“LET GO OF ME!” Chorim screamed, kicking her legs as best she could even though her head was upside down. The most frustrating thing for her was probably not being able to see anything because her eyes were stinging from the foam she had accidentally rubbed into them. However, she could sense that the person was carrying her out of the club from the surrounding noises and as soon as she knew she was outside, she attempted to escape by elbowing the person as hard as she could.
“OKAY, OKAY! STOP MOVING FOR ’S SAKE!” The guy yelled, placing her down onto the ground against a wall. Chorim’s eyes were stinging so much that she started tearing up. Suddenly, a cold splash of water hit her face and Chorim’s jaw dropped in awe whilst her eyes were remained shut. What the !? She then felt a hand wiping the excess water away from her eyes.
“Try opening your eyes now.” The person said. Chorim did as she was told and immediately pulled her head away when she saw the face of the person squatting beside her.
“Ugh, get away from me!” She said with a repulsed expression. Yoongi rolled his eyes and pulled her up from the ground by her hand. She patted herself down and dreaded the damp feeling of her clothes. The foam had soaked through and she looked and felt like a wet rag. Yoongi was going to make the usual smart- comment but could clearly see how seriously upset Chorim was to be around him. He let out a long sigh and threw away his pride.
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’m genuinely sorry about that night.” Yoongi said in a sombre tone, “What I did was wrong and I crossed the line.” He could only look at Chorim for a second before breaking eye contact and looking elsewhere because of how shameful he felt. To his surprise, instead of going bat crazy at him, Chorim stood there in silence to intently listen to him so he continued, “You’re a good friend so I should have looked after you instead but I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

It was hard for him because he had never been the type to sincerely apologise to others because it made him feel weak as a person. And Chorim knew that too. Still, she couldn’t believe she was being moved by his words. Ugh. The thing about dealing with jerks is that despite being so unlikeable, when they are actually sincere and nice, it seems so much nicer than usual that it could be considered fraud.
“Thank you, that is what I wanted to hear.” She sternly said as she ran her fingers through her soapy hair. All of a sudden, Chorim remembered her previous commitment and clumsily got her phone out to look at the time. She was not impressed to find out it was not turning on, mostly likely from a dead battery or water damage.
“SH*T!” She exclaimed whilst holding her head. TAEHYUNG!!!!!!
“What’s wrong?” Yoongi asked, witnessing her having a mental breakdown.
“Phone, phone, give me your phone.” Chorim rapidly waved her hand in front of Yoongi. She snatched his phone off of him as soon as he took it out of his jacket and scrolled through the contact list.
“Don’t you have Taehyung’s number?”
“I do.” Yoongi leaned over and scrolled up to the nickname ‘loverboy’. Why does Yoongi call him that…? Chorim returned to more pressing matters and pressed on Taehyung’s number.

~

Amidst Taehyung’s conversation with Nayeon, his phone lit up and started vibrating on the table.
Taehyung briefly looked at the screen and saw Yoongi’s name show up. Why is he calling me? Although he wasn’t fond of Yoongi, Taehyung didn’t want to dismiss the possibility that an emergency had come up at the apartment building so he picked up.

“What is it?”
    “Taehyung! It’s me!”
“Chorim?”
    “I’m really sorry. I won’t be able to meet you at the restaurant. I’m on my way home right now.”
Are you okay? “Did something happen?” Taehyung asked her. Even though he didn’t particularly sound it, he was worried about her, thinking she might have gotten herself in trouble. Everything seemed fine just an hour ago.
    “No, it’s a really stupid, I’ll tell you when I see you. Again, I’m so so sorry!”
Taehyung could hear how apologetic Chorim was even on the phone but couldn’t help but feel extremely disappointed even though he had told himself not to anticipate anything.
“Okay, I’ll see you later. Bye.” Taehyung said coldly and hung up.

He was so caught up in his own world that he temporarily forgot he was sitting with Nayeon at the table.
“Is everything okay?” Nayeon squeaked, noticing Taehyung’s saddened expression. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop but it was hard not to when they were sitting so close to each other. Taehyung looked up at Nayeon who was innocently chewing on some breadstick.
“Oh, sorry. I...It’s nothing.” Taehyung shifted in his chair, trying to remain calm. All Taehyung wanted to do was rush home to Chorim but he was didn’t want to seem rude to Nayeon who had kindly helped him out by sitting with him for the past half an hour.
“You can leave if you want to.” Nayeon said with a smile, trying not to sound dispirited. She had secretly looked forward to spending some time with him even if it seemed a bit forced. Before Taehyung could respond, a waiter suddenly came over with their plates of food and placed them on the table.
“Excuse me, will be be able to get these take-away instead?” Nayeon brightly said to the waiter.
“No, no. It’s okay, I’m staying.” Taehyung insisted and shyly nodded at the waiter.
“Are you sure?” Nayeon tilted her head to the side, not wanting to seem like a nuisance.
“It’s fine. I was here to just eat anyway.” Taehyung said, knowing that that wasn’t the case at all.

~

MINTfanboy95: hey do you know a girl named Chorim?

“What are you doing?” Sungjae asked without bothering to look over at Jimin’s screen himself.
“Just watching a live stream.” Jimin had taken a small break from gaming and was commenting and chatting with other users during the stream.
“Is it one of those stupid mukbang things you love so much?”
“They’re not stupid, okay? You just can't appreciate eating enough to understand.”

*DING*

A new private message popped up on the side of the screen for Jimin. Hrm? Probably just another bot...

JEIANT: who are you

“WAAAH!” Jimin randomly yelled out, freaking out at the message.
“What the hell man?” Sungjae cried, angry that his gaming concentration was ruined. The person hosting the mukbang stream, whose username was JEIANT, had actually sent Jimin the private message and being the long-term hardcore fan that he was, Jimin could not contain his excitement. It was the exact euphoric feeling of having a celebrity reply to you on Facebook or Twitter during a Q&A.

MINTfanboy95: hello jeiant!
MINTfanboy95: i’m a huge fan of yours ^^
MINTfanboy95: i’ve been watching your streams since you started!
JEIANT: how do you know Chorim?

“Oooohhhh, I see.” Jimin said to himself. Sungjae glanced over at him with a weirded out expression and then returned to his game. Woah, is it really who I think it is? Should I say she’s my neighbour?

MINTfanboy95: Chorim is a friend of mine!

Jimin eagerly waited for a reply but it never came. He saw the three dots indicating the other user was typing come up a couple of times but nothing was ever sent through. He’s probably too busy with the live stream to chat…
“Hey, are you ready? The next round is about to start.” Sungjae eagerly nudged Jimin on the side with his elbow.
“Okay, let me log in first.”

~

It was a sad walk home for Taehyung who, despite having a good night out, still felt empty inside. As he approached the housing complex, he saw Chorim pacing back and forth upstairs in front of her own apartment. As soon as she spotted him, her eyes lit up and she dashed down the stairs so quickly, she nearly tripped over in her slippers. She was wearing trackies with one side rolled up to her knee and a wrinkled T-shirt with a small stain at the bottom.
“TAEHYUUUNNNGGG!” She yelled, running to him and then hugging his arm, “I’m sooooooooo sorrrryyyy!”
Taehyung couldn’t respond because he was too busy looking at her wet hair and the towel around her neck. What on Earth? He was sure she had gotten ready when she left to stop by her friend’s house first so it was weird that she had just taken a shower.

“Have you eaten?” She enthusiastically asked.
“No.” Taehyung lied to her with a blank face. A tiny selfish part of him wanted to make her feel guilty for ditching him even if he had already eaten an entree meal with Nayeon. He was supposed to have eaten with her after all.
“Good!” Chorim grabbed onto Taehyung’s hand and dragged him up the stairs. He just followed along, unable to resist because she was too strong. To his surprise, she brought him all the way to the rooftop and there was a huge picnic blanket on the ground where the table was previously set up for the rooftop party. Taehyung was mildly confused as to what she had planned and then saw the large square boxes and a small carton of beer in the corner.
“I ordered pizza for us!” Chorim exclaimed excitedly.
“You ordered two large pizzas? For us?” Taehyung went along with Chorim’s bizarre set up and sat down on the blanket, cross legged.
“Yeah...one for you, one for me.” Chorim said as if it was common sense. She let out a goofy laugh as she took a bite of the first slice of pizza and even though Taehyung was still at a loss as to what was happening, he grabbed a slice and started eating. The atmosphere was the exact opposite of a fancy expensive dinner at a posh restaurant but somehow it felt perfect.
“By the way, you’re looking rather dressed up, were you meeting someone else as well?” Chorim questioned as she opened up a can of beer for Taehyung. It didn’t occur to her that Taehyung would have put in effort just for her even though he actually did.
“Yeah, my manager from work.” He said, followed by a stream of mental self-hate. Wow, why do you keep saying that, Kim Taehyung? Why?
“Oh, I see. You look good!” Chorim jovially whacked his back, “You’re making me feel like a slob.”
“That’s because you are a slob.” He bluntly commented and finished off his slice of pizza. He then got up on his knees and started unbuckling his belt right in front of Chorim who was extremely shocked.
“Wh-wh-what are you doing?” She uttered nervously, not mentally ready for Taehyung being so forward.
“Getting comfortable, what else?” Taehyung raised a brow and then flicked her forehead, “*rt.” He placed the belt onto the ground and proceeded to untuck his shirt from his pants and kick his leather shoes off. He was very glad to rid himself of such discomfort and rolled his long sleeves up as well. The two of them began eating greasy pizza, drinking beer and chatting comfortably without a care in the world.

~

Whilst Chorim was talking, Taehyung suddenly laid on the ground and placed his head on her lap. He closed his eyes and pretended to peacefully rest even though his heart was not at peace at all. She didn’t particularly mind and continued chattering away.
“...wait, wait, wait, you just walked into the male bathroom?” Taehyung interrupted Chorim’s recount of what happened.
“Yeah.” She replied without an ounce of shame.
Taehyung frowned, “Were you a male in your past life or something?” He really did not like hearing about Chorim's carelessness.
“Shut up. I was blinded by revenge, okay?” Chorim continued telling Taehyung about her night because she felt bad for ditching their dinner plans and needed to clarify everything. Out of habit, she started at Taehyung’s fringe with her fingers as she talked without looking at him because she was getting too agitated talking about Yoongi. But it didn’t bother him. All he could focus on was Chorim’s face because everything else was becoming a blur. He found her animated expressions as she talked endearing and couldn’t help but smile the whole time. At one point, he had stopped listening to her altogether and was instead in his own world, thinking about when he first met Chorim and all their countless and strange encounters since then. He knew that ever since they became neighbours, his life had gotten a bit more bizarre and unpredictable but as much as he would openly deny it, he enjoyed it.

Time seemed to slow down to a peaceful pace and Taehyung took the opportunity to think about how he truly felt about Chorim. She’s such an ugly, obnoxious and violent person… In the background, he could hear Chorim swearing and then snorting at what was probably her own lame joke. But also the most adorable, charming and sincere girl I’ve ever met… Thinking about Chorim proved to be a mistake when Taehyung was promptly reminded of her infatuation with Kim Seokjin as well as her undeniably close bond with Yoongi even if they hated each other’s guts. Before he got agitated again, he tried to brush off Yoongi’s comments about Chorim from the night of the rooftop party. Taehyung’s whole mind was a mess, in between feeling affection and bitterness towards Chorim, and it got to the point where he wanted to stop thinking altogether.
“...stop making my head hurt, Chorim.” The words forced their way out of Taehyung who regretted it immediately. Chorim had stopped talking and looked down at him, confused. His fringe had been completely swept to the side so he was feeling vulnerable with his exposed face as Chorim stared into his eyes.
“Am I...talking too fast?” Chorim said quietly, a bit surprised by Taehyung’s sudden statement without knowing the context. Taehyung gulped and couldn’t find the right words to say with his cheeks getting increasingly flushed from the embarrassment.
    “Kisseu, kisseu, kisseu...”
        “Hey, shut up! They’re gonna hear you.”
Chorim and Taehyung directed their attention to the roof of the rooftop shed and caught the two boys with guilty smiles spying on them.
“YAH!” Chorim raged, ready to unleash her wrath on the intrusive brats.
“Oh man, holy sh*t! RUN!” Jungkook screamed, urging Mingyu to quickly get up. The two of them frantically tried to avoid Chorim and then jumped off the roof and ran down the stairs as Chorim madly chased after them. Taehyung sat upright but was stunned by how quickly everything had escalated right before his eyes. He also felt deep regret because even without being urged on, he knew he was going to kiss her anyway.
 

A/N: Not going to lie, I had to take a break from writing because it was getting too cute. Also, I felt so sorry to those I disappointed with the last chapter update but was also touched so many people were anticipating TaeRim's date so thank you, hahaha. Everyone is so cute! The wait was worth it, right? I hope so! (●˙꒳˙●) 

I've got an announcement to make - I'm heading into the much dreaded exam season so unfortunately, I'll have to put writing on hold until the end of November when all my exams are over. Having said that, even if I'm not writing, I'm planning because this is literally the calm before the sh*t storm that is about to happen in this story. Hoping everyone can stick around to witness it! I'll see you all in December. (´｡✪ω✪｡｀)