Decoupled • KTH : Book 1✔

Chapter 18

Taehyung

Walking into the kitchen, I head towards the sink where my wife is doing the dishes.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to call and tell you about lunch. But you should eat now, and I will eat the rest for dinner," I speak softly, leaning on the kitchen counter and keeping my eyes on her face, but she doesn't raise her eyes to even spare me a glance.

"I don't need your permission to eat..." she glances at me briefly. "Not when you just walked out like that after an argument last evening without bothering about anything or anyone," her eyes scrutinize the clothes that I'm wearing, and I'm sure that she knows that these are not mine.

"I borrowed them from SeokJin," I whip out a lie spontaneously, and she locks her gaze with mine for a few seconds, her hands stopping their work as well.

It is as though someone pressed the pause button on her.

"I never asked," she fires back casually and resumes her work, returning her eyes to the dishes.

"I'll do them," I extend my hand to her, asking her to hand me the gloves and the scrubber, but she only mutters something under her breath and tells me to leave the spot at once.

"Appa!" Thankfully, Areum calls out and drags me out of the tension prevailing in the kitchen, and I give her my best smile before walking out to the living room.

"Can you wait for appa to take a shower and change? I'll make it quick," I ask her, and she doesn't seem too happy about it.

"Daddy has got a stubble, and you don't like it, right?" I point to my chin and my daughter giggles, shaking her head and pushing me with all her might towards the bedroom.

Laughing, I walk away to take a shower after picking out a pair of shorts and a T-shirt to change into afterwards. I take off Richard's clothes and carefully place them inside the laundry hamper, and hang the belt inside my wardrobe.

Once in the shower, the warm water drips down every inch of my body while my mind drifts off to Maya and the warmth and comfort that I felt last night when I cuddled with her to sleep.

We kissed, and it was with mutual consent, and I definitely felt the sparking electricity between us. I could have easily lost control, but I wasn't sure if she was really ready for anything at all. And at that moment, I only felt the need to be comforted, reassured, listened to and just to be held in her arms.

My tears erupted last night, but Maya never told me off like how most of the people in my life have ever done—a man shouldn't cry. No, she didn't. She held me tight and helped me through my pain by just being by my side.

Why is she not the woman in my life?

Maya opened up to me about her life, and it only makes me want to be her strength and always keep her close. I asked her about the marriage thing just so I could bring up the topic and tell her about mine. But when she was literally in tears, I couldn't just pour out my misery as well and make her sadder than she already was.

Should I have anyway told her about my life too? Would she be okay with having me around like last night even after I tell her about my failing marriage? She might regret everything. And my daughter? I can't hide things forever although hiding the fact is not my intention at all.

Where am I even headed to?

Shaking off my thoughts, I scrub my body and hair clean, and allow the water to wash away the soap and shampoo bubbles while I close my eyes—Maya being the only one that I could see, even with my eyes closed.