Stigma Love's Algorithm [ A BTS x Reader Poly ]

Chapter 60: A Love That Never Left

I slouched deeper into my couch, stretching as my game screen on the mounted TV blinked "Mission Complete."

"Level up," I grinned, tossing the controller aside with a victorious sigh.

The notification sound on my phone buzzed next to me.

The group chat with Y/N, Yoongi, and Tae was blowing up again.

Tae had sent a string of bear emojis and a photo of him with Yeontan wearing matching headbands.

Y/N followed up with a blurry photo of Yoongi asleep on her lap, Wacha glaring from the background.

Tae
Look at my babies!!

Y/N:
Please look at MY baby. Yoongi says he hates cuddles but won't move.

Yoongi (who apparently woke up just to reply)
I hate you all.

I snorted, cheeks aching as I grinned at the screen. These three. Our progress together was steady, like bricks building the foundation of a new home.

I never thought I'd get this far with them so soon. Never thought I'd feel like this again-open, full.

And then, as my mind drifted, I felt it.

Namjoon.

The quiet longing I could never shake off, no matter how much time passed.

I thought about how, after years of silence and unresolved feelings, we were... talking again. Smiling, even.

The way he looked at me these past few weeks, especially when we were all together with the others-it was cautious but familiar, like a door we were both afraid to walk through.

Before I could drown in the bittersweet memory, the sharp chime of my doorbell echoed.

I frowned.

It was late. Only a few people would dare visit me unannounced.

I tapped the app on my phone to check the camera feed, and my breath caught in my throat.

Namjoon.

Standing there under the dim hallway light, bundled in a gray coat, clutching his phone with one hand, while the other fidgeted in his pocket.

His smile-soft, nervous, but unmistakably Joon-tilted slightly as he gazed up at the camera.

"Jin," he murmured, voice crackling through the speaker. "Can we talk?"

I panicked.

"What the-" I whispered to myself, heart racing. "Right now?!"

I quickly pressed the intercom button, voice an octave too high. "O-Okay. Uh, give me a second!"

I dashed to the bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

In the mirror, my reflection looked like a deer in headlights.

"Kim Seokjin, get it together," I hissed, splashing cold water on my face. "You are a confident, successful man. You are handsome. You are literally worldwide handsome."

I pointed at my reflection like I was hyping up a client. "He loves you. He's here. This is fine. You can do this."

I dried my face, smoothed down my hair, adjusted my shirt like it was going to magically erase the redness in my cheeks, and sprinted back to the front door.

Taking a deep breath, I opened it.

There he was.

Namjoon, in all his soft, towering, dimpled glory. His breath fogged in the cool night air, but his eyes-they were warm.