Credit: Winter Strawberry

Author’s note: requires edit. I will come back and have a proof-reader look into this so for now, please excuse any mistakes I made.

Part 11

It was a warm, beautiful summer day. The breeze was calm and rejuvenating. It was like the perfect moment to be honest and sincere. April was standing below the orange tree, secluded from the adults and the world, peaceful and tranquil. It was the perfect time for a young April to listen to her best friend’s answer.

“So?” April asked, anxious for the answer.

Taehyung was staring back at her, his eyes were blank, as though he had seen a ghost. April just blinked and her small lips, unsure why the boy in front of her was silent. She was anxious and suddenly nervous. Her heart was beating so hard.

“Are you not going to answer?” April asked in confusion.

Taehyung didn’t respond. His eyes began to quiver and a blush started to creep up his face. He looked down shyly as he tried to make an effort to look in her eyes. He was unable to.

“Come on Taehyung, what do you think?” April asked again and let out a nervous laughter. “When we turn eighteen, let’s get married. We can go build a farm together, with all the animals and the orange trees.”

Taehyung his lips and twiddled his thumb. His mind was racing. His heart was beating at such a fast pace. He peeked his small little eyes at April and he couldn’t deny how beautiful this young girl was to him. She was his friend, his best friend yet his heart was beating as fast as a race track. It hurts.

April held her breath but she noticed how uneasy he was. She hated the empty silence and so she turned around, hiding away tears that was forming in her eyes. He didn’t answer and she decided to dismiss it.

“It’s okay if you don’t answer right now,” April said. “I will wait for your answer.”

There was another round of silence and all April could do, was look back at him and smiled.

---

The moment Taehyung’s lips touched April’s, the world disappeared before her. The skies were bluer, the leaves greener, and the sun had never been brighter. It felt like that summer’s day, the answer to April’s question. It was one that she longed to hear for such a long time.

When Taehyung opened with his tongue, all April wanted to do was kiss him more. She wanted to deepen the kiss, to let him take her to another world much more beautiful than this. April wanted to have him embrace her, keep holding her, and tell her everything was going to be alright.

It was a warm, beautiful summer day. The breeze was calm and rejuvenating. It was like the perfect moment to be honest and sincere. Yet he let go.

April blinked when Taehyung pulled away so suddenly and so swiftly. His face was rigid, as though he had done something he shouldn’t. His eyes shifted from hers and he looked away. April didn’t realize she was holding her breath and let out a sigh. She let her nervousness crawl back at her.

Taehyung stepped back and his eyes quickly shifted to the camera in the corner. He then looked down and chuckled. Taehyung held the back of his head with his hand and looked around as though he was amused about this situation.

“I think we should stop filming,” Taehyung muttered to the mic.

April’s eyes went wide open in disbelief. He didn’t…

“My acting got a bit carried away,” he said with a lowered voice. April sat there, perplexed. She was unable to find reason why Taehyung was acting like he just made a mistake. The kiss was not a mistake.

It felt genuine.

April stood up from her seat. She was in a mixture of emotions. Feeling a brief moment of anger, she approached Taehyung, took hold of his wrist and pulled him out of the room. Her sudden behavior confused him as she strongly guided towards a smaller, more secluded space. She found a small storage room and she walked in there with a fuming face.

She slammed the door shut and when she turned around, April disconnected the mic from her back pocket. They were now in private, no cameras around to record their every move and it was just what April needed.

“Do you want others to hear?” April asked Taehyung with suppressed anger in her tone of voice.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and pulled the plug for the mic. It wouldn’t take the staff long to find them and it seemed like it was enough for April. She wanted explanation.

“Tell me if what you did just then was to make me angry or if you were just trying to embarrass me in public television?” April said with a low, menacing voice. She hated being played and she was not going to let Taehyung get away.

He chuckled. “Ah, you just can’t chill.”

“Do you just expect me to chill after kissing me?” April taunted, her voice still calm but determined.

“You’re thinking too much, that’s it,” Taehyung said and stepped forward. His eyes were focused onto hers and April didn’t falter.

“So you were just playing with me?”

Taehyung was silent for a moment until he finally answered. “It’s all about the acting,” he whispered. “Are you sure you’ve never seen me act before? Have I won a medal?”

April felt a kick in the stomach. She felt the world spinning underneath her. While she tried to contain her emotions, she closed her eyes briefly and let it all sink in. She was played at. Of course. What could she expect from someone she barely knew. She thought she knew, but the man in front of her was like a stranger.

“Then the next time you do something like that, I will give you more,” April said with a determined voice, almost a threat. Her eyes never wavered. She maintained her distance and eye contact. A smirk started to creep up her face when she noticed Taehyung’s expression turned into a question mark.

She stepped forward until their bodies were just a few inches apart. Taehyung was so tall that April had to look up. She let him watch her as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She gave him a small smirk.

“If you’re gonna pull that kind of string with me, I’ll give you a much more x rated move,” she whispered near his lips. Taehyung’s face hardened.

“You don’t think that’s not going to affect your image?” Taehyung whispered back with a conceited tone.

April let out a small chuckle. “I’m just a nobody. If I fail this time, I’ve got nothing to lose,” she answered calmly and cocked her head to the side. “You, however, would fall even harder this time. The four or five years you worked hard to get, can all fall in an instant. All of that popularity you so arrogantly carry in front of my face can turn into shambles.”

Taehyung huffed. “You don’t think I haven’t thought of that when I kissed you?”

The word kiss sent shivers down April’s body. She couldn’t help it. She hated the fact that it made her heart skip. She breathed in and tried to hold her composure.

“I’m sure you’ve done this with a lot of women and maybe they all fall for it. This little flirtatious move of yours won’t get to me. If we were told to kiss again, I would. Like you said, this was all just an act.”

April saw a little glimmer in his eyes after April spoke those words. There was a momentary silence. April wasn’t sure what to expect. Taehyung just let his eyes linger onto hers until he shifted his attention slowly down her nose and to her lips. He calmly approached her, closing their distance.

April tried to hold her composure when Taehyung’s hand reached out to touch her lips. He lets his fingers trace the skin of her swollen lips. It was so red and delicious looking. Yet April wasn’t sure what he was thinking. Her heart was beating so fast. She tried to stop it but couldn’t.

Was he going to provoke her? Was he going to kiss her again?

“Guys!”

“Taehyung!”

“April!”

Taehyung stopped what he was doing. Their eyes met again. April knew the staff were looking for them and they were near. Their voice could be heard from outside these walls. Taehyung smiled.

“Someday you’ll realize how this game works,” Taehyung whispered gently. “If you’re going to give me more… I dare you to give me more. Let’s see how far you’ll go.”

April let those words hit her as he stepped back. The air became less intense but April’s mind was still in a whirlwind. She let it all sink in but something was true. She was a lot more motivated now.

---

“I’m sorry but we can’t broadcast this.”

Sai sighed and threw the script onto the desk of Bang PD’s. Taehyung stood up with his hands in front of him, his feet apart, as he stayed silent, waiting for the deliberation to end. Bang PD let his eyes wander back from the script and onto Taehyung.

“We said in the beginning that there would be no kissing,” Sai said with an exasperated sigh. “I know Taehyung probably thinks it’s for the best of the show but we all know how it’s going to affect the whole program.”

“You’ll get your ratings, Sai,” Bang PD said calmly.

“That’s not what I meant,” Sai retaliated. “The whole point of this show was to let the three months go by on a trial run. You can only answer until the show is almost over. We’re barely even half time there and we got the answer already?”

“It’s not an answer Sai. It’s incitement,” Taehyung answered back.

“I get you’re doing this for a publicity stunt but we want this show to have a long run