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

Chapter 76: Lines, Crossed & Unspoken 🔥

I expect Jin to scoff. To make some flippant, snarky remark.
But he doesn't.
Instead, he stills.

His fingers tighten around his glass, his jaw working-like he's debating whether to answer at all.

Then, quietly-so quietly I almost miss it-he mutters "Every fucking day."

A silence stretches between us.
Something thick. Something real.

I don't know what I was expecting.
But it wasn't that.

After a few more glasses, Jin breaks the moment first, rolling his shoulders back, shaking off whatever vulnerability just slipped through.

Then he smirks, lazy and dangerous. "You keep talking about fixing the system, Namjoon. Prove it."

I narrow my eyes. "I will."
And I mean it.

Jin studies me for a long moment, something unreadable flickering behind his gaze.

Then he leans back, tipping his glass toward me.

"Good," he murmurs.

And for some reason, that one word feels more like a vow than anything else.

It's getting really late.

Too late.

The bar is almost empty now, the music softer, the lights dimmer.

I should leave.
Jin should leave.
Instead, we stay.

I rant about funding issues. Jin drunkenly offers legal help.

It should be absurd-some rich, untouchable lawyer and a broke NGO founder drinking at an overpriced bar in Gangnam, debating morality and corruption like it's some kind of philosophical sparring match.

But it's not absurd.
It's-fuck.
It's something else.

Something I don't have a name for yet.
Something that makes my skin feel too tight, my pulse too loud.

And when we finally do stumble outside-when the cold air hits and the night stretches out dark and endless-

It happens...

almost.

We stand there, too close.

The world feels smaller again, like the only thing that matters is the inches between us.

Jin's lips part slightly, his breath fogging in the air.

I shouldn't be looking at his lips.
I shouldn't be thinking about how sharp his jaw is, how his smirk fades when he's thinking, how his voice drops lower when he's serious.

But I am.
And Jin-he knows.

He tilts his head, eyes flickering over my face, something dangerously amused curling at the edges of his lips.

I swallow.

The pull between us is unbearable.

It's the alcohol. It's the adrenaline of a challenge.

It's the fact that Kim Seokjin is so fucking distracting it should be illegal-
I shift closer without thinking.

Jin doesn't move away.
His smirk deepens-just slightly, just enough.

I inhale sharply.
Fuck.
Fuck.

I should go.

I take a step back.

Jin's smirk falters. Just for a second.
"...Yeah," he mutters.

And I hate it.

Hate the way something inside me hollows out the second I step away.

Hate the way Jin's eyes flicker with something unreadable before he smooths it over again, slipping back into the polished, untouchable lawyer.

Hate the way the silence stretches, thick and unspoken, when we finally turn and walk in opposite directions.

Hate the way I already know-
This won't be the last time.

Even if I don't understand why yet.