Taehyun soaks in his own embarrassment, he is barely on the edge on the couch in his Livingroom. He stares at the bodyguard staining his bathroom floors while he cleans himself up. He scans his moves, his face. He knows said bodyguard senses his glary eyes piercing him.
Taehyun finds it quite odd how the bodyguard is so docile with him, no matter what he does to rile him up. The bodyguard seems to swallow his pride and shut his mouth, like he should.
It's also odd that he's practically squirming under Taehyun's eyes. Like a bug under someone's shoe. Taehyun wonders why he finds so much comfort in the way the bodyguard seems to cower when he looks at him. Can he ever take him seriously when he does that?
The difference between the person he heard fighting outside to the one in his bathroom, shrinking as if Taehyun is going to scold him. Well, maybe he should scold Kai for coming into his bedroom unwarranted.
Is it all a show? The mild and submissive front the bodyguard polls to make him drop his protective walls? Clearly, he's stronger than he seems to have overpowered fewer men on his own. So why is he so bashful now?
What kind of mind games is he playing with Taehyun? Does he think he has Taehyun fooled with those clueless, wide eyes and calming voice?
"you're dripping blood on my damn tiles." Taehyun tsks. Sending Kai a nasty look.
Kai closes his eyes, tired. He gulps. "I'll clean it."
Taehyun laughs sarcastically. "As if that's not a given. Do you think I'd do it?" his face contorts just from the thoughts of having to clean the fat blood drops off the floor.
The bodyguard inhales shakily, as if wanting to say something. But he decides against it.
Kai rushes through the cleaning process, just a few bandages here and there. He feels a stinging ache on his side but judging from Kang Taehyun's face, it's not the time nor the place to take off his shirt and take a look at the cut from that guy's knife.
So, he clutches a hand on the shallow cut, affectively stopping the mild bleeding with his palm. He pulls a few tissue papers from the drawer under the sink. hot with embarrassment, he drops to his scraped knees and scrubs the blood off the floor. He knows Kang Taehyun is looking, which only makes the moment worse.
He feels ugly. He wants a shower; he wants to be anywhere but in that house and outside of it, he wants to leave and not see Kang Taehyun face again.
Everything's sticky and he hurts.
Unknowingly, he scrubs the floors a bit harsher. They're already clean yet he cleans them harder.
It's only then that Taehyun notices that the bodyguard is sniffling softly. A few tears even fall from his eyes, yet he keeps on cleaning. Absolutely fixated on the task, it's starting to freak Taehyun out.
For the first time, he stares at the bodyguard with his cuts covered in small patches and his body hunched forward. For the first time he sees Kai, and a feeling of unexpected guilt floods him.
It's too pitiful, it becomes almost painful to look at.
"Hey." Taehyun gets up from the couch. "it's clean, you can stop now." he rushes to say.
The bodyguard stops, looking up at him with wet lashes and sad eyes. Taehyun hates the sudden effect that look has on his heart.
Kai nods without a word, getting up with a wince and dragging his feet to the door. He crashes on the steps, hating how pathetic he can turn with only a few words from Kang Taehyun.
He doubles down, holding his side carefully. His eyes are hot, stinging. The wind tugs on his hair and face. Suddenly, he feels heavier than ever, and so... so fucking worthless.
