Of Lace and Lust | Taehyung x Reader

Part 8

When consciousness ambles its way back to you in the morning, the first sensation you become aware of is warmth. The bright summer sun peeps through the open blinds, falling across your face as you scrunch your face together in reaction. "Lights off..." You mumble as you turn over, taking a deep breath. That's when the scent hits you. Not yours. Tae. Tae!

Last night hits you like a flood, nervous excitement spreading through your veins at what awaits you when you open your eyes. Questions blow through your mind, one after another, with answers that aren't so easily found. How is he feeling? How does he feel about you? Was it all just lust? What are you now? Friends with benefits? Is that what you want? Or something more? Is that even possible? All the question marks are going to drive you nuts, and this could all be solved if you just asked him. You've never been patient, and that overrides the nerves.

You force yourself to blink and your vision to focus.

All you can see are wrinkled bedsheets and a pillow, abandoned. He's gone.

"Tae?" Your voice feels jarring for this soft Saturday. The silence left in its wake is just as imposing. You throw the blankets off, thinking you'll find him in the kitchen, ruining a pan and breakfast. But there's no smell of burning eggs, no crackle of overheated oil. No sheepish, apologetic grin that always makes you forgive him.

"Tae, where are you?"

The laundry room is just as empty as everything else. You even push open the door to your own room a few inches. It's when you pad to the bathroom that you notice the single toothbrush in the cup, where once was two. What the—

You rush back into Taehyung's room, noticing for the first time that his desk is bare, laptop gone. There's no backpack leaning against a wooden leg. You drag open the closet door, and his duffel has disappeared too. Newly emptied hangers are loose on the bar, slightly swaying from the force of your opening.

Your heart is stuttering, fingers shaking as you escape to your own room, cradling your phone like a lifeline.

[9:29am] you: tae, where are u?

You can't tear your eyes from the screen, watching as the read receipt comes on. But a full minute ticks by without a response. He must be typing something long. He must be saying he's just out to grab some groceries and he'll be back soon. He—

[9:31am] taetae: sorry
[9:31am] taetae: i'm gonna stay somewhere else for a few days
[9:31am] you: what? why??

No matter what you send him after that, he doesn't respond. He doesn't even bother to read the messages you send him, so eventually you give up. You jam your phone onto the charger, telling yourself again and again that you don't need to check it obsessively because nothing will have changed. This is Tae. He would never leave things like this, swinging in limbo. You've always come back to each other, no matter what. He'll come back.

Right?