A Palette of Emotions - Artist!Taehyung x Teacher!Reader (COMPLETED)

Chapter 10 - The Painting

The sound of Oh Min-Jae's voice made Taehyung want to crawl into a hole and never come out. As he looked towards the voice, he stared straight ahead at the middle-aged man, in his argyle vest, slacks, and wearing that same shit-eating grin Taehyung remembered all too well from earlier that month. Min-Jae's eyes wandered over to the canvases that were spread out among the stall, and a snicker left his lips. That sound rang through Taehyung's ears and he felt as if he wanted to die.

"Now, how on earth did you manage a stall at the Ilsan Art Festival?" Min-Jae asked curiously. Taehyung ran a hand through his hair and shrugged.

"Oh, my manager got me the stall. He knows a few people." Taehyung said simply, his face still stone cold. At least, he hoped it looked that way because internally, Taehyung felt his heart beating in his chest and ringing through his ear. He wanted to punch this guy so badly.

"How is he doing? Park Jimin, right?"

"He's doing just fine," Taehyung said simply. Min-Jae nodded. "I never would've expected you here, since you're such a stickler for professionalism and high-society." Min-Jae chuckled a bit.

"Oh well, sometimes you find some hidden gems in a place like this. It is the biggest art show in Korea, after all." Once again, Min-Jae scanned Taehyung's work once again, then his eyes flicked back to the boy. "But then again, other times you don't find anything. You just find a silly hobbyist with too much time on his hands." Taehyung stuffed his hands, now balled into fists, deep into his pockets. They were shaking so bad. Just before Taehyung felt as if he was going to lose it, he heard a voice.

"Hey, since Namjoon left do you want to....Oh. Sorry, are you with a customer, Taehyung?" When he looked up, he saw you standing beside Min-Jae, your hands crossed over your chest lightly. Taehyung scoffed.

"No, I'm not. He was just leaving." Taehyung said simply. You blinked, glancing over at the older man who was still standing there, relaxing without a care in the world. When you looked back at Taehyung, you could see how aggravated he looked. "He doesn't want to buy anything," Taehyung added.

"Oh okay." You said simply. "I'm starting to get hungry now, did you want me to get you anything from the vendors?" You asked. Taehyung leaned forward as you set the map you had gotten earlier in the day in front of him. You circled the food vendors with your fingers. "There's someone selling tteokbokki, someone selling pizza, someone selling hamburgers and hot dogs-." You heard Taehyung gasp, and you glanced up.

"Hamburger." He said quickly. You chuckled, nodding your head.

"Okay, I'll bring one back." You said simply. Taehyung nodded. When you turned around, you saw Min-Jae was still standing there. It startled you a bit since you weren't expecting it. "Woah...Uhm..."

"Sorry." He said gently. "Did I startle you?" You nodded a bit, glancing over towards Taehyung. Immediately, the deep frown was back on his face.

"I told you to leave. Why don't you go bother someone else?" Taehyung hissed.

"I wasn't done speaking to you," Min-Jae said simply.

"Well, I'm done listening. If you're not going to buy anything, just get away from my stall." You glanced between the two men as they stared at each other.

I'm getting major déjà vu... You thought to yourself. As Min-Jae stepped closer to the stall, you shuffled yourself over, standing in between the stall and Min-Jae.

The man raised an eyebrow before he spoke. "Can I help you, Miss?" He asked. You quickly stated your name, and he nodded, a grin forming on his face. "Ah, I remember you. You were Kim Namjoon's date to my most recent art show." He said simply. You blinked. "You're just as lovely now, I'm amazed I forgot." You gripped the strap of your pocketbook tightly.