LOVE MAZE - Taekook

Six

The evening had settled in when Taehyung woke up from his nap. Alone.

He already knew deep down that he was actually alone inside the hotel room and that Jeongguk had left god-knows-when but he still searched the room.

He checked his phone to see several texts and calls from his secretary and let out a stressed sigh but proceeded to text back that the meeting had dragged on. With a heavy heart, he got dressed and exited the hotel alone. There was no note whatsoever left by Jeongguk. Not a single text. And Taehyung had to accept that their intimate interaction might not have meant anything to Jeongguk at all.

Jeongguk's words echoed in his head on his way back to his workplace. "You looked happy" he had said. As if Jeongguk hadn't.

Taehyung remembered how exactly two years after their breakup, the one day Taehyung decided to show up to one of their friend group hangouts, Jeongguk decided to bring a date; a girl Jeongguk had been dating for a few months after meeting her at his university.

Taehyung knew that Jeongguk had a girlfriend. He announced it to the whole group chat when they stared dating. This was usual practice in their friend group. However, Taehyung was single at the time. In fact, he had resorted to stringless hookups or one-night stands in the first two years of university.

Taehyung knew he should've had it coming since this isn't the first time that someone brought a date to a hangout.

This had been the first time he had felt utterly disgusted by Jeongguk and he wasn't sure to this day why such an emotion took over him. He and Jeongguk were nothing. They weren't even friends. The last thing he should be feeling was this disgusting jealousy.

However, he couldn't help himself.

"Since when are you bringing strangers to our hangouts?"

Taehyung and Jeongguk were in a queue to order their food and Jeongguk had glared at him when Taehyung's question fell upon his ears. It was a dumb question. She was his date. However, Taehyung couldn't help himself.

"She's not a stranger. She's my girlfriend"

Taehyung had rolled his eyes. His bitterness only grew throughout the night as he watched Jeongguk and Hyejin share smiles and inside jokes. Taehyung remembered the group's conversation turned into camping, which was one of Jeongguk's favourite pastimes. Hyejin started talking of how she and Jeongguk were planning on going camping in the summer and Taehyung had felt a fit of jealousy so overwhelming that he had to butt in-

"Jeongguk, remember that time we went camping, about four years ago and it started raining so much..." Taehyung kept going. Because camping used to be their thing. They had gone camping alone countless times when they were together.

And the trip won't be completed without Jeongguk getting fucked in the middle of a forest. They were just horny teenagers.

"Yeah" Jeongguk had laughed awkwardly, trying to keep it cool. He hadn't wanted to reveal his past relationship with Taehyung to Hyejin. "The storm destroyed our tent"

"Oh my god, what did you do then?" Hyejin was so pretty and dainty. Feminine. She was Jeongguk's type.

"We stayed inside this tiny cave until the storm was over" Taehyung smiled. They fucked all night. "It was quite the night. I wished it wouldn't end"

Jeongguk's face had turned red as a beet. He grabbed his beer and took a few sips to cool down.

It was later that night that Jeongguk dragged Taehyung away to the bathrooms, pushing him against the nearest wall.