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Glasses.
He has glasses.
I blink at him as he cleans the lenses, inspecting it through the light before sliding them on. Then, finally, he turns to me, the gaping girlfriend who cannot believe she never knew this about him.
“How do I look?”
“Since when did you wear glasses?” I dive straight into interrogation mode, my brain trying to process the image before me. Taehyung. In glasses. My Taehyung. Wearing his glasses.
He looks hot.
“Since…early high school?”
I gasp.
“And you never told me? Or wore them in front of me?” For some reason I feel betrayed, but he just sends me a sheepish smile.
“I was embarrassed,” he confesses. “I thought you’d think I was lame or something.”
I fight the urge to roll my eyes. “Taehyung, sweetie, glasses are not lame. Why would you think that?”
I notice him avoid my eyes, playing with the silver ring on his thumb that he wears sometimes, and that’s when I figure it out. “Did you get teased?”
He nods, swallowing. “Yeah. Just once, by my friends. Then I stopped wearing it. To be cooler,” he looks up, his eyes even more emphasized by the glasses so that his gaze on me is even more unsettling than ever.
“Taehyung,” I clasp his face between my palms, the fading bruises still evident against his smooth skin even after ten days. “You’re cool no matter what. Got it?”
His eyes sparkle, lips tugging into a half-smile that blooms into its full potential. “I love you,” he says in that casual way of his, except this is more than just an “I love you.” The three words mean so much more now. Since that one night.
“I love you too. Now let’s study, okay?”
I let go of him reluctantly, but not before he sneaks a kiss on my cheek, something he does a lot, but it never fails to…take me by surprise.
We finally finished the semester, the long grueling second semester of the year, and we are now preparing for our exams. It’s strange, to have someone beside me while I study as opposed to last time, when I would hole up in my bedroom for days, doing so many practice questions that my head would spin and I felt like I was going insane.
Having Taehyung next to me keeps me from going insane. He keeps me sane.
But most importantly, he keeps me company.
Eomma has a job now, working shifts at a Korean restaurant in the city that is owned by a family that are friends of Taehyung’s parents. And apparently Taehyung is friends with the youngest son, Jin, who is currently overseas somewhere, working, while the oldest son is married with a child on the way.
“You have to meet him one day, when he comes back to visit,” Taehyung told me with great admiration for this Jin guy. “He’s the funniest person I know. And he has the widest shoulders I have ever seen!”
It was strange, to hear about his other friends, friends that sounded trustworthy and decent, unlike those friends who bullied and pressured him to do things he shouldn’t. He had good friends, but then they went away somewhere, or were too busy with their own lives to look after Taehyung the way he needs to be. The way I take care of him now.
I can’t help but want to protect him from the world, now and forever.
“Aria, I’m tired,” he yawns, nudging his floppy head of hair onto my shoulder and forcing me to abandon my notes, stroking his thick dark locks. “Should we go visit your mum at the restaurant?”
I nod, my stomach crying at the prospect of eating a proper meal. We studied until sunset so that when we leave the university library, the skies are bleeding pink and orange, bathing the entire campus in a romantic glow. We lean against each other with heavy backpacks, dragging ourselves along to the tram stop before catching one to the heart of the city where the restaurant is located.
It’s our second time eating here.
“Eomma!” I shout as soon as I spot her behind the counter, and she hushes me.
“Aria! Don’t call me that here, I’m at work!”
“Aw, your daughter is here!” Jin’s mother emerges from behind her with a wide smile at me before turning to look at Taehyung. “Ah, Taehyung too!”
“Would you two like a table?” my mother goes back into professional mode in front of her boss, who we both greet with a bow before following Eomma to a table for two.
“We’ll have the usual!” I order, and my mother rolls her eyes at me.
“You mean exactly what you had yesterday when you came?”
I grin sheepishly. “Yeah…”
Once our samgyeopsal arrives along with various side dishes, we dive in, eating and chatting happily. Even though our exams are in a week’s time, life is so good. Almost too good…
“Thank you for the meal! We ate well!” just like last time, we bid our farewells, our stomachs so full that we can barely walk. Since Eomma has the night shift, this means I get to have the apartment to myself every night.
“You’re coming with me, right?” I cling onto Taehyung’s jacket with a giddy grin, but suddenly his phone rings, and I have to break apart from him to allow him access to his pocket.
“Hello? Oh. Oh, I totally forgot. Okay. I’ll be home soon. Bye.”
“You have to go home?” I pout, and he nods, his thick eyebrows slightly scrunched together.
“Yeah. I forgot my grandparents landed this morning from Korea,” he sighs. “All they’re gonna do is ask me how my studies are going, and when I’m going to move back to Korea to start taking over their business.”
“What are you gonna say?” I ask, fiddling with the zipper of his jacket.
“That I want to stay here. With you,” he purses his lips like a sulking child. “And that I don’t want to think about that yet.”
“But you have to. Eventually,” I tell him gently.
Taehyung huffs. “I know, but – ah, I wish I could just come with you,” he loops his arms around my waist and nuzzles his nose into my neck, right here on the street, making me shiver but flush with heat as he whispers, “I wish we could spend the night together.”
“Taehyung…” I give him a stern look that hides the raging storm within me, and he smirks down at me, licking his lips.
“I’ll walk you to the train station, yeah?” he takes my hand, acting as if he didn’t just breathe the fire of desire into my skin. This guy…
Parting is such sweet sorrow with this guy, but he promises to text me later, as we always do, falling asleep with our phones in our hands and smiles on our faces from whatever sweet message we received from the other. I get on the train, alone, watching the darkness whoosh past like infinity, and then I step off at my platform, smiling as I remember all the times he walked me home from here, all the stolen kisses along the way, the drunken conversations and lost shoes.
I don’t notice the sound of a motorbike entering the street as I enter the foyer of the apartment, taking the elevator up to my floor. My bag is so heavy, but I’m glad I got a lot of study done today. Only a couple of weeks left until I am free.
The apartment is eerily quiet save for the humming of the fridge, so I decide to turn the TV on, just for some background noise to fill the emptiness. I like silence, but not the kind that makes me feel like the last person alive. I wonder if I should shower now, or later, just before bed, or maybe I should just flop down on the couch and watch something because I’ve worked hard the entire day.
I end up taking a shower after watching the end of a family movie that was on channel nine, since we don’t have Netflix or anything like that. By that time it’s almost ten o’clock, which means Eomma should be coming home soon.
Just as this thought crosses my mind, I hear a knock on the door. And then another. I frown.
“Eomma?”
Did she forget her keys or something? Why is she knocking?
I approach the door and swing it open, but…no one’s there. Did I imagine it or –
I stick my head out to check the hallway, and then suddenly I feel a hand over my mouth, while another grips my hip.
“Guess…who,” the rank breath slurs into my ear while I squirm, but the more I struggle, the tighter his hold becomes, like a boa constrictor who has captured its prey.
It doesn’t help that he’s stronger than me, so much so that he manages to drag me down the hallway a couple meters until I manage to elbow him in the stomach, momentarily stopping him. But that only angers him, and as I try to escape, he pins me against the wall, the stench of his intoxication suffocating me with his proximity as his eyes pore over me, hungrily, drunkenly, predatorily.
“You’re not too bad, you know. Definitely baby Tae’s type,” he sneers, his words freezing me as my blood runs cold and my heartbeat rings in my ears like sirens. “It’s a shame he’s not here to see me do – “
“Get the fuck away from me you sicko,” I utter in the deadliest voice I can muster, but this only triggers a laugh from his side, a laugh that translates to evil.
“Oh, but why should I? I’m drunk, and I need someone to…satisfy me,” his breath is hot and putrid against my skin as he moves in even closer, too close, so I kick out a leg, hitting his groin, and he immediately lets me go, groaning in pain. So I take the chance to escape, dashing back into the safety of my apartment and shutting the door.
But the door doesn’t shut.
Something’s pushing against it from the other side until it gives way.
And that’s when chaos ensues.
“You little bitch!”
He storms into the apartment, driven by rage, while I scramble back, grabbing the nearest object that I can use for defense – an umbrella. With trembling fingers, I slide the handle so that it bursts in his face as he approaches me, but then the unexpected happens. He grabs the umbrella and rips it away so that it flies out of my grasp, leaving nothing between him and I. Shit.
“You really think that’s gonna stop me?” he cackles, swaying slightly as he stalks toward me with a malicious grin. “I’m a dangerous man, Aria. Or did you forget what I’m capable of?”
Shaking, I grab a pillow from the couch, chucking it in his face as a temporary distraction while I reach out for the landline, dialing triple zero, but just as I’m about to hit call, fingers curl around my wrist, squeezing so hard I let out a cry, the receiver falling from my hand as my wrist feels like it’s close to broken.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” his voice is calm and icy as his shark eyes pierce through me.
“My mum will be home soon,” I say in a voice that is braver than I feel, but he just laughs again.
“Your mum won’t be able to help you either.” And that’s when he pulls out a handgun from his leather jacket pocket. “So I suggest you co-operate, or I’ll shoot your brains out, bitch.”
He clicks the gun to prove that it’s loaded, and I swallow thickly. What do I do?
With the gun cocked at me, he shoves me onto the couch, unbuckling his belt and pinning me down with his knees so that I cannot move, and as much as I struggle and scream, he just clamps a hand over my mouth, suffocating me with his weight as I fight him to the end because I will NOT let him win. Even if he does have a gun.
“Stay still you little bitch,” he commands, grabbing both my wrists and holding them above my head. He hovers over me with a perverted gaze, tracing the barrel of the gun along my jawline, leaning in with liquor breath to whisper, “Now let’s see if the copy is as good as the original.”
I spit in his face, making him rear back, disgusted. “You need help you fucking freak.”
“Should you really be saying that to the man with the gun?” he presses the cold metal under my chin, gritting his teeth. When I don’t answer, he smirks. “That’s what I thought.”
He strokes the gun along my face, and I bite my lip to keep it from wobbling as tears threaten to spill. I don’t breathe when his hands roam my body so sickeningly, touching me in ways that no one should, no one except someone I love, but that someone isn’t here. No one is here to save me. No one but me, the trapped, helpless and vulnerable. But maybe I’m not completely helpless. Maybe I can save myself. If I can somehow get my hands on that gun…
In the blink of an eye, I wrench one of my arms out from his grip and grab the handle of the gun, pointing it to the ceiling while wrestling with his massive form.
“Let – go!” he grunts, but I don’t let go, not even when he wraps a hand around my throat, choking me until my entire head is throbbing. I don’t let go when I knee his privates, releasing his hand from my throat while the other remains on the gun. I don’t let go when the gun goes off, an ear-piercing sound that harmonizes with the scream that projects from my mouth, so loud and so sudden that I don’t even register where it shot, or rather, who it shot.
It’s all in his eyes, his dark beady eyes which are now struck with shock, because what have I done? What have I done?
“Fucking bitch!”
He falls to the ground, clutching the wound which is quick to spread on his thigh, a blooming patch of crimson black, staining the carpet. Mum’s gonna kill me.
It’s funny, that that’s the first thought I had, instead of, I’ve just shot someone.
And not just anyone.
Victor Long.
Notorious gang leader and underground criminal on probation, a dangerous man with a psychotic, perverted mindset and sociopathic tendencies.
A man who now lies curled up in a ball, bleeding on the living room carpet.
“Fuck!” he keeps yelling out in pain while I just stand there, shaking as I stare at the gun in my hands.
“Fuck.”
【★】
I’m so sorry I haven’t updated in over a month and a half but I had summer school and an exam and life got in the way! Anyways, this story is ending soon I swear 😅 and then I will focus on Destined and hopefully start Yoongi’s story! And then after Yoongi is Seokjin and I’m especially excited to start his story because he is my bias and his story will have a lot of connections to Yoongi’s as well as Taehyung’s so look forward to it!!
anyways i hope you are all well i’m so happy to be back writing you have idea how hard it was for me to write this chapter ugh 😫
Dedicated to akfoodlover for being the 800th vote! I can’t believe how much the story has grown over the time I was inactive from it wow thank you so much for reading everyone! Don’t forget to vote so I can thank you all individually uwu ❤
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