Sweet Romance || Taekook

17

“Are you okay now, Tae?” Bogum asked as he took the empty water glass from Tae’s hands. He had brought them back to his own house and Taehyung had finally stopped crying. They were sitting in the living room, with Tae curled up in Bogum’s lap as he tried to calm down.

“I’m fine th-thanks Gummie.” Taehyung sniffled, sitting up and wiping his tears. “Th-thanks for coming to pick me u-up. I know you were probably very busy.”

Bogum hummed in acknowledgement and took a sip of his tea.

“Don't worry about it, Taehyung. It’s absolutely fine. But I do want to know what on earth you were doing there in the first place. Your truck isn’t here, so I presume it had nothing to do with business.”

Taehyung shifted about in his seat awkwardly. He wasn’t sure how well Bogum would take the news.

“I was just o-out.” He lied.

“Out doing what?”

“Oh. Y-you know...stuff.” Taehyung laughed awkwardly.

“What stuff? You're so cute. Stop being so vague.” Bogum chucked softly.

“W-well I don’t know if you wanna know.” Taehyung said.

“Of course I wanna know, Tae. I wanna know who made my Taehyungie upset.”

“Well, I was on a d-date.” Tae mumbled, not making eye contact with his friend.

“A date?” Bogum asked slowly.

“Y-yeah.” Taehyung said, completely surprised Bogum wasn’t upset.

“Some date that was.” He said as he rolled his eyes. “How come you left all upset then? I thought you said dates were supposed to be fun.”

“It was at first,” Taehyung said sadly. “But then someone showed up and ruined it and I had to leave. He must not like me as much as I thought.”

“Someone interrupted your date? And your date did nothing about it?” Bogum scoffed.

“He just sat there and let it happen. I didn’t want to be rude so I just left. I think he likes someone else.” Taehyung said dejectedly, tears brimming in his eyes as he remembered how Jeongguk hadn’t even tried to get Hoseok to be quiet, let alone leave.

“So your date took you and then let someone else walk all over you. That’s why you were crying?” Bogum asked.

“Y-yeah. I know it’s s-silly but-”

“It’s not silly, Taehyungie. You have every right to be upset. What kind of imbecile would allow someone else to interrupt a date and do absolutely nothing to stop it?” Bogum scoffed.

“Well he tried, but-”

“Evidently he didn’t try hard enough if you had to leave. And a date in an ice-cream shop? How tasteful.” Bogum said sarcastically. “You deserve much more than that, Tae. Don’t sell yourself short with a lowlife like whoever that idiot was. I could give you better, Tae. I could take you to places like Dubai, or Paris, or-”

At the mention of Paris, Taehyung burst out into tears again, Hoseok’s words ringing in his head. He moved over and climbed into Bogum’s lap, cuddling him like he was a giant teddy bear, letting Bogum rub calming circles on his back.

“This is what I always tell you, isn’t it, Tae. Don’t throw yourself at anyone who’s willing to listen. Nobody cares about you like I do. I just don’t want to see you get hurt, like you are right now.” Bogum mumbled as he kissed Taehyung on the side of his head. “I can treat you right, Tae; we both know it. I only need one chance. I'll even spend some time with Yeonjun. I can make you both so happy. What do you say? Aren’t you tired of all this heartbreak and drama? Wouldn't it be so nice to settle down and be happy?”