When The Tiger Lilies Bloom | Taekook

18. Rain on me

"Taehyung, are you okay? Why are you in the rain and what happened to your face? Are you hurt?"

The bunch of questions was piercing his ears and Taehyung couldn't think of an answer. Only if he could say it with his action, he would jump into this man's arms and cry a little more. He missed Jimin.

He wanted Jimin right at that moment to squeeze him in a bone-crushing hug and curse at the world for making his best fvcking friend cry. He missed Jimin and the short male's tactics to make him happy.

Shaking his head, Taehyung stood there, hands quivered, legs wobbly and heart in pain. Then he felt a feather like a touch on his cheek, warm like an evening sun ray that would pass through the lavender curtains of his room and reach towards him. The fingertips brushed the wound on his cheekbone and Taehyung suppressed a painful hiss that came to his lips.

"Are you hurt?"

Jungkook asked again for which Taehyung shook his head again. He found a little courage to reply and muttered softly.

"No... I just... Fell from the steps"

He didn't know if the other brought that excuse to heart but his doe eyes were wider in shock, his palm softly caressed Taehyung's cheek, and the said Taehyung couldn't even breathe for a moment.

Call him a coward, fool in love, or whatever, but Taehyung never wanted Jungkook to see him in a vulnerable state like this. He always wanted to showcase his strong self in front of Jungkook and somewhere in that attempt, Taehyung had even practiced how to speak without stuttering and controlling his heartbeat. Jungkook makes him want to be a better man.

But at that right moment, Taehyung was weak, messy, and deranged. He was not thinking straight, his heart and mind were not in the right sense. All he wanted was an escape from that moment because he was afraid. What if Jungkook runs away from him because of his ugly self? What if---

"You should be careful..."

The tone was kind of scolding, the hand continued caressing the wounds on his face, while Taehyung scanned the man. Jungkook was in the same dress he wore to the uni that day, a backpack on his shoulder, and his face was dull. Because they share an umbrella, the rain had made Jungkook's neat clothes drench slightly for which Taehyung felt apologetic. That's only when he remembered what was happening around him.

He and Jeon Jungkook were standing in the middle of heavy rainfall on an empty footpath, totally drenched and under the same umbrella. That's when Taehyung realized why his heart stopped breathing for a moment in the first place.

"But you said you don't like rain..."

Taehyung came to his senses, his tears dried out, eyes widened and lips curled into an amused pout while saying that for which Jungkook only glanced at his side, still holding the umbrella in his hand.

He turned away from Taehyung and took a slow step forward. Bewildered enough, Taehyung could only follow Jungkook when the man walked through the footpath, holding the umbrella for both of them yet his steps were careful to meet Taehyung's hesitant ones.

"I stick to what I said"

Jungkook replied, and Taehyung could only wonder at the words. Although he was not sure what he was doing and where he was going, he walked along with Jungkook. It felt so difficult for him to decipher the inner turmoil yet he let it be that way.

The explosion of butterflies, the tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach, call it whatever messed up feelings Taehyung wanted to seize the moment as long as he was with Jungkook.