I slowly opened my eyes in the morning.
The first thing I thought was what a good night of sleep that was.
The second thing was... how the fuck did we get into this position.
I could have been falling on the floor any minute now. Taehyung had trapped me against the edge of the bed. I peeked behind him and saw all the room that was left on the other side.
Gently, I tried to get up, but his strong arms did not let me go. Instead, he pressed himself deeper against me and groaned.
"Just a few more minutes," I heard his husky voice say in my neck.
He released a long sigh and breathed against my hair.
"OK, but give us more space," I chuckled, trying to turn without falling.
He sniffed, glancing behind his shoulder. He moved his body to the center of the bed and already started to pull me back in his embrace.
"Sorry," he croaked, his eyes still closed.
He got one of his legs around me and pulled me even closer to him.
If I was not fully awake before, I was completely now. It felt so intimate to be like that with him. His arms around my waist, his lips against the top of my head, his legs intertwined with mine...
"What?" he asked, finally opening his eyes, looking down at my face between his arms.
Did he notice? I raised my eyes to meet his and instantly felt so shy. His face was so close.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked again, with an intrigued smile.
His slight fingers came to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I could feel the red coming to my cheeks.
"Are you blushing?"
He smiled and his morning puffy cheeks got even cuter.
"Come on," he chuckled, his eyes forming a beautiful almond shape. "It's not the first time we cuddle."
I frowned and tilted my head to him.
"It's not?" I repeated, confused.
His smile faded away in a split second.
"The first night I came here," he uttered. "You fell asleep in my arms."
True. But I could not remember this first night together. The fever had completely wiped out most of my memories of the week. And now, it felt so different. So intimate.
"I don't remember it," I admitted with a shy smile.
Taehyung pinched his lips and looked away from me as if he was thinking about something.
"Fine," he finally said, pouting his lips and turning around.
He completely let go of me and showed me his back. He even shifted to the other side of the bed.
I laughed and got one elbow, trying to see his face. He had crossed his arms on his chest and closed his eyes again.
"Tae..."
No answer.
"TaeTae," I poked his ribs.
Low grunt.
I started to nudge him more but only got grumbles back.
OK, I see what you want. Slowly, I got closer and closer to him.
First, I pressed my chest against his back. His body stiffened and I could feel he was struggling to keep his hands on him.
Then, I pressed my lips against his shoulder blades. Then my cheek. I felt his heart racing.
Finally, I got my arm around his waist and my leg over his.
"Taehyung..." I whispered in his neck.
It was game over.
He turned around so fast and captured me between his arms. I gasped in surprise as he was wrapping all his body around mine. I was his captive.
He started to tickle me and I squealed. When I was finally out of breath, his soft tickles became small pecks, on my neck, cheeks, and shoulders. His hands were softly caressing my hair, my arms, my back.
It was such a beautiful morning. We spent the next hours in bed, just talking, cuddling, and sleeping a little more.
The only thing that eventually got us out of bed was our growling stomachs. The old ramen from yesterday did not look appetizing anymore so we decided to head over to a brunch place he knew about.
We both took turns to shower and I gave him the Fila hoodie he gifted me for him to change into something clean. It reminded me about another beautiful morning we shared together. The one at the forest house, where he made breakfast for me and then took us on a lovely canoe ride.
While he was in the shower, I tried to look again for that selfie of us. But no luck, I could not find anywhere the little polaroid. I was really bummed about it.
"Do you mind if we order to-go and eat at my place?" he asked me once in the elevator.
As soon as he said that, the doors opened on a different floor and two women entered. Their faces, even with masks, looked stunned when they recognized the BTS member. They started to excitedly whisper at each other, as Tae and I were putting our masks on.
"Sure" I replied, thinking how terrible it must be to be recognized all the time.
We jumped in his car and drove to a very hipster brunch place in the city center. Taehyung got his sunglasses on right after leaving the car. His mask and glasses were making him unrecognizable.
Once in front of the cashier, I regretted so badly letting him order because he had spent the equivalent of a hundred dollars in Korean won.
"And one iced latte," he finally said, glimpsing at me. "You'll see, the food here is delicious!"
Better be, I thought, helping him carry our massive order.
We got back to the car, sipping on our drinks.
"Taste mine."
Taehyung closed the trunk on our order and offered his iced tea to my lips. I got the straw in my mouth and sucked on it. He was staring at me all along with a strange smile on his face.
"Mmmm, it's sweet," I commented, licking my lips.
His eyes on my mouth, he got closer to me. One of his hands came pushing my hair behind my shoulder. The other came caressing my cheek. His face was so close to mine, I could smell the sweetness of the tea on his lips.
His beautiful, full lips, getting closer and closer to mine. He closed his eyes, tilting his head on the side, his mouth slightly opened.
No. Not now.
"Stop," I exclaimed, taking one step back.
"What's wrong?" he asked, frowning his eyebrows.
A car screeched behind us and I got startled.
I opened my arms wide and showed the place around us.
"This," I explained. "This is wrong. I don't want our first kiss to be in a parking lot!"
At first, Taehyung looked dumbfounded. The next second, he was laughing so hard, I wanted to hide.
"I didn't know you were a romantic," he said passing an arm around my shoulders.
I buried my face in his chest, too ashamed to look into his eyes.
"What if I am?" I answered in a cute little voice, feigning some aegyo.
He opened the car door for me, laughing as I was taking a seat. He got on one knee, reached for my hands, and planted a warm kiss on it.
"I will not disappoint" he smirked and closed my door.
My heart was still fluttering when we arrived at his place.
"Yeontan!" I squealed with happiness when the little fluffy ball welcomed us at the door.
His yapping was adorable. We played with him a few minutes before heading for the dining room.
His apartment was very spacious, and surprisingly, very minimalistic. All the furniture was either white or grey. The only colorful features were the artworks. All the walls were filled with beautiful paintings, pictures, and drawings. I was in awe, staring all around. Everywhere was a piece of art to observe.
Then my eyes fell on the most beautiful piece of art in the room. Taehyung, sitting down at the table, munching on a pancake while staring at me with loving eyes.
"Are you liking it?" he smiled and sipped on his tea.
I nodded with a shy smile, still astounded by the beauty of the place. Taehyung had to drag me to the table for me to enjoy our breakfast while still warm.
"It's beautiful... So beautiful that it looks like a real-life decoration magazine," I commented, still staring at the room.
Indeed, it did not look at all like someone was living here. It looked too perfect.
"Do you spend a lot of time in here?" I asked, curious.
"Almost never," he answered right away, slurping on his iced tea. "I spend most of my time in the group's apartment... and whenever I can, at my family apartment."
We continued to eat and discuss for a good hour.
We cleared the table together, taking some of the left-overs to the kitchen. I was about to open the fridge when something on it caught my eye.
There it was.
The picture. The little polaroid of us posing in our Fila sweatshirts, the beautiful lake and mountains behind us. I was stunned. How did it get there?
"Uuh," I gasped, pointing a finger at the picture, my eyes widening.
Taehyung turned around and noticed what I was looking at. His lips formed a thin line, repressing a burst of laughter.
"How..."
"I found it at your place."
"But..."
I clearly remembered putting this picture between the pages of my songwriting notebook. And not just any pages.
The one where "I like Taehyung" was written down.
Taehyung was leaning against the counter, his hands in his pockets, a big smile on his face.
"Where did you find it exactly?" I inquired with a suspicious stare.
His smile disappeared right away.
"Oh, well..." his hand came scratching the back of his neck. "I think... in your notebook."
My jaw dropped.
"How. dare. you. touch. my..."
I punctuated each of my words with a hit on him.
He must have found my poor attack hilarious because he burst out laughing and captured my little fists in his hands.
In one smooth movement, he made me twirl around and pulled me against him. My back on his chest, he crossed my arms around my body so that I could not make a single move.
"I've made myself vulnerable the night before," he whispered in my neck, his nose rubbing against my hair. "When I told you I like you."
I stiffened at these last words, my heart fluttering in my chest.
Because I like you. I remembered his deep words in the darkness of my room.
"So I thought it would be fine to flick through your songwriting..." he added in a deep voice, hugging me tighter. "I just was not expecting a love confession."
I wanted to hide my face between my hands but he was holding me so tightly, I could not make a single move.
"I can explain..."
He laughed and buried his face in my neck. He finally released my arms and made me turn around to face him. I was so embarrassed, I hugged him right away, throwing my arms around his neck and hiding my face in his chest. He giggled, rocking my body against his, stroking my long hair.
No words were needed in this moment. We were just embracing each other, knowing what we felt for the other.
He planted a kiss on my cheek and pulled me to the living room. He let me stroll around the space, looking at the art pieces, admiring the view of the city through the big glass window.
There was a gigantic bookshelf taking the entirety of a wall. Instead of novels, it was the home of thousands of CDs, magazines, photography and art books, vinyl records. Taehyung opened a few of his favorite books and we browsed through them together, commenting to each other.
I started to look at a shelf while he was still flicking through the pages of a book on the floor. It was filled with magazines. A specific part of it caught my attention. It was a pile of Billboard magazines. I remembered he had one with him when we were at the forest house.
I frowned. These Billboards issues looked exactly like the ones my mother had in our family living room. She had dedicated a little shelf to her daughter's accomplishments: pictures of me with celebrities, CDs with songs I helped writing or composing, and also all the magazines I was featured in.
And specifically, these Billboard issues were the ones where I had written some songwriting reviews and analysis.
How...
"It's funny," I mumbled for myself, taking one of the magazines between my hands and leafing through it.
"Mmhm?"
Taehyung, his fist below his chin, nonchalantly lifted his eyes from the book he was browsing.
"You have all the ones I was invited to write in," I commented to him, showing him the two-page spread of my article.
His facial expression suddenly changed. He straightened, swallowing with difficulty, his eyes widening.
"Well..."
His lips parted, it seemed like he had trouble finding his words. His gaze was darting everywhere around the room, except for my eyes.
Oh.
"Oh... I see."
I was finally understanding.
"Are you... my fan, or something?" I could not help but chuckle at the thought of it.
Taehyung got on his feet and took the magazine between his hands.
"You really don't remember, do you?" he squinted his eyes at me, showing the Billboard title on the cover.
I blinked, my stare going from the magazine to him, and back to the magazine.
"What... what do you mean?"
I was so confused right now.
He opened his mouth. But then closed it and sighed, as if he was resigning himself.
"Talk," I begged him, dying of curiosity.
He smiled shyly, looking at the ground.
"What is it that I don't remember?" I tried to encourage him.
His eyes came back to me, studying my face.
"Our first kiss"
Guys... I'm an emotional mess... I was googling some English/Korean for a previous chapter last week and I realized something CRAZY... I googled "Gam Mi-cha" (our main character's name), and got 감미 차 as a result.
I googled it back in English and it gave me... Sweet Tea
I am NOT kidding guys, check it by yourselves 😱 I was so happy when I found out - and mostly when I realized how it made so much sense with the story. I don't know if you guys remember this BTS interview where they ask the members to choose between tea or coffee... They all chose coffee, except Tae and Hobi. Anyway... knowing Tae's love for tea and his well-known sweet tooth... I thought it was so romantic that his love interest's name was LITERALLY SWEET TEA 😭😭😭
I told you guys, I believe in fate - here's another proof haha
Anyway, I hope you liked this long chapter 💜
1 LIKE = 1 KISS FOR TAE'S ETHEREAL BEAUTY
AT THE BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS 2019 😏😏😏
Amazing art by Sushi959 🤗