Stay With Me (SWM #1) | A Taekook Series

22) falling for you

"Ha! Checkmateeee," Jeongguk sings and does his little victory dance for like the hundredth time. "Damn, I never knew I was this good at chess,"

"Okay now enough of chess please," I say, re-adjusting Jin's laptop on my lap. We're sitting on Jeongguk's hospital bed, lazily enjoying a chilly Sunday afternoon. It's just been a week since his injury and Jeongguk has the same levels of energy as a teenager. We finally finished Happiness yesterday and now then I came up with the brilliant idea of playing chess online with each other. I haven't won a single match against him. It's extremely humiliating.

"Ha! Loser," Jeongguk hits my back lightly. "What do you wanna do then?"

"Play me some of your favorite songs." I hand him the laptop and stretch my legs on the bed, resting my back on the pillows. With a wide grin, Jeongguk grabs the laptop and opens Spotify.

"Okay soo...you know Eric Nam right? There's this song produced with Vaultboy. It's called everything sucks."

"Lol, cool name." I say. Then he hits the play button. In seconds, he's mouthing the lyrics and vibing along to the song. When the chorus starts, Jeongguk absentmindedly starts singing out loud

"I wanna forget my bad days, all my bad days. And be okay, and be okay." His eyes are closed as the words come out of his mouth. I smile and watch him get lost in the music.

"How is it?" He asks, when the song is about to end.

"Amazing." I smile and reply. "I need more recommendations."

"Why not!"

And then he goes on plays tons of songs by different artists. They all have various meanings. Some are sad and deep songs while some are feel-good melodies but all I can focus on is Jeongguk's honey-like voice, softly singing along.

An hour and a half passed by and now I have tons of new favorites on my mp3 player Gguk had gifted.

"Okay so um....I'm putting a song on your player which you will listen to later. Like, just before you sleep okay?" Jeongguk says, his eyes fixed on the laptop screen as he copies and pastes another song.

"What's the name?"

"Do not see the name of the song. It's by a band called The Vamps."

"Um...okay." I reply, a bit confused. "I wonder what goes on in that mischievous head of yours," I gently flick his forehead, making him look up at me. He's trying his best to keep his face neutral but I can see excitement spilling out.

"Come in," Gguk and I say at the same time when we hear a knock at the door.

"Yah, Jeongguk-ah!" We hear Jin's oh-so-familiar annoyed voice before we see him walk in with an irritable look. "That laptop is meant for work not watching k-dramas,"

"Sorry hyung," Jeongguk says in a baby voice. "But can we have it for some more time?" He laughs.

"No. I need to go to Seoul with Dae-Hyun so I'll need it," Jin replies. "Oh and..." He sits down in front of u and holds my gaze for a second. "Taehyung you have a new posting in-"

"What!"

"In Gwangju." No. No. No. "It's not a camp. You'll be staying at the HQ. I'd say it's a quite good posting. It's pretty safe there." No.

__________

"You trust me right?" I ask.

"Of course," Jeongguk replies and lets me grab his waist. He wraps one of his arms around my shoulder and slides off the hospital bed, balancing on one foot. Without wasting another second, I roll the wheelchair closer and he lands on it with a soft thump.