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“That’s a nasty cough you got there, are you sure you’re okay?”
I nod at the lab demonstrator, stifling another one, despite its prominence in my throat. “Yeah, it’s nothing a Strepsil can’t handle!” I flip a blue-gloved thumbs up at him, and he smiles.
“That’s a mighty spirit you have!” he then continues to the next person, checking that they were performing the titration correctly. I can’t help smiling to myself as I pour out the last conical flask, marking the values in my lab manual. Now all that is left is to write up a quick report, and since I finished earlier than everyone else, I have a good forty minutes remaining.
I am in a good mood.
Despite my chest cough and the fact that I just ran out of Strepsils; despite being on my feet for two hours straight with no food or water; despite the early morning start, I am happy, because in just forty minutes, I’ll be out of here.
In just forty minutes, I’ll see him.
“All done! Thanks, Tim,” I beam at my lab demonstrator, who raises his eyebrows, clearly not used to my perky mood.
“Awesome, thanks Aria,” he is in a state of bemusement as he places my hard copy report on the bench, the first in my class.
There is no better feeling than stripping off my lab coat and pulling my hair out of its taut high ponytail, massaging my fingers over my scalp and closing my eyes. I have a slight headache, especially since I haven’t drank water in three hours, and I couldn’t be bothered leaving the lab just for a sip. Damn chemistry and their strict lab rules.
I decide to let my hair stay down, trailing down over my denim jacket. As I step out into the spring sunshine, a temperate breeze blows my hair back, and I feel so…exposed.
It is the first time I am not wearing my hoodie since last semester.
Instead, I’m wearing an oversized faded denim jacket over a black t-shirt and white jeans. On my feet are my favourite black and white vans, and after stuffing my lab coat into my backpack I decide to pull out something I haven’t worn since I was a kid.
A black baseball cap.
Ah, that’s better. I immediately feel more comfortable with the cap on my head, blocking the sun from my face and giving me a type of security that only my beloved hoodie could provide.
I stroll into what has become my favourite place in the whole entire uni, scanning the area for one person. Where is he?
I decide to get my food first and then try to look for him, standing in line at the Mexican joint. I remember eating there with some “friends” last semester, and it was very delicious. Plus, I am really craving a tortilla wrap.
The line is especially long today, but I have no problem with this as I inhale the spicy tangy aromas around me, a blend of different cultures, the hum of simultaneous conversations a comforting background noise to the idle thoughts of my mind.
I shouldn’t get that one, it could drop on my pants. What’s a better side, guacamole or salsa? Where’s Taehyung? I can’t wait to eat. I hope they add a little extra salt on my chips. Ugh, I’m tired. Wait, did I put my name on my report?
“Next!”
“Hi!” I beam at the girl behind the counter, excited to order. As I’m paying, my phone buzzes in my pocket, but I don’t check it until I have collected my food and shuffled to a corner where I can whip it out.
Meet me outside.
“Outside, huh?” We have never eaten outside this cafeteria, but okay. This should be fun.
Outside is a whole other world, with clusters of students congregated under trees, participating in frivolous conversation while constantly swatting flies away from their food.
I don’t see him amidst this landscape, and I squint my eyes, doing one last sweep when suddenly, my vision is completely obscured by my cap, which has been pulled forward over my face. “What the -“
I hear a familiar giggle, and then my hands are freed of their delicious burden, replaced by another hand that grips my own very tightly. “Follow me,” he sings, tugging me along until eventually we are on a warm patch of grass where I am forced to sit.
“Ding! You can look now,” Taehyung flicks my cap up, and I steady it on my head as I squint at him. He is grinning like an idiot.
“Why are you like this?” I sigh, but a smile wins the fight over my lips.
“Here ya go,” he delivers my chicken tortilla to me, all in one piece, and then proceeds to open a packet of sushi rolls for himself. I notice that he is also not wearing a hoodie today like me, but a denim jacket over a white t-shirt and black jeans. Wait a minute…
“Your clothes…” I point out, and he looks up, then down, then up again.
“No way…we dressed similar today!” he laughs out, clapping his hands.
“How did you know I was going to wear this jacket?” I inquire suspiciously.
He regards me just as suspiciously. “How did you know I was ALSO going to wear my denim jacket?”
“I guess we’ll never know, then,” I shrug, biting into my tortilla. Mmm, that’s good.
“It must be a couple thing,” Taehyung decides aloud with a brisk nod before taking a huge bite of his sushi roll.
“A couple thing?” I cough out, covering my mouth. “But we’re not a – oh.“
I burst into a fit of giggles and Taehyung frowns at me. “What’s so funny, huh?”
“I can’t believe I forgot…just for a second,” I sober up quickly and clear my throat, about to bring my wrap up to my mouth when he swoops in and chomps off an entire chunk for himself, winking at me as he chews. Right. In. My. Face.
“Hey, why’d you do that?” I cry.
He swallows before saying, “So you’ll never forget that we’re a couple and that I can steal your food whenever I want now.”
“That’s not how it works!” I object.
“Yes, it is, see,” he leans in again, giving me the impression that he is going to “steal” my food again, but instead he just leaves a saucy kiss on the corner of my lips. He smirks. “We’re a couple.”
“You’re gross,” I laugh out, bringing my thumb up to my lip to wipe his sloppy kiss off, but he beats me to it with his own thumb, taking the opportunity to gaze into my eyes and make my entire insides flip upside down while my heart struggles to keep up.
“That’s my job,” he claims before sitting back down, leaving me speechless once again. How does he just…do that?
“I’m still sick, ya know,” I bring up unnecessarily, but he just nods.
“I know, that’s why I got you these,” he pulls out a packet of Strepsils from his bag, and I gasp. How did he know that I just ran out?
“You’re -“
“Amazing? Baby, I know,” he forms a finger gun underneath his chin, waggling his eyebrows at me with a cheeky smile. I roll my eyes, feeling overwhelmed but amused by him.
“Thank you,” I say as I tuck the Strepsils into my pocket.
We finish our lunches separately in peace, or at least in what Taehyung defines as peace, which is him babbling about everything and anything while I listen. But this time, with the sun streaking his hair and illuminating his golden skin, it really is peace for me too.
He’s glowing.
“Ah, I’m going to lie down now, I’m so full,” he moves my bag aside and settles his head on my thigh, shutting his eyes. I blink at him, astounded, until he peeks an eye open at me. “Are you comfortable?”
“Yeah,” I smile down at him, and he closes his eyes again, his hands clasped on his stomach, one knee up and the other leg stretched out. I watch his sleeping face for a moment until I realize that I am holding my breath. As I exhale out slowly, I begin to loosely stroke his hair with my left hand, soothing the both of us.
Dappled sunlight graces his smooth tanned skin, his eyelashes are straight but long, while his lips look rosier than usual.
He’s so beautiful.
“Hey, Taehyung,” I whisper, still stroking his silky locks.
“Mm,” he hums.
I hesitate, wondering what will happen if I be like him, speaking my thoughts fearlessly aloud, expressing myself with no regrets, but I can’t do it.
“You’re too heavy,” I murmur, and it takes him a second for my words to register, but when they do, he springs up, lips parted slightly.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” his body is twisted toward me, and for the first time I can make out the outline of his waist beneath his white t-shirt. In fact, he looks so good in that denim jacket and black jeans, it’s amazing how much of a difference one outfit can make.
“Hey, Aria, you look really pretty today,” he says huskily, poking my chin with a smirk.
For a second, I forget how to speak properly. “Oh, uh, th-thank you. So do you.”
“I do?” he flutters his eyelashes at me, his face in close proximity to mine. “It must be the weather. Spring brings out my eyes,” he jokes, and I have to laugh.
“How does spring bring out your eyes?” I question, but the answer is right in front of me. His eyes are sparkling today.
“You tell me,” he brushes his nose against mine, grinning.
“I mean, they just look like regular eyes to me,” I tease.
“Aw, Aria, I am hurt,” he pouts. “Looks like I have to take your hat now.”
“What – why -“
He snatches my hat from me, slamming it onto his own head and posing with gang signs. “How do I look?”
I tug the hat over his face just like he did to me and retort with, “Like a complete idiot.”
“That’s exactly what I was going for!” he says in a funny satoori accent, shooting finger guns at me.
“Please, stop, you’re so annoying,” I laugh, blocking his finger guns with my hands.
“Annoying, huh?” he immediately attacks my waist with what I assume is an attempt at tickling, but all it does is irritate me. I arch an eyebrow at him.
“What are you doing?” I ask in satoori, and he widens his eyes.
“You’re not ticklish?” he says this as if it’s a bad thing, but to me it has become an advantage, almost like a superpower, so whenever people try to tickle me, they fail, and I would just laugh at the disappointment in their faces.
“Nope,” I pop the ‘p’ in his face, and he gasps.
“Really? Not even…here?” he attacks again at my ribs, his fingers sending a plague of goosebumps over my skin, however it is not the reaction that he is expecting, and he gives up momentarily, pouting.
“Wow, you really aren’t ticklish.”
“Yeah, so don’t try anything, okay?” I point a finger at him, and he scrutinizes it, then me.
“I bet you’re ticklish,” he says smugly as he sits on his knees, leaning forward as he stares straight through me. “Everyone’s got a weak spot and I will find yours.”
I gulp as a flood of heat invades my cheeks and he bites his lip, clearly enjoying the way everything he says has an effect on me.
“G-good luck with that,” I stammer back. He just grins as he falls back on crossed legs, finally more than five centimeters away from me. I swear there’s no such thing as personal space with Taehyung.
“Oh, Taehyung!”
I jump a little at the sudden new voice that appears from behind me, a voice that sounds deep and sexy, like chocolate, and I squint up at the stranger that Taehyung gets up to greet.
“Namjoon-hyung! Nice to see you again!”
“Yeah, you too! What happened last time…oh, is this her?”
Namjoon, who is a tall well-dressed man with a sweet dimpled smile and gelled hair styled into a spiral that swoops over his forehead, fixes his warm gaze on me, and I suddenly remember that Taehyung is still wearing my cap.
“Hi,” I wave, offering a smile, and he beams, waving at me.
“Hello, I’m Namjoon, nice to meet you…?”
“Aria,” I supply.
“Ah, Aria! Pretty name,” his dimples deepen, and I am captured by them for a moment until I hear someone clear their throat obnoxiously.
“Yah, she’s my girlfriend.”
Hearing him say it aloud is a shock to the system, even though it has been exactly four days until he held me and said, “Let’s be together from now on.” But that’s totally different from saying, “you’re my girlfriend now.”
Hearing him say it aloud only solidifies it further, a confirmation I never knew I needed.
“Oh, yeah, of course, no, I was just – I mean, Aria is a pretty name, Taehyung, come on, I wasn’t, you know,” Namjoon is a jumble of words as he is spun out of orbit by Taehyung’s threatening statement, and I can’t help but stifle a laugh at the whole ordeal.
“I know, but, Namjoon-hyung…she’s mine, got it?” Taehyung clasps a hand on Namjoon’s shoulder, giving him an intimidating stare. I see his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallows, avoiding Taehyung’s gaze.
“Yeah, I got it, don’t worry, Taehyung,” Namjoon breaks into a chuckle, and Taehyung echoes it, punching him softly as he says, “I’m just messing with you, hyung, haha!”
“You are quite the jokester, wow, so funny!” Namjoon laughs sarcastically before glancing at me, jutting a thumb at Taehyung as he says, “I don’t know how you can put up with him.”
“I don’t know either, to be honest,” I laugh. Taehyung shoots me a look that would have made me scared if I were able to take him seriously, but his jealousy is too cute.
“Alright, alright, you can go now, hyung,” Taehyung pushes Namjoon along. As he does, Namjoon waves at me, bidding me farewell, and I wave back, enjoying this little game that involves making Taehyung mad.
“Don’t wave at him, Aria!” he points at me threateningly, but I just continue to wave, laughing. Once Namjoon is gone, Taehyung strides over to me, planting his hands on his hips. I gaze up at him, giggling, especially at the way he has my cap on, all backwards and skater-boy-like, but mostly at the expression of irritation on his face.
“What’s up with you?” I stand up so that I am closer to eye-level with him, tugging gently at the hem of his jacket. He turns away from me, sulking, and I continue to giggle, riding on a new surge of confidence and power that I never knew I had in me, allowing me to grab his chin and turn his head back to face me. However, my fingers grab a little too hard, squishing his lips together like a fish which causes another explosion of giggles to tumble out of my mouth.
“You look funny.”
He pulls another face with his eyes rolled up and his lip jutting out, and I laugh again, simply entertained by his stupid antics. Is this what Namjoon meant by putting up with him? Because I sure could put up with him for a long time.
“I’m glad I look funny,” he says huskily, his arms looping around my waist. “I love making you laugh.”
“And I love laughing at you,” I retort.
“Then we’re perfect together,” he grins.
“Not as perfect as me and my hat, thank you very much,” I pluck it off his head, and in doing so a tuft of hair spikes up, making him look even more ridiculous. Taehyung looks up at it and sighs.
“Don’t worry, I got you,” I smooth it down expertly, then proceed to swoop his hair across his forehead so that it is finally visible, but only for a split second before his bangs fall together again. Oh, well, it was worth a try.
He stares at me with that unreadable yet intense expression, mouth slightly agape, and I crack a smile. “That’s my job.”
And it is only then that I truly realize.
We really are perfect together.
【★】
I have nothing to say here except that Jin’s forehead is personally out to get me and that I love those boys so much it physically hurts oof 💖
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