Tori blinked at him, her back curved towards him, their foreheads meeting.

But she sat up, still in his lap, her eyebrows raised.

“What did you just say?”

“You said that the curse doesn’t work on me… what are you on about?”

She stood up, looking at him wide-eyed.

“Did I say that out loud?”

Taehyung’s gaze on her faltered, looking up at her. She looked as overpowering as she was gorgeous. Towering over him like a lioness to their prey, but this was different.

Although, it still made him stutter, nervous.

“U-Uh y-yeah,” he was debating whether to stand up with her or not. “But what did you mean? What curse? What spell?”

“Tae, I really didn’t want to tell you this,” she bit her lip, looking down, “Really didn’t want to tell you this.”

“B-But…”

“But I think it’s the right thing to do,” she sighed, sitting next to him on the couch again, pulling his hands into her tight grasp.

As if she was afraid he was going to let go.

“Tae, there’s something wrong with me,” Tori started, not really knowing how to tell him.

He furrowed his eyebrows.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said, purely confused.

Tori sighed, a pitiful sigh, “I honestly don’t understand it, but I’ve been like this eye since I was born,” she continued.

This time he listened intently.

“You know how my eyes are pretty… different, right?” she asked and he nodded.

“Well, I have this power – I guess you could call it? – and whenever a guy looks into my eyes, I seem to be able to start hearing their thoughts.”

Taehyung’s eyes widened.

Does that mean she could hear my thoughts too?

“Okay, before you start running away, or insisting that something like that isn’t possible, there’s more to it,” she sighed, “Also, whenever a guy looks into my eyes, they fall for me.”

“Huh?”

“I know it sounds stupid, but, whenever a guy looks into my eyes, they immediately start complimenting me, and telling me that they want to marry me and blah blah, I don’t understand how in the world it’s possible, but I know it is, because it’s been true for 18 years.”

“Victoria I…”

“Okay, now you can run,” she said, and then she paused, “Actually, since we are in your apartment, I’ll leave.”

“But I… I didn’t-”

“Yeah, I know,” she nodded, “It doesn’t seem to work on you.”

Thank God.

Taehyung looked up at her, wondering why she was glad he wasn’t like the rest.

“So you can’t read my thoughts?”

“No.”

I wish I could though.

“But why?”

“I don’t know,” she shook her head, “Whatever this curse is, I really know nothing about it, except what I’ve learnt over time.”

“I don’t know what to say…”

“Don’t worry,” she stood up, taking her bag off the counter, “I’ll leave.”

Taehyung stood up, shaking.

He didn’t want her to go…

But before he could find the right words to say, she uttered a quick, ‘Goodbye’ before closing the door behind her.

Leaving Taehyung to stare at the back of the door for a few seconds before he heaved in a deep breath and opened it, jogging to the elevator which had already closed.

He muttered a few profanities under his breath (blaming Tori for this newfound language) before he headed straight to the emergency stairs.

Running down them faster than anything he had done in gym class, he ignored his need to bend over and pant like a dog, as he scanned the lobby for Tori.

And when he found her, walking through the exit doors, he took 4 full strides before catching her wrist and pulling her back inside.

“Woah- Omph,” she grunted when he was heaved in. “Tae?” she asked as she looked up.

“Why did you do that?” he asked, finally letting out his deep breaths.

“Huh?”

“Why did you leave like that?”

“Oh… Because I thought you wouldn’t want to… talk to me…”

Tori was now leaning her back against the wall, while Taehyung was in front of her, bent over slightly to help slow down his breathing.

When that didn’t work, he put his hand on the spot of the wall next to Tori’s head, making her eyes widen but he was unaware of it.

“Why would you think that?” he asked, this time he looked up to meet her gaze, only to finally realise their close proximity.

If it were any other time he would have shuffled back, looking down to hide his face which was probably burning red.

But he didn’t move away.

“Because…”

“Did you ever think that guys fell for you because you’re beautiful? And charming, funny, enthusiastic, empathetic-” when he realised he was gushing, he stopped. “Instead of something like that?”

Tori hid her smile, knowing this wasn’t the time, but what he had just said made her happy beyond imagination.

“Tae, it’s not that, I know it,” she fidgeted with her fingers, “In the stupidest of circumstances, unthinkable people have hit on me, you saw Jimin earlier today, one look into my eyes and he couldn’t stop talking about how ‘beautiful’ I am.”

She finger quoted the word ‘beautiful’ and he frowned.

“What’s wrong with calling you beautiful?”

“It’s nice to hear it and all, but, when people call me that daily, and I know that it’s not sincere, it’s just all part of this spell I cause, it’s not easy to believe, you know?”

This made him frown even more.

“Didn’t you hear what I said before?”

“Huh?”

He closed his eyes, and if that wasn’t enough to hide his emotions, he looked to the ground.

“When I said you’re beautiful,” he told her.

She blinked at him.

“What?”

“I really don’t want to say it again,” he mumbled, still looking to the ground.

But honestly, she didn’t need to hear it again. While Taehyung was looking down, he saw something fall to the ground, and upon recognising it was a tear drop, he looked up to Tori in horror.

“Victo- I’m so- Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry-”

She laughed, shaking her head.

“Give me a hug, you dummy,” she opened her arms wide, and he stared at her for a few seconds before she engulfed him.

It took a while but he eventually hugged her back, slowly creeping his hand around her waist and bending forward, giving her the chance to bury her head in his neck.

“Tae,” he voice was muffled but he listened, “Please don’t leave me.”

This was the first time anyone had ever said these words to him and he didn’t know what to say.

Say you won’t.

Say you won’t leave me.

“I won’t,” he whispered, and he felt the truth ring through his whole body.

He didn’t want to leave her.

She made him such a different person, a better person and despite their differences, he loved himself when he was with her.

--

Taehyung couldn’t let Tori go home the way she was, so he let her up in his bedroom, while he slept on the couch.

When he woke up, he made breakfast for both of them before leaving it on the table with a short note.

Gone out for a bit

I’ll be back before our morning lecture

-Tae

When he finished, he was out the door, putting his running shoes on and a small towel around his neck.

On days like this he would normally go to the gym in the dead of night (he preferred it this way, he was normally the only one at the gym at that time) but he didn’t have the chance to because he didn’t want to leave Tori, so he was going to compensate by going for a quick run.

This gave him time to think,