The Flower of the Dark | k.th

.Twenty.

The intense aura doesn't calm down when Jimin begins to eat and I give Taehyung his third bowl of Soondubu. Strangely, they haven't taken their eyes off of one another after all this time, as if one of them is waiting for the other to make a single move and it'll all be over.

I smile, looking at my mom now. "Why haven't you been eating correctly, mom? Your health matters a lot to me."

She shrugs, placing her spoon down in her  soup. "Since you disappeared I didn't care about anything else besides you." She stands up to get probably her fourth bowl, "I'm sure this man found and brought you back to me." – she bows – "I have full respect for you, Jieun's friend."

"Respect?" Jimin suddenly mumbles. "Why have respect for the man who was last with her when she disappeared?"

"Pardon?" Mom asks before fully walking out of the living room. She turns to him and he smiles at her, shaking his head.

Jimin's eyes land on Taehyung again when my mom walks out of sight. "What was your name again? Jieun's friend..." he asks.

"Taehyung." I answer before the boy stuffing his face can. Jimin's gaze falls on me and his hard expression softens a bit. "You shouldn't be angry with Tae, Jimin. He's been taking care of me."

"Care? Tae?"

Taehyung swallows, smiles and nods, grabbing my hand which lays on the coffee table. "Yeah, I've been with her. Just the two of us.. And Tae is just a pet name she's given me."

Jimin grips the spoon in his hand, his knuckles turning white at the same time.

"Actually, we've managed to get close to each other. I've learned a lot about Jieun the past couple days. What she likes and dislikes," he wraps his arm around my shoulders unexpectedly. "Even where she loves..." he pulls me closer to him and I can feel myself blush again as he stares into my eyes, getting closer to my face, "...to be touched"

Taehyung's eyes shift over to Jimin whose hard breathing is loud enough to hear.

"Uh..Tae..hyung.." I whisper, emphasising the 'hyung' in 'Taehyung', and pull my face back away from his. "You're making me very uncomfortable-"

"That's enough, you creep!" Jimin yells, making me jump. My heart stops at hearing the one person who never yells.

I push Taehyung away, but I'm instantly yanked back. I hadn't heard Jimin get up and come to me. Jimin pushes me behind him once he had me on my feet.

"What gives you the right to act that way with Jieun?!" Jimin questions Taehyung angrily. "If you know her so well, then why can't you tell when she's uncomfortable or not?"

Taehyung smirks, places his elbow on the table, and rest his head in his hand. He chuckles sweetly, "She's only uncomfortable because she's trying to hide her desire for me to be.." he pauses, looking for the right words, "you already know!"

Jimin shakes his head, "Jieun wouldn't do such a thing with a hobo-looking crap like you!"

Taehyung gasps sarcastically, smiling up at Jimin who's gripping my arm. "No way! Are you jealous that Jieun hasn't shown you her freaky side yet?"

"Okay, okay!" I try butting in, putting my free hand up to prevent Tae from saying anything further. "You can stop fighting over me, guys! I'm not worth it anyway!" I step out from behind Jimin who shoves me right back behind him. 

"Mm..You should've seen us last night, the oh-so kind and sweet Jimin. She loved it so much she begged me for a third round." he winks, staring me in the eye as he slowly brings his free hand down to his private area.