rich youth | kim taehyung

chapter 7: hickeys

"Hey Joy." Jungkook met me at my locker and I said 'hi' back. Looking at his face, I could sense something was wrong.

"Did something happen between you and Sowon??"

"Wha--no...I just. Did you see Taehyung yet this morning?"

"Taehyung? No, not yet. Why?"

"Well I have A period gym with him and when we were in the locker room, I saw some...bruises...I guess you can say, on his neck and chest."

"Bruises? He didn't get into a fight, did he?" Now I was getting worried and felt like I should go find him to see if he's ok.

"It's not those kind of bruises...I meant hickeys. It's just, I've known you for a while Joy and I know you're not the type of girl to do that  sort of thing so it's obvious that another girl did that to him."

"A-are you sure you saw hickeys?" I asked in a whisper. "Maybe you saw wrong."

"Our lockers are right next to each other. I mean, I didn't try staring at him on purpose, but they were realllly obvious. I think he cheated on you."

I shook my head, trying to process what Jungkook was telling me, "I don't. I don't think..."

"What? You don't believe me? I know they were hickeys. You should ask him where he was last night."

"I was with him yesterday." I said indefinitely. Not allowing my lips with quiver with uncertainty.

"All night?"

I stayed silent and Jungkook sighed. "Look, if you don't believe me, just ask him where he was. Ask him how he got those all over his body."

[after school]

"Hey, I went to your class during lunch but you weren't there, where'd ya go?"

I gasped and pushed the arms that circled my waist without warning. I don't know why I was so scared, from the voice, I knew that it was Taehyung.

He stared at me, a little shocked. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

He shrugged and intertwined our hands, "So where were you at lunch?"

"With Sowon and Jungkook." I stared into Taehyung's eyes. Eyes that looked so kind and happy, but I let my gaze fall onto the exposed part of his neck that could not be covered by his collar. There were marks all over his neck. A dark plum color. Some were red, but they were bruises nonetheless. There were some areas that even appeared to have bite marks.

"Why do you have those on your neck?"

He tilted his head, not knowing what I was referring to.

I pointed to him, then to my own neck, "You have...hickeys all over."

"Oh god..." He quickly slapped his hand over his neck and shook his head.

"You were with someone else last night?" I really didn't want to believe Jungkook, but I guess what he was saying is true. I looked down at my shoes because I thought that the longer I looked at Taehyung, the easier it would be for my tears to fall out.

"No no no that's not what happened Joy." He grabbed my shoulders and bent his head down so that he was looking into my eyes. "It's not what you think, it's just an allergic reaction."

"An allergic reaction? From what? What could possibly do that?"

"I don't know, it must have been something I ate last night. But yeah I started breaking out in hives and rashes and I just kept scratching it. I took some medicine, so I feel a lot better now."

"R-really? But it looks like--I thought that you cheated..."

"Joy, you really think I would cheat on you?"

"No! But...when Jungkook told me that he saw those marks on you, he told me that I should ask--ahhh never mind. I'm really dumb for even thinking you would do that. I know you wouldn't. I'm sorry I accused you."

I was scared that Taehyung would be mad at me but he just laughed it off and opened his arms, "It's ok Joy. I'm not angry. Come here."

I sniffled and walked into his chest. He put his arms around me and told me it's ok, but I couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Joy," He said my name in the sweetest voice ever. "C'mon don't cry, I already said I'm not angry." He placed his hand on top of my head and moved it back and forth comfortingly.

"I accused you of something you didn't do..."

"Well...for you to be worried about something like that just shows how much you like me. And I really like you, too." He held my cheeks in his hands and didn't hesitate to kiss me. Even if there were some students walking in the halls, he didn't break the kiss. His lips were so nice and soft and I couldn't believe I could call Kim Taehyung my boyfriend.

[Taehyun's POV]

"You're looking up how to get rid of hickeys?" Joon peaked over my shoulder and shut my laptop closed.

Now that I was home, I changed into a plain shirt and the marks on my neck were a little more obvious. Joon noticed these and laughed. "Sooo I'm guessing you got pretty far with your new girlfriend?"

"These aren't from her." I slowly opened my laptop again and continued my research. "It's from some other girl last night. But Joy was suspicious that I was cheating on her."

"So that's why you didn't come home last night. You didn't even try to cover that shit up."

"I was in a rush when I got ready this morning. The whole day, I didn't notice they were there."

"You need to be more slick next time. If she breaks up with you, you have no access to her house."

"Oh, that reminds me. I stayed at her house for a while before coming here." I threw my backpack to Joon who opened it and looked impressed with the amount of money I had in there.

"You have to make sure they don't have any security cameras or else your ass is gonna get caught."

"I've already checked. There are no cameras anywhere in the house."

My phone buzzed and Joon picked it up, chuckling at it. "It's from your girlfriend. She says she misses you. What are you gonna say back?"

"I won't text her back yet, I'm busy."

"C'mon man, don't keep her waiting. She sent another text. Aw cute, it's a kissy emoji."

"It doesn't matter if I reply now or later. She'll be happy that I texted her either way."

"You're a tool."

"No seriously. I think I'm her first boyfriend and she acts like a middle schooler who thinks she's in love. I can basically do whatever I want and she'll still like me."

+

Joy's character is sometimes the type that I want to yell at and punch for making dumb decisions but then I remember that I wrote this book and idk what im doing LOL