1994.

03. RUSHED WINE

RUSHED
WINE

SHE POURED THE two of them a glass of carmine wine, hands quivering and breath a little shaken. after a minor spillage, taehyung took the bottle from her hands and finished pouring his own, placing it on the side and taking a seat at the small dining table.

raesun sat opposite him, taking small sips as she gripped the glass perhaps a little too hard, "c–can you please explain... and take it slow, please," she stuttered, starting to nibble at the skin of her thumb.

taehyung gave her a sympathetic smile; his eyes carried something, more along the lines of pity and she hated it. but, she wanted him to talk, to see if this was some sort of gibberish or something she could finally use to find the honey boy she had missed for almost a year.

"for starters, i knew some of the people jeongguk and his friends used to hang around with. my grandparents live in the same area as one of their close friends, hoseok. i'd see them all in their cars, smoking and all those things," taehyung said with a waver of his hand, "so first, i contacted him."

"how?" she asked, "how do you even have his contacts—"

"he helped me out once. long story, but in short, he gave me and hana a ride home," taehyung winced, "it was a long time ago. party gone wrong."

raesun nodded, "i'm sorry," she whispered, knowing that his friend, hana, was never going to be how she used to be. not after all this anyway.

"it doesn't matter," he shook his head, "anyway, hoseok was very reluctant in even telling me he had seen jeongguk recently. but when i offered to do him a favour, he gave in. told me jeongguk and the others went there to settle some gang business—"

"do you think that would have anything to do with me?" raesun didn't want them to chase after some sort of revenge for her — she was fine; well, far from fine but physically she was alright. she was coping with the scars, but with their disappearance, the emotional ones were very difficult in tackling.

taehyung nodded solemnly, "yes. he said that one of the gang members had shot jeongguk's girlfriend dead, and they wanted to put it all to rest," he motioned to her with a tanned hand, "when clearly, however, you're alive and breathing."

"he's so... stupid!" raesun stood from her seat, waving her empty glass in hand; she hadn't realised she had drank it all, and frowned at the sight. she took a firm grip of the bottle from the counter, filling her glass quick and downing the crimson liquid.

a fire was burning within her and she was seething.

"he sure has a death wish doesn't he?" he spoke into the stuffy atmosphere.

she turned to look at him, a grin upon her face as she rubbed the skin between her brows, "he sure fucking does."

— 雨 —