"What are you doing?"
Taehyung asked as he flipped on the light switch.
You blinked your eyes, absolutely startled by Taehyung's sudden appearance.
"I- I was-" You stuttered.
Why should I feel guilty? I did nothing wrong.
You straightened your posture & looked straight at him.
"I'm going to my room."
"Where were you from?" He asked as he slowly walked towards you, a frown forming in between his thick brows.
"Work." You curtly answered & tried to move pass him, but he blocked your way.
"What kind of work finishes at 11pm? You didn't come home so late yesterday."
"Didn't you say that you didn't want to know about my job? Now move, I need to take a shower."
You braced yourself & met his eyes. His dark brown eyes stared sternly right into you, making it hard for you to keep eye contact, but you tried your best not to waver. In the end, he was the one who looked away first.
"Don't come home so late again tomorrow. People will talk & start rumors." Taehyung turned his back on you & walked towards his room.
"No." You said to his back, causing him to turn back around.
"What did you say?"
"I said no. You have no right to tell me what or what not to do. I have no obligation towards you."
"Of course you do. You are my spouse." He smirked.
"Yes, but only on paper, like you said yourself. Kim Taehyung ssi, we're nothing but two people stuck together in an unfortunate circumstance. I never ask you where you go or what you do, so I expect you to do the same. I live my own life & you live yours. Good night."
With that, you slammed your room door shut without giving him a chance to say another word.
You leaned on the door, your heart beating at a million miles an hour.
Damn, I can't believe I said that to his face.
A huge grin spread on your face, that was the first time you had the last word during your arguments with him & it felt so good.
He must be furious now, pfftt.. but who cares? Jin is right, I should love myself more & stop letting Taehyung ssi stomp all over me like a piece of trash.
Taehyung's POV
He stared at your closed room door completely baffled.
What has gotten into her? Is she even the same person?
Then, a thought crossed his mind.
That guy. The one who dropped her off yesterday. He must have something to do with this.
"But isn't it good that she's out of your hair now? You can carry on with your life as usual & won't have to be troubled by her existence." His inner thought tried to justify the ongoing situation.
That's right, I don't care about what she does or who she befriends. She's nothing to me.
He convinced himself, not wanting to admit the uneasiness tugging him at the back of his mind.
Ever since that day, you'd been working out with Jin every day after work. True to his promise, he never missed a day & was constantly by your side giving you advice & guiding you. He was such a nice person & fun to be around with that sometimes you couldn't believe that a person like him existed in real life.
It'd only been about a month, but you'd become so much more confident thanks to him. Although you didn't lose a lot of weight, your movement felt lighter & your clothes fit looser than before. The biggest effect Jin had on you wasn't physical, but spiritual. He taught you to believe in yourself, cherish who you were, & focus on improving rather than putting yourself down over your shortcomings.
It seemed like your newfound confidence had made people start to respect you more, including Taehyung.
He never yelled at you or scolded you anymore. In fact, he'd stopped telling you to get out of his sight when you passed by him in the house. Sometimes he even tried to make small talks with you & you might be wrong, but you noticed a hint of smile on his lips when he saw you nowadays.
"Thanks again for today Jin. It was fun, although my shoulders feel like they're about to fall off now." You said to him as he stopped his car at the usual spot near Taehyung's house.
"Ya, stop saying thanks to me. It's not like we're strangers. I had fun playing tennis with you too, we should do it again soon. Good night Y/n ah."
"Good night Jin. I'll see you tomorrow."
You were about to open the car door when Jin suddenly pulled you back.
"Wait. Y/n ah, tomorrow's Saturday, so instead of going for a run like we planned, do you want to watch a movie with me?" He shyly asked while rubbing his ear.
"Oh." Is he asking me out on a date?
You wanted to say yes, but your conscience held you back. You were still a married woman after all.
"If you don't want to, it's totally fine. We'll just go for a run." Sensing your uneasiness, he quickly added.
"No no. I want to, it's just that-"
It's just a movie, right? No big deal. Friends watch movies together all the time, right?
"Alright, let's go watch movie, but dinner's on me." You finally agreed.
"Ok, I'll buy the tickets then. It's a date ok? Don't bail on me." He grinned.
Your heart skipped a beat at the word "date", but you quickly dismissed it.
You were waving at Jin's car when suddenly you felt a tall figure hovering behind you.
"Who is he?" Taehyung's deep voice echoed in your ears.
"Damn! You startled me." You exclaimed & turned around to find a frowning Taehyung.
"Is he that guy who dropped you off on your first day of work?"
"Yeah, he-"
"Who is he? Has he been driving you home all this time? What did you do with him until so late?" He shot questions at you rapidly, which took you by surprise.
"What are you doing here? Why are you asking so many questions? Have you been following me?" You responded his questions with more questions as you crossed your arms & raised your brows.
"F-Follow you? W-why would I follow you? Don't flatter yourself too much. I was on my way to get some ramyeon when I saw you getting off his car." He seemed flustered by your accusations as indicated by his flushed cheeks & stammer.
He's kinda cute when he's like this. You chuckled.
"Why are you getting ramyeon? Kang jibsa is not cooking for you tonight?"
"It's her off day today. She left right after you this morning." He shrugged.
"Come on, you don't need to buy ramyeon. I'll cook something up for you." You signaled him to follow you home.
"You? Uh uh, no thanks. Who knows what poison you'll put into the pot? Besides, I don't think you can cook."
"Ya! Do you think I'm a psycho murderer or something?"
"Y-ya? Did you just call me "ya"?"
"Yeah, so what? I'm gonna go home & cook dakgalbi for dinner. If you want to have some, follow me. If you don't, then go ahead, go get your ramyeon." You turned around & walked away without waiting for him.
Taehyung didn't move an inch, he just kept standing still on the spot.
He's not coming, is he? Oh well.
You were a bit disappointed, but then you heard Taehyung's footsteps rushed towards you until they were only a couple of steps behind.
You smiled to yourself, thinking that it was another small victory for you.
"Are you done?" Taehyung called out from the dining room.
"Wait a minute. I just need to add some finishing touches." You yelled back as you put the chopped green onions into the pot.
"Here you go." You put a bowl of rice & the pot of dakgalbi that you just cooked in front of him.
"Sniff sniff. It smells ok. You sure this is fully cooked, right?"
"Ughhh, stop talking & just dig in." You rolled your eyes at him.
He hesitantly took a bite & his eyes widened in surprise.
"It's good, isn't it?" You grinned looking at his reaction. You were confident in your cooking skill because you'd been helping your mom in the kitchen ever since you were a kid.
"It's.. not bad. I mean I prefer Kang jibsa's cooking but this will do." He wouldn't admit that he really liked it, but judging from the way he chomped heartily, you knew that he truly enjoyed your cooking.
I've never noticed that he pouts like that when he chews.
You tried hard to suppress the laugh that was about to escape from your throat looking at his cute pouting lips, but you failed & it came out as a snort.
"What? Is there something on my face?" He looked up & asked.
"No, you just look so cute when you eat." You accidentally blurted out your honest thoughts. When you realized what you'd done & instantly muffled your mouth, it was already too late. He'd heard it.
You stupid- ughh.. why did you say that out loud?
Awkward silence stretched between you. His ears reddened & your cheeks blushed.
"You're not going to eat?" He broke the silence without looking at you.
"Nah, I'm good." You pulled a chair & sat down across him.
"I'm sorry." Your head shot up hearing his unexpected apology.
"I'm sorry for calling you names. I know I've hurt your feelings, but please don't starve yourself because of what I said." He looked straight at you, his voice sincere.
You didn't know how to respond, your heart fluttered looking at his remorseful face.
"Woah daebak, the great almighty Kim Taehyung apologized to me. Is my cooking that good that it shocks you so much?" You laughed, covering up your true emotion by turning it into a joke.
"W-what?" He stared at you, baffled by your reaction.
"Don't worry, I'm trying to live more healthily for myself. Besides, I've had dinner earlier."
"With him?" He lowered his eyes & asked.
Is he jealous? Nahhh, he can't be. Stop thinking too much.
"Yeah, with him. His name is Kim Seokjin btw, he's my colleague. Anw, I'm gonna head in now, you can clean the dishes up by yourself, right? Good night Taehyung ssi." You rose from your seat to go to your room.
"Y/n ah." You stopped in your track at his intimate calling of your name & turned your head around.
"Please just call me Taehyung from now on." He smiled at you, the first real smile that he'd ever shown you.
"Huh? Oh. Yeah sure. Good night Taehyung ah." You hastily walked back to your room & closed the door behind you.
"Taehyung." You whispered his name, feeling the vibration on your lips with your fingers.
A smile spread across your face as you replayed the image of him smiling in your head.