❁ CHAPTER 3 ❁
UNDRESS
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"Hey, noona, watch!"
You turned just in time to see Jungkook running full speed at the swimming pool, launching himself at it with an almighty splash as he forward flipped into the blue water.
Namjoon rolled his eyes as Jungkook surfaced in the water, a satisifed bunny grin on his face as one tattoed arm came up to swipe raven hair from his eyes.
"Sometimes I think that boy acts mentally five," he mused, though you could see the affection that Namjoon had for your youngest friend.
"That's because he is mentally five," Yoongi corrected him, pulling his black cap down over his eyes a little further and scowling. Yoongi looked out of place here, and you knew he was out of his comfort zone at a pool party - but he had come to support Jungkook. The pair of them had been inseparable since the first day they'd met in a film studies lecture.
The way Jungkook told it, he'd asked for a pen from Yoongi and the rest was history. The way Yoongi told it, Jungkook had taken the pen, drummed it against the desk for the entire lecture until Yoongi had had to yank it off him, and then Jungkook had pouted his puppy-dog eyes at him until he relented and gave it back. And then the rest was history.
Either way, no one was able to deny the connection between your two friends. You grinned now as Yoongi left you and Namjoon, going to pull his overexcited boyfriend out of the pool.
It was a few days into your trip to Thailand. So far, you'd slept off the jetlag, and then pretty much been drinking ever since. Thankfully, the pool party today was being held at the hotel you and all the boys were staying in, and so there was no need to go anywhere except a few floors down from your rooms.
Namjoon and you were stood to the side of the crowded pool, heads nodding to the pulsing music as you all sipped at cups of fruit punch in the blazing sun. You shifted a little, wishing you had brought a more comfortable and less revealing bikini as you tutted in frustration.
"This damn thing won't sit straight," you muttered to Namjoon, using his tall frame to hide yourself as you pulled at the strap of your top. Though he was still young, he was already starting to fill out nicely, well over six foot tall and already easily able to carry you in one hand. It made him a great post to hide behind while you fixed your bikini.
"Does it matter? You look fine," he was saying now, sipping his fruit punch.
"Yah," you slapped his chest lightly as you finished adjusting your top. "I'm out here trying not to flash a nip, and you tell me I look fine?"
Namjoon looked down at you, meeting your eye. Then his eyes slid down further, raking over the bikini you were wearing in one very, very quick movement.
"You look hot," he said, in a much lower, deeper voice. "Really fucking hot. Happy?"
When he finished his sentence, you could not respond. You were too caught up trying to analyse the loaded, unreadable look in his eyes, one you had never seen before on Namjoon.
Or the bolt of electricity that shot down your spine when he had looked at you like that, making you warm all over.
What the hell was he playing at? He looked at other girls like this. Not you. He never flirted with you.
You opened your mouth to say something you hoped would be causal and witty, but before you had a chance, someone was pressing a light palm against your back.
"Hey," came the deep, ringing tone that you would recognise anywhere. You turned to find Taehyung, in nothing but his swim shorts and a pair of aviators, his dark brown hair damp and tousled. Your heart did a tiny flip.
"Hi," you blushed, clutching your cup harder. Even in the few short days you'll be in Thailand, his skin had turned a gorgeous walnut brown, and it took all of your willpower not to think about licking it right now.
Namjoon clicked his tongue as you gazed at Taehyung, and he gazed back, before finally he turned on his heel. "I'm going to find Jin and Jimin," he stated, and then he was gone.
Taehyung only now seemed to snap out of it and turn to watch Namjoon go, a knowing smirk on his face.
"I probably wouldn't go searching for those two," Taehyung admitted with a sigh. "God knows what the pair of them are up to in a dark room somewhere."
Your eyes went wide. "Huh? Jimin and... and Jin?"
It seemed highly unlikely - they were so different, after all - but Taehyung was smiling and nodding.
"Damn," you whispered, glancing around now and spotting Yoongi and Jungkook, arms around each other at the bar. "Are all of my friends just gay for each other?"
"Well, no," Taehyung's boxy grin grew even wider, looking down at the floor before his amber eyes found yours, gazing up through long lashes. "I'm not."
"Oh," was all you could say softly, though you knew a smile was growing on your face. "Well, that's... good."
Taehyung simply smiled back at your pathetic response. He looked even more knowing than ever.
It had been strange, interacting with him for the last few days. He had sat with you on the plane, and you'd chatted casually; you found out that he was going to pursue acting after university too, hoping to land a role in a K-drama. But it was hard to focus on his words when he kept staring at you like that.
It was like something had changed all of a sudden since he greeted you in the airport; like he was finally seeing you in a different light for the first time.
You had always worried that, as one of the few girls in your friendship group, Taehyung merely saw you as an easy lay. But glancing around the pool party now, you could spot a variety of women, all beautiful, and all trying to steal surreptitious glances of Taehyung when they thought he wasn't looking.
He could have his pick of any of them - and, it seemed (you hoped) - he wanted you.
Something about this new power sent a tingling sensation right down your spine. You couldn't help thinking though, that part of that was to do with how Namjoon had spoken to you earlier.
"C'mon," Taehyung was saying now, slipping a warm palm into yours and pulling you away from the poolside. "Your drink's finished, I'll get you another one."
One more drink turned into three more drinks for both of you, and before you knew it Taehyung was pulling you into the mass of bodies to the side of the pool, dancing and swaying to the pulsing music. You settled into his waiting embrace happily, feeling very much like a woman triumphant, having snared your biggest crush at last.
Taehyung's large hands went to your waist, energy zapping inside you. It was thrilling and terrifying all at once. The bodies began to blur around you, and you reached for Taehyung's shoulders, steadying yourself there. He grinned at this, sliding your hands further up to link around his neck.
Before you could so much as gain your bearings, his mouth was on yours.
He tasted like tropical fruit and warmth, and you let out a soft sigh at it, the alcohol and the lust pumping through your veins. You weren't sure if you should be doing this while you were so tipsy - you weren't blackout drunk, but you definitely weren't sober - but then one of Taehuyung's hands was cupping your cheek, pulling you back in, and you forgot everything except how unbelievable he felt against you.
The world spun, the kiss making you dizzy as Taehyung slipped his hand into yours, a wry grin on his face when he pulled away and buried his lips into your neck.
"Let's go upstairs," he murmured into your ear, his breath warm and sweet, just as tipsy as you were, as he pulled you along the poolside back up to the hotel, and you could think of nothing else to do but to follow him.
This is happening, you had to repeat to yourself, hardly able to believe it. Finally, this is happening.
The last thing you saw at the party was Namjoon, gazing at you with an unreadable expression across the pool, before you forgot about everything except Taehyung and his warm, magical mouth.
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