the rules of love and war.

12

"So what exactly happened yesterday?" Chaeyoung asked, lounging back against my couch. Her eyes were focused on the television that Hoseok was lazily channel surfing through. But despite their inattentiveness, I knew what they were referring to - the "adventure" that Jungkook and I went on to find my boyfriend.

I shrugged and curled my legs under me. "Nothing really, we couldn't find him." I lied blatantly. "I'm sure he's okay though." Neither of them responded, making it slightly easier to lie to their faces. After all, there had to be a reason why Taehyung never told us he had an older brother who lived twenty minutes away. If he didn't tell me and seemingly never wanted me to find out, then it wasn't up to me to tell our two best friends.

"What about you and Jungkook?" Chaeyoung continued casually. "Did either of you try to kill each other?"

I paused for a moment, thinking about what had happened between Jungkook and me, and not just the arguing. I was still reeling from how conscious he was of my reactions and emotions and how little Taehyung seemed to be aware of how I was feeling. But that wasn't the most baffling part of the day.... It was that moment in the parking lot when I found myself unable to breathe with him only a few inches away.

"Lisa? You okay?" I heard Hoseok ask. I looked back over at them and realized that my lack of response made both of them turn their attention away from the television screen. They had their eyes on me, the concern written all over their faces.

I gave them a fake smile, a smile I knew anyone would be able to see straight through. I wasn't in the mood to discuss any of this with anyone and my friends couldn't seem to realize that. "Honestly, everything's okay. You can stop worrying about it. It'll all be over before you know it."

We all fell into silence after that, only the sound of my mother bustling around in the kitchen was heard over the television noise. I heard someone knocking at the front door, but none of us moved in that direction. The knocking persisted, resulting in my mother grumbling under her breath as she rushed to answer the door. "Oh, hello Taehyung!" The sound of her greeting my boyfriend brought chills down my spine as the three of us immediately straightened. Had Taehyung finally decided to return to normalcy after the past week of complete and utter insanity?

My eyes were glued to the wall that hid the front door from my view. Was he going to come inside or was he just going to give my mother a message to pass on to me? I knew Chaeyoung and Hoseok were staring at me just as intensely, but I paid no heed to them. My heart jumped when I heard the door slam shut. Taehyung suddenly came into view, his hair disheveled. "All of you guys are here?" he asked, even though he was staring only at me.

"Yeah, but we can go." Hoseok said, standing up and throwing his jacket over his shoulder. "Let's go Chaeyoung."

"No, don't go." He said, slowly making his way over to me. "You guys should stay for this." Taehyung sank down next to me, grabbing both of my hands to pull me towards him. I automatically moved closer to him, letting myself sink into his hold. His arm went around my shoulder, pulling me into his chest. I sighed, knowing that it'd been so long since we were like this. Sadly, I couldn't be sure how long this moment would last before shit blew up yet again. The feeling of his lips kissing the top of my head was something I could not ignore, and something that I had craved for so long. Yet at the same time, no matter how right it felt, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable in his hold. "I really fucked things up, didn't I?" I heard him say.

I couldn't see his face as he spoke, but I had no problems with that. I knew I was flip-flopping about my relationship with Taehyung, but this moment of intimacy was all I ever wanted. I craved the normalcy we once had, even if Jungkook was somehow still in our lives. As far as I was concerned, the tense moments shared between the two escalated only very recently, and reached a near-erupting point when I chose to step in, without Taehyung's consent. I had no heart to break the connection that I'd been hoping for, not yet at least, even though I knew it was best for my sanity if I left Taehyung.