A/N: Hey guys, here's another chapter for you all to read! I hope that you all enjoy, thank you so much. xoxo

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Tuesday

When morning came, everything was cold.

You opened your eyes, wishing that everything that had happened last night was a dream. But one slight movement, and you knew that nothing of the sort was possible.

Your whole body was so, so sore.

Delicately, you stretched out your limbs one by one, afraid to move too suddenly or too harshly. Your head pounded; your body exhausted. You were in no mood to endure any more pain. None at all.

You were just trying to get up when you heard the door open.

And then you remembered, the same way that you always did—

“Honey, are you awake?”

Suho’s gentle voice was so soothing, so relaxing.

He was the epitome of the perfect husband, the perfect boyfriend, carrying in a platter of steaming hot pancakes for you, along with all sorts of other breakfast. He wore a plain white t-shirt and jeans, a pink frilly apron atop both. His hair was again coiled back, forehead bright and showing. His smile, endlessly beaming.

His actions were always like this. Apologetic. Kind. Warm. Everything that a girl could ever want in a significant other.

But it was never enough to pull you in all the way.

He set the tray down on your bedside stand, eyebrows curling downwards. This was when Suho came in—your guardian, your protector, your lover. Almost… normal, in a sense.

He even went so far as to get down on one knee.

“I’m terribly sorry, honey,” he said, reaching for your hand. You just let him do whatever he needed to do, whether it be reprimand himself with words like, “I’ll never do it again”, or create false lies that he would always break, “You’ll never hurt again for the rest of your life under my watch”.

He was crying now, eyes bubbling up with crystal tears. Kissing your knuckles, he murmured a soft, “Can you forgive me?”

His apologies went straight in one ear and out the other. You were so used to this by now, you couldn’t help but feel like you were just going through certain motions, doing what you had to do just so that he could leave you alone.

“Of course, Suho,” you responded, with as much forgiveness that you could muster. You knew that you were lying straight through your teeth. Just a few more days, and everything would repeat itself in its sick cycle once again.

“Thank you so much, honey,” he breathed, his pearly whites flashing, his eyes smiling. As he pulled up a chair and delicately fed you your breakfast, your thoughts couldn’t help but wander to Jin. Suho was no match for motherly, caring Jin, always so sweet and attentive, your own mom.

Seeing Suho’s plain white tee, you felt yourself blush slightly at the thought of Jungkook. He had been so princely yesterday. The way that he brought you lilies, waited at the door—his acts of kindness had not gone unnoticed by you, though at the time you had been unable to show it.

Now you were reminded of Yoongi, seemingly cold, but actually warm hearted. The way that he understood you and your artwork put him incredibly high in your book. It was something that almost nobody ever understood. Not even your father did, let alone Suho.

And Hoseok. Mmm, you could just slightly taste the strawberry tart on your lips from yesterday, the most exquisite blend of sweet and smooth. Delicious—the pancakes that Suho had made you paled so much in comparison, you were practically eating cardboard.

But you allowed him to feed you, nonetheless. Allowed him to ice your wounds, change you out of your clothes into something fresh and new. This routine had become bland to you by now, the way that it happened over and over and over—

As you lifted your hands up for him to slip a shirt over your head, you thought to yourself, This must have been the one she fell in love with.

And you didn’t blame your sister at all. Suho was… You didn’t even have the words to describe it. Dreamy? Princely? Overall, just the peak of chivalry. Constantly taking care of you, protecting you.

It was a shame that Junmyeon was a monster.

It was only until he had pecked you on the cheek one last time, whispering his goodbyes with a hint of sadness, that he allowed you to leave. You shut the door behind you and leaned back onto it.

Sighed.

You were lucky that Junmyeon had switched over to Suho quickly last night—the cold compress he had put against your cheek had reduced the swelling greatly. Though the side of your face was slightly sensitive, anybody who passed by wouldn’t really be able to tell that there was anything different.

The black long sleeve shirt that he had slipped over you did wonders to disguise the bruising on your chest and arms, as well. Though one might wonder why you would wear such a garment in hot summer weather, you had worn a hoodie only the day before, leaving no room for those sort of comments.

You started down the elevator, grim. You weren’t sure how you were supposed to get through the day, but nevertheless, you would be forced to the minute your foot hit The Academy’s campus. After all, nobody could know about what happened with you and Junmyeon.

One slip, and you would be absolutely screwed.

You were walking into the apartment complex’s lobby when you spotted Taehyung.

“Taehyung?” you asked incredulously. “I thought you didn’t leave until later?”

He was sitting on one of the benches against the wall, immediately getting up when he saw you. He strapped his bag over his body, falling in time with your steps.

“I-I woke up early this morning,” he said, faltering slightly. You weren’t sure if it was just you or the light, but he seemed to be glancing over at you an awful lot as you two walked to campus together. “I figured I might as well, uh, come over to the complex wait for you.”

“Right,” you said dryly. Not impressed. You hadn’t forgotten his stupid lying from the day prior, either, and you weren’t about to act like you two were buddy-buddies.

“I’m not joking,” Taehyung said. “I’m serious.”

You just pursed your lips together, a bit iffed that you had to wait with him next to you, hoping that the red traffic light would turn green faster. You didn’t know what to think of Taehyung—sweet one minute, liar the next. Flirty. Serious. Smart. Dumb.

If every single Host Club member was like this, you were going to have a complex.

You placed your sunglasses over your eyes, praying that Taehyung wouldn’t notice how they were slightly puffy and red, practically matching the color of his hair. He just looked down at you, biting on his lower lip.

He was fidgety.

If it were any other day, you would have taken his nervousness as an opening to ask him more questions. But after Junmyeon’s sudden appearance, everything had tired you out so much, flattened you out until you were as thin as a board. You had neither the willpower nor the energy to interrogate Taehyung, as much as you wanted to.

So, you studied him.

He was abnormally loud today, falling into small pockets of silence before trying to start up meaningless conversations like, “Did you know that Hoseok smells weird?”, or “Do you think mermaids actually exist?” There seemed to never be a minute where he wanted to slow down—rather, he chose to alternate between saying nothing at all, to immediately blabbering as fast as his tongue could move.   

It was in this manner in which he walked you to school, his hands and face twitching, as if he wanted to do something, but wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.

You dismissed these thoughts as soon as they came to you. You were too exhausted to deal with them anyways. All you wished to do right now was go to class and do what you had to get done, then go home and lie on the couch for about a year.

You were so out of it, you didn’t even realize when you and Taehyung had reached the curb. In fact, you were so sluggish and sleepy, tired beyond all means, that you completely tripped.

There was a pain on your wrist.

Your heart jolted, eyes widening in the realization that your face was about to reach the pavement.

And then—

An exotic, exquisite scent filled your nostrils, warm auburn sneaking past your nose, hints of vanilla wafting right below.

You shut your eyes.

You were so tired.

And then, you felt something underneath you.

Or rather, someone.

All you could see was the most intense brown of Taehyung’s eyes, slightly lightened in the summer sun.

His red hair was strewn about, his pupils searching your face curiously.

You knew it was stupid—yet you easily read the correlation between all of those ridiculous dramas and what was happening right now. He had caught you by the wrist, trying to stop your fall, and all of a sudden he was underneath you with an arm around your waist and your ears had tuned out everything else other than the constant ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump of your heartbeat.

“T-T-Taehyung!” you exclaimed, nervousness b in your voice. Practically sitting on top of him, you two were both in the most uncompromising position—and in public, no less.

“Uh, a-are you okay?” you asked. You gave him a weak smile, trying to get up, trying to stand, but you were so flustered all you could do was grip the material of Taehyung’s shirt, practically feel how strong he was underneath…

He just laughed, giggled in the manner of a child.

“W-What?”

A finger brushed away the hair that had fallen into your face, neatly tucking it behind your ear. He smiled again, this time all affectionate and lovey-dovey, so different than the Taehyung that you were used to. His hand fell to your cheek, cupping it…

He frowned. Cocked his head, completely uncaring that he was lying down on the sidewalk pavement.

“Your face.”

You realized that he was close enough to see the slight swelling of your cheek, and you put a hand up, shock running through you. If he found out—

His hand snapped your wrist up.

In your flurry to disguise your swollen cheek, all you had done was let your shirt sleeve slip, revealing—

“Are these bruises?” Taehyung asked incredulously, mouth falling open. “How—”

“They’re nothing!” you interrupted, determinedly getting up now. You pulled yourself out of your grasp, letting his concerns of, “Are you alright?”, and “Let me help you!” fall upon your deaf ears.

You scrambled for your bag, throwing the thing onto your shoulder in a frenzy. “I-I-I’ll see you later, Taehyung! Okay, um, bye!”

And then you raced off, blood rushing. Not quite sure—

Not quite sure if it was because your secret had almost been discovered, or because of Kim Taehyung himself.

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A/N: A BIG thank you to everybody who has supported me on this story so far!! We just hit our first month anniversary *tear*, and so I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your kindness for The Academy. *points* ALL OF YOU! Even the silent ones! I truly appreciate it over and over again, I cannot tell you all enough. I hope to bring you all better and more awesome content in the future, so stay tuned!~

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