Just A Few Numbers Away

Chapter 65.5

The Reclamation

​[CONTENT WARNING] 🔞:

This chapter contains explicit sexual content and mature themes.

It also includes references to past emotional trauma, soulmate rejection, and the psychological distress of a fractured bond.

Reader discretion is advised.

***

​The moonlight shining through the window in Yoongi's apartment was a far cry from the flickering fluorescent lights of that Caffe Bene a year ago.

​Back then, the air had been thick with the smell of cheap espresso and the suffocating weight of a "Goodbye."

Tonight, the air smelled of citrus diffusers, expensive laundry detergent, and the lingering warmth of the kisses Aen had promised earlier at the mall.

​Aen was currently pinned against the soft headboard of their bed, her breath hitching as Yoongi's lips trailed a path from her jawline to the sensitive hollow of her throat.

​"Yoon..." she whispered, her hands tangling in his dark hair.

"You're being... unusually clingy tonight. Not that I'm complaining, but did something happen?"

Yoongi paused, his lips giving the sensitive skin of her pulse point one last, lingering pressure before he slowly dragged his nose along the curve of her neck.

He moved with an agonizing deliberateness, trailing his scent until he reached her ear, then finally pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against hers.

His breath was warm, and his eyes-usually so sharp and guarded-were soft with an emotion that made her heart ache.

​"Do you know what today is, Aen-ah?"

​Aen blinked, trying to clear the haze of desire from her mind.

She ran through her mental calendar.

It wasn't his birthday, it wasn't Carly's...

"It's not a comeback anniversary, and it's too early for Hobi's birthday trip... Did I miss a Yakult deadline? Or is there a new Bangtan announcement I didn't see yet?"

​Yoongi let out a low, husky chuckle, the sound vibrating against her chest.

"Typical. You've moved on so well you didn't even notice the date."

​He pulled back just enough to take her left hand in his.

He didn't look at her face; instead, he focused on her wrist.

A year ago, this wrist had been wrapped in thick white gauze, a physical manifestation of her rejection.

​He remembered the confusion, the uneasiness that had settled in his chest as he watched her walk away in that beige uniform.

He could still recall the absolute silence of the cafe after she left, leaving him alone at a small wooden table.

​"One year ago today," Yoongi murmured, his thumb stroking the '0' on her skin.

"You told me that I deserved someone better. You told me to pretend we were strangers if we ever met on the street."

​Aen froze.

The memory rushed back-the searing pain of the soulmate rejection, the tears she cried on the floor of her old apartment with Angel, and the crushing belief that she was a "disappointment" to his perfect world.