Memories | Taekook

Memories

Taehyung ran. Ran as fast as he can. Till his lungs gave out. He couldn't be late for his first high-profile client. He first spill a not-so-tiny drop of concealer on his crisp white blouse. Then he almost locked himself out without taking any of his car keys. God bless his hunk of a neighbour who kindly offered him a lift (french men and their manners 🤌🏻), but then he could only drop him to a certain distance in the heavy traffic in Paris. He was already low on his tea and the vending machine in his office broke up.

The day couldn't get any worse, could it? Oh, wait! It could! Because now he was running for his lunch meeting on an empty stomach. Clearly nervous and nauseous. It was his first high-profile client in the company. He had worked with some earlier, but that time he wasn't solely responsible for it. He was either assisting someone or working along with other experienced designers in a team. Also, something about this client was scaring him. This was supposed to be a top-secret project of his label. So he wasn't given a name or face. Just knew it was some international athlete. His boss wanted him to design these pieces without any preoccupied notions. The concept of it was 'freeware'. Clothes that go beyond stereotypes. So he had worked for a ghost, you can say.

And now he is chasing that ghost in this fancy hotel. That's not what he signed up for. This athlete was supposed to meet him in the meeting room they booked for them, but instead the athlete thought they better talk in the poolside restaurant situated on the far opposite side of that fancy hotel. So he was running, till his lungs burned out. Till he couldn't feel his legs anymore. Why? Because he didn't want to look tardy in this moody client's eyes. He would act professionally and prove that he can be trusted with the big fishes!

He finally reached the poolside VIP table and patted himself a bit to make his appearance a bit decent. He needs to impress this celebrity, he has to. Only then they will allow him to do something worthwhile. 'It's a first step towards your own label Tae.' He told himself.

And then he walked to the table. Trying to hold his steps and breathing in at the right pace. He walked around it, and from there he could see a figure clad in black occupying the table. 'Must be the big boy', he thought. Broad shoulders and an even broader back, long hair, his tattooed fingers in that hair; attempting to make a man bun but failing every time he tried because the hair in that wolf cut was just so unruly. The figure reminded him of someone, but he didn't want to acknowledge it. 'That memory is long gone', he thought.

Pushing himself to behave more professionally, he shifted his attention to the athlete whose style made him a bit more nervous than he already was. He didn't seem to be very fond of the colours which were all Taehyung was about!

He decided to let his insecurities take the backseat and walked towards the other side of the table with confident strides. He turned to greet the client. Though he is in Paris, his Korean roots always make him greet a person with at least a 90⁰ bow! So he naturally bent down.

But when his head come up to introduce himself, he paused. His body couldn't move.
'No! This cannot be happening. I cannot afford to be hallucinating on this important day. Why am I seeing him now? Out of all the days, why my brain has been going kookoo today!'

"Tae..." He heard the other whisper.
Was he hearing voices now? What kind of joke was his brain playing with him? He was freaking out.

"Tae... is that.. is that really you? Oh God!" The hallucination spoke in a shaky voice, while standing up. He whispered something to the group of people standing beside which Taehyung had not noticed till now somehow. He saw them scatter away hesitantly, going to stand an earshot away from them. Maybe they were part of the security, or managers. Maybe. But...

But why would he hallucinate a bunch of people? What was happening to him?

"Taehyung, hey! Are you, are you okay? You don't look so well. You are pale. Do you want me to grab some water? Take a seat, please."