Picture Perfect | k.th

Chapter 11

"Ha! There's no way I'm letting you do that!" I shouted, shaking my head in disbelief at Taehyung's outrageous request.

"Sohee...we have to do this! We have to know what's there? Could life be different in that environment? You asked me if I was from an alternate universe, now is the chance to find out!" He desperately explained.

"No way. Not happening Tae. I'd be crazy letting you do that," I refused.

"The guys will be with me. And what happened to the spirit of adventure? Stepping into beyond the unknown and exploring what you could've never dreamed of. That was your thing," he argued.

"Because most instances you have nothing to lose! What you're planning on doing has calculated loss. Taehyung, I can't pull you out after you go in! You could get loss in that paralyzing frame all over again, but this time there's no saving you! I won't be there to do damage control," I exhaled. "I refuse to lose you."

"You won't, Sohee. No one said anything about you losing anyone. Hyungseo has a contingency plan in place to make sure we're all safe. Don't you trust him?"

"Not really...we've barely known him. Moreover, this little plan of yours has been cooking for weeks and I'm just hearing about it?! I told you about his offer immediately!" I yelled.

"Yeah and?! You don't trust him but you see him every week for your painting lessons? Could've fooled me, Sohee!" He fired back.

I scoffed, "I'm not there to learn how to paint. I never was. I'm there to learn more about those sketches, that room. You know what comes will thrill seeking? Learning how to trust your gut. When something feels wrong, you not to do it. There are limits. I have mine just like anyone else does. I'm there because I am trying to get on the in."

"He seems pretty trustworthy to me. Even Jin hyung has started to trust him!" He defended.

"When have Jin and I ever agreed on something?! He's not a credible testimony!" I snapped.

The two of us were in the other's face, all fired up with blazing anger in trying to keep the other safe. A silly thing to get angry over, but our 'normal' lives had been tossed out the window for some unforeseen action plot, so there wasn't any room for nonchalant behavior.

"Being human means making choices even when you don't want to. This is the choice I make Sohee. Whether or not you support it is none of my concern. You taught me to be human means to be your own person first. So that's what I'm doing," he said cautiously.

I was scared. Scared of how intensely I felt about this. About how attached I was. Life wasn't so free when your mind was preoccupied with someone else's wellbeing.

Taehyung grimaced, "I don't like this feeling. It's suffocating."

My expression softened, and I gingerly reached up to cup his cheek, "It's anger. People feel it sometimes. This isn't bad anger though. It's...complicated anger."

He shook his head, "Not that. I know what anger feels like. I felt it before. The other feeling. Where when you look at me, my heart just won't stop beating. I get nervous in your gaze. Yet I feel safe in your arms. I long to hold you. I yearn to go on adventures with you. The overwhelming desire to make you happy. To do right by you. The anxiety that you aren't looking at me the same. The need to ease your worries and be by your side. It so suffocating because there's so much of it. It's so intense I feel like I'll burst."

My pulse began to race. Heart thundering against the cage of my chest. This felt wrong. This was wrong. I couldn't lose my freedom. My sense of self. Not again...

Yet with Taehyung, if anything, all of that felt so enhanced. So much more than it already was. He was my freedom and my sense of self. He kept me grounded. Kept me in touch with reality so I didn't float away. And at the same time, he was the sprinkle of fantasy in my life.

My breath hitched when I felt Taehyung lean in. His gaze was gentle, confused, encouraging. His eyes were inviting me into his embrace. He was inviting himself into my heart.

I lied.

I do have a fear.

Commitment.

Because it was my father's greatest folly.

I found out shortly after I got into college from my mother. Turns out it had been going on my entire senior year of high school. I was an adult. I should've been able to handle it. My life...my situation...was nowhere near comparable to the kids who get destroyed by divorce and infidelity. Yet I shunned my father and every part of him within me. As soon as I found out, I dumped my high school boyfriend and turned fully to the life I had grown accustomed to. Thrill, adventure, new things, and no commitment.

I would hurt someone if I tried to commit. I couldn't hurt someone. And certainly not Taehyung.

But as he stood there, big eyes burning into mine, soul completely opened to me, boxy smile offering comfort and reassurance, I realized that this time, it was me who felt trapped in a frame. In the frame of this picture perfect moment.

Though I was sure the painting hadn't kissed any painting hotties in his lifetime, he gingerly tapped his lips against mine, almost immediately finding rhythm. The motion coming back to him naturally like muscle memory.

I had kissed many people before. It meant nothing to them or to me. Just an urge during an action. So this felt wrong. It felt wrong to respond when I had lived as such before. It was his first kiss. Yet I had been tainted by all those before him.

"Sohee," he hummed, breaking away and resting his head on my forehead. "It's okay. This is our adventure."

Our. What a beautiful word. So simple. Yet so meaningful.

The drop-dead-gorgeous-painting-turned-human leaned back in for another kiss, holding my waist a little tighter and pulling in a little more fervently.

Our adventure. For it to be an adventure you have to embark on it first.

So I did.

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Embark on your adventure dear reader :)