Scarlet Craving

Chapter 4: Growing Closer

I soon found out why he wanted to know what time I left for campus. There stood outside my apartment complex looking radiant as ever was Kim Taehyung. I stood there in awe for a while at his appearance through my bedroom window. Today he was wearing a dark knitted sweater with a white collared shirt underneath, jeans, boots and a long padded faded green coat. I'm almost surprised he's not some sort of runway fashion model at this point with his good looks and taste in clothes.

Today's frost was covering everything in sight. The temperature had dropped overnight making the rain that had splattered onto the ground into a thin layer of white ice. I opened the door and stepped out onto the street. I was immediately greeted by Taehyung who showed me his distinctive smile that revealed his perfect white teeth. "Good morning." He greeted me cheerfully, his voice today was deep and husky. It sent shivers up my spine.

"Morning," I said awkwardly back.

We began our walk toward campus, the wind was especially chilly today. It pushed my hair around my face making my nose cold. I moved my face deeper into my scarf in an attempt to keep warm.

"Are you cold?" Taehyung asked, noticing I was trying to bury most of my face into my scarf.

"Just a little bit," I admitted as I pushed my hands deeper into my pockets.

We turned the corner, one of many to come through the cobblestone streets, but what I failed to notice was how icy the pavement was. My foot skidded across the ground as I felt my body start to tip backwards, a gasp leaving my mouth. I tried to catch myself with my hands but they were trapped inside my pockets. I shut my eyes as I expected to land hard on my backside but nothing happened? I peeked slowly through my closed eyes and saw Taehyung standing over me, holding me up from the ground. "Are you okay!?" Taehyung asked panicked, his eyes dancing around to check If I was alright.

I stared at him for a moment before speaking. "Fine," I said slightly amazed he had caught me.

He slowly pulled me up as he steadied me on my feet, his expression still worried. "Honestly I'm fine. See everything works!" I tried to joke off his worry as I moved my arms and legs.

Taehyung didn't seem completely convinced though as he promptly placed my hand in his and held it tightly "What are you doing?" I asked slightly confused.

"What if you fall again? I can't have that." Taehyung said confidently as he nodded to himself.

I felt my face heat up and my heart race. I was so embarrassed that I looked at my feet for the rest of the journey to make sure I didn't fall over again. We continued to walk hand in hand even on campus and into the lecture hall which resulted in a few people giving us weird looks. I tried to shake his grip off but he wouldn't let go until we were sitting in our seats next to Ava.

"Okay, I'm sitting down now. I'm not going to fall, I promise." I said earnestly.

He gazed at our intertwined hands for a while before looking back at me "Okay." He said softly as he loosened his grip.

I pulled my gloves off as I started to get my things out of my bag. Ava elbowed me quickly to get my attention. "You two sure are close this morning." She whispered mockingly into my ear as she grinned.

"I fell earlier that's why we were holding hands," I said in a hushed tone trying to defend myself.

"You fell?" Ava asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. He caught me anyway."

"Very chivalrous," Ava said teasingly. I rolled my eyes at her.

Class ended and I chucked my books back into my bag as I slung it over my shoulder, Taehyung placed his hand back into mine. Without gloves on I could feel how cool his skin felt against mine, his hand was soft as his fingers latched around my hand. It was strange but inviting. I opened my mouth to argue why he needed to hold my hand again but he gave me a long look so I decided to give up.

The rest of the day passed with Taehyung securely holding my hand, the only exception would be in class when I actually needed to use my hand. Apart from that, he'd immediately slip his hand back into mine, like he was worried I was going to injure myself somehow? I guess the gesture was sweet after all and I was slowly becoming used to the feel of his skin against mine.

Taehyung had walked me back to my apartment complex again but I didn't want the moment to end for some reason. I wanted to keep holding his hand and so did Taehyung by the looks of it as he hadn't released his grip despite being outside my apartment. "I-uh..do you maybe want to go for a coffee somewhere?" I blurted out.

He chuckled slightly, "Sure." He said warmly to me.

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We settled for a nearby coffee shop that was only a fifteen-minute walk away. As it was the evening the café was fairly empty, amber lights lit up the room which made the outside look even darker than it actually was. I ordered a mocha and cake while Taehyung ordered just a black coffee. I swear I've yet to actually see him eat anything.

I scrunched up my eyes at him as he sat down in front of me "Do I have something on my face?" He asked, confused.

"You only ever eat apples at uni and even here you don't order anything, just a black coffee. Are you on some weird diet or something?" Taehyung's expression looked shocked for a fraction of a second before relaxing again. I wasn't sure If I had seen it or not.

"Yeah, a diet." He said evenly.

I nodded my head slowly at him. I guess that makes sense? "It doesn't sound that great of a diet if you hardly eat anything though."

Taehyung ignored my question "Are you from around here?"

I looked at him for a moment before answering "This town? No, I'm not but I'm from a small village on the coast. Only a few hours from here, my brother lives there."

"You have a brother?" Taehyung said, intrigued.

"Yeah, he's older than me by a few years. He's a dance instructor." I said smiling as I started to take a bite of my cake.

"That's nice. What's he like?" Taehyung said curiously.

I looked at him a bit confused, was my brother that interesting? "He's nice. Tall and lean, he likes to mess with me a lot. Very goofy and smiley but I love him."

Taehyung smiled at that comment "Do you have any siblings?" I asked.

Taehyung looked down at his coffee before looking back at me "I do. I have two." He said quietly.

"Oh yeah? Are they like you?" I asked as I sipped my mocha.

"Not exactly...they can be somewhat mischievous." Taehyung gripped his mug as he spoke.

"Oh really? Are they older or younger?" I asked.

"They're younger." He said softly.

"Ah, that explains it then! You're the older brother so you have to be mature while they get to mess around." I grinned at him.

He chuckled to himself, we then went into a lengthy conversation of asking each other different questions about one another. Which included what our favourite colours were, and what seasons we liked. I replied spring or autumn while Taehyung replied winter.

"Really? Don't you ever get cold though?" I was surprised at his answer.

"A bit but I really like watching the snow cover everything." He said innocently, he was really quite cute when he spoke like this.

"Yeah, you can't beat snow really. Even I love it." I said smiling.

We chatted for a while longer, getting to know our interests and disinterests and what we had in common. It felt good to spend time together like this outside of university. I felt very relaxed around Taehyung. I like getting to know more about him. I like this feeling. A lot.