CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Taehyung guided Armelle to their new home by holding her hand. They entered the premises of a little, white house with green double-doors.
"This house looks adorable." Armelle smiled at Taehyung, earning a warm one of his own.
"It's a guest house." He pointed his finger to a similar looking house that was a few metres away from the guest house. It was two-storeys high but still modest, "It's the Parker's estate. They're known for their wines around the country. I'll be working at their vineyard, and they were kind enough to offer us a place to stay here."
"That is really nice of them." Armelle nodded and set her luggage on the porch. She squeezed Taehyung's palm slightly with anticipation. She could not wait to start her new life with her beloved.
"Excited, are we?" Taehyung chuckled and turned the key in the lock that secured the door to their new life.
"Hey." Taehyung tapped Anna's shoulder gently, bringing back into the world of reality. Anna's eyes fluttered open, scanning the dark-colour room and then meeting with Taehyung warm, brown eyes, "Good morning, princess."
A hue of red made its way onto Anna's cheeks at the new nickname, "Good morning." She whispered shyly.
"How was your sleep?" His big palm brushed over her messy, brown hair.
"Good." Anna bit her lip out of nervousness. This was something new to her. Even though she dated Jungkook not too long ago, they had never reached this point of intimacy of sleeping in the same bed and waking up next to each other the following morning. It was her first time, "And yours?"
"The best." He placed a kiss on her cheek, "Because you were beside me."
Anna chuckled at this. She couldn't deny how adorable Taehyung was and it was twisting her heart as well as bringing a whole zoo to life in her stomach. Anna wrapped her arms around his torso and snuggled into his chest, "I just wanna stay in bed."
The so-called "round 3" was cancelled the moment their morning was interrupted by knocks on the front door.
It was none other than Park Jimin, with a known smirk playing on his lips when his eyes fell upon the new couple.
The trio had breakfast together, and Anna could not stop praising the two men and the culinary talent their pair of hands withheld.
"Lemme refill the sausages! I'll be right back!" Jimin walked into the kitchen, swaying, with plates in each of his hands.
Taehyung took this as his chance and leaned closer to Anna's ear. The next words that left his lip made her choke on her saliva.
"Trust me, princess." He whispered, his lips brushed over the shell of Anna's ear, "My hands can do much better things than just cook."
Taehyung was beyond cloud nine, now that he had won over the girl he had been madly in love with for over 3 centuries. But a different kind of fear set in his bones.
The fear of losing her again. Just like the last two time.
Addelyn... Armelle... Annabeth...
He couldn't lose her once again. When he lost Armelle, he had lost all hope in finding her for the third time. But he only came across Annabeth by chance, destiny playing with their fates yet again.
I should tell her who I really am, before we are bound to the same ending.
"You seem to be drowning in deep thoughts." Jimin piped, breaking Taehyung from his worries.
"Hmm, it's nothing..." Taehyung sighed, "Just, thinking. 'Sall."
"Is it her again?" Jimin propped his chin into his palm, leaning against the kitchen counter with the support of his elbows.
"Yeah..." Taehyung answered one a daze, eyes wandering into oblivion, "I'm going to tell her everything."
Jimin blinked in surprise at his best friend who was now looking back at him, "Are you sure?"
"Yes. She doesn't deserve to be kept in the dark. You know what happened to Armelle when we hid things from her last time... I don't want that to happen again."
Jimin nodded his head.
"I need to protect at all costs."
After Taehyung dropped her home, the couple quickly kissed each other goodbyes before Anna stepped out of the car.
Still waving at her lover, she opened the gate to her house. Once Taehyung drove off, her eyes set onto her porch on which a little gift was placed in front of the door with a helium balloon wrapped around it.
Anna sceptically picked up the little red box and examined it, looking around if she could spot the person who delivered this. It couldn't be Taehyung since they were together the whole time.
Aha! A note!
Anna pulled out the little white paper that was tied with the gift and opened it. Her eyes began to grow wide with every word written on it -
Ann, I'm not gonna stop until I've made up to you. I don't care how many gifts or letters it'll take, but I'm ready to go through it all if I can win you back... even as a friend!
- JK
Her heart almost stopped when she realised who it really was to send this to her. As much as she wanted to start over with Jungkook as friends, she knew she needed time to get over the pain she felt because of him. She knew if she rushed things, their friendship would never be the same as it used to be.
Guilt washed over her.
Because, while Jungkook was trying to fix things between them, here she was, returning home after sharing a bed with Taehyung. Sure, she broke up before things escalated between herself and Taehyung, but why did she feel as though she had cheated upon Jungkook?
Not physically, but maybe emotionally?
Guilt.
Guilt.
And more guilt.
It was exactly how Anna was spending her night in her lonely bed, drowning herself with overwhelming thoughts. She knew she was overthinking at this point, but sometimes... it's hard to take control over your demons.
She needed assurance that she hadn't committed a grave mistake by moving onto another man so soon. She needed assurance to stop her demons from eating her away. And she had two choices to stop them, confront it or brush it all under the carpet until it turns into a recognisable pile of dust.
As much as she wanted to run away from it and keep everything a secret, she knew it was only a little time until her everyone would figure it out.
I'll talk to him tomorrow...
"Elle?" Taehyung's long fingers delicately played with that of his lover's who was lying beside him with her head resting in the crook of his neck.
"Hmm?" She hummed softly, afraid to break the comforting blanket of silence enveloping the couple.
"It's been a week since we moved to Donten... do you miss home?" Taehyung whispered, eyes fixed on their intermingled fingers.
"I miss mama." She turned to her side and cuddled further into Taehyung's chest, "I miss my friends too."
Taehyung scoffed, a sad smile making its way to his lips, "I am sorry, love..."
Armelle lifted her head enough to take a look at Taehyung's hurt expression, "It's my fault that we're here, Tae... you shouldn't be sorry. And besides, I'll always chose to run away with you any day. You are my happiness."
Before he could kiss her lips, he stopped when he saw the colour draining off Armelle's face. She abruptly got out of bed, clasping her palms over her mouth as she ran outside the door. Taehyung snapped out of his trance and followed her quickly, only to see her throwing up all the lunch they had a couple hours ago, "Armelle! Wha-what's wrong?"
He supported her by holding her shoulders as she gagged out all the contents in her stomach. After lazily wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her palm, she looked over at Taehyung with half-lidded eyes.
"I-I don't feel wel..." Her voice trailed off as her body lost balance, but Taehyung caught her in turn before her body could meet the ground.
Panic coursed through Taehyung's veins when he tapped Armelle's cheek, in an attempt to wake her up. He immediately picked her up in bridal style and sprinted inside to place her back on the couch.
Taehyung quickly ran out of the house, soon knocking - more like banging- on the Parker's front door.
The green door swung open, revealing a young woman, "Taehyung? What's the matter? You look awful-"
"Margaret!" Taehyung panted, "I need your help!"