RAINY DAYS | taehyung ✔️

◈ chapter five

Because holy hell, that man had a nice voice. Deep and measured, like whiskey burning as it slid down your throat.

Wow. Okay, you definitely needed to get laid.

"You scared me," you told him now, as if it were plainly obvious.

He gaped at you in indignation, still rubbing his cheek. "I was trying to help you!"

"Well-" you shrugged, trying to come up with a valid excuse other than - you're super hot and it freaked me out. "It's midnight, and there's a strange dude in my apartment!"

"You left the front door wide open," he pointed out now. "And why the hell are you up a ladder at midnight?"

"I was doing some DIY," you put your hands on your hips and nodded towards the bookshelf, which still hung half off the wall above you. "Excuse me for being independent and spontaneous at this late hour."

His expression changed slightly as he glanced at the bookshelf, and then back to you. Now, he looked less angry, and more bemused. "This is your first time putting up a bookshelf, huh?"

You froze, blinking at him. "How did you know?"

"Well, for starters," he pointed to it with a long, slender finger. "It's upside down."

"That's not possible," you rolled your eyes at him. "It's a shelf. There is no upside down."

The man's bemused smile grew a little wider, and you nearly went into cardiac arrest, because how could it be fair that a man could smile like that, all boxy and gorgeous? He was like some sort of golden age heartthrob, sent to dazzle you with that smile until your heart finally called it quits.

Cause of death: handsome stranger.

Your knees shook a little. Fuck, you really, desperately needed to get laid, and soon.

The man was moving towards the shelf now, pointing up at it. "You see those brackets? They have to go underneath the shelf, or it won't hold."

"Ah," you nodded sagely, as if you'd known that all this time, when really you were going red as a firetruck in humiliation. And also, becoming increasingly fixated on his fingers, which were still pointing up at the shelf, but seemed to be flecked with tiny clay-coloured marks that looked a lot like paint.

Was he an artist, or something? You really bloody hoped not. That would be way too attractive for your poor heart to bear.

"Do you want me to fix it for you?" he asked now, entirely unaware of the internal dilemma you were having over whether this man had the ability to literally sex you to death. He was blinking at you earnestly, quite clearly not joking at all in his offer of help.

You were stunned. Seriously? You had just slapped this man - and also, you had absolutely no idea who he was - and now he was reaching for the hammer that had clattered to the floor a few minutes earlier, offering to help you?

Was this some kind of service that came with the building? Surely not - they didn't even have valet parking, as you'd found out the hard way earlier this evening. 

As he waited for your response, the man shifted slightly, dropping his hand to push his glasses up his nose. It was this motion - and the fact that it nearly gave you heart palpitations - that jerked you back into motion.

"Um, no," you managed to choke out, knowing you were red beyond belief now as you reached out for the hammer. "I can handle it, thank you, Mister..."

"Kim. Kim Taehyung," he finished your sentence, handing the hammer over. "Just call me Taehyung."