Save Me

12

"Rosie, get out!" Taehyung whines, blocking her view of the kitchen.

"It smells good," she giggles, teasing him by bending down like she was gonna race under his arms.

"Rosie," he huffs, grabbing her by her shoulders and spinning her around. "Go watch a movie in your room or something. And don't come out until I tell you!"

"Alright, alright, fine," she sighs, heading up the stairs.

Taehyung smiles in relief and turns around just in time for the oven timer to go off. He carefully takes out the vanilla cake and sets it on a cooling rack for later, trying to figure out what he needed to do next.

He had been running around like a mad man ever since that morning, buying decorations and making sure he had enough food and drinks for everyone. Rosie told him she was inviting six other people, and he was actually really proud of her for making friends. He just hoped they were good kids, unlike that Jungkook guy she keeps hanging out with.

When Taehyung finished icing the cake, which was light pink with strawberries around the rim, he stared at it with his inner cheek caught in his teeth. A part of him wanted to send it to Laila to see what she thought about it.

"This is stupid," he mutters, but he grabs his phone and takes a picture of it anyway.

He didn't really know what he was expecting, but he shoved his phone into his pocket and grabbed some decorations to distract himself. He shouldn't feel this nervous over a damn text, but here he was, fumbling with the balloons as his nerves grew.

The rumbling of engines and a round of knocks were heard on the door when he was trying to set up a streamer, so he set the party decoration down with a curious frown and walked towards the door.

"Hi!" a honey-haired boy beams, a mountain of presents in his arms. "Is this Rosie's house?"

"Yeah?" Taehyung says, growing apprehensive as he looks behind the smaller boy's shoulder to view the other five boys.

They were all practically screaming bad boy energies, which made him internally roll his eyes. He didn't need reckless boys around his precious sister.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Namjoon," one of the other boy's greets, stepping inside. "Beautiful house."

"Thanks..."

Taehyung shuts the door behind the last guy and turns around with a frown, watching them roam around his house.

"You must be Taehyung," Jimin beams, walking over and holding his hand out. "Your sister is a lovely girl. I dragged the boys here to help set up."

"Oh," Taehyung smiles awkwardly and shakes his hand. "Um, thanks. I was just putting up the decorations."

Jimin nods and starts yelling orders at the other boys, dragging them away to the kitchen to collect party decorations. All except one followed the honey-haired boy.

"Where's Rosie?" Jungkook asks.

"She's getting ready," Taehyung says flatly, walking away from him.

He hears Jungkook grumble under his breath but pays him no mind, spending time with the others as they help him set up streamers and blow balloons. Jimin, he learned, was an incredibly bright person, clicking with Taehyung in a way he didn't expect.

"Wow, you made this?" Jimin asks in awe, looking at the cake.

"Yeah," Taehyung smiles shyly. "Does it look alright?"

"Alright?" Jimin laughs in disbelief. "Taehyung, this is incredible!"

A deep chuckle escapes Taehyung's throat, thanking the younger before he suddenly remembers who he really wanted to hear from about the cake.

He digs his phone out from his pocket and goes to his messages, his teeth catching his lower lip as he taps on her contact.

It looks amazing! Happy birthday to your sister. I hope she likes the bag :)

Taehyung couldn't help but smile cockily as he put his phone away, his mood for tonight lifting. He exited the kitchen and raised an eyebrow when he saw Jungkook studying a series of Rosie's pictures on the wall.

"She's always been a cutie," Taehyung pipes in from behind him, laughing slightly when the ravenette jumps in surprise. "I took those a long time ago."

"Are you a photographer?" Jungkook asks.

"Not really," the elder chuckles, shaking his head. "An artist, maybe."

"An artist of many talents then," Jungkook smiles. "She talks very highly of you, you know."

Taehyung looks down with a shy smile and, despite having bad thoughts about the ravenette at first, he learned that Jungkook really wasn't that bad. He didn't smell of cigarettes, didn't talk to Taehyung rudely or make any inappropriate jokes.

"Listen," Taehyung starts, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know I haven't exactly been fair to you, but the last thing I want is for Rosie to get hurt. That's why I'm so protective of her."

"It's okay," Jungkook nods. "It must be a brother thing."

"Right..." the elder clears his throat before offering a small smile. "Anyway, everything seems to be set up. If you want, you could go see if she's ready?"

Taehyung smiles in amusement and shakes his head as Jungkook practically beams and races up the stairs. For a bad boy, he really did act like a whipped dork.