Bleed For Me - Taegyu/Beomhyun

Chapter 3: To Be Both Starving And Full

The moment passed as soon as it had come. Beomgyu continued scanning the crowd, probably eyeing up all of the new recruits. Taehyun blinked hard and a shiver ran down his spine. He wondered if Beomgyu had actually noticed him, or if he just was another face in the crowd.

That was the Choi Beomgyu, Taehyun was sure of it. Beomgyu was even more ethereal in real life. All of the photos that Taehyun had studied were not capable of capturing his otherworldly beauty. All of his features were soft yet stern, and his tanned skin was the color of amber. His hair swished around his shoulders as he made his way across the lobby. He was wearing a designer suit, of course, all black. It hugged him in all the right places. After Beomgyu broke their eye contact, Taehyun tried not to ogle too much at the other as he was escorted past the crowd into another part of the building.

Taehyun turned to Park, confused. No one had told him that Beomgyu would be here today. If he had known, he would've taken more time to mentally prepare himself for it. He just hoped that whatever impression he had made on Beomgyu had been positive.

Park appeared just as confused as Taehyun. He shrugged, signaling to Taehyun that he had no idea what was going on either. This set off alarm bells in Taehyun's head- why would the future head of Dagou come to see a random scraggle of recruits? There had to be more important matters for him to tend to. Maybe that wasn't even the reason he was here at all. He tried to maintain his calmness and ease his racing mind as they continued to wait for instructions.

As more time passed, Taehyun's nervousness became more physically apparent. Or at least that's what he assumed, because Park turned to him, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his suit jacket pocket.

"Here, take this. You look like you need one." he offered, flipping open the top of the box and extending his arm towards Taehyun's direction. When Taehyun hesitated, Park shook the box clutched in his grasp with an annoyed expression. "I'm serious. If anything happens, I'll come get you. You don't actually have to smoke it, just get some fresh air. This is a good excuse to get you outta here for a breather." he whispered, pulling a lighter out of his pocket with his free hand as he spoke.

Taehyun nodded eagerly, immediately taking the lighter and a cigarette from the box. He tried to look normal as he made a beeline for the door that they had come in through. He hoped no one was suspicious of his hurried steps. His rational side was telling him to slow down, but his nerves got the best of him. Once outside, he stood on the curb as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He thought about what Soobin said to him last night. He had reassured him that he could do this, that he was prepared. Taehyun wasn't so sure now. Any confidence that he had had had been thrown out the window the second his eyes had found Beomgyu's. Why was he so nervous? He didn't do anything wrong. Maybe knowing that the consequence for any mistake was torture, death, or both was just exhilirating. Maybe it was for another reason.

While getting lost in his thoughts, he looked down at the cigarette and lighter in his hands. He had never smoked before, but he had also never joined a gang before, so perhaps today was the day to try new things. He lit the cigarette after fumbling with the lighter, figuring that even if he wasn't actually going to smoke it, his excuse of going out to take a smoke break would look suspicious if anyone walked out of the building to see him just standing there with an unlit cigarette in hand. After he managed to get the lighter to work and the cigarette lit, he tried to hold it in between the pointer and middle fingers of his left hand like he had seen in movies. He felt sure that he looked awkward, but he hoped it wasn't too noticeable or attention grabbing. To try to refocus and calm his nerves, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

Taehyun flinched when he felt a hand ghosting around his left wrist, lightly touching it for a second, before delicately grabbing it and softly pulling up. Taehyun's eyes flew open, turning to locate the source of the touch.