Insulate |〆[Taeyong x Reader AU] | ✔

匚卄卂卩ㄒ乇尺 19

Right before [Y/n] departed from Taeyong, he assured her that she would go back to living the way she had before, but she didn't know exactly what that meant and she was too afraid to ask. It was the only thought that swarmed through her mind as Johnny silently drove her back home: did it mean Taeyong would start getting home late again? Or did it mean she would have to live the way she did before they got together, before Taeyong came back into her life?

[Y/n] gets to know the answer when she wakes the next day and Taeyong isn't beside her. From the looks of it, he hadn't come home at all.

[Y/n] sighs in disappointment and decides to go about her day as she normally would. She has breakfast, goes for a run and showers afterward but instead of feeling refreshed like she usually did, she still felt dull and empty.

When she sits down to design some clothes, something she hadn't done in a long time, she ends up sketching a top that resembles a bulletproof vest too much. She groans in frustration and rips the papers to shreds. It hadn't even been 24 hours yet; she probably just needed to clear her head.

[Y/n] changes her clothes and grabs her duffel bag before heading out to her usual boxing club to let off some steam, hitting the punching bags a little harder than usual. She lets out all of her frustrations, throwing punches and kicking until her body is sore. She walks back home to have a refreshing cold shower and eat dinner alone.

She doesn't fall asleep until 5 AM rolls around. There was still a glimpse of hope in the back of her mind that Taeyong would slip next to her thinking she was asleep, but it never happens.

The next few days are practically the exact same, waking up alone and disappointed, going about her day and heading back to bed with the same depressing feelings.

[Y/n] felt abandoned. She was sad and frustrated, especially with herself. On top of feeling disheartened, she hadn't managed to make a single sketch she was satisfied with in the past week. Her emotions were getting the best of her.

"I should've never stopped sketching," she mumbles to herself, rubbing her temples.

Working from home was comfortable and she was practically friends with her employer, but the lady must be wondering where [Y/n]'s been and what she's been doing all this time. [Y/n] normally drops off a portfolio full of ideas regularly to Mrs. Weber, but she hadn't for at least a month now. That meant she missed last month's salary.

[Y/n] really needed to get her ideas flowing again or how else was she going to pay for her life expenses? Taeyong surely had money but he hadn't contacted her in over a week. Although [Y/n] didn't want to depend on him, she still admitted things were much easier with him by her side.

Soon, [Y/n] had changed her clothes and had her duffel bag over her shoulder. Today, it wasn't frustration she was letting out but anger. Her anger and resentment fueled her hits, making the punching bag sway to all sides. Toward whom were her emotions aimed at? At Taeyong for abandoning her or at herself for feeling so useless without him? Or maybe that Simon guy who fucked up Taeyong's life? She had never met him, but she definitely wanted to give him a piece of her mind about what he did.

It was on day 9 of handling things alone that [Y/n] started to adapt back to her old life. Besides not being able to draw anything she was proud of, everything else seemed to be fine. She stayed longer than usual at the boxing club, releasing all the tension she felt inside; it was dark by the time she was heading home.

[Y/n] walked at a moderate pace, her mind blank as she strolled down the sidewalk. The evening air was fresh and the street lights were already on. She stares when she spots a couple walking with their arms linked together, a feeling of jealousy burning inside her. She tears her eyes away from the sight and continues walking.

When she reaches her apartment, her heart rate picks up when she finds it unlocked. She pushes the door knob down slowly and opens the wooden door, the bright light in the corridor greeting her. [Y/n] gently closes the door behind her and puts her duffel bag down gently in order not to alert whoever was there of her presence in case it wasn't who she thought it was.

But if it really was Taeyong, how should she react to his sudden visit? [Y/n] shakes her head, wanting to make those thoughts disappear, not wanting to give herself any false hope.

Her mind starts filling with different sorts of scenarios about intruders instead, causing the adrenaline to pump faster through her blood. When she opens the door to the living room, she's met with a completely unexpected sight: the TV was on and there was someone casually sitting on the couch, eating crackers.

The first thing that goes through [Y/n]'s mind is 'those are my fucking snacks', but the words "what the fuck" come out of her mouth instead.

A high-pitched scream sounds through the room, followed by a bowl landing on the floor.

"Who the hell are you?" The stranger asks.

[Y/n] scrutinizes her, "I was just about to ask you the same thing. This is my apartment."

The other woman looks her up and down, "No, it's not. Jaejoong lives here and if anyone else were to, it would be me. And since I know for sure who lives here, clearly, you're in the wrong," she answers with a fake smile, crossing her arms.

[Y/n] looks at the woman like she was crazy — which she most likely was considering all the nonsense she was spewing — but then she suddenly remembered her first encounter with Johnny and how Jaejoong was who he had asked for instead of Taeyong. The conversation that had followed, coupled with Winwin's words from the morning after he and Yuta spent the night came back to [Y/n] mind and made her conclude this woman was probably one of Taeyong's flings from the past.

Although the thought bothers her, she doesn't let it show. Instead, she rolls her eyes and replies, "Says you? I've been living here for—" she pauses before disclosing that information, "Why the fuck should I explain myself to you? Who are you anyway?"

"Because I'm Ga-yook, Jaejoong's fucking girlfriend."