blossom//k.t.

thirty seven

taehyung carefully and professionally answered every question thrown in his way, he expected most of them, why he decided to remain anonymous, his favorite artists, people that inspire him, though his heart was still pounding loudly, he managed to get through with a graceful smile and he sighed out a deep breath when everyone around him dispersed. he could breathe again and felt his veins still tingling from whatever happened in the past 30 minutes, that rush of several emotions which tumbled over each other were calming down, reality settling in slowly for him, today just seemed like too much of a dream for him.

he heard someone call his name, making him look up to see all the boys gathered around rumi with champagne glasses, ready to toast and celebrate privately with him and he bet that he saw tears in rumi's eyes, happy tears and his heart swelled even more, he always wanted to be better for her and for now, he felt like he was enough.

he missed that feeling of being content with how he was.

he nodded in their direction and grabbed his own glass to head over to them with a huge smile on his face and just when they all started to shout his name, he felt a soft hand on his shoulder.

cold.

so cold, he could feel it through his suit.

he caught how the boys halted their movements almost immediately as they looked behind him and darted their eyes towards each other, and rumi whose eyes immediately dull at the sight of the hand on his shoulder, her happy tears disappearing. the moment seemed to be in slow motion, him capturing every emotion on his friends and girlfriends face before turning around to see.

park aera.

taehyung internally groaned at her sight, masking his shock with annoyance, she was the last person he wanted to see on this happy day. she gave him a small smile and waved towards the boys and rumi at the other end of the room, they all hesitantly lifted their hands to wave back except rumi who just gave her a long, hard glare, aera sighed when she saw that and hesitantly looked back at taehyung.

"congratulations, the exhibition is a clear hit" aera said, gesturing towards the growing crowds in the main hall and taehyung scoffed, looking away from her.

"what are you doing here?" he mumbled, clearly irritated by her presence as he ran a hand on his face, exasperated by her already.

"it's your first exhibition, how could i not?"

"you weren't invited, so what is it really?" taehyung's patience with aera was ice thin, every time he thought he could be okay with whatever she did, he was reminded that he almost lost rumi because of her and that was enough for him to hate her all over again. aera sighed at his frustrated face, knowing that this conversation wouldn't be easy to start or finish.

"i need to talk to you about something, can we go somewhere a little more private?" she almost pleaded, her eyes turned down and he could notice how she didn't have her eyebrow cocked or eyes raised in pride like she always did, she looked softer, more vulnerable than he had ever seen her but he had reservations about this "talk" she wanted to have.

"you can talk to me right here" he gestured towards the room they were in, he knew that rumi wouldn't be comfortable with them being alone at all and he didn't want to irritate rumi with this but he could also see the desperation in aera's eyes and face. he didn't deny the way his heart ached a little at her sad face.

"taehyung, please, i beg you, only this once, you won't ever have to see me again." he took one hard look at her face and decided that rumi would understand, he couldn't just ignore aera when she was begging for a few minutes of his time, he just wanted to get this over with so he nodded and pointed towards a private room in the back.