paradiseꨄ

⟶ SUMMARY : Taehyung is your husband, and you love him. If only he loved you back. If only he cherished your love and not tolerated it.

⟶ GENRE : heavy angst, one-sided love, forced marriage, infidelity, eventual smut

⟶ RATING : 18+

⟶ WORD COUNT : 6.5k

⟶ WARNINGS : heavy angst, sadness, heartbreak, self-loathing, one-sided love, husband!taehyung, infidelity, he’s with another woman but the marriage is forced, lots of crying, mentions of divorce & attempt of divorce, oc comes back as a girlboss but is still sad, taehyung is suspicious and an asshole.

⟶ NOTE : FINALLY IT’S HERE!!! This will be three parts & i’m so excited to finally share this fic with you guys!!!! I’ve been keeping this from you guys for way too long, and i apologise for the huuuuuuuge delay, but it’s finally here !!! <3 i hope u guys enjoy, there is two more chapters coming in the future hehe

SERIES MASTERLIST ₊˚✧ MASTERLIST ₊˚✧TAGLIST₊˚✧PLAYLIST

“I’ll be back by eight.” He says, but you know he won’t be, just like every other night.

You’re used to it. You know that he doesn’t love you, that your parents forced your marriage to bring the Kim and Song companies together. Then, why does it hurt you so much if your wedding was forced? As if you’re getting stabbed right in the heart if everything is just pretend?

That’s simple—because you love Kim Taehyung.

You and he grew up together; your parents were best friends, and your marriage was agreed on when you were only a baby, still crawling and drinking your mother’s milk.

And falling for Taehyung was a given; you’ve been in love with him since you were mere children, the love you had for him gradually morphing into something with such intensity that only thinking about him is enough for your heart to implode.

» 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: ceo!taehyung x ceo!reader

» 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: You and Taehyung have been friends for as long as you could remember, with both your families being directly involved in business together, and being closer than family, you've been surrounded by him almost always. Over the course of 28 years a lot has changed. But things could only complicate themselves more when both your families form an alliance between the two of you - an arranged marriage.

» 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: childhood friends to lovers, arranged marriage, fluff, angst, eventual smut

» 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: swearing, alcohol consumption, a whole lot of sexual tension, angst, mentions of cheating

» 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 11.8K

» 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

"I received that email last week, hyung," Taehyung informs Jimin.

The two were currently seated in Jimin's extravagant office, looking through last-minute things.

"If I remember correctly, I signed that document and sent it to you," Jimin counters.

"You did. And I've already sent that one in."

The two men, mid-conversation, are interrupted when Jimin's phone dings, indicating a notification. Picking his phone off his desk, a mischievous grin takes over Jimin's lips—Taehyung, too engrossed in his work to pay regard to the latter.

"I was right," Jimin grins in victory. "Y/N is Jungkook's date."

The stylus that Taehyung was flicking ever so gracefully with one hand while reading a document with furrowed eyebrows, falls to the ground.

"Y/N—what?" Taehyung exclaims, getting up from the chair.

"Jungkook just texted me," Jimin responds to the younger man calmly, turning his phone in Taehyung's direction, and showing him Jungkook's text.

[Jungkook] you were right, turns out Y/N is my date

[Jungkook] she looks insanely beautiful

[Jungkook] I'm never doubting you again dude

Taehyung turns his piercing gaze away from Jimin's phone and brings his eyes to meet Jimin's, he was beyond angry.

"You're joking," Taehyung says in disbelief.

"I'm not," Jimin replies simply, scrolling through his phone. "Ah, Jungkook even posted on his Instagram story."

If Taehyung was angry before Jimin showed him Jungkook's Instagram story, his anger had skyrocketed once Jimin had shown him the short video of Jungkook filming the mouthwatering cuisine, and later panning the camera to show you in all your glory.

"You're fucking joking," Taehyung rubs his temple, extremely ticked off. "You're telling me, that my Y/N is on a date with that—that lunatic?"

"Oh come on, he isn't all that bad," Jimin starts. "He's a great guy, and besides, Y/N seemed to be enjoying herself."

Taehyung scoffs, "she's being held hostage."

Jimin looks at the latter in disbelief, "okay, now you're exaggerating."

Taehyung doesn't care enough to respond to Jimin, instead grabbing his blazer from the chair and marching to the door of Jimin's office with purpose.

"Where're you going?" Jimin calls after him.

Taehyung turns to face Jimin, looking at him as if the answer to his question was evidently obvious. "To get Y/N."

A smile of victory spreads across Jimin's lips once Taehyung is out of his office. "Bingo," he utters under his breath before following Taehyung.

"Are you sure you don't want dessert?" Jungkook asks you once you've finished eating.

"No way. I'm already stuffed," you laugh.

"Are you sure? I've heard the chocolate mousse here is to die for," Jungkook stresses, picking up the check that the waiter had left on your table a few minutes prior.

You love chocolate and anything that involves chocolate, but right now, you were serious—there was no way you had room to consume anything else. You were a shooter for good food and the cuisine they'd served you tonight was hit after hit, not to mention that Jungkook's presence just made everything so much better.

"Yah, I'm not letting you pay all on your own. We can split it," you insist, attempting to take the check from him but he doesn't allow you to.

"Oh come on, Y/N, I'm your date, aren't I? Let me pay please," Jungkook asserts, not wanting to hear otherwise.

"Jungkook, let's just split the bill," you say again, but he's not hearing any of it.

He puts his hand over yours. "Y/N, I'm paying," he concludes, leaving no room for any other discussion. You sigh in defeat.

You watch as he inserts his black card into the credit card machine and presses in his pin code. How is this man just so effortlessly attractive?

Your eyes follow his movements as he hands back the machine to the waiter then shoves his black wallet back into the pocket of his black slacks.

"Do you want to leave now?" Jungkook asks, getting up and offering you his hand. You gladly accept his hand with a smile. "I'll drop you off home," he assures you.

To which you respond with a 'thank you', a coy smile on your face.

"Unless you want to stay over at my hotel room tonight. We could watch a movie," he offers. Your dainty hand still in his larger tattooed hand, he brings your hand to his lips and places a chaste kiss on your knuckles.

You avert your gaze away from his eyes, unable to contain the blush that spreads across your face, which only makes his smile grow larger. But before you could respond to Jungkook's quite irresistible offer, you're pulled out of your thoughts by a familiar voice calling out your name.

"What are they doing here?" You voice your thoughts aloud, looking over at Taehyung and Jimin following him closely.

You're surprised at the sight of Taehyung no doubt but the playful smile is wiped off your face once you see that Taehyung is indeed not here to 'play around' and that he looks beyond pissed.

Walking up to you, he pulls your hand apart from Jungkook's grasp, his glare on you sharper than a knife. "What do you think you're doing?"

From the corner of your eye you see Jimin hastily pulling a confused looking Jungkook out of the restaurant, leaving you alone with a fuming Taehyung.

"I asked you something Y/N," he says harshly, clutching your wrist and pulling you closer to him.

Now he was starting to piss you off.

"And what do you want me to answer?" You retort, equally as pissed.

"He fucking kissed your hand, and invited you over to his hotel room. The audacity of that—

"Why do you care, Taehyung? You came all the way here to scare him off? Can't you just let me be? I'm an adult, Taehyung, I can take care of myself. So what if he kissed my hand? So what if he invited me to his hotel room? I am a grown woman and I can take care of myself. I don't need you running after me like my mother all the time, Taehyung." You finally burst, unable to hold yourself any longer.

Taehyung's jaw clenches.

"Ma'am... is everything okay?" A waiter walking by asks, seemingly disturbed by the scene occuring before his eyes.

"How 'bout you mind your own business before you don't have a business to work for," Taehyung scoffs, scaring the man away.

Turning his attention back to you, he lets go of your wrist and shoves his once occupied hand into the slacks that went in correspondence with his three piece suit. He takes a step towards you as you take the same step backwards, until your back hits the table you and Jungkook were having dinner on just minutes prior. The gap between you and Taehyung almost non existent as he leans down to your diamond earring clad ears. "Don't get smart with me, Y/N." You feel his breath on your neck as he speaks.

Once he moves away, both your eyes meet, but neither of you say a word to each other, both of you identically enraged at each other.

It had been years since the last time you two had fought—decades even. Of course both of you would occasionally argue over irrelevant things every now and then, but those were only debates most of the time. But right now, this was something different. You knew that Taehyung had always been possessive over you, and you knew it was because he cared for you, but he'd crossed a line today—and you weren't sure if he was aware of the fact but you were determined to let him know of his fault. Even if that meant hurting his feelings, though you knew that it hurt you the most.

It's been over two days since the incident at the restaurant and not once has Taehyung tried to contact you—not one text, not one call, hell, he didn't even view your Instagram story.

But you were just as determined as he was, you didn't bother to reach out to him either. You had to see each other tomorrow either way, and if this is how he wanted to spend the Paris trip, then be it.

"Ryuna, did you pack a bathing suit?" You ask. Taking a day off today, you'd just finished packing. Making your way to your sister's room, you wonder whether she's finished packing so the two of you can go get lunch.

"I'm not coming," Ryuna announces once you step foot in her room.

You look at her in disbelief. "You told me you'll come when I asked you on Monday."

Ryuna looks away. "Yeah, well I had a change of heart."

"Did you get into an argument with Jimin?" You ask immediately.

She doesn't answer, instead attempts to change the topic. "You guys go and have fun, it's not like my presence is required anyways."

"What happened with Jimin?" You ask a second time.

Ryuna sighs in response. "It's nothing to dwell upon. It was bound to happen."

"Listen, I'm not going to interfere because this is something the two of you have to sort out on your own. But I'm not letting you back out of the trip because of a petty argument," you tell her.

"It's not a petty argument Y/N. He's getting married," she finally breaks.

"Is that what's hurting you?" You ask softly.

She shakes her head. "He still loves me. Why?"

You pull Ryuna into a hug. "I need to stay away from him. I can't ruin this for him, he deserves this," she mumbles.

"If staying away from him would do anything to change his feelings for you, two years of separation would've done something, don't you think? Staying away from him won't do you any good Ryuna, if anything it'll only make things worse."

You back away from her and give her a small smile. "Come along with us, you'll feel better if you aren't left alone with your thoughts. Trust me."

You watch as she thinks for a moment. "Fine," she finally gives in but does seem too sure of her choice.

You smile, "let's go get lunch first, then you can pack."

You were glad you'd proposed going out for lunch to Ryuna today. The week for you so far had been nothing short of hectic and you'd barely gotten any time to spend with your sister so you were glad that you'd finally gotten some time to spend with her.

"We used to come here all the time," Ryuna reminisces once you're inside the restaurant. You smile at the memory.

"Should I get take out, or do you want to dine in?" You ask.

"Take out should be fine," she responds.

"Okay, I'll go order," you say to her, walking over to the counter. Leaving her to look around the familiar place, then eventually finding her place next to you while you place the order.

But Ryuna's eyes wander off and are met with a face she could put a pin on very easily. Iseul.

The said woman wasn't alone however. Ryuna could make out another woman—presumably the same age as her, with Iseul. Thinking it could be a friend or cousin, Ryuna brushes it off. But her eyes widen once she sees Iseul lean in and place a small kiss on the other woman's lips.

Iseul was cheating on Jimin? No it couldn't be, something was definitely wrong. Ryuna's conflicted as she wonders whether she should go talk to Jimin or Iseul.

She feels a pit in her stomach as she sees Iseul mouthing the words 'I love you' to the woman that sat across from her which Ryuna had now concluded was her girlfriend.

Numerous thoughts run wild in Ryuna's head but one stays predominant, Jimin doesn't deserve this. She needed to tell him.

Ryuna quickly diverts her attention back to you. "You get home with the food, I'll be back," Ryuna announces to you.

You give her a look. "Where are you going?"

"It's really important, I'll be back in a little while," Ryuna stresses.

"Okay..." you conclude, still extremely confused. What came up so suddenly? But you don't question it, watching your sister's figure disappear past the glass doors of the restaurant in confusion.

You're still in line, waiting for your food to be ready when your eyes fall upon Iseul, she seems to be leaving, but she notices you and walks over immediately.

"Hey," she greets you, "I was just leaving actually."

"Yeah, I was just here to pick up something for lunch," you let her know. "Are you ready to leave tomorrow?" You ask in an attempt to initiate a conversation.

She laughs a little. "Yeah, just some last minute packing. I was actually just headed to Jimin's house. Needed to talk to him about something." She mumbles the last bit, playing with the hem of her shirt out of something you could distinguish as nervousness.

What is going on with everyone today?

Standing outside Jimin's apartment, Ryuna's nervousness reaches its peak. The last time they'd seen each other, things hadn't exactly ended off on a good note, although Ryuna was sure what she did was for the best at the time, but not so much anymore.

She'd contemplated on whether or not she should call him the entire taxi ride to the apartment but ended up deciding otherwise. From what she'd overheard Jimin saying over the phone a few days ago, he should be at home with a day off. She just hopes he isn't all too disappointed to see her at his doorstep once she presses on the doorbell.

Ryuna considers running off and handling the matter some other way once she hears shuffling on the other side of the door, but she makes up her mind and decides to stay put. She needed to do this for Jimin.

And as she'd expected, Jimin's face looks no less of shocked when he sees her as soon as he swings his door open. "What are you doing here?" He asks slowly.

"I need to talk to you about something," Ryuna says cautiously, having no idea whatsoever how to approach the situation.

"Uh—yeah, come in," Jimin motions for her to come inside. She follows closely behind him.

Ryuna looks around, surprised to see how much had changed throughout Jimin's penthouse. The walls of the foyer that once used to be white, one of them painted a deep emerald green colour, and a selection of paintings arranged neatly, one of the paintings—the biggest one, centered on the green wall, Ryuna could recognize really easily, memories of all those days rushing to her.

Stepping into the living room, she takes a moment to digest the upgraded interior, there was another wall accented black to correspond with the green from the foyer while everything else was either white, touches of black or emerald green.

"You want to paint this wall black?" Jimin asks Ryuna, glancing from the plain white wall of their soon to be bedroom to his soon to be wife.

They were supposed to move into the house they were currently standing in, and they still hadn't decided on colours to paint the walls, and nor had they ordered any furniture—well except for a bed for the master bedroom, since Jimin had insisted that it was extremely crucial, especially for a newly wed couple.

"Why not? Ryuna pouts, "it'll look really good."

"Why would you want to paint the wall of our bedroom black, Ryu? There are so many better options to choose from."

"Love, the golden legs of the bed you ordered would look great with a black accent wall and so would the white frame of it. Then, we can get a golden light fixture to go with it. And lastly, a picture from our wedding framed with a white wood frame, right here," Ryuna concludes, pointing to the top of the wall where the bed would be. "It'll contrast with the black wall."

Jimin seems to be thinking, but Ryuna's happy that he's considering the idea.

"Have you ever thought of becoming an interior designer?" Jimin finally says, Ryuna only chuckles in response.

"It's called using your brain, love, it's not rocket science. But, anyways, I was thinking that if you don't like the black, we can also go with a shade of emerald green, that'll look great with golden accents too," Ryuna suggests, but Jimin isn't listening anymore.

He puts his arms around Ryuna's figure, placing a peck on her lips. "No, the black will look great. We can leave the green for the kids' room."

"Jimin," Ryuna whines, attempting to get out of his hold but he only holds onto her tighter—as if she'd leave if he let go. "This is exactly why we haven't been able to decide anything for the past two weeks. Besides, it's too early to be thinking about kids, Jimin."

Jimin laughs ever so slightly. "My entire future with you flashed before my eyes the day I first saw you. I really didn't believe in love at first sight before I saw you."

'I told you it'll look good,' Ryuna wants to say to Jimin, but she doesn't. She was here for a reason and once she was finished, she had no business staying here any longer than she had to.

"You said you needed to talk to me about something?" Jimin breaks Ryuna's train of thought.

Right.

Deciding not to beat around the bush, Ryuna attempts to go for it. "Iseul has a girlfriend."

Jimin gives her a look, unable to comprehend what Ryuna had just told him. "What?"

"I saw her at a restaurant earlier, she was with a woman. She kissed her and said 'I love you' to her," Ryuna breaks to Jimin, unable to meet his eyes.

"You saw her with your own eyes?" Jimin questions, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

Ryuna nods in response.

"And you're sure it was her?"

Once again Ryuna nods in response to Jimin's interrogation. "I didn't want to interfere in matters that didn't concern me, but I couldn't watch you get hurt again, Jimin."

The two of them hear the door of the penthouse open and close, but disregard it, thinking it would be the housekeepers who go in and out of the apartment several times a day.

"You're really sure that it was her you saw?" Jimin asks once again, not wanting to believe what she was telling him.

"Jimin, I'm not trying to imply that she's a bad person. I'm sure you both were put into this situation unwantedly and if she had a lover before she met you, that she still loves, then the least she can do is give you some transparency. It's the least you deserve."

"She's right," Iseul's voice resounds throughout the penthouse.

Ryuna and Jimin turn to see Iseul standing in the doorway.

"I should've told you a lot earlier, I should've told you the day we first met," guilt courses through her as she speaks. "And, the door was open," she then adds.

Ryuna and Jimin remain silent, giving Iseul the encouragement to keep talking.

"Yoona and I started dating two years ago, and I really love her. But when she found out that my parents had started talking about getting me married to you, she insisted that I leave her and pursue you instead. She told me that you would be the best for me despite me telling her repeatedly that I love her and that I didn't want anyone else," she narrates. "My intention was never to hurt you, I thought that maybe if I kept spending time with you, I'd eventually learn to love you the same. However, forced relations can never have the outcome of love, especially never the same as someone you truly love. And I'm sure you know that the best," she says the last bit as her eyes turn to Ryuna.

"I'm not angry with you," Jimin finally speaks. "I'm glad we're both on the same page, both our hearts' belong to someone else. Hence, there's no point in attempting to start things between us," Jimin says with a smile. "I'll call off things after the gala."

"But the engagement party is next week, Jimin. Do you think they'll call off everything on such a short notice. And besides, what are you going to tell them?"

"The truth," Jimin doesn't hesitate to say.

"But Jimin—"Ryuna attempts to say but Jimin cuts her off.

"I love you, Ryuna. And Iseul loves Yoona, there's no point in telling them otherwise. If they understand that's great, if they don't... I don't care anymore."

"Also, I told my mom that you wouldn't be able to make it to dinner today," Iseul informs Jimin.

"Thanks," Jimin responds with a small smile.

A silence spreads over the three of them, Iseul looks away with a smile at seeing Jimin and Ryuna exchanging glances at each other.

"Well then, I should get going," Iseul says.

"Huh? No, please stay, we can have lunch together," Ryuna proposes.

"Yeah," Jimin adds on quickly, though the tone of his voice clearly indicated that he wanted her to leave. Not because of any hard feelings of course, but because all he wanted at the moment was to be alone with Ryuna.

Iseul laughs, seeing right through Jimin. "I just had lunch, so really, I'm fine. I also have some work to get done so I should really go."

Ryuna nods, not wanting to keep her longer than she wanted if she had work to get done.

"I'll leave you two at it then," she says with a playful smile, walking back to the door she'd come through before either Jimin or Ryuna could say anything.

With the absence of Iseul, Ryuna and Jimin are once again left in each other's company. Silence spreads between them. However, this time the air between them was lighter.

"I should probably get going," Ryuna mumbles after a while. "Y/N must be waiting for me at home."

Jimin grabs a hold of Ryuna's wrist before she could leave, his grip soft. "Don't leave."

"Y/N's waiting for me at home, Jimin," Ryuna says again.

"She can wait. And if you need me to, I can call her and let her know you're staying here for a while," Jimin insists.

"She might die of shock," Ryuna lets out a laugh, inching closer to him, unable to resist any longer.

"That's the point," he retorts.

Ryuna punches his chest, "asshole."

They both missed this, they missed each other, but a lingering fear stays at the back of Ryuna's mind. "Jimin, I know that all this is sorted out now, and you'll even call off the wedding, but that doesn't change that we can't be together, Jimin."

"I'm yours, Ryuna," Jimin utters. "And nothing they will ever say or do can change that."

Ryuna wraps her arms around Jimin not ever wanting to let go. "I love you," she mumbles in the crook of his neck.

Jimin rests his head over Ryuna's, his arms wrapped around her waist, "I love you more, Ryu."

"That's not true," Ryuna argues, lifting her head to look at Jimin. "I love you more."

"Not true," Jimin retorts.

"I can do this all day, Mr. Park," Ryuna narrows her eyes, leaning forward.

"Don't worry, we've got all the time in the world, Mrs. Park," he responds, placing a small kiss on her lips.

A blush creeps onto Ryuna's cheeks. What a tease he is.

You felt as if you were going insane. This was probably the longest you'd gone in almost three decades without talking to Taehyung. And it was safe to say that it was driving you mad.

You were sure that he must be unaffected, while you were tossing and turning in bed, not being able to fall asleep.

How you were supposed to face him tomorrow, let alone attend a gala and spend a whole trip with him in Paris, you had no idea. The thought eventually drives you to sleep.

Eventually you're awakened by the sound of your alarm blaring and you wake up with a start. Suddenly you weren't exactly anticipating this trip, but you knew you were required to go, so you allow yourself to get up and take a shower.

It doesn't take you long to get ready, and when you check the time, you're pretty early. But what you didn't expect was to see Ryuna up and ready... and looking quite excited to go.

"You seem excited," you comment.

"Excited?" Ryuna retorts in question. "No, it's nothing of the sort."

You hum in response, a knowing smile on your face, "excited to spend five days with Jimin?"

"Yes," she blurts in glee, but her face turns red once she realizes what she had just admitted to. "No. I mean, no."

"I know you very well, Ryuna. You don't need to pretend," you tell your sister.

She'd already told you about the fiasco that'd happened yesterday, and to be honest you were glad that Iseul and Jimin were now somewhat free and didn't have to lie to each other about their feelings.

She may have skipped over the few details of what had happened afterwards, but you'd gotten the idea that they were doing much better.

"But more importantly, are you ready to see Taehyung?" Ryuna asks slowly.

You groan in response. "Don't remind me, Ryu. I honestly have no idea how I'm supposed to live in his presence throughout the whole trip."

"Oh come on, you both are acting like absolute children. Couldn't spend one day in all of 28 whole years without each other and now suddenly you can't stand each other." Ryuna rolls her eyes.

"You're acting as if it's my fault," you scowl. "Tell me why he needed to show up at the restaurant, and more importantly why does he act as if he has authority over me? I can date whoever I want, why does it concern him? Just because he's my best friend and I've known him all my life doesn't mean he has control over what I can and cannot do," you finish with a deep breath.

"He only does that because he cares about you, have you seen him do that with anyone else? Hell, he didn't even care so much about his own girlfriend," Ryuna points out.

"Well then maybe he should've, she wouldn't have broken up with him if he gave her that much attention."

"I don't understand what's bothering you Y/N," Ryuna says in an attempt to understand.

"Just forget it," you say before marching out of the living room and walking to the foyer.

"You're going to have to ask yourself that question before you can give me the answer Y/N," Ryuna calls after you before following after you.

"I don't have time to dwell upon this stupidity, Ryu. We need to leave. If I'm not mistaken, your fiancé has called you three times now asking if we've left yet."

"He isn't my fiancé," Ryuna retorts, unable to contain her smile.

"You didn't break off the engagement, and nor did he. So technically, you both are still engaged," you tell her matter-of-factly. "Now come on, he must be waiting."

And you'd ended up getting there on time, well actually slightly early if you thought of it. Jimin, Iseul and Jihyo were already waiting when you'd gotten there. You hadn't heard from Jungkook after the incident at the restaurant so you really had no idea if he was planning on attending the gala or not.

A collective conversation between the five of you passes the time but this was practically insanity. You'd been waiting for almost twenty minutes now, so much for showing up at the airport early.

"Park Jimin, where the hell is your cousin?" You ask the said man in outrage.

"I have no idea, he said he was almost here when I called him ten minutes ago," he responds, checking his phone to see if there were any updates from Taehyung. But there was nothing.

"If I wasn't on the brink of strangling this man already, I'm much too close to doing so at the moment," you groan.

And of course, you were stubborn, you weren't going to call or text Taehyung yourself. If he didn't want to show up then be it, you'd just leave without him.

"Okay, I'm done. I am not waiting for him any longer. I'm going inside," you announce.

"Wait," Ryuna halts you in your tracks. "I think that's Taehyung's car."

She was right, you recognize Taehyung's car immediately.

You watch with narrow eyes as the blue car halts before the five of you standing with numerous bodyguards and secretaries. Your eyes move from the car itself to the owner of the car who lets himself out of the car in an ever so attractive manner.

The sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, and as per usual, the first few buttons of the shirt undone. The black dress shoes and tinted shades acting just as a cherry on top.

He doesn't spare a glance at you which pisses you off even moreso.

If that's how you want to play Kim Taehyung, then that's how we'll play.

You watch as he turns to the door of the backseat and opens it, lending his hand and helping out a beautiful woman.

"Thank you," she says to Taehyung, dimples adorning her face as she smiles. She was absolutely beautiful. Probably a few years younger than Taehyung and yourself, you interpret.

Who was she? You had absolutely no clue. You shouldn't care, you were angry with him, but of course, you were curious.

As if Jihyo had read your mind, she asks. "This is...?"

It was no longer of concern that Taehyung had shown up late, but instead the same question was roaming through everyone's minds.

Taehyung swiftly takes the tinted shades off his glorious face. "Ah, this is Mrs. Kang's daughter. Harin. She's studying in the business field, graduating university this year. Mrs. Kang couldn't make it to the trip so she asked if Harin could come. I told her 'of course', it'll be a good learning opportunity for her. So I brought her along."

Wonderful.

"She's two years younger than Ryuna and Jihyo," Taehyung points out. "I guess the three of you will keep each other company then."

'Two years younger than Ryuna and Jihyo,' you ponder. 'Ryuna and Jihyo, both two years younger than you, are 26, which means that Haerin is 24'. You establish.

"Well then, shall we get going?" Taehyung asks, looking around at everyone except you.

A frown makes way onto your face as Taehyung walks past you—not acknowledging your presence once. An arm encircling Harin's waist as he leans closer to her, whispering something in her ear. You watch her nod, and say something back.

"He didn't look at you. Not once?" Ryuna dwells on, next to you.

"Frankly, I do not care," you scoff.

Oh but you did care. It was eating you up on the inside, but you would never admit it.

Once inside, Jimin pulls Taehyung aside while Harin stands at the check-in counter. "Why the hell did you bring her?" Jimin interrogates.

"Did I not just explain this outside?" Taehyung retorts.

"Very funny, Kim. Come on now, tell me the truth. You think I don't understand this little one sided war you're having with Y/N?" Jimin pushes. "I know very well why you brought her with you."

"It'll be a good learning opportunity for her," Taehyung says once again.

"Learning opportunity my ass. The only opportunity it's giving is you to prove something to Y/N. What it is you want to prove, I have no idea whatsoever."

Taehyung chuckles a little bit, "I have no intent of proving anything to Y/N. I brought Harin along for the reason I explained to you all. If you would like to believe it, or not, that's on you."

"You little—

But Jimin's sentence is cut off, probably for the good too.

"I'm going to go use the washroom, Mr. Kim. I'll be back," Harin quietly interrupts Jimin and Taehyung's conversation.

"Oh yeah, go ahead," Taehyung responds.

"Might as well have accompanied her to the restroom," Jimin mutters once Harin is out of earshot.

"Not entirely a bad idea. I did promise Mrs. Kang I would not allow for her daughter to be in any inconvenience," Taehyung utters back to Jimin.

"You little piece of shit," Jimin curses under his breath, shaking his head. He knew very well that this was not going to end well.

The heights he had gone just to prove that your presence didn't concern him were insane. He had just pretended that you weren't there, how could he just do that so easily?

Although you didn't mind, you had sat next to Iseul for the 14 hour duration of the flight because Kim Taehyung had gotten his seat changed last minute, he refused to sit next to you.

But if he was stubborn, you were even moreso. You refused to acknowledge his presence as well.

The flight had finally landed and you all had gotten out of your seats, stretching your arms and legs post the long duration of the flight.

Once Iseul was finished, you move into the aisle and allow yourself to attempt to grab your carry-on baggage from the overhead bin. But you were at a slight disadvantage now, you'd ended up getting your bag up there with Jimin's help, but Jimin was too busy helping Ryuna at the moment. Tip-toeing, your hand is able to grab the handle of your bag, but you knew if you pulled it, it would fall on your head. Not that your current state of struggle was saving you from embarrassment.

You feel the scent of a familiar cologne almost intoxicating you. Taehyung's larger figure grazes your backside, his arm reaching up and grabbing your bag with minimal effort.

"Thought I should save you the embarrassment," Taehyung says in a low voice, handing you your bag.

You turn to face him, numerous emotions coursing through you. Happy that he had finally acknowledged your presence. Anger because he'd only just acknowledged your presence. Affection because he'd put aside his pettiness to help you, so you wouldn't feel looked down upon in front of everyone.

"Like you do me any good," you reply with equal wittiness.

"That's true, when has my sole presence ever satisfied you," he looks away before walking off to where Jimin was standing.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

But you decide to push it aside for the moment once you see Ryuna gesturing you to join them.

Once out of the airport, there were countless black SUVs waiting to escort all of you to the hotel.

Hôtel Lutetia. Known to be one of the most, if not the most, luxurious hotels in Paris.

You'd visited Paris two or three times due to business regards, but nowhere near where the gala was, so you'd never gotten a chance to visit this hotel. Which is why you were quite excited. Note: you were. If you're so excited at the moment, you aren't very sure.

Never in these 28 years had you ever visited Paris with Taehyung, which is why you had been so excited. He'd been to Paris a few times and so had you, but never together. He'd always been vocal about how much he loves Paris, which made so much sense to you, Taehyung is quite literally Paris personified.

"God, we really need to take a trip to Paris together one day," he tells you over the phone. "Why didn't you come with me?" You hear the frown in his voice.

You lean against the counter of your kitchen, your phone against your ear while you talk to Taehyung as your coffee machine works its magic. "You know how hectic this week is for me Tae, I couldn't have come even if I wanted to."

Taehyung hums in response.

"What are you doing right now?" You ask after a moment, playing with a button of our shirt.

"Hmm, I'm just in bed. You know I can't sleep unless I hear your voice, so I called. I figured you'd be making coffee, leaving soon."

A chuckle leaves your lips. "Yeah, I have a meeting at seven-thirty so I'll probably leave soon," you let him know.

He goes silent for a moment, then speaks, "I want to come here once, with you."

A smile makes its way onto your face.

"You know how rare it is for our schedules to correspond with each other Taehyung," you point out.

"I know, but, we can make it work out somehow," he pushes.

"Possibly around your birthday," you respond. He hums in response.

"When are you coming back?" You finally ask the question that had been roaming your mind since Taehyung had left three days ago.

Taehyung sighs, "I know, I said I'd be back in a few days but this is taking longer than I anticipated." You frown. "I may not be back until later next week. I really can't say for sure."

"It's okay," you say half-heartedly.

"I know Y/N, I'm sorry. I'm really trying to make it before you leave for New York next week but..."

"It's okay, Taehyung," you reassure him. "Don't rush things because of me. I'll be back in a week. We'll see each other the week after."

The memory from a year ago plays at the back of your mind while you look out the window of the moving vehicle. You smile as you remember how Taehyung had ended up keeping his word and flew from Paris to Seoul as soon as he'd finished up his work so he could see you off at the airport.

But your smile is quickly replaced by a frown once you remember the current state of your relationship with Taehyung. Completely ignoring each other's presence, and when that wasn't the case, only exchanging cold remarks to each other.

The two of you had tried so hard over the past year to find a time that would work for you both so that you could take that trip, but it just didn't work out. It was natural that the two of you were over the moon excited once you had found out that this year's gala was taking place in Paris. Though you felt that you were put in a slightly awkward position once the entire marriage thing had come into play and you were required to attend as a couple. However, you seemed to be more affected by it than Taehyung.

"It's so beautiful," Ryuna says, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"Yeah," you respond wearily.

"You know he can't last without talking to you, Y/N . He'll have to come around eventually," Ryuna says to you, sensing your blues.

"I don't know Ryu. He's never like this," you sigh.

"The problem is that you're both equally as stubborn as the other. What would it hurt to just talk to each other and fix things?"

"It was not my fault," you retort. "Which is why I will not approach him first."

Ryuna sighs, but before she can say anything, your driver interrupts. "We've arrived, mademoiselle."

"Thank you," you reply with a smile.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ryuna exclaims, running off to Jimin as soon as she was out of the car.

You shake your head with a smile looking at the two lovebirds.

Standing alongside everyone, you all wait for your bags to be unloaded, which eventually brings you to wrap your arms around yourself. It was slightly chilly after dark, you should've brought a light jacket with you but unfortunately the two or three pairs of warmer clothes you had brought were in your suitcase.

"Ma'am," a man taps on your shoulder.

"Yes?" You turn to face him. He seems to be one of the hotel's staff members that was helping unload your luggage.

The man simply hands you a coat. You look at him with confusion.

"Mr. Kim has instructed me to hand you this," he explains.

Your jaw clenches. The audacity of this man, if he cared so much about you, why couldn't he just come and hand it to you himself?

Reusing to take the coat, you can feel Taehyung's gaze piercing through your back.

"I'm good, thank you. You can go and give it back to Mr. Kim," you scoff.

Turning back around you're met with Taehyung's eyes, staring right into you. Your eyes meet his, but you look away with annoyance while he lets out a breath of annoyance. Truly, you both were equally as stubborn as the other.

Eventually you all had been led inside the hotel and you were beyond grateful. It wasn't too cold, but still chilly.

"These are the key cards for your five rooms, sir," one of the hotel's staff handed to Jimin.

"We're short two rooms," Jihyo says.

"It's okay, I'm sure they have two rooms they can give us," Taehyung responds.

"Sorry sir," the man interjects. "The hotel's booked for the gala, there are no more rooms at the moment."

"It's no big deal," Jihyo reasurres. "Two of us will have to share a room."

"Okay then, I can share a room with Ryuna," you offer.

Jimin and Ryuna both look at each other and you internally roll your eyes. "Fine, I'll share a room with Jihyo. Jimin and Ryuna can share a room."

"Yah!" Jihyo exclaims, slapping Ryuna on the arm. "You just got back and barely spent any time with your best friend, but of course you'd rather share a room with your boyfriend."

"Okay fine. Jihyo and Ryuna can share a room, I'll share a room with Jimin. Is that okay?" Taehyung asks.

"Although it would be a lot easier if Y/N and Taehyung just shared a room..." Ryuna mutters under her breath, but loud enough for both you and Taehyung to hear. You both snap your heads in her direction and spare her a disapproving look.

"Jungkook?" Jihyo's eyes gleam once her eyes fall on Jungkook.

Jungkook, who was briefly in conversation with someone else, looks over to Jihyo's direction.

"I'll get back to you on that later," Jungkook tells the man and walks over to where you all were currently standing.

"Hey," Jungkook greets, pulling Jihyo into a hug.

"Since when did they get so close?" Jimin mumbles, loud enough only for himself and Ryuna to hear.

"When did you get here, Jungkook?" You ask, walking over to him.

"I just got here yesterday. I decided to come since you'd insisted, and because I had some other work to get done I came a day earlier," he narrates.

"You should've let me know earlier".

"Ah well," he scratches the back of his neck, "surprise?"

You chuckle in response.

"Enough about me, why are you all standing in the lobby?" Jungkook questions.

"Oh, well we're short two rooms," you explain to him. "So we were just deciding on who would share rooms with who."

"I suppose I could be of assistance," Jungkook says. "There's always an empty bed in my room, if anyone wants to share a room with me. Y/N?"

But before you could answer, Taehyung beats you to it. "My apologies for interfering, but Y/N and myself are already sharing a room so you're at a bit of a disadvantage."

You turn your head in Taehyung's direction but he's already walking away with a key card in one of his hands and the other hand in the pocket of his black slacks.

"Send in Y/N and I's bags to suite 27," he calls back to the staff, not bothering to turn around.

Oh you were absolutely going to kick him in the balls.

"What the fuck is your problem, Taehyung," you call after him once the two of you were inside your room.

He doesn't respond.

"Kim Taehyung!" You exclaim, grabbing his forearm and turning him to face you.

"You wanna know what my fucking problem is?" He raises his voice, walking a step closer to you. "You are my problem."

You scoff. "If my presence irritates you so much why are you sharing a room with me, huh? Why don't you go share a room with that—that, whatever-her-name-is?"

"Harin," Taehyung says through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, yeah," you wave off. "Harin. Why don't you go share a room with her?"

Taehyung ignores your remark. "Tell me why you didn't take my coat from the staff."

"I don't need your help," you simply retorted.

Taehyung sighs, walking closer and closing any remaining space between you two. You look at him in confusion when his expression softens and he takes your jaw in his hold. "Aren't you so stubborn, doll."

"Look who's talking. If you aren't equally as stubborn. If you cared so much why didn't you come give me the coat yourself."

You were hurt by his actions, he understood that now.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I shouldn't have—I was jealous of Jungkook," he admits.

You look at him in surprise. "Jealous of Jungkook?"

"I get it, he has an easygoing personality, he jokes around, but I got possessive when he called you his best friend. It was stupid of me, I ended up hurting you in the process."

"Tae," you breathe out, somewhere in the middle of laughing and sobbing. "I really don't remember any memories I've had with him before these last few days. He was joking when he said we were best friends."

Taehyung looks away, as if he were ashamed of himself. "I know but—I was afraid when you started spending so much time with him. I thought you'd end up replacing me with him."

"Oh Taehyung," you say softly, bringing your hand up to turn his head in your direction. "I could never replace you. How could you even think that? Every memory I have, whether it be good or bad, you're in it. You've been there for me every time. I've spent every moment of my life with you, Taehyung. Do you think I would just replace you like that? And that too with someone I just met the other day? You're my soulmate, Taehyung, my best friend. I can't even imagine my life without you. Do you know how I've spent the past three days without you? It was practically hell for me."

"I haven't slept properly in days," he admits, which makes you laugh. "You know I can't sleep if I don't talk to you, it makes me feel so uneasy."

"I know," you reply softly. "So no more fighting?"

"No more fighting," he confirms with a smile.

And finally your days of unease came to an end. How easy it was to sort out things when you both just talked, clearly something you both were bad at. As Jimin had always said to the two of you, you and Taehyung have a communication gap.

But hey, you end up sorting things out in the end, right? Well maybe with a few bumps in the road but it's never caused an issue too big.

"God I'm going to strangle whoever is outside the door," Taehyung mutters, the rasp in his voice strong.

Another series of knocks follows which makes you groan. "Taehyung, open the door please."

Taehyung stretches his arms to the bedside table and lifts his phone, outraged when he sees that it's only twelve in the afternoon.

He allows himself to get out of bed and walks to the door of the room, opening it, ready to go off on whoever had been knocking on the door.

"About time you open the fucking door," Jimin says before Taehyung could say anything.

"What the fuck do you want?" Taehyung groans, ready to shut the door in his face.

"Get dressed will you? You've missed breakfast already, I'd recommend you don't miss lunch, we're going to the pool later so if you would like to join us you should probably get dressed in the next..." he glances at his Apple Watch, "fifteen minutes."

"Fine," Taehyung groans, closing the door and walking back inside the room. "Y/N, get up," he calls.

You whine in response, keeping your eyes shut and turning on your side, not wanting to get up.

"Y/N," Taehyung calls your name again, pulling the covers off your body. You groan loudly at the coolness of the air conditioning hitting your bare short-sported legs.

"Everyone's waiting for us to join them at lunch, Y/N," he says.

"You go," you retorted simply, but Taehyung isn't having any of it. He walks over to the ensuite bathroom and grabs a toothbrush. Walking back over to you, he hands your sleeping figure a toothbrush. "Go brush your teeth, I'll go change in the living room."

You respond with a hum, not caring whatsoever about what he was saying. You'd gotten about five minutes of undisturbed sleep while Taehyung was gone, but that didn't last once he was back.

"Y/N," he says disappointedly, but you don't care enough to turn around. What you didn't expect was for him to pick you up and walk you to the bathroom, sitting you on the counter of the bathroom. He puts a pea of toothpaste onto your toothbrush before he reaches out and grabs a toothbrush for himself, putting a pea of toothpaste on his own toothbrush.

"Do you want me to brush your teeth for you as well?" Taehyung challenges, raising his brow at your clueless and still sleepy state.

At last you'd ended up brushing your teeth and then Taehyung had left the bathroom for you to freshen up and get dressed.

"Hmm, let's go," you announce once you get out of the bathroom.

"Jimin is absolutely going to kill me," Taehyung tells you, looking at the time.

"Hopefully he gets the deed done this time," you remark, at which he gives you a slap at the back of your head.

"Come on now," he says, walking out of the room and you follow closely behind him. And of course you both run into Jimin first thing out of the room.

"I was starting to think you both fell asleep again," Jimin remarks.

"You think too lowly of us," you retort.

"Yeah, yeah," he dismisses, "everyone's waiting for you two downstairs."

Lunch had passed by in a frenzy though you had to admit, the food was absolutely delicious. Everyone had then decided on meeting downstairs again at the pool in about an hour. Which led you to this moment. Having a crisis, with Taehyung looking over from time-to-time.

"Taehyung, you're not helping," you frown.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Y/N. I'm telling you they both would look good on you," Taehyung repeats for a second time.

"Y/N, I'm telling you, the pink one will look better," Ryuna says.

"But I like both," you frown. "I can't choose."

"Why don't you try them both on, then you can choose whichever one looks better," Taehyung suggests.

"Oh yeah, you should do that, I'll go bring mine in the meantime. I haven't been able to choose between the blue one and the green one either," Ryuna says, walking off towards the door.

"Yah, I told you the green one looks better," Jimin calls after her.

"No," Jihyo retorts, "the blue one looked better."

You roll your eyes at the pair of bickering siblings who follow Ryuna out of the room. You grab your two bathing suits and walk into the bedroom, Taehyung following after you.

"Can you choose for me? I'll try them on," you ask Taehyung.

He nods and you walk into the bathroom. First trying on a pink two piece. A frill going over your shoulder while the bottoms held together on the sides by lace.

You open the door of the bathroom, met with Taehyung's curious eyes. "Hmm?"

"It's nice," he says simply.

"That's it?" You look at him in disbelief.

"What else do you want me to say Y/N? I'd already told you beforehand, they both would look good on you. And it does look good on you," Taehyung says matter-of-factly.

"Okay fine. I'll try on the second one, then you tell me which one looks better," you instruct, to which he responds with a nod resembling one of a lost puppy.

You walk back into the bathroom and shut the door, trying on the black one piece next, sheer fabric over the cuts on the waist. You look in the full length mirror, admiring how the one piece hugged all your curves beautifully, complimenting your figure.

You open the bathroom door, revealing yourself to Taehyung who sat on the bed, scrolling through his phone, looking up once you'd opened the door. "What do you think?" You question.

He doesn't say anything for a moment then nods slowly, "it looks good."

"Seriously Taehyung? Come on, give me some insight," you frown at his vagueness.

Your eyes follow him as he gets up and walks towards you, walking into the bathroom where you were standing.

"You want some insight?" He asks, turning you around to face the mirror behind the sink. His figure standing tall behind you, his arms coming around you and resting on the ledge of the sink on both sides of you. Your eyes meet his in the mirror before you.

"The first one had a more innocent feel to it, let's say. It looked great on you. This one on the other hand, is a little bit more bolder, the colour makes your facial features stand out. And it makes you look more... hmm how do I put this? Sexy."

You snap your head back to face him.

"You wanted insight didn't you?" He shrugs, walking out of the bathroom.

"You still didn't tell me which one looks better," you call after him.

He chuckles, "I don't know Y/N, think about it a little. Anyways, I'm going downstairs, I'll meet you there."

You'd thought about it a little—no actually—you thought about it a lot, then had gone downstairs with a white cover-up over the black one piece.

"What took so long, Y/N?" Jihyo asks once you've made your way downstairs to the pool.

"Ah, I was just a little indecisive with which swim suit I should wear, so that took a while," you explain.

Your eyes meet Taehyung's. He was sitting in the near distance behind Jihyo, mid conversation with Harin, but he looks away as soon as your eyes meet.

"Y/N, come on," Ryuna calls you over from inside the pool. You nod in response, walking over to where Taehyung was sitting first.

"Do you mind if I leave this here for now?" You ask Taehyung, pointing to your cover-up.

"I'll get in the water soon, but you can leave it here for now," Taehyung responds.

You bring your hands to the strings tied neatly and the opening of the cover-up, untying it, allowing yourself to push the cover-up off your shoulders. You notice Taehyung's gaze on you.

Bunching up the cover up, you hand it to him. "Are you not coming in?" You question Taehyung as you get into the pool.

"Maybe in a little bit," Taehyung responds.

You don't dwell on it too much and get into the pool, enjoying yourself with the company of everyone else.

"Where's Jungkook?" Jihyo wonders out loud which suddenly draws your attention to the absence of Jungkook.

"I think I may have seen him busy with someone outside. It must've been something important," Taehyung waves off.

But something about his tone tells you he's lying.

What are you up to Kim Taehyung?

You make a mental note to ask him about it later. Lost in thought you don't realise when Ryuna climbs onto your back which makes you lose your balance and fall under the water.

Ryuna laughs, pulling you out of the water.

"I could've died," you exaggerate.

"Yeah, yeah," she chuckles, walking over to Jihyo and Jimin.

Drenched in water from head to toe, you run your hand through your hand which was now completely soaked, lips slightly parted, still processing the sudden submerging into water.

Opening your previously shut eyes, your gaze falls upon Taehyung immediately. He scratches lips and looks away, responding to something Harin had told him. But your gaze stays fixated on him until he eventually looks back in your direction. And this time neither of you look away until Ryuna calls you.

"Jungkook, where were you?" Jihyo questions, finally finding him walking down a corridor hurriedly.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry Jihyo. I don't know where that man came from but he was a handful to deal with and I finally got rid of him," Jungkook explains.

"Everyone's already left the pool though."

Jungkook looks at her apologetically.

"We're meeting up for dinner again and then at the nightclub down the street," Jihyo informs Jungkook. "Please don't be late."

"I don't think I'll be able to make it, I have a few things to finish up before the gala tomorrow," he tells Jihyo. "But I'll be there tomorrow."

He's about to move ahead when Jihyo speaks. "Oh and—uh—how—what are your plans for tomorrow morning?"

"Tomorrow morning? I don't think I've gotten anything scheduled, why?" He responds.

"I've heard that there's this really nice café nearby, if you would like to come have breakfast with me tomorrow morning, maybe?" Jihyo asks nervously.

"Oh yeah of course," Jungkook agrees with a smile.

"Jungkook, where the hell were you?" Jimin asks, making his sudden presence known. Ryuna followed next to him.

"Something came up and I got caught up in it, I'm so sorry." Jungkook briefly explains with an apologetic look.

"You'll be there tomorrow, right?" Ryuna confirms.

"Yes, definitely," Jungkook affirms. "But right now, I'm very late for a really important meeting, I'll see you guys later," he says before walking off hurriedly to the lobby, with Jihyo staring after him with a gaze that resembles one of heart eyes.

"Jihyo," Jimin says sternly.

Jihyo gives her brother a questioning look.

"What's all this about going on breakfast together," he refers to the conversation she was just having with Jungkook.

"Well, I invited him to breakfast tomorrow," Jihyo recites. Jihyo's silent for a moment before she speaks.

"Stay away from him, Jiya," his tone was firm but the usage of the nickname of his sister established the softness.

"Jimin?" Ryuna questions in outrage but Jimin silences her.

"I've known Jungkook for a long time," Jimin narrates, "I don't want to see you go through what his past girlfriends have gone through. So I'm warning you beforehand, Jiya, stay away from him. He's here for a reason and once he's finished with his work here, he's going back to Singapore. Don't give him a reason to stay any longer than he needs to."

"But—

"I just want what's best for you, Jihyo. The rest is up to you." Jimin concludes, then walks off.

"I'll talk to him, I promise," Ryuna says to Jihyo, looking at her with pity before walking off behind Jimin.

You're staring. You don't realise it immediately but you're staring.

"Would you mind if I sit here?" Harin had asked you when you were about to take a seat in the chair next to Taehyung.

"Oh, of course not," you responded with, but you were quite taken aback. This was the first time someone had asked you to move so that they could sit next to Taehyung instead. You hated that you felt that way, but you were offended. Sitting next to Taehyung was a right of yours, you were offended that someone had taken it away from you. And that too someone that he'd met five minutes ago.

Due to this occurrence you sat next to Ryuna, opposite of Taehyung. And your gaze was currently fixated on Taehyung and his 'friend'.

"Is the ice cream good?" Harin asks Taehyung.

He responds with a curt nod. "It's good."

"You wouldn't mind if I tasted a little from your plate first, would you?" She gave him no time to say no, dipping her spoon into the ice cream when Taehyung gave no response.

You didn't realise you were staring at the scene unfolding before you, looking away when you feel a foot give you a nudge from under the table. Taehyung. He looks at you through narrow eyes, holding his gaze on you for a split second before putting his attention back to his ice cream.

The dinner eventually ends with you paying for the meal since you'd insisted on paying.

And once out of the elevator, everyone else had dispersed and gone to their respective rooms, leaving you and Taehyung in each other's presence once again.

"I think she's interested in you," you start playfully, seated on the bed.

"Hmm well," he ponders, taking a seat next to you. "Who isn't interested in me?"

"That's a good point."

"By the way, I didn't miss that death stare you were giving her," Taehyung chuckles.

"What did you expect me to do? Kiss her feet? She fucking told me to move seats. The audacity," you scoff.

Taehyung only chuckles in response, "I was a little taken aback as well. I'm starting to regret my decision to bring her along."

"Yeah, about time," you mutter.

"Yeah, yeah," he pushes you off the bed. "Now go get changed."

You already had your dress picked out, a golden sequin dress reaching your mid thighs. You had no doubt that it looks good on you but it was the struggle of attempting to zip the zipper at the back that made you want to rip the dress off your body.

You had one last resort.

Stepping out of the bathroom, you're met with an empty bedroom. When you step out into the living room, you're met with Taehyung's curious eyes that look away from the TV they were previously occupied with.

"Can you help?" You ask, turning around so that your back faces him. You move your hair out of the way and to the front, giving Taehyung access to the unzipped back of your dress.

"Is this the dress you bought when we went to LA last year?" He inquires.

"Yeah, it's nice, isn't it?"

He hums in response, moving closer until you feel his presence behind you.

When you feel his hand on your waist, your breath hitches. But you try to calm yourself. You realise how close he was to you at that moment. You feel his breath near your earring clad ears as he pulls the zip up, his thumb grazing on your bare skin. But you try to calm yourself.

"What exactly did you do with Jungkook?" You ask, attempting to initiate a conversation.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he says, his voice was low—a rasp to it.

"I know you very well Taehyung, now tell me the truth."

He's silent for a moment and he's put a hold on the zipper, toying with it. His fingers skimming over your bare back. You hate it, you hate it so much. You hate how much it affects you right now.

"Let's just say," his voice was light, but so heavy. "Someone had kept him occupied while we were in the pool."

"And who was that someone?"

"Don't worry about it doll," he disregards, pulling up the zipper all the way.

You turn to face him once again. "Taehyung—

"Do you know where I put my cologne? It might be in the bathroom," he regards and walks away into the ensuite bathroom.

You took a deep sigh once Taehyung had left the living room. You still feel his looming presence behind you, his grip on your waist and—

"Shall we leave?" Taehyung's voice asks from behind you.

"Huh? Yeah, we should leave."

You've only been here for an hour but you've already had way too much to drink. Taehyung has tried to stop you a few times but you don't listen to him. You are very much drunk.

"Come dance with me, Y/N," Ryuna, equally drunk, slurs.

"No," you groan. "You know, I cannot dance."

"No, come with me," Ryuna insists, grabbing your arm and taking you with her.

You look to Taehyung for help, but he only smiles at you.

Taehyung watches you from afar. He's leaning against the table, arms crossed with a glimpse of his forearms since his sleeves are rolled up, a faint smile of adoration on his face. Jimin, who previously had his eyes on Ryuna, turns to look at Taehyung.

Though he was in disbelief, Jimin smiles. "How long are you going to keep lying to yourself?"

"Don't get started again," Taehyung stops Jimin before he can say anything more.

"Stop me from speaking as much as you can, Taehyung, but that won't change the truth."

Taehyung doesn't respond, his eyes still fixated on you in a crowd of hundreds. And once your eyes find his eyes, you motion for him to come join you. But he shakes his head.

"Who is that behind Y/N?" Taehyung asks Jimin. His eyes narrowing at a man standing somewhere behind you, staring you down. But you were too preoccupied to notice.

"He's walking closer to her," Taehyung says. "Fuck, she's drunk."

He wastes no time, walking off into the crowd, keeping his eye on you so he wouldn't lose you in the crowd.

"Y/N," he breathes out your name in relief once you're in his arms.

You turn to look at him, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Tae."

"You're very drunk, Y/N. I'll take you back to the hotel," Taehyung says, attempting to pull you out of the crowd. But you stay put.

"But—you're—here—now—so—let's—dance!"

"Y/N, listen to me. We're leaving. Now." Taehyung states, his words are firm.

You frown, but give in eventually and let him pull you out of the crowd to where Jimin still stood. His eyes fixated on Ryuna.

"I'm going to take Y/N back now, she's had way too much to drink," Taehyung informs Jimin.

"Yeah, I'll probably take Jihyo and Ryuna back in a little while too," Jimin tells Taehyung.

"No," you whine, attempting to get out of Taehyung's hold and inch towards the bar.

"Y/N," Taehyung sighs. "You're extremely drunk, let's get you back to the room."

Taehyung somehow manages to get you out of the club and sit you in the passenger seat of the car.

The ride to the hotel was short and silent. Now that you were out of the loudness of the club, you'd calmed down a little, causing your silence. You'd just sat, gazing out the window.

You were able to walk up to your room once the car had been parked in the basement, you refused to believe you were drunk to that extent. Taehyung would say otherwise though, as he kept commenting on how you couldn't walk straight. His grip on your waist secured all the way to your room.

Once inside, he seats you on the bench behind the door, taking off your heels and placing them next to the bench.

"Do you think you're capable of getting changed?" Taehyung asks, walking you into the bedroom.

You don't answer his question, which he takes as a 'no'.

Sitting you on the bed, he walks over to your suitcase and picks out your silk, white pyjamas. Once he approaches you, you get up, standing before him.

"Turn around," he instructs, and you do as he says and feel him unzipping the same zipper he'd zipped over an hour ago.

"Here, now can you put this on?" Taehyung asks, handing you your clothes.

You nod in response, though he seems sceptical, he turns around, giving you privacy.

"Are you done?" Taehyung asks after waiting five minutes.

You hum in response and Taehyung turns to face you once again. He chuckles looking at your state. Your innocent eyes staring at him while the buttons of your shirt are done wrong.

"Oh Y/N," he sighs, walking to you. "Can I fix this for you?" He asks you, hoping that you had some sobriety in you to answer honestly.

"Yeah," you respond.

He cautiously undoes the buttons, careful so that no skin is shown. And once he's undone the buttons, he does them up again. Looking at you with a smile once he's done.

"Let me take these off for you," he says, taking off your earrings one by one and setting them on the bedside table once he's done.

"I'll go get your makeup removal wipes," he announces to you before walking off to the bathroom.

Coming back with the pack of wipes, he finds you already tucked into bed.

He sits at the edge of the bed. A smile makes way onto his face seeing how you look at him with those doe eyes. He leans down, bringing the makeup removal wipe to your face and wipes the makeup off your face.

In a drunken state, you're clearly not thinking when you bring your hand up and rest it on Taehyung's jaw. He looks at you with surprise.

"Have I ever told you how attractive you are?" You tell him nonchalantly.

Taehyung laughs at how determined you seem to get the fact across, " yes Y/N, you've told me multiple times."

"Your face is so perfectly sculpted," you tell him.

He hums in response.

"Your eyes are very pretty," you continue. "And your nose. And your hair is so beautiful, always done so perfectly."

"Hmm? Really?" Taehyung chuckles, thinking of all the possible ways he could use your words against you in the future.

You hum in agreement, then go silent for a minute, letting Taehyung finish wiping the makeup off your face.

"And your lips..." you trail off, your thumb swiping over his lips. Taehyung freezes. The close proximity between you two already made it bad enough.

"Y/N, you're drunk," he states the obvious, moving your hand away and sitting upright. "I'll go throw this out," he mumbles, holding up the used makeup wipe. "You should get to sleep."

He steps into the bathroom and immediately strips himself of his shirt, suddenly feeling too hot. Leaning against the sink he lets out a deep breath.

Finally bracing himself, he walks out of the bathroom, but sighs of relief once he sees that you're sound asleep.

↳ Character | Yoongi x reader

↳ Genre | Arranged Marriage!AU, Heirs!AU, CEO!Yoongi

↳ Summary | He is the successor of his family’s business empire, and you are the female heir of yours. After the trouble his older brother had created in the past, he now must face certain requirements needed for the sake of the family’s future and to save his rights of inheritance, and you become his only way out. Everything might seem so simple, just the way they are supposed to. But everything isn’t always what it seems, is it?

↳ Ratings & Warnings | +18 / M for Mature; involving explicit smut/mature scenes, violence and characters death, appropriate warnings will be applied on each chapter whenever necessary.

↳ Status/Total word count | COMPLETED JANUARY 2020 / 263,265 words

➥ Chapters

⇢ Chapter 01 | The Arrangements ⇢ Chapter 02 | Pledge ⇢ Chapter 03 | Secrets Within  ⇢ Chapter 04 | The Alliance ⇢ Chapter 05 | The Common Enemy ⇢ Chapter 06 | Secrets ⇢ Chapter 07 | The Truth Unfold ⇢ Chapter 08 | The Hacker ⇢ Chapter 09 | Reverie ⇢ Chapter 10 | Bad Faith ⇢ Chapter 11 | Enlightenment  ⇢ Chapter 12 | Tides ⇢ Chapter 13 | Beyond The Walls  ⇢ Chapter 14 | Infiltration  ⇢ Chapter 15 | Blood For Blood ⇢ Chapter 16 | The Fallen ⇢ Epilogue | The Aftermath

➥ Drabbles & Short Stories

⇢ #001 | Solitude ⇢ #002 | The Perfect Escape ⇢ #003 | Bittersweet Cupcake ⇢ #004 | Black Russian & Beer ⇢ #005 | Transcendence  ⇢ #006 | Halfway To Forever

➥ Drabbles (Special Smut Muse Game Edition)

⇢ #001 | When he sneaks up on you in the shower ⇢ #002 | When he has a special way to wake you up ⇢ #003 | When you read him a special bedtime story

➥ Side Stories

➬ Title | G.H.O.S.T: The Hacker’s Tale — Carousel side story

➬ Pairings | Hoseok x OC (feat. Guess who?)

➬ Summary | Always have an escape plan. Jung Hoseok has always been the curious boy, too smart for his own good, and has lived on the edge for as long as he could remember. Living in the shadows, he had operated under the name “G.H.O.S.T” and nobody had ever managed to catch his trail. All except for one man, who had not only given him a chance for redemption, but also a reason for him to survive, and you, the shadow that he had overlooked for a long time, but always ready to come out into the light before he gets far too deep into his own darkness.

[Coming Soon! - Teaser 1 is available on Patreon; read teaser 2 here]

➥ Music Companion

⇢ Spotify playlist: Carousel ⇢ Spotify playlist: G.H.O.S.T 

➥ Fic Podcast

⇢ Session One - How it all started | Anchor | Spotify

⇢ Session Two - Behind the scenes | Anchor | Spotify 

⇢ Session Three - Behind the characters (coming soon)

➥ Fan Edits & Characters

⇢ Fan Edits |  01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08

⇢ Characters (by @theodea​​) | Yoongi (1), Yoongi (2), Jungkook, Hoseok, Jimin, Namjoon, Seokjin, Taehyung, Jinyoung, Yongguk

➥ Patreon Specials

⇢ Inspiration Board - Character Chart & Family Tree ⇢ Inspiration Board - Character & Fic Setting Moodboard

➥ Cross-post

Inkitt | Wattpad | AO3

hello, hello! here are my bts recs of september! hopefully these beautiful stories get more recognition as well as the writers 💝

** anything in parentheses and bolded are my thoughts that can be disregarded if needed **

🔞smut || 💔angst || 💕fluff || ✅completed || 🔄ongoing || 💯favorite

exhusband!jungkook, singledad!jungkook, unplanned pregnancy, EX2L, angst, fluff, smut

all chapters and drabbles will be uploaded in chronological order

as we were | jeon jungkook x reader — series masterpost ! ˚₊✩

⟶ GENRE : divorce au, infidelity au, eventual smut, heavy angst, lots of pining

⟶ RATING : 18+

⟶ WC : 11.3k

⟶ SUMMARY : You’re finally taking your first step to move on from Jungkook, and that leads to things you never expected to happen.

⟶ WARNINGS : taehyung and mirae’s past :(, yoongi being so cute, jungkook’s feelings, talks of divorce, emotional therapy session (literally), i’m not a therapist but i tried, this one messed with my emotions, discussions of self-hatred and struggles with self-worth, heavy alcohol consumption, drunk driving.

⟶ NOTE : we’re reaching the end of as we were!! I’m thinking we will have 10 chapters :( i’m very sad lol, but aww wasn’t even supposed to a series in the first place, it was supposed to be a one-shot LOL, but i guess i got lost in the storyline…oops…..it may go on for more, but i truly feel that everything is already reaching its end <3 oh, and please bare in mind that not everything is as it seems in this fic hehe….

I also cried in this one, as always, but this one really messed with me, idk it may just be my emotional self lol….this is a very emotional chapter, in a good and bad way, and you will see why…. but i hope you guys like this one <3 this chapter was not supposed to go like this, it wasn’t supposed to be this painful but oh well lol….hope u guys are prepared hehe

I also recommend you listening to sad songs towards the end of the chapter if you want to feel even worse and cry like a baby….you’ll se why :p

⟶ MUSIC : emails i can’t send and decode by sabrina carpenter

MASTERLIST ₊˚✧ TAGLIST ₊˚✧ PLAYLIST

                        #07: the art of moving on

hello, hello! here are my bts recs of august! hopefully these beautiful stories get more recognition as well as the writers 💝

** anything in parentheses and bolded are my thoughts that can be disregarded if needed **

🔞smut || 💔angst || 💕fluff || ✅completed || 🔄ongoing || 💯favorite

pairings » husband jungkook x wife reader

genre » established relationship, marriage au, angst, fluff

summary » you and your husband have constantly been arguing due to the change in his behaviour and you start to wonder where it all went wrong.

warnings » mentions of cheating, swearing, jungkook is a bit rude, arguing, kissing, planning for baby talk, sweet jungkook as well :)

word count » 2.5k

a/n » the italics part is a flashback

You were sitting on the couch, folding clothes from the fresh batch of laundry you’d just completed while waiting for your husband to come home from work.

He promised you that he will come early today but as usual, it’s almost 12 am and he's still not here. He’d usually be home by at least 7 or 8 but for the past 4 months, he’s coming home right before midnight or way past it.

You understand that the reason being is due to working on a important project he’s been busy with but you were worried about his health. You’ve already sent him plenty of texts to which he had left on seen. Hearing the keys jiggle and door open, you stand up and turn towards your tired husband who just walks in.

You want to go hug and kiss him but he's been pushing you away a lot lately, resulting to the two of you starting constant arguments. You’re already tired so instead of saying anything, you just go into the kitchen to bring him a glass of water. You don’t want to start another useless argument.

Your husband immediately takes the glass of water and chugges it down before heaving a sigh and giving it back to you. You come back to see him sitting in the same position on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. You wonder if he’s okay.

“Jungkook are you okay?” You ask, sitting beside him.

“Hmm,” he hums.

“Did you have dinner?” You softly ask.

“Yea,” he responds, making you sigh.

When was the last time you two had a proper conversation? You were worried about him but his behaviour was really pissing you off. This isn’t the first time, he’s been doing this very often and you don’t want to doubt him because you know he would never but you sometimes think he might be cheating on you. It’s been on your mind for a while and you really want to ask him but you’re scared.

“What?” He hisses.

“Huh?” You flinch since you kinda zone out.

“Can you stop staring at me?” He bursts out, clearly showing how annoyed he is by it. You don’t even realize when or how you zone out while staring at him.

“Can I not stare at my husband who came home from work after hours and broke his promise to come early?” You smile and hear him let out a sigh.

“I was fucking working Y/N. Sorry for not having time to come early so I could sit around and watch stupid movies with you,” he shouts, leaving the sofa and making his way to your shared bedroom. His words had pierced straight through your heart making it ache.

You quietly continue to fold the leftover clothes while being on the verge of tears. Never in the past 10 years of knowing him and 7 years since the two of you have been together has he ever said such hurtful words in such a rude tone to you.

You met Jungkook at your graduation party as he came to support his sister who was also graduating and happened to be your best friend. 3 years prior meeting Jungkook, you met his sister Jeon Haeun. You transferred from a different school at the time and became really good friends with her since.

You never saw Jungkook around when you’d go visit her house as he was a year older studying in a different school. He would either be at his swimming classes, basketball games, working out in the gym or hanging out with his friends. At least that’s what Haeun and your now mother-in-law would say.

You and your parents had just arrived in the auditorium where the graduation ceremony would be held.

“Y/N here!” You hear Haeun yell, waving her hands towards you.

Immediately smiling and waving back, you start to walk towards her as your parents follow you from behind. Hauen was wearing a hot red dress while you were wearing a black dress which fell right above your knees.

“Oh my god you look gorgeous!” She exclaims, hugging you carefully, making sure not to mess up your makeup or hair. You lightly chuckle and pull out from the hug.

“Shut up look at you, I told you the red one would look better.” You reply, eyeing her from head to toe.

“It does! Thank god I listened to you.” She says making you shake your head. You then avert your eyes to see a handsome man standing by the side along with Haeun’s parents. You do a double take and already catch him staring at you.

“Y/N, this is my brother Jungkook.” She introduces, noticing how the two of you had already started staring at each other. You saw a couple pictures of him at her house but he looked even better in person.

“I hear a lot about you at the dinner table, it’s nice finally meeting you Y/N,” he says, showing a bunny smile as he extends his hand towards you.

“Is that so?” You ask, looking towards Haeun who just grins back at you.

“Nice to meet you too Jungkook,” you reply, accepting his handshake.

You sigh remembering the smile and aura he had around him that day which made you fall for him. Ever since the graduation, you’d see him around the house whenever you’d go visit Haeun. He’d occasionally talk to you and even took both you and Haeun to the amusement park 2 years after you had met. The two of you got closer from that day and he finally asked you out a year later.

Jungkook was a really nice guy with such a cute and bright smile. You wondered what happened in the past 4 months for him to not show you that side of his anymore. You know It’s not the same as it was.

Suddenly the doorbell rings and you frown wondering who’d come by at practically midnight. You walk over to the door, eyeing who it was from the door hole and see Sooah patiently waiting.

You open the door and she instantly smiles at you.

“Hello Mrs. Jeon.” She greets, respectfully bowing down.

“Hi Sooah what brings you here at this time?” You kindly ask.

“I’m sorry for dropping by so late but I needed to give this to Mr. Jeon,” she says holding up a gift bag making you want to frown and bombard her with many questions. However, you just stay calm and decide to take it.

“Oh alright, i’ll give it to him.” You give her a tight smile as she hands you the bag.

“Thank you Mrs. Jeon, have a great night and weekend.” She bows again.

“Thanks, you too.” You reply and with that she left.

Once you close the door you eye the gift bag and peak inside only to spot two blue files and his shirt.

Did he—? you gulp feeling hurt and betrayed. You didn’t want to jump to conclusions but his behaviour for the past few months was making you very much convinced.

You stomp your way to your shared bedroom only to catch sight of Jungkook drying his wet hair after coming out of the shower.

“I’m so fucking done with you!” You yell, throwing the shirt at him.

“Wha-“

“How could you!” You shout out.

“Y/N don’t start now,” he says rolling his eyes turning to face the other way.

“Shut the fuck up im not starting anything how could you cheat on me!” You yell, finally letting the tears you’ve been holding fall.

“What the hell are you saying!” He yells back turning to face you again. When he does, you could see the anger in his eyes and face turning soft once noticing your tears.

“Y/N I—“ he begins in a softer tone, taking a step towards you but you cut him off.

“Don’t. Don’t fucking lie or touch me.” You say taking a step back.

“I’m not lying,” he retorts.

“Really? Then explain why the fuck you’ve been coming home so late? The company closes by midnight by max so I don’t fucking see a reason why you’d show up at 2am sometimes let alone have your secretary stop by at midnight to hand me your fucking shirt. Why was it with her huh? Don’t you dare deny by saying it’s not yours, I fucking bought that one for you,” you rant, tears streaming down your face which only display the anger and pain you are feeling.

Jungkook quietly listens to your rant before heaving a sigh and finally speaking up.

“Are you done now?” He asks you calmly. You were in no mood for this.

“Yes I’m so done with you Jeon Jungk—“ you feel his soft lips on you. You stand there frozen for a few seconds wanting to kiss him back knowing you haven’t felt his lips since the last 4 months. Not until you remember the current situation and try to push him away. You’re not sure what you expected per say, but your attempt is proven unsuccessful as it only results in him taking you by your waist and pulling you closer until you're smug in his arms.

When he pulls out you slap his chest.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” You exclaim, making him chuckle.

“Are you laughing? This is not funny Jeon,” you sternly say, surprised at how normal he’s acting. You haven’t seen him laugh in what feels like ages.

“Baby, just listen to me okay,” he says cupping your face and wiping your tears.

You close your eyes and take a deep breath before focusing your eyes on him, signaling for him to go on.

“I did not cheat on you. I’m not going to deny anything because yes that is in fact my shirt that you bought for me. I gave it to Sooah because she accidentally spilled tea on herself and you know I have spare shirts in my office. We were running late for a meeting so I just grabbed whatever shirt I found and gave it. I swear I had no other intentions. I would never cheat on you, why would you even think that hm? I love you so much,” he assures, pecking your forehead.

After whatever he said, you completely break down and start sobbing with your head buried in his well built chest. You’re very overwhelmed right now, especially by his last 5 words which he hasn’t uttered to you lately. You slowly wrap your arms around him as he carefully caresses the back of your head tangling his hand into your hair.

“Shh, please don’t cry,” he whispers.

“I know I've been such a dick to you lately and I don't even know where to start. I’m sure you hate me now but believe me when I say I didn’t mean any single shit I spat out to you these past months. I know I crossed my limits today and I deeply apologize for it, I’m so fucking sorry. This project is really important for the company and means a lot to my dad so I’ve been really stressed as it needs to be done efficiently and is a long procedure.” He declares as you pull out from his embrace.

“That doesn’t explain your behaviour towards me,” you retort, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I started talking less to you because I didn’t want to lash out all my frustrations on you. However, you kept asking me questions and it was adding to my headache so I said whatever the hell came in my head. I swear I didn’t mean any of it. I know you were only worried and caring for me. We’re going to be done by Wednesday so I was planning to make it up to you by taking you out on Thursday and surprising you with something,” he explains, making you frown and pursue your lips together.

“Well sorry for worrying too much about my husband's health, and what do you mean by ‘surprising you with something?” You question him.

“I guess I'll just tell you now so that you’ll talk to me, yea?” He says, scratching the back of his neck nervously. A habit of his which you found very endearing.

“You were the one not talking to me,” you mumble looking away. You know he heard you.

Turning back to face him, you raise your eyebrows motioning him to go on. You watch him head over to his bedside table before he pulls the drawer taking something out. Jungkook rushes back to you and hands you a small envelope.

“What is this?” You query, looking confused.

“Why don’t you open it and see for yourself,” he says, going behind you to wrap his arms around your waist in order to give you a back hug. His face nuzzled in your neck.

You ignore him and carefully tear open the envelope finding two tickets to—

“Oh my god what!!” You exclaim, widening your eyes.

You immediately turn around and jump onto Jungkook wrapping your arms around his neck and legs around his torso. You didn’t care about anything else except the fact that your husband was going to make it up to you by taking you on a trip to the one place you wanted to visit all your life.

Greece.

“I love you so much!” You beam, giving him a quick kiss followed by a bunch of pecks all over his face. That leads you to earn a hearty chuckle from your husband.

“I’m truly sorry for treating you badly lately. I regret it so much I swear. I can’t see you cry, I felt like shit knowing I was the cause of those tears on your beautiful face. Will you forgive me?” He says in a shaky voice and you immediately realize that he is on the verge of crying.

You get off him and grab his hand settling the two of you on the bed. You make sure he uses the headboard as support while you face him and sit on his lap.

“Hey don’t worry, it’s okay, we’re okay now. I was really hurt and scared by your behaviour but at the end I love you okay. Let’s forget it and plan for the trip.” You happily beam, interlocking both your hands with his as you know it comforts him.

“I love you more. Also, I think, the trip to Greece isn’t enough to make up for the shit I caused. Tell me how to make it up to you?” He asks, lightly soothing his thumb over your knuckles.

“Do you really want to know?” You question, looking deeply into his eyes.

“Yes,” he eagerly responds.

“Well then, I want a baby,” you say wrapping your arms around his neck

“Wait— you what!” He shrieks, looking surprised.

“I want your baby,” you whisper in his ears making him smile.

“I was actually planning to have this conversation with you on the trip. I think it’s time we have a little me or you running around the house,” he asserts, connecting his forehead to yours.

“I think so too.” You mumble, leaning in for a kiss which he gladly accepts and kisses you back passionately.

You have a feeling things will be back to normal again. You know it’ll be the same as it once was.

» 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: ceo!taehyung x ceo!reader

» 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: You and Taehyung have been friends for as long as you could remember, with both your families being directly involved in business together, and being closer than family, you've been surrounded by him almost always. Over the course of 28 years a lot has changed. But things could only complicate themselves more when both your families form an alliance between the two of you - an arranged marriage.

» 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: childhood friends to lovers, arranged marriage, fluff, angst, eventual smut

» 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: intoxication, subtle flirting, angst (Jimin is a little bit harsh), swearing, Jungkook is a bit of a jerk (for the meantime), Taehyung is quite visibly jealous

» 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 11K

» 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

"Jimin, I really don't think it's a good idea for me to be here," Ryuna says to Jimin as she follows him across the lobby of Kim Enterprises. "What if someone sees me?"

"No one will recognize you, you'll be fine," Jimin dismisses.

She'd worn a pair of your white and gray pencil skirt, blazer and white shirt to go with it. Putting her hair in a high ponytail, she needed to make sure she fit into the atmosphere and no one could recognize her.

"I don't think it would be ideal for the chairman to be seen with another woman a month before his wedding," Ryuna stresses.

"You're a potential shareholder," Jimin reminds her of the role she were to play if they were to bump into someone, "and you're married." She'd made sure to place a diamond ring on her fourth finger.

Jimin turns around once they're near the corner that hid the elevators of the building away from the rest of the lobby.

"You're walking so slowly. They'll be here by the time we get upstairs," Jimin sighs.

"It's not my fault," Ryuna whines, "I can't walk properly in these heels." It wasn't exactly a great idea to wear your pencil heels.

"You can take them off upstairs," Jimin insists. "Now can you please walk a little faster?"

Ryuna's attempt to walk faster is cut short immediately when she feels her ankle twist. She closes her eyes, embarrassed, but already knowing she was going to hit the floor any second now. Well, until she feels a pair or arms around her waist.

Ryuna slowly opens her eyes to see Jimin's eyes looking back at her in concern.

"Gosh this is embarrassing," she mutters under her breath.

"Hold on, can you stand?" Jimin asks, allowing her to stand on her own. She grips Jimin's shoulder, allowing herself to balance the foot that was still in pain.

Jimin kneels on one knee before her,

"Jimin, what are you doing?" She asks in panic.

He runs a hand over the pained area of her ankle, then pressing on it slightly, "does it hurt?" He looks up at her.

"Jimin, please get up, what are you doing?" She asks for a second time, not wanting anyone to see them like this. But he wasn't hearing any of it.

"I should call Iseul, she might know a good orthopedic doctor," Jimin says, mostly to himself.

"What? No," Ryuna exclaims, having no idea who Iseul is whatsoever.

She watches as Jimin rises and pulls his cell phone from his pocket, "I'll also tell Mrs. Choi to get you a pair of platforms."

"Jimin," she finally lets out, taking his phone from his hand. "I'm fine Jimin," she lets out a breath.

Jimin looks away from her after a moment, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Ryuna's heart breaks at this, "Jimin, that's not—" what I meant. She wants to say, but her words are interrupted as the elevator a little further opens with a ding.

She's not familiar with who the man that walked out of the elevator is but she supposed he was the last person they were supposed to bump into right now as Jimin's seemed to be panicking.

He looks around and spots an empty photocopy room. "Here," he whispers, pulling her into the room with him.

Trapped between his arms as they clutch the wall on either side of her head, she glances at him. "Hopefully he walks past here," he remarks, peering out the door.

"Who—was that?" Ryuna asks airily, not liking how close they were to each other.

Turning his head to her, Jimin realizes that they were indeed too close to each other.

He takes a step back, shoves his hands into his pockets and clears his throat, "dad's secretary."

She nods slowly, "I see."

"Is he gone?" She asks after a while.

"Yeah," he responds, glancing outside.

"We should get going. They'll be here soon," he remarks, walking out of the room.

Ryuna lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding and glances down at the phone that was still in her hold. Now ringing with the name 'Iseul' across the screen.

Her gaze falls upon the contact picture set of the said woman.

'So that's her,' she concludes once seeing the picture set of her, which Ryuna assumes to be taken by Jimin himself.

"Jimin, your phone," Ryuna says quietly, handing over his phone to him.

"Oh," he responds, taking the phone. "Would you mind if I answer this?"

"Of course not," Ryuna looks away, leaving both of them to wonder when these formalities and this thick awkward tension formed between them.

"Hey," Jimin says over the phone.

Ryuna attempts to distract herself while the inaudible feminine voice replies to Jimin.

"On Friday?" Jimin asks.

"Tomorrow can work too, mom asked me to make sure one of those days work with you," Ryuna hears her tell Jimin.

"I'm fine with Friday, I'm taking a day off either way," Jimin counters. "You're home after twelve right? I can pick you up."

"That works," Iseul confirms through the phone.

"I'll see you tomorrow then? I hope you remembered" Jimin questions, chuckling.

"Of course I remembered," Iseul says from the other side, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, bye," Jimin puts an end to the conversation and shoves his phone back into the pocket of his gray slacks.

"Sorry, that was..." Jimin trails off, not knowing how to explain Iseul's identity to Ryuna.

"Your fiancée," Ryuna concludes with a smile.

"Yeah," Jimin breathes out, "fiancée," the word seeming foreign to him. Another silence washing over the two of them momentarily.

"Uhm—I think that's their car, we should probably get going," Ryuna breaks the silence, motioning towards the blue Maserati inching near the entrance of the company.

"Right," Jimin says, suddenly coming to his senses and remembering why they were there to begin with.

"So, I'm assuming that your date went horribly," Taehyung snickers.

"No shit, Taehyung," you scoff.

"Can't have been worse than Kayden though, he was a whole nightmare," Taehyung retorts.

"Okay be serious now, Kayden was not that bad," you speak in defense of your ex-boyfriend. You admit he was slightly slow when it came to relationships, but he was a good man and definitely not the kind of person Taehyung was trying to paint him as—especially knowing the fact that he's dated women far, far worse than Kayden who was trying his best.

"Yeah, yeah," Taehyung rolls his eyes. "Keep defending him."

"Don't make me bring up Hazel," you counter.

Taehyung gasps, "Is that supposed to be offensive? Hazel was—

"A wretched witch, that's what she was," you finish his sentence for him. It's been years and you know Taehyung won't admit Hazel for what she was but that didn't stop you from praying that perhaps one day Taehyung would realize the toxicity that woman had spread through his life throughout the course of their relationship.

"She was not," he says in the same defensive tone you'd spoken in a few minutes prior.

"Yeah right. She was probably the most manipulative woman I've ever met," you argue.

"Name one thing she's done that would make you say that," Taehyung says in a demanding tone.

"One?" You laugh, "I can name five."

"Oh yeah? Go ahead, I'm listening," Taehyung challenges.

"She asked you for money at any given moment. Never paid for anything when you two went out. Didn't care about you at all, I only ever saw you running after her. Was extremely possessive of you, she fucking tore my dress and pretended it was an accident because apparently I'm too close to you for a best friend. And may I add she was manipulative as hell, and the funny part is that you still don't realize it. Oh, and may I add that she was persistent to have your kids despite you telling her repeatedly that you weren't ready for kids. And, she also forced you into letting her move in with you even though you refused."

You take a breath once you're finished sparing a glare over at Taehyung's direction. "It's a good thing I made you break up with her or else I swear I would've killed her myself."

Taehyung looks disgruntled once you've finished your rant. "Okay..." he says slowly, "but that still doesn't change the fact that Kayden was a lousy boyfriend."

"That's a whole different story, Taehyung," you retort, "he was just a little nervous because it was his first time dating someone, he was trying his best okay?"

"Trying his best," Taehyung laughs, "come on Y/N, you deserve better than to be taken to a McDonald's drive-thru for a date."

"That was a one time thing, Taehyung," you exclaim, "and it was actually sort of cute."

"I'd do better," he mutters under his breath, but you catch on easily.

"You think you could do better?" You challenge.

"I think I could, actually," he says, facing you at the red light, "effortlessly," he says the word in a way which you could make out as him accepting your challenge.

"Renting out a restaurant and all the luxuries doesn't make a good date, nor does it make you a good boyfriend, Kim," you scoff, "what matters is that it comes from the heart."

"Yeah, yeah," he dismisses, "I'll show you what makes a good boyfriend when Paris welcomes us with open arms this weekend."

"Oh right, that's this week, isn't it?" You ask Taehyung.

He nods as the car comes to a halt outside the company. "We're supposed to attend together."

"Right," you mumble, not liking the idea of attending the annual business gala with Taehyung as a couple.

"Jimin and Iseul are attending together," Taehyung informs you. "Jihyo said she wanted to come along this time too, since the event is in Paris."

"Well if everyone's planning on going then I suppose I should ask Ryuna if she wants to come along," you ponder.

"Yeah, you should. It'll be a nice little trip," Taehyung smiles. "Well, I'll go get the files, just give me two minutes," Taehyung says to you. "Unless you want to come along."

You think for a moment, "I think I will come along actually." You say with no intention of leaving. You'd been treated to a day off by your father since you'd out half the day either way. You were aware that Taehyung had plenty of work to finish, but what was the fun if you didn't sit and bother him for a while.

It doesn't take long for Taehyung to pull the car into the basement of the high-rise building and for him to escort you out of his car and lead you to the elevator.

You're greeted with a bow by Mrs. Kang outside of Taehyung's office, which you reciprocate happily.

Stepping inside Taehyung's office, you're easily distracted by him unbuttoning his blazer, letting it slip off his shoulders then throwing it on the gray, velvet couch. You watch as he walks over to his desk and skims over a few files and picks them up.

"Let's go," he says, turning his head to your direction, but his eyes are still on the blue file in his grip. By the time he averts his eyes to you, you've already made yourself comfortable on the couch. He gives you a questioning look.

"I think I'm fine here actually," you give him a playful look.

"Okay..." he responds, unable to comprehend your sudden change of plans, but he doesn't question it.

Soon enough Taehyung has made himself busy with work, not bothering to acknowledge your presence in the room.

You've scrolled through Instagram for a good twenty minutes before coming to the conclusion that you're bored. You could go home and watch something, perhaps take a nap. Your gaze then falls upon your best friend, it'd been a while since you'd gotten the opportunity to annoy the crap out of him.

Leaving your phone on the couch, you walk over to his desk, taking a seat in one of the swivel office chairs placed on the other side of his end of the desk.

You internally scoff when he doesn't even bother to look up at you.

"Taehyung, are you almost done? I was thinking we could go watch a movie," you voice your thoughts.

You frown when he doesn't respond, you doubt he'd even heard you. "Taehyung," you say his name again, a little louder this time. He's too engrossed in his work to notice your presence.

"Kim Taehyung," you try a third time, almost shouting.

"Y/N," he clenches his jaw. "I'm busy, can't you see?"

"I can see that," you roll your eyes at the obvious, "which is why I asked when you'd be done."

"Not sure," he responds curtly, "if you need a ride home, I can call my driver."

Calling a driver wasn't a problem, you could've called your own, but you'd appreciate it if Taehyung would drive you home instead. There was just something about his company that you couldn't get enough of, he's like a drug—you just can't get enough of him.

"No, can you drive me home instead?" You ask.

"I said I'm busy Y/N," he repeated a second time.

"And when will you be done?" You repeat the question a second time.

"I told you, I don't know," he gives you a look of distaste. "Don't you have to get back to work?"

You smile, "I took a day off."

"Okay, then go do something. You don't have to stay here all day," he informs you.

"Which is why I asked when you'd be done. We can go watch a movie together," you tell him.

"What part of 'I am busy' do you not understand, Y/N?" He gives you a stern look.

"All of it," you grin.

He runs his tongue through the inside of his cheek, "Y/N, I recommend you go and sit your pretty ass on that couch again, before I make you."

You sigh, "fine, I'll stop bothering you."

You're assuming that a few minutes pass in silence, you continue to stare at the man working diligently before you. Analyzing his every move, the way his eyebrows furrowed at the slightest error in the documents. His fingers gracing the ends of the page before flipping it. The way his eyes narrowed every so slightly while writing an email.

You'd been staring at him in such depth, you didn't realize when several minutes had gone by. He finally speaks, "are you just going to keep watching me like a creep."

You break out of the trance and look at him cluelessly. He chuckles faintly, "is this how you're planning on spending your day off? Go spend some time with Ryuna," he suggests.

"If only I knew where she is," you scoff.

"What do you mean?" He raises a brow.

"She left this morning, said she has to do something. I have no idea," you narrate.

"I see," he hums, "so I'm assuming you're planning on bothering me all day then?"

"No," you say in your defense, getting up from the chair and making way to the large panes of windows behind Taehyung's desk, wanting to admire the view. "I'll keep myself busy," you conclude.

He shrugs in response. "Suit yourself."

City views and skylines have always had your whole heart, you could watch them all day. Right now, however, you were a little more than distracted by the reflection of Taehyung in the window. His ocean deep voice hits your ears as he leans back in his chair, one hand holding up his phone to his ear, mid conversation with god knows who, while he clicked a pen with the other hand. It was only human that the image distracted you.

"That's right," he says on his end of the call, his voice low and raspy.

You watch as he turns ever so slightly, locking eyes with you through the reflection. "'Stop bothering me' huh?" You mutter under your breath.

Turning around, you catch his eye, his lips curl upwards in satisfaction.

"Yes, that will do. Thank you," he says to the latter before hanging up.

"What happened to the whole 'don't bother me, I'm busy' thing?" You ask once he's finished with his call.

"What about it? I was looking outside, it looks like it's about to rain," he says nonchalantly.

"Yeah right," you scoff, perching yourself on an armrest of the black chair Taehyung was already seated on. Proud that you were finally a few inches taller than him briefly.

"Go ahead, do your work. I won't bother you," you say with a teasing smile.

He groans, "Y/N, you're distracting me."

"How, exactly? I can be very helpful," you retort. As if on cue, the black telephone intercom placed on his desk rings. Beating Taehyung to the act, you pick up the call gracefully, "Yes?" You grin sheepishly as Taehyung gives you a death stare.

"Mr. Kim? Yes, he's very busy right now," you say with a frown. "You can let me know, I can pass on the message."

"Y/N," Taehyung warns through gritted teeth.

"Who are you speaking to? I would be Mr. Kim's fi—"

But you're cut off as Taehyung takes the phone from you, giving you a menacing stare.

"I'm right here Mrs. Imai," Taehyung confirms over the phone.

"In an hour?" Taehyung repeats over the phone.

"I will," he affirms his attendance at what you assumed to be a meeting. "Thank you," he says before putting the phone down.

"Are you fucking crazy? What did you drink this morning?" He asks you, you were really testing his patience.

"I was trying to be helpful," you shrug.

"Are you drunk?" He asks, getting up from his chair, and pulling you by your arm.

"I mean, I might've had a little bit to drink at the restaurant. It was just a little bit though," you say with a pout.

"God Y/N, you're really killing me today," he lets out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm not drunk, Taehyung," you scoff, pulling your arm out of his hold, "I'm just trying to make use of my day off and help you."

"You want to help me?" He asks. You nod in response.

"Go get me some tea from downstairs, I have a meeting in an hour," he instructs.

"Why can't you ask Mrs. Choi?" You question.

"You said you wanted to help me, did you not? Besides, Mrs. Choi is out for the afternoon," he tells you.

"Can you come with me?" You plead. You hated going out in public alone, and Taehyung knew that.

His eyes soften, "fine."

But you start to regret asking him to accompany you once he gets started with his endless nagging about you needing to be more careful, all the way to the lobby. "How many times have I told you not to drink so much," Taehyung scolds you as the two of you walk out of the elevator.

He knows you have a low alcohol tolerance (even though you deny the fact every time), which is why he worries for you endlessly when you go out alone or with other friends. Hell, he didn't even leave you alone when you went out with past boyfriends, worrying you'd drink too much and he didn't trust the other men one bit to look after you.

"I didn't drink too much," you whine, "I only had three—or I think four shots of whiskey."

"You what?" He exclaims.

"I needed something to help me cope, that guy was a nightmare," you defend yourself.

"Remind me to never let you go on a date again," Taehyung concludes.

"That would mean we'd have to marry each other, smartass," you remind him.

"That's not a problem if it means I can keep my eyes on you 24/7," he says nonchalantly.

Your mind drifts off to two days ago, 'and now?' His voice still running laps around your mind. You quickly divert your mind to the task at hand, tea, making sure a knowing heat doesn't creep onto your cheeks. Before you know it, you're standing in front of the counter at Starbucks.

"One 'Earl Grey Tea' and one 'Reserve Latte'," Taehyung orders effortlessly, knowing your go-to order.

"I'll pay," he says, pulling out his black card, pushing your hand that gripped your own black card away from the credit card machine.

"Is paying for beverages from Starbucks that cost $15 going to boost your ego?" You question.

"Is it going to bruise yours?" He retorts.

"Not my ego, might bruise my multi-billion dollar net worth though, so be my guest," you say, moving your hand away from the machine, giving him a smug look.

"Maybe the McDonald's drive-thru is the best for you," he mutters under his breath while tapping his card on the machine.

You swat his arm, he laughs as he collects the tray consisting of the two beverages. You were surprised the drinks were made so quickly but presumed it was due to the fact the CEO of the company had made an order.

"What? I thought you said it was cute," Taehyung pushes.

"It was," you conclude, taking your coffee from the tray, not wanting any more discussion on the matter.

"We'll see about that," he mumbles.

Yeah, whatever that meant.

"Yes Mr. Miller, I am well aware," he says lazily over the phone, a black file gripped in one hand and a cell phone in the other, an expression one that someone would make out as annoyance while his secretary followed closely behind him, carrying the man's beige blazer as the two of them stepped into the lobby of Kim Enterprises. The man's brown, mullet length hair blows as the air conditioning of the building hits his face.

He rolls his eyes, listening to the latter bargain from the other side.

"Mr. Miller," he interrupts the man mid sentence, "I am sure you are aware I am out of the country."

He scoffs at hearing the man respond with a 'yes'.

"Well then I'm sure you are also aware that I cannot help you in the matter."

"Yes sir," the man admits his defeat.

"Yes sir," he repeats the words under his breath in annoyance. "Do me a favour and don't call me back until you've paid my father back the amount you owe him, yeah?"

His tone crystal clear, everything about him screamed rich—or perhaps a spoiled only-child, maybe both.

"Y-yes sir," the latter says for a second time.

"Calling my lawyer is as easy as it was for you to call me to come begging at my feet, you hear me? Then you can go plead to the authorities," He runs his tongue through the inside of cheek, scoffing as he hangs up. Once the black iPhone 13 Pro had found its place in the pocket of his light beige slacks that went with the rest of his three piece suit, he turns to face his secretary, "the audacity of that—"

He's cut off by his phone ringing once again. Smiling, he picks up at seeing it's his mother, "yes mom?"

"Did you get there safely?" His mother asks in worry. Her child was 26-years-old yet she couldn't help but worry when he travelled on his own.

"Yes mom," he smiles, "I got here safe."

"Did you eat anything?" She asks, if it was up to her she would even ship a private jet full of food for her son.

"Yes mom, I ate. My love for food is too strong for me to starve for seven hours," he chuckles into the phone.

"Still haven't changed huh?"

The man turns around to face the owner of the voice, scanning his friend from head to toe, "well, well, Park Jimin."

You see Jimin from the corner of your eye but you have no idea why he’s standing in the lobby of the company nor who he’s currently mid conversation with. So you decide not to pay much attention to it, instead focusing on Taehyung and his tea.

"I can't understand how you manage to drink that crap," you make a face while Taehyung takes a sip of his Earl Grey.

He looks offended as he glances in your direction, "I could say the same about that shit," he motions to your latte.

And of course you had to take that personally because you were convinced that lattes were the greatest drinks created, and Taehyung knew that very well.

"Be serious, Taehyung. You only drink that," once again you make a face at his tea, "because you hate coffee."

"And it's a good thing too," he says.

You take a sip of your latte once again, "you're missing out on a whole lot of goodness here."

He gives you a knowing look, "I know."

Friendly (somewhat) arguments with Taehyung were something you'd never skip on, the two of you would always look back at the argument minutes later and laugh at the stupidity. Bullying Taehyung was your hobby, and you knew it was his hobby to bully you. But you put a pause to the discussion at hand once you'd caught a glimpse of Jimin standing near the entrance of the Lobby.

"Why is Jimin standing there?" You think out loud.

"Maybe because he owns the company, doll," Taehyung says in a sarcastic manner.

You want to scowl at the name, but you're too preoccupied at trying to catch a glimpse of the man Jimin was busy talking to. And when you do, it's nothing less of a surprise. You didn't expect to be seeing that face six years after he'd disappeared off to Singapore.

"Jeon Jungkook?"

It couldn’t be him, could it?

"So you're engaged?" Jungkook questions.

"I guess you could say that," you respond, "more like a mutual agreement between both our families."

You, Ryuna, Jimin, Taehyung, and of course Jungkook, were currently seated in the lounge of Jimin's office. At first you had to make a double take, thinking you were seeing things. But it turns out you were right, it had turned out to be Jungkook. He'd just landed from Singapore, Ryuna explained to you, he was here for Jimin's engagement party and wedding.

"And you both agreed to it?" He inquired, surprised at the piece of information. "I always expected Taehyung to marry someone deplorable."

"I'm sorry, what?" Taehyung remarks in disbelief.

Jungkook chuckles. "What I meant is, I thought I'd see you with someone a little... astray from your family's honourable name, disgraceful even might I say. Whereas Y/N is quite the opposite. She's gorgeous, well cultured, well mannered, knowledgeable, there's a reason why they've picked her for you. But I think she's slightly awry of your type." He gives you a small smile. You blush at his endless praise for you.

While Taehyung looks outraged. "Awry of my type? Disgraceful? Deplorable?"

"Maybe add 'uncultured' to that list," Jungkook says in thought.

"What do you know about my type, Jungkook?" Taehyung asks through gritted teeth.

"I think the list of questionable people you've dated says enough," Jungkook says-matter-of-factly.

"The one that only dated you for your money—what was her name again? Hazel," Jimin adds to the conversation.

Taehyung gives Jimin a glare, which Jimin shrugs off with an amused smile.

"Just look at this, Y/N has a day off, but has he taken you anywhere?" Jungkook directs the question to you.

"Pulling him out of work is as hard as lifting a boulder with your bare arms," Ryuna remarks.

"I told him we should go watch a movie," you accuse Taehyung. "But as usual, he's too busy. Speaking of which, you have a meeting in five minutes."

"You've had her memorize your entire schedule?" Jungkook asks in disbelief. "God, you really don't know how to treat a woman right, do you?"

Taehyung seems flabbergasted at the sudden insults being thrown at him from all directions.

"I'll take you out to watch a movie, then we can go have dinner together," Jungkook says to you.

"That's really sweet of you, Jungkook, but you must be exhausted, you should go get some rest," you attempt to decline the offer.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me, we can relive some old times," Jungkook argues.

"What old times?" Taehyung snorts.

"Has your memory dried out?" Jungkook snickers, "me and Y/N used to be best friends, two peas in a pod."

"Best friends my foot," Taehyung mutters under his breath.

"Loosen up a bit, yeah?" Jungkook says to Taehyung. "Is he always like this?" The man asks you.

"Basically," you giggle as Taehyung gives you a look of disbelief.

"I'd love for you to join us," Jungkook says to Jimin and Ryuna.

"I actually have to go to a friend's place, so I think I'll pass," Ryuna declines politely.

"And you?" Jungkook motions to Jimin.

"I'm taking Iseul out tonight, so I'll pass," Jimin says. The glance Ryuna gives Jimin doesn't go unnoticed by you.

Jungkook's eyes light up, "now this is how a man should treat his woman," he throws a look to Taehyung, "I'm sure you must be busy too, Park?"

"Indeed," Jimin counters.

"I rest my case. Shall we go, Y/N?" Jungkook concludes. "I hope you still love Mexican cuisine."

"Oh, I love Mexican," you nearly salivate at the mention.

"And triple fudge ice cream for dessert?" He names your favourite flavour of ice cream.

"You still remember?" You ask him, surprised that he remembers small details about your preferences.

"Of course I do," he says as if it's the most obvious thing, "I remember every detail about you." Your cheeks flush a deep red.

"Hyung, tell them I couldn't make it to the meeting," Taehyung says to Jimin before you could respond to Jungkook. "I'm coming with you," he looks at you.

"What happened to you being extremely busy?" You scoff.

"I'm not anymore," he responds. "Shall we go then?" He regards Jungkook.

"Of course," Jungkook responds.

A sudden knock on the door interrupts the conversation. Ryuna looks nervous at the thought of Jimin's parents or grandparents being at the door. Similarly nervous, Jimin walks over to the door and opens it slightly and sighs in relief seeing it's Jihyo. She opens the door wider and lets herself in.

Her gaze falls on Jungkook first, not being able to recognize Ryuna through her attire. "Who's this?" She asks her older brother.

"Jungkook," Jimin answers simply. She gives him a questioning look, having no idea who the latter is.

"And this would be your sister?" Jungkook asks Jimin in doubt. Jimin nods.

"Park Jihyo," she introduces herself to him with a smile.

"Jeon Jungkook," he does the same.

"And that is...?" She looks towards Ryuna.

"Take a closer look," Jimin encourages.

You watch as her eyes widen once she realizes that it's her best friend, "it can't be." She walks over to Ryuna and pulls her into a hug, "I was starting to think I'll never see you again."

"I missed you so much," Ryuna mumbles into the hug.

"Do we still want to go? Or did you change your mind?" Taehyung challenges Jungkook while Jihyo and Ryuna were busy with their reunion.

"Oh yeah, of course," Jungkook grins, escorting you out of the office which has Taehyung making a face.

"Okay, now tell me the truth, why is he here?" Jihyo asks once the three of you have left. Ryuna and Jimin look at each other hesitantly.

"Oh come on, you don't trust your best friend? And you don't trust your sister?" Ryuna gives them both a look.

Jihyo's eyes light up as Ryuna and Jimin unravel the whole story. Her mouth forms an 'O'. "Why didn't you two tell me beforehand then, I can help too."

"Are you sure about that?" Jimin raises his brow, doubting his sister's abilities.

"Oh I'll do wonders."

"That's wonderful," you tell Jungkook in the car.

"You think so?" Jungkook asks, his tone slightly teasing.

"Of course it is, how many people win a nation scale award for their outstanding achievements?" You boast. Taehyung clears his throat at your remark, you don't pay him any attention.

"How long are you in Seoul for?" You interrogated Jungkook.

"I'm staying for Jimin's engagement party, not so sure if I'll stay for the wedding," Jungkook answers.

"Oh come on," you whine, "stay for the wedding, it'll be fun if you stay. And that reminds me, you're coming to the annual gala right? We're all leaving on Saturday."

"I mean, I wasn't planning on attending this year," he says.

"Everyone's going, me, Taehyung, Jimin, Iseul, Jihyo and I'm sure I can convince Ryuna to come along. It'll be fun if you come too," you place your hand on his bicep, hoping he'd agree.

"If he says he can't come Y/N, I don't think you should pressure him," Taehyung says to you, pulling you away from Jungkook's close proximity.

"But if Y/N wants me to come, I think I'll come along," Jungkook concludes.

Taehyung almost scoffs from beside you.

"Perfect," you exclaim, "it'll be so much fun since everyone's going together. Right Taehyung?" You turn to face your best friend.

"Yeah, real fun," he responds, no sign of enthusiasm in his voice.

Before you could continue your conversation with Jungkook the car comes to a halt and the driver announces that you've arrived.

Doors of both sides of the back door fling open, one of the side Taehyung had been sitting at and the other of the side Jungkook had been sitting at. While you, sitting in the middle, were being offered hands by both men, meaning to help you down.

Before you could be given the chance to choose (which would've been painful regardless), Jungkook's phone rings. He politely excuses himself.

Your eyes find Taehyung's, his hand still outstretched for you to grab onto. Placing your dainty hand in his larger hand, his grasp on you is tight, and protective as he helps you down from the black Mercedes.

You could almost laugh at how protective Taehyung was about every little thing you did, whether that be helping you down the car, or you going out alone. He'd give you a statutory warning for every little thing you did.

"Are you going to be alright? Do you want me to come with you?" You hear Taehyung's worried voice over the phone.

Out of context, hearing his words anyone would probably think you were about to perform a dangerous stunt.

"Taehyung, I'm going to the gas station. Take a breather," you sigh.

"It's way too late for you to be going out to the gas station, alone," he says to you, rubbing his temple.

"It's only eleven, it's not too late. I'll be fine," you argue.

It was one of those days you'd stayed in at the company much later than usual to finish up stuff. As you were leaving you'd remembered that your BMW was running low on fuel and it was way too late to call your driver. He had a family too, you didn't want to bother him at this hour.

It wasn't as big of a deal as Taehyung was making it out to be, all you had to do was go to the gas station.

"Are you going to the one that's closest to the company?" He inquires.

"Yeah," you answer.

"Okay," he says before going quiet, though he doesn't hang up. And you know he won't until you've gotten home and told him you've safely gotten home.

That's Taehyung for you.

As you pull into the curb of the gas station, you see that there are a few cars here and there, not many. You park your car at one of the premium fuel stations, disconnecting your phone from your car's bluetooth, you walk out.

You finally hear shuffling from Taehyung's end of the call, and he speaks, "I have to say, that brown two piece looks great on you."

Your eyes widen, "you're joking."

But he wasn't, you turn around to see Taehyung standing right there, in a white Celine t-shirt and black sweatpants.

You hang up and walk up to him, wrapping your arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

"Tell me you didn't just drive all the way here because of me." Your face still buried in his chest.

"Well, maybe my own vehicle was in need of some fuel," he retorts, his hands stroking your back out of instinct. 

"You're fucking crazy, you know?" You laugh.

"I know," he smiles.

"You worry about me too much," you huff. "I'm not a child anymore, Taehyung."

"You're still a child, what do you mean?" He says, pulling at your cheeks.

You swat his hand away, "how am I supposed to carry out any simple task in the future if you keep doing this?"

"You won't have to," he says simply, moving you aside to walk over to where the gas cap of your car was located. "Because I'm never leaving you alone."

"We should just get married at this point," you joke, wrapping your arms around his backside.

"You think?" An amused grin on his face at your suggestion. You hum in response.

"Although, I don't think I'd last a day with your annoying ass," you remark.

"Yeah, yeah, heard that one many times, yet you can't deny the fact that you love me," he gives you a look.

"Who says I'm denying it," you scoff. "I just don't want to admit it, Kim Taehyung."

He chuckles in response.

You could almost laugh at the memory from three years ago. It wasn't the first time you and Taehyung had joked about getting married—he was the father of the dolls you used to call your children 24 years ago, it was instinct that you'd carry it with you. However, never had the two of you thought that this on-going joke between the two of you would find its way into your lives in a way neither of you would've ever thought.

You're pulled out of your thoughts by Jungkook's voice. "I'm really sorry, something really important came up, I'll have to go."

"Oh, that's completely fine. You should go and clear that up," you reassure him.

"Are you sure? I tried convincing them that I can't come but it seems that it's something really important," guilt dripping from his voice.

"It's not a big deal, really. You should go," you give him a smile, encouraging him to leave.

"Thanks, I really wouldn't have gone if it wasn't something important," he says while making his way to the car once again.

Assuring him that it was no big deal, and that the two of you would be just fine without him, you waved off Jungkook. Then turning your attention to Taehyung.

"Let's go," Taehyung says, motioning to the extravagant movie theatre.

"You mean, let's go back," you correct.

He gives you a look, "where do you think you're going?" He takes a hold of your wrist.

"I'll call my driver, he can drop you off and then drive me home," you tell him.

"And for what reason exactly?" He questions you.

"You have work that you left unfinished because of me, Tae. I didn't mean to bring you here while you were working, if Jungkook didn't force you to then I really would've left after finishing the coffee," you give him an apologetic look.

"If I recall correctly, Jungkook was going to take you. I volunteered to come along," he informs you.

"Okay, but you still have work. So let's go back," you say once again.

"I'm never busy for you. I thought you knew that," he reminds you.

"Taehyung," you whine, already feeling really guilty that he'd left all his pending work to accompany you.

Taehyung gives you a stern look, "are you coming or do you want me to pick you up again." He threatens you.

Mumbling a 'fine', you finally accept your defeat and follow Taehyung inside.

You're confused when Taehyung leads you away from the ticket booth, but instead to a different counter.

"Reservation for Kim Taehyung," he says authoritatively.

You spare him a look of question.

"Oh, Mr. Kim," the young woman greets him enthusiastically, "you're here early, but your reservation is ready." She informs him. "Room number five on the right."

"Thank you," he says, flashing the woman a charming smile.

"He's so fine," you hear the woman squeal to her co-worker as you follow Taehyung's lead to the instructed 'room'.

"Taehyung, what is going on?" You question him.

"You told me you wanted to go see a movie. I texted Mrs. Kang at the time and told her to reserve a room at the movie theatre. I was planning on taking you once I was finished with my work, but it worked out so it's fine," he narrates as if it was as simple as that.

"So, you're telling me that you reserved a room at the movie theatre, because I told you I wanted to watch a movie?" You attempt to comprehend the situation.

He halts in his steps and turns to face you. You try to ignore the faint screams the women at the counter let out at catching a glimpse of Taehyung's face for a second time.

"Yes..." he states as if it's the most obvious thing.

"Are you crazy?" You ask, giving him a look.

"I mean, I may have lost a few brain cells when you threw a ball at my head back in high school," he recalls.

"That was an accident," you groan at the memory. "And besides, you didn't have any brain cells to begin with."

"Ouch," he says sarcastically, holding his left pec.

"You're such a drama queen," you roll your eyes and push him to your reserved room.

The two of you are welcomed in by numerous staff members that wheeled a number of carts loaded with delectable snacks.

You pull Taehyung with you to the seats that would give you the best view and allow the employees to wheel the trays with them. Already presented with a grand selection of snacks to choose from, you decide to focus on the movie first as it starts.

The movie already interests you as soon as it begins and you're quite intrigued by the halfway mark. That's when you notice Taehyung's slumbering head on your shoulder.

You smile to yourself. He really is a big baby.

And that’s led you to having an enjoyable movie experience, all you needed was some food and Taehyung by your side—quite literally.

"So, how was the movie?" Taehyung asks as the two of you walk outside after the movie had finished and you shook Taehyung awake.

"It was great," you respond enthusiastically, "but the food was better."

Taehyung chuckles, knowing your love for food all too well. "Well I hope you still have some room left for dinner. You wanted Mexican?"

Your eyes light up at the mention of Mexican cuisine.

"What am I going to do without you, Taehyung?" You question, mostly to yourself. "What should I do? Shall I marry you?" You give him a teasing look.

A smile makes way onto his gorgeous face and looks you in the eye, "the offer still stands, doll."

"I wouldn't want to torture you in such a treacherous way," you retort.

"Can you imagine that though? Us getting married." An amused grin on Taehyung's face.

A look of disgust is evident on your face which encourages Taehyung to keep going. "Living in the same house, sharing a room, sharing a bed, cooking meals for each other."

"That doesn't sound too bad—especially the 'living in the same house' part," you counter. You still remember how the two of you would always talk about living together in the future while you were kids. Taehyung had even asked you to move in with him after university, but you'd declined.

But Taehyung isn't done yet, "showering together, kissing, making out, having sex, having kids together."

"Shut up," you groan, hitting his arm.

"Can you imagine us making out?" Taehyung snickers.

You suddenly regret considering his words and every image that flashes through your mind.

Taehyung's teasing still doesn't stop. "And having sex—

"Shut up," you cover his mouth, "I did not need that visual," you exclaim.

Finally making it to his Maserati that was now parked outside, you presumed his driver had dropped it off, you're grateful for the silence once you're seated in the passenger seat. Any attempt you were making to unsee the horrid images of you and Taehyung allegedly making out was unsuccessful.

"So, what exactly did you picture?" Taehyung asks after a moment.

If your eyes could kill, they definitely would've slaughtered Taehyung at that moment, "just driving the fucking car."

"Are you sure you don't want me to bring something on Friday?" Jimin asks Iseul, still unsure.

"I'm sure," she smiles, "I think they'll be more than happy to just see you."

"I hope so," he attempts to joke.

"It'll be fine, you don't need to bring anything," Iseul reassures her fiancé as the black Porsche comes to a stop before her apartment complex.

Jimin turns off the engine and makes his way out of the car, walking over to the passenger side of his car, he helps Iseul out of the car.

"Thanks," she says quietly.

There would be many people strolling around in the area as the complex was a closed off and sophisticated area. Hence, Jimin doesn't pay much attention to the inaudible voices he hears nearing them.

"You can stay the night, you know," a man says.

"That would just be too much of a hassle for you, Yoongi," a feminine voice responds, a voice too familiar to Jimin.

Jimin turns around, his eyes catching Ryuna's figure immediately.

Ryuna almost stops in her tracks once her eyes catch Jimin's.

"Ryuna," he says softly.

"Jimin," she follows his actions.

Coming to his senses he remembers of Iseul's presence."This is Iseul. Iseul, this is—um—Ryuna. Y/N's sister."

Ryuna's gaze falls upon the diamond engagement ring wrapped around Iseul's rings finger. "It's great to finally meet you," Ryuna says to the latter, smiling.

"Ryuna, so I guess you really do exist," she smiles widely, "Jimin never stops talking about you."

Ryuna's glances at Jimin, he averts his attention elsewhere. "Oh, does he? Well I hope they're the few nice things about me."

"There are a lot of nice things about you," Jimin doesn't stop himself from saying.

Ryuna clears her throat. "Anyways, Yoongi, this is Jimin."

"I guess it's safe to say I've heard a lot about you too," Yoongi says to Jimin.

Jimin purses his lips, "I see."

"I hope we aren't interrupting anything," Iseul asks cautiously, sensing the tense air.

"Oh, no, no. I was actually just leaving. Although Yoongi was insisting I stay over," Ryuna explains to the two of them. Though Ryuna doesn't miss the piercing stare Jimin had fixated on Yoongi.

"Well, Jimin, you should give her a ride home," Iseul insists.

"If you need a ride home, I can drop you off. I was headed that way either way," Jimin offers, still not looking Ryuna in the eyes.

"It's fine, I'll give you a ride home," Yoongi counters happily.

"It's okay, Yoongi. Jimin's headed that way anyways, I don't want you to make a trip all the way there," Ryuna declines politely.

Once Iseul and Yoongi had gone their respective ways and were out of sight, Ryuna and Jimin were left in each other's company once again.

"Do you need a formal invite?" Jimin asks harshly, motioning towards the open door of the passenger seat of the car.

Ryuna silently seats herself into the car. The silence in the car more than suffocating and insufferable once Jimin had sat himself in the driver's seat and the car was on the road.

"What've been telling her about me?" Ryuna asks, trying to keep the mood light.

"It's nothing bad, don't worry," Jimin keeps his response curt, eyes staying on the road. "Hopefully the same goes for what you've told your boyfriend about me."

"He's not my boyfriend," Ryuna says sharply.

"Doesn't seem like it," Jimin scoffs. "Should've stayed the night if he was asking you to."

"What does it matter to you?" Ryuna retorts, equally as witty.

"That's true, why should it matter to me?" He questions. "I wish it was as easy for me to move on the way it is for you. I hope you know I've dated a number of girls after you left, in hopes of getting you out of my mind. But I wish it was as easy as you make it seem."

"Stop the car," Ryuna demands.

Jimin doesn't pay her any attention, she raises her voice. "Jimin, stop the fucking car."

The car comes to an abrupt halt at the side of the road.

Ryuna doesn't waste any time to open the door and walk out, she had no idea where she was going, but she'd made up her mind—she needed to stay away from Jimin.

She hears the door of Jimin's car open and close, but she doesn't regard it.

Jimin's hand grasps her elbow, preventing her from going any further. "How far do you think you'll go, huh?" He questions angrily. "Do you think I'll just forget about you if you keep running away from me, Ryuna?"

His words prick her like needles, but she can't bring herself to face him, but his next set of words ignite a fire through her. "Was it that easy for you to replace me?"

She turns to face the man and smiles, pulling her phone out of her pocket and turning the screen to him.

Jimin's eyes avert to the lock screen of Ryuna's phone, it was the picture of Jimin she'd taken on the last date they'd gone on before Ryuna left.

"763 days, and not once have I even considered changing this," Ryuna tells him harshly.

"Then why him?" Jimin refers to Yoongi.

"He's a friend, Jimin," she lets out an exasperated sigh, "there's no one else in my heart."

"Other than me?" Jimin questions.

Ryuna looks away. "That shouldn't matter to you. You're getting married soon, it'd be better if you focus on your fiancée."

"But I love you, what am I supposed to do about that?" Jimin looks her in the eyes. "I can't love anyone other than you."

"Then just stop Jimin!" Ryuna's voice comes out in a shout. "Just stop loving me, please. You need her for your own good, not me. I can't give you anything other than heartbreak, Jimin. You deserve better."

"I need you," Jimin replies, the fear of losing her once again in his eyes.

Ryuna shakes her head and smiles at him softly. "You'll learn to love her. You need her, not me."

She backs out of his hold slowly, "get home safely, please."

"Is the ice cream good?" Taehyung asks you.

You were currently sitting in the passenger seat of Taehyung's car, enjoying the cup of ice cream you'd gotten from Baskin Robins.

You hum in response, "it's really good." You bring the pink spoon of ice cream to Taehyung's lips as the car stops at a red light.

He nods once he comprehends the flavours on his tongue, "it is really good."

Taehyung being the angel he was, had not only treated you to the Mexican cuisine you'd been craving all day, but also ice cream as a form of (second) dessert.

By the time the car was standing outside your apartment complex, you had already finished the ice cream. And like every time it comes to you needing to leave Taehyung's company, you feel a pit in your stomach. Maybe you were finally starting to consider the whole living together thing Taehyung had proposed to you years ago.

"I'll see you on Saturday then," he says, a glint of mischief in his eyes, but you disregard that.

"You better wake up on time," you scoff, knowing his habit of never waking up on time when he needed to get somewhere.

"I will, don't worry," he responds with a laugh. "Now go on," he says, motioning you to leave.

You give him a look, he never wants you to leave, "what is with you?"

"Go on, you'll see," he says, giving you a smug look.

You almost laugh in response, but realize he was being serious. You step out of the car skeptically. What on Earth was going on in his mind?

"I'll be a little busy tomorrow, but I'll give you a call," he reassures you.

You grin, "I'll be waiting then." And with that, he drives off, probably with the hopes of you getting home quicker. Why exactly? You had no idea.

Once you step inside your penthouse, you're greeted by the darkness of your foyer, but the faint sound of the TV playing from the living room.

Walking into the living room you see Ryuna on the couch, you weren't sure what she was busy watching but you're more concerned at the fact that she looked as if she'd been crying. But you decide not to startle her.

"You're back early? I expected you to be out longer, you haven't seen Yoongi in a while," you attempt to start a conversation.

"Ah, well, he has work tomorrow so I didn't want to keep him up for too long," she reasons, covering up her obvious sorrow with a light tone. "Oh and, there was a package for you outside the door when I got back."

"Outside the door? That's strange," you ponder, knowing that your packages were always delivered in the mailbox downstairs.

"I don't know, I just put it in your room," Ryuna informs you.

Curious, you decide to go have a look yourself. However, the scene in your room doesn't surprise you to the least, you see a brown box with a large label placed on your bed. Though the curiosity bubbling in you doesn't die down so easily, especially after seeing the box being labeled as 'Handle With Care: Fragile'. Cutting a slit through the gap between the two flaps held together by clear tape, you open the box effortlessly, but it's the contents interior of the box that surprise you.

Wrapped elegantly with white parchment paper and tied together with a black ribbon, you're not sure what you're looking at but you're quickly distracted by the small note placed over the package.

┌─                                                ─┐

Make this dress look gorgeous

on Monday, pretty girl :)

— your Tae

└─                                              ─┘

You're practically speechless, not wanting to believe the insanity of this man. You put the note aside and quickly unwrap the dress. It was safe to say that you're awestruck.

It was a glossy red satin floor length ball gown with an off-the-shoulder V neckline and a rhinestone belt at waistline with the front that came to a close with the Chanel emblem. Your breath is only stolen further when you see the lace up back of the dress.

The thought of Taehyung going out and picking out this dress for you has you blushing like a high schooler. And that can only intensify when your phone dings, indicating a notification and you can just tell that it's Taehyung.

[Tae] hope you like it, doll

This man is really going to drive you insane.

"The meeting with Mr. Anderson at eleven, and the meeting with Mr. Lee at three thirty," you confirm with your secretary once you've looked through your schedule for the day. "And what about the meeting with Mrs. Johnson that I had scheduled for today at five?"

You watch as she averts her gaze elsewhere. "Um—Mr. Y/L/N had informed me that he wants your schedule cleared after five. I have rescheduled the meeting with Mrs. Johnson for tomorrow at ten."

You let out an exasperated sigh, this was getting way too out of hand. "You did not consult me on the matter," you interrogate your now terrified looking secretary.

It takes you a moment to realize that there was no point in questioning your secretary when you should be questioning your father. "You know what? You can go, I'll have to talk to my father, actually."

Relief washes over your secretary as she doesn't waste a moment to take a leave from your office.

You immediately press on your father's contact and spare him a call. You understand that you'd agreed to this but it doesn't change the fact that you hated when people interfered with your work—he could've at least discussed it with you.

It only took for him to pick up your call for you to go off on your father. "Dad, you could've at least talked to me before telling my secretary to clear off my schedule for the evening. You know how important that meeting is, if I had settled matters during the meeting today I wouldn't have to push things till the end of the week. I have to leave on Saturday, you know that."

Your father lets you take a breath before responding to your rant. "Are you done? Can I speak now?"

You mumble a 'yes' and he proceeds.

"The date is at six, your schedule would've been too tight after the meeting, and you would've needed time to get ready which is why I told your secretary to clear off your schedule for the evening."

You pinch the bridge of your nose, "but you could've talked to me first, dad."

"Y/N," he coaxes you. "It's just one evening, you'll be fine. And trust me, you will not need to go on dates after this one—you won't want to."

The clear confidence in his voice terrifies you, "dad, you're scaring me."

He laughs at your confession. "He's the only son of a good friend of mine. I'm sure you'll love him."

"Right..." you respond slowly, not knowing how to take the information. The only son of a good friend of your father's, should be a catch.

"Is Mr. Park in his office?" Taehyung asks Mrs. Choi.

"I believe so. I was told he was to attend a meeting this morning, he should be back by now," the woman informs Taehyung.

Taehyung leans back on his chair, still scanning the document in his hand thoroughly. "Please find out, and let him know there is something I'd like to discuss with him regarding the acquisition of Rkive."

"Yes, Mr. Kim," she replies, bowing at Taehyung and taking her leave from his office.

Taehyung was a busy man, there was no doubt about that, but his schedule was pretty much insane these next few days. The next few minutes pass in silence as he reviews a few documents waiting for Jimin's pressense to fill his office.

"You called for me?" Jimin's voice resounds in Taehyung's office, he looks up from the paper he was reading through.

"Yeah, needed to talk about the deal with Rkive," Taehyung informs him.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Jimin interrogates.

"No, just needed to make sure you went through everything before I finalize the purchase agreement. I've secured the financing already," Taehyung says to Jimin, handing him a file.

Jimin skims through the file, "I've looked through these already, you can move forward with the agreement. Send me the documents once you've finished the statement, I'll sign them."

"Okay then, I'll let Namjoon know that we're on the final stages of the documentation," Taehyung concludes before he's distracted by a series of notifications showing up on his phone's screen.

"Y/N?" Jimin questions, not sparing a glance at Taehyung's phone.

"Shouldn't concern you," Taehyung seethes at his cousin.

"Ouch," Jimin says ironically, looking away and letting Taehyung text you back. Not that it was anything personal.

[Y/N] Dad really isn't letting me breath

[Y/N] Set me up for another date

[Y/N] Apparently some son of his friends'

[Y/N] He says I'll love him

[Y/N] And that I won't need to go on another date after him

Jimin glances at Taehyung at hearing him scoff under his breath, "what happened?"

"Her dad's sending her on another date. Some son of his friend, and he claims that she'll love him, that she won't need to go on another date after him," Taehyung narrates to Jimin.

He hums in response, "I see. And why exactly has that gotten you so worked up?"

Taehyung shoots a glare in Jimin's direction, "I happen to be her best friend, Mr. Park." He says through gritted teeth.

"You act more like her boyfriend though," Jimin mutters under his breath, although it was loud enough for Taehyung to hear. But before Taehyung could respond, the latter quickly changes the topic. "Anyways, you said she's going on a date with a son of one of her dad's friends."

"Didn't I just say that, genius?" Taehyung grimaces, though Jimin ignores the comment.

"That's strange because Jungkook was telling me, his dad set him up for a blind date. And—correct me if I'm mistaken—Y/N's dad and Jungkook's dad are friends."

Taehyung freezes, slowly comprehending the situation, "so you're telling me that Y/N's going on a date with that crackpot?"

"I'm only making assumptions, not that it matters anyways," Jimin addresses casually. "Speaking of Y/N, I heard you bought her a dress for the gala."

"How do you know that?" Taehyung raises his brows.

"I overheard Mrs. Choi and Mrs. Lee talking. Mrs. Choi was saying it was the most gorgeous dress she's ever encountered."

"Now that's a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, I bought the dress for her because it's a great dress but I'm sure she'll make the dress look even better," Taehyung tells Jimin nonchalantly.

"I don't doubt that one bit," Jimin agrees. "And I'm sure she'll look great tonight as well. Jungkook was telling me that his father made a reservation at Pierre Gagnaire, well that would be the case for Y/N if I'm right, but I highly doubt it."

But Taehyung had stopped listening as soon as he'd heard Jimin utter the name 'Pierre Gagnaire'—the most expensive and luxurious restaurant in all of Seoul. Taehyung knew that Jimin was just making assumptions but that didn't stop him from envisioning scenarios of you and Jungkook on a date together, and like Jimin had said, you'd look absolutely stunning.

You looked absolutely stunning. Usually you weren't one for self-praise, but you had to be honest, you really did look gorgeous. What you wore wasn't much, just a black mini dress, though you had to admit, the dress hugged all your curves with perfection. Ryuna had insisted on helping you with your makeup and there was no doubt that she'd done an amazing job. Your plan wasn't to seduce this man on your first date with him, but your father had been quite persistent on the fact that he would be the one for you—and your father wouldn't just say that about anyone, which eventually had you convinced that there was probably something appealing about this mysterious man.

"You look so pretty," Ryuna says, "you'll literally have this man on his knees in seconds."

You give her a look, "yeah, suddenly I don't wanna go."

"Oh shut up, you'll absolutely kill it," Ryuna scoffs, shoving you out the door as you're pulling on your heels. "Good luck," she almost snickers.

"Thanks," you scowl, "I'll definitely be needing it."

You really don't know what to expect once you're there. You don't know who this man is, what he does, all you were given was the venue—which surprised you, Pierre Gagnaire wasn't any small deal.

Curiosity was getting the best of you, you couldn't lie, but you were also extremely nervous.

Once your driver parks your car, you take a breath, preparing yourself for the evening—meeting new people wasn't exactly your forte, which was ironic considering your line of work. Despite your nerves, you get out of the car, straightening your dress, hoping the car ride hasn't formed wrinkles onto your dress.

You've only just started walking towards the restaurant when you see a familiar figure texting someone vigorously while walking towards your own destination.

"Jungkook?" You call out while walking towards him.

He looks at you with surprise. "Y/N, what are you doing here?" He asks, slowly digesting your attire. "Dressed for someone, are you?

"Well actually, my dad set me up for another date," you tell him.

"Even after yesterday's went horribly?" He questions.

"Yeah, he's quite determined," you joke, making him laugh a little. "And what brings you here?" You counter.

"Actually, my dad wanted me to go on some date as well. A reservation for Jae-eun."

Your eyes widen at his words, "you're my date?"

Jungkook gives you a questioning look, "huh?"

"You're my date, seems like our fathers set us up," you could almost laugh at the situation.

A humoured laugh leaves Jungkook's lips once he's comprehended the situation. "Well I guess this is my chance to make it up to you for leaving yesterday then."

"You do know that this date is supposed to establish our relationship status?" You question, wondering how enthusiastic he'd be about this whole date thing after your confession, but his expression doesn't falter.

"We'll get that figured out too if we need to. Although, you know very well, I'd never turn down a marriage proposal coming from you," his tone comes out somewhere between flirty and teasing.

"I'm being serious," you swat his chest, and you happen to realize how profound the said man looks in a white shirt with the black blazer atop and black slacks to go with it.

— as we were [cheating au] ‧₊˚ ongoing ꒱ playlist

» Your husband cheats on you and find comfort in someone else’s arms. He claims he’s happy—but is he really?

⟶ genre : divorce au, infidelity au, eventual smut, heavy angst, lots of pining

⟶ rating : 18+

⟶ warnings : heavy angst, infidelity au, husband!jk, mentions of divorce, jk being a dumbass, lots of crying & heartbreak.

⟶ current wc ; 46.7k [ updating ]

⟶ cross-posted ; AO3 ᝢ wattpad

⟶ character aesthetics ! ˚₊✩

CHAPTER INDEX ✧₊˚·

➳ #01: once upon a heartbreak [ 8.2k ]

Your husband cheats on you and find comfort in someone else’s arms. He claims he’s happy—but is he really?

➳ #02: (un)pleasant surprises [ 8.6k ]

You see him again, and this time it comes with some very unpleasant surprises and more lies coming to the surface….

➳ #03: starry nights and ugly fights [ 7.5k ]

You see him again, and someone else comforts you through the pain…

➳ #04: crystals everywhere [ 8.9k ]

You can’t help but feel as if the universe hates your guts….

➳ #05: fake it till you make it [ 13.5k ]

Whenever you think you’re starting to heal and move on, the universe kicks you on the gut, making you go back to where you started.

➳ #06: more than a traitor

………

— d r a b b l e s :

soon…..

➵ summary :  taehyung hasn’t seen you since high school graduation, but when he finds himself in need of a date for his friend’s annual christmas party, running into you is like a godsend; especially when he once had feelings for you, and little did he know, you felt the same way all along.

➵ pairing : taehyung x reader

➵ genre :  nonidol!au, f2l, fluff, smut

➵ rating : 18+

➵ word count : 19k

➵ warnings : mutual pining, sexual content, swearing, dom!tae, cuddling resulting in over the clothes stuff, rough fingering, oral (f. receiving), dirty talk, big dick!tae cause we know he’s packing, marking, restraint (with his own hands), choking, begging, unprotected sex (wrap it up peeps), hitting it from the back 😜, mirror (?) sex (reflection of a window), rough sex but then i love you sex, praising, slight humiliation, denied orgasm, creampie, aftercare

part of ksmutclub’s winter project 2020!, using prompt #7: “did everyone else come with a date?”

➵ a/n : thank you to @getmemyfries​ for beta-reading and constantly reassuring me about this fic, idk where she’s been all my life 😭, but surprise!! would you believe me if i told you guys i grinded this in just 3 days?? because YES i did, 19k in three days as a Christmas gift pretties, happy late holidays!!, comments and feedback are always appreciated <3

“Are you serious, Jimin?” 

“Very. I don’t know how you didn’t get the memo, literally everyone was talking about it.” 

“Did everyone else come with a date? There has to be at least one person who didn’t.” 

“And that one person is you, Tae. Did you forget that I made the theme all about mistletoe? Who did you expect to kiss under it, me?” 

Summary: Jungkook comes back to you after his 10 day trip to Busan, and you sense something different about him. 

Word count: 5.1k, cheating au

Warning: cheating, mentions of sex and hand jobs, pregnancy, past trauma, panic attacks, lots of crying, and regret. ANGST.

Notes: this has been in my drafts since November 2021 and is a form of catharsis for my past trauma. Cheating on someone is wrong no matter what reason or person. This is just my opinion on how I would react now since giving another chance is kinda traumatic for me. No offense to people who try again, but it's just my opinion. I apologize if I hurt someone's sentiments through my words. Thank you for reading though hehe~ ily

» 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: ceo!taehyung x ceo!reader

» 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: You and Taehyung have been friends for as long as you could remember, with both your families being directly involved in business together, and being closer than family, you've been surrounded by him almost always. Over the course of 28 years a lot has changed. But things could only complicate themselves more when both your families form an alliance between the two of you - an arranged marriage.

» 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: childhood friends to lovers, arranged marriage, fluff, angst, eventual smut

» 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: swearing, alcohol consumption, subtle (and not so subtle) flirting, angst, (unwanted?) arranged marriage

» 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 11.7K

» 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

You glance at the plate of appetizers placed neatly before you; deviled eggs, cocktail shrimp and baked potatoes. You decide to start with the shrimp first as you disliked eggs to a high extent.

The table's full of clatter and chatter as everyone digs into their plates and engages in conversations with each other.

"Did you try the eggs?" Taehyung asks you. You look down at the untouched eggs on your plate. "Taehyung, you know I hate eggs."

"Just try them, they're really good," he insists, but you frown, refusing once again. "Come on, just try it once," he says, bringing a small piece of the egg in between his chopsticks.

"Taehyung, no," you whine. But he pretends to not hear your protests and instead brings the chopsticks to your closed mouth.

"Y/N," he tries to say in his intimidating voice, but you knew better than to fall for that.

You keep your mouth closed and shut your eyes in disgust. But he places his hand on your jaw, "it's just a little, come on Y/N," he pouts. And you finally decide to give in, not being able to resist his pleads and his pout. You place your hand over his hand as he guides the egg into your mouth.

"Isn't it good?" he asks, watching you chew on it skeptically.

"It's actually pretty good," you admit, looking at him with bright eyes. He smiles. "See, I told you. I'm always right."

"Yeah, yeah," you roll your eyes.

"Aren't they absolutely adorable?" Taehyung's mother, who'd been watching the scene unfold before her eyes, tells her husband.

Taehyung's father smiles, watching Taehyung feed you another egg as you give into his protests to let him feed you—more like baby you. "They're truly a match made in heaven, dad's right," Taehyung's father responds.

"Seokjin is coming next week," Taehyung's grandfather declares to everyone.

Taehyung looks up from his plate at the mention of his older brother. "Next week? He didn't tell me."

"It was last minute," Taehyung's father informs his younger son. Taehyung nods in understanding.

"He's staying for a few months," Taehyung's mother adds.

"For Jiminie's engagement party in two weeks—and yours next month." Taehyung freezes, looking at his mother in bewilderment, not wanting to believe the words that had just come out of her mouth.

But before he can say anything, his grandfather speaks, "I've arranged Jimin's wedding for next month."

Jimin doesn't flinch at the statement, clearly visible that he'd been informed of this already. Instead, he keeps his head low, and continues to eat the little food that had remained on his plate.

"And yours Taehyung, two weeks after Jimin's," he finishes.

"What engagement? What wedding? I don't know anything about this," Taehyung says in outrage.

You were feeling a little overwhelmed with everything being discussed at the dinner table, but none of it concerned you, so you decided to listen with a low head, using your chopsticks to play with the lone egg on your plate which you didn't want to eat.

But perhaps you had spoken too soon.

"You and Y/N are to be wedded, have you not been informed of this matter?" Taehyung's grandfather asks with raised brows.

Your eyes widen, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Me and Y/N, marri—what?" Taehyung manages to choke out.

"Ah," your grandfather says airily, "I believe they haven't been told of the matter, Dohyun."

"Nothing to worry about," Taehyung's grandfather responds with a chuckle, "they know of it now."

"Of course," your grandfather laughs, "I still remember the day we took these two to the playground all those years ago."

"It was the day I'd decided I want to see these two married one day," Taehyung's grandfather smiles back.

You glance desperately at Jihyo and Jimin for any sort of assistance, but the same shocked expressions on their faces.

"Well, I'm glad that's sorted out," your grandmother smiles, "we can move forward with the wedding preparations."

"Oh, Jimin." Jimin's mother calls to him, "don't forget to tell Iseul about Y/N and Taehyung's engagement party."

Jimin looks at her with a faint smile, "yeah mom, don't worry about it."

"Although I'll personally make sure to let the Choi's know about it personally, I think it'll be better for you to tell her about it personally." Jimin nods silently.

Your mouth has already gone dry, but there's no room for protests, not from you, not from Taehyung. Everyone's already moved on from the topic, too busy excitedly planning for both yours and Jimin's wedding.

"Main course dear?" One of your parent's house keepers says from behind you, a plate full of food in her hand.

You nod with a curt smile, not wanting to refuse to the kind woman. But the truth was that you were far from hungry.

"I'm not hungry," Taehyung announces loudly from beside you, "I'll excuse myself."

You glance up at his standing figure, he didn't look back at you. You stare blankly at your plate of untouched food as Taehyung excuses himself.

The corner of your eye catches Jimin as he motions for you to go after him.

"I'Il go get him," you try to say as calmly as you could before excusing yourself from the table.

Your hurried steps follow Taehyung's long strides as he leads you upstairs and walks angrily into one of the many quest rooms of the mansion-like home.

"Taehyung," you call out his name, closing the door of the room behind you. You turn around to see him standing near the middle of the room, his long slender fingers roughly undoing the fourth button of his shirt as he felt suffocated. He was ticked off, looking to the side, giving you a view of his perfect side profile as he toyed with the fifth button of his shirt.

"This is bullshit," he spits, still not looking at you.

And you were feeling the same, but you were trying to stay calm, you knew yelling and screaming wasn't going to do any good. There had to be a reasonable solution to this.

You approach him, having your ways to calm him whenever he was stressed or angry.

"Taehyung," you say his name again, this time softer. You put your hands on his shoulders, but he still refuses to look at you. You move your hands up his neck, playing with the hair at the back of his head, slightly massaging his scalp.

"Tae, look at me," you say tenderly.

He finally turns his head and looks into your eyes. "They can't just wake up one day and decide to—and we're supposed to oblige everything they say?" He rambles in outrage.

"I know, I know," you shush him, letting your hands run through his brown locks. You feel his palms rest on your hips, feeling a little relieved that he was feeling slightly relaxed in your hold.

"Yelling isn't going to do any good, Tae," you tell him, "I'll talk to them," you assure him, knowing Taehyung can lose his temper quite easily when talking to his parents about iffy topics.

He doesn't respond, but instead keeps his eyes on you.

You move your hands down his chest, keeping your body close to his, playing with the buttons of his shirt. "Are you really not hungry?"

"You want me to eat while they discuss our wedding?" He asks, almost amused, "I might just puke."

You nod, "not exactly appetizing."

"Definitely not," he chuckles.

"And what if we do have to get married? Then what?" You ask him, wanting to know his insight on the situation.

"Then what?" He seems in thought, "then I'll be a form sacrifice from the four billion men in the world, marrying you."

You roll your eyes, earning him a slap to his toned chest, "asshole, I was being serious. We can't get married Tae, do you understand how messed up that is?"

"I know." he let's out an exasperated sigh. "Don't worry, I'll think of something," he gives you a promising look.

At that you smile, "I think we should get going, they're waiting downstairs."

"Do we have to go?" He whines, "just say I fell asleep or something."

"No, Taehyung," you giggle, "my mom already thinks there's something going on between us."

Taehyung sighs, "alright, alright. But I'm not going to eat, I'm really not hungry."

"It's okay, we can skip dinner. I'm not exactly too hungry either."

Finally persuading Taehyung, the two of you walk downstairs. Everyone's eyes flicker to the two of you. You notice your mother giving Taehyung's attire a look; the buttons of his shirt undone, his hair disheveled.

You shift a little uncomfortably on your spot, Taehyung notices this and decides to speak himself.

"I think we'll skip dinner, we're not exactly hungry," Taehyung tells them.

"Oh, alright," his mother gives both of you a soft smile, "let us know if you need anything."

You nod with a small smile, "we'll be upstairs," you refer to the rooftop of the house.

Once everyone's been informed of the new piece of information, you follow Taehyung's lead upstairs. He opens the majestic double doors that initially opened up the path that led to the rooftop of the estate.

You walk into the familiar space. Nostalgia hitting you as memories of your childhood spent in this very home come back to you. And of course, your childhood was incomplete without the presence of the man that stood near the railing of the rooftop, letting the view of the landscapes surrounding the house sink in.

"Remember the foam play tiles we used to play with here," you smile at the memory.

You think back to your childhood days, the foam tiles where you and Taehyung would play all day long those summer days, the miniature sized toy kitchen where both of you would pretend to cook fake food and the pink tent where you'd spend hours in.

You hear Taehyung let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah. We used to play house."

Your smile widens as you reminisce about the old days, "I would be the wife and you..." you trail off, coming to a realization of your words.

"I would be your husband," he lets out a hearty laugh, walking near you and taking a seat next to you on the red outdoor couch.

"And remember that doll—"

"You named her Youngmi," he says with a smile on his face, "she'd be our daughter."

Your face flushes red with embarrassment at the memory, "that's so embarrassing."

He laughs at your flustered state, poking your cheek with his finger, "you loved it back then though," he teases you

"Yeah, well that was back then," you say wearily, hiding your red face from him

His slender fingers find their way onto your chin as he turns your face, having you look into his eyes once again. "What about now?"

Your breath hitches, trying your hardest to maintain eye contact with him as you digest his question. "Tae, I—"

"I know he's angry." Jimin's voice fills the area as the door opens and closes, allowing Jimin and Jihyo to let themselves in.

"What now?" Jihyo asks her brother. Jimin sighs in response, having no answer to his sister's question. Instead he looks over to you and Taehyung sitting on the couch, both your eyes now on the two that had entered.

You tuck a loose hair strand behind your ear, your face looks flushed as you try to bring your mind away the conversation that had just occurred between you and Taehyung.

Jihyo nonchalantly walks over to both of you and sits in between the two of you,

Taehyung doesn't hesitate to get up and walk over to Jimin, having a lot to converse about with the elder.

"Here," Jihyo says, handing over a delicate glass of red wine to you. You look over to her, trying to seem as relaxed as you could, gladly taking the glass of wine from her.

"Had a feeling you'd be in need of that," she chuckles.

"Desperately," you point out, a smile on your face.

The next hour passes as a breeze, you sip on your wine while talking to Jihyo about Jimin's engagement and your own dreaded engagement.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll understand if you talk to them," Jihyo says with an encouraging smile, but you could see right through her. You both knew this was a long shot, the chances of them calling off the whole marriage thing at your pleads—the chances were low, very low.

"We should get going," Taehyung says to you after a while, "you said you needed to go to the company tomorrow morning?"

"Oh yeah, I needed to finish off some work, I'll be done before noon though," you let him know.

He nods in response, "let's go then, I'll drop you home."

You get up at this, ready to leave. Jimin and Jihyo find no reason to stay behind, so they decide to leave with you two.

All four of you walk downstairs, engaging in light conversations with each other.

The set of adults who were way too engulfed in deep conversation with each other look up to our direction in question. "I think we'll get going," you say softly, "I've got some work to finish off tomorrow."

Your grandmother smiles, "that's alright, it's getting quite late, you should get going." You nod politely.

"Taehyung," you hear Taehyung's mother calling out to her son that stood next to you.

"Yes mom?" You notice how he visibly tenses slightly.

She points to the other room and motions for Taehyung to follow her, "I need to talk to you." Taehyung lets out an inaudible sigh and follows his mother into the next room.

You take the opportunity to get to the foyer of the house and put on your shoes while Taehyung's gone.

Your own mother and Taehyung's grandmother follow behind you to see you off, you feel a sense of nervousness.

"Dear," Taehyung's grandmother says softly, "I know all this is happening a little quickly, but I hope you know we've made this decision for your own good."

You sigh and turn around to face her, you give her a smile and squeeze her hands, "I know that, you guys wouldn't want anything but the best for us. But, me and Taehyung, we're nowhere near a fit for each other."

"I know it seems that way to you Y/N-ie," she starts, "but believe me, Taehyung is a very softhearted boy and you know that. He can never be comfortable around someone the way he is with you. And you've known him for all your life, I can't trust his fragile heart with anyone other than you, you know him better than any of us. You are what's best for him, and he is what's best for you. The only thing we wish for is to see all four of you happily settled with a family before we pass way. Trust us on this."

Your smile falters. "I understand ma," you say with a fake smile plastered on your face. You could never refuse your own grandparents let alone Taehyung's, you respected them too much. Even if that meant getting wedded to your best friend. Before your mother could add on to the conversation, you see Taehyung making his way to your direction, he seemed to be clutching something in his fist, but you don't dwell on it too much, wanting to get out of here as fast as you could.

Taehyung notices the discomfort on your face and takes the hint.

"We'll get going now." he announces, pulling on his shoes and swinging the front door open.

He places his hand on your lower back, walking you out. You turn around to see Taehyung's grandmother, your mother and now Taehyung's mother who had joined them, waving at the two of you.

You curtly smile at them and wave back. Then put your attention back to Taehyung, his arm still around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

The ride back to your apartment was long and silent, neither of you spoke a word to each other—not having much to say anyways.

You were too in thought, Taehyung's grandmother's words still ringing in your ears.

It's only a matter of time before his car comes to a halt outside your apartment complex which didn't look much different from his—dripping in luxury.

You hastily unfasten your seatbelt and make your way out of the sleek royal blue sedan.

"Text me when you get home," he says to you.

"Call me when you get home," you counter.

He lets out a breathy chuckle, "alright."

And that's all the words you exchange with each other before you turn around and walk into the building. Taehyung stays and watches until you're out of his sight, then accelerating the way to his own apartment.

As soon as you'd walked to the comfort of your home, you felt a sense of loneliness again. Crazy what the companionship of Taehyung can do to you.

Deciding to get changed, you pull on your pyjamas. Then finally taking the time to drop yourself onto your bed with a sigh. There was so much going on, you could barely keep up. You close your eyes and rest your head on the headboard of the bed, your head was already pounding with a headache.

You'd almost fallen asleep before your eyes diverted to your ringing phone lying next to you. The name 'Tae' flashes on your screen and a faint smile makes way onto your face.

You press on the green circular button and answer the call. "You remembered," you lightly chuckle into the call.

"Of course," he says in the same light tone, "I remember every detail regarding you."

"Is that so, Mr. Kim?" You raise a brow.

He hums in response. "That crush you had in second grade. You have a sweet tooth but hate overly sweet foods. You threw up once after having eggs for dinner and you've hated eggs ever since. You want a kiss in the rain with your lover. You want a destination wedding. You want two daughters. You're terrified of any sort of insects except butterflies. Your ideal type in a man is someone who has personality, is charming, would love you for yourself, understand you, and of course has good looks. You need someone to clutch onto when you're on an escalator because you are scared shitless of escalators. You cried back in grade six because you got a 'D' on your math test for the first—and last, may I add, time. You tend to get jealous very easily and are very possessive. You..."

"What happened, why'd you stop," you say with a grin on your face.

"I thought you fell asleep," he says nonchalantly.

"I haven't fallen asleep," you respond.

"I'Il keep going then; you are down very bad for my voice, you find it extremely sexy—especially my morning voice. You tend to zone out while staring at me. You love when I'm wearing suits, it drives you insane. You—"

"That's about enough," you grumble on your end of the call.

"It's only the truth, tiger," you almost hear the smirk in his voice as he speaks.

"Oh shut up, you'll go real quiet once I start talking," you narrow your eyes.

"Oh really?" He challenges, "go ahead."

You go silent and that's all it takes for him to smile broadly in victory. "Cat got your tongue, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah," you mumble. 

"Anyways, you'll be done with your work before lunch tomorrow?"

"Most probably," you reply, "why?"

"Jimin asked if you'd be free for lunch tomorrow, apparently he's introducing his fiancée to us."

You feel a tug of excitement at this, you'd be more than happy to meet Jimin's fiancée—the one he's chosen to spend the rest of his life with. You've been hoping that he'd find the one for him sooner or later, you're happy he's finally decided to make this big step.

"Oh yeah, I'll be more than glad," you tell Taehyung.

"Alright, I'll let him know," he tells you.

"So are you planning to come pick me up then, or have you gotten other plans?" You ask him, playing with a lone strand of your hair while you were at it.

"If you're that desperate to see me then why not?" He shrugs.

"Oh please," you scoff, "I am more than capable of getting there on my own."

"Oh yeah, definitely," he retorts in sarcasm.

"Don't be delusional now, I am not dependent on you," you let him know, almost laughing.

"Right, right, of course not," he responds. "Are you planning to pick me up or do you have other plans?" He mocks your voice.

"Good lord, do not do that ever again, you sound like a dying bird," you make a face.

"Yeah right, go to sleep now, you're starting to hear things," he hints that he's about to hang up, you frown. You don't want him to hang up, you miss him already.

"But Taehyung," you whine.

"No buts, it's past your bedtime," he scolds you like a parent would to their child.

"I'm not a child Tae, I'm older than you," you retort.

"Maybe if you acted like it," he mumbles under his breath.

"I can hear you, you know? And you know what? I should act like it. Goodnight Kim Taehyung."

Taehyung laughs on the other side of the call, "I'm joking, I'm joking."

You're silent for a moment before you see an incoming FaceTime from Taehyung. You answer with no hesitation.

The screen of your phone displays the white wall of Taehyung's bedroom and the black headboard of his bed. But most importantly you see him, and his bare collarbones—establishing the fact that he is in-fact shirtless.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Kim?" You ask dramatically.

A lazy grin appears on his god-like face, "wouldn't dream of it, doll."

Ah yes, that name, doll. The name that seven-year-old Taehyung had come up for you, and had never stopped using it since.

You remember his soft little voice from over two decades ago as if it was only yesterday.

"You look like her Y/N!" A small Taehyung exclaims, pointing at your Barbie doll.

An equally small you looks at him in confusion, "huh? I look like Barbie?"

"No," he shakes his head, "you look prettier than her, you look like a doll!"

"A doll?" You laugh.

"Yes, a doll! Because dolls are pretty and you're very, very pretty too. So you're an alive doll."

A living doll.

You smile at Taehyung addressing you by the name.

"When will you stop calling me that?" You question with an amused smile.

"When you'll cease to look drop dead gorgeous, which won't happen, so I'll never stop."

"Oh shut up," you look down, not wanting to give him a hint of the blush creeping up your cheeks.

"You're the one that got me started," he shrugs.

You lean back and rest your head on the headboard of your bed, closing your eyes. Feeling comforted by the presence of Taehyung—even if it was through a screen. A small smile makes its way onto Taehyung's lips, "you should get some sleep." He says, once again implying that he was about to hang up on you.

"No," you pout, opening your eyes.

"What do you mean, no? It's getting late Y/N, you look tired. Get some sleep, I'll see you tomorrow either way," he insists.

Your pout intensifies, "fine."

Taehyung chuckles on his end of the call, "goodnight Y/N."

"Goodnight," you respond with a petty glare, not bothering to mention his name. You stare into the camera as he ends the call with a smile. Throwing your phone onto the bedside table, you lay down, pulling the covers up until your chin, getting comfortable. You sigh at the feeling of warmth as drowsiness takes over you. However, one lone thought stays in your head.

What if...

No, no, that can't be—you can't.

You'd started the day with a grunt once your alarm had woken you with a start at six in the morning. Groaning in annoyance, you start your day—who would willingly want to wake up at six in the morning on a Sunday? But you did. Getting to the company at eight, you'd start off by making yourself a cup of coffee—feeling a headache coming along soon. Partially from staying up late, waking up early and also due to the fact that your hair was put up in a high ponytail for the day.

You'd made sure to make yourself look extra presentable for the day, even if you were running low on sleep, as you were to go meet Jimin's fiancée for the first time today.

Which reminded you that you were to discuss matters regarding your own fiancé with your father later today.

Attempting to finish everything that you were to do before the clock struck twelve, essentially when your father was supposed to come in, was a bit of a hassle, but you had managed to get it done—leaving you more time to get other things finished as well.

It was approximately twelve thirty and there was still no sign of your father, you were definitely going to be late getting to the café where Taehyung, Jimin and Jimin's fiancée were most probably waiting for you.

Finally hearing a knock at the door of your office, you call out a 'come in', allowing your father to enter your work space.

"How's my girl?" He asks cheerfully.

"I'm great dad," you giggle.

"Sorry, I didn't get much time to talk to you yesterday with everyone being there," he apologizes, making his way to your desk and taking a seat in one of the chairs placed before your desk.

"It's fine dad, I can understand, it was a bit all over the place," you respond.

He hums in agreement, "though I hope you got time to talk to Taehyung regarding the matter in depth?"

"About that dad," you take a deep breath, "neither of us want this. We're not ready for marriage let alone getting married to one another. You know how our relationship is dad, there has never been anything romantic between us, we're just really close friends. You can't just wake up one day and tell us you've decided to get us married. You know we could never look at each that way." You glance at your father.

He looks slightly crestfallen, "I can understand Y/N, but you've got to understand where I stand. The Kims have always been very close to us and assisted us through a lot of rough patches. We've got to give back what they've given us somehow, and after what your sister did, even more so. They all really love you, they've always been so fond of you, they want you to be their daughter-in-law."

"They aren't the kind of people to force me into anything. Taehyung wouldn't want that. And it isn't as easy as you make it seem dad," you argue.

"I know Y/N, but you don't need to make it that hard. It's Taehyung," he says to you.

"That's exactly why, dad. Me and Taehyung are just friends, we can't get married," you repeat.

Your father sighs once more, "Y/N, did you know; when Taehyung was born, you were merely a few months old. We took you to the hospital and laid you next to him. Your finger was the first thing he's ever held. Your name was his first word, Y/N. I don't know how much more I need to tell you for you to believe that he is indeed your soulmate."

"Dad, that's all platonic."

"As for you two being friends, I hope you know that your mother and I started off as good friends too," your dad says matter-of-factly.

"That was a whole different story, you had a crush on mom to begin with. Nor do I or Taehyung have romantic feelings for each other," you insist.

"Are you sure about that?" Your father asks, giving you a look.

"Yes dad," you answer in outrage, not knowing what he was trying to imply.

"Fine," he pinches the bridge of his nose, "if you must insist, l'Il give you another option."

Your eyes light up at this.

"Hear me out first," he says, noticing your eagerness, "I'll set up as many blind dates for you as you want, but if you can successfully select a man for yourself that you're willing to marry—I'll break off your engagement with Taehyung. If you fail to do so, you'll agree that Taehyung is the best choice for you and agree to marry him."

You stare at your father, dumbfounded.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Fine," you huff, already exasperated at the idea. But you had no other choice than to agree with it.

Taehyung sat in the brown office chair placed in his study. He still had some time before he was planning on leaving and make his way to the café. He'd decided to get some pending work done, but he'd come to the realization that he really could not focus. The countless papers and files on his desk lay untouched like the opened document on his iMac, instead he sat staring at the diamond ring that lay on his palm. His mother's words from yesterday, when she'd pulled him aside, running laps around his mind.

"Mom, isn't this..." Taehyung glances at the ring his mother had placed in his palm in confusion.

"It's my engagement ring," she smiles fondly, "your father proposed to me with this ring almost thirty years ago. This ring means a lot to me Taehyung-ah. When your father slid this ring onto my ring finger that day, it felt as if the world had just stopped for a moment. And you see this diamond on the ring, this was an heirloom that your great grandmother had given to your father, she'd told him to present that diamond to a loved one, a promise that he'd be by their side for the rest of his life—and your father chose to give it to me."

"But why are you giving it to me?" Taehyung furrows his brows in confusion.

His mother smiles at his clueless state, giving him a little smack on the head, "I know it may seem like things are happening really fast right now, and it may take you a while to realize this, but I just know that Y/N is the one for you—and a mother's instinct is never wrong Taehyung-ah."

"Mom, you know me and Y/N have never had this sort of relationship, we're just friends and you know that," Taehyung stresses.

She only grins in response, Taehyung frowns at this, "you really have no idea huh?" She laughs at her son's innocence. "But either way, I'm not going to force anything on you Taehyung-ah, whether it be Y/N or anyone else, I want you to give this ring to the person you choose to spend your entire life with. And at that moment I'll know that my Taehyungie is all grown up now," she says, bringing herself to place a small kiss on her son's forehead, tears welling her eyes.

Taehyung pulls his mother into an embrace, laughing at her mother's state, "why are you crying mom?"

"Just getting a little emotional, my baby is getting married," she sniffles, pulling away from her son's arms.

A small laugh escapes Taehyung, "Mom you just said, whether it be Y/N or anyone else, and you're already planning my wedding with her."

"You know it's always up to you, if this is something you don't want then we won't force you into anything Taehyung," she says, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I know mom, there's just a lot to think about," Taehyung sighs, "but I'll keep this in mind," he looks at the ring in the fist of his palm.

Taehyung takes the ring and puts it back into the blue velvet box, then placing it carefully in his drawer and locking it. Sparing a glance at a framed picture on his desk, he smiles.

Finishing off some outstanding work once your father had left you to the vicinity of your office—there was no doubt that you were running late for your meeting at the cafe. And the traffic that lined the busy streets of Seoul clearly wasn't helping. Hurriedly you make your way into the cafe where you had been instructed to meet Taehyung and Jimin. You hastily check the time on the Apple Watch that adorns your wrist. It was already 1:40 p.m, you were late, late.

Skimming through the unfamiliar heads that were scattered across the posh café, you try to find two familiar heads-at which you succeed in once your eyes lock with Taehyung's eyes. He shakes his head, tapping a finger on the Rolex that wrapped around his wrist. You slouch a little in guilt, mouthing a 'sorry'. You walk to where you see Taehyung seated with Jimin and as you walk closer—you're revealed to a gorgeous woman sitting opposite of Taehyung on the circular glass table.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," you apologize, adjusting the white blazer that hung from your arm.

"It's fine, we were running late too, we only got here a few minutes ago," Jimin reassures you.

You glare at Taehyung for making you think you were late, he gives you a smug look.

Turning away from Taehyung you move your attention to Jimin.

"Iseul, this is Y/N," he introduces you to the said woman as she smiles. "Y/N, this is Iseul, my fiancée."

She really was gorgeous, absolutely stunning, you had to say. You smile at her, extending your hand for a handshake, she reciprocates your smile, gladly taking your hand into her own.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," you say to her.

"Tone down the formal tone a little, maybe Ms. Y/L/N," Taehyung almost laughs at your professional tone while talking to Iseul.

You roll your eyes, "yeah, yeah, it's a habit, what can I say?"

Finally allowing yourself to take the empty seat next to Iseul, you decide to engage in a conversation with the woman, while the two brothers sitting across you continue to talk about whatever business talk they were engrossed in.

Throughout the course of a twenty minute conversation with the woman, you learn a lot about her. She's not only kind and well mannered but also highly educated, currently still studying to receive her M.D to become a neurosurgeon. Her family is very well off, her grandfather was in possession of a hospital and left that for her father before passing away. Both her parents are in the medical field and earn quite high paying salaries. You have a faint memory of her parents now that you think of it, you've seen them a few times at parties and events arranged by Taehyung and Jimin's parents—establishing the fact that they probably knew them fairly well. And considering that their daughter was this appealing, it made sense that they choose her for Jimin, and that Jimin agreed to it most importantly.

"I hope Jimin is treating you well," you say lightly, attempting to joke about the topic.

"He really is very kind, really kind," she looks away, the small smile on Iseul's face fades as she speaks the words, guilt filling her brown eyes.

It all must be hard for her, you can understand how she feels—after all, you're going through the same, and she could possibly be going through worse and you wouldn't know of it.

"I know Jimin very well, he's like a brother to me," you give her an encouraging smile. "He'll keep you happy, I'm sure of it. And if he doesn't, all you have to do is let me know," you smile.

Iseul laughs, "thank you, but I'm sure that won't be needed."

"I hope not," you chuckle.

"Yah, are you doubting me Y/N? I hope you know I am very boyfriend material, husband material even more so if you ask me." Jimin boasts.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that," you snicker.

Jimin furrows his brows, making your grin broaden. Looks like you'd ended up hurting his pride, "what is that supposed to mean, I treated Ryuna..." Jimin's gaze drops as his words trail off, leaving the statement hanging.

The playful smile on your face no more. A thick fog of silence falls over the table. Finally mustering up the courage to break the silence, you speak, "why don't you all come over to my place tonight, I can order something."

"Thank you for the offer, but I think I'll have to run an errand at the hospital later today, I'm not sure if I'll make it in time," Iseul frowns a little.

"It's fine, some other time then?" You smile.

"Of course." she reassures. "I should get going then, I need to get to the hospital, I think I'm running a little late."

"I'Il drop you off," Jimin offers, getting up from his seat.

"It's fine." Iseul smiles, "l'Il call my driver."

"'I'll call my driver," Jimin insists, "if you don't want me to drop you off."

She chuckles, "It's fine Jimin, really."

"But it's not," he says, "let me be a good fiancé."

You look up at him, he averts his eyes from yours. But there was no point in hiding from you know, you'd seen right through him. At that moment you wished you could tell him he was a good boyfriend to her, an amazing fiancé and it wasn't his fault that she left. However, now was not the time or place, you both knew that.

"The hospital's on my way home, I'll drop you off," he concludes, no longer asking her.

You watch as Iseul finally gives in, walking with Jimin to his black Porsche, eventually feeling Taehyung's hand at your waist as you watch the couple. "Are you okay?"

You look up at him, "of course," you try to laugh it off, "why would I not be?"

"It's okay Y/N, you don't have to hide it from me," he gives you a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine Taehyung, really," you lather up a fake smile, though the truth was far from that, there was a lot going on in your head and he knew that very well.

"It'll take a little bit more than that to convince me, but if you don't feel like telling me right now it's fine," his eyes give you warmth as you look into them. He peers past you and looks out the window, "should be raining soon, mind giving me a ride home, mine bailed on me for his fiancée."

A giggle breaks past your lips, he smiles in victory, "of course," you tell him.

But before leaving, you'd decided to order yourself a French Vanilla, something you now regret. By the time you'd walked outside with your coffee, it was already raining hard.

"There," You look up to see Taehyung holding up your blazer, serving as an umbrella for you.

You frown, "Taehyung, you'll be drenched by the time we get to the car."

"I'll be fine." he says nonchalantly.

"No, you will not, quote on quote, be fine." you say to him with a piercing stare. "You know well and good that you catch colds really easily. There's an umbrella in the car, I'll go get it."

"I'Il go get it actually," he retorts, handing you your blazer and running off in the direction of your car.

You unlock the car for him from a distance and watch as he rummages around looking for the said umbrella. Finally finding it under the passenger seat, he runs back to you. You don't know if you want to slap him or hug as you watch him run back to you in the pouring rain with a closed umbrella. Your best friend really is a dork.

He quickly opens the black umbrella and holds it over you. You grab his arm and pull him into the umbrella. "You're actually crazy, you know that?" You sigh as the two of you walk to your car.

"Guilty as charged," he laughs.

Once in the car, it only starts raining harder. You let your pearly white blazer, that was now drenched, lie on the back seat, then get into the passenger seat.

"I can drive," you let Taehyung know, but he was already in the driver's seat.

"You hate driving in the rain," Taehyung states, pulling the car out of the parking lot. You admire the state of Seoul city as the car drives off, you'd always loved rainy days, they calmed you.

"Jimin isn't a child Y/N, he's thirty," Taehyung starts slowly. "He's going to have to learn to take responsibility, he has a fiancée, he'll get married soon—

"What's the point of all that if he's only doing it for the sake of forgetting her. There's only so far he can get if she's still the predominant thought in his mind," you counter. "I worry for him, which is why I want him to move on. He deserves better, and that better is just before his eyes," you refer to Iseul, "he just needs to embrace it."

"It's not like he isn't trying Y/N, he just needs some time, you can't expect him to just forget about her. He still loves her," Taehyung sighs.

"I know he does. He's gone through two girlfriends to try and divert his mind but broke up with both of them," you frown. "I just hope this works for him."

"Anyways, on a lighter note," you attempt to change the topic at the tense atmosphere in the car that almost seemed suffocating. "I talked to my dad."

"And?" Taehyung questions.

"He's willing to call off the engagement if I'm capable of finding another man I'm wiling to marry," you break the news to Taehyung.

He doesn't say anything for a minute but as the traffic signal ahead turns from yellow to red and the car comes to a halt, he turns to you. "Are you really willing to marry another man for the sake of not having to marry me?"

You give him a look, "what is that supposed to mean?"

He smiles, looking away, "just making sure, that way I can start setting up some dates for you."

You scowl, "oh please, I am not going on a date with any of those weird friends of yours."

"You're only insulting yourself, doll," he snickers.

"I am, in fact, the only sane and normal person in our friend group," you roll your eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that and perhaps you'll become the most sane and normal person in our friend group eventually," he teases.

"You should be the last person talking," you retort.

Taehyung chuckles at that, keeping his eyes on the road.

Once the car goes silent again except for the faint music playing into the ambience of your luxury sedan and the light drizzle of the rain that soaked the streets of Seoul, you were only left to wonder what these next few days were to bring for you.

"Tomorrow? Dad, come on, not so quickly, give me some time to breathe," you bargain with your father on the phone.

"You chose to do this to yourself Y/N, so we must execute this quickly," your father sighs. "It's either Taehyung or someone else you know that. Your grandfather has his heart set on getting you married."

"I know dad," you frown. "I'll go tomorrow, just send me location and his phone number."

"Thank you Y/N," your father says softly.

"Don't say thank you dad, it makes me feel guilty," you say with a small voice.

"I should be the one feeling guilty and I do Y/N, but you know I have no control over this," your father's tone laced with guilt.

"I know dad, and it's okay, you know your daughter's been through much worse, she's capable of dealing with this too," you laugh.

"That's my girl," your father boasts with pride.

You smile, "I should probably go sort out my closet now, I'll call you later dad. And tell mom I'll drop by someday."

"Of course," you father responds on the other end of the phone, "and Y/N."

"Yeah dad?"

"Don't worry too much, it'll all be alright," you can almost see a reassuring smile.

"Thank you dad."

You feel a lot better after the phone call with your father, it feels like some of your worries have dissolved—you felt reassured, but there was still a lot on your mind.

Lost in thought, you decide to get up and find something to eat for dinner, it was already five in the evening, if you had to cook something up, you might as well have gotten started now.

Or maybe you should've, instead you halt in your tracks, reaching back to grab your phone which you'd left on the couch, at a notification.

You didn't even have to open it to know it was Taehyung. You'd left his company a while ago. Being the one driving, he'd stopped the car outside his apartment complex, allowing you to take over. You'd asked him a few times if he wanted to crash your place for a drink or two, but he had refused, saying that there was some work he needed to get finished and later had to accompany Jimin to his parents' house. He had offered you to tag along but you thought better of it.

[Tae] Sure you don't wanna come, Y/N?

Taehyung asks in the group chat with you, Taehyung and Jimin.

[You] I think I'll pass

[You] Besides, I have a date to worry about now :)

[Jimin] A date?

Jimin questions, though you're sure Taehyung must've told him about this whole deal with your father already.

[You] Dad seems a little too determined on finding me a man, so he's set up a date for me tomorrow

[Jimin] Seems exciting

[Jimin] Have fun

You roll your eyes at Jimin's snarky remark.

Putting aside your phone you decide to make yourself an egg salad sandwich, not feeling the energy to make anything too complex.

Time passes pretty quickly, whether it be cooking yourself a sandwich, finding yourself something to wear for tomorrow and it's already eight in the evening, where you sat hastily on your couch, watching a K-Drama with a lone bottle of soju sitting upright on the table.

Engrossed completely in the show, you're brought to your senses when the doorbell to your penthouse rings.

You look at the time, there's no way Taehyung would have escaped the wrath of his parents this quickly, who could it have been at this time?

As you make your way to the door, you prepare yourself for many different scenarios, your parents, any of your relatives, a friend or even perhaps Taehyung. But nothing could've prepared you for the sight you see through the peephole in your door.

You hastily unlock the door and pull your sister into an embrace.

"I thought your flight was landing on Tuesday," you question your sister's early arrival with excitement.

Ryuna smiles, "ah well, I decided to surprise you, I hope it worked."

"Of course it did, I'm seeing my baby sister after a whole two years," you say fondly.

Ryuna whines in response, "I'm not a baby anymore."

"To me you are, and always will be," you scoff.

Finally allowing herself inside with her luggage, you let her make herself at home. Giving her a tour of your penthouse, you show her her room. It was the guest room that was hardly used—Taehyung would sleep there when he'd come over to your place but he could manage for a month or two.

"Business Proposal," Ryuna comments on the K-Drama still playing on the television once you'd made a full circle around the house and had come back to the living room.

"Don't spoil it for me, I'm not finished yet," you grin.

"It's so good," Ryuna rambles on, taking a seat on the couch, you follow suit and sit next to her.

"How's everyone," she asks, a glint of sadness in her eyes, "mom, dad, grandpa, grandma."

"They're all great," you tell her.

"Taehyung? Jihyo?"

They're both fine, they're doing great actually," you laugh a little.

Ryuna goes silent for a moment before she finally musters up the courage to ask you the question she'd been dying to hear the answer to, "and Jimin, how is he?"

You sigh, deciding to break the news to her, "that is something I don't know the answer to." Ryuna nods in understanding, you continue, "he's engaged, he's getting married soon."

The smile doesn't falter from your sister's face, she seems happy instead of hurt or sad, "that's nice, I'm happy for him—at least one of us is moving on."

"But he still loves you Ryu," you stress.

"Well then he shouldn't," she says, a harshness in her tone, "he should've forgotten about me a long time ago."

"The way you did, Ryu?" You retort, knowing very well she herself hasn't even tried to move on from Jimin. "But anyways, enough of this, you must be tired, I'll make you some tea."

You'd only put water in the kettle when the doorbell to your penthouse rings a second time that day.

"Could you get that Ryu," you tell your sister as you were a little occupied making tea, "but if it's mom or dad or anyone—"

"It's okay," she says with a smile, "I'll have to face them eventually."

"Are you sure?" Your heart already dropping at the thought of your parents being at the door.

"I'll be fine." she laughs it off, but you know she's just as terrified as you are. However, relief washes over her once she sees Taehyung through the peephole of the door. She opens the door with a grin on her face, and Taehyung looks just as equally as shocked to see her.

"Ryuna? I thought you were supposed to come in two days," Taehyung asks with the same grin on his face. The relationship Ryuna and Taehyung had was a very sweet one, Taehyung had always babied Ryuna the way you had, he'd always supported her, she was a younger sister to him the way she was to you.

"I decided to come a little earlier," she says, still grinning widely.

She was only just about to let herself fall into the embrace of her said 'older brother' when she halts in her tracks at the familiar sight of someone—only now it didn't feel so familiar, it felt distant.

Jimin.

He'd just gotten off the elevator, walking towards the unit, his eyes were on his phone, probably mid conversation with his fiancée. Ryuna's heart stings at the thought.

He looked a lot different from what Ryuna remembers, his hair no longer short and a shade of light brown—always unkempt, but instead his naturally dark brown hair neatly parted, he seemed to have lost a lot of weight too, the baby fat that used to show in his cheeks no more, his baby face long gone. However, his frame was no longer slender the way she remembered it to be, his body now muscular, the fitted brown t-shirt hugging every muscle, his biceps visible through the short sleeved garment.

He's changed a lot, from the way he dresses, to the aura that surrounds him—intimidating. Jimin had matured, from what Ryuna could see of it, he'd gotten himself together—but had he really? People who are real, hide their true selves under layers of artificial niceties. It may seem as if Jimin had gotten himself together, but he was still a wreck on the inside and you knew that more than anyone.

Ryuna looks away from the man as he lifts his gaze from his phone—meaning to ask why Taehyung was still standing outside but Jimin's eye is caught by the woman that stands before him.

He almost couldn't recognize her, she'd grown so much more beautiful and he didn't think that was possible. Long hair really did look good on her.

Taehyung senses the tension in the air and attempts to escape. "Is Y/N inside?" He asks Ryuna.

She nods in response.

"I'll go give her this," Taehyung informs Ryuna, holding up a container.

With Taehyung gone, it leaves Ryuna and Jimin to themselves. And Ryuna still not gaining the courage to look into the eyes of the man she still loves.

"I should—uh—go help with the tea," Ryuna says quickly, making her escape but failing miserably.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Jimin asks, looking around awkwardly.

Ryuna turns around slowly, cursing her luck, "sure," she replies half heartedly.

"I'd appreciate it if you could do that for me tomorrow," Jimin says with a curt smile.

"Of course," Ryuna responds, reciprocating the smile.

The two of them continue to walk around the park in silence until Jimin speaks again, "the weather is nice, isn't it?"

"It is," Ryuna mumbles in response.

Jimin frowns at her lack of response, "it must feel quite different than it did in the States."

"I guess so," Ryuna answers timidly.

Jimin sighs. "Do I make you nervous? I can leave if you want me to." He turns in his tracks, only to be stopped by Ryuna clutching his wrist.

And for the first time that night, she looks him in the eyes, "you don't make me nervous, Jimin—I mean, Mr. Park." Realizing her hand was still in contact with his wrist, she quickly lets go, looking away.

"Why do you feel the need to call me anything other than Jimin?" Jimin asks softly, though the hurt was evident in his eyes.

"Things are a lot different than they were two years ago," Ryuna says, looking away from him.

"What changed?" Jimin questions.

"You're getting married, Jimin," Ryuna responds, a smile full of sorrow plastered on her face.

Jimin's smile falters. Yet, he laughs—laughs at the patheticness of the situation.

"When's the wedding?" Ryuna asks, trying to sound excited for the event. And despite her being happy for him, and happy for this new chapter in his life, she wouldn't be able to watch him get married. The love of her life getting married to someone else—it's a sight no one would be able to bear, and Ryuna is human after all.

"Early next month," Jimin lets the information slip past his lips.

"It's so soon," Ryuna thinks aloud.

"Why the rush, Jimin?" Ryuna asks knowingly, she just needed to hear it from him.

Jimin's gaze falls on Ryuna, giving her a look. "I think you know very well why."

Ryuna knows she's in no position to question, so she doesn't, instead remaining quiet.

"How was America?" Jimin asks after a while.

Ryuna sighs, "unfamiliar, it felt as if time went by so quickly but it's been two years." She almost laughs.

"Funny, huh? How fast things can change..." the same amused smile on his face.

Guilt courses through Ryuna again, "Jimin—"

"Will you come? To the wedding," Jimin asks, letting his gaze linger on your sister for a moment before looking away.

Ryuna takes her time to think, then directs a small smile to Jimin, "no," she shakes her head. "I believe my presence won't be much wanted at your wedding."

Jimin nods, not having much to say.

"I guess, I should go now," Ryuna lets him know, turning around to take her leave.

The silence that surrounds them is almost suffocating.

"And, I don't know how much of this she knows," Ryuna refers to Jimin's fiancée, who was still a mystery to her. "But I hope we can remain neutral for her sake."

Jimin laughs, "remaining neutral would've been in the question if there were two sides to pick from," Jimin says, walking closer to her. "Hating you was out of the question, and I could never completely hate myself because I couldn't hate you."

They're eyes meet for the second time that night, but Jimin looks away. Taking his leave as soon he could. Leaving Ryuna to stand there, processing his words.

He couldn't hate himself completely because of her, why?

The reason for Taehyung and Jimin's late night escapades to your apartment was long forgotten to you. Although you were grateful that they had come over at this hour to deliver food that Taehyung's mother had prepared and requested for him to deliver to you, there was a more pressing matter at hand at the moment.

It'd barely been a few hours since Ryuna had arrived and you were sure the last thing she wanted was to see Jimin. Not to mention that they'd wandered off somewhere together.

"Y/N," Taehyung says your name, "relax, they'll be fine." He says casually while sitting on your couch, pouring himself a shot of soju.

You scowl, walking up to him and earning him a smack at the back of head. Taehyung rubs the back of his head in pain. "What was that for?"

"For bringing Jimin here," you respond, still in rage and worry.

"Oh alright," Taehyung scoffs, "I was supposed to know that she showed up two days early."

You groan in annoyance, nothing was helping ease the horrible scenarios playing in your mind right now.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Taehyung asks in an attempt to calm you, "they'll fight, scream, yell at each other? It can't get worse than that."

"Taehyung," you say his name sweetly. "Why don't you shut the fuck up for a few minutes? A few minutes of silence is all I ask for."

Taehyung shrugs, bringing the glass of soju to his lips, "suit yourself."

You let out a breath after finally getting Taehyung to keep his mouth closed. The next few minutes go in silence while you think about all the possible ways things could've gone wrong.

Your heartbeat picks up again once the doorbell to your apartment rings. You quickly make your way through the foyer at to the front door, leaving Taehyung to trail behind you with the beverage in his hand.

Once you open the door you're greeted to the sight of a slightly flushed looking Jimin, he avoids eye contact with you.

"Where's Ryuna?" You ask urgently.

"Relax, he didn't kill me," you hear Ryuna's voice as she walks from the elevator to the apartment door.

"Told you," Taehyung remarks from beside you.

"Don't worry about it, we were just catching up," Jimin informs both of you.

You nod slowly, not sure if you wanted to believe that, but it was a matter they'd have to resolve on their own, there was no point in interfering.

"Shall we go now?" Taehyung initiates to Jimin, downing the rest of the soju in the glass and handing it to you.

Jimin nods, wanting to leave immediately.

"Tomorrow—" Jimin starts, reminding Ryuna once both you and Taehyung were out of earshot.

"Don't worry," Ryuna reassures him, "I'll have everything done."

"Okay, perfect," Jimin smiles, "thank you."

"It's all my pleasure," Ryuna jokes.

"Taehyung," you whisper to Taehyung as he puts on his shoes, he glances at you. "I really think something's going on that we don't know of."

"No way," he slurs, "if something was going on we'd know of it."

You sigh, "how much exactly did you drink at your parents'?"

"Huh? Not much," he answers.

"I know damn well that your definition of 'not much' is a lot much," you retort at the said man.

He squints his eyes, attempting to say something back but he had nothing. You massage your forehead, "Jimin, please take him home before I lose my mind."

"Will do," Jimin says, grabbing Taehyung and pulling him out the door.

"I will see you tomorrow then," Jimin tells you, walking away with Taehyung by his side.

"Tomorrow?" You ask in confusion.

"Perhaps, I will see you tomorrow then," Jimin says again but this time with the addition of the adverb.

"Right..." you respond, still confused.

Once the two are out of your sight and you've closed the door, you turn to Ryuna, ready to interrogate her, but she yawns.

"See, I'm so tired, I think I'll go to bed now. You should too," she says quickly before jogging her way upstairs to her assigned room.

You tilt your head in confusion. "I didn't even ask her anything," you mumble to yourself.

What is going on?

"I see," you respond uninterestedly for what seemed the fifth time since the man sitting before you had started rambling about cars—well he was talking about cars the last time you were paying attention, which was a little over twenty minutes ago.

You pick up your whiskey to take a sip of the beverage, you couldn't even remember how many shots of whiskey you'd downed while listening to your said date ramble on.

"You don't seem to talk much, Ms. Y/L/N," Seungchul—the man you were currently on a lunch date with—says.

Well maybe if he let you speak.

"That's alright, perhaps you will start to feel more comfortable after marriage," he says nonchalantly.

You choke on your beverage, coughing at the sensation of burning developing in your throat once the drink had gone through the wrong pipe.

"Are you okay, Ms. Y/L/N?" He asks in concern, immediately calling a waiter over to order you some water.

"I'm—," you clear your throat, "perfectly fine, thank you."

"I hope I didn't startle you with that comment," he laughs a little. "The thing is," a blush creeps onto your cheeks, "I think I like you."

'Well think again,' you want to say, but you don't.

You attempt to chuckle a little to hide your discomfort. "I see," you say for what seems the nth time throughout the course of the date.

"I was thinking, I should probably inform Mr. Y/L/N that we both are on board for a wedding," he says shyly, inching his hand to his pocket to fish it out.

You quickly grip his hand before he could get his cell phone and inform your father that you've allegedly agreed to marry him. His eyes light up at the sudden physical touch, he looks at you with lovestruck eyes, you slowly move your hand away.

Your father really couldn't have found someone else.

You decide to be straightforward, though you felt slightly bad for being harsh, but you decided to go for it to save yourself, "look—"

"I'm looking," he responds, staring at you with heart eyes. "Have I mentioned that you look absolutely gorgeous."

"Listen," you try a second time.

"I'm listening," he responds, "have I mentioned your voice is beautiful?"

You let out an exasperated sigh. Mayhaps, it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to use 'plan b' in this situation.

"Look, I'm sure you're a great guy—"

"You think so?" He starts fishing for his phone a second time. You clutch his wrist once again.

"Just—can you please listen to me first?" You plead.

"Of course, I can listen to you talk all day," he says dreamily.

"Right..." you mumble. "You see, I actually have a boyfriend."

You watch as the smile on his face falters to a frown—it seemed as if all the scenarios he'd imagined of his future with you had come crashing down in less than a second. You felt bad of course, but there was no turning back from this point.

Hurriedly you bring out your phone and point to the polaroid picture of you and Taehyung at the back of your phone. He was too heartbroken to notice that the man in the picture was Kim Taehyung.

"The thing is, my father doesn't exactly approve of him," you continue to lie, "so he's arranging these blind dates for me."

And for the first time that afternoon, it was his turn to say 'I see'.

"I would really appreciate it if you could tell my father that the two of us couldn't work out," you tell him, placing your hand over his.

"Of course," he chokes out.

"Thank you so much," you let out a sigh of relief. You had to say, you'd maintained your acting skills.

"Would you like to pay?" A waiter walking by asks.

"Yes please," you say enthusiastically.

You couldn't have been happier when the waiter brought you the check and credit card machine—and you both had decided to split the amount, it was only fair.

"I think I should get going then," you announce to the latter, "my boyfriend must be waiting outside," you maintain a coy facade.

"Oh, yes, of course. I won't keep him waiting then," he responds half-heartedly.

"It was nice meeting you Mr. Seungchul," sort of.

You find your way out of the restaurant as fast as you can. As expected, you see Taehyung's car, the window was rolled down and you could see that he was on a call with someone—phone pressed to his ear and he listened attentively.

You mentally apologize to Taehyung for the stunt you were about to pull.

As you approach his car, Taehyung unlocks his car, allowing you to get comfortable in the passenger seat. He was still on a call with someone. You watch as Taehyung glances at you, wanting to ask why you look so disgruntled—but he was on the phone.

Already regretting what you were about to do, you decide to go for it once you see Seungchul nearing where the car was parked, from the corner of your eye.

You lean in and give Taehyung a lingering peck on the tip of his nose. You prayed that the angle did you justice.

Slowly moving away, you decide to keep your act up until the car is on the road and your said marriage contender is no longer in eye shot.

You feel guilty as Taehyung gawks at you—more like a 'what the fuck' look, but intensified.

"How was work, babe?" You ask a little loudly, making sure Seungchul could hear you.

You hear the person on the other side of the phone calling out repeated chants of 'Mr. Kim', but Taehyung was no longer listening. You nudge the man sitting next to you, hoping he'd come to his senses, "babe," you call out to him again.

"Huh?" He looks at you cluelessly.

Preventing yourself from taking a loud breath out loud, you pry the phone out of Taehyung's hand, "Mr. Kim will get back to you," you say before ending the call and placing the phone in the charging slot.

Looking up to find Taehyung's clueless eyes again, you place a hand near his jaw and lean closer for a second time.

"Drive the fucking car, Kim Taehyung," you attempt to say as sweetly as you can, making sure only he could hear way at you had said.

"Okay..." he says slowly, moving away from you and putting the car in reverse, driving it out of the parking spot and onto the road. You let out a breath once you were far enough from the restaurant.

"We need to have a serious talk about what just happened," Taehyung finally bursts.

"I'm good, actually," you remark.

"You almost kissed me?" Taehyung exclaims in outrage.

"It was pointless anyways, I'm pretty sure he got the idea that I was lying since you couldn't act to save your life," you scoff.

"You sat in my car, called me babe and almost kissed me, all while I was talking to a potential dealer and you expected me to know you were putting up an act for that date of yours?" He questions in outrage.

"It was obvious, really," you point out.

"I'll keep that in mind next time, thanks," he retorts.

When your phone rings a few minutes later with 'dad' flashing on your phone screen, it takes a lot of your energy not to lose your cool.

Picking up the phone aggressively, you don't even bother to greet your father, "dad, was this really the best you could do?"

Hearing your dad chuckle on the other side of the phone call made you scowl.

"Why, you didn't like him?" He asks.

"He was a nightmare, dad," you inform him then put the call on speaker, putting the phone down for a moment so you could adjust the strap of your dress under the cardigan.

"I lied to him, I told him I have a boyfriend that you don't approve of, which is why I keep getting sent on blind dates. I did feel bad, he looked heartbroken, but I escaped him," you continue rambling on.

"Oh? A boyfriend?" Your father's ears prick at the term 'boyfriend', "and who is that boyfriend?"

"Take a guess, dad," Taehyung says from next to you with a smug look.

"Can you just drive the damn car," you tell Taehyung, annoyed knowing your father was never going to let this go.

"So you're willing to call Taehyung your boyfriend to escape the dates you're going on so you don't have to marry Taehyung?" Your father questions.

"Tell me about it," Taehyung remarks. You glare at him.

"If the case is just that you're not ready to marry him just yet, you can tell us, we can wait a few months," your father says nonchalantly.

"Dad," you sigh, "I'm actually really busy right now, so I'll talk to you later."

"If you say, I'll message you the details for the next date, don't be late," he says before ending the call. You shut your eyes and rest your head on the headrest in despair.

"Where are we going?" You finally ask.

"I need to pick up some files, I'll drop you off once I'm done," Taehyung gives you the piece of information. You hum in response.

- match made in hell (m) ; masterlist

“Yoongi truly can’t imagine things getting any worse than the predicament he has found himself in now. Betrothed to a woman he hasn’t met, career on hold and his parents pressuring him into marriage with a sharp stick, ushering him to walk off the plank into the fiery pits of hell that is arranged matrimony with some poor, foolish girl. 

But, just as he is wrapping up his inner monologue of self-pity, a figure darkens the door of his parents’ living room. Flagged by your parents, you stand with your jaw hanging open, looking just as horrified as Yoongi feels. 

Of all the people, of course - of fucking course - it had to be you.”

myg / rivals to lovers + arranged marriage au + dr!yoongi

warnings: mention of addiction, violence, threat, blackmail, explicit smut, exhibitionism, hate sex, fingering, oral (m+f receiving), food play, knife play (oop), instance of collaring (though this is in a humorous scenario), dirty talk, face sitting, dom!yoongi, jealousy, some angst and pining, etc.

note: yes, this is the long awaited teaser for yoongi’s story! i have been holding off posting for a little while bc charade is still not finished, but pls enjoy this little peek into dr min’s own story!

note 2: obviously, this oc is not the same oc as in charade!

ongoing (16k) | playlist

» 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: ceo!taehyung x ceo!reader

» 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: You and Taehyung have been friends for as long as you could remember, with both your families being directly involved in business together, and being closer than family, you've been surrounded by him almost always. Over the course of 28 years a lot has changed. But things could only complicate themselves more when both your families form an alliance between the two of you - an arranged marriage.

» 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: childhood friends to lovers, arranged marriage, fluff, angst, eventual smut

» 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: swearing, alcohol consumption, subtle (and not so subtle) flirting, mentions of reader’s sister running away from home, (some) angst

» 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 12.8K

» 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

"Kim Taehyung!" You called urgently from the second floor of the high-end penthouse you were currently in. And it just so happened to be that the luxury penthouse belonged to none other than your best friend, Kim Taehyung.

You see the said man walking down the hallway into your eyeshot. He's buttoning up one of his blue shirts for work. He glares at you as if you'd interrupted something too important. "Jeez, you're so loud," he says as he goes back to the task at hand—his shirt. "What is it?"

"Mind telling me where my bra is?" You watch as he finally glances at you. You'd just come out of the shower, a towel wrapped securely around your body, only to discover that your bra had vanished in thin air.

"And why would you think I'd know where it just so happens to be?" He asks as though you'd offended him.

"I don't know, maybe because I'm in your house, and my belonging has gone missing," you state the obvious.

"I was in my room, I have no idea where your bra is. Just look around there, there's no way it walked out of the room," he rolls his eyes, walking back in the direction he'd come from once he was finished with the buttons of his shirt.

You scoff at his audacity.

For some clarification, you and Taehyung have known each other since birth, not to mention you both were the same age, which ultimately meant you two clicked immediately. With both your families having close relations both in business and outside of business, the two of you saw each other a lot. Hence, explaining why you two are best friends, and your close proximate relation as best friends—a reference to you standing in his house practically naked except for a towel around you, questioning him about an undergarment.

You trot back into the guest room you were resided in for the night prior, although that room is almost permanently yours either way. It was the room you stayed in every time you crashed his place—which was often, very often.

You look around the room for what seemed the fifth time this morning. You groan in annoyance after your lack of success. "Taehyung!" You call for him a second time.

"Give me a second, woman," He responds, and you could sense the annoyance in his voice. You were going to have him be late for work and he knew well and good if you were going to be late due to the sudden disappearance of your undergarment, there was no way you'd let him get to work on time. He notices the frown on your face once he walks into the room, an untied tie hanging around his neck and his vest over his shirt remaining unbuttoned.

His expression softens once seeing the conflicted expression on your face.

"Where did you put it?" He asks, walking near you.

"Right here, on the bed," you point at a spot on the bed where a pile of the rest of your clothes could be seen.

He walks to the place you'd pointed at and sifts through the pile of clothes, but no luck. He glances around the room, in the same manner you had a few minutes ago. After failing to spot your bra, he walks to the ensuite bathroom. He looks around the bathroom, but nothing. He looks through the pile of your worn clothing in the bathroom, but sighs once he finds nothing.

"How did you manage to lose your bra? That too, in a room," he asks, exasperated.

"I don't know," you frown, "I came out of the shower and it was gone. I'm going to be late for work, I have an important meeting with Mr. Chung."

He gives you a thoughtful look and walks back to the room. You watch from behind him as he once again scans the room.

You knit your brows together seeing his tall, broad figure dip down, crane under the bed.

You watch as his crouched figure rises once again. You really never could get used to his height. You'd known Taehyung since he was born—establishing the fact that you are in fact older than him, by a few months that is, and yet he is taller than you, by a lot. Which meant that you'd grown accustomed to the occasional head pats, and him using you as an armrest.

Kim Taehyung, 28, the CEO of Kim Enterprises; he could come off as scary and intimidating to many. But not to you. You both knew, to him, you're the only person he could act like himself around. And you both knew that to you, he was the only person you could act like yourself around. You'd never be able to see him as CEO Kim or Mr. Kim, he's always going to be Taehyung to you.

"I wonder where this came from," he deadpans, holding up the nude-coloured bra you'd almost lost your mind looking for all morning.

You chuckle nervously, barely looking at him, quickly taking your possession from his hand.

"God, you almost ate my head off for this, only for it to be under the bed," he gives you a look.

"I'm sorry okay," you say half-heartedly, "I was in a rush."

"And I wasn't?" He raises a brow.

"I said sorry, jeez. You're so annoying."

"I'm annoying?" he gawks at you.

"That's what I just said," you put a finger at his chest, "you are annoying Kim Taehyung.

"So childish," he scoffs, wrapping his long slender fingers around your finger that was pointed at his chest—very broad chest, to be noted.

"Go get dressed, you're going to be late," he suggests. Already focusing on his own self. Fidgeting with his tie, not knowing how to tie it—CEO of one of the biggest companies in South Korea at the age of 28, and yet he couldn't tie his own tie.

You roll your eyes and put your hands over his, "I'll do it," you tell him. He moves his hands from under yours and lets them fall to his sides.

"Kim Taehyung, CEO of the most successful company in all of Asia, and he can't tie his own tie," you tease him, grinning, knowing you'd get him all worked up. You knew him inside and out, better than he knew himself.

"Oh please, I am very much capable of tying my own tie," he scoffs, "but I'd rather have Y/L/N Y/N, the CEO of the most successful company in all of South Korea, do it for me," he smiles at you.

You smile at his words, almost saying something sweet back—almost.

"It's because I love having powerful people do chores for me, it makes me feel important," he boasts.

You pull the tie tighter around his neck until it's basically choking him, you smile in satisfaction, "and I love choking the most powerful man in all of South Korea, it makes me feel important."

"Careful there, if anyone saw us like this, there would be a lot of misunderstandings," he smirks slightly.

What a tease.

"Oh please," you let go of the tie, letting him loosen it. "You've got to stop projecting your sexual desires onto me, Kim Taehyung." You almost gag at the thought, "see, I almost threw up at the thought," you inform him. Taking your clothes from the bed and walk to the bathroom. "I'd rather spend a day with Jimin, and you know how much I hate that asshole," you say before shutting the bathroom door before an amused-looking Taehyung.

You both knew you were only joking, you didn't hate Jimin, you could never, he was too perfect for you to hate him. He could just occasionally be annoying, and the two of you would bicker constantly, but then again, you were the same with Taehyung, and you could never hate Taehyung. You love him too much, sometimes too much for your own liking.

And as for the 'I'd rather spend a day with Jimin' part, that was most definitely a lie. It couldn't have been too bad, but you and Jimin staying in close proximity for more than five minutes—and that too alone—was basically a death wish. You'd rather spend that time with Taehyung, even if it meant he got to weirdly project his sexual desires onto you (note the question mark at the end of that thought).

Was it too weird that you would rather that your best friend project sexual desires onto you, rather than spend a day with his cousin even though both those scenarios gave you the urge to throw up?

Probably. But you didn't have to dwell on it, you were late, very late for an important meeting.

"Thank you for your time, Ms. Y/L/N, working with you was a pleasure," the man before you speaks.

You nod curtly, "I could say the same to you, Mr. Chung."

The man bows, "I will be taking my leave."

You nod in response.

You take a deep breath of relief once the man was gone. Meetings were such a hassle, nothing less than exhausting, exhausting and exhausting.

You walk out of the room, making your way to your office. You'd barely walked in when your phone rang, you draw your phone out of your pocket to see none other than Taehyung's name across your phone.

You pick up, trying to sound casual, uninterested almost, although you were feeling the quite opposite—updates from Taehyung throughout the day were the only thing that gave colour to your lifeless workdays.

"What do I owe the pleasure, CEO Kim?"

"Oh nothing other than a lone 'hello'," he scoffs on the other side of the phone. You knew he hates it when you addressed him formally.

"Okay then, hello CEO Kim," you tease him further.

You chuckle when he doesn't respond.

"Plans for tonight?" he asks casually. It was common for him to ask you such things, but again, you loved teasing him.

"Oh wow, am I getting asked out on a date by Kim Taehyung himself."

"Y/N.' he warns.

You laugh, "Okay, okay, I'm joking. Relax, you're so stuck up all the time.'

"I'm perfectly fine," he says to you. But you could tell he wasn't perfectly fine. You could tell by the way he was speaking—he was stressed. You could read him like an open book.

"What happened?" Your voice softens.

Taehyung sighs, "Nothing."

"Taehyung, you can tell me," you insist.

"We're supposed to launch the new products in three weeks, but these fucking dumbasses are saying the shipping's getting delayed by four business days, which means they'll deliver next week. Now, how am I going to prepare everything in such a short amount of time."

You feel a pang of sympathy for him, being a CEO yourself, you knew how stressful things could be.

"Taehyung, everything's going to be alright. I know you always find a way. You'll do great, I'm sure of it."

"I hope so," he says over the phone.

"And," you start, "I have no plans for tonight, I'm always free for you, you know that," you remind him. "Where do you want to go?"

"Well, Jimin hyung's been insisting on going to the club for a while now, Hoseok's new one," he states.

You groan, "Park Jimin again."

You hear Taehyung chuckle on the other side of the phone.

"I'm joking of course," you smile, "I haven't seen him in a while anyways."

"Yeah, not sure if he feels the same," Taehyung jokes.

"Yeah, yeah, of course he doesn't," you roll your eyes.

"I've been telling him off for a while, because of the launch, we were busy, but I guess I can't really do much now until they ship the products," he explains to you.

You hum understandingly, you'd been watching him for the past few months, he's been working too hard, and he deserves a break from everything.

"I'II come," you tell him, your sweet voice resonating in his ears.

"Alright, I'll come to pick you up at nine," you can almost hear the content through his voice.

"Pick me up from here," you instruct.

"At work?" He questions.

"Yeah, I need to finish some work regarding the contract with SPK Industries," you tell him.

"That reminds me, did the meeting with Mr. Chung go well?" He asks.

"Fairly well, though I'm slightly skeptical since their customer service is questionable," Taehyung laughs at this, "but, their quality is great."

"That's true," Taehyung says in agreement.

"I did sign the contract, for now. We'll see how it goes I guess," you tell him.

"It'll go well, don't worry. I've done business with them a few times, it wasn't too bad," he reassures you.

"Emphasis on the 'too bad'?" You chuckle.

"Emphasis on the 'too bad'," he says in agreement, laughing with you.

"I'll call you later, I have some work to finish. Don't worry too much about the launch, it'll go well, you are Kim Taehyung after all."

He smiles a little at your concern.

"And you better be on time, l'Il be waiting at nine. You know I hate it when you keep me waiting," you pout, and he can almost hear the pout

through the phone.

"I will, don't worry. You know I hate it when I keep you waiting."

You smile, "Okay, don't be late. Bye."

"Bye," he replies.

And you hang up, waiting for an eventful night ahead alongside him.

[Tae] Are you finished?

[Tae] I'm outside

You'd just finished reviewing the last file and responding to one last email when you got the text.

You look at the time, it's nine already. Your day had passed normally—uneventful. Most of your day was full of meetings and the rest of it full of signing documents, reading documents, writing emails, responding to emails. You didn't realize when the clock had struck nine.

[You] I’ll be down

[You] Gimme a sec

You quickly respond to Taehyung and gather your things.

Stepping out of your double doored office, you glance at the pretty much empty building, except a few employees here and there finishing up last minute things.

You walked down the hallway and stood before the elevator, pressing the silver circular button and waiting for it to open.

You looked down at your attire, it was anything but club attire, you were wearing pencil heels, a black pencil skirt, a white shirt and a black cropped blazer atop the shirt.

You step into the elevator once it opens, pressing the close button once inside. Patiently waiting for the elevator to stop at the first floor.

The elevator opened to reveal an empty looking lobby. The first floor would usually be bustling with people going in and out of cafes and restaurants, but looking at the time, it was understandably empty.

You walked out of the building, the early summer breeze hitting your face.

Your attention was quickly diverted to Taehyung leaning against his parked car with his phone in his hand. His blazer gone, instead the same blue vest from earlier today, placed atop his blue shirt, holding the tie in place. His hair looked as neat as ever, parted neatly from the middle, giving a small glance of his forehead.

You quickly walk towards him, "you really couldn't have found a parking spot?" He looks up from his phone to you, "you're here. great. Let's get going then."

You roll your eyes, he really has the audacity to ignore you.

"You see that," you point at the no parking sign a little ahead of where Taehyung's car was parked. "Looks like CEO Kim's in desperate need of a parking ticket."

He scoffs, "the car isn't parked if I'm standing right here, and if there's someone inside it."

You look at him with utter confusion on your face. You watch as the window of the driver's seat slowly goes down. Only to reveal Jimin sitting in the passenger seat.

"Park Jimin, well isn't it my lucky day," you say sarcastically.

He smiles, "I've heard you've been missing me too much."

"As if," you scoff.

Taehyung watches the two of you fondly, "shall we get going?"

"But Taehyung, look at what I'm wearing," you pout.

"Look at what I'm wearing," he points to his work attire.

"You look great, don't even get me started, girls swoon over you," you tell him matter-of-factly.

"The way you do?" He leans closer to you.

"You wish," you deride.

"You look amazing, don't worry," he says, glancing at you from top to bottom.

You were still skeptical, but you let it slide since Taehyung had approved.

"I'm serious, Y/N, you look great," Taehyung confirms at noticing your hesitance. "Besides, it's not like you're going home with anyone," he breathes a laugh, attempting to stop you from stressing over an outfit.

You furrow your brows, "what makes you say that? I'll go home with someone if I feel like it, Taehyung."

Taehyung's face drops at this, he gives you a blank stare as if he's in disbelief, "you can't be serious right now."

"Of course I'm serious?" You counter, not believing that you were having this conversation right now.

Taehyung lets out an exasperated sigh, running a hand through his hair, "you know what? Forget it." He shakes his head, opening the door and making himself comfortable in the driver's seat.

"You planning on coming?" Taehyung regards you through the open window.

You open your mouth, wanting to make a snarky comment in response, but decide to think better of it and sit yourself in the back seat of Taehyung's royal blue Maserati.

Once the car was on the road, the three of you found sanctuary in the peacefulness of the silence alongside the songs playing softly in the background on the radio of the car.

You finally decide to break the silence by interrogating Jimin on his love life. "How's it going with Kiana?"

"Kiana," Jimin sighs, "I don't know. We were doing alright for the first few months, but..."

"But?" You ask urgently, feeling that something was wrong in his tone. You'd liked Kiana since the moment Jimin had introduced her to you and Taehyung a good four months ago, and they seemed like they were going well. Not to mention, they made a cute couple.

"We broke up," Jimin announces as the car is filled with a tense silence.

You stare blankly outside, not knowing what to say to him, as Ed Sheeran's Bad Habits plays on the radio. It was so ironic you could almost laugh—if it wasn't for the elephant in the room.

Kiana and Jimin had also happened to meet in the form of a one night stand. But Jimin being the charmer he is, couldn't have her stop thinking about him, which eventually led to the relationship they had until the last time you'd seen them.

"Why?" It's the only thing that comes to your mind.

"I didn't want to break her heart, she's a nice girl, she deserves someone who can actually love her. I couldn't bring myself to love her, not the way I love—loved her," he tells you, looking out the window where passing by buildings and cars drew his attention.

You go a little stiff at the mention of your younger sister. "You still love her." you weren't sure if you wanted this to come out as a statement or a question.

"Never stopped, I can't bring myself to stop," Jimin says softly.

Your heart aches for him, for both of them. You knew what your sister did wasn't right, not only did she run away from home, she broke Jimin's heart, but you couldn't help feel heartache for her as much as you felt it for Jimin. You knew that if she didn't leave that day, grandfather would've never let her peruse the career she wanted. Instead, crowning her the CEO of the company, and have her do that for the rest of her life.

"She's coming back," you reveal to Jimin.

He doesn't move, he doesn't even flinch at it as you'd expected, instead you notice Taehyung's expression change to one of—as you could read—shock, surprise, happiness, anger, disgust. And you didn't blame him. Your sister had broken his brother's heart.

"When is she coming back?" Jimin asks, you could hear the sorrow in his voice alongside the small ray of hope.

"On Tuesday," you mumble out the small piece of information.

He hums in response, "she's staying here?"

"For a few months," you inform him, "She's starting work in September, she'll go back in August."

"Does everyone know?" Jimin asks the one thing that's been on your mind since Ryuna had called you to let you know she's coming back.

You go silent and Jimin takes your silence as a 'no' to the answer of his question.

The atmosphere in the car is almost suffocating. Taehyung hasn't uttered a word in response to the topic, and that usually meant he wasn't happy about something. It made you feel guilty, there was already a lot going on in both their heads, there was enough on their plate, the only thing you'd accomplished was added more for them to worry about.

"She shouldn't come back," Jimin says after a while.

You don't say anything in response, instead letting him say what he needed to.

"If grandfather finds out, you can only imagine what he'll do."

You know. You'd thought about it countless times. If everyone finds out, you could only imagine what they'll do. Grandfather would make her life a living hell.

"I know," you simply say, not knowing what else to say. Knowing how iffy this topic was, not only between the three of you, but throughout both your families, it made the thought of her return worse.

You even vividly remembered how traumatic the months after she'd left were. But more than you, it was Jimin who felt her absence the most, he became quiet, barely keeping a social life, he solely went from work to home and from home to work. It was his fiancée that had left so abruptly after all, his girlfriend of four years, you didn't blame him. Of course, after all that happened, you started to see the old Jimin come back after some time had passed. But it didn't take you long to realize that it wasn't the old Jimin you were seeing, it was the new Jimin. The new Jimin that only looked like he was doing well.

"We're here," Taehyung announces after what seems like an eternity. The enthusiasm in his voice no longer.

All three of you silently get out of the car. An unknowing tenseness in the atmosphere.

Walking into the club did nothing to help the sour mood, all you saw was flashing lights and all you heard was music blasting on huge speakers.

The three of you seem to be thinking the same as you all walk directly towards the bar at the end of the club.

"A Mezcal for me," you tell the bartender.

"Dry Chincón please," Jimin orders.

And Taehyung of course was staying sober for the sake of driving the three of you home.

You're silent while waiting for your drinks, watching people dancing out their worries, couples making out with each other, grinding on each other and what not.

"I'll be back, washroom," Taehyung informs you and Jimin, walking off in a direction where you assumed the restroom was.

You and Jimin stand in silence in Taehyung's absence.

"Hoseok's done a nice job on this one, don't you think?" Jimin finally speaks, trying to start a casual conversation.

"Oh yeah, definitely. It's really nice, he always outdoes himself" you respond.

"That's Hoseok alright," Jimin chuckles a little.

Another silence washes over the two of you. You take a glance at Jimin, his smile's already faltered. You sigh.

Another few minutes pass in silence before the bartender gives you your drinks.

You take a sip, enjoying the bitter taste of alcohol running down your throat. Running your eyes around the crowd once again, the same bodies swaying to the beat of the song playing on the loudspeakers. You watch everyone unfazed, well that is until your eyes find Taehyung. And he wasn't alone.

He seemed to be coming back from the same corner of the club he'd gone to, but this time, there was a girl latched onto his arm. Aside from your eyes finding the girl familiar, you could tell Taehyung looked quite uncomfortable.

"Is that.. Hina?" Jimin asks in disbelief. "No way," you shut your eyes in disbelief, clearly your exhaustion at the moment wasn't enough. Hina. Of all the people you could've bumped into at a club, it just had to be Hina.

"Didn't she get transferred back to Japan?" Jimin asks in doubt.

"The last time I checked, yes," you confirm to the confused looking man.

You watch as the figure of Taehyung and Hina in the mere corner of the club comes closer to the two of you standing by the bar with your respective drinks in your hands. Until, eventually the two of them stopped before you. You could make out a look of disgust on Taehyung's face. Both you and Jimin give Hina a tight smile. She smiles back feverishly, her grip on Taehyung tightening at the sight of you.

"Hi, Mr. Park," she greets Jimin with an enthusiastic smile.

Jimin doesn't respond, instead nods, no sign of politeness or enthusiasm at the sight of the woman who tried to initiate sexual deeds with Taehyung for a raise. Taehyung, of course, was disgusted and gave her a transfer letter to Japan. How, and why she's back here, you have no idea.

"I was in the bathroom, when I came out, I just so happened to run into Mr. Kim," she says shyly, "we were just catching up, isn't that so Mr. Kim?"

Taehyung pulls his arm out of the woman's grip and clears his throat, "yes." Though his face was giving you a clear 'no'.

"Let's go dance Mr. Kim," she says, tugging at his shirt's sleeve.

Taehyung seems not to have much of a choice and agrees to go with her. She smiles at her victory and gives you a dirty look before leaving with Taehyung.

You watch Taehyung with an amused grin, he seemed to be having the most dreadful time of his life.

"Wait until I tell him you were laughing at him," Jimin threatens.

At this you burst out laughing, "I can't help it, he looks like he wants the ground to swallow him."

"No way, you've got it all wrong," Jimin says sarcastically, "he's having the time of this life."

Your eyes trail over from Jimin to Taehyung who had a face of utter disgust and outrage at the woman who was currently grinding on him.

"Keep an eye out Y/N, we'll lose our driver if he goes home with her tonight," he comments on the scene unfolding before him, taking a sip of his drink.

"As if he's going to go home with her," you scoff, "first off, he hates her. Second, she's anything but his type."

"You seem to know a lot about his type," Jimin interrogates with a grin on his face.

"Shut up," you spat, "I happen to be his best friend."

Jimin almost laughs at that last bit. You punch his arm, "you're such an ass."

"You are what you eat," he shrugs.

You roll your eyes, "anyways, as I was saying; he hates her, she's anything but his type, and he's left that sleeping around phase a while ago," you reference to Taehyung's early days as a CEO, four years ago. The workload was so new to him, the only way he relieved his stress was with hook ups.

Though he eventually got used to his job and left that habit in the past.

Now that you think about it, Taehyung has only had two relationships he's actually committed to. Which was surprising knowing how diligent and committed to work he's always been, whether that be in high school, in university, or as a CEO. "He's at the age of marriage now," you say in a satire manner. Jimin almost laughs at your attempt in mocking Mrs. Kim's words.

"I've overheard them talking a few times," you share the piece of information with him. "They want to get him married soon."

Jimin sighs, "I know. They've been talking about it for a while now, for both of us."

"Both of you?" Your eyes widen.

He nods, "yeah, I think it's about time I listen to them, maybe it's for the best anyways. They've been at it for the past two years."

You knew Jimin's parents had been bugging him to get married ever since Ryuna ran away, but you didn't expect Jimin to agree to the whole marriage thing.

You were surprised when both your families had happily agreed for Ryuna and Jimin's marriage two years ago. Ryuna and Jimin had been dating for four years—they were madly in love, none of you were sure what to expect when they broke the news to everyone, but it was a relief they were happy with the relationship. But what none of you expected was for their marriage to be in talks so early, they both were young after all, Ryuna was only twenty-four and Jimin was twenty-eight. However, Jimin happily proposed and Ryuna happily accepted. Things came together. Both your families were over the moon happy, and the wedding preparations had begun almost immediately.

As for Jimin and Ryuna, they'd even bought their own house—ready to reside in it in four months, after their wedding.

There were only two weeks left before the wedding, you were already working as the CEO of the company and your grandfather had insisted for Ryuna to take your place in the company before the wedding so you could be appointed as chairwoman. Ryuna didn't want that, she wanted to pursue the career of her dreams, she wanted to be a writer, she'd always dreamed of being one. She argued for hours that day, with grandfather, with mom, with dad, to let her go, to let her do what she wanted to, but they all refused.

And so that night, she left. America, a land of opportunity, as they called it. She began her writing career there.

She wondered if she'd be able to live without you, without mom, without dad, but she grew accustomed to it eventually. But the one person who's absence she couldn't fill in those two years was Jimin. You couldn't even count how many times she'd called you at the most absurd hours of day, drunk and crying over how much she missed him, but she didn't have the guts to call him, to talk to him, not once. And there wasn't much you could do except feel pity for her.

"You're gonna let her go that easily? I know why she's coming back, and it's not for me," you tell him, sighing.

"And what? Do you think she's going to come back and everyone's going to be over the moon? They're going to accept our relationship? Do you think grandfather's going to accept her with open arms?" Jimin questions. "I think you're forgetting she ran away from home, she ran away from her duties at the company. They're not going to let her step foot in that house, you know that."

Tears well in your eyes at this, you didn't know if it was the alcohol or everything overwhelming you. You knew Jimin didn't feel anything of that for Ryuna himself, he still loved her the same he did back then, but you knew everything he said was true, they aren't going to accept her anymore.

"I miss her," you say after a while, your voice breaking.

"Me too," Jimin responds, his voice sounding almost distant.

You try to find Taehyung in the crowd once again, wanting to distract yourself.

You chuckle at the scene before you, Taehyung was pulling Hina off him and respectfully handing her back to one of her friends. He looked quite disturbed. You see Jimin smiling as Taehyung makes his way back to the two of you. "You looked like you were enjoying yourself," Jimin snickers once Taehyung's standing in front of you.

"Don't push it, hyung," Taehyung says through gritted teeth.

Jimin shrugs.

"For fucks sake, she was grinding on me like no tomorrow," Taehyung says in disgust.

"Fun, huh?" You try not to laugh.

"Oh please, I couldn't even get hard," he scoffs.

"Ouch, was it that bad?" You ask in amusement.

"You have no idea," he takes a breath, glad the woman was finally off him.

"Let's get you home," you smile warmly at the man. The day had been long, the one thing you all needed was rest, not a club. "I think that's enough clubbing for a day." Jimin and Taehyung both nod in agreement.

You quickly down the rest of your drink and place it on the counter for someone to take.

You put an arm around Taehyung's shoulder and the other around Jimin's. "I'm so tired," you tell them groggily.

They both smile at you. You could tell the alcohol was starting to get to you now.

"Taehyung," you say his name a little too loud. He looks at you with a raised eyebrow, "yes, Y/N?"

"Can you take me to your home, please," you say with a pout you knew he could never resist.

He chuckles, "alright."

"You want me to drop you off at home, or do you wanna stay over too?" Taehyung directs the question to Jimin.

"I'll be fine on my own," Jimin laughs, "don't worry about me, clearly I can tolerate alcohol, unlike someone," Jimin scoffs.

"Yah," you yell, "I am not drunk, okay. Just slightly buzzed," you insist.

"You take her home, I'll get home fine," Jimin tells Taehyung, knowing he's going to have to drop him off home first which would take longer.

"You sure?" Taehyung asks in doubt.

"Yeah," Jimin gives the younger one a reassuring smile, "I'll be fine.

"Alright," Taehyung confirms, "don't go out drinking again," Taehyung warns, knowing his brother too well.

Jimin chuckles, "I won't."

"Alright then, let's get you home, shall we?" Taehyung says to you.

You hum in response, following Taehyung to his car, turning around to see Jimin walking the other way, back into the club. You sigh and turn your attention back to Taehyung. He helps you into the passenger seat, and walks around the car, helping himself into the driver seat.

"Seatbelt?" Taehyung points at your obviously unfastened seat belt.

"Can you do it for me?" You grin sheepishly at him.

He rolls his eyes and leans closer, pulling the seat belt from your right and fastening it to your left. You keep your sight on him, eyes full of adoration for your best friend.

"You're such a baby," he smiles, stroking a thumb on your cheek.

He sits back in his seat and fastens his own seatbelt. He keeps a hand on the steering wheel, the other behind your seat, he looks through the back window as the car makes its way out of the parking spot. Once the car was on the road, you watched as Taehyung drove effortlessly. He was already manspreading, with one foot on the escalator, he had one hand on the steering and the other lay in his lap.

He glances at you once he catches you ogling at him at a red light. "What?"

"You look hot." you say nonchalantly, shrugging and looking the other way, out the window.

Taehyung doesn't seem taken aback. "Is that so?" He teases.

You hum in response.

"And what makes you say that?" He raises a brow, thinking about his normal work attire.

"What? Can't I call my best friend hot?" You inquire.

"Of course you can, especially when your best friend's been named the world's most handsome and sexiest man," he boasts.

"Yeah, yeah", you scoff.

The next few minutes pass in silence, the songs playing on the radio softly in the background. And that eventually drives you to slumber.

You don't know when you ended up falling asleep or how long you've taken a nap in Taehyung's car, but you're awoken by the sound of Taehyung's baritone voice calling your name sweetly.

Your eyes refuse to open—you're that tired. You whine a little in response, wanting nothing other than to sleep at the moment.

"We're home, Y/N," Taehyung says softly.

"We are?" You mumble in your sleep.

He hums in response. But you don't have the energy to move.

You don't hear Taehyung's voice after that, which perks your curiosity, instead you hear a bit of shuffling. And before you could open your eyes, you feel Taehyung's arm snaking under your legs and behind your back. Your eyes flutter open to see Taehyung's face up close—a sight to see as soon as you wake up.

He pulls you into his arms and you put your own arms around his neck, securing yourself.

"Now you wake up," he scoffs.

"Asshole," you reply, not having the energy to think of anything else.

"Goddamn, you've gotten heavy," he jokes, and you know he's lying by the way he's carrying you facilely.

"Definitely an asshole," you mumble, half asleep again. He chuckles.

Your eyelids are half open as you're unable to fall back to sleep due to the constant movement. You keep your eyes on Taehyung as he carries you from the car to the elevator, which eventually stops on the 25th floor.

"Can I put you down?" He asks once he's halted outside his penthouse's door.

You nod, and he places you on the ground to stand for your own. You watch as he taps the code to his house, the code you knew very well—you were that one that made it after all. After a high pitched beep, the door unlocks itself. He pushes it open and you step in, welcomed by the warmth of his luxury apartment.

You take off your black heels and place them in the rack inside the double doored closet. Turning around you see Taehyung reciprocating your actions. You take a step closer to him and wrap your arms around his neck, resting your chin on his shoulder. You feel his arms gently wrapping around your waist.

"What happened?" He asks tenderly.

"Nothing," you respond from the crook of his neck, "I'm just tired."

"Are you sure? I'll make you some tea," he offers, to which you decline immediately, you knew he was just as tired as you were, you'd feel guilty making him do unnecessary work for you.

"Can you carry me to bed?" You request.

And of course, how could Taehyung have refused you? "Of course."

Once again, he picks you up. Carrying you down the foyer and up the white, wooden stairs. He nudges the door to your room—as you called it—with his knee and walks in.

The mattress dips as your weight is put on it after he gently places you on the bed.

You realized you were still in your work clothes, but you were too tired to care about that right now.

"Goodnight," he says to you, smiling at you warmly.

But you don't want him to go. Your hand latches onto the hem of his blazer's sleeve as he turns around to leave the room. He turns back around to face you, giving you a look of question.

"Can you stay here, please," you plead.

With everything you'd talked to Jimin about, nothing seemed right to you at the moment, his words ringing in your head. You needed Taehyung's comfort.

He notices the gloom in your eyes and nods immediately. Though, at that moment he needed your comfort too, with everything going on at the company, he was really stressed. You move over and let him slide into the covers. He turns and looks at you, you look at him. You find his hand from under the cover and lock it with yours, bringing it to your chest and hugging it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he says softly, brushing hair out of your face and tucking it behind your ear.

"I miss her," you tell him, a lone tear falling from your eye.

"She's coming back isn't she?" Taehyung furrows his brows.

"They all hate her," you choke out.

"Hey," he says, stroking your hair, "it's all going to be alright, I promise you."

You sniffle, not knowing if you should be awaiting your sister's arrival, or be calling it dreaded.

You bring your head to his chest. His heart aches for you. "It's going to be okay, I promise you it will," he reassures you.

He knew it wasn't much for you to grasp onto, but he hoped he was of some help to your current state.

But you knew that his comfort alone was enough for you to relax.

Taking a deep breath and snuggling closer to him, you feel your eyes heavy from sleep, you fall asleep in Taehyung's arms—spending the night wondering if you'd hallucinated or dreamed of a peck placed in your hair.

You woke up with an arm wrapped around your waist. Turning around, you see Taehyung sleeping soundly.

He was still wearing his suit from yesterday. You move closer and loosen his tie, smiling at the sight of him sleeping, he looked absolutely adorable. Taehyung has always reminded you of a puppy when he sleeps. Completely the opposite of his intimidating personality from work.

His well kept hair from yesterday was practically everywhere now. You move it out of his face. His hair was definitely getting longer by the day, and he looked absolutely stunning.

Once you've completely digested the sight of him, you carefully move his arm off your waist, careful not to wake him up, he must've been tired.

You feel awfully stiff after sleeping in your work clothes, the first thing you wanted to do was take a shower. You gather something presentable-looking from your collection of clothes present in Taehyung's house.

The rest of the morning seemed to go uneventful for a Saturday morning.

Upon getting out of the shower, Taehyung was still sleeping, and so you let him get his sleep.

The house seemed eerily quiet due to Taehyung's absence.

You were planning to make the one thing you'd mastered in cooking—pancakes, but you decided to wait for Taehyung to wake up since he loved pancakes himself.

Pouring yourself a coffee, you made your way to Taehyung's study. You made yours3elf comfortable and decided to finish off some work while Taehyung was sleeping.

An hour or two had passed, the house cleaners had come around to clean the house as usual.

You'd finished two cups of coffee and quite a bit of your work. It was now nearing noon, and you were starving, Taehyung still hadn't woken up.

You decide to go check on him. Walking up the stairs, you're preoccupied, replying to an email from an employee regarding a matter from the company.

You walked into the room absent minded. Seeing that the door was partially open, the way you'd left it two hours ago. Eyes still on your phone, you tsk at how pathetic this employee was at his job.

"What happened?" You hear the heavy and deep voice you know too well.

You look over to the bed where you last remember leaving a sleeping Taehyung, yet the voice that resonated throughout the room wasn't coming from there. You avert your eyes to the room's walk-in closest where Taehyung stood. A white undershirt clung onto the upper half of his body, while a pair of black basketball shorts covered his lower half.

"Huh? Oh—uh—yeah, it was just something about work," you quickly say.

"Is everything alright?" He asks nonchalantly, turning around and walking out of the grand walk-in closet, it was nothing compared to the one in his room of course. This one was solely a spare to fit all the clothes he couldn't fit in his well organized closet.

Your eyes can't help but stare at his back muscles flexing as he closes the double doored closet.

"Oh yeah, just something about the deal with Samsung. Don't worry about it, I'll have it sorted out," you inform him, quite distracted by the view of his quite exposed upper body.

He hums in response, walking to the ensuite bathroom, drying his hair with a white towel.

"Slept well?" you ask after finally remembering why you were here in the first place. He lolls his head to you in confusion.

"It's almost two in the afternoon, Taehyung," you inform him.

Taehyung doesn't seem phased at the revelation, he knows he sleeps like a baby when you're with him. Well sometimes that is, most times he can't sleep a wink.

He turns his head back to you, "yeah, noticeably well," he states. And you can tell, he seems much less tired and stressed. "You?"

"Fairly well," you shrug. He knows you've always struggled with sleep, so he's content that you've gotten a decent amount of sleep.

You watch silently as he pats some of his moisturizer onto his face then runs his hand full of argan oil through his hair. "So, what're you up to today?" He asks casually, attempting to style his hair.

"Nothing much, really," you say from the place you're seated on the bed, "I finished up some work while you were sleeping." You finish as he gives up on his hair.

Once he's finished, he turns to face you, wanting to say something more, but he disregards it, alternatively, a small smile making way on his face as he notices your choice of clothing for the day. Despite the hot weather outdoors, the air conditioning was doing a pretty great job at fulfilling it's duty indoors, so you decided to wear Taehyung's white Calvin Klein hoodie—your favourite one. And of course a pair of your black shorts that weren't visible under the hoodie reaching your mid thigh. And the whiff of Taehyung's cologne was only one of the reasons why you loved stealing clothes from his closet every now and then. And you knew he loved it too.

Your eyes trail him as he doesn't bother to put on a t-shirt of any sort over the undervest, instead taking the white towel that he once used to dry his hair. and effortlessly draping it on the hook behind the bathroom door.

"What did you eat?" He asks, glancing at your direction. You don't answer knowing you were about to get told off by him just about now. And your silence gives him his answer.

"I asked you something," and this time it isn't in the soft playful voice he'd previously asked you the same question in.

"I wasn't hungry," you mumble, wanting to scoff at how much Taehyung treats you like a child. He doesn't say anything, rather using his 'CEO' face as you called it, jaw clenched, eyes giving a piercing stare. He much too often used this face when someone does something to his disliking, the one stone cold expression all his employees feared—not you though.

You almost snort, "gotta be a dumb one to think that's gonna work on me."

He looks away from you in frustration, taking a sharp breath, almost scoffing. "Why didn't you eat?"

"You were sleeping," you tell him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So?" He brings his gaze back on you, "you're free to do anything you please in my house Ms. Y/L/N, that is with or without my presence. I hope you are aware of that."

Imitating him, you decide to use your own professional voice. "I understand your concern Mr. Kim. However, I am very much aware of the fact," you respond.

"I was only waiting for you to wake up because I was going to make pancakes, and I know how much you love pancakes," you tell him, dropping the voice.

His expression softens and he walks towards you. "You're such a dumbass," he smiles, caressing your cheek as you look up at him with the doe eyes you loved giving him every once in a while.

"Come on now, don't give me those eyes," he chuckles, "let's get you something to eat." But you frown instead, teasing him further—or maybe you just loved it when he babies you.

But putting aside the verbal response you were expecting, he lets outs an exasperated sigh, picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder.

"What the fuck, Kim Taehyung! Put me down!" You shout as he takes you downstairs. And of course, he doesn't listen to you, not even regarding your figure over his sturdy shoulder.

Finally coming to a halt in front of the kitchen island's bar stool, he places you in one of the gray chairs. You move the disheveled hair out of your face, glaring at the man before you with your infamous cat eyes.

"Fuck you Kim Taehyung," you scowl in a whisper, giving him the finger from under the island platform, careful not to give Ms. Lee who was cooking something in the kitchen is a show of your childish behaviour.

Taehyung who was trying to do the same, leans into your ear, "now, if that's something on your bucket list, I doubt I can help you."

"Real classy, Mr. Kim," you land him a punch on his shoulder.

He rubs his shoulder as though you've injured him immensely, you roll your eyes at his dramatics.

"Easy there on the violence, Tiger," he teases with the nickname he's called you starting your high school days, mostly due to your violent behaviour when it came to him. "I already feel bad for your future spouse," he starts, walking into the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of water, "I wonder how they're going to deal your annoying ass 24/7."

"Could say the same about you, Kim," you scoff, "I'm pretty sure that you're aware that your parents are wanting to get you married soon. I feel bad for that misfortunate person."

The sudden thought of your best friend's future as a husband almost has you snickering. You loved him, of course, but him being your best friend, he was an absolute pain in the ass. Although, with his parents already talking about getting him married soon, he's definitely going to have to drop the attitude. His ego was too large for his own good, which is why it surprised you that he hadn't already confronted his parents regarding the whole 'marriage' thing. But you knew Taehyung, he knew it was no good objecting because he didn't plan on getting into a serious relationship anytime soon either way. He was already too engrossed in work, it was best that he agreed with his parents for once and married a woman of their choice.

"Why are you laughing?" He asks, taking your amusement as an insult. Placing the cup of water next to you.

"Nothing," you snicker, "just the thought of you being a husband to someone is hilarious."

"And may I ask, how exactly is that amusing to you. For your information, I will be an amazing husband," he boasts.

"Oh yeah, definitely" you giggle.

He tilts his head, "oh, is that funny to you?"

"Very," you try to hold in your laughter as he nears you. But oh, he wasn't laughing anymore.

You slowly get off the chair, getting the hint that you were his morning—more like afternoon jog for the day. You take a run for behind the couch, but you're too slow for him, he grabs you by the waist, your back crashing against his chest.

"Gotta be faster than that, Tiger."

"Taehyung!" You yelp once his fingers dig through the fabric of his white hoodie, finding your tickle spot with perfection—and 28 years of practice.

"Taehyung!" Your squeals ring through the penthouse in between fits of laughter.

"Isn't that funny, huh?" Taehyung mocks you with the widest grin on his face.

"Taehyung!" You call out his name a last time, panting as his tickles come to a stop.

You turn around once you've caught your breath, looking at him with a menacing stare. "I thought I was about to spend my last few moments of life getting tickled by you," you say in disbelief, punching his arm as hard as you could, but clearly that seems to have no effect on him.

He lets out a hearty chuckle, but you're not having any of it. Frowning at him, you turn around and walk back to the kitchen island, glancing at Ms. Lee who'd been watching the two of you act like absolute children with a smile on her face.

You try not to look at Taehyung who was making his way to you. But you knew he'd never let you stay mad at him, even if it was just you being overly dramatic to have all of his attention to yourself.

"Y/N,' he calls your name at your back, you don't respond but you're already smiling. "Y/N," he calls again, but gets no response from you, so he turns the bar stool to face him, placing both his arms on the counter, trapping you. "Y/N," he starts again, trying to sound serious, but he can't help but smile after seeing your smiling face.

"You're so adorable," you say to him, caressing his cheek, the faint scent of aftershave lingering in the air between the two of you.

"Am I now?" He raises a brow. You nod. "The woman you marry, she's gonna be a lucky one," you smile.

"As for your future man," he looks in deep thought, "I need to approve of him first, because you deserve nothing but the best"

You almost laugh, you'd never thought of your marriage, the thought seemed absurd to you. "I don't plan on getting married anytime soon mister," you give him a look.

"Perfect," Taehyung exclaims. "That way I can bring my kids to your wedding and they can watch their aunt get married."

You feel something close of outrage and adoration at the sudden comment, but before you could say anything in response, Ms. Lee clearing her throat brings the two of you out of your world.

"The food's ready. I made Jjajangmyeon," she informs the two of you.

Taehyung gives her a polite smile, "thank you Ms. Lee."

The said woman bows and leaves, leaving you alone in Taehyung's company once again. He walks to the kitchen where two plates of Jjajangmyeon were placed. He brings both of them to the island where you were still sitting, waiting hungrily for food. He places the plate before you, insisting for you to eat.

"Do you have work?" Taehyung asks, taking a seat next to you with his plate of Jjajangmyeon.

"I did have some stuff I needed to finish up, but I finished it up for the most part, I might make a round at the company tomorrow to finish up some other things," you let him know.

He nods in understanding, "so for today?"

"Nothing much," you seem in thought at the lack of your plans for the day. "Oh yeah," you start as you remember the important event the two of you were to attend today. "We have to go Mom and Dad's house today, remember?"

You glance at Taehyung who seemed to be trying to pull out the specific event out of memory through the course of his overly hectic schedule.

"Right, right, that dinner she told us about two weeks ago," Taehyung finally seems to remember.

You hum in response, "Jimin's also coming." And it seems that Taehyung seems to have a more vivid memory of being informed of the event. Although you couldn't help but think there was a catch to this. It was very common for your families to have family dinners like this, but the one thing that seemed sceptical to you was the utter happiness in your mother's voice when she'd informed you of how important your attendance was this time. Jimin had been talking about settling down lately, could it be something about his marriage?

"Y/N?" Taehyung calls out, cutting off your train of thought.

"Huh?"

"I called your name about five times? Are you okay?" Taehyung asks, giving you a concerned look. He knows you've been feeling a little uneasy lately, and you hate that he can read you so easily.

You sigh, "I don't know, Ryuna's coming back and they're probably going to talk about Jimin's marriage today. I know what Ryuna did was wrong, she shouldn't have done that to him, but I can't help but hope things would work out between them."

You can tell Taehyung feels bad and he understands what you're feeling but he wants to be honest with you.

"Y/N, I know how you feel. I've seen them together with my own eyes, but you can't expect her to come back and everything to go back to normal. I know Jimin loves her but I know him the best, he's never going to go back to her—for her own good. He loves her too much to have her come back to him and leave everything she's achieved in the past two years just like that. He's never going to do that."

"I know," you say softly.

Another silence spreads between the two of you where you eat blankly and Taehyung spares you glances.

"Do you think what she did was wrong?" You finally decide to ask.

Taehyung doesn't take a moment to hesitate with his answer, "no." And he wasn't answering with a 'no' to keep you happy, he meant it. "And I know Jimin feels the same. If she stayed here, neglecting her dreams to keep your parents, grandparents happy—to keep Jimin happy, she's just as much in the wrong as everybody else is right now," he tells you, "if I was in her place, I would've done the same." At Taehyung's words, you feel a little better about everything. Though you still felt grief for the once-couple, you decided to leave it aside.

Perhaps they're meant to be in another life.

"Taehyung, get up," you whine, trying to pull an asleep Taehyung off the couch.

The weather seemed to have had a change of plans, and the beautiful sunny weather no longer seemed to linger through the summer skies after the clock neared two in the afternoon.

Gray clouds formed in the sky and it began raining before you could say 'pool'. And so, you and Taehyung—who had initially decided to have a pool day in his pool, decided to call off the plan and instead cuddle on the couch while watching a movie on Netflix and have wine.

You weren't so sure about the 'watching movie' part of the newly made plan—but Taehyung's part of the plan definitely worked out. Laying your head on Taehyung's chest while a blanket draped over the two of you and sipping wine—it was quite enjoyable you had to say.

It was after the wine that both your giggles resounded throughout the house as the two of you played endlessly under the whiteness of the covers, eventually putting both of you to sleep comfortably in each other's embrace.

It was a much needed nap you had to say, but didn't last long enough for your liking. Your mother just had to call when you were getting to the good part of your afternoon dreams.

You had hastily pulled yourself away from Taehyung's grasp over your waist, he was sleeping as though he hadn't just woken up three hours ago.

"Yes mom?" You say politely over the phone to greet your mother, trying to hide the rasp in your voice.

"I'm sorry, were you sleeping? Did I wake you?" She asks in her concerned mother voice.

"No, no mom," you laugh, "I was about to wake up anyways, we have to leave soon," you look at the time it was already 4:15.

"We?" She asks with curiosity, "is Taehyung with you?"

Well shit. You may have just screwed up.

"Uh—yeah, I'm at his apartment, I came home with him last night, he picked me up from work," you tell her, attempting to sound casual, but you knew very well that your mother had a mind of her own. She was only going to hear the parts she wanted to.

"Oh alright. Where is he? I need to speak with him," she asks nonchalantly.

"He's sleeping. Was it anything important, I was about to wake him up anyways," you say quickly, trying to sound as relaxed as you could sound.

Your mother's silent for a moment, probably connecting one and one and making things seem the way they clearly were not, but you could see why they could possibly seem that way.

"Right," your mother speaks, clearing her throat. You could hear the hint of amusement in her voice already.

'Kim Taehyung, I am going to kill you.' You knew the said man had nothing to do with the situation, but his involvement made the situation worse. Hence, blaming everything on him seemed the most appropriate.

"It wasn't anything important. I just wanted to remind him about the dinner tonight, but I'm hoping you can pass on the message to him," she says to you.

"Oh yeah, don't worry. We'll be there on time," you reassure her.

"Okay." she laughs a little, "I'll leave you two to it."

Your eyes widen, "mom! We're not—we—there's nothing like that between us."

"Y/N," you hear Taehyung's raspy bed voice from beside you—most probably disturbed by your loud voice as you spoke to your mother, his grip around your waist tightening.

"Mom, he's my best friend, nothing more and nothing less, okay?" You try to convince her, but if she was unconvinced then, she was even more—so now after hearing Taehyung's voice calling out your name in such a way.

God, you were about to strangle this man.

"I'll take your word for it," she says, completely unconvinced, "don't be late, your father's waiting."

"Okay," you respond with a sulk in your voice.

And that leads you to attempting to pull an asleep Taehyung off the couch.

"Kim Taehyung." you say sternly, using the sternest voice you could muster up. You watch as his eyes flutter open. And that's all you needed to go off on him.

"How much stupider can you get," you curse, chucking a pillow at his head which he unfortunately ducks.

"What the hell did I do now?" He looks at you with utter confusion.

"My mother thinks we're fucking—or worse, dating," you tell him, feeling disgust at the sentence itself.

"Can't imagine why," he mumbles under his breath looking at the current position the two of you were currently in.

You smack the side of his head, earning a grunt from him which has you smiling proudly in victory.

"It's not funny" you say through gritted teeth.

"Right, right," he brushes it off, "so now care to explain how this is my fault."

"I had her convinced until you said my name like that. Now she thinks there's something going on between us," you explain.

"Me saying your name like that has her thinking we're fucking?" He says in outrage, "that isn't even close to anything sexual," he scoffs. "See, now if I did something like this," he starts, leaning down to your ear sensually. You take a breath and lick your lips, quickly pushing him off you before his 'demonstration' could escalade. You see him chuckling at your fluttered state as you get off the couch.

Your eyes divert to another pillow lying on the couch. You pick it up and throw it at him, he catches it before it lands on his face. "Do me a favour and get dressed, we're leaving in thirty."

It was the last thing you uttered to him before marching upstairs.

The moment you're standing outside your parent's estate—with Taehyung to your right in jeans and a black button up tucked into the jeans, the sleeves rolled up and the first three buttons of the shirt undone, giving you a glimpse of the honey tanned, toned chest, you can't help but feel slightly nervous. You couldn't tell if it was because you hadn't seen everyone in a while.

The two of you had gotten the idea that this family dinner was a lot different than the family dinners that had been arranged in the past, which is why you'd decided to go for something a little for formal and conservative than you usually would for one of these dinners; a white silk shirt tucked into black jeggings.

You hear some shuffling behind the closed doors once ringing the doorbell.

The oak wood, double doored doors swung open to reveal Jimin standing in all his glory; a royal blue silk dress shirt covering his upper body. Similarly to Taehyung, the shirt was tucked into his jeans and the sleeves rolled up—the sight could be quite the distraction as the shirt's sleeves hugged his bicep's every curve.

"Took you two a while," he says, mischief glinting through his eyes. "Rumor has it you two are dating."

"Oh please," you roll your eyes, helping yourself into the house. "There's nothing of that sort going on."

He hums in response and Taehyung follows your lead into the house.

"I'll take your word for it."

"Please shut up, you sound like mom," you say in disgust, immediately changing the topic. "Anyways, what's all this about?" You refer to the dinner.

You notice the way Jimin tenses a little, "I—well, I'm engaged."

You freeze, and you see the way Taehyung does too. "You're what?" Taehyung questions before you could.

"I'm engaged," Jimin says again.

"You're joking," Taehyung almost laughs, convinced this is a prank.

"I'm not," Jimin says, looking away.

You didn't want to interfere in a conversation between two brothers, but you had too many questions. "When did this happen? And why are we just finding out about this?"

"Last week," he says, unable to make eye contact with either of you. "I didn't want to tell you just yet."

"Were you waiting for us to find out through someone else? Are you crazy?" You almost yell, feeling betrayed by the man standing before you

"I didn't want everyone to tell you today and you two having no idea what was going on so—"

"So you're telling us now?" Taehyung interrupts, he can hear the rage in his voice.

"Yes, that's exactly why," Jimin responds with equally as much rage in his voice as Taehyung, You had no idea why Jimin was angry, but he seemed more pissed at himself more than anything.

"Is this why you broke up with Kiana?" You interrogate.

"No—"

Jimin starts, but he's cut off by a feminine voice, "Jimin, mom sent you to open the door, what's taking so long?"

You turn to face the familiar voice, "Jihyo?" You call out, pulling her into an embrace. "When did you come back?"

"This morning," she chirps.

"You didn't even tell me your sister's back, hyung? What else are you hiding from us, a child?" Taehyung says in disbelief.

"Well, I may have told him not to tell you guys," she says, pulling Taehyung into a hug, which he accepts with a smile. "I wanted it to be a surprise. But as for the whole engagement thing, he didn't tell me either," she scoffs, glaring at her brother.

"Well at least we weren't the only ones put in the dark," you spat.

"Tell me about it, I came back to find out my brother's engaged, he didn't even bother to tell me," she tells you. "Anyways, we should go before someone comes looking for us."

You all follow Jihyo into the great room where you see Jimin's mother, Taehyung's mother, your mother, and both your grandmothers seated, all engrossed in a conversation they seemed to be enjoying. They all look pleased at the sight of you and Taehyung.

"God, you guys took forever," Taehyung's mother, who you often refer to as 'ma' says. Pulling you into a hug, "I haven't seen you in weeks, where have you been dear?"

"I've just been busy, you know how it is at the company," you respond with a smile

"Ah of course, always working hard," she looks at you with love and adoration, she's always looking at you as if you were her own daughter. "If only my good- for-nothing son could learn something from you," she says, hitting the back of Taehyung's head.

"Ow, mom," he exclaims, "I work just as hard Y/N," he scoffs.

"It's true," you shrug, you've seen it with your own eyes, why would you lie.

"See, Y/N's the only one who loves me here," he grins, coming to stand behind you, wrapping his arms around you and resting his head on top of yours.

Everyone in the room had their eyes on you, but neither of you seemed to care—too lost in your own world. But you were pretty sure everyone would've gotten used to the physical affection between you two by now.

"Yeah, right," you roll your eyes.

Taehyung's mother, who was fondly looking at both of you, finally looks away.

"Jimin-ah, why don't you and Taehyung go to the other room," she tells Jimin.

"Your grandfather's been waiting for your arrival," she informs Taehyung.

He nods, letting go of you, you already feel an empty presence behind you as he detaches himself from you

"Don't drink too much," he whispers in your ear once noticing the bottles of soju placed on the coffee table, reminding you of yesterday's adventures at the club.

You smack his chest, not caring if everyone was watching you, let alone his own mother, "Fuck off," you say in the same low tone he'd spoken to you in.

"Are you sure?" He says, glancing down subtly at his crotch as your eyes follow his line of vision.

"You're so gross." you spat, though you can't help but smile at his antics.

Pushing his larger figure over to Jimin, who gladly walks the man out of the room. And you would've almost missed the lazy grin that Taehyung gave in your direction once turning around, but your eyes were already glued to him how could you have missed it?

You smile back at him, shaking your head in disbelief at how child-like a grown man looking like him could act.

Turning your attention away from Taehyung once the cousin duo had walked out of the room, you turned your attention back to the ladies in the room who you were now stuck with until dinner would be served. Aside from Jihyo, who you were anticipating a long conversation with about how her studies went in Japan, the rest of the hour already seemed like a pain to you.

Insanely enough, you missed Taehyung's company already.

"Yeah, and then she ended up marrying her boyfriend," Jimin's mother says in outrage. "Can you believe that? Her fiancé was perfect, but she left him for her boyfriend!"

It'd been over an hour, and you were beyond bored. You'd been listening to god knows what gossip for the past you didn't even know how long.

"And then what, mom? What did her parents say?" Jihyo asks her mother eagerly, she seemed to be enjoying this too much.

"You're having a little too much fun huh?" Jimin's mother says, giving her daughter a look.

"Yeah, well, I'm just trying to know for research purposes. What if the same happens to Jimin? Or whenever Taehyung gets engaged," she makes up the lamest excuse you've ever heard.

"Don't you worry about them," Taehyung's mother says, "Jimin's fiancée's an angel. And as for Taehyung, I already have someone in mind for him, don't worry about him."

As the thoughts swim through your head, Jimin and Taehyung appear at the door. "Dinner's ready," Jimin announces, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans.

A sigh of relief washes over you at the thought of getting out of this, and also at the familiar sight of Taehyung.

You quickly get out of your seat and walk up to Taehyung, "I almost died of boredom. I swear even board meetings aren't this boring," you exaggerate.

"Oh yeah, and I was having so much fun back there," he retorts, not missing a moment to jab at you. "I'd rather have just continued whatever we left off with at home."

Heat rushes to your cheeks thinking of what you'd left off at home. But surely he was talking about the incomplete movie—the movie you'd fallen asleep halfway through.

You see Jimin giving both of you a look, "so the rumours are true then?"

"Oh shut up, he was talking about the movie we were watching," you give him a little punch on his bicep.

"Anyways," you address Taehyung once again, "it can't have been worse than whatever they were talking about here," you scoff. "She was having too much fun," you point at Jihyo who now stood next to you.

"What? It was entertaining," she shrugs. "And besides, I got information out of them, aunty has everything ready." she tells Taehyung, "you're the next victim. She says she has someone in mind for you already."

Taehyung almost groans, "they just have too much fun with this, huh?"

"It's okay, she'll divorce you in less than a year. No one can stand your annoying ass anyways," you say nonchalantly.

"You can," he replies, giving you a smug look.

"Unfortunately, I hold that power. But to your misfortune, I'm not the one you're getting married to, am I, Kim?" You retort, giving him a look.

"I can change that," he says to you, shamelessly.

"Get a room, you two," Jihyo says with raised brows. "Have they always been like this or did I miss something while I was gone?" She asks her brother.

To which he responds with a look of question himself, "a little bit of both I guess."

"Shut up," you say to both of them, trying not to seem affected by Taehyung's comment.

"It was a little joke, baby sis," Taehyung says to Jihyo, "learn to take a joke, you two," he rolls his eyes.

"Thought you said dinner's ready," you remind the three of them, taking a lead in walking to the dining hall.

Finally being alone, you let Taehyung's words sink in. 'I can change that'. What an unabashed man, he really couldn't go a minute without teasing you, huh? You really can't even imagine what could've gone through his mind to make such a remark, but you decide to push it to the back of your mind.

"Why so stuck up all the time?" You hear Taehyung's voice say from beside you as he bumps your shoulder with his.

"Me?" Your eyes widen, "I'm stuck up all the time?" You almost laugh. "You've been joking around a little too much nowadays, mister."

"Someone's gotta have a sense of humour around here," he says matter-of-factly as you approach the dining hall where everyone appeared to be taking their seats. You see an empty chair at the side of the glass table where you take a seat.

"Taehyung-ah, why don't you take a seat next to Y/N?" Taehyung's father insists.

Taehyung gladly accepts the invitation. Prompting himself next to you, he gives you a small smile, which you return with a devilish one, taking the opportunity to pinch his thigh.

But your attempt is failed since you could barely make it past the thick fabric of the jeans. Now it was Taehyung's turn to give you a devilish smile.

"You've really got to get better than that, tiger. You've stayed in my company for this long, is this what I've taught you?" He ridicules you.

"You always catch me at my worst, Taehyung," your face displaying a sour expression.

"What happened?" Taehyung's mother asks, concerned at seeing you sulking.

"Nothing ma, your son just loves to bully me," you tell her nonchalantly.

She sighs, "you two are never going to grow up, are you?"

"Don't plan on it in the long term, nope," Taehyung responds.

You take this opportunity to, this time, nip at Taehyung's forearm from under the table. Hoping to get a reaction out of him, but to your misfortune, he doesn't budge.

"Careful there kitten, wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of me," Taehyung says into your ear.

"Wouldn't dream of it, you respond, looking up at him with a testing smile.

» 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: ceo!taehyung x ceo!reader

» 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒: You and Taehyung have been friends for as long as you could remember, with both your families being directly involved in business together, and being closer than family, you’ve been surrounded by him almost always. Over the course of 26 years, many boundaries between the two of you had been erased, you couldn’t tell if he was hiding something from you, or if you were hiding something from him. But things could only complicate themselves more when both your families form an alliance between the two of you—an arranged marriage.

» 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: childhood friends to lovers, arranged marriage, fluff, angst, smut

» 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐏𝐀𝐃

➵ chapter I