SCENERY / Taejin

10. New Mischief

The room went drop dead silent. The TV hummed un-importantly.

My group. My hyungs and my friends. The closest people I have for the past 7 and more years looked at me stunned.
But the most stunned among them was Jin-hyung. He stared at me mouth agape and eyes wide as saucers.

I stood silent and motionless. I kept blinking to remind myself of the situation I had just created. I was nothing less shocked than they were.

Suga-hyung was the first to respond.
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and got up. He fake yawned and stretched his arms,
"I'm gonna go to sleep." And he waddled away hurriedly.

Namjoon-hyung got the hint and almost jumped up from his seat.
"Ahhhh!" He went, " It's already 9. How late!" He dragged his lanky tall body across the others, elbowing Kook on his way but the latter remained unfazed.

"What do you mean, Taehyung??," Boomed in Jiminie. He got up from the floor and started approaching me.

"Yeah..what are you saying, Hyung?" Jungkook carefully made his step towards me too.

"Why the f are you guys so dense??," Hobi-hyung almost screamed as he pulled the two maknae away from my face and dragged them away.

"W-what?" "Wait!" "But! Tae!!"
My two best friends resisted but Hyung managed to pull them to their room.

Jin-hyung was looking at all the commotion. Any other time and he would have been rolling and laughing but his expression was blank. He had not moved from his spot on the floor.

I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out.
By now, all adrenaline had left me and a heavy cloud of dread and fear loomed over me. I bit my lips as I wait for his reaction. Any kind of reaction.

Hyung got up. His arms dangling lifelessly. Standing before me with his puzzled eyes, he looked more like a kid than a 25 year old man.

"Taehyung-ah..," he finally spoke.

I looked up timidly like a child waiting for his due punishment.

"...let's talk on the terrace."

_________

Our apartment was on the top floor and the glass doors in the living room opened up to a spacious terrace/lawn; full of grass and beautiful potted plants.

Hyung walked up to the patio table and stopped there. I stood a lil behind him, waiting.
His back turned on me, he started tapping his fingers on the table restlessly. It went from rythmic to a frenzy.

He turned around suddenly.

"Taehyung, are y...?

"No. I'm not drunk," I snapped before he could even finish asking.

"Then, did you ge..?"

"No, I did not get dumped or rejected. It's actually the other way around," I replied nonchalantly.

Hyung shook his head and murmured to himself.

"Then, are you pranking me??"

"No, I'm not. I'm serious!" It came out almost as a shout.

"Then w-what could you
p-possibly mean??" Hyung began to stutter.

He was cute even at this difficult situation.
A new rush of courage filled me and I walked closer to him.

"I meant exactly what I said. Not as a hyung or a friend."

He started to tremble as I got nearer.

"I like you."

For a moment, hyung just stared at me silently. Our eyes meeting, he look flustered and his ears went deep red. My eyes twinkled seeing that and before I could react to it, he pushed me out.

" S-stop speaking nonsense. What do you mean you l-like me like that. It's not....," He stopped mid-sentence.

"It's not what? What exactly?" I felt like provocating him.

Hyung stared at me like a kid frowning.

"Wait.. are you even gay? When we all watched those adult movies, you liked the girls!" He snapped.

That caught me by surprise. "That! That's! That's not important now!", My defense came out sputtering.

"I just know I like you. That's all. You can just say no if you don't like me. I just had to get it off my chest. It..,"
my voice lowered,
"...It was hurting."

Hyung's expression softened at this. He let out a sigh and crossed his arms.

"Taehyung-ah, but I don't think I'm gay."

Jin-hyung and I told each other everything. He's told me all about his life before we met as Bangtan too. And from all those stories, hyung has never been in a relationship. He's never expressed attraction for anyone- male or female in all the many years we've known him either.
'think' he just said. For some reason, the word ignited a new mischief in me.

I smiled wide. And I started taking slow strides towards him.

"Hyung.. do you hate me?", I asked, using my lowest and deepest voice.

"What?? No. How could I?", He was flustered again.

"Then..that means you like me?" I was face to face with him once again, my eyes penetrating his.

"Of course I do. But not in that way, you know it, Taehy..." he staggered a little.

"Then it's all good. Just give me time. I'll make you like me differently." I smiled again but tried to be sexy.

Then I turned around to leave, trying to hold in my excitement and giggle. I would have loved to look back at the dumbfounded Jin-hyung but I made my best effort to walk away fast in the coolest way I could.