⊰ T W E N T Y S I X ⊱
TINGLES AND TICKLES
I finally tore my eyes from my bruised skin back to Taehyung.
"I have no idea where this came from," I said, my voice tight with concern. Which part of the night was I missing?
His brow raised, and his mouth opened to speak, but someone else beat him to it.
"Where you got what?"
I spun around to find Yoongi approaching us with a hand tousling his hair. Quickly bringing my hand up to cover the mark, I feigned scratching an itch.
"Noth—"
"Kat has a hickey, and she doesn't know how it got there," Taehyung talked over me.
Yoongi's eyes widened, his sleepy demeanor replaced by alertness. "What?" he nearly shouted, looking at me questioningly.
I sighed and turned to glare at Taehyung. "Thanks a lot!" I hissed, earning an innocent shrug from him.
"I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret. Besides, he might remember something that you don't."
Taehyung had a fair point, but I still felt nervous as Yoongi looked at me with narrowed eyes. He stepped closer, wrapping his fingers around my hand, which was still hiding the mark.
"Let me see it," he demanded. I let him pull my wrist away, my eyes clinging to his face to watch his reaction. His features darkened as he observed the colored skin, jaw ticking as he bit down. "You don't know who did this?" he spoke through his teeth, running his thumb over the sensitive area.
I took a step back. "No, I can't remember." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I guess I must've blacked out and lost time at some point."
"Are you sure you never saw anyone getting close to her, Yoongi? You never noticed anyone making a move on her?" Taehyung asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Yoongi shook his head, brows still furrowed. "I didn't notice anything like that. And if I did, I would have put a stop to it." He stared at me with sincerity. "I'm sorry, Kat."
"What are you sorry for?" I asked with a frown.
"I just don't like the idea of some random man having his hands on you, his mouth on you, and you can't even remember if you were okay with it or not."
"Yoongi, you don't have to apologize. It's not like it was your fault, alright?" I put a hand on his shoulder.
He placed his hand on top of mine as he answered. "I should have paid more attention. I should have stayed sober so that I could've kept a closer eye on you." He paused as realization struck his face. His voice grew more upset. "Jimin should have kept a closer eye on you. Why the hell didn't he stop this from happening?"
I pulled away from him, my mind going back to when Jimin stopped me from taking a night swim and helped me put my shirt back on. I remembered his fingers brushing my stomach as he pulled the shirt down, and my heart fluttered.
"Kat, what if Jimin was the one th—"
"No. It wasn't him, Tae," I cut him off, knowing that what he was suggesting was impossible.
Yoongi looked from me to Taehyung, crossing his arms. "Fill me in. Now."
I took a deep breath. "At some point tonight, I went out to the beach and tried to go for a swim, but Jimin followed me and luckily stopped me from going in," I explained.
Yoongi's eyes flashed in annoyance and understanding. "So you two were alone at some point, and Taehyung thinks he might be the one who did this to you?" He paused, searching my eyes before continuing. "How do you know it wasn't him?"
His question left me struggling to find an answer that didn't involve hurting him. I could think of none, and since Taehyung already knew the truth, I decided to be honest.
"I basically asked Jimin to kiss me, and he didn't. So I know without a doubt that he wasn't the one who did this," I spoke in a small voice, hoping that somehow doing so would soften the blow.
"I see," he replied tensely.
"I still think we should check with him. Maybe something did happen, and you don't remember, or maybe he saw what happened," Taehyung said gently. He knew talking about Jimin was hard for me to do now, but I understood that he was only trying to help.
I nodded. "Yeah, I guess we could ask him. He is the most likely to have seen something since he was sober all night."
With that, Taehyung volunteered to get Jimin, leaving Yoongi and me alone. I took in his defeated expression and watched as he moved to lean against the wall, closing his eyes.
"So you asked him to kiss you." His words seemed to echo, and I bit my bottom lip.
"Yes. I just... I thought maybe if we kissed, I would be able to figure out my feelings for him fully," I answered carefully.
His eyes opened to latch onto me. "We've kissed, but you still don't know how you feel about me."
"I've already told you that I do care about you, and I've already had feelings for you for years. But like you told me before, I have to figure out whatever it is between Jimin and me before I can make a decision."
He reached out, still leaning on the wall, as he grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him. When I stood directly in front of him, he trailed his fingers up my arm, over my shoulder, then down my spine. He brought me nearer by the small of my back while his second hand came to cup my face.
"But he didn't kiss you, did he?" he whispered, watching my reaction intently. I felt a pang in my chest from his words, but I was distracted when he tilted his head and spoke again. "He doesn't even act on whatever feelings he may have for you. He doesn't know what he wants." Yoongi's thumb ran over my cheek. "But I do."
"They should be right in here." Taehyung's voice sent panic through me, and I immediately leaned back, trying to step away, but Yoongi held me firmly against him.
Taehyung and Jimin rounded the corner, both heads snapping to our position. Taehyung's eyes widened while Jimin's hardened, his hands fisting at his sides.
"Are we interrupting something?" Jimin asked, his voice low but controlled. He released his fists, and his jaw clenched as he tried to appear unbothered, though I was sure everyone could see through it.
"No," I said, finally pushing away from Yoongi when he loosened his grasp. I took a step back and tucked my hair behind my ear, trying to fight down the blood that threatened to rush to my cheeks. I could barely look Jimin in the eye, not only because of what he just walked in on but also because of the way he'd rejected me earlier that night. Even as I avoided his eyes, I could still feel his gaze burning into me.
"So why did you bring me here?" he asked, finally turning to look at Taehyung.
"We wanted to ask if you know anything about Kat getting a hickey," Tae explained, walking over to me and pulling my hair over my shoulder to reveal the mark on my neck.
Jimin tensed, some strange emotion briefly crossing his face before he threw up a mask of indifference.
"I don't know anything about it," he said. I finally mustered up enough courage to meet his eyes, and the stare he was giving me caused my entire body to heat up. As confusing as Jimin was to me, I had gotten better at deciphering some of the emotions he always tried to keep hidden. I could see the longing in his gaze, with a certain kind of anger mixed in. But something told me the anger was directed toward himself, not toward me.
"Are you sure? You were the only sober one out of all of us, so did you ever notice me getting close and personal with anyone?" I finally spoke up. Jimin looked away and sighed.
"I didn't see anyone give you a hickey, Katherine. I'm sorry."
After that, we gave up our attempts to figure out what had happened. The four of us finished for the night, so we shuffled into our makeshift beds quietly. I was hoping to lie next to Taehyung, but he claimed the blanket and pillow we'd placed on the couch, leaving me stuck on the floor with the other two men. I chose a spot in the middle, quickly throwing the blanket over me and resting my head on the pillow before closing my eyes. I held my breath as I heard two separate bodies wordlessly lay themselves down on either side of me.
I tried to fall asleep, but an hour had quickly gone by without me dozing off. The music was still playing from below us, and none of the others had come up for bed yet. Turning onto my left side, my eyes opened on their own accord and immediately met Jimin's gentle gaze. He blinked, surprised to find me awake. He looked embarrassed that I'd caught him staring at me, but he managed to play it off. The corner of his mouth tilted up in a half-smile.
"Hi." His voice was quiet and smooth, the soft tone soothing to my ears. I let out a tiny breath.
"Hi." I watched as his smile slowly fell when he noticed that I hadn't smiled back. My focus fell on his lips, feeling my own mouth tingle as I did so.
Did I want to kiss him so badly that I could practically feel his lips on mine?
"What are you thinking?" he mumbled the question.
I could feel my heart beating louder in my chest, and I closed my eyes. "I'm thinking about how confusing you are." I whispered, still refusing to look at him. There was the faintest brush of his fingers on my cheek, but it disappeared before I could even finish opening my eyes.
"I'm sorry." The phrase was short and simple, but the sincerity behind it made it clear to me how much he meant it. He looked as if he had fae more to say, but his mouth stayed shut. With every second that passed, he was wordlessly giving me endless apologies.
But I didn't want an apology. I wanted answers.
"Why won't you kiss me? Even if it's just once, don't you think we should figure out what this is between us?" I asked, my straightforwardness surprising both Jimin and myself. I scooted closer to him and raised my hand to cup his cheek, but he caught my wrist before I could do so.
"Don't," he tried to speak firmly, but his voice was weak. I could see how much he was resisting, and I felt hope bubbling in the pit of my stomach.
"Why not?" I whispered after halting my movements.
His grasp on my wrist tightened, and he briefly brought my hand to his cheek, then turned into my hold so that his lips brushed my palm. He shut his eyes.
"I won't start something I can't finish." He released my hand and got up to walk out of the room, leaving me empty for the second time that night.
* * *
Somehow, I was eventually able to sleep after Jimin left. When I awoke in the morning, the first thing to notice was that all of the boys were sprawled across the floor, most of them in odd positions with their limbs tangled together. Taehyung had fallen off of the couch at some point and was lying on top of Hoseok who cuddled him in his sleep. Jungkook, Jin and Namjoon each had a different arm or leg draped across each other. Yoongi was still on my right, his mouth hanging open while his hand was behind his head. Jimin had returned to the spot on my left with his back facing me.
I sat up and stretched with a loud yawn. Clearing my throat, I prepared my vocal chords.
"Boys, time to get up!" I yelled, shaking Yoongi with one hand while I used my foot to nudge Hoseok's shoulder. A series of groans and whines filled the room, many of the pirates tossing and turning in annoyance.
"Five more minutes...and then another two hours," Namjoon grumbled. Jungkook lifted his head from his pillow, looking up at me with half-closed eyes and a small pout.
"What he said," he whined before plopping his head back down.
I scoffed and stood up, then tackled Jin, Namjoon and Jungkook at the same time. All three of them let out a groan as they looked up at me. I smiled cheekily and took turns ruffling each of their hair.
"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Jin asked, glancing at the other two.
Namjoon and Jungkook nodded before all three of them looked up at me and smirked. My eyes widened but before I could scramble away, Jin grabbed me and held me down. I squealed and laughed when three pairs of hands were attacking me, tickling my tummy, my armpits, my feet—anywhere they could spur a reaction out of me.
My loud, desperate laughter was enough to pull the rest of the crew out of their slumber. I shouted in fear as Hoseok and Taehyung joined in on the cruel attacks. Gasping for air, I reached out to Yoongi dramatically.
"Yoongi, h-help— help me!" I cackled as another round of tickles rained down on my stomach and neck. I could barely make out Yoongi's small smirk as he shook his head, clearly enjoying my suffering.
"STOP IT!" I shouted, finally getting the boys to let me go. I panted heavily, crawling away from them as they laughed. "You monsters," I gasped out as I tried to catch my breath.
"Think about this the next time you try to wake us up," Hoseok said, giving me a playful wink.
I rolled my eyes and wiped the tears that had escaped. Finally glancing over at Jimin, I noticed that he had placed the pillow over his head in an attempt to drown out the ruckus we caused.
"Come on Jimin, we've got to head out soon," Jin hollered at the unmoving siren.
Jimin muttered something in return but it was too muffled by the pillow to make out what he said.
The boys and I got up to start folding the blankets, and Jimin begrudgingly joined us after a couple of minutes. Soon, the room was clean, and we made our way downstairs.
Taehyung's father was waiting with breakfast already set on a table. He gave a shy smile as we approached him, and I couldn't help but smile back. I was so happy to see that he had taken my advice and was making the most of his time left with Tae.
We enjoyed breakfast together, chatting about a multitude of topics. Taehyung's father shared his favorite stories of some of the drunks he'd had to deal with over the years. The guys told him about their favorite adventures in return, and his father looked surprisingly happy to hear about the exciting life Taehyung was a part of. Even so, I detected a hint of sadness in his eyes as he knew his son was about to leave again.
The lively discussion was abruptly interrupted when someone threw the front door open. All heads turned to the sound, our sights landing on a gorgeous woman who was probably only a year younger than me. She wore a dark green dress and had long, dark hair and olive-toned skin.
Her eyes scanned all of us at the table, finally landing on a certain person. She stepped forward, the light glistening off of the tears that rolled down her cheeks.
"Taehyung?"
• • •
Author's Note:
Hello lovely readers! Sorry this chapter took a while to publish. I had planned on getting it out much sooner, but life was busy this week. I was fortunate enough to get to attend the Speak Yourself concert at the Rose Bowl on May 5th! It was incredible, and I truly hope every one of you will get a chance to see them at some point. Was anybody else at that specific show?
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even though it was a slower one. A lot of action will be coming soon though, so get ready for that :)
I love you all. Take care of yourselves and stay healthy.
-Hoseokiiss
May 8, 2019