Closer than Ever

Chapter 46 - Fairytale House

Tae gets to my room around 2 a.m., and wants to tell me all about the Vlive and about meeting Anderson and Junior Paak backstage at Sofi. I am mostly asleep, but try to wake up enough to listen to him.

We sleep in, and are just cuddling in bed at 11 a.m. when he gets an angry text from one of the managers demanding to know where he is. The rest of the guys are assembled at the hotel, getting ready for their press conference over at the stadium in a couple of hours. Tae calls a taxi and scrambles into his clothes, kissing me on the cheek as he runs past.

I am lounging on a deck chair later that afternoon, soaking up some rays beside the pool and contemplating getting dressed for tonight's concert, when I get a video call notification from him. "Hey, babe, what's happening?" I smile.

Tae's face is stormy. "I had to come away and talk to you, Eunen Sae," he says, sounding angrier than I've ever heard him. He turns his phone to show me that he's in a small, empty conference room. I glance around, but fortunately there's nobody else on the roof deck with me.

"What happened, love?" I ask, sitting up and pushing my sunglasses to the top of my head.

"Namjoon-hyung scolded me just now for being late," he says, glowering.

I nod pensively. "Well, we'll just have to be a little more mindful..."

"But that's not the bad part, Birdie. He said, 'I would have trouble leaving Eunen Sae-shi's bed, too, but you have responsibilities to the team.'"

I blink in surprise, and say, "Ooooh, yikes. But, I mean, we kind of knew that he knew, right? It was pretty obvious at the Hybe party."

Tae pinches the bridge of his nose in anger and frustration. "I'm not mad that he knows. How can he say something like that to me? How can he talk about you that way?!"

"Ah," I say. "What did he say again, exactly?" I ask.

He repeats the comment. "I've never wanted to punch Namjoon-hyung before, but today I really do."

I study his face for a long moment, trying to figure out how best to defuse the situation. Then I look off in the distance pensively. "Well, really babe, I think we should be flattered that he wants to join. I mean, Namjoon-shi is very handsome and accomplished. But I'm afraid I'm just not into threesomes." I look at him again. "I'm sorry, I know that this is very selfish of me, but I'm not willing to share you, Taehyung-ah. Try to let him down easy, OK?"

His brow and jawline start to unclench, and he huffs loudly through his nose. I just watch with a little smile as he slowly starts to shake his head and then to actually smile wryly. Finally, he gives a little barking laugh. "Birdie, you are so pabo." He rolls his eyes.

I smile at him lovingly. "That's why you love me, Tae." I chuckle, and poke my forefinger into my cheek in an aegyo pose. In a much more serious tone, I ask "Can you explain why his comment was so upsetting for you, love? I'm not sure I totally understand."

"I don't know... It just, it just made it sound cheap, like we're only together for sex. Or like he could just have you if he wanted to. And you're not like that!"

I nod slowly. "OK, I guess I can hear that. Sometimes I don't get all the nuances in Korean, you know. That was a rude thing for him to say, and pretty out of character, don't you think? Usually he chooses his words carefully and is very diplomatic."

He huffs again, and nods.

"Is he under a lot of pressure right now, more than just the concert tonight? Do you know?"

"Well, the Korean government is making a bunch of new restrictions if we want to have a live concert in Seoul, and the company is starting to say that we just won't do it. They've been negotiating for the whole pandemic, but it might fall through now. I know Namjoon-hyung really feels strongly that we need to have a concert in Korea with a live audience before we go to the military."