Chorim was in utter disbelief that Taehyung would just leave her behind like that without knowing that he did it to save himself from embarrassment. His growing fondness of her was too raw for him to deal with properly. She had tried running after him and was out of breath by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs at their apartment block. Her slightly intoxicated self was only capable of being angry at Taehyung for acting like a jerk all of a sudden, disregarding any moments of fleeting affection in the brief moment before. Taehyung stood still and blocked the way at the top of the stairs, his eyes frantically looking at the mess on the floor.
“Hey, what’s your problem…” Chorim grabbed onto the back of his shirt to pull herself up from the last step and then stared in awe at the flour that had painted the floor, walls, doors and windows a dusty white. Taehyung and Chorim made their way to Taehyung’s place right away, trying their best not to slip on the flour.

“Okay okay okay, I can move my arm now. Barely.” Hoseok raised his free hand up at Jimin and slowly lifted his potentially fractured arm that had a make-shift splint on it. He wiggled the tip of his fingers and they started laughing. Both him and Jimin didn’t realise Taehyung and Chorim were watching them from the front door until Chorim loudly cleared on purpose. The two went silent and looked at them with the same guilt kids would feel after being caught by their parents doing something bad. Except in this case, the mother would not even hesitate to beat them to a pulp with her bare fists.
“Okay, what the FXCK happened? AND WHY IS NAMJOON ON THE COUCH?” Chorim immediately cupped with the fear that her shouting voice would wake Namjoon up. She could not comprehend how on Earth the events of the night came to be now that Kim fxcking Namjoon was laying unconscious in the living room.

It was a strangely long-winded story. The bike Yoongi had stolen was actually Jin’s. Jimin’s help was recruited by Hoseok in order for Namjoon to track it down before Jin found out. When Hoseok realised they had pointed Namjoon to the apartment, they chased after him and arrived just in time to break up the unexpected fight between Namjoon and Yoongi.
“And why were they fighting in the first place?” Chorim asked.
“Dunno. I mean it is Namjoon and Yoongi we are talking about here so…” Hoseok looked at Jimin for validation. Yoongi was an ill-tempered man with zero tolerance and Namjoon was the type to confidently provoke people, ill-tempered or not. Chorim smacked her face into her palms and then slid them down, stretching out the skin on her face. She wondered if it even mattered why they were fighting.

Seulgi was sitting in front of Yoongi, gently swiping a swab of disinfectant over his busted lips. She could tell he was resisting the urge to wince at the pain but his twitching eyes couldn’t fool her. In the silence, she lovingly looked at him and gently caressed his bruised cheek. Chorim let herself in through the front door without notice and sat herself down cross-legged beside them. It was hard not to notice the fresh pink and purple bruises which were quite prominent on Yoongi’s pale skin.
“Chorim!” Seulgi leaned over for a hug, relieved to see her friend.
“Oh, nice of you to…” Yoongi’s lip twitched from the pain, not used to the sudden movement from talking yet, “join us. You missed out on the fxcking show. Like always.”
Chorim rolled her eyes as if it was a natural response to whatever came out of Yoongi’s mouth, “Okay, enough. Just tell me what the fxck happened.”
“You should ask your dear friend that,” Yoongi sneered, “he started it.”
“I would love to but he’s knocked out cold right now.” Chorim said with a b*tchy smile.
Chorim was not surprised to find out that Namjoon did actually start the fight between him and Yoongi. It was also hard to not find his assumption of Yoongi and her seeing each other utterly absurd. It made her wonder how on Earth he had come to such a conclusion and if he had told this to Jin at all.
“Oh, I almost forgot. What happened to the bike? Jimin said he tried looking for it but couldn’t find it.” Chorim asked whilst grabbing onto Yoongi’s shoulder.
“What do you mean what happened? It’s still where I left it, under the staircase.”
“That’s strange...it’s not there anymore.” Chorim scrunched her face up and then gave up and fell backwards to lay on the floor.
“You alright Chorim?” Seulgi hovered just above her and placed the back of her hand on Chorim’s exposed forehead. Chorim’s head was spinning with a million thoughts racing through her mind. Nothing made sense and every question just seemed to spawn another ten or so. And to think her only concern maybe half an hour ago was feeling overwhelmed by Taehyung embracing her all of a sudden. What was more strange was this small feeling brewing inside of her that...she wasn’t as concerned about Jin finding out as she thought she would be? She was so used to freaking out about anything that could expose her to Jin that the feeling of being absolutely unbothered was unfamiliar.

Chorim promptly found herself back at Taehyung’s place standing in front of Namjoon with her arms crossed and Jimin and Hoseok beside her like henchmen.
“Alright, how do we go about getting rid of the body?” Jimin uttered very seriously. Obviously, he deserved the kick to the back of his knee from Chorim.
“This isn’t the time to be joking around, Jimin.” She warned before turning to Hoseok, “Do you think it’s a good idea to send him home?”
“No, that would bring too much attention from his family...don’t want to get involved with that, trust me.” Hoseok gnawed on his bottom lip for a bit, “Alright, let’s bring him back to my place. It’s better to take things from there at least.” The others agreed wholeheartedly because it really was the most reasonable option for the night. Even though transporting Namjoon was a pain, having him stay was an even bigger one.
“Okay well, I’m going to need some help carrying this guy out of here...” Hoseok quietly chuckled, lifting his fractured arm out to emphasise his point.
“Sh*t, you’re right. Okay, I’ll come with you. We can catch a taxi outside.”
Chorim pulled Namjoon’s body up and slid her shoulder under his arms to hold him up. The weight of a tall man was certainly heavy when on top of Chorim’s petite figure but she had the strength to endure it. Hoseok grabbed Namjoon’s arms on the other side but was quite useless considering his injured arm. Still, they managed to make it work somehow and dragged Namjoon out of the apartment. Jimin was instructed to stay back and clean up the mess outside. They were only a few steps out of the door when Chorim felt Namjoon being lifted up higher from the other side and the weight on her lessened. To her surprise, Taehyung had suddenly joined them despite not saying a word during the discussion and took Hoseok’s place with his shoulder underneath Namjoon’s other arm.
“I’ll come with you guys.”

===

Taehyung ended up carrying Namjoon on his back from the taxi up to Hoseok’s floor in the apartment building because it was just easier that way. Chorim had insisted on the way to help out but was ignored. Once inside, Chorim bit her bottom lip nervously at how lifeless Namjoon looked as Taehyung placed him on the bed.
“Is he...actually alright? Should we have taken him to the hospital instead?” She then glanced over at Hoseok caressing his own arm, “And your arm Hoseok! Don’t you need to go as well?”
Hoseok waved his free hand in the air, “Don’t worry about it, I’ve already called the semi-qualified Jaehwan over. He was a bit annoyed because it’s so late but he’s on his way.” Hoseok’s face brightened up with his smile, “This isn’t the first time nor the last.”
“Jaehwan…” They had only met briefly so it took Chorim a while to remember him, “oh, him!” Chorim nodded, “That’s good then.”
Taehyung and Chorim sat down at the dining table with Hoseok as they lamented over the night’s happenings. Hoseok managed to keep the mood light-hearted even though it was mostly him complaining about how much trouble Namjoon always got him in.
“Well, you guys must be exhausted! Might as well just stay over tonight instead of heading back,” exclaimed Hoseok after checking the time, “I can prepare the guest beds for you two.” Chorim immediately stood up, ready to go.
“Oh noooo, that won’t be happening. Don’t exactly want to stay in the same place as Namjoon.” Chorim chuckled and then looked over at Taehyung, “You should stay though. I can head back myself.” As if he was trying to make a show out of refusing Chorim’s suggestion, Taehyung immediately slid his chair back and stood up to tower over her.
“Let’s go home together.”
Chorim couldn’t tell what the subtle smile from Taehyung meant but she submitted to it.

===

“Wait, how did we get here?” Chorim stopped walking and arched her brows. Taehyung gazed at Chorim, wondering where her mind had been all this time for her to ask him such a question.
“A taxi,” Taehyung’s curt reply was the one Chorim had feared the most, “which Hoseok paid for.”
They didn’t even need to exchange a word to agree that they would catch a bus instead of getting a taxi back. Chorim let out a small gasp as soon as she saw her reflection in the windows of the bus stop.
“Holy sh*t, have I been walking around like this the whole time?” Chorim frantically fixed herself up however she could to look less dishevelled. Just because she had wanted to look bad for Taehyung doesn’t mean she wanted the whole of Seoul to witness it. Not that anyone would be able to recognise her anyway with her bare face, crazy hair and lousy clothes. She had even worn Jimin’s awfully oversized Crocs out.
“I don’t see the problem.” Taehyung could feel Chorim’s stare stab him from the side. As much as his comment annoyed her, she couldn’t get mad at him because after all the time they had spent together in the last year, she knew his words always came from a sincere and genuine place. Chorim found herself looking at the ground, trying to think of a way to break through the strange tension between her and Taehyung. It was as if they had unfinished business.
“Gah, it’s cold.” Chorim rubbed the side of her arms with her hands whilst on the lookout for the bus. She had said it without much thought but became flustered when Taehyung took off his jumper and forcibly pulled it over her head. She faked her refusal at first out of dislike of appearing weak and frail but it was hard to refuse the warmth and comforting smell of his jumper. It was hard for Chorim not to smile at Taehyung’s attempt to appear unbothered by the cold and ended up staring at him lovingly from the side.

How can he be so cute without trying?

“Taehyung, give me your hands.”

Taehyung put his hands out hesitantly at the strange request and was startled when Chorim suddenly grabbed onto them and pulled them into the front pocket of the jumper. He could feel Chorim squeezing onto him with her small cold hands and felt as though she was purposely pulling him in closer, leaving him no choice but to face her head on with their eyes locked onto each other. Taehyung was at a loss for words, not sure how to deal with the cute girl smirking in front of him.
“You’re glowing, Kim Taehyung.” Chorim said sincerely, her eyes unwavering. If Taehyung wasn’t blushing before, he certainly was now now that his own words to Chorim were coming back to haunt him, reminding him of the slightly embarrassing ordeal earlier on in the night. He bashfully tried pulling away but he knew it was futile. He was already caught in Chorim’s trap. He had always been.

How can he be so lovable?

“I’m not letting you run away this time.”

Chorim released Taehyung’s hands and reached out for his face to pull him down for a kiss. She couldn’t bare to open her eyes to see what his reaction was, scared he might push her away. But he didn’t. She could feel his arms tracing along her lower back until he was fully embracing her, asserting that he didn’t intend to let go. The tender kiss was short-lived when they both pulled their faces away slightly to look at the other. Nothing had interrupted them other than the shock from what was happening. As usual, Chorim had trouble reading Taehyung even though his fringe was no longer covering his eyes like the first time they had met. Sensing Chorim’s uncertainty, a telling smile made its way across Taehyung’s face.
“I wanted to do this a long time ago.” Taehyung caught Chorim off guard when he suddenly went in for a second kiss, this time longer and more forward. Of course, she didn’t mind because it was honestly a long time coming.
 

A/N: Extremely sorry about the long hiatus. Does the kiss make up for it? ^^ It was satisfying to write, that's for sure.
Sincerely thank you for the support! Don't worry, I'll be back with more. See you soon!