Hilde | Kim Taehyung fanfiction ✓

arya

21

Great, the paranoia kept nagging at me. Could I trust Tae or not?

On one hand, he must have brought Edith and me here to protect us from something, right?

But on the other hand, why wouldn't he tell me why we're here in the first place? If he wanted to protect us—or at least protect me, keep me alive to help with his side missions or whatever—he should have told me what was going on. Yet, he didn't.

I walked to the bathroom, searching every cabinet for some alcohol and adhesive bandages. Maybe digging my nail into his wound wasn't the best move.

What else might be a bad move? Maybe hiding the alcohol and bandages he might need in the next five minutes.

So, that's exactly what I did. I grabbed what I thought he might need and headed back to the room I claimed at the end of the hallway.

Maybe being petty in situations like this isn't helping anyone, but it's definitely helping me keep my sanity. If he wanted to hide the truth from me, I could hide the things he needed. 

I closed the door behind me, feeling the giddy thrill of a child who knows they've done something wrong. Tossing the disinfectant and bandages onto the bed, I sat on its edge, the adrenaline still coursing through me.

The sky had finally cleared up a bit, revealing patches of stars. Moonlight shone brighter than ever from behind the clouds, and with the rain finally stopped, a chilling breeze slipped through the small gaps in the window.

Outside was the calmest I had ever heard it: no owls, no cicadas, not even the hum of a passing car. For now, it was just me and my thoughts.

And the creaking floor behind me.

"What could the disinfectant possibly be doing on your bed?" the voice behind me asked, laced with amusement.

I smiled, trying not to giggle. "What? Oh, this?" I pointed at the bottle of alcohol beside me. "I didn't even know it was there," I lied.

"So, it magically appeared on the bed?" Tae asked, tired albeit entertained by it all, "with the bandages?"

"Looks like it," I said, turning to face him. He was wearing the same white shirt, now stained with droplets of blood, and a smile that could light up the darkest room. In the calm of the night, I finally took a good look at him.

His tall, lean figure stood silhouetted against the moonlight, which grew stronger by the second, although his eyes seemed dead, his irises held a spark of life. His messy hair was still wet from the shower, with strands sticking to his forehead in abstract patterns. He looked too good to be a living nightmare.

"Call me when you're done drooling over me," Taehyung said, amusement sparkling in his eyes. "In the meantime, I'll be taking these," he added, pointing at the objects on the bed as he approached.

I huffed at his remark. "Who's drooling?" I shot back.

"Can I?" he asked, completely ignoring my rhetorical question, as he pointed at the bandages beneath my hand.

"Let me," I answered, standing up from the bed and positioning myself just inches away from him, facing him.

"Why so nice all of a sudden?"

"Because I get to disinfect your wound," I said with a bright smile, grabbing the bottle from the bed. "Sit," I ordered.

"Causing pain excites you, doesn't it? Whatever, I deserve it," Tae admitted as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"What do you mean?" I asked, opening the bottle and disinfecting my hands before applying some alcohol to his face with the tip of my fingers.

"You know," he said, wincing slightly as I dabbed the liquid on his wound, "what I told you in the kitchen," he confessed. "I shouldn't have."

"You mumbled something. I thought you were too tired to form a coherent sentence," I replied in a whisper, before carefully applying the bandage to his wound.

"So, just to be sure, you didn't understand what I said?"

"Nope," I answered, sitting next to him on the edge of the bed, staring at the now starry sky. I knew I didn't want to know what he said, and I knew he didn't want to tell me.

Tae nodded, looking outside the window too.

I turned my head to look at him. "One less thing to mull over." He simply nodded, not looking at me. I didn't blame him; the stars really were captivating that night. But I needed his attention on me. Otherwise, how would I know if he was lying or not?

"I feel a question coming," he said, sensing my gaze on him. He turned his head towards me, his eyes still fixed on the sky above us.

"Spot on," I replied.

He finally looked directly at me, his gaze intense. "You always have questions, don't you?"

"Only when I don't have answers," I retorted, holding his gaze.

"Well, let's see if we can change that," he said, annoyance and sarcasm in his voice.

"Is Edith coming with us to Ames? I don't want to leave her alone here. Also, is it a problem that I forgot my ticket back home?" I asked, ignoring his mannerisms.

"Let's think about this tomorrow. Last time I slept was almost two days ago; my brain cells are fried," he said getting standing up. He walked out the door and gently closed it behind him, not making any noise.

Great, I thought, knowing the paranoia would nag at me for the rest of the night. Even with the calm night outside, the confusion inside my mind raged on.