Boo || Kim Taehyung

30;

• No one's POV •

Taehyung returned the next morning after a night of wandering the streets looking for an answer that wasn't there. He wasn't thinking when he asked Byul to break into his old work place, or when he posted his music online. The only thing in his mind was getting out of this incorporeal state, moving on and away from all the sadness that he couldn't quite leave behind just yet. What he hadn't thought to bring into the equation was how this would or could affect her.

But when he returned and found Byul humming to herself as she brushed her teeth (he might have accidentally nearly given her a heart attack by showing up in the mirror) panicking because what if she went to jail because of this? She assured him that he didn't have to worry about it. Apparently while he was getting walked through by strangers, Byul had talked to Jungkook and Yoongi and "sorted everything out." She didn't offer any other details, and Taehyung wasn't sure he wanted to ask.

"You should tell Hoseok that the exorcism is back on." He told her over breakfast. She had somehow gotten in the habit of cooking for two, fixing a place for him at the table as though he could eat it. It made him feel warmer than he had in a year.

She looked up at him and blinked. "Okay. First of all, I can hardly see you right now, so it feels like I'm just talking to the air."

"As far as other people know, you talk to the air all the time." Taehyung shrugged, though he knew there was a possibility that she couldn't see it. He forgot sometimes that she couldn't always see him anymore, he didn't feel invisible. And as long as she could still hear him, he was fine.

"Yeah, but I know that I'm not." Byul pointed out. "Also, why the sudden change? I thought we just decided that you were going to stay?" Did she look sad, or was that Taehyung's wishful thinking?

"I... the longer I stay, the more damage I do. And it's too hard to be around the living." 'But you've made it a lot easier,' He added in his head.

"What are you talking about? I told you I got the whole thing with your music taken care of, you haven't done any 'damage.' And I thought..." She stopped abruptly, then shook her head, and Taehyung was sure her cheeks turned pink as she turned back to her oatmeal. "I thought you liked being here."

Taehyung smiled. "I do like being here. I just think that maybe I'm supposed to be somewhere else." Every day that Taehyung spent with her made him want to stay a little more, and he was sure that if it continued, he'd never want to leave at all. He would stay until she grew old, died, and moved on to the other side without him. He needed to leave, and he needed to do it soon.

"I'm going to miss your stupid smile." She muttered. Now Taehyung was sure that she looked sad.

"And I'm going to miss your failed attempts at compliments." Taehyung teased back, trying to lighten the mood.

She stayed quiet for the rest of the morning, getting ready for work without speaking to him, or even looking at him. Taehyung wished he hadn't upset her– or anyone else, for that matter. But the longer he put this off, the worse it would be for her as well.

Byul knocked on Hoseok's door before she left, telling him that if he had time, to drop by later that evening like she had originally planned. Taehyung took a deep breath (although he knew that he couldn't technically breath anymore). 

It was time to say goodbye.