Body Talk

31: Trust and Tension

Thundering.

Taehyung could feel his heart thundering on nervous fire as he listens closely to the person on the other line of Haneul's phone. Sure enough —it was his greatest fear— A stranger's voice resonates in plain white silence, the secret almost slipping from the edge of the cliff.

"Han Soa? I do remember someone like this in my tuition school." The voice mentions in response.

Taehyung immediately grabs the phone from the unsuspecting Haneul and hangs up. The female shoots him an annoyed look for a split second, but readjusts as she sees what's in front of her.

Oh gosh. If I was even one second late, it would've been bad, Taehyung gulps as the thought runs through his head.

Haneul smiles in a sickly sweet manner. "...I believe I've seen you before. In the boxing gathering, right?"

"Cut the horseshit." Taehyung's eyes flared in a fiery glare. "You tased an innocent person right in front of me. Should I call the police here as well?"

Haneul flinches a little and her facade falls as soon as the threat reaches her ears. She steps back a little.

"....Alright. What do you want?" She says cautiously.

"If." He starts. "....I ever see you prying around again, I'll get the police involved. Assaulting someone calls for a hefty price to pay, you know."

Haneul's face twists as Taehyung types something in his phone, flashing the screen in bold font. "Article 2, Term 1. Imprisonment for 5 years or under a bail of ten million KRW."

"You little...." She mumbles under her breath.

Taehyung observes her expression for a slight moment, his clouded eyes in disgust and disinterest. He turns around to leave, but soon stops in his tracks. "....You know," he stares into the ground, deep in thought.

"...I once thought that girls like you were attractive. But compared to a certain someone I know, you're nothing." He says.

"...and I'm sure Jungkook thinks exactly this way, too."

_______________________________________

<Soa>

It's only been a few days since that incident with Jimin, who had us all figured out from the beginning.....even before Jungkook. I thought he was just a clueless child, but Jimin was a lot sharper and smarter than most people combined.

"I just thought you must've had a circumstance that you needed to be a man, so I wasn't going to question that." Jimin responds simply as his hands move carefully to place the flowers in the vase beside my hospital bed. "Besides, it was fun seeing Jungkook with heart eyes around you all the time."

And ever since he made that statement, Jungkook started being flustered around me more often. He stares at me from time to time, before turning away to hide his flushed ears. It's cute. Despite all the teasing, Jungkook never failed to take care of me in the ward, occasionally sleeping over in the couch at the corner because he claims quote-on-quote, "recovery is faster if he helps and it's not because he misses me when he's alone or anything"

But we didn't talk about one topic. Our official relationship with each other.

Not gonna lie, it bothered me more than I thought. Maybe it's because it's the pretense of our responsibilities, and the fear of stepping into the unknown, that we haven't made the plunge yet. Jungkook knew well that I liked him but he seemed determined to wait till the both of us were ready.