Decoupled • KTH : Book 1✔

Chapter 50

Maya

Me:
How's Areum now?

Me:
Did she wake up and eat something?

Jang-Mi:
She did. She woke up earlier and had some soup.

Jang-Mi:
I haven't yet talked about anything after that. She hasn't asked much as well.

Jang-Mi:
She's playing with our neighbor's kid now.

Me:
Okay. Take care.

Jang-Mi:
I will. Thank you.

Putting my phone aside, I walk into my bedroom. Taehyung washed up and fell asleep as soon as we reached home, and after doing the dishes and being on my own for a bit, I have decided to relax in the bath for a while and then go to bed.

I pick out a change of clothes and leave them on the bed before heading to the bathroom with a large glass of wine, softly shutting the door behind me so as not to disturb Taehyung's precious sleep.

After filling the bath with warm water and adding the bath milk, I strip and step into the water, allowing every muscle in my body to relax in an instant.

Leaning the back of my neck against the curve of the bathtub, I pick up my glass of wine and take a sip out of it while my mind keeps going back to Areum, and how I could help her ease with me.

Right now, that seems like a distant reality, like a mirage.

My mind keeps wandering restlessly, and among the other random thoughts, I also think about converting the spare bedroom into a kid's bedroom for her to use whenever she'd be here, but that wouldn't probably happen anytime soon. Yet, it's not wrong to be ready.

We also have to think about where we would all live, even though that's something that can surely wait until she comes to terms with the changes in her life. I don't want to rush into anything and scar her for life.

I tilt my head back and allow my eyes to close after I take another sip of wine, and just then the bathroom door clicks open, as do my eyes.

Taehyung walks in with his puffy eyes and bed head, and he goes down on his knees once he gets close to the bathtub, bringing a big smile to my face.

"Hey," his hand comes around to tenderly stroke my jaw and cheek while his eyes scan the bath and then return to my eyes as he gently leans forward and allows our lips to meet in a slow and sensual kiss, our eyes closing on their own accord.

The ways his lips move against mine is firm, yet delicate, and it feels so different from every other kiss we've ever shared in these past few months, or at least that's what my heart tells me. Tonight's kiss is one where I can put aside everything and everyone else and proudly claim that Taehyung is mine, only mine.

I push myself closer to the edge of the tub while my hand caresses the spot below his ear and glides to the back of his neck, my fingers tangling inside his soft locks and taking hold of a fistful.

Leaning back from the kiss, our eyes open and our gazes stay locked as I slowly rest my back against the bathtub.

"I want to join you," Taehyung's fingers crawl along my wet arm that's resting on the edge of the bathtub, and his sensual, deep voice rings in my ear, making my body react by sprouting goosebumps all over.

"Only if you promise to let me wear something afterwards," I whisper as his fingers intertwine with mine, his powerful eyes not moving an inch from mine for even a brief while.