Temporals

10. The Lovers

Namjoon had lost even the slightest bit of interest in the rest of the world at that moment. When Rae quickly paid Aura for the Attan napkin holder and stormed out of the curio shop, his only instinct was to do the same. Her head hung low when they walked towards the car, locks of her straight, dark hair concealing her face from him.

"Did.. did something happen back there?" Namjoon mustered up a hell lot of courage before asking that.

"I mean.." he continued when she did not answer. "I know you have been upset since morning, and.. rightfully so. But I thought you were feeling better?"

"I was." she nodded and finally looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot red and tears streamed down her cheeks - it broke Namjoon's heart into too many pieces.

An electric panic raced through his body and instinctively, his hand went to and clutched hers on her lap. A frown arched over his eyes and a similar misery as hers washed over him.

"He had tweeted about it in the morning," Rae informed, in between her sobs. "He practically invited the press to ruin this day for me and Dakota."

She sniffed, her lips twitching and getting sucked in between her teeth. Namjoon took away his hand and caressed her red ear.

"He didn't have any right to," he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "But.."

His words got stuck at the base of his throat, when Rae crashed into the side of his body. She had seen the hand near her ear as an opening and took the opportunity. Namjoon slowly placed his hovering hand on her shoulder and gripped it to comfort her while she continued to sob.

"Don't let him spoil the rest of the day, Rae," he spoke in a succouring voice. "It's Dakota's day. You gotta stay strong for her, no?"

"I can't. I can't. I'm so done worrying about everything and everyone. What do I get in return? I.. I'm so tired. I just want.. I want to be coddled for a change. I don't see anybody volunteering for that!"

"I'd do it," he said. What came over him, only the clouds knew. He palmed her arm in reassuring strokes and spoke, "I'd coddle you any day."

Rae wiped her cheeks and nose and rose her head. "What about your lover?" She asked, her eyes fleeting between holding his stare and oogling at his plump, beautiful lips.

Namjoon took a few seconds before speaking. "What about her?"

"They're a she?"

He sighed and looked away. A glint of red spread all over his cheeks and neck and ears as he let her stare at him. "Yes," he whispered, trying too hard to not let it out. "But her being anywhere near shouldn't interfere with me coddling a close friend of mine, right?"

Namjoon thought he had made a superlative sarcastic remark. He looked back at her with a smirk, but before he could say anything more, she pulled his face against hers, and kissed him. Their hands rested awkwardly over each other, her mouth opening up for him, their tongues swirling - a little too passionate for a first kiss. Even if he was taken aback at first, it was hard to tell anymore.

His heart fluttered like the wings of a caged bird, trying to escape through this long-awaited release of passion and love. He wanted to stop, something nudged at the back of his brain, telling him this was wrong, that this was not how it should have been but he could not stop. He had waited for so long, a little indulgence seemed fair to him.

She was on an otherworldly plane, her lips smacking against his in a rhythm that had the potential to rid her of all her worries. Her fingers nested through his hair, pulling at each follicle she could fit between them. She was thankful for the privacy partition in the car hiding her from the rest of the world; she knew she must look so needy and desperate for Namjoon's affection, she wouldn't have been able to look anyone straight in the eyes anymore.