"open the door, open the damn door!" taehyung's hand pounds on the apartment door until seokjin pulls him back—afraid that he'd break the damned thing down.
still, it took several more hard swings for namjoon to appear, hair damp from a shower but a scowl on his face.
"Ish what is it? can't you see I'm in mourning?" namjoon clutches his heart through the black satin pajamas he wore, sighing as if trying to collect himself from a loss.
"I could've blessed someone by becoming their husband today, but they rejected me and now I'm in mourning for their loss,"
eventually he huffs and pops a chocolate into his mouth, stretching out the box to seokjin.
"no? fine, can't say I wasn't hospitable."
"she did nothing to you," seokjin tightened his jaw, he hated how casual his old colleague was being about something so painful.
"who? the chocolate lady? I mean yeah I guess I was a little harsh on her for giving me the ones with the orange creme inside but I wouldn't say that she's exactly innocent, especially once you see those prices."
"I don't care about your candy, after everything we've been through I thought I knew you better than this, you never just hurt people."
there was a noticeable quiet between the two before namjoon taps the top of his head as if a truth had come to him. "oh...seokjin? I almost didn't recognize you there for a second. Ish it's been so long since I stepped foot in that place..maybe I should consider working there again."
"quit avoiding the topic. you ruined someone's wedding just because you're that petty?" seokjin shoves his hands into his coat, squinting his eyes.
namjoon rubs his temple, closing his eyes and breathing until taehyung could see the cold breath in the air.
"look I know it seems like I'm the bad guy in this situation but I'm trying to help her and you're all making this very difficult for me."
pausing to chew on his sweets, he continues after a moment.
"rita has always lived in her own little space, she gets overly confident and forgets what the real world is like. I'm trying to help by making her realize that she can't be sensitive over every little thing someone does to her."
taehyung's movements were sharp, messy and angry. he didn't know how to sit still when his heart was beating so fast. "like breaking off an engagement for a date with her friend? don't play that bullshit with me, you could teach her to take care of herself without breaking her heart."
"says the man the lies to her everyday about loving her because you rather have her be ignorant and happy." namjoon's eyes were slothful in the way he looks taehyung up and down. he could tell he was a younger boyfriend, a more naive and in love one at that.
"yeah you're right—we rather see rita happy and know that we're hiding the reality of the world from her if it means that she doesn't get her heart stomped on," seokjin cut in, twirling his fingers in the neck of namjoon's silk.
"I promised myself that I was never going to let another person feel so useless that they end up falling apart and thinking that they're unloved beca—"
a light illuminates the dark figures standing out in the night air. as they turn to see who had parked in front of the house, the car door opens and you step out.
"taehyung? seokjin!" you clutch your heart, sighing. you thought you were going to witness bloody murder first hand. "don't scare me like that."
"just in time puddin cup, we were just witnessing your boyfriend admit how much he doesn't love you," namjoon's lips pull apart in a smile, pointing towards seokjin and popping another bitter sweet truffle in his mouth.
"you're just such a liar aren't you? all you know how to do is fill the air with filth." taehyung grunts, watching as seokjin retreats to touch your shoulders, asking you to calm down and telling you that they weren't going to kill anyone, but didn't like that you didn't stay home.
"namjoon really has a terrible mouth that I'd like you to not be around to endulge in," jin mumbles in your ear. he didn't need anymore damage to you, he needed you to recover.
"It's the truth, I mean come on. I know that you're smarter than to think that six guys loved you at the same time, especially when a girl like gyuni is literally gracing them with her presence every day. the reality is that you're a paycheck rita, they get paid by the sob story with you. "
"shut up," taehyung snaps, causing namjoon to look up quickly, slightly surprised by his firmness.
you look up, shaking your head and scoffing.
"I left them and they came to me on their own...this had nothing to do with me paying them."
you knew what he was doing, he was holding your attention. he didn't want you to turn and walk away from him like seokjin wanted, he wanted to show everyone just how much power he has over you.
the problem was that it was working.
after hearing your voice, namjoon couldn't help but step down from the safety of his porch despite the opposing faces around him. he wanted to stand close to you, your voice was strong but he knew that your face always held your feelings..and he wanted to see just how troubled you were by his words.
"well ofcourse they did. why would they leave free money laying around? how do you think free trials work? they get you hooked on something and then they pull back, that way you become desperate enough to run back to them with your wallet open wide once you realize just how much you need that product."
namjoon started to reach out to you as jin held your shoulders. he had tried to make you go back to the car but you were already caught in namjoon's web of words.
"remind me please, exactly how long did it take for you to come running back to them after you left again?" he raises an eyebrow as your gaze drops.
"dont touch her," taehyung's voice raises, stepping in front of you and seokjin, he eyes sharp on namjoon.
the other three men had stepped out of the car at this point, watching namjoon as he spoke.
the only one not present was yoongi, as he offered to stay home with gyuni in case taehyung and jin had come back.
"I'm telling you this because I don't want people to keep using you because you're so loving," namjoon bites his lip, eyeing taehyung a moment— pondering on the murderous glare that he gave him before choosing to ignore the warnings and reaching to brush the back of his finger against your cheek.
"chocolate? I'm sure you'd need them more than me since these guys won't be much use anym—"
namjoon choked on his breath, the air knocked out of his throat as a weight pressed agains his chest, two hands finding their balance on the hem of his shirt–pushing him into the ground, his chocolates spilling over the ground.
"I told you not to touch her, don't you ever touch her again!" taehyung had caused so much alarm that jimin grabbed the back of his shirt, afraid that he was going to give namjoon more than just a shove.
taehyung was now literally being held back by the sleeves of his shirt, jimin holding his hand to the younger's chest, jungkook just doing his best to keep him from getting loose again and landing another blow.
you weren't expecting it to hurt as much as it did to watch taehyung drop his head, sweat dripping off the slope of his nose and tears skimming his cheeks as he occasionally used his energy to try and fight himself free from the others.
his rage slowly turned to sobs."how could you do that to her? why did you break up with her if you care about her so much? tell me now! she didn't deserve it, you never deserved her. just let her be happy..."
namjoon coughed, rubbing his throat and huffing from his place on the ground, slowly trying to bring himself up. "sometimes you catch a good fish..but you throw it back, hungry for something bigger."
taehyung's eyes widen, the sniffling stopped, the dead silence agonizingly loud. he then lifts his head and you could see the misery in his wet eyes."you're dead."
he pushed himself out of jungkook's hold.
"taehyung stop!" you push yourself away from seokjin and stood between him and namjoon, mirroring a wall that was built to protect those behind it.
carefully your wrapped our arms around tae's waist, burying your face in his linen, feeling the contractions of his abdomen as he catches his breath. and though he instinctively held you against him, you could still feel his eyes on the man who caused you so much pain.
"you don't deserve even the first minute you knew rita. you don't deserve to have happiness when you keep trying to destroy something so innocent. so the moment she let's go I'm going to kill you. I'll rip you up until I can't tell what's what, until there's not a fragment left that can hurt her."
namjoon opened his mouth, but your voice entered the air first.
"then I won't let you go," you mumble just loud enough for both men to hear. and so you stood for who knows how long, holding taehyung until his gaze had softened and he drops his eyes down to you.
"why...are you being like this?"
"because as much as it hurts, I love you too much to let you meet him on his level. you're better than namjoon and you're better than me."
"you're perfect.."
"no I'm really not. If i wasn't holding your right now I would've killed him, and I would've gladly been as bad as he is."