"Looks like I'm your muse," Taehyung chirped, not breaking his stare.
"You wish," you said before turning away from him. He chuckled. You knew this was going to be a long and exhausting semester, but part of you was kind of glad.
You knew it was wro...
"Can you just pose the way I told you? I know what's going to look good, okay? This isn't my first portrait, and if you cooperate, it won't be my last," the words tasted bitter on your tongue, but Taehyung was continuing to irritate you. You couldn't hold your irritation back any longer. You'd been trying to take the photo now for about fifteen minutes, and he was acting contrary to every direction you gave him.
"I don't think you understand the assignment. It's supposed to be about me after all, not the me that you want me to be," he insisted.
"What is that supposed to mean?" you barked.
"It's obvious that you have absolutely no notion about who I actually am." His words were quite cold and frankly distasteful.
"I have grown up with you constantly around. How could you say that I don't know you?" You pulled the camera away from your eye as you were certain that no photo was being taken anytime soon.
"Because you don't." He laid his back down on the ground, covering his eyes with his arm from the sun. "I'm not really sure anyone does at this point." There was a certain softness to his voice, it kind of trailing off as he continued to speak. You were still irritated by his attitude but decided to give him a chance to redeem himself.
"Okay then," you started, having taken a seat cross-legged next to him. He looked up toward you, eyes squinting because of the sunlight. "Explain to me who you are. I want to know what you want me to understand about you. Please, spit away."
He sighed, then looked back up at the sun.
"I guess I'd like to say I'm not complicated, but I surely am. I'd like to be a simple man. Things just got a little too far beyond my control. Everyone sees me as this, you know, 'player' kind of type. Maybe it's true. Maybe I use girls to 'get what I want' but people don't ever really think of the possibility that maybe I don't. Maybe there is something beyond the rumors people spread. Perhaps, the other side of the story."
You could sense that the words felt like venom to him, like he hated saying them, hated admitting them. This was a side of him that was foreign to you. A side that was confused. A side that was struggling. All of the contempt for him that had been brewing in you all throughout the day suddenly subsided.
An idea suddenly popped into your head.
"Alright, so I know this is possibly a little rude and invasive... but would you mind if I took a picture of you right now?"
He was somewhat surprised by your request. He thought about it for a second, before nodding in agreement.
"He wants the real me. The raw Taehyung. The Taehyung I know, well, this is part of him. Part of him is angry. Most of him is misunderstood."
You had stood up while he was talking to start adjusting the angle and the settings to work against the harsh sunlight. When he had finally closed his mouth and turned his head slightly away from the camera, you snapped the photo.
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