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Really, the words that caused your demise were very simple.
"Alright, Tae, you're not going to like this, but I'm going to have to leave you outside."
There was a moment as the scarlet-locked son of Ares blinked, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to compute your words. There was a moment as he let his lips jut into a thoughtful pout. And then there was the moment when he panicked.
"What?" Kim Taehyung had spluttered, head snapping to you faster than you would have thought possible as the words left your mouth, his eyes widening almost comically, "What?"
You'd snorted into your hand at the thoroughly astonished look on Taehyung's face, an unamused expression slowly creeping over yours as Taehyung stared at you.
And then he'd lunged, and now you were currently cursing both yourself and him, both aloud and in your head.
"Kim TaEHYUNG let go of me this instant—!"
"Does it really have to be this instant? Can't we make a bit of an exception for me, baby?"
"TAEHYUNG."
You groaned loudly (well, as loud as you could considering you were inside a museum, right) as Taehyung kept both his arms thoroughly wrapped around your waist, trapping you pressed flush against his firm chest and taller frame, laughing softly at your irritation. You were keenly aware of the small smiles being shot in your direction from the people passing by the doors of exhibits within the main hall of the museum, most of the poor souls probably thinking 'aH what a cUtE cOuPle'.
Too bad none of them knew how badly you wanted to punch Kim Taehyung in the nose.
"Taehyung, I said I was sorry, fine you can come with me, will you LET ME GO NOW," you growled in irritation as you tried to keep your voice as low as possible as you struggled in a thankfully secluded corner of the entrance hall, seriously debating dying right then and there to get yourself out of this situation, "Taehyung, would you listen to me, f*ck it—"
You didn't know what you were expecting, but Kim Taehyung was not listening to you.
Honestly, can I think of a time when he ever did listen to me?
Yeah... news flash: you couldn't.
Not when you'd first met him and taken him to Target, not when you'd been deciding how to get his pithos from the museum, not when Joon had decided to make an appearance and certainly not now, when you were trying to convince him to get his hands the hell off you because a very serious museum full of very serious artifacts and very serious middle-aged sponsors was not a good place to act like a couple of unruly PDA-prone teenagers.
Actually, no time was a good time to act like a PDA-prone teenager. PDA was f*cking disgusting, and it was all you could do not to commit murder when you saw people flaunting it like they lived on it, and your mama hadn't raised no hypocrite. You had no idea how Taehyung had survived this long by acting the way he had.
And BESIDES, you were trying to be serious right now. This was a very serious situation, and Taehyung whispering in your ear and trying to reduce you to a melted mess on the floor wasn't helping in the slightest.
You couldn't lie: you were worried at the moment. Not even Taehyung doing his best to distract you could make you forget that.
With a sigh, you tilted your head at the elegant lines of the building you'd come to admire through the time you'd worked in it. Sure, Adra had given you a break from work, she had asked you to collect your thoughts and your life when Taehyung had stumbled into it, she had said she'd be okay for a while on her own, but it was hard not to feel a twinge of guilt as you peered inside. The last time you'd been in here, it had been to steal something, and then you'd been so caught up with everything (such as your brother being a f*cking demigod and the fact that he'd NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT IT, for instance), you hadn't even attempted to try and work your internship back into your schedule.
The thing was, Adra hardly ever contacted you outside your working hours— She was very independent, very solitary, and the museum staff, aside from you, were at a bare minimum. At first it had struck you as odd, but now knowing her true nature, it made more sense— she was peaceful, yes, but less people around meant less temptation to... suck their souls out or whatever, right?
But through that, you could only imagine the hassle Adra had gone through once you'd been given your break to try and catch your footing with Taehyung around. You worked hard already, but Adra doing it all on her own... You knew firsthand how independent your boss was, and you knew she'd most likely denied any help that had been offered to her through the past week.
Which was also why you'd been fairly alarmed when Taehyung had told you that yes, your boss had called you outside of work hours while you were on a break and that she sounded worried. You were still kind of in shock at how well Taehyung had handled your mini panic attack when he first told you what happened— he'd been surprisingly sweet and comforting and unjudgemental even as you whisper-yelled at you buzzing phone as you repeatedly tried to call your boss back.
(And for the record, for someone who, in your experience, never let her phone trill twice before rushing to pick it up, Adra had been doing a damn good job of ignoring your calls and thereby giving you something close to clinical anxiety, if you did say so yourself.)
"Loveee," Taehyung groaned lowly, snapping you out of your thoughts as you caught the reflection of him pouting through the glass of the door that led to Adra's office, his eyebrows furrowing so they created a slashed 'v' through his forehead when he carefully pried your fingers from the handle while still holding you tightly as you struggled, the silken material of his gloves curling over your skin, "love, stop fighting me, you know I am right. You cannot leave me outside while you go in, that isn't how it works!"
You coughed back a laugh at his pouty attitude as the demigod rubbed circles over your knuckles, carefully flicking your fingers the hell away from him. While you knew Taehyung had good intentions, you also knew bringing together two powerful Greek mythological entities who had previously tried to kill each other back into the same room was... uh... not a good idea.
"And why not?" you popped back indignantly, straining against him, "Is it crazy that I'd just rather not have to deal with you and Adra at each other's throats? And besides, you know it's perfectly safe, I don't see the big deal."
Taehyung arched an eyebrow, a sly smirk curling up his lips as he leaned down to close in on your face. Damn it, you knew that look— oh no—
As expected, in a split second, the demigod's voice was lowering to a purr as he leaned down, flicking a single finger up the column of your neck before you could even react. "I'd rather be at your throat, baby, and you know that. How could you possibly suggest otherwise?"
Should you have been used to this idiocy by now?
Yes.
Were you?
Sadly, no.
This absolute b*tch—
"If you think seducing me is going to help you, you're very wrong," you ground out through your choking, jabbing your elbow into Taehyung's chest and relishing in the little 'oof' he let out. But it didn't take him long to recover, arching an eyebrow as he spun you around to face him, holding you secure as he pressed his hips to yours.
Taehyung chuckled as he faced you, letting his molten eyes meet yours with a sparkling light trapped in them. With a lopsided grin that sent your heart racing, he stepped forward, the afternoon sun trickling through the large windows splattering his skin with gold and bronze, making him really look like a Greek god. "Does that mean it's working?"
Yes.
Wait, the f*ck did I just—
"No!" you spluttered, all but choking on your lies, "No, Kim, it is not. And how many times have I told you to stop trying?"
Taehyung pouted, clearly not catching on to the way you panicked at your brief moment of ambivalence.
You coughed, breaking the intense eye contact Taehyung insisted on leveling you with. Lord, how were you even alive at this point? But Taehyung's pleading, imploring look didn't change, his eyes wide. You couldn't help but soften a little at his pouty expression, the irrational urge to run a thumb over his alluring, plump lips smacking you upside the head for a moment before you came to your senses.
"Yah, Tae," you finally sighed, nudging him gently in the shoulder, "come on, we both know all two would do is argue. It only makes logical sense—"
"But what if I promised I wouldn't," the demigod wheedled with conviction, puffing himself up in a way that reminded you of a pre-teen ready to prove himself. You frowned at him, determined to stay firm, opening your mouth to speak.
"We both know you would."
"Love, I promise."
His earnest expression made your chest warm, the flushed feeling drawing dusky patterns on your cheeks as you glanced down to hide them. God, he was impossible.
When you inhaled irritably under your breath, taking a step back from the demigod in front of you, you caught Taehyung frown. "Tae, look, I'm sorry, it's just..." you trailed off, dragging fingers through your hair. Taehyung's brow furrowed, stepping closer to you as his palpable concern dragged through the emotion link. But before he could say anything, you barreled on. "I just don't want any trouble here. I'm already really worried about Adra, you know that. It's not like her to call so suddenly."
At your faintly concerned frown, Taehyung's brief front of soft and sweet faltered and he let out a scoff, fixing you with an arched eyebrow paired with the curious combination of gentle eyes and a small smirk. "You worry too much," he murmured, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear and leaning in close enough for you to catch a whiff of his intoxicating scent of smoke and spice, "Relax, baby, your sphinx is fine. I'm sure nothing happened to her. Perhaps she simply wanted to see you— if I was in her position, I know I'd do much the same."
"Oh god," you muttered, smacking the demigod's chest irritably as Taehyung's playful flirting set in, "Taehyung, I told you to stop that—"
"I was trying to be reassuring!" he protested, but the mischievous slant of his eye said otherwise, "Stop hitting me, you unnecessarily violent female!"
"It's very necessary," you popped matter-of-factly, flicking his chest and pushing past him, throwing your hair over your shoulder, "with you it is, at least."
"It is not!" Taehyung laughed, having no trouble keeping stride with your walk to the door to Adra's office with those long-a*s legs of his. But even through his carefree chuckles... it was hard to pick out, but you thought his voice was coated in a strange, breathless sort of quality that made you think that he was mustering the courage to speak, flying through his words. "Baby..." he began, almost hesitant before he finally faced you, a shy smile skittering over his face as his eyes curved into sweet crescents, "baby, I can be what you need me to be now. I won't even look that the sphinx wrong!" Taehyung placed a hand over his chest as he dramatically pledged, making you bite back a smile. "Love, I would brave the depths of Tartarus for you. All you would have to do is ask."
You went still, glancing up at him, the weight of his words rippling through you like an unrestrained wildfire.
But no. No, no, no, he definitely didn't mean what you thought it meant. You just jumped to conclusions.
He. Was. Joking.
Idiot.
And also probably once again trying to seduce you into listening to him, which was very irritating because it actually seemed to be working. Damn him.
"Yeah, yeah, very romantic, Kim," you waved him off, snorting. With a frown, Taehyung hurriedly caught up to you again, furrowing his eyebrows as he walked backwards like the cocky sh*t he was, peering at you.
"Wasn't it?" he pouted, genuinely looking disappointed.
Wait, wha—
Your step faltered for only a moment as you tried to maintain your casual composure. "I—" you coughed, faintly flustered at the intense, curious stare Taehyung was trapping you with, "I mean, to some people— uh, sure, yeah, but—"
Taehyung cocked his head. "Not to you?" he mumbled.
You blinked.
Did Taehyung just... you felt a sliver of panic and some other emotion you couldn't name ripple through you as you stopped and stared at the near-nervous face of the demigod in front of you. Certainly not. Surely not.
You stared at Kim Taehyung for a moment, the power of communication leaving you as he stared back, watching, waiting.
"Tae..." you trailed off quietly, blinking one too many times in that one second you held his gaze, "Tae, I—"
Taehyung quickly reached out to grasp your hands, a small smile on his face encouraging you to go on, chocolate irises hopeful as he pulled you towards him. "Yeah?"
There was a heartbeat of expectant, thick silence as both of you waited for enough courage to thread into each other— and you weren't sure if you should have been glad or disappointed when a sharp, deliberate 'AHEM' from behind you absolutely shattered it.
It wasn't even a word. it was more like a syllable, a sound effect— and yet it was a very familiar sound effect. One that brought back memories of golden eyes and coco skin and way too many riddles being thrown at you at once.
Wait.
You weren't going to lie— your boss genuinely looked like she was trying not to laugh as you jerked away from Taehyung as if he was on fire, your hand snapping back so suddenly it cracked your knuckles as she'd announced her presence, revealing a bright-eyed Adra, in the flesh, looking completely fine except for the twitch of her fingers and the dark bags beneath her eyes.
You could hardly believe Taehyung had once again managed to distract you from what you'd been supposed to be focusing on, but, well, he had. And yet that didn't mar the was way you instantly sagged in relief when you took in the figure in front of you, standing in front of her now-open office doors with a decidedly amused look on her face, head to toe. The elegant slope of her shoulders was the same, the coco butter of her skin was the same, the arch of her eyebrow was more piercing than you remembered.
To the untrained eye, it would be impossible to see that something was off; and yes, to be fair, Adra still looked more elegant than you thought you could ever pull off— bright golden eyes set off by the ivory of her headband pushing back her mane of sleek, oiled ringlets and the tone of her shiny, cocoa skin, silk blouse hanging off her now-human figure and signature strand of pearls around her back.
But, well, you knew better. You could tell your boss hadn't been sleeping. At all. Her eyes were far too overly-bright and her usually-warm skin too dull too be supported by anything other than pitchers of coffee. Something was off. Maybe it was the fact that the whole running-the-museum thing by herself was getting to her, but it looked like there was something else, some sort of buried concern that was costing your elegant boss her sleep.
But regardless, what did you feel, right then, as you took in her appearance?
Guilt. Guilt. And... oh, would ya look at that! More guilt!
Taehyung shot you a concerned look as you frowned. Damn it, you really shouldn't have taken that much leverage on that break Adra had given you to get your life together. You knew the museum was severely understaffed and that Adra would be working way past her 9-5 shift without you, but did you take that into consideration amidst your own problems?
Curse or no curse, demigod or no demigod, the world did not revolve around you. Your friends had been worried sick about your distant attitude, and Adra had clearly been struggling without you around to help, but you'd been so caught up that you'd failed to see it.
Gah. You should have gotten it together earlier.
"Wow," Adra looked at you with wide eyes as she ushered you two into her office, breaking the silence with an arched brow in that familiar way that told you she was skeptically surprised about something. Her office was the same as you remembered it— neat, tidy, everything swept away in its proper place and carefully taken note of except for the pile of water bottles stacked in the corner in varying degrees of fullness. "Y/N! The insubordinate demigod actually told you. I was not expecting that."
Alright, maybe Taehyung was trying to stay chill as Adra had walked out, but you caught the spike of indignation ripple from him as he bristled, irritated. "Insubor— excuse me—"
You placed a hand on his arm and shot him a warning look, making him snap his mouth shut.
"You're excused," Adra hummed loftily at him before she turned to you, a smile breaking out over her face, "Gods above, thank goodness you decided to com— oh!"
You didn't let her finish before you wrapped your arms around her and pulled her into a hug. Sure, Adra was still your boss, but this was an exceptional occasion. Wasn't every day you got back from indefinite leave.
"I'm really sorry," was the first thing you blurted out when you pulled back, sheepishly rubbing the back of your neck, uncharacteristically nervous, "I'm really, really sorry. I should have come back by myself, I should have come back earlier, and I know I should have and I could have but I was just caught up with everything and—"
"Hey, wait a minute, slow down!" Adra laughed as she placed a dark hand on your shoulder, making you blink, puzzled, "I'm not asking you to come back, Y/N, I mean, unless you want to. But that wasn't the reason I called you here."
You blinked, eyebrows furrowing as you first stared at Adra, then glanced at Taehyung in bewilderment. The demigod shuffled a little closer to you, but he didn't look any more enlightened than you were. "But..."
"Sphinx, do not speak in riddles," Taehyung warned mildly even as you shot him another glare, and Adra snorted.
"I don't know whether to be amused or exasperated by that statement. Do you know what sphinxes do, son of Ares?"
"Welcome to my world," you muttered under your breath, making Taehyung pout in your general direction and dramatically place a hand over his heart in mock-offense when Adra wasn't looking.
"ANYWAY," the demigod reiterated after you rolled your eyes at him, focusing his intense gaze on Adra, who just raised an eyebrow in the face of his impassive look, "if you didn't call us here to readmit Y/N back into her place of work, then what, exactly, are we here for? Y/N was worried about you, you could have at least clarified."
You felt a little warmth bubble in your chest as Taehyung carefully placed a hand on the small of your back— lightly, very lightly, ready if you stepped away at any moment.
When you didn't (even though you probably should have, but your heart was a weak mess and needed help), Taehyung nearly beamed in victory and sidled closer.
Idiot. A cute idiot, but still an idiot.
Adra didn't miss the gesture either. You were fairly sure her eyebrows had flown off her face as she took in the sight of Taehyung protectively standing at your shoulder, and while you outwardly probably looked exasperated, you weren't making any moves to rio his arm off or something.
You'd known your boss for a little more than a year. You knew her weird riddle-throwing, her water bottle hoarding, and her freakishly neat nature like the back of your hand. You knew she preferred wearing elegant silk blouses to oh-so-inferior linen (her words, not yours), that she rarely ever showed much emotion besides sleepiness or crankiness or indifference, and that she always wore at least some gold on her, like that one sassy rich aunt at the family gatherings.
Adra had this aura about her. She was kind of judgmental but she always kept her cool; emotion was not something usually seen on your boss's face.
But when Taehyung had tipped his chin up and scoffed when she'd first made her appearance, recovering from the sight of her faster than you did, frankly, and deciding not to move his face from yours a single inch as she watched, you'd gotten the distinct impression she was trying not to laugh. Or trying not to express her shock. She wasn't exactly a stranger to your very extreme way of dealing with the male gender— aside from the few male friends you had, it was either sleep with multiple of them to an unhealthy extent or avoid them altogether... also to an unhealthy extent.
She'd said it before and she would probably say it again— your coping methods were extremely peculiar, but if they worked for you, she was happy.
Her face, at the moment, once again looked pretty much like she was trying not to show her amusement along with a healthy dose of I-called-it.
"I... apologize for having worried you," Adra coughed, hiding her pointed gaze on you two (not very well, you might add) by doing so into her fist. "But as you can see, I'm perfectly fine."
You paused, taking in Adra's tired eyes and debating about yelling 'THAT'S F*CKING CAP' at the top of your lungs.
You decided against it for now.
For now.
"Well... if nothing's wrong, according to you..." the skepticism in your voice didn't go unnoticed by Adra, who shot you a pointed glare, "then why are we here? Are you sure you're alright?"
"While this is very flattering, for the last time, I assure you, I am fine," Adra reiterated dryly. She snorted as you made a face at her, opening her mouth as if to retort again before something clearly hit her. It only took half a second before her face sobered, worry creases appearing around her eyes as she glanced at the two of you.
"And as for why you're here... well..." Adra trailed off for a moment before she shot you a half-hearted smile, composing herself, "First off... I wanted to check up on you. The last thing I need is to explain to all the monsters I've been trying to shoo away from your souls after you picked up that accursed sword is if you killed each other. What a disaster that would be."
You stared hard at Adra for half a second before you and Taehyung shared a look that drove your brief bout of suspicion away and instead made you both burst out in chuckles.
"Well, I'm sure Y/N definitely came close a couple times," Taehyung laughed huskily as you poked him in the side, making his eyes crinkle up, wrapping his arms around your waist, "but, well, we haven't gotten to that point yet."
"Yeah," you raised an eyebrow at the demigod now holding you against him tightly, completely unamused as your voice dripped sarcasm, "sure."
Adra coughed back a laugh, face lightening for a moment as she caught Taehyung's glance in your direction— the small laugh bubbling in his throat and the playful tug of your body against his only a shy representation of how he looked at you: as if you'd personally hung all the stars in the sky for him. "I'm not sure whether I'm surprised or if I was expecting it the whole time, but congrats, lovebirds. By Aphrodite herself, you two are disgusting."
You stared at Adra for a minute or two while Taehyung took in your scandalized face and burst into deep, husky laughter.
"Mmm, pretty one, hear that?" he drawled, leaning down to purr in your ear and pushing his bright red hair back with with a winning smirk, "No use fighting it anymore if the world can already see it, right?"
"Oh, do shut up," you groaned, flicking him in the nose with your nail, but that only seemed to incense the son of Ares's amusement.
The kind of kinks this dude had, you didn't even want to know.
You glanced back at Adra, who was still watching you with a faint smile pulling at the usually-stern set of her lips. But you didn't exactly understand why her gaze on you turned worried after a minute, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth to chew nervously on it as she paced imperceptibly. If you didn't know her so well, you wouldn't have even noticed the small crack in her calm demeanor. But, well, you did.
"Hey, Adra?" you called, a small sliver of trepidation winding through you as the gears roolled in your mind, trying to add things up. Sure, Adra said she wanted to check on you... but that didn't explain her harried appearance, her clear lack of sleep, or the fact she'd actually sounded worried while talking to Kim Taehyung, someone you'd think she'd be a little guarded around, considering he'd tried to kill her before.
You let out a long breath as she met your gaze. "I mean, not that I'm not glad to see you again, but, um... is there... is there any other reason you called us here?"
Like, for instance, if you need to tell us of some other Greek-mythology-related disaster out there about to make my life harder? Maybe?
You prayed you were wrong, but Adra sighed, and Taehyung let out a quiet groan, clearly on the same train of thought as you.
"Goddamn it," you muttered under your breath.
Adra shot you a faintly annoyed look with those feline, piercing gold eyes. "Hey, I'm fairly sure you'd want to know this, you ungrateful brat, don't be rude here."
"Well—" you huffed, because yeah, no matter how much harder this was going to make your life, your motto was that you were better off knowing and pissed than ignorant and in stupid bliss. And yeah, that rhymed, look, you were so clever! "Well, fine, but you could have at least cut to the chase instead of making me all worried with that phone call, making me annoyed with that dumb reason why you called, and then making me panic all over again because clearly there's something else."
"I told the sphinx to stop talking in riddles!" Taehyung sing-songed smugly behind you, making Adra growl at him.
"Keep it up, Ares spawn, and I'll throw you a real riddle to see you fail so I can rip you to shreds without guilt."
Taehyung snorted, and you instantly knew that things were going to go downhill unless you said something.
This was why you wanted to leave Taehyung outside.
Problematic brat.
You cleared your throat, fixing your boss with an unamused look you learned from her, and she turned to face you after scanning your expression with a sigh.
"And— okay, look, I apologize for making you concerned and dragging it out, if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't exactly cut to the chase either. There's really no easy way to tell you this, Y/N."
If you weren't already feeling a little trepidation as to what exactly was Adra's really reason to bringing to you here, well, now you were.
"Try me," you offered, sounding more confident than you felt.
There was a moment of silence before Adra threw her hands in the air and caved. "Okay, fine," your boss huffed, running her hands over her face in clear agitation as soon as you called her out, not bothering to hide it anymore, "fine. Fine! I didn't just call you here because I wanted to check on you. Well, actually, that was part of it, but... something happened a few nights ago. And I need to tell you about it, because... huh, well, I don't want you to die, Y/N, I've come to like you."
"You don't want me to what?" you spluttered, rearing back in instant shock, but Adra kept talking.
"Son of Ares, your two COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL brothers have taken it a little too far," Adra swung a finger to point at Taehyung, ignoring how his eyes had already turned comically wide at her previous statement. Adra looked at the two of you glaring at here and sassily snorted. "Look, I said there was no easy way to tell you this, but here goes."
You involuntarily held your breath.
"Phobos and Deimos have officially placed a warrant for both of your heads."
You promptly choked.
A/N: Ahaha... haha... ha
*nervous laughter*
So... I understand if a lot of you are very frustrated with me. I, for one, would be frustrated with myself. Because, you know, what kind of dumbass author DISSAPEARS, WITHOUT A TRACE, WHILE SHE HAS A BOOK IN PROGRESS, ON A CLIFFHANGER... for FOUR MONTHS.
FOUR MONTHS.
The only explanation I can come up with at this moment is that I am extremely bad at 1) getting out of writer's block, 2) getting over insecurity, and 3) managing my time. I can't tell you how many drafts of this same exact chapter I have saved at the moment, and I'm not even sure I made the right choice in publishing this one. Well, reasonably sure, but that's not the point.
Point is, I'm an idiot.
And school has been... oof. I mean, I turned 15 around 10 days ago, so happy belated birthday to me, but I'm already out here worrying my ass off about college admissions and stuff because I'm one of the tALeNtEd kids and all adulting worries somehow make their way to me prematurely. So yeah, I'm out here trying to pass my AP class in school while taking 2 more outside of school and also trying to up my tennis game after a mini-depression slump I had with that and then (and thankfully I'm kind of out of this) the unhealthy 'let's lose a lot of weight really fast!' train I'd hopped onto and effectively almost ruined my whole life with.
...sigh.
Again, I'm really sorry for just leaving you all. I know some people say that a break from the WP community is what they really need sometimes, but I missed you guys a lot. I missed keeping up with books and participating in awards and definitely reading your comments on my books. Those give me LIFE, I swear to god.
Actually, today I had a whole revelation moment that told me exactly how I wanted this book to go, and so I'm excited for that! I hope that I can be consistent with it and stay alive long enough to carry it out!
Last but not least, to end my extremely long apology letter, to all my fellow muslims out there: Ramadan Mubarak! May this one be full of blessings for all of you and may it be healing and beautiful throughout!
Hope you enjoyed the update! Love you!
—Mare <3