Spectacular Rival

Chapter 2

a/n: This has not been beta read, so please excuse the pedestrian writing and stale dialogues.
Couldn't think of a chapter and was impatient to update, so here it is.

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Taehyung is lounging on the couch, playing with the resident cat of the Esquire office. He is on his back as he holds up the cat, making growling noises before burying his nose in the soft ginger coloured fur. This adorable but moody guy is considered to be the muse of the chief editor, Park Ji-won and is very dear to her. Leaving her precious cat with Taehyung speaks of a trust which was cultivated over their short two year acquaintance, Ji-won’s magazine being the first to cover Taehyung’s debut as a rock artist.

The interview didn’t take much time, both comfortable with each other and the hour-long session was filled with light jokes, teasing and harmless flirting, something Taehyung has gotten used to over the years.

It is almost a norm that he will get hit on wherever he goes. He can’t blame people, he knows how he looks and it is all but natural that he elicits such a response from strangers he meets.
But this just makes a lack of reaction that much more jarring.

And there he goes again. Can’t he spend one day not thinking about him?

No! Supplies his heart unhelpfully. He sits up, the cat still held securely in his arms. Taehyung has heard people say that animals can perceive human emotions. But he was never one to believe everything he hears, but the fur ball in his arms trying to rub himself against Taehyung right when he was feeling the loneliness creep in makes him wonder.

He really is a piece of work, being comforted by a cat for his obsession with a certain someone. He knows it's not just that, he is in deep, too deep for this to just be a passing fancy or carnally motivated. He has given a part of himself away, when and how, even Taehyung doesn’t know.
And the only one who can relieve him of this despair and make him whole wants to punch Taehyung’s face in whenever they end up in the same room.

The cat is still rubbing himself against Taehyung, purring contentedly when Ji-Won comes back into the lounge carrying a cup of coffee. Her assistant follows behind with a bottle of cola with a straw in it. That fizzy drink! ‘Taehyung you seriously need to get laid!’ He looks away before his mind dredges up unwanted images.

“Hwa-seong looks very comfortable with you Taehyung, even though you rarely visit my studio.”

Taehyung composed himself before facing Ji-won. He doesn’t want to show this side of himself to her, or to anyone if he can help it. At the end of the day, Ji-won works for a magazine and one can never trust people who make a living by selling information about people like him, no matter if the said info was garnered with his consent. Letting go of a juicy story about the bad boy heartthrob, only a fool would do such a thing.

He feels a prick of conscience, knowing that Ji-won has done nothing to warrant such censure, yet he has learnt it is best to keep his vulnerable side safe and away from the often insensitive public and media.

His fingers are still gently running through the beautiful orange coloured fur of Hwa-seong as he looks up to meet Ji-won’s gaze.

“What can I say! I have a way with animals.” He pauses for dramatic effect, a smirk coming onto his lips of its own volition as he leans forward, voice dropping a few octaves to say, “and women.”

He is a bit surprised to see red coloring the usually stoic and unflustered editor’s cheeks. It’s been so long since he has been with a woman (or a man) that he has come to underestimate the effect of his baritone voice paired with those deep piercing eyes.