An honest lie | Kim Taehyung (editing*)

- Lack of pure trust -

XXVI

Taehyung hit the brake and felt his jaw almost detaching from his skull at the sight in front of him.

"You've got to be kidding me." He mumbled to himself, catching Ms. Concetta's attention.

"What'd you say, dear?"

He glimpsed at her and smiled awkwardly. "Oh, no nothing. Is this where you live then?" He asked to verify his doubts.

She looked at the building. "Yes, almost 39 years now." She paused with a sigh. "Alright then, thank you very much for the lift, handsome detective." She snickered at her own description of him as he reddened and looked away.

"Umh, sure... it was my pleasure. Good night then."

"If you ever happen to pass by, please come inside for some tea. I'd love the company, and so will a dear neighbor of mine. She's always alone and doesn't know when to stop working. Maybe you could help her get out more."

"I uhh... not sure I would be of any help." He smiled uncomfortably, considering the fact he might not be any better than said neighbor.

"Nonsense, once she sees you I'm sure she will change her mind." With that said she got out of the car with difficulty due to her legs hurting. Noticing her struggle Taehyung unbuckled his seat belt and was about to open the door and go help her when she stopped him.

"It's alright, I got this." She reassured with a ckeeky smile.

He remained seated and watched as she closed the door and headed for the small gate. His dark orbs followed her slow figure until she walked in the familiar small gate welcoming the all so familiar building.

He ever so slowly looked up the structure, following the outlines of each balcony, illuminated by the whitish light of the full moon, until he stopped at the third one. Its window's lights were switched off. Nobody was home.

He frowned.

Maybe she's sleeping.

He checked the time on his phone and tilted his head. "It's still early though..."

Just as he raised his eyes again, he spotted a figure walking slowly towards the gate. He immediately darted closer to the window and saw her. A sudden tingling feeling submerged from the inside once he recognized the one person he could not figure out at all.

She slowed down with each step she took and came to a stop just before entering. She looked up at the dark blue sky and breathed put with a slight lowering of her shoulders as to relax her sore muscles.

He stared at her curiously and watched as she turned and walked around the corner.

Taehyung scowled and didn't even questioned his action before he opened the door, getting out of the car while debating whether he should follow her. As she left his sight he huffed and took his jacket from the seat before shutting the door.

Screw it.

He ran behind her while putting it on and finally caught up to her, still keeping a distance to not let himself be seen. Not really knowing why he was following her, nor why he was hiding in the first place, he kept up the act until she walked towards a yard full of garages and stopped a couple of meters from her.

Eda took out some keys from her jeans and searched for the one she was looking for to open the white metallic door that was keeping her from accessing her car.

But as the clicking noise kept going, the keys suddenly fell from her hands causing even more noise from the impact of the hard ground.

"Shit..." she cursed under her breath while picking them up and slowly losing her patience.