The Taste Of Ink | Taekook | ENG

THE EPILOGUE: TILL THE END

"You found him," the older man said, snorting gently as if he couldn't believe it could be true.

It was fate...

"I found him," Jeongguk confirmed.

"You know that he came to see you?" He asked, and when the young artist nodded, he cursed softly under his breath. He felt so ashamed of what he had done. "I told him that... that you were my fiancé," he admitted, however, with clear regret in his voice. He wanted Jeongguk to know the whole truth. "I made him go away... I'm sorry. I don't know why I told him that. When I saw him, the words somehow slipped from my mouth. And then I saw you, and I felt like everything was slipping through my fingers. I knew it was now or never, so I took the risk and took out that ring. I guess I just deluded myself that if you didn't know he was back... that if I proposed to you sooner... you might say 'yes'..."

"You know I couldn't accept your proposal..." Jeongguk replied, looking him straight in the eye. "You are a lovely man. You have everything I could want from a partner, but..."

"I'm not him," the older one finished for him. There was sadness in his voice, but also resignation.

He knew it was over.

"I'm sorry," Jeon said softly. "I never meant to hurt you, and from the very beginning I tried to be honest with you. If I had accepted this proposal... It wouldn't be fair. Neither for you nor for me. You deserve to wake up every morning next to someone who will be your whole world, but also to whom you will be the most important... Not next to someone who is still thinking about someone else..."

"So what now?" The elder asked. "Will you get back together?"

"When I saw him yesterday..." Jeongguk began. As he spoke these words, the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily. He still couldn't believe this wasn't a dream. "I was afraid that maybe these two years would be too long... After all, this separation lasted longer than our entire relationship. I was afraid that maybe everything had changed... that it would be completely different between us... And it was different..." he admitted, then he was silent for a long moment, as if he was lost in thought.

When he drove to the given address yesterday, he noticed him almost immediately. Taehyung had his back to him, his hair no longer fiery red, but he couldn't mistake him for anyone else. He would recognize this beautiful figure anywhere. His heart recognized him immediately, too, and began to crash anxiously against his ribs, longing for his beloved. The tattoo artist was smoking a cigarette and talking to a man of a similar age, perhaps a little older. He guessed it was most likely one of his clients when he noticed the dressing on his arm securing the freshly made tattoo. He watched them until the man left the tattoo artist alone. During this time, he watched them from a distance, trying to summon the courage to approach him, but when suddenly Taehyung looked directly at him, he ran away.

However, he stopped the motorcycle a few meters away, switched off the engine, and dismounted. Then he sat for a long time on a bench in a nearby park, staring at the engagement ring that hung on a chain around his neck. He didn't know what he felt exactly. He was happy to know Taehyung was back. He couldn't believe he was so close that it would be enough to walk a dozen or so meters, and he could see him again, but he also felt incredible fear, knowing the tattoo artist was back, but for some reason he still hadn't spoken to him.

He wanted so badly to see him again. Even from this distance, he could see that his hair was longer now, falling in soft waves over those beautiful onyx irises that he missed so much. He actually wished he could run his fingers over those soft curls. He wished he could hear his laugh again. That low, sensual voice whispering straight into his ear a confession only he had a right to say. He wanted to smell his perfume on his skin and the taste of his lips on his.