House of Cards | Bulletproof book 2 | A BTS Gang AU

20: The Stars

***Mature Warning***

"So what am I supposed to call you now?"

I looked at Taehyung over the tops of the cards spread out in my hands. After a day and a half of not speaking, he had finally come into the room where I had been staying with a deck of cards and a sheepish look. I had been entirely too bored to argue with a game of cards. Or ten.

I shifted on the pillow I was using as a floor cushion. "Morgan is fine. I don't feel like Natalia."

He watched me over his own cards before laying a couple down on a stack I had just placed.

"You don't look like her, either."

"Well, that's obvious. Kinda would've given the whole thing away pretty quickly if I did."

Taehyung snorted and grabbed the bottle of shoju beside him, taking a healthy gulp before handing it to me. I took a sip and laid down some cards. We didn't say anything else for a few moments as we took turns picking up and laying down cards.

"What was Natalia like," I finally asked.

Taehyung watched me with cold eyes before speaking. "You mean - what were you like."

"I think it's best if we just pretend that girl was someone completely different. Because she was. I feel like she was just a name. I have no connection to her or her life." I bit my lip and met his eyes. "Except for you guys."

With a sigh, Taehyung leaned back on his hands, stretching his back as he did. He looked out the window for a moment, lost in thought.

"She was tough. Cold sometimes. But she was goofy, too. Playful. I loved how strong she was and how she never let things get to her. But I hated how she never seemed to take anything seriously."

Something clenched in my chest as I watched emotions wash over him. He looked adrift on a raft in a vast sea of memories.

"Did everyone love her the same?"

"No. Of course not. It was different with all of us. I think she was closest to Namjoon and Jin, but she and Jimin had something special. I think that's why he took this harder than all of us. The way he grew up was the worst out of all of us. He was raised by the state. Never knew his parents. He got beat up pretty regularly, which is why it's so hard for him to trust anyone. Natalia was the first person he ever really got close to. He didn't even really open up to us until she came along. When she died, it was like part of him died with her. We all took it hard, but him most of all. I'm not sure if they were ever together like she was with me and some of the others. To me, she seemed more like his big sister."

I let my hands fall into my lap as I looked out the windows to my left. The sun was beginning its march into the sea, bruising the sky purple and blue. Shards of orange and pink raced across the horizon in a last-ditch effort to light the heavens before night took us in its grip. Taehyung's words swam around in my head, even as he stood and walked over to the kitchen.

"Part of me wondered about you when I first saw you up on the roof of the warehouse. It was too easy. Too much of a coincidence. But then you were different, too."

"Different, how?"

My heart melted a little when a boyish grin crossed his lips. "You were cuter. Less aggressive, but still confident. You acted like you had something to prove, but you were still sweet sometimes. Natalia wasn't really sweet." When his eyes met mine, that old familiar longing sparked back to life in the pit of my stomach. "I liked that you acted like you cared. I liked how you flirted with us."

Before the air between us could blossom from a smolder to a full-blown inferno, Taehyung looked away and busied himself with cleaning the remnants of our takeout from earlier. As his words settled on me, something he said came flashing to the surface.