Bond Made in Hell || A TAEJIN STORY || Arranged Marriage

36

Is it normal to feel down on New Year's Day? Because I do.

Jin

'Jin.'

I ignore him the first time I hear his voice, but soon it becomes hard to do it anymore. He just keeps right on calling.

'Jin. Seokjin. Kim Seokjin.'

I turn to look at him. Taehyung stands at the door of my room, hands in pockets as usual, looking at me. 

'How many more Seokjins do you think this house has?' My tone comes out more peevish than I mean it to be.

'None.' Taehyung smiles, shaking his head. 'Seokjin is only one. And he is special.'

I stare at him, the gears starting to turn in my head. Is there a hidden meaning to his words? Why is he being so....

'Are you blushing?'

'What?' My cheeks heat up. 'No!'

'Oh, but I can see you from here, and your face- it's all red.'

I scowl at him. 'That's because you say stupid things.'

'Hmmmm, do I?' Taehyung comes over to stand in front of me. 'Well, maybe, it's because I like to.'

'Are you like this with everyone?' I say, snappily.

'Everyone? Oh no,' his face splits into a broad grin. 'They'd think I was a nut case.'

I raise an eyebrow. 'What makes you think I don't?'

Taehyung shrugs his shoulders. 'Maybe I don't care.'

I get to my feet, maintaining eye contact with him. 'May I ask why?'

He brings his face close to me all of a sudden, making me jump.

'I don't know, Seokjin,' he whispers, and suddenly his voice is deeper, throatier, thick with something I can't word, can't describe. His almond brown eyes, shaded by the careless bangs falling across his forehead, stare into mine with a frightening intensity that makes me unconsciously avert my own. 'Do you really want to know?'

I pull away, too overwhelmed by the consuming heat between us. 'I don't want to, Taehyung. Now can you just...you know...get away, a little?'

He does, but there is a serious look on his face now. 'I needed to talk to you about something important, Seokjin.'

I sigh. 'Is it about work, again?'

Taehyung bends down to my level, his eyes steady on my face. 'Look, Seokjin, unless you tell me what it's all about-'

'I don't need to tell you what it's all about!' I interrupt him. 'We're strangers, remember?'

Taehyung rubs a hand over his forehead with a tired groan. 'You say it one more time and I swear it'll become a catchphrase.'

'Well, I don't care,' I reply, and indeed, I do not. Taehyung may be my husband by all means, but that does not give him the right to come nosing into my private affairs and my business life. Trust me, I have had my share of confiding too much in people and regretting it later.

'Look, Jin.' Taehyung's voice is softer this time. 'I'm not forcing you to say anything, okay? Or do anything. It's your life, after all. I wouldn't trouble you with questions you don't want to answer if you hadn't been behaving the way you have all week.'

'What does my behaviour have to do with you?' I ask him, and am horrified to find a lump rising in my throat out of practically nowhere. 'Why are you so worried about me, huh? What makes you think I trust you enough to-'

'Jin, I know you don't trust me, and I assure you that I will never force you to,' Taehyung whispers. 'But I want the best for you. I don't want you to skip meals, sleep late, go around with that haggard look on your face. It's affecting you, and it's beginning to affect me, too.'

'How the hell does it affect you?'

'Because I live in the same house as you, goddammit!' Taehyung says, and his voice is higher this time, clearly at the breaking point of patience.

That does it for me. I stumble back down on the bed, take my head in my hands and begin to cry.

'Hey, Jin.' Taehyung scoots closer over to me, and I feel his hands starting to slide gently over my arms and rub my shoulders. The next second I lash out, pushing him away violently. 

'Don't touch me!' I cry out, my voice shaking. 'Don't you fucking touch me!'

There's silence.

I open my eyes to find Taehyung still kneeling on the floor in front of me, his eyes on my face. But they are not filled with anger, as I thought. Not even disappointment.

But worry. Actual worry. And the way he looks at me still, with those brown eyes flooding over with undiluted and bare, throbbing concern....it makes me feel things, and I hate it, because I have sworn to never feel them anymore.

'I'm sorry,' I choke out, unable to stop the tears relentlessly streaming down my cheeks, as much as I would like them to. 'I'm sorry, I....'

'You don't have to apologize for anything, Seokjin.' Taehyung says, and his voice is gentle, much too gentle for my liking. 'It's me who should apologize. I touched you without permission, and I'm sorry. I really, truly, am.'

'N-no, it's not your fault,' his words make me feel guiltier than ever. 'It's me, it's all me, it's my damn trust issues, how could you have known-?'

'I should have known,' Taehyung says, looking down at the floor beneath him. 'I made you break down, and that's the worst thing I could ever do to you.'

'It's okay.' I sniff back my tears, making loud noises that are humiliating, but not humiliating enough to make me care. 'I....I'm fine. I just....'

'Listen, Seokjin....' Taehyung looks up at me earnestly. 'I know I need to earn your trust, and I know I probably don't deserve a single ounce of it after how I've treated you, but...look, if you need to talk to me about anything...you can, Seokjin. I understand why you would hesitate placing your faith in me, and you are right to do so, but you can....you can at least give it a try, see if it helps you. Sometimes it just hurts less when you share the pain, you know?'

He pauses and brings a small grubby handkerchief out of his pocket. 'I wish I could give you something cleaner, but this is all I have on me at the moment. I'm sorry, Seokjin. I'm sorry for making you cry. I'm sorry for forcing you into talking to me when you weren't ready to.'

I bite my lip as I take it from him, holding back several more tears as they threaten to fall from my swollen eyes.

'I can wait till you're ready to tell me, Seokjin.' Taehyung finally gets to his feet, and there is a strangely sad look in his eyes. 'And if you're not....well, I'm always there for you, anyway.'

Trust me to ruin a perfectly good plot with bad writing and emotionless dorks as characters. 🙃 

Anyway, Happy New Year!!