Scarlet Craving

Chapter 3: Odd

What was that? Why had Taehyung acted like that? I was sure that he was holding his breath but he didn't even seem phased when he pulled away. The rest of the evening I had tried to bring the topic back up several times but he deflected me each time by starting a conversation with Ava. Annoyed, I decided to drop it in the end.

I thought about it all night though, why was he being so weird? Did my breath smell bad or something and that's why he was holding his breath? I didn't have time to focus on it anymore. I needed to think about the morning presentation that we were going to do tomorrow. I decided to put away my worries for later as I was sure we'd get a moment alone to talk about it since he sticks to me like glue anyway.

I walked into the lecture hall in a slight daze from the lack of sleep I had managed to get. "Hey, are you gonna be okay with this?" Ava asked me worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Taehyung?" I asked, looking around the room trying to spot him.

"Dunno, he hasn't shown up yet," Ava said anxiously.

"What!? I swear to god if he doesn't show-"

But as I began my angry rant Taehyung walked into the lecture hall, his expression hard and his eyes dark. His hands were rolled up into tight fists revealing the whites of his knuckles, what's with him? "There you are!" I said slightly annoyed. I had expected him to apologise like he normally did but instead, he just nodded his head slowly at me. Bizarre.

I opened my mouth to ask what was going on but I was stopped by Mr Lewis entering the classroom. One by one we watched several groups do their presentations until it was our turn, we stood in front of the class and Mr Lewis. It went okay except Taehyung spoke extremely quickly as if he was trying to get this over and done with so he could leave. It didn't go unnoticed by Mr Lewis.

"That was good girls. Taehyung, you were a little fast. It's okay to be nervous but you have to work on that." He said sharply.

Taehyung bowed his head without saying anything. As soon as the bell rang for lunch Taehyung dashed out of the classroom. I had never seen him move that quickly before. I only managed to catch him disappearing behind the door, Ava turned to me confused. "What was that about?"

The hell if I know. I shrugged in response, what had gotten into him? I excepted to see him sitting ready for us in the cafeteria but he wasn't there. Nor did he appear when the bell rang for our next class.

He had ditched the rest of the day, there was no one hovering at my side. Did I miss him? No way. I had just gotten used to his presence. That's why it feels strange...yeah that's it.

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1 week later

Taehyung had missed an entire week of classes, was he sick? Should I be worried? I found myself constantly looking around for him in the week he didn't show. I felt bad for getting cross with him the day of the presentation if he wasn't feeling well. But I had no way to contact him to check on him.

I had tried asking the student desk if he was okay but they wouldn't tell me anything substantial except that he was off. I guess that meant he at least had contacted the university to tell them he wouldn't be coming in. I couldn't stop thinking about it though.

I walked into one of my afternoon classes and sat down in my usual seat by the window, watching the rain hit the glass with little droplets as I waited for the teacher to arrive. Suddenly the class began whispering. I turned my head to see Taehyung walking into class. What the heck?

Is he going to sit next to me like he usually does? Or will he sit somewhere else since he hasn't been here for a week? And why show up in the afternoon? He may as well come in tomorrow morning. I started to nervously chew my lip.

To my relief, he sat next to me as if nothing had changed. What should I do? Do I ask how he's been? In my worried state Taehyung spoke first. "Hey." He said in a low warm voice.

Hey? You disappear for a week and your first word is hey? I turned to face him, he looked just as perfect as he had done the last week I had seen him. Except his face was calmer and his eyes lighter as they gazed at me. "Where were you?" I managed to get out after a few seconds of admiring his features.

His eyes tightened for a fraction of a second before they relaxed again as he calmly said "I had a family emergency."

"Oh. Are they okay?" I said, slightly worried I had pried too much.

"Yes, they're fine now. Thank you." He said in a deep honey-like voice that made goosebumps come up on my skin. Well, that explains why he had to leave so quickly like that. Seeing him again and having him sit next to me made me feel relaxed in a way.

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly and soon we were walking out of campus and back onto the street. This usually would be where Taehyung would say goodbye and walk in the opposite direction to me but today he had stopped abruptly as he stared intently at me. "Ah um." He coughed slightly to compose himself. "Would you mind if I walked you home?" He asked me gently.

Surprised by his request I felt my cheeks begin to burn. "Uh sure." I tried to speak as evenly as I could.

We began pacing down the street in the direction of my student flat. "I'm sorry I didn't show up to campus for a week," Taehyung said in a slightly apologetic tone.

I turned to face him "What!? It's not your fault, you don't need to apologise." I said quickly. How could he even be apologising!? Of course, his family comes first.

The conversation descended into an awkward silence after that, we turned a couple of corners before Taehyung spoke again. "Did I miss anything while away?" He asked me with curiosity in his eyes.

"No, not really. Well except one of the canopies outside block B decided to tear open which splashed everyone underneath with water. It was pretty funny." I laughed to myself as the memory played in my head, everyone had screamed from being doused in ice-cold water.

Taehyung laughed too, his sweet deep rumble as he covered his smile with his hand. He looked at me kindly. "Did you get splashed too?"

"No, luckily I was only walking past when I saw it happen," I said giggling.

"Very lucky." He smiled at me.

Before I had realised it we were already outside my apartment complex. I could feel myself starting to pout at the fact that we had got here so quickly. I wanted to spend some more time with him after not seeing him for so long. "So this is me," I said half smiling as I pointed to the apartment complex.

His eyes traced up the tall building. "What floor?" He asked me.

"The seventh."

"Not too high then." He said smiling as he met my gaze.

"Uh yeah?" I said back slightly confused. "Um, so thank you for walking me home. I'll see you tomorrow." I turned with the intention of walking into the building but Taehyung stopped me by holding my hand very carefully, his grip extremely loose as if he was afraid to hurt me?

"I wanted to ask. What time do you usually leave for campus in the morning?" He asked me in his velvety voice.

"Uh, nine-thirty," I said with my eyebrows ruffled in confusion.

He nodded his head a few times as if he was retaining the information to memory before he let go of my hand "Okay. See you tomorrow." He said with a satisfied expression as he turned on his heel and began heading down the road.

I stood there perplexed for a moment, why did he want to know when I left for campus?