HEARTBEAT | VKOOK

Chapter 22

To love, and to be loved.

Jeongguk wondered how it felt like to be loved. To have someone to take care of him, and shower him with affection every day; someone who'd stay for him; hold him in their arms whenever he'd feel down.

Jeongguk craved to be loved. Oh-so badly. Since a long time. Yet, never found a way to express it. To express his loneliness, his melancholy, his misery. Jeongguk craved love. An emotion, awfully familiar yet, unknown.

Perhaps, it was because he was once loved. There was a time he knew how it felt like to be loved, to be showered with affection and care, to be praised for every good work done. All due to his mother. His mother, who made sure to keep him company and cheer him up at all times, be there for him when he felt down, when other kids bullied him for things he vaguely remembered.

His mother, who was there for him like a shadow that never leaves, a guiding light that illuminated his world and brought him the utmost happiness. His mother was the only light he found in the darkness of the world. A light— that faded away in the blink of an eye.

Jeongguk has never been loved after that. And he didn't know how to love someone either. As love was an emotion he wasn't too familiar with, not even with his parents, or anyone in particular. Seemingly as though, love didn't seem to exist in his life.

A plain, boring life, that is.

Until, a certain someone had entered his life, at the most unexpected times.

Someone, who made him feel things he couldn't decipher, who made him flustered like nobody else could. Someone, who knew of his thoughts before he himself, could even voice them out.

And unknowingly, won his heart.

The certain someone, who sat across him, with his kid between the two of them as a barricade, scolding his son for eating like a pig and wiping away the sauce stuck at the corner of his mouth.

Quite funny, it is. How he could change himself in a span of seconds, even so, unknowingly. Yet, he was amazing. Kim Taehyung was simply fascinating. Rather captivating to Jeongguk, who couldn't seem to take his eyes off him. Not even for a second. Even as he ate and seemed quite uncomfortable of the eyes watching him like a hawk.

But to Jeongguk, it was rather adorable— how his cheeks would puff out every time he took a bite of his burger, how his lips would turn to a pout as he chewed. All of it, Jeongguk admired everything of Taehyung. All of his flaws, that shaped him into a perfectly imperfect man. And Jeongguk was unknowingly attracted to the older male, as everything he did, somehow made him smile. Although he wasn't sure why.

Jeongguk was falling for him, even so, unknowingly. And the feeling was inevitable.

"What's wrong, Jeongguk?" Taehyung rose a brow, concerned of the male's sudden change of mood. That seemed quite weird to him. As Jeongguk didn't really behave like how he usually did. Rather, he was awfully quiet and watchful.

The aforementioned male seemed to have snap out of his trance, doe eyes dilating as he looked up at the older male for a brief moment before shaking his head slightly. "Nothing really,"

"You've been acting weird lately. What's wrong?" Taehyung continued, taking another bite of his food and munching on it, eyes fixated on Jeongguk who hadn't eaten much, seemingly occupied with something else in his mind.

"Don't you fret. It's really nothing." Jeongguk simply flashed his infamous bunny smile, in hopes of convincing the older that he was okay, although it seemed as though he wasn't convinced at all, seemingly worried for the younger. Yet, Taehyung chose to not question it. As it seemed like the younger wasn't comfortable enough to share his thoughts with him.