Closer than Ever

Chapter 79 - August Heat

Maybe it's the August heat and humidity, but I am cranky these days. Even though the studio is air conditioned.

I delete and retype the same two lines of lyrics over and over for about forty minutes, alternating between cursing and singing under my breath. Taehyung is huddled over the keyboard, plonking out what sounds like the exact same short snippet of melody over and over. Finally, I growl loudly and tell him, "Babe, I don't know if you're driving me crazy or if I'm doing it to myself, but I need to get out of here."

He looks up and nods. "Yeah, me too. Let's go to a movie."

I look at him cautiously. "Is that even possible?"

He shrugs. "I haven't done it for a long time, but it will be easier now that everyone wears masks all the time. And I'm less recognizable with you than I am with one of the members or my Wooga friends." I start to smile.

"Wow, that actually sounds great. I can't remember the last time I went to a movie theater. Do you know what's playing?"

Tae shrugs again and pulls out his phone. "How about this one?" he asks. "It's an American rom com with subtitles, so we can both practice our language skills. It starts in 45 minutes."

I stand up from my desk, shake the stiffness out of my back and arms, and grab a mask from my purse. "Let's go, baby!" I sing, holding out my hand. He tucks his phone in his pocket and takes a baseball cap and shades out of his desk drawer. We walk to the studio door together, but have to drop our hands and pretend we aren't dating once we step out into the hall.

Tae walks a couple of paces ahead of me as we head for the exit. "This is getting old, honestly," I think to myself. I am guiltily aware that it's my doing. He has wanted to date openly from... Well, goodness knows. Probably the second day we worked together, knowing him! I chuckle to myself and he turns slightly, wanting to know what's funny. I give him an eye-crinkle smile over my mask and a tight little head shake and he faces forward again, nodding his greetings to other artists and staff along the way.

I go out front to hail a taxi while Taehyung takes the elevator to the parking garage. He will drive his SUV to our designated meeting spot about a kilometer from the Hybe building. I always get out of the taxi at a particular bus stop in front of the art park, and he picks me up from there. The first couple of times, it felt exciting and clandestine, but now I just begrudge the taxi fare.

The multiplex is pretty quiet. I do the talking when we get our popcorn and sodas, because his voice is too recognizable. There are only about a dozen people in the steeply inclined theater for this mid-afternoon show, so we climb up to the next to last row. With nobody too near, he can even pull his mask down from time to time to have snacks.

The film itself is pretty dumb and predictable, but we laugh at all the right places. About halfway through the show, I take his hand and don't let go until the credits roll, savoring the feeling of touching him in public. He squeezes my hand from time to time, and brings it up to his lips to kiss my fingers during one particularly uninteresting scene in the movie. I smile and nudge him with my shoulder.

As we climb into the car afterward, I tell him how much I enjoyed actually going out together. It had been more than a month since our last outing, and that was just to pick up carryout coffees.

"This was fun, but I want to go somewhere else with you. Somewhere far. Tomorrow, we should go for another long drive and have a picnic somewhere far away," he says as he pulls out of the movie theater parking structure.

"Somewhere far away? Like what, Canada?" I ask, teasing.

He rolls his eyes at me. "I thought maybe Gangwon-do," he answers.