My Temptation - KTH FF (under rewrite)

16.

A/N: tw: attempted sa/drugging (shining a light on a very important subject bc this happens more that you'd think.
WC: 6,095

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Lorelei wasn't going to admit it to Andrea, but that talk with Taehyung had left her more confused than ever. He'd been pretty open about how he was feeling and it made her feel more worrisome than angry by the end of the conversation. He just seemed so out of it— it wasn't like Taehyung to be so behind like that. What exactly was going on?

"I hate them for being so popular," Andrea cursed as she rummaged through her closet. "How can we avoid them if they're everywhere?"

"Well, for starters you don't have to go tonight," Lorelei countered. "You're choosing to go. You could have looked straight at Jin and his stupid invite and told him to shove it. That's what I think you should have done."

"It's not that easy, he did it in front of my dad and you already know how he made it sound. Like oh, this would be such a good socialite opportunity, Mr. Richardson! Besides, you say that like I'm going by myself. Uh-uh, no ma'am! You're coming with," Andrea countered, groaning in annoyance as she stomped out of her closet. "I don't have anything that inspires me for a costume. Do you wanna stop by a cheap Halloween store or something? We could do a matching theme if you want."

"Andrea, come onnnn," Lorelei whined. "I'd really rather stay in. Besides, I don't want to see... Regardless, I have homework to catch up on." There was no homework, that was a lie.

It had been weeks since she had seen much of the infamous Bangtan around campus and since that night when she last talked to Taehyung. He truly left the ball in her court and hadn't messaged her once. It's like they were all in hiding with him.

Granted, it wasn't very hard to find them when they were around. The boys were always with another member of theirs and usually had a group of girls following them, hoping to be noticed. With the lack of giggling and squealing girls, the campus had been eerily quiet. It was giving Lorelei a weird feeling, a super unsettling kinda feeling that made her want to stay inside and lock her doors. Turns out, Taehyung was terrifying when he acted like a recluse.

"That excuse is so lame," Andrea scoffed while plopping down on the bed next to her. "You still don't want to see him? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not pushing for you to see him and talk to him or anything like that. I'm just a bit curious, you never did tell me exactly what happened when he pulled you away the way he did. Did he do something to you, Lor?"

"No, he didn't do anything." The thought of Andrea thinking Taehyung could hurt her made her feel unreasonably defensive. That was so stupid of her, she couldn't be getting frustrated or upset about Andrea thinking things like that, she's known Taehyung for way longer than Lorelei had— knows way more about him and the things he has done. Andrea had every reason to suspect he'd do anything to her. "We just talked."

"So then why are you still so shaken up?"

"I just can't read him. It's frustrating, it's not what I want— I wanted something easy."

"Hun, nothing about you loves easy. You were always about the road less traveled because you liked challenges." Smiling mischievously, Andrea added "I hate to say it, but you're like Taehyung in that sense. You both love a good challenge, easy bores the both of you."

"Ugh, god don't say that," She groaned, resting her chin in her hands. "I'm already confused enough. I feel like the smart thing to do is cut my losses but it's the same stupid shit as before. I say one thing but think and act differently, it's so frustrating because I can't even blame him for that."