1994.

07. NICOTINE WORRY

NICOTINE
WORRY

RAESUN'S POV

CIGARETTE SMOKE CLOUDED her train of thought as she stared at the suitcase sat next to her door, her teeth biting at her thumb before intaking the chemicals in a long breath. she could hardly see past her tears; was this actually happening? was she really going far and wide just to see the boy who left without a second thought?

of course she was. there was nothing she wanted to do more.

but as she stood smoking in the centre of her living room, the suitcase almost daunting, she couldn't help but feel scared to go on the road trip. she was panicking — what if he found another? what if he moved on a long time ago? or, worst case scenario, what if he was dead?

a knock on the door halted her panic, and she knew it was taehyung due to the sun rising moments before. she hesitated to open it, but opened it all the same.

car keys swirled around his finger, his arm casually leant against the door frame. he smiled at her, but it faltered when his eyes flickered to the lit cigarette between her fingers, "you okay?"

she shrugged, "i don't know," shaking her head, she puffed on the smoke, "is this a bad idea?"

"why would it be?" he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, placing the keys in his denim jacket pocket, "i thought you'd want to see jeongguk?"

"but why do you want to take me to him? you hate him. in fact, you seem to hate all of them," she raised a brow, standing against the back of her couch.

taehyung looked at the floor in thought; something was off about the whole thing, because after all, taehyung seemed to despise the whole group. yet here he was, about to take her to them.

"i don't hate all of them. me and yoongi used to get along, and namjoon," strange — he never mentioned that before, "i guess i... i want to talk to yoongi. about hana."

"you had the whole of last year to talk to him, why now?"

he bit at his lip: he wasn't telling her something, "i've owed hoseok a favour for a long time—"

"what's that got to do with yoongi?" she scoffed, laughing to herself, "you're not making any sense, and it's really starting to piss me off. one minute you're talking about hana, then yoongi, and now hoseok? what's the real reason you want to find them?"

taehyung sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "i'll explain it all, i promise. but my car needs gas and hoseok isn't exactly a patient guy. do you mind setting off now?" his eyes left the floor and met her own, seeing her flowering doubt, "it's okay if you're skeptical. it was all out of the blue. but i'm leaving today, now more specifically. do you want to join?"

she studied him, looking him up and down, trying to connect the dots. there was missing puzzle pieces to this boy, but raesun knew better than to assume — everyone seemed to have dark secrets and broken hearts up their sleeves.

"yeah, fuck it."

— 雨 —