The Crow (Kim Taehyung Hybrid Au)

Chapter 22

"Warmth."

Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.
Empty.

That same word repeated inside Mirae's head over and over again while she laid in the couch, staring up at the very ceiling that stood on top of her. She couldn't cry, she couldn't think. Mirae was exhausted, too much for her liking.

She wondered if everything that has happened had somehow been her fault. Like her boyfriend, it was her fault for dating him and also her fault when breaking up with him after finding out he cheated. The whole hybrid situation wasn't an exception, it had been entirely her fault for accepting such a stupid deal just because she liked hybrids. Perhaps her mind was correct, everything happened for a reason, Kang Mirae was to blame.

But before her obnoxious thoughts could continue even further, she heard the bedroom door open. She gasped and hid under her blankets quietly pretending to be asleep when doing so. She simply hope it wasn't who she thought it was.

"Kang...?" The soft melodic voice whispered amidst the darkness that surrounded the two of them, Mirae gulped and tried to stay put a little longer.

Taehyung stared at the huge bulge under the blanket and sighed, he sat down next to the couch and let his dark feathered wings wrap themselves around him like a bubble.

Mirae on the other hand felt a little curious, she peeked through the blanket and raised her head, noticing Taehyung's 'shield' she immediately sat up and grabbed the blanket away from her face. She bit on the side of her cheek once more, unsure whether the question in her head would bring her an even bigger consequence or simply wasting time.

"What's wrong, little crow?" She asked sarcastically, already gaining his attention as he moved his wings away and against the muscles of his back.

"I..." He gulped down his dry throat, the feeling of the roughness leaving him a little more overwhelmed.
"I feel wrong." He said whils blinking in confusion, Mirae frowned.

"What do you mean by wrong? You're human, what's so wrong about it?" She asked with crossed arms.

"But I'm not human. I'm a Hybrid." He said.

"Technically, half human, so.... you're human." Mirae shrugged and felt herself tense up when given no other response. What was he thinking, exactly? Why was he so quiet all of the time?
It made her skin crawl when remembering his return into clinic and how chaotic it became.

Taehyung had a clenched jaw and was fidgeting with the tip of his wing, carefully caressing some of it's charcoal coloured feathers while staring down at his lap and eventually tracing the large bandages on where the metal collar was situated. Mirae wasn't sure  why he was doing that but at this point she didn't care, she was tired.

"Look, I'm tired. Good night." She said while adjusting herself back to a sleeping position on the couch. She closed her eyes and breathed into her soft blanket while trying to clear her head from any sort of thoughts, but the soft sound of sniffling disrupted her whole process.

Mirae groaned, "What the hell is wrong now?!" She complained while sitting back up, her blanket dropping from her face and into her lap once more.

Her brows knitted together when noticing the clear streams of tears on his cheeks, his gaze met her's and she saw his piercing blue eyes red and glistening a little in the dark. For some reason it frustrated her, she tilted her head at him and he quickly looked away.

"Taehyung." She called out coldly, he didn't really dare to move and just stayed in place as move tears began to roll down his cheeks.
Mirae sighed and took a long breathe in and massaged her temples to ground herself a little better. Taehyung couldn't help but stare at her with curiosity.

"Taehyung." She called out again this time a little softer and watched as he slowly raised his head to look at her, some strands of his black wavy hair made their way in front of his eyes. Was his hair always this long?

"Why are you crying? Is something bothering you?" She asked whilst looking down at him, he moved his wings a little closer to his face, half of his face covered by the big feathers whilst the only thing visible was his nose as it poked through.

"I... I'm not sure." He gulped.

"You're obviously hiding something. Spit it out." Mirae insisted, Taehyung clenched his jaw and hid his head deeper into the inside of his wings.

"I feel wrong... I'm sorry." He said, his voice shaky and somehow fragile, it reminded her of the first time she saw him cry.

"There's nothing to apologise for, just explain what you mean by wrong."  Said Mirae with her arms crossed over her chest.

He stayed put for a moment, and soon enough his wings moved out of the way making his face visible again.

"Well..." He hummed and looked down at his lap, "I really don't know. I'm sorry..." He sighed and brought his knees closer to his chest, "I've never felt...this...before." He mumbled.

Mirae sighed and bit the inside of her lip, she wondered if everything she was doing was even worth the money, did all of the stress and confusion actually payed off?

His eyes traced over towards her's, waiting for any sort of answer from the woman. Mirae couldn't seem to bring out words from her mouth, she wasn't quite sure how to even use them without sounding too harsh.

"Take your time." She said, rubbing one of her eyes to not fall asleep as she waited for him.
Taehyung blinked in confusion, his mouth slightly gaped open while in his train of thought before closing it again.

It was weird seeing him so vulnerable these days, from a cold expressionless hybrid to some emotional train wreck. Was she overthinking this too much? She felt guilty for feeling so negatively about everything, but at the same time she just wanted a little bit of peace from everything.

Taehyung on the other hand didn't dare to speak yet, he seemed pretty focused to try and get any words out of his throat. Mirae lookeed at the clock, 4am.

Taehyung jumped when Mirae suddenly stood up from the couch, her hair now messy and pointing to every direction possible. She reached the kitchen and grabbed some chocolate powder from the cupboard, in her own sleepy like pace she managed to make two hot chocolates and brought them back into the livingroom.

"Made you something." She said while placing the hot mug on the small table in front of the couch and close enough so that Taehyung could grab it. The vulnerable crow stared down at the mug with a gulp, feeling how dry both his mouth and throat felt.

As Mirae sipped down her hot chocolate she noticed his hesitation and awkward look, she couldn't help but chuckle at the view.
"It won't kill you, I promise." She said, suddenly his eyes widened.

"You were trying to kill me?" He said, some of his feathers ruffled upwards from the scare. Mirae couldn't help but laugh at how easily startled he got from her little joke.

"No silly!" She chuckled, "I was joking, you're okay. Just take a little sip." She shrugged before gulping another round of her mug.

Taehyung stared at the mug now sitting in his lap and wrapped under his large hands, something much weirder built up inside his stomach when he saw her laugh at him like that. But it wasn't another one of those eerie feelings he felt a few moments ago, it was something...much warmer, cozy.