Author's POV:
"The latter one sounds more logical." You said and rolled your eyes. He smirked harder and looked at his drink, sipping another one and making your eyebrows cease together.
"Stop." You said. He didn't bother and kept the drink down.
"So, Taehyung..." Tom spoke as he raised a brow at him.
"Did you work on the plan? You were supposed to kidnap his daughter... weren't you? Did Lee Taereul say anything yet?" Tom asked. You frowned a little but pretended not to hear them. Taehyung looked at him before looking at you. It took him no second to understand you were actually listening to them. Your lips quivering, your throat swallowing lumps and your ears turning red.
He shook his head at Tom who frowned.
"Let's talk about this later." You looked at Taehyung with a half-glare and half-frown. He glanced at you and was about to take his liquor glass but stopped midway, focusing on Tom again. You didn't say anything, you just stared at him.
"You have nothing to do with that. Don't be intrigued." He said. You rolled your eyes and said, "What do you mean?"
He stared right into your eyes before looking away even before you could notice him properly. You just looked away, an uneasy feeling building up inside of you.
—Time skip
"Let's go dance for a while. The business meeting is almost over." Tom spoke. All these 30 minutes, they were talking about random gold mines and weird stuff like— money and girls and murder.
You weren't even interested but their stories creeped you out. And every time you looked at Taehyung in disgust and disbelief he said, "It's them, not me. Don't give me that look."
He didn't even discuss much with them, he only talked to Tom a few times and he especially ignored the guy named Joel as if he had some serious internal hatred going on with him.
Sort of what you did with him, but in a more mature way, of course.
You suddenly heard Dua Lipa's 'One Kiss' playing. You couldn't help but dance your feet to it. Taehyung noticed and looked at you before looking away. You didn't realize it and kept jamming to that song with yourself.
"Let's go, get a dance." Taehyung said as Tom said, "Exactly!"
Soon, you all were in the corner of the bar. You saw how everyone else was dancing. You wanted to dance too, but it was kind of uncomfortable. If you could get drunk and just recklessly dance the night away like them, forgetting you were kidnapped by a mafia for a week now. You sighed, it came out weak and sadder than what you would've expected.
Taehyung was a few feet away from you, talking to Tom. They seemed to be in a serious discussion.
"Lee Taereul... what does he have to do with uncle?" You frowned. You were so curious but you had no idea about it. Sighing, you stood there, tapping your feet. But suddenly, you felt a figure standing in front of you. You looked up to see Joel, with a mischievous smile. Oh, you disliked him already. He was eyeing you the entire time you sat beside Taehyung and he indeed gave you 'bad' vibes.
"Seems like you're alone. Wanna dance maybe?" He asked. His smile wasn't quite friendly. You stared at him as he waited for a moment before taking a step closer.
"You're like... really gorgeous." He was about to keep his hand on your shoulder when you saw his hand being pushed away.
"She's gorgeous and she's mine." A deep voice spoke making your stomach turn around.
You turned your head to see Taehyung standing there. He looked at Joel with an icy look. It was even scarier than the one he often gave you. You could feel your legs weakening in fear just by that look. He scooted you towards him, putting his hand around your shoulder.
Just as his hands made contact with your bare skin, you felt an electric shock on your skin. Your entire body was electrified. Shit— what was that?
"And the only person she'd like to dance with is me," Taehyung said.
You looked at him, more like— stared at him with wide eyes and parted lips. He seemed so intimidating at that moment.
"Well, you're the one who left this pretty girl alone so I just wanted to give her some company!" Joel said, fake-smiling.
"She's never alone, she's with me." Taehyung clarified, a muscle jumping on his jaw.
He seemed mad, irritated? Angry. Yeah, he seemed angry.
Joel just laughed it off and walked away.
"What the f*ck was that?!" You asked, trying to sound okay and strong but it came out breathless and weak, shaky. He just looked at you properly before leaning closer to your ear as he whispered, "He'd never take you to dance, sweetheart. He'd take you straight to the second floor where..."
He didn't finish his sentence as he felt your shoulders tense.
"But I'm here. You're safe." He said. You swallowed the lump in your throat.
He took off his coat and put it on your shoulder making you awkward.
"W-What are you-"
"Stop. I told you not to buy this dress. Now you're the one uncomfortable."
"You never told me it was this cheap party!"
"I never told you it would be an elegant party with gentlemen either."
"You gangsters are... horrible."
You said. No, you sort of couldn't include him. As horrible as he was— you realized that he wasn't like the other ones in the bar. He was a gentleman in that sense. Though he always acted unfriendly to you and made you feel small at times, he wasn't bad in that sense. He never tried to touch or harass you. Heck, he never looked at you in a dirty way.
He didn't say anything, he just looked at you. An unknown emotion in his eyes. He leaned closer to your face, noticing something on your face. You frowned, hard. You were glaring at him with those stubborn and so not-calm azure eyes. He just stared at you, leaning a little closer— leaving a few inches of gap between your faces.
You wanted to yell at him to move away but no, your throat wasn't working because you were hooked in his eyes. You were examining his eyes. Those eyes which you hated. They weren't black actually. They were dark brown.
It had been a week since you had known him but you never noticed that his eyes were dark brown. In fact, it was a very dark brown which made it hard to distinguish but in this dim light, as he was so unnecessarily close to you, you could see the true colour of his eyes.
"You're... really a fathead." He whispered, his hot breath hitting your lips making a shiver run down your spine. Your palms were sweating and an uneasy feeling was arising in your stomach.
"You're a b*stard." You said. He smirked slightly and tilted his head saying, "Sure, sweetheart."
He backed away as you looked away. His coat was making your shoulders and back feel warm. As much as you despised him and anything he wore or owned, or his scent or his voice or anything else which was a part of him— you hated to admit that this very little action of his— the coat that he put on you made you feel something. It was annoyance and irritation, anger and hatred which you already had but something else added to them.
There was a slight tint of emotion you couldn't explain. You couldn't admit it. But deep down, you knew it was there. The sense of security, the sense of being safe and sound, the sense of being guarded— that was what you felt but no, you wouldn't admit it. You buried it down, deep inside your heart. No way would you admit and there was no need to. If anything, the only thing you could ever admit would be your pure hatred for him.
"We're going home. We're done with what we were here for."
"And what is that?"
"Nothing you need to be worried about."
"You're never telling me a thing."
"You don't need to know."
"B*stard."
"As if you have anything else to say."
You hated it. You hated every time he knew what to say to piss you off. To make you feel like he was right and in no way was he losing. He always had a way of knowing how to tackle you or maybe not even pay attention to your hatred for him. It always made you feel like the dumbass. Because he didn't even seem to be bothered.
—Time skip
"Azure and Jo are coming tomorrow."
"Gosh, finally."
"Did you hate these 2 days that much?"
"Anything with you? Yes, I hate it more than anything."
"Sure."
You scoffed and sat on the bed, turning off the lights. Time to sleep and chase away everything that happened today. You were internally praying you'd forget everything that happened today and tonight for good.
"Don't mind those men you saw today. You won't see them ever again."
"Yeah, I'll be out of the hellhole in 2 months and 20 days anyway."
He looked at you, not saying anything. He just blankly looked at you, laying down. You looked at him from the other bed before looking away.
"Yeah."
"You better remember that there is someone who'll hate you so much and who wishes your not-so-peaceful death and you deserve it. For kidnapping me. I hope these 3 months go hellish for you."
You didn't know why you said it. You looked at him to see him nodding. No sarcasm?
You were a little bothered now. Why was he playing this card again? This saint card, you hated it.
"I won't, hopefully." There we go. His voice was laced with mockery.
"You won't, I promise."
"Better keep that promise because it's the first time someone's promised me something."
It sounded sad. His voice was mocking for sure or that's what you believed— but the sentence itself sounded sad.
"Don't try to manipulate me with those lines. Someone like you would have anything but a sad life." You said and turned around. You sounded harsh, for a moment, guilt arose in you. But you buried it down and gulped, closing your eyes. You heard a soft and nearly inaudible sigh but shrugged it off.
And some moments passed by in silence and another few minutes and some more... until half an hour passed by. But you couldn't sleep. You were feeling uneasy. He was definitely asleep but you felt uneasy. As much as you hated him, you never liked being mean to harsh to anyone. As much as you convinced yourself he deserved it but— you didn't. You didn't deserve to be this harsh person even if he deserved to be told those harsh lines.
You sighed and got out of the bed. Standing near his bed, you stared at him for a moment. He didn't move at all.
"I hate to admit but I'm sorry for saying that mean sentence. Anyone's life can be sad actually. But I'm not actually sorry. Don't be mean to me later and take revenge for this line."
You said, in the lowest voice possible and peeked again, making sure he didn't hear. Sighing in relief, you got up on your bed and closed your eyes. He didn't hear but you felt better, at least you weren't some harsh brat now. You did apologize.
You thought you were sleeping but little did you know that someone's lips in the room twitched hearing you.