Dream (Taehyung FF) - ON HOLD

Chapter 26

"Can we start again, babe?" he asks, his voice soft—hopeful, patient.

I swallow hard, caught in the quiet war between memory and possibility. Between everything that's broken and the terrifying hope that maybe, just maybe, something whole can still grow from it.

This man...

I was ruined by someone else. Marked in ways I still can't fully admit. And yet, here he stands—looking at me like none of it changes a thing.

So many men want their girls untouched. Pure.
Even the ones who say they'll accept your past, they always leave a warning tucked in their love. A condition. A quiet resentment.

But not Taehyung.

He still looks at me like I'm worth protecting. Like I'm still someone he wants—completely.

My chest aches. My eyes sting.

Maybe I was wrong about him.

Maybe he's not as possessive as I feared.

Maybe this kind of care... is real.

He brushes his thumb across my knuckles, slow and steady, grounding me.

And I realize—

He's not trying to erase my past.

He's offering to stand beside me while I face it.
"Babe?"

I meet his eyes, but something inside me stays locked.

I'm not ready. Not yet.

"I don't want to start any relationship right now," I say, shaking my head. "Let's just be friends... and keep in touch, Taehyung."

Disappointment flashes across his face, but he hides it behind a polite smile.

"I understand. But I really like hearing you say we'll keep in touch. If you need anything—anything at all—reach out to me, babe."

I freeze at the word. Babe. He still calls me that after I've said we're just friends.

"Why? Because I called you 'babe'?" he asks, reading my thoughts like an open book.
My eyes widen. He's right.

"Please... let me still call you that even we are just.. friends," he says softly. The word friends slips from his lips in a near whisper, as if it tastes wrong to him.

I don't answer.

"Please," he repeats.

"Oppa. Taehyung oppa!" A voice calls from behind him—high, familiar, and unwelcome.
My chest tightens. Aeri.

Panic spikes through me. There's nowhere to hide.

Before I can move, Taehyung steps in, shielding me with his body. My face nearly brushes his chest; we're so close I can hear his heartbeat.

"Oh? Who's that?" Aeri tilts her head, curiosity sharpening her gaze.

"My girlfriend," Taehyung answers without hesitation.

Her eyes widen.

"What brings you here?" he asks evenly.

"Oh, nothing—just that your manager's looking for you. You need to be in the audience, Oppa." Her smile is polite but stiff, her curiosity barely contained.

Jealousy flickers in her eyes as she glances at my figure who is shielded by Taehyung's big fugure—just a girl in a crew shirt, nothing like the high-society women in their circle.

Aeri's gaze sweeps over me, searching for something—an accessory, a nail color, anything she can use to remember me if our paths cross again. But there's nothing for her to latch onto... except my shoes.