, you shouldn’t move around right now but take them once you get up, and don’t worry about it, i need my tutor to be healthy and well, don’t i?” he winks at the end of it as if to finally nail your heart to him only and then turns to leave with a loud goodbye and a wave of his hand.

you go to the kitchen after he leaves and just like he said, pills for headache and body aches are spread out on your tiny dinner table, along with packets of instant soup. you feel overwhelmed because even people who are close to you, have never done so much for you and taehyung did, taehyung did all this after just meeting you a few times.

and you’re left, head in hands, with so much to process that you don’t know where to begin.

-

taehyung never came late to your tutor sessions or waste too much time, sure he still fooled around, his favorite thing to do being constantly taking your glasses off you and playing with them whenever he gets too bored or snatching your books away and forcing you to talk about anything that was not related to your studies.

you still felt bashful the first day you met after the whole sick episode, but he didn’t even bring it up, just continued with everything like it didn’t even happen which you were grateful for, though a little disappointed, because that is the most anyone has ever done for you and you wanted to thank him properly even if he said that lunch at his favorite place would suffice for him. but you were also sure that you would end up accidentally confessing to him if you brought it up. so, you just never brought it up either.

you talked a lot, mostly about things that had nothing to do with subject but you enjoyed them, taehyung valued and respected your opinions, actually listened to you when you talked so you were comfortable to be not as quiet as you usually are, still shy but holding a conversation as much as you could and taehyung would pick up anything you left, starting a whole new conversation with whatever, you handed him.

it wasn’t hard for your crush on him to only escalate further, not when he looked as good as he did from a side angle, it was honestly unfair that he looked stunning with a simple shirt and trousers. he looked good in anything, and what he looked like during your studying sessions, was something you always daydreamed about.

like right now.

“are you even listening to me?” a hand waves in front of your face, and you jerk in your place, quickly sitting up straight.

maybe you shouldn’t daydream about him when he’s beside you.

“um of course, i was” you lie easily with a firm nod to make it further believable but taehyung is sadly too good at detecting honesty or lack thereof. so, when he continues to stare at you, a way of making you say it yourself, you can do nothing but oblige.

“alright, i didn’t listen to you, what were you talking about?” with your admittance, taehyung leans back in his chair with a smirk.

“what is it?” you urge him once again and he shrugs.

“you know, we started with art history, right?”

“yeah, we’ve almost covered everything, at least i think so” you tilt your head as you mumble those words, reaching for your planner where all the topics are written, and you start looking through them to see which ones you still have to cover.

then the planner is snatched from your hands, and you follow the planner with a whine, bending over your chair to reach it and it isn’t until you feel someone way too close to you that you pause to see your position. you are half leaned over his chair and one wrong move could end up with you on top of him, you immediately sit back in your chair, tightening your fingers on your cardigan and frantically pushing your glasses up.

taehyung, thankfully doesn’t look uncomfortable, maybe a little shocked with how wide his eyes were but that was it, he quickly recovers and gives an easy smile.

“i have a test tomorrow” why is he smiling about that? doesn’t he hate tests? you quirk an eyebrow as his smile only grows bigger.

“how do you think it will go?”

“about that, if i do well, don’t you think that, as my tutor, you owe me something, a reward of sorts?”

so, that is why he’s smiling so big.

normally you would refuse blatantly and move on, but you can never say no to taehyung and you want to at least hear him out before you turn him down.

“if you do well” you emphasize and he waves his hand like he isn’t worried about that, but you are worried about what he would ask of you.

“come to a party with me” his request is simple enough.

and you’ve been to parties, only to completely hate it unless you got drunk enough to forget it all the next morning. though it has been quite a while since you’ve been to one.

a party with taehyung? taehyung, who probably knew every single person in the room while you don’t know anyone at all?

“only if you get an A” is your predicament, taehyung has improved a lot but not enough to get an A which is why your predicament is perfect, you’re not saying no but you’re not saying yes either.

but taehyung looks confident, with a light shrug to your rule like it didn’t mean anything at all, it only scares you a little bit that maybe your rule will be useless at the end.

“i’ll let you know when i get the grade”

-

“i got an A!” comes taehyung’s cheerful voice through the phone and the first thing you feel is pride bloom through you because he must have worked so hard to get that A, you were sure it wasn’t easy at all for him and the second thing you feel is dread, because this means you have to go to the party now.

“you did great, taehyung” you sincerely reply and you hear his sigh of happiness which makes you smile too.

you’re happy that he’s happy.

“you know what this means right?” his words laced with cockiness that come from his first ever A.

“i’ll never leave you at the party, you can get as drunk as you want and i will be your ride” he says almost immediately after as if he knew that you were going to find some way to get out of this, and you internally groan because he’s made all the promises that could convince you.

and like mentioned before, you can never say no to taehyung.

“when is it?”

-

“you look great!” taehyung compliments you as soon as you get into his car and you feel yourself freeze at his good-natured comment, only being able to shyly nod at him.

but if you had to choose on who looks good here, it would definitely be taehyung.

he was wearing a fashionably torn t-shirt with a leather jacket and tight dark grey jeans which had you feeling even more flustered than usual, he was usually attractive but today, you were sure that he was planning to take someone home, it would be a shame if he didn’t. he hands you his pale blue hoodie to hold, saying he brought it if he ever needed a change and trusted you to keep it away from drinks that can stain it, gives you one last smile and drives away.

the party was roaring even from the outside, people littered around the lawn, holding their drinks and you could hear the music all booming under your feet, you nervously pulled on the hem of your black dress as you went closer to the addictive but disgusting smell of alcohol and sweaty bodies.

so many people.

taehyung gripped both your arms on the sides as you gripped his hoodie tight in your hold, and he walked behind you, silently guiding your steps and greeting people joyfully on the way, it was a shame that you could only hear his happy voice but not see him under these alluring lights, you were sure that he looked better than ever under these blue and purple lights that made everyone look untouchable and beautiful.

“who’s the girl, taehyung?” someone shouts at him and you keep your gaze steady, not even wanting to turn around to see who yelled it, you anxiously wait for taehyung’s answer.

“my tutor” he yells back with a grin and you assume that the person has gone when taehyung gets right back to pushing you two through the crowds, apparently not noticing how your shoulders immediately slouch at his answer and how you aren’t even walking anymore, just being pushed around by everyone.

and for the first time since you’ve met taehyung, you feel disappointed.

you know now that your growing crush on taehyung will only end in your heartbreak.

he could have said you were a friend, or even an acquaintance, he’s been in your apartment for fucks’ sake, you would have been okay with anything really but the way he described you just made you feel so…unimportant. like you held no significance in his life, just another person for him to forget as he goes to spread his arms around the rest of the waiting world.

and you can’t be mad at him because you know it’s true, you are just tutoring him, he’s only doing this because he has to and not because he wants to, and as soon as this obligation expires, so will your time with him.

“hey, you okay?” you feel him whisper against your ear, hands still tight around your arms and you’re suddenly too aware of how close you two are, it hurts, being this close to him and not being able to call him anyone special to you, hurts a lot more than you imagined.

so, you shake his grip off, if you aren’t important to him, you will make him nobody in your life as well. you have to.

“yeah, i’m fine, where are the drinks?” try as you might, your voice just didn’t carry the softness it always has and even if you tried to conceal your sour mood, it didn’t work because taehyung immediately raised his eyebrows but shows where the drinks are anyway. you walk away from him, not really bothered anymore that you didn’t know anyone here, you just wanted to do exactly what you planned for.

drink and forget.

because taehyung just handed you rejection on a silver platter.

and you can’t take it gracefully when he’s right beside you. so, you had to go away before you could remember all the things you liked about him that could keep you pining.

taehyung felt…weird? he didn’t understand why you suddenly stopped talking to him in that sweet tone that comes naturally to you, he also doesn’t understand why you’re walking away from him to fend for yourself in a party where you don’t know anyone, he doesn’t know if he has done something to upset you and he felt…guilty.

taehyung felt guilty for a reason he didn’t know.

and taehyung hated feeling guilty.

to shake his own weird feeling off, he disappears into the crowd, to find anything or anyone who can drown his guilt away.

after a few shots of straight vodka, you find that you are not getting drunk at all, it’s either your overwhelming emotions that keep you from completely losing it or just your high tolerance.

it sucks because no drink is stronger in this place, you want to go home, you want to go back to when you didn’t come to this party where taehyung called you nothing to him. while he didn’t say that exactly, he definitely implied it. just then, you see him approaching you with a girl on his arm, no surprise there and you almost rolled your eyes at how predictable he could be.

“we’re playing this game; thought you would like to join?” taehyung trails off.

how nice of him to include his charity case for the game, you bitterly think to yourself but get up to go with him anyway, you can’t leave until he decides to go so you might as well play some game instead of wasting more alcohol that does nothing for you. so, you hop out of your seat and walk to him, greeting the girl next to him, you can be bitter to him but not to this girl who’s done nothing, she smiles back and then you’re leaving the kitchen.

you don’t say anything as you walk behind him into a living room where people sit in a circle, it’s noisy, there’s a bottle in the middle and you hate that you know what’s going on here.

it looks like a recreation of your middle school birthday party.

taehyung sits down, patting the spot next to him, and you look around to see if there’s place anywhere else but with nowhere else, you sit down beside him and the girl who he has with earlier is not around you anymore. he still looks at you, confused as ever and once you get comfortable in your position, he takes his hoodie from your hands and covers your bare legs with it which has you looking away with a red face.

he was making it so hard to get over him.

by the time you look back at the circle, it starts slowing down and your jaw drops open when it falls on you and taehyung.

everyone starts cheering at the bottle claiming its very first victims, and you never feel more out of place with people you don’t even know cheering you on to kiss taehyung and as for taehyung, he has a huge smile on his face which has you squinting with confusion at him. he calmly takes the hoodie from your lap, lifting it and pausing when he sees your face.

“trust me?” he whispers to you; his voice is almost drowned out in the loud music and people around you but you still hear it.

you shouldn’t trust him, you don’t want to but you don’t have a choice in this room full of unfamiliar people, so you just give him a meek nod which no one else notices.

then he drops the hoodie over the top of your heads, your bodies moving closer on their own accord, his palm now resting on your bare thigh and you’re face to face with the man you can’t get over no matter what you do. the heavy hoodie resting on your heads forces them closer as well, you can feel his breath on your cheek and he smells addictive this close, like cologne and pure sin with candy on his breath.

will he kiss you?

taehyung doesn’t say anything, just looks at you like he’s trying to figure you out, like he needs to figure you out, for the first time, he doesn’t look as confident, he doesn’t look full of life, just looks at you with such vulnerability like he’ll give you his heart if you stay under for too long, and your nerves and body are too frozen to even dare to look back at him.

after a few seconds which really felt like eternity, he pulls the hoodie from on top of your heads, the cold rush of air pushing you two apart, baring you to the waiting people in the room who roar and cheer louder than ever when taehyung smirks at them, you know that he’s just doing it for show, he didn’t actually end up doing anything at all even if you wished hard that he would.

but then you feel eyes on you, speculating, judging, confused eyes all over you because who are you and why did kim taehyung pull you under a hoodie when he usually just kisses people in front of everyone? you hate the attention, you hate the amusement at your flushed state in them, and you can do nothing but revert your gaze to the floor.

“stop making her uncomfortable and spin the bottle already” an annoyed voice emerges from the crowd and you snap your head to look at where it came from, to see a girl who glares at the people staring at you, they quickly look away at her words, reverting their attention back to the game, and when she catches your gaze, you send her a grateful look and she smiles back at you.

and you feel better.

then you’re reminded of the man beside you, who covers your legs once again with his hoodie and you feel your face heating up all over as you replay the events that happened a few minutes ago.

that was so intimate.

you pull at the hoodie resting on your lap, trying not to think of how much more gorgeous taehyung looked up close, losing all interest in the game still being played around you, you also feel slightly insulted that taehyung would do all that but not kiss you, you know that he wouldn’t kiss you but it was embarrassing to be so close and not do anything at all.

did you repel him that much?

“let’s get you another drink” taehyung mutters, getting up from his sitting position and dusting his jeans off.

“game’s not over” you point to the still spinning bottle in the middle and he shrugs.

“i don’t wanna play it anymore” you don’t either, so you leave the circle as well, more people replacing your seats as quick as lightning. taehyung hands you a drink once you get into the kitchen and no words are exchanged between you two as you stand against the counter, sipping your drink and him on the other end of the counter, not even drinking anything, just looking into empty space.

the silence is suffocating, it’s new for the two of you, especially new to you because taehyung never seems to shut up but he isn’t uttering a word.

“is that kim taehyung?” comes a loud, dare you say annoying voice with a chuckle from the entry of the kitchen, taehyung quickly stands upright and gives a bright smile.

“hey man, it’s been a while” they give each other a side hug as the guy lazily smiles at taehyung.

“last i saw you, was at the studio with min yoongi and someone else” the guy starts to think and taehyung visibly tenses up at the mention of a studio and your interest is peaked, because taehyung has never mentioned a studio to you.

“it was probably namjoon hyung” taehyung answers the guy and he nods in recognition.

“you guys are still doing that music shit? i thought you would give up after a week, my man” your mouth drops open at the rude tone of the guy, he’s clearly patronizing taehyung who freezes in his spot, his usual smile immediately dropping from his face and you are the only one in the room who notices how tight his fists are by his arms.

it’s also the first time you’ve seen taehyung without his usual grin. you don’t like it; you don’t like this guy either.

taehyung isn’t a confrontational person nor is he someone who gets into a fight easily, for as long as you have known him, before and after tutoring him, one thing you know for sure is that taehyung avoids fights, not because he will lose but because he would much rather just enjoy his time instead of wasting it on people who don’t deserve it.

“i mean, come on, what do you guys even know about music to do it? just finish your degree like the rest of us and get a proper job, music won’t keep you alive in the real world” the guy says it like he’s doing taehyung a favor, like his advice would save taehyung’s life and taehyung just stands stiff, clearly upset.

“taehyung, can we leave?” you interrupt the conversation and both heads turn to look at you, you don’t know anything about taehyung and his music but you don’t want him to deal with this guy anymore either. taehyung immediately nods at you, looking relieved.

“now, who is she?” the guys lifts his eyebrow at you with a smirk, raking his eyes over you shamelessly.

“you don’t need to know, you fucking prick” you dead pan at him, even surprising yourself with your harsh tone and taehyung snorts at the guys annoyed face, walking to you and guiding you out of there with a hand on your lower back. you snapped because not only has this night been overwhelming, you also just can’t stand people as ridiculous as him, how dare he say anything about taehyung at all.

taehyung would be the biggest liar if he said that he didn’t find that hot, he knows how much you would prefer being away from people and situations like that and he almost expected you to just stand and watch but the second you talked back to the guy for him, taehyung has had this overwhelming sense of ego take over him because you wouldn’t do that for anyone but you did it for him.

and as he keeps looking at you, taehyung realizes there’s a lot that you do for him, that you don’t do for anyone else, you snuck out of a class for him, he knows that rules are something you stick to but you let them go for him, you went to lunch with a practical stranger for him, something you would never do with another classmate, you came to this party for him and if it weren’t for how nervous you looked under that hoodie, taehyung would have kissed you, there’s nothing else he’s wanted to do more.

thinking about all of this means only one thing to him, taehyung likes you, more than a friend ever will, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen you as just a friend, not when your head lulled back and forth and fell on his shoulders the day he carried you to your apartment, taehyung doesn’t worry about a lot but he was worried about how sick you were and when he contemplated kissing you every single time you met up to study, taehyung knows he’s been a goner for you.

taehyung likes you, he wants to be with you and not have boundaries, he wants to see you let loose fully, he wants you to kiss him whenever you want to and his hand around your waist tightens at his realization.

after becoming aware of the hand on you which carefully weaves you through the crowd, you quickly move away from his touch, walking through the crowds by yourself, and taehyung follows you with an evident frown on his face.

he just thought you two are alright but he’s proven wrong with the distance that gets further between you two and he can’t help the disappointment flooding his chest. and again, guilt, the guilt that has stayed with him since you left him hanging at the door, why the guilt though? he doesn’t know.

you get into his car with a sigh, already relieved that this night will be over soon and you can just ignore everything from tomorrow and taehyung doesn’t drive away, sits there with his hands on his lap and a grim expression. you look at him for a few minutes, you have a million questions about what that guy said, about whether it was true that taehyung does music but you bitterly remember your place in his life, a tutor, which is why you don’t end up asking anything.

“taehyung, we need to go” you remind him and he nods slowly, lifting his head to grip the steering wheel tightly and sighs once again, letting it go.

“do you have to go home?” he turns to you with anxiousness on his face that you don’t recognize, he almost looks desperate? lost even, if you had to describe.

“where else will we go?”

“can i take you somewhere?”

“it’s my apartment, i have to show you something, i’ll drop you as soon as we’re done there, i promise” and when it looks like you’re going to refuse, taehyung immediately adds this part and you are even more confused.

if you’re just someone tutoring him, why does he want you to come to his apartment?

“fine” you mutter and fall back on the seat, annoyed at yourself for not being able to say no to him even now and shut your eyes before you think too much about it.

-

“come in” taehyung moves out of the way and you walk into his apartment, it was just big enough for one person, and covered in beige and shades of autumnal colors that give it a warm feel.

“your home is pretty” the compliment leaves your lips before you can stop it and taehyung gives you a softer smile than the one he usually has.

“thank you”

upon further walking in, you see a messy living room with papers thrown around, a desk covered in similar papers and a computer with a music system sitting right in front of it.

bingo.

the obnoxious guy at the party definitely wasn’t lying about the music part.

when you turn around to see taehyung, he looks so much smaller than he normally does, he looks nervous, he’s fidgeting and playing with his fingers and it takes you completely off guard. you’ve never seen him like this.

“what did you want to show me?” you ask, not going any further into the apartment and standing with your arms crossed. he doesn’t utter a word as he walks over to you, pulls your folded arms apart and holds your hand which confuses you and fills you with warmth at the same time.

you can only stare at your intertwined hands as he pulls you forward.

what is happening?

you are only brought back to reality when he places you on the chair in front of the computer and you look back at him with a frown.

“it’s true, what the guy at the party said, i do make music and i didn’t want you to think that i don’t plan on telling you” he mutters from behind you with fiddling fingers and it feels satisfying that you are not the nervous one this time.

so, taehyung does do music and you are impressed, very impressed because you feel like it’s a very emotionally taxing process and takes a lot of bravery to actually spill your feelings into ink, you could never do it which is why it’s a hundred times more admirable to you.

“so, i wanted to play you one of my songs?” he says it in a question and you stay quiet, both grateful that he’s showing you his work and even more confused because again, he called you his tutor not even two hours ago, you don’t understand why he’s showing you all this.

“why are you showing me?” the question tumbles out of your mouth in a disappointed sigh.

“because i trust you” he answers simply, ignoring your widened eyes and looking through his computer, all while leaned over your shoulder, and no matter how many times this has happened, his body brushing against yours leaves you breathless.

he purses his lips as he presses play and you instinctively lean towards the computer as a soft song starts thrumming through the room.

“on my pillow can't get me tired sharing my fragile truth that i still hope the door is open

'cause the window opened one time with you and me now my forever's falling down wondering if you'd want me now?

how could i know? one day i’d wake up feeling more but I had already reached the shore guess we were ships in the night night, night

we were ships in the night night, night.”

your mouth stays agape as you listen to taehyung’s voice, which is steady and deep and pushes all the way to your heart, and the song just feels so warm, like the beautiful end to a bright summer, there’s sadness but desperation more clearly written in the lyrics and you can’t believe that you’re sitting in front of the man who’s singing it.

“did you write this?” you ask quietly as the song continues to play and you see a nod from the corner of your eye and your admiration for taehyung grows ten-fold, as you listen to his voice in complete awe, if his voice is deep usually, it’s a lot deeper and more soulful when he’s singing. and whoever he’s singing this song for, you are jealous of them, you don’t know them but you’re jealous of them.

“do you like it?” he pauses the player before another song starts and how do you tell him that you might just be in love with him and everything about him?

“it was beautiful” you compliment, albeit a little bitter that it isn’t about you and taehyung looks a mixture of pleased and relieved at your words.

“who is it for?” you can’t help but ask him as you stay seated.

“no one, it’s just a story i’ve had on my mind” you sense only honesty in his words and it further impresses you that he can weave a story and put life and love into it.

“of two people in love?”

“of two people falling in love.” he corrects you and it dawns on you that a story of two people already in love would be a lot different than two people discovering and falling slowly but surely.

“did you have fun making the story?” now that you know about his music, you are only curious to know more about it and taehyung is more than happy to indulge you.

“it’s…different, making a story of two people, no one that you know, but giving them emotions, giving their emotions a journey and putting it into words in a proper way, it’s hard but i enjoy nothing else more.” you only listen to how taehyung describes songwriting because you still are in awe at how much passion he holds when he’s talking about music.

one out of many things that you loved about taehyung was that you could never just expect something to happen with him, he really played his own drum and did whatever he wanted to do, consequences are an afterthought to him, and it’s refreshing, it’s also so rare which is why you truly think he’s one of the most precious kind of people. like who would have known that the party would end this way?

“that’s very cool of you” you smile at him and he grins back, moving away from you to take his stuffy jacket off and you already miss being encompassed in his warmth. you get up from your seat, thinking that you will have to leave soon now that you have heard the song.

“should we go now?” you ask him, not actually wanting to leave but knowing you can’t stay either.

“there’s one thing left to do” he says with pursed lips, coming back to where you’re stood and you frown at him.

“what is it?” you question as he starts walking to you with determination in every step, taehyung doesn’t want to lose his courage before he reaches you.

“what?” you ask again, a little breathlessly this time, your breath getting uneven and the butterflies singing in every end of your nerves when he stands right in front of you, looking down on you while biting his lip slightly.

and his hand comes up to take your glasses off, you feel completely bare as he carelessly throws them to the side and then curls his fingers around your cheek. while smiling, he doesn’t give you an answer, just closes the distance between you two with a single, large step and pulls you to him with his hand firm on your waist.

“i hope you don’t mind” is his cheeky comment as he caresses your cheek once before he does what he couldn’t do at the party.

everything falls into place perfectly to you; your hands grip his thin t-shirt to stabilize yourself and his hands grab onto your skin like he will go insane if he doesn’t feel you. you are hot all over, your body shaking a little with the overflowing love and affection you throw into each pull of his lips. you gasp for breath once he lets you go a little, gazing into your eyes and you return a dazed look of your own, but you aren’t given a break when he pulls you back in again, chasing after you like you will run away if he lets you go for too long.

but taehyung doesn’t have to worry, you aren’t going anywhere.

and frankly, you don’t mind this at all.

-

the rest of the night is just taehyung playing you more songs and a lot of kissing, neither of you confessing but kissing each other like your life depended on it and if taehyung doesn’t like you the way you do, you don’t think you will ever be able to move on from his addicting scent and touch.

you toss and turn on taehyung’s bed, you ended up staying after he insisted in between kisses and you were too weak and lost in the moment to refuse, he ended up sleeping on the couch and that gave you plenty of time to think about last night. you got up way too early and after freshening up, you just couldn’t face him, you didn’t know how to so you stayed in his room.

what did it even mean to him?

was it just one of those kisses you blame on too much alcohol?

you groan and stuff your face into a pillow as you resist the urge to scream, if you were confused before, you simply don’t have a clue anymore, the line between friendship and relationship between you and him was so blurred, you don’t even know if it existed anymore.

and if he was going to kiss you, why make you feel so insignificant at the beginning?

“you really shouldn’t think so much this early into the day” you jump when you hear taehyung’s amused voice at the door, he looks just as gorgeous as always even in the morning.

“i blame you for it” you retort as you sit up, he falls on his bed while stretching, letting out a loud yawn and you smile at him, you like waking up to him.

“i told you i will take the couch” you tell him with slight guilt as he continues to stretch his sore body.

“that’s fine, next time we’ll just sleep together” he looks up at you with a smirk and you turn stark red at the suggestive tone, reaching for the pillow behind you and throwing it on his face, letting out a loud laugh when he lets out a yelp of pain.

“speaking of that” you purse your lips as he stops stretching and looks at you with his usual bright smile which flutters your heart just like the first time.

“what are we?” you ask him, gesturing between you two, the question lays heavily in the air as neither of you say a word after you ask that.

“what do you want us to be?” he questions back, scooting closer to you and finally settling right beside you. when you don’t answer him, he pulls you back into him, letting you rest your head on his shoulder and you curl into him, not brave enough to say it first.

“i like you, a lot, and i’ve never thought of you as a friend, you have always been something more to me and i like you too much to let this go at one night, i can’t let you go after last night” taehyung confesses, his tone is soft as he plays with your fingers in his hand, sighing at the end.

“personally, i would love to have you as my girlfriend but it’s up to you, y/n, whatever you want, i’ll give to you” the sincerity in his voice as he talks, makes you teary-eyed as you shove your face into his chest, and at your shyness, he is as amused as ever.

“you really need to tell me something before i go crazy over here, love” he says with a low chuckle, you have always hated nicknames but being called ‘love’ by taehyung has you floating on the sky with hearts for eyes and you feel bad for keeping him hanging. you can never say no to him anyway.

“i also would love to have you as my boyfriend” is your mumble on his chest and he somehow hears it, letting out a relieved sigh before pulling you even closer, legs twisting around yours as he caresses your hair slowly.

“do you still have to tutor me though?”

“you got one A, don’t get too brave.”

Hey! I know, as an author, i shouldn’t be here asking for an update or any kind of thing, but I’m so in love with this piece of art, the plot, the development of their relationship, the things this might become! I want to keep scrolling and reading as the addicted I became after this!!!

You have an exquisite writing, it’s light and comforting and brings different topics with such ease! I really wish, whatever you are facing or dealing with, a better recovery and some inspiration to write this, because I really really want to read more!

I’ll try to read your masterlist as well because obviously I won’t get over your writing too lol but anywaysssss thank you for this story!

hey, my alien \ 16. Do you remember when… \ Index 

genre:  drabble (series), alien au, alien!taehyung, human!reader, angst, hurt/comfort, taehyung is running from people, y/n is gullible and unwise, tae is kinda mean (at first), will graduate into fluff, yes there will be plot lol

warning(s)!!: [Rated: T]

w.count: 800+

a/n: not officially back from it’s hiatus, but it’s something bc i haven’t been posting bc my monkey sucks lol 

“Y/n, what kind of stuff do human’s learn about in your school?” Taehyung, who had just clambered from his attic, plopped himself down beside you as you sat on the couch studying for a change.  A textbook cracked open on your lap as a notebook- that was previous on the couch cushion- was now on Taehyung’s lap.  

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