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“Yes, your honour.”
When I return to my seat, Taehyung engulfs me in a hug, whispering, “You did so well.”
Shaking, I nod, my mouth drier than the Sahara. From the corner of my eye, I can see the back of Victor’s head. I can’t bear to look at him during the entire trial, but when I do, he looks so…dead inside. A pathetic hunched figure in a wheelchair, his eyes hollow and jaw locked, surprisingly silent for once.
I guess there’s not much to say when you’re about to spend the next five years in jail.
It’s only when he notices Nadia, who came to see him one last time, that something stirs within his dead gaze, and he visibly transforms.
“Nadia?”
Taehyung and my mother cling onto me from either side, two physical and emotional crutches, as we leave the courtroom together, but we halt in our tracks when we hear the sound of his voice, and then Nadia’s, from behind us.
“You fucking idiot!” she cries, and we watch as she approaches Victor, who is handcuffed to a wheelchair wheeled by an officer.
“What are you doing here?” he looks so shocked to see her, and his features soften with an emotion I’ve never seen on him. Affection.
“I’m here to see you one last time,” is Nadia’s reply, eliciting a scornful laugh from Victor.
“You’re saying that as if I got the death penalty. It’s only five years.”
“You really don’t give a shit, do you?” Nadia scoffs. “You know, I’m glad I got out while I could. If it weren’t for Jin -“
Now it’s Victors turn to scoff. “You’re still with that pretty boy?”
“Yes, in fact, we’re getting married,” she flashes the ring.
“You’re better off just selling it,” Vic spits, enraging Nadia.
“You know, I came to say goodbye, Vic, but now it feels more like a good riddance. I’m glad you’re going to jail. You should’ve gone to jail years ago.”
“If I went to jail years ago, you would’ve gone there with me,” Vic cackles. “You and I both know that.”
“Fuck you,” Nadia sneers, and Vic just continues to cackle as the officer wheels him away.
“He’s lost his fucking mind,” she says once she joins us, shaking her head in disbelief.
“He can’t lose something he never had to begin with,” Taehyung quips, earning a laugh from Nadia, my mum and I.
“I don’t know about you guys but sending a criminal to jail always gives me the rumblies, so should we all go back to the restaurant for lunch?” my mother pipes up.
“Yes, I’m starving!” Nadia cheers. “Let’s go!”
We head to the restaurant, where Jin is serving customers and helping his mother run the shop. As soon as we enter his eyes light up, focusing mainly on his wife-to-be, who attacks him with a constricting embrace and a crimson kiss, leaving a lipstick stain on his lips. We all laugh at him, most of all Taehyung, who clings onto Jin while doubling over and pointing.
“What? Why are you all laughing?” Jin looks so confused until we tell him, and when he looks at himself in a silver spoon, he smirks.
“I look even more beautiful now.”
Taehyung whacks his arm, still laughing, while Nadia says, “Let me know if you need a touch up later, okay, babe?”
Jin checks his reflection one more time with a pensive expression. “Hm, you know, I think I could use a little more colour…” he winks at Nadia, who dissolves into a fit of giggles before running over and giving him one more peck.
Taehyung pulls a face, coming up beside me and hissing, “Are we as annoying as them?”
I slide my arm around his waist and whisper close to his ear, “I think we’re much worse.”
Taehyung shivers at the feeling of my breath on his neck, and while Jin escorts us all through the busy restaurant to an empty table, he leans over to murmur, “Wanna prove it?”
“What?” I rear back from him just as we reach the booth we are to sit in, and he flashes a conniving grin.
“You sit first,” he ushers me into the seat, sliding in beside me while my mother and Nadia sit across from us, deep in conversation.
We browse the menus, even though we already know everything on them by heart, and then we give our orders to a man with bright rosy lips and broad shoulders who keeps flirting with one of the customers who also happens to be his fiancée.
“You guys are adorable,” I gush to Nadia once Jin leaves.
“We know,” is her smug reply. “But so are you,” she winks at us, taking notice of Taehyung’s arm constantly around me, the way we are glued together all the time like two sides of the same sandwich. “I can see you guys getting married one day,” she finishes with a sly grin, and for some reason my cheeks flare up with colour as Taehyung just chuckles.
“That’s the plan, right?”
“They better get married one day, otherwise what’s the point?” my mother says this jokingly, but in her eyes, I can tell she means it.
“We’ll see,” I simper, and Taehyung turns to look down at me with a fierce gaze.
“Yah, what do you mean we’ll see? Do I have to propose to you right now?” he almost growls, and I gulp at the look in his eyes until he breaks into a wide grin.
“I’m just kidding, Aria, why did you look so scared?”
He’s laughing but I notice the way he extracts his arm from me, shifting over just the slightest and giving me more space, almost as if he’s…offended.
And he continues to sulk during the meal, not saying much or smiling as much, which goes unnoticed by Nadia and my mother as their boisterous chatter is enough to fill up the entire room, two fiery personalities overpowering the earth and water of Taehyung and I.
So when we finish the meal and leave the restaurant I approach Taehyung, slipping my slender hand into his large palm and peering up at him.
“Hey,” I clasp his cheek, forcing him to look at me, and for a moment I just indulge in his beauty, at the way his silky dark hair curls at the ends, almost obscuring his large dark eyes that take me in now. I let my fingers stroke the shaggy ends of his hair that curl at his neck, desperately in need of a haircut, but I know he won’t get one.
“You know I’d love to marry you one day, right? Right?”
He nods, pouting, and I smile fondly, delicately removing a stray eyelash from his cheekbone.
“Taehyung-ah…don’t sulk,” I purse my lips, and he frowns.
“I’m not sulking,” he mumbles, glancing down.
“Yes you are, you big baby,” I wrap my arms around his neck, smirking up at him. “You think I can’t tell when you’re sulking?”
“I wasn’t sulking,” he denies cutely, and I laugh, leaning forward to kiss the tip of his nose with his face still clutched in my hands.
“There. Is my baby happy now?”
The corner of his lips lifts into a sliver of a smile, but he fights it with a puckered brow. “No.”
So I smooch his cheek, his squishy cheeks that have become more swollen due to all the food he’s been eating lately, and I laugh as he struggles to fight the smile on his lips. “How about now?”
“Aria, stop teasing me,” he growls, and in a twirl he’s dipped me, the only thing stopping me from falling onto the floor being his hand supporting the arch of my back as he hovers over my lips. With a smirk, he kisses me, right there on the city street, and when we’re done there’s the sound of someone clapping.
“That was quite a show,” says the unfamiliar voice, still clapping. “What drama was that from again?”
Taehyung turns, still holding me in this precarious position, but as soon as he sees the owner of the voice I am dropped, collapsing onto the cold hard ground with a loud thump.
“Jimin?”
I look up, wincing in pain, to see a guy a little shorter than Taehyung, wearing a black t-shirt and black ripped jeans that match his black hair which he sweeps back from his high forehead, plump lips spreading into a grin as he regards his friend.
“Surprise!” he holds out his arms, and Taehyung attacks the boy in a bear hug, almost toppling over as they sway in a long, muffled embrace, and when they pull apart Taehyung is wiping his eyes while Jimin laughs at him.
“Yah, why are you crying? You’re gonna make me cry too!”
“You idiot, why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” Taehyung laughs through his tears, and Jimin smiles.
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, it worked,” Taehyung pulls him into another hug that suffocates the smaller man, all while I’m still on the ground, watching silently. And it’s Jimin who finally notices me, regarding me with a knowing smile.
“Ah, you must be Aria! Taehyung,” he hits his friend. “Why did you drop the poor girl? Are you okay?” he rushes over to me, grabbing my hand and hauling me up, and for a moment I am captivated in the way his eyes glimmer in the sunlight, charmed by his slightly crooked smile.
“I’m okay,” I beam.
“Well, I think you’re more than okay,” Jimin scans his eyes over me with a smirk.
“Yah, you punk!” Taehyung shoves Jimin aside, glaring at him. “Stop flirting with my girlfriend!”
“I’m not flirting!” Jimin exclaims innocently, holding up his hands, but Taehyung isn’t convinced, slinging an arm around my shoulders protectively.
“Yeah, right. If I catch you doing it again, you’re dead meat, got it?”
“That’s no way to talk to your angel hyung,” but by the devilish gleam of mischief in his slanted eyes, he is anything but an angel.
“Angel hyung?” I repeat. So he’s older than Taehyung?
“Yah, angel hyung, how did you find me? When did you get here? And why is your hair black, I thought it was blonde?” Taehyung begins with all the questions, and Jimin answers them all while we head back into the restaurant. My mother went off with Nadia to shop for wedding stuff, the two hitting it off so well that they’re practically best friends, so it’s just us now, along with Jimin, who hasn’t eaten yet, so we have to sit with him so that he won’t be alone.
It’s only been minutes since I’ve met Jimin, and already he is the clingiest flirtiest person I have ever met.
No wonder him and Taehyung get along.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Taehyung says for the hundredth time, touching Jimin’s hand while he eats and making me feel like a third wheel.
“You did say to hurry up and come, and my break started just a couple of days ago so I caught the first flight here,” Jimin grins, a fleck of sauce lingering at the corner of his lip even after licking it, so Taehyung goes ahead and wipes it away for him with a napkin.
“Aw, thank you, sweetie,” Jimin winks.
“Sweetie?” I echo, while Taehyung grins like an idiot.
“Jimin-ah, I missed your black hair, you look even better now,” he gushes.
“Really? I think I look better blonde,” Jimin scrunches his brow. “But the ladies love when I go black.” He glances at me with a playful smile. “Don’t you agree?”
“No, she doesn’t,” Taehyung deadpans.
“Black does suit you,” I nod, enjoying the way Taehyung flares up at our interactions.
“But wait til you see me blonde. I’m even more beautiful,” Jimin flicks his hair, then burst into giggles, his eyes disappearing completely. “Ah, I’m so embarrassed.”
“You should be,” Jin says as he passes by, still working hard helping his mother around the restaurant.
Jimin stops laughing to give him a death glare, and Jin’s only response is to stick his tongue out before disappearing into the kitchen. Jimin scoffs.
“Wow, he really hasn’t changed, has he?”
“Nope,” Taehyung laughs, then stops himself. “Yah, hurry up, me and Aria are not gonna sit here all day watching you eat.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m eating, see?” Jimin shoves a spoonful of white rice and bulgogi ostentatiously before almost choking.
“Careful,” Taehyung fusses over him like a mother, pouring him some water, and he accepts it gratefully, while I continue to feel like a third wheel.
Am I seriously jealous of his best friend? Really, Aria?
“I gotta go to the bathroom,” I excuse myself, letting them have their alone time, but also to have some of my own.
When I return, they’re giggling over something, and I sigh.
“Are you done?” I don’t mean to sound rude, but it seems to come out that way, and Jimin looks scared for a second, before breaking into a sweet smile.
“Yes, I ate well! Thanks for staying with me, guys.”
“Of course, anything for my best friend in the whole wide world,” Taehyung ruffles Jimin’s hair with a loving smile as they stand up, and I scowl.
I thought I was his best friend in the whole wide world.
We end up taking the tram to the beach, since it’s a warm day, and we can’t let the sunshine go to waste! It’s the first time I’m going to the beach with Taehyung, but that’s not important because Jimin is here and I watch them skip along the shore and throw dead seaweed at each other while I sit on the sand, wondering if I should just leave Taehyung so he can live happily ever after with his best friend in the whole wide world, Jimin.
“Aria! Come play with us!”
Taehyung waves at me, and I shake my head. “No, it’s okay! You guys enjoy yourselves!”
He flips me a thumbs up just as Jimin scoops a handful of seawater onto Taehyung’s head, making him turn around and chase him into the waves, getting his pant completely wet. Eventually they both end up drenched, and I watch in fascination as Jimin takes off his black t-shirt, revealing a sculpted chest, much more chiseled and muscular than Taehyung, who doesn’t take his shirt off.
It takes all the strength I have left in me not to stare.
“Aria, we’re gonna build sandcastles!” Taehyung runs up to me, dripping wet, and he shakes his hair, spraying me in the ocean’s tears, while Jimin follows behind, looking like he stepped out of a commercial with his wet hair slicked back and droplets of water cascading from his six pack.
Unfortunately, I forget to look away this time, and Taehyung notices.
“Hey!” he attacks Jimin, shoving his t-shirt into his chest and ordering him to put it on right now or he’s gonna strangle him with it. Jimin obliges while Taehyung blocks him from my view. I laugh, amused that he’s acting so jealous when I’m the one who has more reason to be jealous.
“You guys want ice cream?” Jimin asks as Taehyung plops down next to me on the sand, running his fingers through his damp hair.
“Only if you pay,” Taehyung replies.
“Of course, I’m going to pay. Who do you think I am?” Jimin kicks some sand in his direction, but some of it gets in my face due to the wind.
“Oh, did that get you? I’m sorry!” Jimin apologizes profusely, making it impossible to hate him. And it gets even harder to hate him once I get my butterscotch ice cream, suddenly not minding that I am a third wheel. Free ice cream just has that effect on me.
It’s already late afternoon as we stroll along the beach while finishing our ice creams. We pass by a volleyball game with girls in bikinis and guys with perfect bodies, and just as I’m about to take a bite of my ice cream I feel something hard hit the side of my head, causing my ice cream to fall into the sand.
Face.
Down.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I – Aria?”
I look up only to find myself face to face with none other than Ella, clad in a bright pink bikini, her blonde hair framing her flushed face, holding the ball that just hit me in the head, and in that moment, I really don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
This day really can’t get any worse, can it?
“Ella,” I greet her with as much enthusiasm as I can, and she grins.
“Wow, fancy seeing you here! Also, I’m so sorry for hitting you. Oh, no, is that your ice cream?” she notices the sad melted pile of cold dessert on the sand in front of me, and I nod pitifully.
“Aria, what happened?” Taehyung and Jimin run up to us, finally noticing that I was not at their side since they were so caught up in their own world that they didn’t see me get hit by a ball.
“I’m okay,” I assure them, even though I’m really not, but their attention is no longer on me anymore. It’s on Ella.
“I see you guys made up,” she crosses her arms over her chest while glaring at Taehyung, and I frown, wondering why she is looking at him like that.
“Of course we did,” Taehyung replies calmly. Meanwhile, Jimin has not stopped gaping at Ella as if she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.
“Yo, Ella, what’s taking so long? Throw us the ball!” a guy with wild curly hair shouts from among the volleyball players who watch us impatiently.
“Oops, sorry!” Ella is about to throw the ball back when she pauses, considering something. “You guys don’t wanna join us, do you? We could use some extra players,” she says this with her eyes fixated on Jimin, who flashes her his crooked smile.
“I’d love to play,” he says in a voice much deeper than the one he usually talks in, and so he follows Ella to the game, flinging his shirt off in the process.
Taehyung and I watch on the side lines, sharing the last bites of his watermelon sorbet gelato as the sun descends towards the horizon, setting a golden glow over the volleyball players.
“I’m sorry,” Taehyung sighs. “I got too excited about Jimin that I didn’t pay attention to you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I say genuinely, leaning against his shoulder and lacing my fingers with his. “I completely understand.”
“You do?”
“Of course. You’ve known Jimin longer, and he’s your best friend in the whole wide world, so how could I compete?”
“Aria,” he gives me a look. “You’ll always be the most special to me in my heart. Jimin is special to me too, but…I mean, just look at him. He’s a total idiot.”
We laugh as his point is proven right in front of us, watching Jimin flex his biceps and abdominal muscles for the ladies, causing them all to giggle as he flirts with them, especially Ella who goes as far as touching his abs.
“I love him, I really do, but he can be too much sometimes,” Taehyung chuckles. “You on the other hand…” he flings an arm around my shoulders, peering down at me with hooded eyes and a fond smile. “I can never get enough of you.”
I can’t help the flutter in my heart and the smile that invades my lips, never leaving even when he presses his soft sweet watermelon-flavoured lips to mine.
Never leaving because that’s what we’ll be doing, for as long as we can help it, for as long as our hearts can beat for each other. We’re never leaving what we’ve survived together, what we’ve endured together, what we’ve found together, because to do that would be incredibly stupid, and we’re not stupid. Just…incredibly in love.
Or maybe, we are both. But at least, in all our stupid love, we won’t be alone.
And perhaps, in this life, we’ll never be alone again.
The End
【★】
AAAHHH IT’S FINISHED!!!
Thank you to everyone who supported me on this looong journey, I especially want to thank Jamsnbun for being such a welcoming supportive friend and Petal_Drops for making so many wonderful covers for this story! You guys are the best and I love you so much 💖
Thank you to everyone who voted and commented and read Hooded! It means so much to me as it’s my first bangtan au but not my first novel haha! I have a whole other wattpad account for my other fiction stories but I made @sereneuphoria specifically for BTS fiction, mainly because I always wanted to try writing some and I’m glad I gave it a go because I love it! And writing about the members is so easy to do because I know them so well and I love them so much it’s like writing about your best friends :’)
Anyways, I won’t bore you with more big paragraphs, I just want to express my gratitude to the lovely peeps who gave this story a go, I know how difficult it is to get people to read your stories so the fact that you even added this to your library is such an honour to me and I’m forever grateful x
Like I said, this story is based on a lot of true things for me and it really did get me through the long uni days and gave me something to look forward to. Aria and I share a lot in common and writing her story helped me deal with a lot of my own personal stuff, and just like Aria, I’ve learned to let people into my life and open myself up more to the world, because it’s not easy. And for all my fellow loners out there, don’t isolate yourself, life’s too short to spend it alone, don’t be afraid to reach out and talk to people. I used to be so afraid to start conversations and now I find myself doing it so naturally and easily, and there was a time when I isolated myself a lot and didn’t have many friends but now there’s not a day that goes by where I feel alone and honestly it’s so nice. Life’s so good :’)
Oops, looks like I bored you with more big paragraphs =O.O=
I love you all, sending virtual hugs to everyone reading this 💞💞
p.s. don’t forget to read Destined 😋
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