taehyung was walking—he decided to go to the convenience store to buy his stress reliever; a pack of cigarettes.
it was a sunday and it was almost three in the morning when he decided that he should buy those.
jeongguk only works at the store during weekdays—he's not here, i won't see him, i'm safe.
he sighs when he reached the door handle to the store. the place wasn't packed, in fact, aside from the snobbish cashier, there were only two to three people inside; one buying midnight snacks, one was having coffee at the side, and the third one was microwaving his ramen and sausages. taehyung reached for the packet before turning to the cashier who was about to sleep.
he reads the nametag that says 'byun baekhyun' and snapped a finger in front of him. the guy immediately took notice of taehyung's presence and just gave him a quick nod before offering his hand to get the packet taehyung was buying. as byun baekhyun work in silence—with hints of tiredness in his face—his phone rang. of course, as a person who could not think well would answer his phone first although he's at work, and that's what he exactly did.
"what the fuck, bro? how many hours must i fucking wait for you to come here?" baekhyun says, and did not notice how taehyung was taken aback by two things he did; first, he forgot about the customer—that he is the customer a staff must attend to, and not his stupid phone call; and second, his profanities were very unpleasant to hear and he was too shocked to react with baekhyun's suddenly violent voice.
"wha—i don't fucking care about him, yeah yeah we fought again, i caught chanyeol cheating on me—god damn it, why are we fucking talking about my stupid love life when i have a customer right in front of me?" baekhyun suddenly realizes and taehyung was beyond grateful. he thought baekhyun was finally gonna give him his change and the receipt for the sticks he bought, but he still couldn't stop ranting.
"fucking shut up if you can! yes—yes, he cheated! don't be skeptical about me because i saw the situation with my own eyes! they were fucking at the gym! what the fuck right!" baekhyun continues and taehyung just sighed.
i might as well just listen to him since he's just heartbroken, too.
"they're so unsanitary, my god, how can they do it at a gym he owns! w-what the fuck? i mean, yes we–we also fucked at a restroom but that's d-different. and that doesn't mean—wait. you fucktard! get the hell in here before i start kicking your fucking ungrateful ass!" baekhyun says, now with his angry face—the veins in his neck look like they were about to pop if taehyung wouldn't stop him from turning his anger to rage.
"what? chanyeol wouldn't do that to me, he's not cheating on me with hoseok—" and taehyung failed to register what the next words were.
he just knows that hoseok is someone he knows, and the word chanyeol was very familiar to him.
like he knows that person.
like he already met that person.
and he did.
he remembers.
chanyeol-hyung was the person who gave me trainings when hoseok-hyung left me there! and chanyeol-hyung was the owner of the gym who knows jeongguk as a friend! how could i forget that?
he was blankly spacing out when he saw baekhyun put his phone down—the call has ended. and he hasn't listened about anything else after he said hoseok. baekhyun still looked mad, but nevertheless tried to give taehyung an apologetic smile.
"sir, here's your cigarettes. sorry for making you wait, it's so informal of me to do that." baekhyun apologized, and taehyung knows he isn't wrong when he saw how baekhyun's eyes turned crystal; he was about to cry.
"it's—it's okay. don't worry. thank you." taehyung took his packet of cigarettes, with the receipt as an additional, as he quietly heads out to the very quiet convenience store. he holds the handle of the door and was already about to go outside, but he was stopped when someone pushed the door handle and hurriedly entered the store, making taehyung stumble and fall on the ground with a loud thud.
"shit!" both men uttered.
taehyung opened his eyes, he's sprawled onto the ground, as the cigarette sticks scattered on the floor too. he tries to get up and adjusts his vision to the person who just rudely opened the door and made him fall.
he stands up with a shaky posture as he eyes jeongguk from a short distance, wearing a white t-shirt, baggy pants, timberlands, and a black cap. jeongguk was both panicking and worriedly looking at baekhyun.
"hyung! you can—you can go home now. i'm—i can handle this," jeongguk gives him a reassuring smile as he offers a hand to taehyung who was still shaky and a bit dizzy from the fall. baekhyun eyes the two of them, not knowing what to react since the happenings were too fast, but still nods at jeongguk.
"if you say so, guk. i've been working overtime for two hours in your place, you brat." baekhyun rolls his eyes at jeongguk and the latter only gave him a bunny smile. he was clearly sweating and panting as he talks, but to taehyung, he was still incredibly handsome. the way the sweat glistened in his skin, the way his messy hair moves, and the way the edge of his lips turn to form a smile—it was like everything was bound to be perfect for jeongguk. and taehyung knows he loves that more than anything.
"bye, hyung. inform me of your confrontation with chanyeol-hyung." baekhyun glares at what jeongguk said before completely running away from them. he closed the door and went out until he quickly perished from the two boys' vision. taehyung realized that jeongguk was the one baekhyun was talking to earlier—the one he's screaming and cussing at, and the one who was late for duty—that's him.
he eyes jeongguk who was still holding his hand, and when jeongguk noticed this, he quickly let go. the younger eyed flustered taehyung from just a few inches away, until he chuckled.
"you look like a teenager who just got grounded." and taehyung only smiles at that.
"you're the reason i'm like this. if only you didn't open the door, i wouldn't—" jeongguk cut taehyung's voice off when he suddenly chuckled once more. he smiles and says, "how come your deep and rough voice becomes something very soothing and soft when you're like this? shall i always call you at 3 am just to hear this kind of voice?"
"brat." taehyung muttered, to which jeongguk returned with a laugh. the latter scanned the floor and noticed the cigarettes lying all over them. he glares at an oblivious taehyung.
"ya, take those cancerous sticks more and you'll be dead early," jeongguk says, as a matter of fact, and taehyung just heaved a sigh. he picked up all those 'cancerous sticks' and placed them back inside the packet where it belonged to in the first place. he turned to jeongguk who was looking at him, and watching his moves.
"i'm just stressed, that's all." taehyung reasoned out. he felt like jeongguk had the rights to know why he's been taking these, and he doesn't even know why.
"stressed with? what?" you. taehyung wants to answer that, but of course, he doesn't. he just remained silent.
he wouldn't want jeongguk to know.
"i'll–i'll be going now." taehyung says and almost hurriedly steps out of the convenience store. he looks back at jeongguk who was right behind him before opening the door, when, suddenly, another creature opened it and pushed the door, making taehyung land on the floor again.
he braced himself for another wave of pain to come, when he realized there were none. he opens his eyes and sees the pair of arms wrapped securely on his waist and he felt the heavy breathing of the person behind him. he blinks so many times when he realized it was jeongguk who fell behind him, and it was jeongguk who was under him.
baekhyun enters the very funny scene, eyes widened but still hiding humor, "sorry kids, i forgot to bring my present for channie," he said before slamming the door on them. taehyung tries to get up, tries, but seemingly fails, as jeongguk's grip on him was too strong for him to handle. taehyung sighs as he melts in the younger's touch. there were so many questions he wanted to ask jeongguk, and the most out of them was, why did he send me an i love you too? he was confusing taehyung and all, but right now, he just wasn't ready. he doesn't want to know what jeongguk's answer was, because it might hurt him. it will hurt him.
so, at that moment, taehyung just held those inside his head, as he curses both in despair and delight, asking himself,
why do i always fall for you, jeongguk?
——
[ haha omg this was so
cuutee and xcuse me for
having my exo bias show
up lol ilov baek w all my
kokORO ok!!! 💞💞💞 ]
YOU ARE READING
murderer | vkook
Romance"make him fall in love with you, and when he does, make him admit that he was a murderer. do it, detective kim." ➡️ in which jeongguk is the prime suspect of his ex-boyfriend's murder case, and taehyung is an emo detective trying to serve justice t...
