“How did you..?” Taehyung became tongue-tied, unable to continue. During the last couple of years, he had been so careful as to not reveal his face to the public. The more his popularity as V, the webtoon artist, grew online, the more careful he was about becoming a public figure. Even in the small countryside town where Taehyung resided after graduating, the mystery behind the true identity of ‘V’ was a hot topic. Nayeon looked away and hung her head, her long hair delicately draping over her shoulders.
“It must have been your meet and greet when you first started out. There was only like 10 people there?” Nayeon giggled, “That’s when I found out we went to the same high school…”
Taehyung’s expression remained stern as he tried to remember this event and surely enough he did. Within a few days of Taehyung publishing his work for the first time online, he had gained a few hundred followers which made him a rising star in the cyberworld. Jimin, being the terrible friend that he was, then tricked Taehyung into attending his own meet and greet, an event that Jimin had created using V’s account without Taehyung’s permission. Needless to say, Taehyung had to go ahead and kindly greet the fans who actually attended the event held at a park even though there were very few. Amongst them was indeed a pretty girl they thought went to another school. 
“Imagine my surprise when you suddenly disappeared after graduating and then re-appeared in this neighbourhood beyond recognisable with your hair covering your whole face.” A small reminiscing smile appeared on Nayeon’s face as she remembered the first time she saw him at the convenience store. She noticed how concerned Taehyung seemed and rightfully so, having been so wary and avoiding the public for so long.
“Don’t worry, I’ve kept it to myself.” She assured the troubled soul, “I just wanted to let you know I’ve been a huge fan from the start. I was hoping we can become closer.”
Taehyung knew what she meant from the adoring look in her eyes. On the surface, it seemed perfect. They shared the same interests, she was a fun and kind-hearted person and on top of that, she was undeniably pretty, the type all guys liked. But even in that  bittersweet moment, Taehyung knew he was already thinking of someone else. Nayeon didn't want to see Taehyung being so hesitant so she went ahead and stood up from the bench. She picked up his umbrella and opened it up again.
“I’ll see you around Taehyung. I’ll take your umbrella so I have an excuse to see you again.” Nayeon smiled and then walked off into the easing rain.

~

Chorim ended up staying on campus for the remainder of her break to study and once she was done with her evening class, she was ready to head straight home despite many of her classmates inviting her out for drinks. She slowly walked along the streets which were still dampened from the afternoon’s heavy rain and thought about what to eat for dinner. Well, she was trying extremely hard not to think about what happened with Jin earlier on in the day. The more she thought about it, the less outrageous Jungkook’s claim seemed to be which made her uneasy to say the least. Still, the pieces of the puzzle didn’t quite fit well with each other but there didn't seem to be a way for her to solve it herself. 

“Hey, you with the s*xy legs.” A strangely deep and sleazy voice cried out from behind her, followed by the sound of a bike bell ringing.
“Come on babe, stop ignoring me.” The voice continued, ringing the bell a few more times. Street harassment was nothing new for Chorim unfortunately. Most of the time, she just thought that the idiots were lucky they didn’t try to approach her in a secluded area where she would absolutely not restrain herself from beating the sh*t out of them. But alas, in the public space, she had an image to keep up. Without looking back, Chorim kept a straight face and quickened her footsteps whilst the ringing of the bell also grew louder. Ignore, ignore, ignore.
“Lee Chorim!” The voice zoomed by and a hand slapped across Chorim’s behind, making her let out a yelp. She was absolutely mortified by what had happened, but was even more surprised when the person on the bike didn’t ride off but instead skidded and stopped right in front of her. Chorim was already preparing to take her heel off and throw it at the culprit but finding out it was Yoongi made her want to repeatedly stab him in the eye with it.
“Want a ride home?” He said in his actual voice with the devilish smile.
“I’d rather walk home bare foot across a path of broken glass than get on a bike with you.” She spat back, storming past him to make a point. Yoongi grinned, already too used to the vicious Chorim. In fact, he quite enjoyed getting on her bad side, thinking it was more genuine than the cutesy innocent image she liked to flaunt when outside. He whistled as he slowly rode the bike beside her, occasionally circling her to be extra annoying. If not for the fact that she was actually starting to die of starvation and that the heels she was wearing, whilst gorgeous, was killing her feet, Chorim would have stubbornly continued to walk home. Eventually, she gave in and hopped onto the back seat of the bike albeit a bit reluctantly.

In between the usual banter, they comfortably talked about the mundane happenings of their week. They may hate each other but they were tied together through friendship somehow. All of a sudden, something suspicious came to Chorim’s attention.
“Wait...where’d you get this bike from?” Chorim questioned. She knew he didn’t own a bike and had never seen him with one either. The following silence from Yoongi was what made her hesitate to ask in the first place. She mercilessly twisted Yoongi’s ear from behind and he let out a screech, nearly crashing the bike into a pole.
“If it’s not locked, it’s free to take.” He proudly yelled out as they went down a steep hill.
“That is not a ing rule. Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m on a stolen bike right now. I’m hopping off.” Chorim yelled, getting ready to jump off when it was safe. Yoongi sped up his pedalling so she wouldn’t have the chance to and shouted, “Hold on tight!”
“Okay nice try but I’m not touching you in any - ”
All of a sudden Yoongi took a sharp turn at a corner which nearly flung her off the backseat and naturally, Chorim reached out for his shoulders and held onto them. Right after making the turn, he let out an evil chuckle as a warning which only provoked her to scare him by covering his eyes with her hand.

When they had arrived home, Chorim immediately hopped off of the backseat and straightened out her denim skirt. Yoongi walked the bike over and leaned it against the side of the stairs.
“What the are you doing?” Chorim exclaimed, “That’s a stolen bike, you can’t just leave it hanging around here.”
“Why not?” Yoongi looked genuinely perplexed.
“What if there’s a tracking device on there and the owner comes here with the police?” Chorim shook her head with disapproval, “You better not give Jungha any trouble.”
Yoongi purposely kicked the lever down to stand the bike up to piss Chorim off, “Woman, I doubt anyone is rich and idiotic enough to be putting a tracking device on a damn bike.”

~

It was late at night and Taehyung had only just arrived home. After meeting Nayeon, he went to hide in a PC bang because he wasn’t in the mood to go home. It really was a place where time just seemed to go by in a flash. Taehyung walked into his apartment to find Chorim sprawled out on the couch watching a movie on the TV in her usual homebody get-up. There were at least 2 cans of beer already opened on the table and a huge bowl of popcorn in her arms. It wasn’t a particularly strange sight for him and there was a part of him that felt at ease upon seeing her. In his state of listlessness, he admittedly also just wanted to hold her in his arms for warmth but knew very well he couldn't. Chorim promptly paused the movie and chirped up from her laying position, “Yo! Somebody’s home late.” She grinned from ear to ear, obviously thinking he was up to something.
“You know what, I just can’t be bothered asking why you’re here anymore.” He remarked curtly. There was no way he was going to reveal he was actually glad she was there.
“Your TV is bigger than mine.” Chorim shrugged and resumed the movie. Taehyung let out a long sigh and didn’t bother turning the lights on.
“So why the sudden urge to watch a movie?” He asked as he put his belongings onto the table and ped his hoodie. Before he could throw the garment away, Chorim grabbed onto it and put it on whilst sitting up and scooting over slightly, leaving just enough space for Taehyung to sit down.
“I don’t know...I was supposed to watch one today I guess,” Chorim said dejectedly, still thinking about Jin. It wasn’t the first time Jin had had to cancel plans with her because he was too busy with work. Whilst she expected it to some degree simply because of who he was, it was getting emotionally tiring for her. However, she didn’t want to tell Taehyung she was really watching the movie as a distraction from the whole passport issue between Jungkook and Jin.
“What movie is it? If it’s a chick flick, I’m going to head off to sleep…” Taehyung crossed his arms, trying to act as if he wasn’t particularly interested.
“It’s called ‘Hwarang’. I heard it’s really good so sit your *ss down!” Chorim had to physically pull Taehyung down into the seat to make sure he didn’t back out at the last minute. She would have ended up watching it anyway but she was a believer that movies were better in the company of others. He was only a few minutes into the movie and could already tell it was not something he’d enjoy.
“It’s full of pretty boys…” Taehyung looked at Chorim who was casually resting her head on his shoulder, all snuggled up against his arm. Even with only the screen lighting up her face in the dark room, he couldn’t help but briefly think about how pretty she looked.
“Exactly why I’m watching it.” Chorim giggled without looking up, imagining how irritated Taehyung would be.

They continued to enjoy the movie together, occasionally arguing over trivial things like which characters were in the wrong and who was better looking - Chorim strongly insisted that Jidwi was the hottest out of all of them whilst Taehyung suggested she was blind and that Hansung was obviously the best looking. Taehyung finished off Chorim’s second can of beer because he didn’t want her to keep drinking. It was only until Taehyung naturally fed Chorim some popcorn for what must have been the millionth time did she start to get distracted from the movie and get lost in her own thoughts. Why does this feel so...comfortable? The realisation that she was having such an enjoyable and relaxing time began to bug her. Taehyung didn’t seem to mind watching the movie with her and was also letting her hold onto him and annoy him as she pleased throughout. She didn’t want to admit it but things just felt so...right?

Interrupting them was the impeccable timing of Chorim’s phone buzzing against the table, her obnoxious ringtone blaring over the movie. Chorim lifted her arm slightly but her eyes were suddenly covered from Taehyung throwing the oversized hood over her head right before pulling her into his chest and hugging her neck which she thought he was doing as a joke. He stared at Jin’s contact photo and name showing up on the vibrating phone and wouldn’t budge despite Chorim angrily flailing her arms and legs. He knew it seemed petty of him but he thought to himself that even if he couldn’t have her, he was happy to just be with her in that moment. Chorim stopped moving for a second and was carefully reassessing why she was feeling so strangely flustered all of a sudden. Did I have too much to drink? I’ve only had a can and a bit though. It wasn’t the first time they had hugged, even though Chorim was always the one embracing, climbing and clinging onto him. It wasn’t as if Taehyung had never put her in a headlock before either which usually made her angry. Yet this time, it was different. She could hear the loud thumping of her heart as it beat at an alarming rate, to the point where she was scared Taehyung might be able to even feel it himself. Only after a few seconds after the phone stopped ringing did Chorim come back to her senses and loosen herself from Taehyung’s embrace, still thinking it was just a cruel joke. She was kind of glad that they were sitting in the dark, otherwise he would be able to see how red her whole face was. Taehyung was getting ready for Chorim to throw a tantrum but was weirded out instead by the way she was staring at him, not knowing that she was in a state of shock. 

Chorim had to confirm that she wasn't with Jin and that it was definitely Kim Taehyung, her grumpy next door neighbour, who was unexpectedly starting to make her heart flutter.
 

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry this took a while. I've become a lot busier than before but even then, I'm always thinking about this story hahaha. I'm pretty happy with this chapter, what'd you guys think? Not enough TaeRim? :P 

ALSO, THE NEW CONCEPT PHOTOS FOR BTS' COMEBACK??? WHO'S EXCITED??? Me, I am. 
Anyway, I really appreciate the overwhelming support guys. Thank you for reading as always and I'll see you soon.  (ㆁᴗㆁ✿) 

Next chapter teaser: the bike.