Speeding Into Trouble || Taekook

39

The morning sun slipped through the curtains in soft, golden threads, draping the room in a fragile warmth that felt almost too delicate for the weight in Taehyung's chest.

He stirred first, eyelids fluttering open to a haze of quiet light and the faint sound of Jeongguk's breathing beneath him—steady, deep, and oblivious to the storm outside their little cocoon.

For a long moment, Taehyung simply lay there, his cheek pillowed against Jeongguk's chest, feeling the slow thump of his heartbeat, memorizing it as though he could keep it with him when the world came to take everything else away.

His gaze drifted to Jeongguk's face—so calm, so impossibly gentle in sleep—and the smallest smile tugged at his lips.

Memories of last night flickered in his mind: the heat of Jeongguk's hands, the tremble in his own voice when he said yes, the ring now circling his finger like a vow carved into eternity.

I'm his fiancé. His.

The thought made something inside him swell, warm and full... yet almost immediately, that warmth met the cold, jagged edge of another name. Kang.

The memory was a bruise that throbbed even in stillness—hands that had threatened to break him, eyes that had stripped him bare of safety.

But Jeongguk had rewritten that night, stolen the fear from its grasp and replaced it with something fierce and beautiful. Taehyung wanted to live in that rewritten memory forever.

And yet...

His chest tightened with a slow, creeping dread. This might be the last time I see him.

The thought was an uninvited shadow, stretching long and sharp through the sunlight. His parents would know by now.

His father's wrath was not something the world could soften, and Taehyung could almost feel the noose tightening—not around his neck, but around his life.

Still, when he looked at Jeongguk, some stubborn ember inside him refused to die. Even if my father kills me... at least I won't die unseen. At least I found someone who would tear the world apart before letting me be hurt again.

A faint tremor moved through him as he leaned down, brushing his lips to Jeongguk's forehead. The kiss was soft, but it held a thousand unsaid things: thank you, I'm yours, I'm sorry, I'm not ready to leave you.

"If anything happens..." his voice was a fragile whisper, barely breaking the morning silence, "just know that... I love you."

The words lodged in his throat, heavy with both finality and release. He lingered, his lips hovering over Jeongguk's skin, drinking in the way he looked in this fragile hour—peace painted over every line of his face, utterly unknowing of the storm Taehyung was about to walk into.

He straightened slowly, his chest aching, his fingers twitching with the urge to wake Jeongguk and beg him to hold him just once more. But instead, he let his eyes take one last, unbroken look.

This image—Jeongguk bathed in sunlight, breathing steadily, wearing the faintest crease of a dream between his brows—was something Taehyung swore to carry into whatever darkness waited.

The door clicked softly behind him as he stepped out into the morning. The sunlight beyond felt harsher now, too bright for the knot of dread inside him.

But with every step, he clung to one truth—their love was not fragile. It was fire. And even if the day ended in ruin, he would face it knowing that for one perfect night, he had been wholly, irrevocably, loved.

⸻

The street outside his family's estate was unnervingly quiet, but the house itself blazed with light. Every window glowed like an accusation.