Forever By Your Side

16. Question time

"Taehyung! Pass the remote" Jungkook asked from the floor. 

The four of them settled in front of the TV. Jimin and Taehyung sat on the couch while Jungkook and Hoseok sat on the floor. Right when he sat down, he realized that he didn't actually take the remote. But he was too lazy to get up. 

"Where is it?" Taehyung asked, texting away on his phone. "To your left. It is stuffed into the couch" Jungkook said, turning back to look at Taehyung. 

Taehyung placed the phone aside and turned to his left, digging his right hand into the couch to retrieve the remote. He threw the remote at Jungkook. 

'There is something called a left hand with which he could have comfortably taken it out! Ohh right! His sentiment! Shouldn't give things with left hand, right? Gawd! He and his stupid sentiment' Jungkook thought as he turned back to the television. 

"Shall we watch another movie? We still have time before it gets dark, right?" Jungkook asked as the end credits rolled on. 

"Nah! Actually, I kinda wanna sit and talk for a while. Like, casually" Jimin said. "That actually sounds good. What do you say, Taehyung? We can get to know about each other, right? We hardly know anything about you" Hoseok said. 

"Yeah, okay. No problem. But please don't force me to answer everything. I won't answer anything personal" Taehyung said. "Okay. That's not a problem" Jungkook said. 

"Okay then" Taehyung said, preparing himself for the questions, hoping that nothing would trigger him in front of everyone. He didn't want to freak them out, after all. He took a deep breath and looked at them. 

"Fire away" he said. Jungkook frowned at him. "What do you mean, fire away? You can also ask us stuff. We are not interrogating you or anything" he said. "Okay" Taehyung chuckled.

"So you live a few blocks away from our apartment, right? Where exactly is it?" Jimin asked. "You know the Jangga Apartments?" Taehyung asked. "Yeah" Hoseok and Jungkook said. 

"We live in the Sapphire Block, Seventh floor, Flat number 712" Taehyung said, counting off each detail on his finger and grinning at the end. 

'Ugh, my heart!' Jungkook thought. " 'We' as in?" he asked. "My friends and I" Taehyung said. "Ohh! I thought you lived with your parents" Hoseok said. "Nah! I live with two of my friends" Taehyung said, chuckling slightly. 

"That's great! Introduce them to us someday" Hoseok exclaimed. "Sure! Even they wanna meet you guys" Taehyung said. 

"That's it! Let's meet tomorrow, then" Jimin said, pounding the side of the couch in excitement. "I dunno! I'll ask them once. I dunno if they'll be free" Taehyung said. "Ohh, okay. No problem" Jungkook said. 

"So are you guys always like this?" Taehyung asked, gesturing towards the floor. "You mean, do we hang out all the time?" Jimin asked. "Yeah" Taehyung said. 

"Pretty much! We spend the weekends together, so most of the time we end up spending the night in one of our flats" Hoseok said. 

"That's why we even have our basic supplies and a couple of sets of our clothes in each other's flats" Jungkook said. "Ohh, that's very nice" Taehyung said. "Yeah" Jimin muttered. 

"So what do you do for time pass?" Jungkook asked. "We watch movies, or we go out somewhere" Taehyung said. "Cool" Jimin said. 

"Wait! So what's the problem with staying the night here if you stay with your friends?" Hoseok suddenly asked. They could visibly see Taehyung getting tensed, thinking on how to answer the question without actually telling the reason. 

"I don't like sleeping in new places" Taehyung said. "Ohh, okay" Jungkook and Jimin said. It was clearly a topic that Taehyung desperately wanted to avoid. So they decided not to bring it up again. 

"You know what? We found this new game, recently. It's very interesting, actually. Do you wanna try?" Jimin asked. "What is it?" Taehyung asked. "Krunker" Jimin said. 

"Ohh, I know that game! We play it all the time on the computer! That is one of the only games I can still pla-" Taehyung suddenly stopped, realizing what he just said. "I mean, one of the only games I still....feel.....like playing" he covered it up. 

Even though they didn't actually buy it, they decided not to question it. After all, they didn't want to go through another situation of Taehyung counting numbers to calm himself down.

'If he wanted to hide something, so be it. He'll tell it himself if and when he wants to' they thought. 

"Yah, Jungkookie!! What are you planning for this Friday?" Jimin suddenly asked. 

"Why? What's there this Friday?" Taehyung asked. "It's my birthday" Jungkook said. "Ohh, nice, nice" Taehyung exclaimed. "I was thinking of working from home. And then drink in the night. I am not in the mood to celebrate this year, I dunno why" Jungkook said.

"Ohh. Let's all work from home then. In your flat" Jimin suggested. "Taehyung, you also join us that day. Get your laptop to his flat at work hours. We can enjoy and work at the same time" Hoseok said. 

"Nice idea. I'll join you guys, but now I'll get going" Taehyung said. His phone rang just as he was about to get up and head back home. "Hello? Haan, Joonie!........yeah, I'm on my way....yeah, sorry, I'm fine......okay, bye" Taehyung said and hung up. 

"That's one pleasant change" Jungkook commented right after Taehyung hung up. "What is?" Taehyung asked. "You calling someone with a nickname instead of adding -ssi to their names all the time" Jungkook complained, making a sarcastic face. 

Taehyung stuck his tongue out at him and turned to Jimin and Hoseok. "I'll leave, then" he said as he left. "Okay. Good night" the three of them yelled after him even though it wasn't night yet.