glass-cased doll ✩ | t.k

09. shunned flowers, flushed skin, and unspoken words

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"Jiminnie hyung."

"Yeah?"

"What does he actually want from me?"

Jimin's eyebrows furrowed, glancing up from the paper in his hands to meet Jeongguk's gaze. "....Who?"

Jeongguk, having walked to Jimin's favorite table at the café, took a seat across from him. "You know who," he murmured.

"..Taehyung? Well, uh," Jimin bit his bottom lip, looking away momentarily. Jeongguk observed him closely. "He's just interested to know you. You guys are cool now, right? Been hanging out and all?"

Jeongguk remained silent and essentially unresponsive as he stared at Jimin, fully expecting Jimin to tell him some things about Taehyung because he was close to him.

By this point, Taehyung and Jeongguk had been conversing almost daily, and Jeongguk genuinely enjoyed and appreciated the fact that Taehyung wasn't bombarding him with texts because he would've felt overwhelmed even if he enjoyed their conversations. Also, they hadn't seen each other since the jazz restaurant lunch date (friendly hangout) because they had both been busy with uni stuff, especially Taehyung who was a very active student.

Jeongguk was growing more comfortable with Taehyung, and he could sense Taehyung felt the same way from their conversations. However, Jeongguk couldn't just overlook the way Taehyung had been treating him; the hand-holding, hand-kissing, just the overall pure affection. It felt natural yet incredibly burdensome— Should a friend treat you that way? Where's the boundary?

"Okay, well," Jimin huffed when he saw how serious and determined Jeongguk seemed to get some response out of him. "You should talk to him if something about your friendship is bothering you so much."

"I feel like that would make things weird, hyung," Jeongguk sighed, looking down at the small uninteresting spot on his apron. "Like, I wouldn't want to ruin what we have right now."

A little smile crept up on Jimin's lips upon hearing Jeongguk's words, like he was pleased to hear that Jeongguk genuinely treasured his friendship with Taehyung. "Well, maybe just let things flow for now cause you guys will end up having to talk about it eventually at some point, right?"

"Right." Jeongguk agreed. Of course it will have to happen. He wished that the moment wouldn't ruin things between them. But if they were to have the talk before that moment naturally came, perhaps the outcome would turn out less messy?

Jimin cleared his throat. "Also, if it helps; Taehyung isn't the type to run away from things, especially when he knows what he wants." He stated, and Jeongguk looked back up at him, not knowing what to feel about that.

"He's also good at communicating, really. We had some conflicts in the past and I think part of the reason we could get past those was because he can truly listen if you just... say it, you know." Jimin continued.

After letting the words sink in, "Thanks, hyung," Jeongguk said and stood up to get back to the counter as he was on shift. He was walking away but then stopped and turned back around to look at Jimin. "Just to be sure, he doesn't kiss your hand, right?"