natural figure | taegi

chapter one

•) Wednesday

Taehyung exhaled long and slow just once. His body hugged close by his hoodie, the breeze was nasty against the skin that was left exposed. His heart violent against the rungs of his ribs and he wished he wasn't here. Wished he hadn't said yes to going out with Jimin and Namjoon on the weekend. Wished he wasn't so gullible. How did he himself be bullied into a situation like this? Jimin always won their little bets. Yet with alcohol controlling the system, Taehyung agreed with confidence. The terms? If Jimin could get the cute guy across the bar to take him home, Taehyung was to participate as a nude model for an art class. If he couldn't, Jimin was required to buy everyone in the club a shot and never bother Taehyung about anything like this again.

Jimin was taken by the hand and led out the door the moment after he'd said hello, and here we are.

Taehyung shut off his phone and slipped it into the back pocket of his jeans. He would go in soon, get it over and done with. He would. He had no choice, if he didn't he would never hear the end of it. Once this was over and he could move on with his life he would never get drunk in the presence of Park Jimin ever again. Taehyung sighed, looking to the toes of his shoes. Mustering up any willpower to push the door open and head inside. Quietly he said to himself; "Just once, then never again."

"Are you going inside?" A voice called from his right, ripping him off the wall he leant against and engulfing him in a red blush. The man who belonged to the voice raised his hands as though to defend himself from an attack Taehyung wasn't going to make. "Sorry if I'm rude or anything, but - you've been standing there for a while and I wasn't sure if you were a mugger or something."

"A-a mugger?" Taehyung was lost. The man blinked once, slowly.

"Yeah."

"Uh... no, I'm not. I was just lost in thought, sorry." Taehyung bowed slightly and shyly, hand rubbing the back of his neck and his eyes peered through his hair to the man.

"So are you going in or not?" He asked firmly, jutting his head towards the door once and Taehyung's teeth clenched nervously in his mouth.

"Um no-..." He stopped and looked down at his phone now clenched in his hand once again. He took a deep breath, shoulders climbing up and then down again. He was being watched on as he thought. The man was silent, patient, expressionless, his fingers curled around the handle of the door to the art studio in waiting. "Yeah, I am."

"Alright." With that the man swung the door open and Taehyung followed him inside. Tried to muster up some courage, any courage he had left in him. Tried and failed and tried again. He approached the counter and smiled faintly, very faintly. The lady at the front desk gave him a sympathetic look.

"Hello Taehyung-ssi," she stopped for a second, glanced to her side and watched the man enter the studio beyond another white door. When he was gone she continued. "You friend Park Jimin told me what was happening."

A nerve in Taehyung's temple twinged. He frowned with a sigh and looked around the room. "Yeah, well that's what you get when you're friends with the devil. Be careful noona, don't get to close to him."

She laughed, only lightly and nodded her head. "I'll take your word for it. Now, you can get ready for the session in that room just there," she gestured to be other side of the lobby. Taehyung bowed. "Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable? Would you like something to eat? A stress ball, I have one in my draw-"