Chapter 8 – My Time
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Wherever you are is home

[ BG MUSIC ]

     “11-10-15, 15-4-18, 17-7.”

Taehyung ran a hand over his face. This was already his third calling in five weeks. The previous week the school had their full week of Christmas celebration craze, so he was fortunate he had no numerical coded texts then.  

“Kim Myungsoo.” He let the name mumble off his tongue softly, trying to picture the brown-haired boy’s face in his mind. Jimin exited the bathroom door after his shower and Taehyung lifted his eyes to be mesmerised once again by the heart-pounding sight of the elder with a towel and wet hair. Taehyung gulped as he pretended to be concentrated on his phone screen, but the curving at the corner of his lips was something he couldn’t control. Jimin sat down on his bed opposite Taehyung and didn’t seem to pay much attention to the orange-haired, so Taehyung let his eyes float from his phone screen to Jimin, his sight travelling back and forth for a few seconds.

“Taehyung-ah-”

“Ha-uh?” The younger stuttered as his phone almost slipped from his sweaty grip.

“I’m stuck...” Jimin pouted his lips – and since he closed his eyes at the same time, Taehyung took the chance to take a deep breath and compose his flushed cheeks – “…with literature work.” Jimin opened his eyes as he spoke then slammed his palms over his face like a little kid.

Taehyung let out a giggle, shaking his head. Jimin’s grades were never that good and he often struggled, which was why he always spent extra time with the different hyungs, getting help from them for different subjects. It’s a wonder how he managed to do maths specialist, even Taehyung wasn’t good at it. The only person they knew who understood the work was Jeongkook, and he’s only a just-above-average scorer in the subject too.

“Show me.” Taehyung said and Jimin’s eyes lit up. He smiled widely, jumped up from his bed and hopped over to his desk. Taehyung followed and stood over him, gripping the back rest of the chair. Jimin scanned his page lightly as he hummed playfully. “I need help here, and here, and here, and…” Taehyung chuckled as he concluded that Jimin needed help with everything. Droplets of water fell onto the page as the elder simply sat with his towel hanging over his head.

“Hyung, finish drying your hair first.”

“Oh, right.” Jimin giggled as he resumed to patting his hair while he sat. Taehyung took a step back and gulped again, somewhat shy to the scene that made his eyes turn awkwardly innocent.

After about an hour, Jimin’s page was filled and satisfaction was planted all over his face. He slammed his pen down on the table and let out a victorious exhale. Taehyung giggled – his giggle is quite unique since his voice is quite deep for a boy his age – and his hand naturally travelled to the back of Jimin’s hair and he ruffled it. It wasn’t until Jimin paused to look back at him did he realise what he was doing. The two met eyes and stayed like that for a long moment; Jimin blinked as he explored Taehyung’s features curiously while the younger remained still and blinked only when necessary.

“Taehyung-ah…” Taehyung felt himself melt at Jimin’s soft voice again, “…you’re beautiful.”

The orange-haired averted his eyes down as he coughed out a shy chuckle, obviously embarrassed. When he glanced up he caught Jimin grinning to himself like the cheeky boy he was, and felt his heart beating unusually fast.

Taehyung’s phone vibrated in his pocket and he opened the text.

“One of the pubs in Gangnam.”

“What’s wrong?”

Taehyung lifted his head and saw Jimin’s concerned face. “Huh?”

“Nah you- your face just suddenly fell.”

It…did?

As Taehyung remained silent, Jimin shut his book and let out a calm breath. “Hey, let’s go out.”

“W-what?”

“I wanna go on a walk in the city.”

“Oh, alright.” Taehyung’s eyes averted Jimin’s for a split second as he tried not to sound deceptive. “What about the streets in Gangnam?”

Jimin smiled, “Sure thing! I didn’t know you liked going there.”

Taehyung let out a small chuckle. “Me either.”

     “I’m gonna go look over there at the bandanas.” Jimin pointed over a few stands.

“Alright, I’m gonna go check out the shoes. I’ll meet you over there in about ten minutes?”

Jimin nodded and Taehyung watched him walk off briefly before slipping away and cursing lightly as he pulled out his leather casing from his bag within the shadows of the corner of a nearby building.

“Gotta make this fast,” he hissed to himself softly as his fingers fiddled in a rush. In just a few seconds he was set and entered the pub. Passing with fake ID his family had ‘thoughtfully’ prepared for him, he searched over the countless heads for his target.

Myungsoo took a sip of his drink and turned around in response to the tap on the back of his shoulder. The waiter passed a note to him and he excused himself from the table to exit the pub. Turning his head several times, he took a few steps along the street as Taehyung had hoped he would, and was drawn into the narrow sidewalk by the split shine of light that had slipped past his eyes.

“H-hello?”

Without the patience for even smirking, Taehyung didn’t bother with words as he gripped his fingers onto Myungsoo’s skin below his wrist and flipped him to the floor with a harsh pull, resulting in the brown-haired on his knees with his arm twisted behind his back. Taehyung sliced at his throat in less than two seconds and flung his dripping blade to the brick wall inches beside him. He cringed immediately at the piercing cling sound the clean blade made with the wall and blamed himself for being so careless of his surroundings. He spared Myungsoo a last glance before quickly packing up his belongings and ditching the body, rushing back to where he had last seen Jimin. Leaving Myungsoo’s body to be found began to sound risky, especially after the waiter had seen the lower half of his face, but for now, Taehyung had no excess space in his mind to worry about it.