Taehyung

"Would it be cold in London this time of the year?" I quiz her as I take a sharp turn headed towards my house.

"Yeah, it's a bit similar to the weather here in Seoul," Maya's muffled voice sounds on the phone.

"Have you packed well? Do you need any help, Maya?"

"I guess I need some help," she says softly.

"What is it? Do you have to buy something? I can pick it up," My question is answered with a negative hum from her.

"How do I pack you along?" I hear a rustle of sheets followed by a heavy breath that Maya lets out, and it causes every hair fiber on my body to stand upright, a chill running down my spine.

"Maya, what am I going to do for a whole week without you? God! I'm going to miss you so much," I'm trying hard not to get her worried and miserably failing in that mission.

"TaeTae, I will miss you so bad too. Spend a lot of time with Areum and give her all my love, okay? She is so precious," Maya distracts me, bringing a smile to my face.

"I will. I promise. I'll see you at the airport tonight, okay?" I ask her as I park my car outside my house.

"Okay, baby," she passes a kiss to me before we end the call, and it only makes me sadder.

There's about two more hours until I get to meet Maya at the airport, and right now time seems to be just crawling at a snail's pace.

I'm aimlessly sitting on the couch and watching the minutes tick by in slow motion while Areum keeps coming back to me every now and then with some funny thing that she read in her comic book or for giving me a kiss—everything appearing to me as if it's all part of a hazy dream on a hungover morning.

Areum, finally bored of being on her own, throws herself on me, hugging me tight from behind with her little arms wound around my neck.
"Why are you dressed up, appa?" She asks curiously.

"I have to go out somewhere, bubba," I ruffle her hair, swiping my cheek over her soft and squishy cheek that's on my shoulder.

"Can I come too?" She asks sweetly, giving me her infamous cutesy smile, her little chin moving against my shoulder as she speaks.

"It's quite far from here, and you also have to go to bed early because you have school tomorrow," I give her the reasons why she wouldn't be able to join me.

"She doesn't have to go to school until Monday," Jang-Mi interrupts out of nowhere, making my eyebrows raise in doubt, my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, unsure what to say next.

"Yes, appa. No school till Monday. Can I also come with you, pleaseeee?" My daughter leaps onto my lap and holds my face in her soft, little hands, pleading cutely.

And so, here we are, two hours later, Areum and I, waiting at the airport to meet Maya.

My daughter is full of questions which I have only answered very vaguely until now, and it was nearly impossible to get a minute to myself to send a text message to Maya. She's surely going to be surprised to see Areum here with me.

I'm not sure if she's going to like it, but there's no other way now.

My phone rings and distracts me out of my thoughts. Holding Areum's hand in my left, I answer the call with my right hand.

"Maya," I speak quietly.

"Taehyung, are you here already? I just arrived," Maya's voice is drowned by a lot of loud sounds in the background.

Holding the phone to my ear, I turn my head, and my eyes instantly locate her.

"Maya, I'm waiting where we discussed. Turn around," I turn around fully, and she does too, and even from this distance I could see her eyes widening in surprise.

"Wow! Areum is here too?" Maya squeals a little, and before I could answer her, she ends the call and begins advancing in our direction—practically skipping her way up to us.

"Appa, is this your friend?" Areum tugs at the sleeve of my shirt, and I answer her with a nod of my head, my eyes not moving an inch away from Maya.

As soon as she gets closer to us, Maya drops to her knees with the widest smile I have seen on her face, and it suits her so beautifully. Her height now matches Areum's, and their eyes are at the same level too

"Hey, you must be Areum. Hi!" Maya extends her hand to my daughter, but Areum suddenly shies away, taking a step back to hide behind my back, her little hands fisted around my shirt.

"Hey, bubba, come on, be nice and say hello," I reach out for my daughter's arm with one hand, and she resists coming to the front for a few seconds after which she eventually gives up protesting and reluctantly steps out from behind me, bringing the smile back to Maya's face.

"Don't be scared of me, Areum. I'm Maya, and I'm so happy to see you here tonight," she speaks excitedly to Areum, her luggage and I completely ignored and forgotten.

"Hi," Areum finally manages to respond in an unusually low squeak.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect her to come. She just decided to join me," I try to bring Maya's eyes on me, and I do succeed in my attempt—for exactly two seconds.

"Aww, thank you for bringing her, Taehyung. I'm so happy to see her before I leave. She's so cute," I can see how Maya's hands are itching to playfully pinch my daughter's chubby cheeks and ruffle her hair, but she's holding back since Areum isn't being too friendly.

"She's a little sleepy, I guess," I try to defend the little girl's behavior with the usual excuse that I use whenever she isn't being too nice to others.

"Hey, that's okay. We're meeting for the first time, and it's understandable that she's not too comfortable," Maya answers me without looking at me and bats her eyelids at Areum before she gets back up on her feet to finally talk to someone who has been craving some attention from her.

"Hi," she says, chuckling when our eyes finally meet for more than two seconds.

"Hi," I breathe out, scanning her outfit with my eyes.

She's wearing an olive green sweater with a pair of fitted blue jeans and a long beige coat on top, along with a plaid scarf around her neck. Maya always dresses up in a captivating manner, and tonight it is no different; I bet she would effortlessly turn the airport into her own personal runway tonight. I could already feel everyone's eyes on her, suddenly making me feel a sting of jealousy and possessiveness over her.

"So," she smiles, rubbing her palms together before she uses her hands to push her hair behind her ears.

"How long do you have?" My words are careful and calculated because I know that my daughter is listening intently to whatever we are talking.

If not for her, I would have definitely been kissing Maya right now, right here, like my life depended on the air she breathes into me.

It takes everything in me not to claim her lips right now.

"Twenty minutes until check-in starts," she answers after checking the time on her watch, turning her head around to make sure that both her large suitcase and her smaller cabin bag are safe.

I nod in response, trying to communicate with her through my eyes, licking my lips and stroking my thumb over them to make my struggle obvious. She does notice my pain and stifles a giggle that wants to erupt out of her throat and mock me.

Finally, after a few seconds, I give up resisting and wrap an arm around her, pulling her closer to me in the most modest hug that I've ever given her. Maya's hands wrap around my torso as she takes a step closer to me, bringing more of our bodies in contact and briefly resting her head under my chin.

"I'll miss you, baby," I speak, only for her ears to hear, and she nods with her head still in place.

"I'll miss you too, TaeTae," Maya's voice is a whisper that only I can hear.

Pulling away slowly, her hold around me releases as she takes a step back, holding our gazes and licking her lips, biting down on her lower lip. My hand, however, decides to hold her hand and make circles at the back of her hand with my thumb.

God! How do I pause the whole world for a few minutes to kiss this woman breathless?

A kiss on the lips would most definitely scandalize Areum, and so I give up that idea and lean forward to place a lingering kiss on Maya's cheek, taking her by surprise.

When I lean back, I notice how her wide eyes flicker over to my daughter, and I side-glance and notice how Areum's mouth is agape and her eyes wide as she stands there tightly holding my hand in her right hand and almost angrily strangling the bedtime bunny's neck in her left hand—looking slightly terrified.

I got some serious explanation to do, but that can wait.

"I'll see you around, Taehyung. Thank you for coming to see me off, and thank you for bringing Areum along. She's such a sweet baby," Maya smiles, keeping her words formal and polite, giving my hand a light squeeze.

"Have a safe flight, and..." I swallow the words that want to drop out of my mouth but are currently fighting at the back of my throat, fearing my daughter's presence. "Yeah, travel safe," I cover up for the absent words, smiling uneasily as my shoulders sink in defeat.

"I will," she whispers, and the way she is looking at me makes my insides churn and does something unexplainable to my heart.

My hand has to let go of hers when she has to collect her suitcase and her bag in both hands, and then Maya bends down to Areum.

"Bye, Areum. It was so nice meeting you," she says sweetly, waving to my daughter, only to earn a wave of her hand and a little nod from her.

"Bye, Taehyung," Maya says to me; our eyes refusing to look at anything or anyone else.

"Bye, Maya," I lick my lips, literally pleading with my brain not to do something inappropriate in my daughter's presence, and all the strong emotions boiling within me are threatening to melt out through my eyes.

But I rapidly blink away the tears that are starting to form and watch as Maya walks away inside, taking a piece of my heart along.

Letting out a heavy breath, I turn to look at Areum who looks so done with me.

"Can we leave, bubba?" I manage to give her a smile.

She nods wordlessly, after which we proceed to walk towards my car that's parked a little away from where we are at the moment.

Once we settle, and I begin driving, Areum decides to start bombarding me with questions, which I knew were coming my way.

"Appa, who is Maya?" Is her first question.

"She's my friend"

"Why did you hug her?" I knew this was surely part of the questionnaire.

"To wish her a safe journey?" I raise my eyebrows at her as our eyes meet through the rear-view mirror. "Just like how appa gives you a hug before you go into school every morning," I add, but the answer doesn't seem convincing to her. She still has a look of disapproval on her face.

"Why did you give her a kiss?" Yeah, I was definitely expecting this one as well.

"Bubba, she's my friend, and she's going for a week to a far away country. So I was just trying to do something nice for her before she left..."

"So, is it okay to kiss a friend?" She asks after a small pause.

UNEXPECTED QUESTION ALERT!!

"Umm?" My brain glitches for a moment. "Yeah," I assure her, mostly not wanting to make it seem as if I did a wrong thing, and she nods, diverting her eyes to her toy and fiddling with it.

In a few more minutes, Areum falls asleep, and I reach home in about an hour. Just as I park my car, I receive a text from Maya.

Maya:
Waiting to board. Have you reached safe?

Me:
Just did. I'm so sad that we couldn't even kiss before you left.

Maya:
Taehyung, I'm sad too. 😢
But that's okay

Maya:
I'm so happy that I got to see Areum tonight

Maya:
Has she slept?

Me:
Yeah, I've to carry her to bed

Maya:
Aww..💖

Maya:
I miss you already😭

Me:
I miss you more. This is going to be hard 😭

Maya:
Just one week, baby

Me:
You looked so beautiful tonight. Loved your clothes.

Maya:
Thank you, handsome 😍

Me:
I want lots of photos, please.

Me:
And don't even worry about time differences. Just text me any time you feel like it.

Me:
Okay?

Maya:
I will

Me:
I love you, Maya

Maya:
Love you more, Taehyung

Maya:
Try to get some sleep

Me:
Impossible

Maya:
Don't make me miss you more than I already do 😢😭

I am forced to stop texting when my phone buzzes with an incoming call from Jang-Mi, and I answer it quietly.

"Where are you both? Some time back, I heard the sound of the car parking outside," she speaks in a weary tone.

"Yeah, we're here. Areum has slept. I'll bring her in now," I reply softly, and she ends the call without saying anything more.

It takes me around ten minutes to get my sleeping daughter to her bed and then go back to my car to pick up her stuffed bunny from the backseat and tuck it into her comforter.

I'm exhausted, sad and a little sleepy too, but I struggle for over an hour in bed before my eyes decide to close on their own—only after I receive another text from Maya that she has safely boarded the flight.

Kids and their questions—a whole different genre.
😨

All-time favorite look of Taehyung. Love love love him!!!
❤❤❤❤❤❤

Published on : 05/14/2022