FELT // taegi

28

Later that evening, with his steps as bouncy as ever, Taehyung made his way down the hallway of Yoongi's apartment complex.

He hummed a soft melody to himself, one of the many songs he had learned to play for Yoongi on the piano.

He continued to hum the song as he knocked on the door twice and unlocked it. But as he began to enter, his humming stopped.

The usually quiet and dark apartment was suddenly lit up and filled with voices.

Taehyung noticed two pairs of shoes by the door; they must've been Seokjin and Namjoon's.

Since when do they visit Yoongi while he is here? Taehyung thought to himself as he kicked his own shoes off and made his way down the hallway, following the loud laughter and chatter.

''Yoongi?'' He called out as he made his way to the living room, the source of all the loud chatter.

The room went quiet just as Taehyung stepped inside. Three out of four people looked up to inspect who had just entered the room.

''Oh Tae!'' Namjoon was the first to greet him with a smile.

''You're early, Yoongi said you were coming over for dinner.'' Seokjin greeted him as well.

''It's seven...'' Taehyung's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his gaze flickered between the two silent males.

One sitting on the sofa, trying his best to hide his face by bowing his head; and the other sitting in a wheelchair, staring directly at Taehyung as if he had just fallen through the ceiling.

''Who's this?'' Finally, the man in the wheelchair spoke up as he pointed at Taehyung.

''My question exactly.'' Taehyung replied, although he was beginning to have an idea who the unknown visitor was.

''Jung Hoseok.'' The male introduced himself as he extended his hand out for Taehyung to shake.

Although Taehyung wished for nothing more but to roll Hoseok out of the apartment, he still walked over to him and shook his hand; not wanting to come off as rude.

''Kim Taehyung.''

''Nice to meet you... What are you doing here?''

''What I do every day... I'm here to see Yoongi.'' Taehyung force a smile to his lips.

''Oh...'' Hoseok nodded lightly, his gaze flickered over to Yoongi then back to Taehyung. ''Are you... Some type of nurse or... Did they hire you to come help Yoongi around?''

''No.'' Taehyung replied in a flat tone, trying his best not to smirk at Hoseok's expression.

Seokjin and Namjoon stayed completely silent, too afraid to speak up and get in the way. Seokjin nudged Yoongi's side lightly as in to warn him to do something, but Yoongi remained frozen in fear.

He didn't need to have his vision to know how tense the atmosphere was. He could feel it.

''So...'' Hoseok spoke up again. He tried his best to conceal his shocked expression with a polite smile and a chuckle, but he was failing miserably. ''Why... exactly are you here then?''

''Why are you?''

''I've just been released from the hospital, so I wanted to come see Yoongi.''

''Oh... So you're the person that was driving on the night of the car accident.'' Taehyung spoke in the fakest cheerful tone he could muster. ''Drunk may I add.''

''Tae...'' Seokjin murmured, trying his best to compose himself after his jaw almost fell to the ground.

''Yoongi's told me a lot about you.'' Taehyung's smile only grew faker; it was starting to appear almost wicked.

''He has...'' Hoseok tried his best to keep up the smile; but it was quite obvious that he was doing everything in his power to not snap at Taehyung for the way he was behaving.

''Yeah...'' Taehyung nodded his head. The fake smile completely disappeared and replaced with a cold glare. ''And I made myself a promise to never be such a piece of shit as you were to him.''

''Watch it.'' Hoseok snapped.

''No you watch it!'' But Taehyung snapped right back. ''Why are you here? What makes you think, you can just come here after all the shit you've caused him?!''

''Taehyung that's enough.'' Namjoon stood up from his seat and made his way over to the male.

''No, who's idea was it to bring him here?''

''That doesn't matter right now.'' Seokjin added. ''Can you please calm down a bit?''

''How can I be calm when this piece of shit is right there, acting all innocent like he never did anything wrong in his entire fucking life!'' Taehyung shouted as he pointed over at Hoseok. ''I know exactly what you did!''

''Taehyung, enough!'' The entire room went quiet as Yoongi finally raised his voice.

Unable to take any more of the yelling, he stood up from the couch and tried to find his way over to Taehyung.

The said male instantly rushed over to Yoongi to take his hand and cup his cheek with his free hand. Seokjin, Namjoon and Hoseok all observed the pair. It was almost plausible how fast Yoongi managed to get Taehyung in check.

''Can we please talk out in the hallway... Alone...'' Yoongi murmured as he gripped tightly onto Taehyung's hand. He felt Taehyung press a kiss to his forehead before moving his hand from Yoongi's cheek to his waist to guide him out of the living room.

''Why did you let him come here?'' Taehyung questioned the second they entered Yoongi's bedroom.

''I didn't, they showed up this morning because Hoseok wanted to talk to me.'' Yoongi sighed in reply.

''He's been here all day? What the hell did he want to talk about?''

''He wanted to apologize...''

''A sorry won't fix what happened.''

''I know that.''

''Then why is he still here?''

''Because I'm letting him be here.''

''What?'' Taehyung almost shouted.

''I don't expect you to understand...'' Yoongi sighed. ''But I can't just let go of all those years so easily.''

''So you're taking him back?!''

''I-I never said that.'' Yoongi shook his head, tears beginning to build up in his eyes. ''Can you please stop shouting...'' Taehyung didn't reply, knowing he'd do just that. ''I listened to his apology, talked through what went wrong... I-I may not love him as a lover anymore, b-but I can't just ignore his existence from now on. Six years is a very long time to be in love...''

''What are you trying to say with this?'' Taehyung replied in the calmest tone he could muster.

''I'm sorry... But I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here right now... Can we please talk about it all tomorrow... When we're alone...''

Taehyung didn't reply.

He just stared at the male standing in front of him. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration, his eyes sparkled due to all the tears he was holding back and his hands were completely white due to how hard he was holding onto Taehyung's hand.

''Tae...?'' Yoongi called out for him, but he didn't answer.

Instead, Taehyung pried his hand free and walked out of the room. He rushed down the hallway, ignoring Yoongi's voice calling out for him. He couldn't listen to him. He couldn't listen to his words anymore; he knew far too well what Yoongi meant to say.

He refused to be the second choice again.