Concupiscence ✔️

us [m]

18 + MATURE CONTENT WARNING: sexual scene

        

        "And so ... I made a statement."

He finished talking, clasping his hands together and not looking to Sooyoung as she listened. He was scared to see her facial expressions. He had shown her the articles, at least the titles. She tried to read one all the way down to the comments and he stopped her. She had her eyebrows furrowed the entire time she read the article and she was biting her lip. It worried him. Did she know how scared he was at thinking she would leave?

"Hadn't the news about Jimin and I already been revealed?"

"Ah, that's right." He finally faced her, seeing how tightly she was gripping her fist.

Before continuing, he stood up. The motion made her look up to him as he took her hand, making her let go of the grip, noticing how she had made indentations of her nails on her palms. He grimaced. This was too much for her. As he had feared—this would have made their time apart longer or she may have never come back if she had known at the time. He kissed her palms, facing her.

Maybe his face showed how distressed he was because she looked away from him with a guilty expression. He pulled her up, walking them over to the couch. Yeontan was scurrying around, trying to gain their attention. He sat them down before picking up the puppy and handing him to Sooyoung to hold. She did gently, as Yeontan licked her hand. He then wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him.

"I wish I knew what was going through your mind. I'm scared, Sooyoung. Scared that you'll want to just run away. I don't think I would have the heart to force you to stay. No matter how much you mean to me, your health is the most important." When she didn't answer, he went on talking. "I read somewhere that sometimes when you're feeling anxious, you feel like the whole world is out of control. Sometimes, you just need a small, enclosed space, something that grounds you."

He tightened his grip. He didn't know much about anxiety. He figured when his mother died and he was at her funeral, that he had had a panic attack too. His father had shown little to no remorse. People who never liked her would bad mouth her. His mother had been his rock in the world, with her gone he felt lost. As if he was floating in space without an anchor. He wished he knew then how to try to counter it instead of crying as he passed out from the heavy breathing and lack of oxygen. Waking up with an I.V. in his old room, was not fun. For Sooyoung, he researched because he wanted to know how to best help her. He felt her grip the front of his shirt.

"I don't want to feel this way. I don't want to be away from you and yet I don't like this. All this pressure."

"I can't retract my statement. It was the best way to control the damage that had been done. The previous statement about you and Jimin was retracted and considered a publicity stunt to excite the public for the new line. This new one contradicted all of that and had pictures."

"All of this, while I was gone?"

"Sooyoung, we can keep you away from the public as long as you would like. Even forever. I don't regret saying what I did. Sure, I could have been less aggressive, but I was jealous. Seeing the pictures of you on dates with Jimin and how you smiled—it made me jealous."