CONTRACT MARRIAGE ||KookV||

24

In that instant, once he laid eyes on Jungkook, Taehyung's mind drew a blank. That was a given, since someone who was once far away all of a sudden appearing before one's eyes, would of course seem as if it were a dream.

"Aren't you going to get over here and give me a hug?" Jungkook's voice travelled through the phone held tightly against the lad's ear—huskily—carrying with it a titillating heat on that cold winter night, penetrating his ear, going all the way to his heart.

Before Taehyung came to his senses, his body reacted one step faster. He ran with large strides, pulled open the gate of the front yard then bolted straight into Jungkook's waiting arms.

Jungkook's body carried a cold air, yet all Taehyung felt was warmth—a warmth that only came from Jungkook.

Taehyung held on to Jungkook's waist tightly, his face buried within the other's chest as he inhaled deeply, his eyes heated—teary.

Jungkook held the back of the smaller man's head with his palm, stroking slowly. The split second in which the youth tossed himself into his embrace, made all the longing of those days past appear as if they had at last found their place of rest.

"Tae," Grandpa's voice sounded from inside the house, waking the two. Taehyung released Jungkook, turning to answer the elderly man's call, before pulling Jungkook inside the yard.

Grandpa had just exited the kitchen with sweet potato in hand. Not seeing Taehyung once he came out, he simply thought that the lad had gone somewhere else, not at all expecting the young man to bring another back with him, and so, for a short while he was shocked, after which he asked, "And this is..."

"Grandpa, he is Jungkook," Taehyung explained, tugging Jungkook by the hem of his scarf the saying to him, "This is my grandad."

"Hello, Grandfather." Jungkook gave a humble, respectful bow as he greeted the older man.

Grandpa, upon hearing this name his own granddaughter-in-law replied with, was immediately taken aback by the respectful approach he had taken, waving quickly: "Hi, hello, there's no need for you to bow; come in and have a seat first, alright."

Taehyung pulled Jungkook to sit in the seat next to the fire, saying, "Hurry, warm up. Your hands are frozen stiff."

Such a display of affection by Taehyung, in normal times, would have definitely resulted in more than a few sentences out of that cheap mouth of Jungkook's; but before Taehyung's grandfather, he would never be so impudent, hence he simply nodded and placed his hands beside the fire.

"Why did you come here all of a sudden, huh?" Taehyung asked him, feeling the urge to reach out and help the other man rub his frigid fingers, but with his grandfather directly beside them, all he could do was restrain himself in the end.

"I just passed by to have a look," Jungkook replied while the heat from the charcoal fire dispersed the cold air which lingered on his body, allowing the crinkled space between his brows to finally flatten.

"..." Taehyung peered at the other man silently. Where could he have been going that it allowed him to pass by this family's front gate, huh!

Jungkook did not meet the younger man's eyes, instead  turning to Grandpa to say, "For taking the liberty of disturbing you, please accept my apologies, Grandfather."

"There's no need for you to say all that, you're our guest," Grandpa responded. "Have you had dinner as yet?"

"I have," Jungkook answered, but just as he was done speaking, his stomach released a growl.