Ewon

I had just enough coordination to lift myself up, pull out, and drop onto my back beside Taehyung. The could wait for a second. I needed the room to stop swaying first.

Taehyung turned his head toward me, but he stayed on his stomach. Our eyes met, and my spine straightened. Were those...tears?

I rolled onto my side "You okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No." he smiled drunkenly "Oh my God, no. You didn't think I was enjoying that?"

"No, I did. I just..." I gestured at my own eyes.

He brought up a shaky hand, dabbed at his eyes, and looked at his fingers curiously. Then he laughed "Damn. Does that happen a lot?"

"Sometimes." I relaxed a bit "But it can also happen when it hurts, so..."

Taehyung smiled. He pushed himself up and leaned close for a light kiss "It didn't hurt. Promise." 

"Good." I touched his face "Any time you want to do that again, I'm game."

"Noted. And are you serious about bottoming?"

"Oh, hell yeah." I instantly broke out in goose bumps just thinking about it "Absolutely."

"Mmm. We may need to plan our next visit sooner than later, then."

"Agreed." I glanced down "Let me get rid of this. I'll be right back." I got up on shaking legs and paused "Actually, we could share another shower if you want. I'm covered in sweat."

"Yeah, me too." he rolled onto his side and looked down at himself "And ."

I laughed "Come on. Shower."

Taehyung struggled even more than I did to get on his feet, but he managed. He was still unsteady when we got into the shower, so of course I wrapped my arms around him and let him lean against me. Didn't hurt that we were also kissing. And hell, even if we hadn't been, I'd have been perfectly happy. I loved having my arms around him. I loved how effortless it was to be this intimate with him. We'd met under the strangest and least likely of circumstances, and now it felt like we'd known each other forever and were completely comfortable with each other. In the space of two days, he had absolutely gone from Kim Taehyung the movie star I'd sort of briefly met to...Taehyung. My starstruck fanboy was dormant and quiet now. All that was left was me, the guy who couldn't get enough of Taehyung, the guy it made perfect sense for me to be kissing and touching, and who happened to be a movie star when we weren't busy in bed.

As we held each other now, and satisfied under the hot water, I suspected we weren't done for the night. Even while I was lethargic post-, the hunger for him never quite went away. All he'd have to do was give me a few minutes and then give me a look, and I'd be ready for him all over again. Especially since he was leaving soon, and I didn't know when I'd see him again.

I loosened my embrace and met his eyes "So, meeting up again..."

His eyebrows rose "You still want to?"

"Hell yeah. Do you?"

"Definitely." he slid his wet palms down my cheeks, he squeezed them and grinned "The sooner the better."

A little thrill zinged through me "When and where?"

Taehyung's lips quirked as if he were thinking it over. Then he shrugged "I can come to you. You're welcome to come to me. I'd say I don't want to keep you from your puppy, but you said she's got a place to stay while you're gone." 

I chuckled "Yeah. She'll be fine if I go see you." I mulled it over for a few seconds "I don't work on the weekends, so it wouldn't be too hard for me to fly down on a Friday evening and come back Sunday night."

Taehyung was already nodding "My schedule's clear for a while. I start shooting again in September, but between now and then, I'm all yours."

Smoothing some wet hair out of his face, I said "If we want to see each other for more than a weekend, I'm happy to have you here. Just, you know, I'll be gone during the day on weekdays. But I can probably burn some vacation too, as long as I give the clinic enough notice."

Taehyung brought my hand up and kissed my fingers "Who says we can't do both? Then it might feel less like a long distance relationship." he paused, and his brow pinched "I mean, until I have to start shooting again. Then we might not see each other much."

"So, we'll just see each other as much as possible until then, and play it by ear from there?"

He studied me like he wasn't sure if I meant it, but slowly, he smiled "I like that idea."

"Me too. We'll work out the logistics, but I'm already looking forward to seeing you again."

His smile lit up even more, raising goose bumps all over my wet skin, and Taehyung wrapped his arms around me. As he drew me in, I could feel his starting to get hard again.

"Logistics later." he said against my lips "For now, how about we get out of the shower and go get dirty again?"

And then he kissed me.

And I turned off the water.

"Oh, now isn't that y?" Taehyung purred into his coffee cup as I came down the stairs on Monday morning.

"What?" I looked down at myself "Scrubs?"

"Mm-hmm." he gave me a full-body leer, then winked "I think you'd be hot in pretty much anything, though, so..." he shrugged.

My cheeks warmed, and I laughed as I pulled my travel mug down from the cabinet "And here I thought you preferred me wearing nothing."

"Oh, I do." Taehyung set his coffee cup down and stepped up behind me. Wrapping his arms around my waist, he pressed a kiss to the base of my neck, the brush of his now shaved and smooth chin against my skin giving me goose bumps "But you're hot when you're dressed too." 

I laughed, leaning back into him and tilting my head so he could explore my neck some more "You know if you keep doing that, I'm going to be late for work and you're going to miss your flight."

He grunted softly and kept doing that. After a moment, though, he sighed and let me go. While I poured my coffee, he leaned against the counter and sipped his own "It's weird to be leaving. Feels like I've been here longer than three days."

"I know, right? I'm going to miss you."

"Well, not for long." he grinned "You're still coming to LA, right?"

"You better believe it." I screwed the lid onto my travel mug and set it next to my wallet and keys. Then I faced him and rested my hands on the counter, bracketing him between my arms "I'm really glad we did this."

"Me too." he put the coffee cup down again and draped his arms over my shoulders "I didn't expect this weekend to turn out like this at all, but now it seems like this is exactly how things should have played out."

I nodded "Yeah. Exactly." I kissed him softly "Can't wait to do it again."

"Neither can I."

We shared a long, gentle kiss. Not one that would have us stumbling back up to the bedroom, though. Of course even looking at him or touching him , but we really did have to get going soon, which meant there was no time for another roll in the hay.

Taehyung broke the kiss and glanced at the clock. With a heavy sigh, he met my gaze "We should get moving. I don't want you getting in trouble at work."

"Yeah. And you're probably going to hit some traffic."

"I live in LA, hon." he winked "I can handle the traffic."

"I know you can. But if you want to make your flight, you might want to start hitting it sooner than later."

"Ugh. You and your logic." we separated, and he finished his coffee and rinsed the mug while I collected my lunch and everything else.

Lola was in the backyard, and I called her in so I could put her harness on.

"You take her to work with you?" he asked.

"No, she goes to doggy daycare."

"Doggy day—that's a thing?"

"Yeah." I chuckled as I clipped her leash to her harness "I thought it was kind of ridiculous, too, but honestly it keeps her happy and gives her something to do besides destroy my house."

"Sounds like it's worth it, then."

"So much."

We gathered our things, and I led Lola out to the car. After I'd buckled her in, I left the driver door open so she could still have some air while I said goodbye to Taehyung.

He'd just finished putting his suitcase into the backseat of his rental, and turned to me "I can't wait to see you again."

"Neither can I." though we were out in the open, this wasn't a very busy street, so I didn't worry too much about stealing a brief kiss.

And then, all too quickly, we were in our respective cars. We waved, headed off in opposite directions, and our weekend together was over.

I sighed, feeling a weird combination of sad and giddy. I hated that our time together was over, but I was ridiculously happy that it had happened. And that we would see each other again. That he wanted to see me again.

We'd work out those details soon. For now, my normal life waited, and I had to somehow pull my head out of the clouds and get back to it. 

Fifteen minutes after I'd left the house, I dropped Lola off at doggy daycare. The first couple of times, she'd been uncertain, and she'd kept glancing back at me. Leaving her there had been heartbreaking. These days? She was off and running before I'd even finished signing her in.

"Bye, Lola." I called out to her with a laugh. She didn't notice. She was already chasing Burt, a young Black Lab who was galloping around with a big stick in his mouth. Yeah, I wasn't too worried about leaving her here anymore.

Chuckling to myself, I went back to the car. As I walked, my phone buzzed, and I had a text from Seokjin.

'So what did you do this weekend? Hmm?'

I furrowed my brow. Okay, kind of weird. He'd asked me last week if I wanted to go to Portland with him and a couple of friends, but I'd bowed out without much explanation.

Well, I didn't have time to call him now because I needed to get my to work, so I just texted back 'Nothing much. You?'

Then I put the phone on the passenger seat and drove across town to the clinic, all the while humming to myself and grinning like an idiot. I'd have to check airfare during my break today. How much was it to book a last-minute plane ticket? I didn't fly often, and usually planned way ahead, so I had no idea. Could I afford to go see Taehyung sooner than later? Like maybe next weekend? That wouldn't be too soon for him, would it? 

I thought about the gleam in his eyes when we'd talked about seeing each other again, and the disappointment when we'd finally had to say goodbye. Nah, he probably wouldn't mind if I showed up that soon. Hopefully.

I parked outside the clinic, and when I picked up my phone, I had three more texts.

From Seokjin: 'Mm-hmm. Nothing much. Call me, girl. I want deets.'

From Hoseok: 'OMG CALL ME!!!'

From Seokjin again: 'Don't hold out on me, baby.'

Something twisted in the pit of my stomach. What the hell was going on?

I gathered my coffee and lunch and hurried into the clinic. My phone buzzed in my pocket. When I walked into the reception area, Phoebe and Christina looked up from Phoebe's computer screen and shot me wide-eyed looks. My phone buzzed again.

Heart thumping, I stopped at the desk "What's going on?"

"We were going to ask you the same thing." Phoebe said.

Christina gestured at the screen, and Phoebe turned it so I could see when I leaned over the desk. 

And my heart stopped.

Has America's Loneliest Sweetheart Finally Found Love?

Below that were two pictures of Taehyung and me. I instantly knew when they had been taken—one was while we'd been talking about something on the Underground tour. The second was in that moment on the same tour when I'd leaned in to suggest the restaurant where we'd ultimately eaten lunch. Of course it had been snapped at an angle that it didn't look like I was just discreetly talking to him. It looked like I was kissing him on the cheek.

Oh.

.

"Are these real?" Christina asked.

"Uh. Yeah." I cleared my throat, which suddenly felt tighter than it should have "Could you send me that link?"

"Sure. Will do." Phoebe started to say something else, but I hurried past the desk and into the back.

I shared an office with Alicia, and thank God she didn't come in until later. I closed the door, dropped my lunch bag and keys on the desk, and sat down to check my email. Phoebe had sent the link already. With my heart in my throat and my stomach queasy, I ignored my phone—which was buzzing yet again—and clicked the link.

Under the photos, the caption read 'Actor Kim Taehyung, 28, gets cozy with a man who is believed to be Jung Ewon, 34, whom Taehyung dedicated his Best Actor Filmmaker Association Award to last month.'

"You've got to be ting me." I groaned into the silence of the office. I scrolled down.

'...spotted together in Seattle on the famous Bill Speidel's Underground Tour...'

'...when asked, reportedly denied who he was...'

'...notoriously secretive about his private life...'

It was the usual tabloid where they speculated about the underlying meaning of every gesture and expression a celebrity made. They'd all decided a long time ago that Taehyung was painfully lonely and in dire need of a boyfriend, so clearly if we were seen in public together, it was only a matter of time before we eloped. ing idiots.

And then I reached this paragraph:

'Jung Ewon, a nurse from Everett, Washington, appeared with Kim Taehyung on Los Angeles This Morning last month, apparently meeting the actor for the first time since a fateful encounter at a diner where Taehyung worked. 

Since then, Taehyung has dodged questions about whether the men have remained in contact, but it appears they have.'

I swallowed bile. They only knew a few details about me—my age, my job, and my city—but it was enough to make me ill. Had they gleaned that information from the talk show? Had someone done some digging? Christ, what did they—

The phone on my desk screeched to life, nearly sending me toppling out of my chair. It was an outside call, so I put on my best professional voice and picked it up.

"Family Health, this is—"

"Is this article for real?" My sister, Jessica, didn't waste time with greetings "Are you really dating Kim Taehyung?"

I blew out a breath and covered my face with my free hand "It's...the pictures aren't..."

"But that's really you? And him?"

"Yeah." I swallowed hard, dropping my hand to my lap "He visited over the weekend. But that picture..."—I waved at the screen as if she might see it—"...looks like I'm kissing him or something, and I totally wasn't." at least, not right then. Did a lot more than kiss him behind closed doors. But out in public...in front of cameras... "." 

"Wow. I didn't even realize you guys were still in touch. After the talk show and all that."

"Yeah, we are. We didn't get to talk much that day. They pretty much shoved us out on the stage together, and as soon as it was over, he got dragged off to catch a flight. What you saw on the show is literally all the interaction we had."

"Seriously?" the wrinkle of her nose was almost audible "That's kind of ty for them to fly you all the way there and just give you ten minutes."

"I know, right? So, we decided we wanted to actually see each other again."

"I get that." she was quiet for a moment, and then softly—almost cautiously—asked "So, are you dating him?"

I closed my eyes "No. We're just friends. Hell, we barely know each other." I didn't want to deny what was going on with Taehyung, and it felt gross to lie about it. What else could I do, though? If I let it slip to anyone that we were dating, all it would take was one person to let it slip to someone else. Right now, the media was just speculating. If I confirmed it...

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about the article." she said "Things like this die down pretty fast. As soon as some actress has a baby or someone cheats on someone, everyone will forget about you and Taehyung." 

"Yeah, we'll see." I muttered.

"Trust me. Anyway, I just had to ask because everyone is talking about this."

I groaned again.

"Sorry." she said "Don't sweat it, though, okay? And are you guys going to keep hanging out?"

Well, I thought we were. I moistened my lips "I don't know. Hanging out with him was fun, but he's a busy guy." a busy guy constantly hunted by the paparazzi "So, we'll see."

We talked for a moment longer, until she had to go take her kids to school. After we'd hung up, I stared at the screen. At the photos of Taehyung and me. They were completely innocent moments, and someone had made them skeevy. Or maybe I was just overreacting. Reading even more into it than this damn reporter had.

I'd spent a good portion of the weekend and sweaty with Taehyung. I'd relieved him of his ity and made him come so hard he'd teared up. Like really teared up. We'd kissed, talked, ed, cuddled, showered. There'd been so many deeply intimate moments that, thank God, hadn't made it into a camera lens.

But somehow the shot of me whispering to him, angled just right to imply I was doing more than suggesting a place for lunch, was violating. 

It made me sick that someone was getting clicks by exploiting a lucky camera angle. My skin crawled at the thought of thousands—possibly millions—of people looking at that photo and speculating about my relationship with Taehyung.

My email pinged. It was from Phoebe, and it was just the words 'here's another one' followed by a link.

I couldn't help myself and clicked. It was more of the same. Different wording, but the same conclusions—that someone had busted me stealing a kiss on Taehyung's cheek, and so clearly we were madly in love.

A few paragraphs down, my breath hitched.

'The couple reportedly connected via social media after the Filmmaker Association Awards. Ewon tweeted to Taehyung that he had the autograph mentioned in the acceptance speech, and it would seem that the rest is history.'

My mouth went dry. It didn't bother me that the narrative wasn't quite accurate. Taehyung and I had connected on Twitter, but the only thing in public was a single semi-cryptic tweet.

A tweet that was embedded in the article. With a live link.

I picked up my phone and ignored the dozen or so texts vying for attention. I opened the Twitter app. 

You have got to be kidding me.

Last night I'd had maybe two hundred followers. Some friends, but mostly other dog lovers and Seahawks fans.

Today I had almost a thousand followers. And my mentions? Oh my God. I took one look at the three-digit number, and closed the app. I put my phone aside, planted my palms on my cool desktop, and took a few slow, deep breaths.

Oh God.

What do I do now?