The Love Deception |Taekook

Chapter 68

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"You came all the way here. You ..." He trailed off, disbelief crumpling
his face. "How did you even find me?"
"I had to come to you." My fingers trailed down the side of his neck,
my palm settling against the warm skin. "I remembered everything you'd
told me. About Seattle, your dad being somewhat known here. So, I Googled your last name, the university football team, the coaching staff. Then, I looked for a list of hospitals where he could have checked in. I knew you'd be here because you wouldn't leave his side if he was in critical condition, like Sharon had told me. And you haven't. You are here. It only took me a few tries. I would have turned the city upside down if I hadn't found you. I wouldn't have rested until getting to you." I finally allowed my lungs to take in a breath.

And I found Taehyung's eyes shining with something that made my chest ache in a warm and wonderful
way.
"I did call you, but it went straight to voice mail, and then I just ...
didn't want to busy your head with anything else. And ..." My voice
lowered to a whisper. "And I did not want to give you a chance to tell me
not to come. I was terrified you wouldn't want me to. So, I didn't call again. I just came to you instead."

A shudder rocked Taehyung's body.
"You blow my goddamn mind, my rules, my world," he breathed, those
ocean-blue eyes capturing my gaze like they never had before. "When I
least expect it, I find you ready to dynamite your way right into my heart. As if you hadn't done that already." The grip of his fingers on my wrist tightened, pulling me to him, and I could feel the soft air leaving his mouth, falling on my lips. "As if you hadn't already dismantled me for anybody else. As if I wasn't at your mercy." Hope, warm and soft hope, fell over my shoulders.

"I have done all that?"
"You have, kook."
Taehyung's forehead fell on mine, and I had no choice but to close my eyes.
To take it all and control this whirlwind of emotion threatening to turn me inside out.

"With every smile, you have done exactly that." I felt his lips brushing
over mine briefly, sending a shiver down my spine. "With every single time you have been infuriatingly stubborn and impossibly beautiful, all at once." He placed a kiss on the corner of my eye. "With every time you have shownthe world how incredibly strong you are, even when you don't believe so yourself." A kiss on the tip of my nose. "With all the ways your mind amazes and disturbs me in ways I'll never understand and not ever tire of." His lips landed on my cheekbone, flicking across the skin. "With how every single time you laugh, I want to throw you over my shoulder and run somewhere I can covet that sound just for myself." A kiss was brushed on my jaw, his lips then sweeping along until reaching my ear. "And with every other unfathomable way you have made me completely yours."

"Yours," I repeated, my heart expanding in my chest. Lurching itself
against my rib cage. Wanting out and into Taehyung's.

"I'm yours too, Taehyung. So completely yours. I have fallen in love with you. I don't know how it happened, but it did. I love you." I didn't recognize my own voice, not with the loud thumping in my ears. "I was so stupid to let you walk away. So, so dumb. But I got lost in my head. I was so scared, Taehyung. I didn't want to lose everything I had worked so hard for. To have people look at me like they had all those years ago. To lose you, too, when you realized that I was a complication."
"You'd never be one."
"I know that now, but I somehow convinced myself that letting you go
was the best thing I could do to protect myself from that happening again."
I shook my head, pushing that dreadful emotion out of my chest. I'd tell Taehyung about Sharon and the investigation on Gerald. But now wasn't the time.

"I'm sorry for not being here for you like I should have."
He looked at me like he didn't want my apologies, but I didn't let him
talk.
"I am." My voice wavered. "Knowing that your dad was sick and you
were all the way here, alone. Taking it all without anyone to hold you. That
he has been critical for weeks, and yet you came to Spain with me. That you
..." I trailed off, my voice now shaking. "That you would give me so
fucking much without ever asking for anything in return. It destroyed me.
But I'm here now," I whispered, looking into his eyes.
"I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, not because I believe that we can somehow be together now, but because I can't conceive of being
anywhere else but beside you." I swallowed hard, trying to rein in every emotion threatening to burst out. "You know that, right?" I leaned in, mylips brushing over his. Very softly, almost tentatively. Waiting for his answer.