Gio's texts had significantly dwindled in the past two days. Even though Taehyung still tried to keep the conversation going, he was the last person in the planet she wanted to talk to: she felt played. She went as far as to ignore his texts for an entire day, when before, she would reply in a matter of two hours, at most- even when she was meant to be sleeping or at work. Maybe that was why, on Monday night, as she left work, he ambushed her, much to her surprise.
"What the- what are you doing here?" she jumped, as Taehyung rolled the window of the car he was driving. Gio did not know as much about cars as her brother, who wasted too much time memorizing models and their special features, but she knew enough to know it was a luxury car, one that would not be easily found at a regular car rental place.
"I wanted to know if you were okay," he said.
Oh, look at the little lamb playing innocent, Gio thought. Perhaps he knew that she had seen him in action with that other girl and he was trying to do damage control- needless to say, that was not exactly going according to plan.
"That's creepy. Let me have space when I need it," Gio told him dryly. She wanted him to get the message: she was done.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. If there's anything bothering you I just wish you would tell me."
"No, there's nothing between us. I realize you might be more into casually dating multiple people at once- which is fine- but I'm more into exclusivity."
"Exclusivity?" He asked, surprised, "I'm sorry, I saw you at the movies this past Wednesday: you were there with another guy!"
"My brother, Taehyung!" Gio shouted, "my stupid big brother."
"Oh."
"Yeah, that's right, 'oh.' You were there with another girl too."
"That's a little more complicated, Gio- I can't-" she cut him off.
"I don't care, you can date as many people as you want as long as you don't drag me into your little harem."
"It's not that," he cleared his throat, "I don't even know her name. We have a different type of relationship."
"You took a hooker to the movies?" Gio asked, digusted, "That's sick."
"No," he said, quickly surveying the surroundings, "I can explain everything if you get in the car."
"What's your plan, are you trying to kidnap me?"
"Trust me?"
She did not want to answer that question. She walked over to the passenger's side and opened the door to get in. The car was awfully low so she accidentally hit her forehead on the door.
"I'm fine," she told him as soon as she got in, but in all honesty, she knew she would wake up with a nasty bruise the following morning. Gio had to choose whether she would tell her mom the truth or that she got into a street fight. Both were equally bad options.
"You're bleeding," Taehyung pointed out, wiping the blood off of her forehead. Without thinking, he had moved his face in extremely close to hers, and surprisingly, she had not complained. His hot breath warmed up her face, numbed by the cold of the night outside, and it felt nice. The moment was right, so Taehyung decided to lean in to kiss her again, for the first time since that fateful night at Cloudy's. His lips were soft and comfortably warm, they made her feel at home like a nice cup of hot chocolate and a yarn blanket in the middle of a snow storm. Gio did not want to push him away, but she knew she had to: she had to be strong.
"What were you going to tell me?" she asked.
"First, let me drive somewhere else," he said, setting the car in motion.
