The promise had been made and Taehyung was growing excited for the moment. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted it.
He was aware that the growing excitement for the activity was more than what he was stating it was to be. He knew himself well enough that the excitement in him, for a little pleasure, was rooted deeper.
To be safe though, he was going to stay within line. He was not going to pass the line that had been drawn years ago. He did not even know if he wanted to even read between the lines.
And he assumed that it was also the same for her.
➰➰➰
Taehyung could not take his eyes off her. And even though he knew that she thought that he was doing it in order to annoy her, he wasn't.
He just could not take his eyes off her.
"Why are you staring at me?" Mia finally asked Taehyung when she couldn't take the heated gaze from him. Coupled with his lovely vein that popped as he held his head on his palm, Mia was slightly melting and she didn't like the feeling of melting for the male.
"I'm not." He looked away but his eyes could not stay away for long. It always returned back to her.
"Seriously...what?" Mia urged as her eyes stared at the veins in his arms and neck. She was not drooling and she didn't want Taehyung to know she liked them—just the veins, of course—but Taehyung had been too preoccupied with his own staring that he had not noticed her admiration.
"Nothing. It really isn't." He was not sure why he was being like this but he was.
"I'm going home." Mia stood up from where she sat on the dining table and got up and while watching her feet, since her socks were making it slippery to walk on the floor, walked away from the boys.
Taehyung sighed and went back to his phone aimlessly. There was nothing to look at and he wasn't quite sure what to look at anymore. He was extremely bored now, his mind antsy and eager to have his object of admiration return.
He did though feel prickly as if there were eyes on him and when he lifted his eyes he noticed that there were five men in front of him, either grinning or annoyingly curiously looking at him. All nine eyes were zoned on him, one had an eye closed.
"What?" Taehyung rolled his eyes at them as he resettled on the lounge chair that had been facing the dining room.
None of them said anything. They just ogled and it was galling.
"Seriously what?" Taehyung gritted as his mood got fouler and fouler.
"See I told you..." Jimin whistled out.
"Guess I owe you thirty." Jin groaned out as Jimin snickered.
"What now?" Taehyung was annoyed, that was obvious, but lately his mood had been rather swell.
And the other noticed.
"You know, I never thought you would be the show-it-all type." Jin replied as he watched the sarcastic grin that was anger and happiness mixed together.
"I agree." Namjoon nodded as he patted Taehyung on the shoulder.
Now Taehyung was truly annoyed.
"What do you all want?" They backed up from his glares but chuckled at the oblivious male.
"You're really obvious Taehyung. When you like someone, it's on your face." Yoongi sighed as he laid on the sofa. He needed a nap. He deserved a nap. He closed both his eyes.
"What?" Taehyung made a face but Yoongi didn't respond back.
"When you're in love, Taehyung...you're not very good at hiding it." Namjoon teased, his fingers making little hearts.
"You're all tripping. I'm leaving." He stood up as he looked at all of them with an incredulous look. "I'm not in love with anyone. I don't have a heart, remember."
"That's because you're not in love with just anyone." Jin teased as he somehow threw heart shaped paper in the air at Taehyung. When he had prepare that? No one knew.
"You're in love with Mia." Jimin called out before Taehyung walked completely out be door. The rest watched as well, as they gossiped.
"Hey...where is Jungkook?" Namjoon asked since it had been some time since he had seen the younger man. "I haven't seen him since..."
"Something to do with the trouble back home..." Yoongi explained.
They all nodded rather quietly, their mood turned slightly solemn. It was only Jimin who had not heard Yoongi's words. He had been too preoccupied.
On Jimin's part, he was happy. He had been able to insert a thought into Taehyung's head. It was all true though and in his defense, Taehyung needed a push because Taehyung could be dense. And what was worse was that, Mia was also dense.
So he had whipped up a plan and asked a certain partner in crime to help give the love birds a push because they both wanted to see a happy ending for both of them with the both of them.
➰➰➰
"Why am I here?"
Mia had come out of the Lodge to only have been taken away by some dudes in sunglasses, but when she came to the car, it had been someone she knew, or had met before and with the girl so bubbly, she had only complied easily.
"Silly Mia, you're here to girl talk." Layla giggled as she snuggled into Mia's side. Mia really was soft and the woman was glued to her now. "I'm so glad you were able to come."
Mia blinked as they watched a movie, but she could not help her eyes that continued to look at the clock. Layla was a sweet girl. She was nice and despite what she seemed like, Layla was down to earth and not at all snobby. She was clingy but not pretentious.
That did not mean that Mia was completely comfortable with the female clinging to her side and snuggling her as if she was large teddy bear.
"I have to go home. The last train."
"Shush. You're not going home." Mia blinked and Layla giggled. "It would not be a sleepover if you went home. And it's much too late for you to go."
"When did I agree to this?"
"Now...?" Layla knew it was sudden but she really wanted a sleepover. "Anyway, do you want lasagna or chicken tikka masala for dinner?" Seeing Mia's eyes, Layla knew that she had her interested. "Please stay."
"Fine," grumbling, Mia agreed.
It was hard to refuse Layla. And Layla knew it.
➰➰➰
"I don't love him. I don't even like him." Mia laid next to Layla and snuggled closer to her as the alcohol continued to keep her giddy.
Mia really liked Layla. She was real and she appreciated that.
Layla knew Mia was telling the truth, but she also knew that she was also in big denial. Mia knew that she didn't love Taehyung, but that was—in Layla's opinion—because she was stubborn, but so was Taehyung. Layla wanted to them to be honest with each other for once. It was only going to make things more difficult for them if they kept lying to themselves.
Unknown to Taehyung, Layla had been in discussion about him and Mia with another person. He had been more than happy to assist in her plan to be their fairy godmother and vamp up their love life with each other.
To Layla, the two were a perfect match in heaven. There was something about Mia that made Taheyung human. And it was high time for Taehyung to return from being a beast.
"But you think about him all the time," but even Layla was having a hard time nailing the idea into the dense female's head.
"That's because I am stuck with him all the time." Mia seemed to have a comeback for everything. And Layla liked that but not now.
"You stare at his face, with a love struck grin, by the way."
"No," Mia denied. There was zero confidence in her voice.
Layla reprimanded her.
"I will admit that he has a very attractive face." Mia grumbled out. Taehyung did have a very handsome face, Mia knew that. She had known that when she had first seen him at Jenny's insistence. "I've known he had a handsome face since I saw first saw him."
That's a start, Layla thought.
"But...? There was a but in there somewhere." Layla sighed as she admired the handiwork on Mia's newly painted nails.
"When I first saw him, I thought 'wow, he's hot', but nothing more. When I saw him, he felt cold and lifeless as if he was a robot." Sometime Mia kind of hoped that he would turn back to his cruel self. Now that he was a human in her eyes, it was very hard to push him away from her mind—not that Taehyung was an easy person to push away.
"Well...you're not wrong." Layla replied. "He's a bit strange, but Mia I've seen you and Taehyung talk about each other, and that's not hate."
"Then what is it."
"When he's with you, he's alive. It's as if I see the old Taehyung and I know you're curious." Layla had a sad smile. "And if I told everything to anything you wanted to know, I'd be a search engine."
"You're trying to lead me to say something, but I don't know what you want me to say." Mia frowned because she wanted to say what Layla wanted but she just did not know that was.
Layla sighed. Her new best friend was quite frustrating.
"Give him a chance Mia." Layla's eyes bored into Mia and Mia felt the words hit her more than anything that had been said to her in her life. "Don't Taehyung deserve love too?"
"Why did it have to be me?" Mia asked because she did not know how her life become like this. Within a couple months she had hooked up with some bad boy, broken up with her boyfriend and her friend had gone missing. "And Taehyung doesn't feel love, that's just misguided."
"Because it's fate. And...why can't it be you?" What Layla voiced was true. There was no reason that it could not be her. "And right now, what he does for you, Mia, is the closest thing to expressing love—albeit twisted..."
"That does not help..."
"I know it doesn't but everyone receives a curve ball and Taehyung is yours." Layla softly said, "just give him a chance. He's a sweetheart and you'll see it."
Mia could not say anything more, but her heart and mind...was saying many things.