𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑶𝑭 𝑴𝒀 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 (Taejin)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Touch.

A touch is known to be comforting or invading, depending on who does it. A mother's touch can soothe even the most painful of headaches and the intolerable whines of a baby crying. However, the touch of a random old man who presses up against you while you are standing inside a metro, commuting to your work, can make you feel disgusted and dirty.

Jin didn't really know the feeling of being touched.

He had lacked his mother's touch ever since he had been born, he didn't even know how his mother looked like. Whether she had the same almond brown eyes as he did, the same plump lips.

Mr Kim,his father, was hardly there at home to even let Jin think that he could have the warm hands of a father hugging him when he got nightmares.

There had been his caretaker, his second mother, his sister-his Areum Noona. But her touch disappeared as suddenly as it had come, leaving only a ghost of the memory of her nimble fingers against his smooth skin.

Jimin, was a generally touchy person. Happiness for Jimin was shared by hugs and pats on the back and pecks on the forehead and Jin didn't really think he needed any other touch than that of his friend to make himself feel better.

But when the calloused hands with long, beautiful fingers wrapped around Jin's own crooked fingered ones, skin absorbed with a hand cream from Sephora, Jin realised that perhaps another touch wouldn't be so bad.

He wished he could forever hold Taehyung's hands, let the other boy hold his as long as possible. It felt warm and sent butterflies inside Jin's belly. 

The feeling soon ended when Taehyung halted to a stop at the edge of the parking lot and dropped Jin's hand, making the brown haired boy immediately want to pull Taehyung's hand back. But he knew doing that would only make the whole situation even more strange and if ever a chance would come again where Taehyung could hold his hand, then he would lose that too.

Thankfully James arrives with the car, the black sedan pulling up in front of the two boys. 

The driver steps out and holds the back door open for the two. Jin lets Taehyung slide in first then looks at James. "Please, don't tell Mr Kim this".

The middle aged man's weary eyes scans the younger boys' face, as if staring at something he had seen before. After a second, he sighs. "Dropped you at a cafe for doing a project, that's what I'll say". 

Jin smiles gratefully but doesn't fully trust the driver. He couldn't really. The last time, he had planned to go to a class party hosted by this boy named Jackson who was known to host the best parties of the week and though Jin had never been a big fan of parties, he had always been curious on how one felt like. 

That day, Jimin had suddenly got sick but had urged Jin to go anyway, so Jin had naively trusted the front door guard to let him out around ten pm to go for the party. The man always used to smile sweetly at Jin so there was no reason that he couldn't trust him.

Half an hour before the party time, while Jin had been applying a thin line of kohl around his eyes, Mr Kim had called and threatened to take away his phone and network privileges if he ever thought of sneaking out to a party again.

That's when Jin knew that trusting anyone inside his home would be difficult.

Taehyung is looking outside and his hands are fidgeting, seeming as he wanted to say something. He then finally gives up on the strange ministrations of his hands and says while his eyes are fixed on the car window- "Um, I am sorry. That...I got late. This..teacher had called me up". 

Jin knows a lie when he hears one, it's just a skill he had picked upon, an useless one really but it did come to use once in a while. But now inside the car and with the person he liked next to him, he had no reason to use the lie against Taehyung. 

"That's alright, I just got worried whether you would come at all or not".

"Oh, I will. I don't really have any other option". Taehyung sheepishly responds. "What will you be doing while I work?"

The other boy shrugs. "Do my homework. Maybe help you at your work. Aunt Park will be there too, so probably chat with her. You don't have to worry about me, it's just a matter of an hour or so". 

"You don't have to help me, I know how to help myself". 

Yet he couldn't select a job that was inside his own city, Jin wonders but doesn't say it out aloud.

His eyes trail towards Taehyung's cherry coloured hair, the shade of which was standing out against the grey and black background of the car. 

"Why red?"

Taehyung moves his eyes away from the window. "What?"

Pointing towards Taehyung's hair, Jin repeats- "Why red?"

"Oh. Well, it was the cheapest hair dye getting sold on a discount in the shop so I took it. Why, you want to dye yours red too?" Taehyung eyes at Jin's naturally dark brown hair.

"No, no. I am all good with my brown hair". Jin laughs and pats his head, making Taehyung shake his head and look ahead. "But why do you dye your hair?"

"Because I can", comes the short reply from Taehyung.

Not surprised with the answer, the two fall into silence again and though Jin wouldn't have been sad if they did talk a bit more, he didn't mind the silence either. It was a lot for him to just know that Taehyung was sitting right next to him, a few centimetres away...maybe a bit more than that but surely that could be changed.

Pretending to yawn, Jin stretches his arm and legs slightly, then sits up, shifting his position more to the left.

Taehyung notices his movement from the corner of his eye but doesn't say anything.

Jin really just wanted to get closer to Taehyung, not necessarily touch him.

Here was this person who he had only looked at from afar, wondering whether he could ever find the courage to talk to him....and he was sitting right next to him. There will probably be more car rides like these since Jin was officially given the job of dropping and picking Taehyung to and from work but he didn't want to waste any moment to be a bit more close to his crush.

Just a bit more closer. 

"I would suggest that you stop moving and shifting right there. I see what you are doing and if you really have an interest to just fall on top me then you are more than welcome to do so instead of wiggling around like a worm". Taehyung pointedly says while giving Seokjin a little smirk.

Gasping, Jin immediately shifts away. "I don't have any interest to fall on top of you! Some high thoughts you have about yourself!" 

Internally, his mind catches him and reminds him of the numerous interests he had harboured in himself over months and days which included more than just falling on top of Taehyung.

Taehyung scoffs. "I am not blind".

"You are stupid".

Frowning, the red haired boy turns towards Jin. "What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

Rolling his eyes, Taehyung looks away. 

"So, you won't mind if I do fall on top of you?"

"I would".