UNCHOSEN ONES | TAEKOOK

𝟷𝟻 ☾ 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚖 (𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎)

𝟷𝟻 

☾

The ticking of the clock was the only noise Taehyung could hear in the background.

Seojun's gaze was piercing him from the sideways, scrutinizing with the utmost attention every single movement that Taehyung would make, every single change of expression. Taehyung swallowed and noticed Seojun's eyes go back and forth between the movement of his Adam's apple and his eyes.

Taehyung took a long, deep breath. If he said yes, then Seojun and he would be going to live together. Taehyung didn't know if Seojun wanted them to live in her apartment, or his, but living together meant waking up together every day, cooking for two, and it meant living as if they were married.

On the other hand, if he said no, then Seojun would be mad at him.

Taehyung placed his hands in his lap, doing his best to look like he was giving it a thought, even though he knew what the answer was.

No. No. No. He didn't want to live with Seojun.

He thought Seojun wanted to break up with him, not live with him. After the days they passed at her parents' house, he thought she realized there was something off about it, about the two of them.

Living together meant Taehyung couldn't smoke every time he felt the need to. It was a stupid thought, but it crossed Taehyung's mind like a bolt. Seojun would get angry, they would fight, and then she would not speak to him and no, it was too much to even think about it.

Taehyung wasn't ready per se, it was even worse that it was Seojun asking him such a thing.

Seojun's eyes continued to wander on his face, searching for a reaction, but Taehyung was determined not to show any. His heart sank into his chest, under the weight of silence.

Eventually, Taehyung licked his lips, careful with his words as never before, "I don't know what to say."

Seojun blinked, staring at him as if she was thinking that there was nothing to say. Taehyung supposed it was true for her.

"Say yes."

"I- Can you give me some time to think about this?"

Taehyung saw how the realization slowly made its way to Seojun's face. The understanding that Taehyung wasn't going to say yes, not immediately at least.

Seojun furrowed her thin eyebrows, "What's there to think about?"

"I've never thought you wanted us to live together."

Seojun's expression turned crestfallen, hurt. Taehyung pressed his fingers into the flesh of his thighs, covered by brown pants. He needed to keep himself somehow anchored to the ground because Seojun's wounded expression was making him feel floaty.

"My parents and I discussed it," said Seojun, attentively. Taehyung remembered how the first day they arrived at her parent's house, she excused herself because she needed to do something she and her father had talked about before. Now, Taehyung wondered if this was the thing they discussed, "and I think it could benefit both of us. We live in Seoul; we pay rent for two. If we moved in together, we would pay just half of what we're paying right now."

"I don't know, Seojun. I don't think I'm ready to move in with someone else."

I don't know if I'm ready to move in with you, Taehyung thought without saying it out loud. Partly because he wasn't sure he was ready to live with someone else in general. The only people he had ever lived with were his family members comprising his mother, father, and sister. He had to because he was underage and well, that was his family.