Bittersweet • taetzukook •

•20•

And by the time I realised it,

I was wrapped in Taehyung-ssi's arms.

•••

Taehyung's P.O.V

I wrap my arms around her shoulders as her body obediently leans against mine.

I could hear my heart thumping inside my chest.

Or was it hers?

Breathing heavily, I catch my breath from the miles I just ran.

I was supposed to get here earlier, but I got lost.

I mentally curse myself for that.

The thought of something happening if I arrived late, made me afraid.

Inhaling a large breath of fresh air to calm myself down, I accidentally take in her scent.

She smelt sweet... yet not too sweet where it's intoxicating. 

It was something that you can't ever find within the Bangtan dorm.

Remembering to exhale out slowly through my mouth, her body shivers slightly.

"...U-uh.." mutters Tzuyu-ssi softly.

My ears pick up on her quiet voice from our close proximity.

Immediately pulling my body away from hers, we both look at each other in shock.

Letting go of her shoulders, I step back into a respectable distance as idols.

"Mianhamnida," I apologise to her with a slight bow, "I was, uh..." I say as a tingling heat starts to rise to my ears in embarrassment.

I'm not too sure why I had to hug you either.

"N-no, it's okay," replies Tzuyu-ssi with a similar bow.

Lifting my head up, I noticed the faint tear streaks on her face from a while back, along with her puffy red eyes.

"Were you crying?" I ask her straightforwardly in concern.

Was it possibly the political scandal? Was it because of Jungkook?

As Tzuyu-ssi twists her face away from me, I tilt my face along with hers. Catching her eyes as they look down into mine, Tzuyu-ssi silently evades the question as she looks towards the bench.

Moving towards Jungkook in a hurried manner, I quickly touch his forehead to check his temperature.

He was burning up.

"Let's quickly head back to the BTS dorm so Jungkook can rest. I'll lead the way," I say to Tzuyu-ssi, as I bent down to lift up Jungkook.

Putting both of her hands up in a 'no' gesture, Tzuyu-ssi shows her uncomfortableness with the idea.

"It's okay... I'll head back to Twice's dorm-" says Tzuyu-ssi with a tight smile as she intertwines her own hands together.

Giving her another glance, I had forgotten that she was an idol too. This situation would've been sudden for anyone.

But I'm not going to let her walk back alone in the middle of the night.

If she gets recognised, or if something happens...

"No," I say instantly with a shake of my head.

Looking back at me with her large eyes, Tzuyu-ssi stands still in front of me as the moon shines down at us. Not knowing what to do with herself, she slightly bites her lips together.

"You'll be safer walking to BTS's dorm with me. It's too dangerous." I tell Tzuyu-ssi in concern as I look into her eyes.

I turn around immediately without hearing her reply.

It's hard for me to speak properly when you stare at me like that..

"Oh... okay.." responds Tzuyu-ssi quietly.

I soon realise that I hadn't made it into a question, but more of a command.

Squatting down, I hoist Jungkook onto my back with the help of Tzuyu-ssi.

Once I was stable with Jungkook on my back, I send Tzuyu-ssi a small smile.

"Let's go," I say to her, as I start walking in the direction of our dorm. Making sure to glance back every few minutes to make sure she was following, and safe.

"W-wait. Taehyung-ssi," She calls from behind me.

Turning around to look at her, Tzuyu-ssi easily strides towards me.

As she stops closely in front of me, before I could say anything, Tzuyu-ssi pulls out a black face mask from her pocket.

Leaning up towards my face, I could feel her fingers brush against my ears as she hooks the elastic strings of the mask onto my face.

My eyes just wanted to flutter shut.

I felt weak in that moment.

Keeping my gaze on her the entire time, Tzuyu-ssi didn't seem to understand exactly what she was doing to me.

As the face mask rests against the bottom half of my face fittingly, I'm glad that it masked any emotion that I was actually feeling.

Tzuyu-ssi looks at my face mask with a small smile on her face, like a proud mother would.

My lips twitched.

As her eyes flicker back up to look into mine, I continue to gaze at her with nothing registering in my head except for this moment.

Watching as her face freezes upon eye contact, her smile drops.

A tint of pink sneaks onto her face, but before I could see it properly Tzuyu-ssi turns and starts to walk away from me.

I stay standing there, trying to grasp what had just happened. Whether it was my imagination or not, a small smile makes its way onto my face.

"Do you know the way?" I yelled from afar playfully, knowing there was no way she knew where we lived.

Without turning around to look at me, or even answer me. Tzuyu-ssi stops in her tracks.

With a small chuckle, I catch up from behind her. Making sure to have a stable grip on Jungkook.

As I walk past her, I slightly lean into her ear without looking at her.

"Thanks," I whispered.

Walking a step in front of her to guide her to our dorms, I couldn't help but have a small smile on my face.

Thank god for the mask.

•••

Happy Lunar New Years (: