Love maze | taehyung x reader

8

"So," I said, my mouth full of food. "What prompted that? I mean, like how come all of a sudden you decided to tell me about this?"

About an hour later, we were sitting on the edge of the path in the garden, next to a little fountain with no water in it. Tae and I had filled our plates with the delicious food and then escaped from the hall through a back exit to come sit outside. 

His mood had improved considerably since we started eating, and he was almost back to his normal chirpy self.

"Well, you obviously weren't paying attention to my client conversation, y/n." Before I could open my mouth to say anything, he continued. "I closed the deal, and once I had, Choi told me that I'm just like my dad." He didn't sound bitter or upset, just resigned to the fact. 

"It comes in waves, you know. Sometimes I think that there's no point trying to fight it, and it doesn't seem so bad. But other times..." his voice trailed off. "I mean, there's no problem with being like my dad, he's a great guy. I don't mean to be disrespectful or thankless for everything he's given me, but I just don't want to be him, you know what I mean? I want to be a regular kid for a while, and maybe later-" he stopped abruptly, as if embarrassed. 

"Maybe later, if I have a family, I want to be there for them. I don't want my kids to grow up not even knowing me. And I mean, I don't know how my parents would react to this, but maybe the real reason that I haven't told them yet is that some part of me wants to be recognised as their son, as someone who they're proud of."

He looked up at me and smiled apologetically, and yet again I was struck by how wrong I was about him. I had thought that he had left the boys for his own interests, and thought that he was a selfish person, but after all this time, it turned out that he wasn't doing all of this because he wanted to.

The wind blew around us and I shivered a little. I hadn't realised how cold I was, completely ignoring the goosebumps rising on my arms and legs.

"Shit," he pulled off his black jacket. "Here. Chivalry is not dead." He handed it to me and I pulled it over myself gratefully. It did almost nothing for the cold, but the gesture warmed up my heart, and I wasn't going to tell him that his chivalrous gesture was not so useful after all. 

He stuffed the remaining food in his mouth, and picked up the plates and cutlery we had brought with us. Standing up, he walked over to a room service cart with a bunch of used plates in it. Leaving our dishes there as well, he walked back to me, and I got up to leave. 

Suddenly remembering, I pulled out my phone to check if Rina had updated me every half hour. I hadn't even looked, but still. Until forty minutes ago, she had kept her promise, with alternating texts of 'food' and 'video games'. 

I glanced at the time. It was ten. Had we really been here for three hours? It had felt like one, or one and a half, tops. How had so much time passed by?

"Hey, you wanna go somewhere?" Tae's voice jolted me back to reality. "There's a place I used to go with the boys when we were younger, I think you'll like it."

"What, at this time?" I usually stayed home after dark, so being out this late made me a bit uncomfortable. But then again, this was Tae. It'd be fine with him. He had sense, and I knew he wouldn't take me anyplace that could be even mildly shady. "Um..."

"I'm taking that as a yes." He led me back to the front doors of the hotel and his chauffeur arrived there to pick us up within a minute. He leaned forward and said something to the driver while I was getting back into the car, and then slid in beside me. 

He pulled out his phone and scooted closer to me. It took me a second to realise that he was taking a selca. I moved closer to him and wrapped my arm over his shoulder and he did the same for me. In the picture, I was smiling tentatively, but his boxy smile was the same as ever. I grabbed his phone and sent it to myself before I forgot, so I could use it in some collage or the other.