I continue to look at the man in front of me with wide-eyes.
It is him.
"Y/N, is that you? Long time to see." He smirks, his eyes darkening. Before I even know what's happening, I run into the bathroom.
I can't.
I swing open the bathroom door and stumble towards the biggest stall. My back hits the wall and I slide on the ground. I feel like a weight has been pressed against my chest like an elephant just decided to take a nap on my chest. I begin to itch.
He touched my shoulder.
I begin touching my shoulder, trying to wipe it clean.
I told myself I would never allow him to touch me again. I fucking allowed it.
I start hyperventilating. I can't breathe, my lungs feel like I ran 10 miles. My vision starts to blur and then I feel the memories resurface.
-flashback-
"Y/N, please come into my office. I have some things I want to discuss with you." I heard over the phone.
I got up from my desk and walked into my boss's office. He was standing in front of his desk today.
That's weird, he's usually too busy doing work to even look up from his desk, but he has been acting differently lately.
He turned around when I closed the door.
"Y/N, you're finally here." He smirked, "My, how long I've been waiting for you." He walked away from his desk and towards me. He reached behind me to lock the door.
"Now let the games begin."
-End of flashback-
I hear someone calling my name repeatedly, more like yelling.
"Y/N, Y/N, can you hear me?!" I see someone snapping in front of my eyes. My vision starts to come back a little. I still can't recognize who it is though.
It's a man. What if it's him?
I try to scoot away from him in my state of confusion, but the person grabs my face. And forces me to look at them.
"Calm down, Y/N. It's Taehyung, it's Taehyung." My eyes finally focus on the person in front of me.
It is Taehyung.
"Taehyung," I say and he nods. I feel my heartbeat slow. The weight of my chest is slowly lifted and I can feel myself breathing like normal again. I look at Taehyung with horror on my face.
"Y/N are you okay? What happened? I was talking about how I wanted to celebrate with chicken, but when I turned around I saw you staring at a man, and then you ran to the bathroom. I ran right after you, but then you ran in here. I knew it was wrong to come in here, but I was worried. When I came in here you were shaking on the ground mumbling. I think it was a name, but I'm not going to repeat it. The most important thing is are you ok?"
I look up at Taehyung and wrap my arms around his neck.
"Thank you," I whisper, trying to stop my shaky voice. I feel tears ready to spill from my eyes but I keep them in.
I'm not going to cry in front of Taehyung, it's going to be too much for him. This is supposed to be his day.
With all the strength I can muster, I pull myself together. I release my grip on Taehyung's neck and sit back against the wall.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" He asks, still frantic.
I need to be strong for him.
I get my emotions back into control and lock all those horrid memories into the imaginary box they were originally placed in. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
"Can you please call Seolhee."
____________________________________________________________
Taehyung did call Seolhee for me. He refused to let go of my hand when we left the bathroom like I was a child. It was as if to make sure I didn't run away. He also stayed with me until she got there. He explained what happened and helped me get in the car. I didn't need any help, but he kept insisting. He wanted me to call when I got home too. Now Seolhee and I are almost back to my apartment, we've been silent ever since we left.
"So it happened again." She asks looking at the road.
"Yeah," I reply.
"How?"
"He was at the courthouse. He bumped into my shoulder." I look over at Seolhee. I can see her eyes are wide with shock.
"Why would he be at the courthouse? I thought he never left his firm, it is his office."
"I know, sleepyhead," I say as I turn to lean against the window.
"Do you think he knew you had a trial today?" She asks, turning up my street.
"I've been thinking that." I sigh, "Can we talk about this later."
"Yeah, we can." She pulls up into a parking space in front of the apartment.
"Can you stay today and spend the night?" I ask looking over at her.
"Oh, so you thought I was leaving? Not a chance!"
____________________________________________________________
I wake up from my nap due to a buzzing that I hear.
It's coming from downstairs.
I scramble to find my black Puma hoodie on my bed and I put it on when I've finally found it. It's Sunday, two days after the incident. I have been in bed the entire time since I didn't have work. Seolhee left yesterday, she tried to convince me to let her stay with me but I told her that I'd be fine on my own.
I don't want her to see me as weak.
I leave my bed and walk down the steps. The doorbell rings again as I get to the last stair.
"I'm coming!" I yell at the door. I open it and see Taehyung with a grin on his face. "What are you doing here?"
"To complete an overdue activity with my favorite person." He cheerfully says.
"This early?" I rub my eyes.
"Y/N, it's 3 pm."
Shit, really?
"Oh"
"Have you been sleeping all day?"
"No...." I say in a small voice.
"It's time to get up sleepyhead," he says cheerfully. I sigh.
"I guess since you're already here, come in." I open my door wide for him to enter. He picks up two large objects at his feet and carries them inside.
When did he have those? Must've missed it when we were talking.
When we get to my kitchen, he places them on my island counter. I lazily sit at one of the high swivel chairs and turn to him, who is now getting out some kitchen knives.
"Why did you bring pumpkins to my house?" I say, staring at the large fruits in front of me. He comes back to the island and sits down beside me.
"Pumpkin carving" Taehyung replies and puts the knives down on the island.
"Taehyung, it's the middle of November." I deadpan.
"I said, an overdue project."
"What are you, five?"
"The art of carving is for all ages." He says dramatically.
"You knock yourself out then." I start to get up but he grabs me by my wrist and pulls me back down to my chair.
"Nooo, stay here!" He wines. I look at him.
I just want to go back to sleep, I still feel shitty from my attack on Friday.
"Let me be, I want to sleep." I groan out.
"Just try it, it's pretty fun. Hm?" Taehyung gives me a wide grin.
I can't argue with that face.
"You better be right about this, Kim." He smiles wider and hands me a small serrated knife. He picks up a small bread knife and starts carving his pumpkin.
"Let's have a competition."
"You and these competitions of yours."
"They're fun. So, let's do it."
"No, I'm too tired."
"You're no fun." He frowns.
"Wouldn't be the first time someone's said that to me." He continues to carve and I just stare at him. He notices and raises a brow.
"Why aren't you carving?"
"I was just going to do what you do."
"Do you not know how to carve a pumpkin?"
I don't even care to hide this fact. That's how dead I feel.
"Never done it before." Taehyung gasps.
"What did you do as a kid?"
"Study"
"For fun?"
"Eat, sleep, movies."
"You never carved with friends?"
"Didn't have any as a kid."
"Ha, loser."
"Fuck off."
"I'm kidding!" He ruffles my hair. "Someone's grumpy."
"No shit."
"Okay, Okay. I'll start it off for you." Taehyung gets up and looks through my cabinets. He takes out a glass bowl and then looks through my kitchen drawers. He pulls out two large serving spoons and closes the drawer. He puts all of the materials on the island when he comes back. He sits back down and starts to cut off the crown of my pumpkin with his bread knife. He finishes doing that to his pumpkin as well. He puts the knife down and grabs the two spoons, handing me one of them while he keeps the other for himself. I take it and wait for him to give me instructions. "Scoop out its guts and plop it in the bowl." I look at him in disgust.
"Why do you have to say it like that?"
"It's more fun that way."
"Idiot."
"Yours" I roll my eyes and start to scoop out the inside of the pumpkin. When I'm done I turn to him. He puts both of our pumpkin crowns back on the pumpkins and sets our spoons aside along with the bowl. He again hands me the knife I was holding before. "And now, we carve!"
"By?"
"Cutting out the features with the knife in an in and out motion. Cutaway from you in case the knife slips." I nod as I start to work, Taehyung rambling on about seat-warmers and what not.
So random.
I continue to cut but I cut the eyes a little too close together.
If I'm careful, I can save it.
I carefully try to push the left eye of my pumpkin in but then out of nowhere, Taehyung punches it in the center, leaving a big wide hole above its nose.
"Yah!" I yell and turn to him. "Look at what you did!" Taehyung bursts out in laughter.
"Damn, why does it look like that?" He asks. I hit him on his arm.
"Why do you think!"
"It's your fault for carving the eyes too close to each other."
"I was almost able to save it!"
"That's too bad. Guess mine wins, yours looks like a cyclops!"
I hate him so much.
I narrow my eyes at him while he continues to laugh. I glance at the bowl filled with pumpkin inners.
Does think he can just ruin my hard work and get away with it?
I scoop the contents of the bowl with my hand and turn back to Taehyung.
"Taehyung" I call.
"What?" He asks in between breaths. I fling the orange mess at his face. It gets all over his face, hair, and a little on his shoulders. I break out into a fit of laughter at his shocked face.
"Who looks like a monster now?"
"You got it in my hair!!"
"That's too bad." I mock him with air quotes, still laughing at his appearance.
"You think this is funny?"
"Absolutely"
"You won't be saying that for long." He picks up the remaining contents of the pumpkin insides from the bowl. Before he can launch it at me I get up and run around the island. He runs after me and we halt on opposite sides.
"Stop, this is my house!"
"And this is my hair you ruined. Tough shit sweetheart now come here!"
"No!" I book it to the kitchen threshold but before I can get there, Taehyug black my path. He splats the gooey contents on my hair and face and smears them around. "Stop!" I yell trying to shoo him away from me.
"You brought this on yourself Y/N!" He menacingly lets out. I finally can stop his hands that are now resting on my cheeks, under my own hands. We stare at each other for a minute.
His hands feel so nice on my face.
I look up at his hair and he looks up at mine. We then burst into laughter for another time today.
"You look like shit, Y/N."
"You think you look any better?" I question, still laughing. Our laughter finally died down and Taehyung looks at me with a soft look.
"There's that smile I've been waiting for."
I've been smiling?
"It's hard not to when you're around." He pauses before speaking again.
"Whatever happened on Friday, you don't have to tell me. I just wanted to make sure you're okay."
He's so nice.
"Thanks, Tae, you made my day."
"No problem. We should probably clean this up, huh?"
"Totally." I chuckle and look at our mess. I look back at him.
What would I do without him?