Taehyung

My eyes flick to look at Maya, and she's already looking at me, and as much as I want to tell her to resume playing the movie, I also hold back, not wanting to seem too obviously curious and horny.

"I think I'll be heading to bed now. Do you want to watch something?" She asks, extending the remote control to me.

"No, I think I might want to get to bed too. I'll leave now," I answer softly.

I might want to get laid too.

"Why do you want to leave?" Maya asks me.

My eyes widen, and my heart races at her question.

What does she mean?

"There's a guest bedroom upstairs, you can sleep there," she states coolly and smiles at me as she replaces her legs on the coffee table with the remote control after turning off the TV.

"Maya..." I turn to sit facing her, and she turns around too, folding her legs and tucking them beneath her body. "Aren't you going to ask me why I was looking for a hotel to stay at?" I ask her, which only earns me a small smile from her.

"I won't, unless you yourself want to tell me about it," she shakes her head a bit and removes the hair tie that's holding her hair together, hooking her hair out of the hood and ruffling it thereafter.

"How are you okay with me spending the night here?" My tone deepens as I slightly tilt my head and quirk a brow at her, clasping my hands and bringing them to rest on my lap.

"I stay alone, and you are welcome to stay here for as long as you want. But bring along some change of clothes next time because my clothes might not fit you," she shrugs and chuckles casually, leaning a bit towards me and slapping my thigh in a playful manner.

Alone? No boyfriend too? But she's wearing a ring, not one that looks like a wedding ring or an engagement ring. Just a plain gold ring which I have no idea why, and she hasn't mentioned anything about anyone else in her life.

But I don't think too much before I accept her offer, mainly because I could save the cost of staying at a hotel.

"Thank you so much, Maya. And I won't trouble you anymore. Just tonight, and then I'll figure things out," I thank her with a small bow of my head.

"Taehyung, as I said, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you wish. Don't worry, I don't bite or anything, and my home is relatively clean, right?" She winks and gets up from the couch, and I notice that her shorts have ridden up a little higher than before and is covering just the bare minimum, but by no means am I complaining.

She quickly pulls down the hem of her zip-up hoodie, and it almost entirely covers up the micro shorts that she's wearing.

Maya most definitely wasn't expecting me here tonight, and she is just wearing what she's comfortable in, not making it too awkward for us by suddenly changing into something else more modest just because I'm here.

"Your home is super clean and very warm and pretty. I love it here," I declare, standing up and picking up my toothbrush and toothpaste from the coffee table, leaving my wallet and phone to stay there for the night.

Maya chuckles softly.
"So then, stay here, okay?" She playfully punches my bicep, earning a huge grin from me.

For a long while now, I actually forgot why I am where I am right now. Her presence, understanding nature and kindness just made me forget about everything else in life.

Maya climbs up the stairs ahead of me, and I follow her as she guides us upstairs and turns on the lights in the hallway before opening the door to a room on our left. She then turns on the lights inside the room which looks nothing like a guest bedroom.

It is huge, exactly like a master bedroom, and it has everything inside. In fact, the entire house seems too big for a woman who lives alone, but questioning that would be too impolite of me.

"Wow, this is your guest bedroom? It is too big for me," I exclaim with raised eyebrows and a pout which gives away how surprised I am right now.

"This room is a replica of the master bedroom right beneath it. There's also a smaller bedroom here, but I'm using it for storage, and it isn't in a state where you can sleep inside it," she proceeds to pick out a comforter that matches the bedding set and places it on the bed for me to use.

"How do I even thank you for all this? You're being too nice to me," I walk up closer to her, earning a smile from her.

"Why do you have to thank me?" She turns around to look at me and her eyes stay glued to mine for a few seconds, making me swallow thickly, and my stomach twists.

Damn! Something must be wrong with my eyes because I'm just not able to stop looking at her.

"I'll be in the room below, and don't hesitate to ask me anything, okay?" Her smile makes my heart warm, and I nod in response, giving her a smile of my own.

She then walks away wishing me good night and softly shutting the door behind her.

A heavy sigh leaves my lips as I tear my gaze from the closed door to look at the big bed in front of me.

It looks inviting, warm and super comfortable, but I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to sleep well, given how shitty my day has been.

Walking into the bathroom, I inaugurate my new toothbrush and toothpaste and brush my teeth, and then I wash my face before stepping out of the bathroom.

I turn off the lights and lie down facing the ceiling in a corner of the bed and fold my arms under my head to ponder about my disoriented thoughts and my directionless life.

What am I doing with my life? What do I do about the resignation? I have to revoke it and try for more new jobs at the same time.

What should I do about Jang-Mi? Areum still doesn't know that I left the house. How do I tell her?

Sighing, I turn to one side and try to close my eyes, but right now, I feel so confused, lonely and unloved, and I feel as if I need to talk to someone who would listen to me.

Would Maya be awake still? I bet not. She must have slept.

Should I send the revocation email right now? Sounds good.

It's just now that I remember leaving my phone in the living room, and I get out of bed to go and fetch my phone. Descending the stairs, I rake a hand through my hair as I traverse the darkness and reach the bottom of the stairs.

But just as I walk past Maya's bedroom, I notice that the lights in her room are on, and she hasn't closed the door fully either.

Should I check on her?

I think for a few seconds before I lightly knock on her door and call out for her.

"Maya, it's me, Taehyung," I speak in a low volume through the small creak in the door.

"Hey, come in," she says from inside, and I open the door a little wider before stepping into her room, my eyes taking in the interior of the room.

She didn't lie. This room looks exactly like the one that I was lying in. Even the cute cherry blossom printed bedding set matches in both the bedrooms. Everything looks just the same, except that she is present in this room and not in mine.

"You couldn't sleep?" She asks me, sliding out of bed and taking a step closer to me, but we're still a few feet apart.

"Yeah, and I came down to get my phone, but then I saw the lights in your room were on, and I thought of checking on you," I tell her the truth.

"Come, sit," she points to her bed with a small smile, and I send a tight-lipped smile her way before I sit down at the edge of the bed, and she sits down too, close to me on my left.

Unlike me, Maya is extremely cool and calm tonight as opposed to how nervous she was on the reunion night.

"This room is exactly the same as the one above," I look around from my seat, having no idea why I'm suddenly so nervous and making senseless small talk, and I can already feel the sweat in my palms.

"I told you," she laughs softly and then she turns her head a bit to the side to look at my face. "Is something troubling you?" Maya asks after a short pause that is filled in only by the sounds of our breathing.

"Kind of," I nod, letting my gaze drop to my intertwined fingers resting on my lap, and then her gaze lands there too.

She gently untangles my fingers and takes my left hand in her right hand, holding it softly and stroking the back of my hand in delicate movements.

The soft gesture causes my tense shoulders to relax in an instant.

"You can talk to me if you feel like it," our eyes lift to meet at the same time.

Maya rests our joined hands on her thigh, and I swear that contact made me feel a jolt of electric current within my nerves.

"I'm having a hard time living up to everyone's expectations of me. I'm not as perfect as I am expected to be," I let out sadly, my eyes unable to look into hers.

Maya exhales while she softly pats my hand that now rests on her smooth thigh.

"Nobody is perfect, Taehyung. And being real is way more attractive than being perfect, agree?" Her question makes me look into her eyes, and I give her a small, sad smile.

"Nothing is working out in life," my tone is laced with frustration, and she sighs deeply, humming a little in understanding.

"You should trust in timing. Everything happens for a reason, and things also happen only when they are supposed to, and not when we want them to," Maya speaks in a comforting manner, and her words are so wise and considerate, yet brutally true.

"I know," I agree in a low tone while she brings her fingers to lightly graze my hand that is now comfortably glued to her thigh, and I don't intend to remove it from there anytime soon.

It feels good, and I can't really remember the last time I felt good.

Whether this touch is right or wrong is out of context now.

We remain silent for a few seconds while my mind is slowly absorbing the truth in her words.

"Taehyung," Maya breathes out, her hand now holding mine tight against her thigh, and I can't help but assume that she likes this touch as much as I do.

"Don't stress out too much, just try to do things that make you happy," she advises, and I nod a few times in agreement, slightly curling my fingers to feel up the soft flesh of her thigh that has been distracting me since when I saw them at the convenience store.

Maya doesn't seem to mind at all, and I don't know if I should really remove my hand from there or just let it be. My heart is racing a little when my thoughts start getting a bit muddled.

After a few more seconds of silence, she speaks,
"Taehyung, I have been wanting to ask you something. Can I?" Her eyes meet mine.

Please don't ask me if I'm happy. I can't lie to you this time.

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Published on : 04/27/2022