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HOLD ME TIGHT
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Yi-Seo

Once the hearing ended, everyone left the courtroom, but I chose to remain here with Se-Young until the matron arrived to pick him up. Last night, he stayed with Woo-Bin, but assuming that he would do the same today would be rude of me, so I decided to wait until someone offered to take Se-Young along with them.

Given that I’m his registered local guardian and emergency contact person, attorney Seong and Jimin advised me that it wouldn’t be safe for me to take Se-Young to my home because I would be the first target for anyone who targets Se-Young after knowing that he is not at the aged home anymore. If not for the red signal given by the two men, I would have readily taken him along with me because Silver Springs is a very safe place; the safest, in fact.

It would be extremely hard for Sammy or whoever to break in and attack either of us. Yet, when they were telling me not to do it, I couldn’t convince them against it.

As I silently sit there beside Se-Young inside the vacant courtroom, waiting for the matron to arrive, the door to the courtroom clicks open. I whip my head around to find Jimin and Taehyung approaching us.

Jimin is walking ahead of Taehyung, and Taehyung’s intense gaze succeeds in holding me captive and making a shiver run up my spine as I rise from my seat.

“Yi-Seo,” Jimin calls me when he gets closer, forcing my eyes away from Taehyung. “I’ll be taking Se-Young with me. No one will be able to trace him that way,” he informs me decisively.

“I could have him over as well. We all literally live inside the same community, which is the safest residential space in Seoul, right?” I raise a brow at him, crossing my arms under my chest and deliberately avoiding the powerful pull of Taehyung’s burning, magnetic gaze.

“Yi-Seo,” Jimin heaves a sigh, “you’re the first person anyone who wants to reach him would try to locate. And your home has just one bedroom, which will make it really uncomfortable for both of you,” Jimin reiterates with a whiny face, pointing to Se-Young and planting his hands on his hips.

“Okay, okay,” I raise my hands in defeat, palms facing him. “Alright, you can take him home. But would Mi-Yang eonnie be okay with this decision?” My question earns no reaction from Jimin.

“She isn’t at home.” Is the only blunt answer he gives me before pulling out his phone and diverting his attention to it.

I swallow the questions sprouting within my mind and stand by not knowing what to do next.

“Taehyung,” Se-Young calls out groggily, causing all our heads to turn in his direction. He then waves for Taehyung to come closer to him.

I still don’t lift my eyes to look at Taehyung, but he walks past me and goes down on his knees to meet Se-Young eye-to-eye.

Leaning forward from his chair, Se-Young takes Taehyung’s hand in his frail hands and holds on to it safely.

“I’m sorry,” Se-Young whispers raspily; his pale lips trembling and making his tears spill from the corners of his eyes.

Taehyung’s back is to me, and my gaze moves to Jimin beside me, and we briefly exchange glances before we both turn our attention back to the two men in front of us.

“I know my apology means nothing now. But I’ve lived with so much guilt for all these years, and I think I’m rightfully receiving all the punishment that I deserve,” he tearfully confesses to Taehyung. “Will you forgive me?” Se-Young’s voice quakes as more tears fall from his eyes.

Taehyung dips his neck, bringing his other hand to nestle Se-Young’s hands inside his large ones, wrapping his fingers around Se-Young’s thin and weak hands. His shoulders shake, and his silent whimpers fill the air, making it impossible for me to hold back my overwhelming emotions.

“I do,” Taehyung’s soft yet raspy voice resounds in the almost empty room. “I forgive you,” he raises his head, nodding as he looks at Se-Young and speaks shakily while wiping away his tears.

“Thank you… Thank you, Taehyung,” Se-Young manages a weak smile amongst his pouring curtain of tears.

“I’m sorry for what you had to go through. You didn’t deserve to be manipulated this way,” Taehyung apologizes, unable to hold back his empathetic nature, and it makes me want to take him in my arms and protect him at all costs from this cruel world.

Taehyung is indeed too precious and soft for this material world. He always has so much warmth and kindness to share, and he feels so deeply for those around him, but what has he ever received in return except manipulation, treachery and deceit? This dirty and ugly world absolutely doesn’t deserve pure souls like him.

Se-Young shakes his head a little as he dries his tears and pats the top of Taehyung’s head softly.

“Do me a favor by trying to change your habits. I want you to live a long and healthy life, and not something like mine.” Se-Young says as his gaze trails over to me, making a weak smile form on my lips.

“I will try my best,” Taehyung gives his word, nodding firmly, and it somehow forces out more tears from my eyes, and soon Se-Young’s breathing grows a bit shallow.

“Alright, alright. Relax, Se-Young-ssi, you seem to be running out of breath. Let’s leave now?” Jimin questions Se-Young, and he agrees, nodding.

I take off my glasses and wipe away my tears while Jimin and Se-Young leave the courtroom quietly. Once the door closes, Taehyung rises from the floor and slowly turns around to face me.

He swallows thickly, rubbing his hands down his face and then using them to push his hair back above his forehead. I stand there fighting a battle within my mind, barely resisting the urge to pull him into my arms and wipe away all the pain in his teary eyes.

I walked out on him this morning, disappointed to the core, and we haven’t spoken a word since. Now it feels so awkward to stand here and face him, not knowing how to begin the unavoidable conversation. So, I decide to move out of the spot instead.

Turning around on my heels, I take long and fast strides and reach the doorway. I hear his footsteps right behind me, but I don’t stop to look. Pulling open the door, I exit the courtroom and take a few steps when I hear his voice, which brings all my movements to a complete halt.

“Yi-Seo...” Taehyung sounds loud but shaky.

Not Miss Kwon, but he just called me Yi-Seo, and the way my name smoothly rolled off his tongue for the first time does something unexplainable to me. I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t imagined hearing this from him at least ten thousand times. My chest feels full, and my eyes well up with tears.

I turn around to look at him, shocked, keeping my teary gaze steady on him even though my heart is literally folding within my chest.

We are standing a few feet apart when he asks me, “C- can I hold you?” Taehyung stutters with a lot of uncertainty and doubts lacing his tone.

Revenge has never been my thing, but still, I cross my arms under my chest and raise my chin; my action defying the gravity of the rising need to melt in his embrace.

“No,” my blunt response leaves a look of astonishment on Taehyung’s face as seen from his eyes that widen briefly and his lips that part in disbelief before he dips his neck, looking down at his feet and nodding many times.

I take a step closer to him, and then another while trying to suppress the countless emotions bubbling within my heart and mind. My vision is obscured by the tears that swell within my eyes, and my heart begins thundering within my chest when I finally allow the magnetic pull that he always exudes to drag me in.

Throwing my arms around his frail body, I slam the side of my face to his chest, and the impact almost causes him to momentarily lose his balance. I hold him tight, just like how I’ve always wanted to, my hands clasping the fabric of his shirt at the back, and then I feel my tears dripping down my face.

Taehyung is too stunned by my sudden move, and it takes him a few seconds to reciprocate my gesture. His hands slowly wrap around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him by tightening his hold.

I could feel his heart rapidly pounding against his ribs and hammering against my ears as I keep wetting the slim fabric of his shirt with the hot tears that continue to spill out from the corners of my eyes. Taehyung’s chest vibrates, and his body shakes as he breaks down. I can hear him and feel him crying, and my shoulders shudder as I fold in and crumble in his arms, clinging on to him as if my life depended on him.

Lifting my head from his chest, I look up at his teary face, his bloodshot eyes, and his quivering lips. Bringing my fingers to his face, I gently wipe away his tears, only for them to flow faster.

“Taehyung-ssi, you won,” I put my hand on his chest and fist a small part of his shirt; my voice comes out as a shaky, quavering whisper.

A glorious smile that had been locked away inside the darkest and forgotten corner of his soul grazes his lips as more tears fall from his eyes.

“We won…Jimin, you and I… We won,” Taehyung utters amidst the ocean of emotions that is washing over him, pulling my head back to his chest and holding me tight and snug.

Being in his arms feels like home, and I’m so overwhelmed that I’m laughing and crying uncontrollably, holding tight on to him, and so does he even as he keeps wiping away his tears with the back of one hand.

After all these years of doom and darkness—filled with nothing but the misery of having to wake up every morning to all the awards that once defined him—this moment and his tears would undoubtedly be cathartic to him.

Literally, everyone gave up on Taehyung, but there was something that kept telling me to always stay by his side. There was a constant voice within me that always kept worrying for him from the moment I met him, and I resolved not to give up on him, ever. And if there was one thing that I was sure about all along, it was that I wanted to try my best by hook or crook to expose the rotten truth that destroyed his career.

I’m so glad that I didn’t give up trying. It feels like an achievement in itself to be able to see that victorious smile on his face, and to be able to alleviate his impending agonies.

Taehyung brings his hands to hold my arms, moving me away by a few inches, and I raise my head to look at him. His eyes, though painfully reddened and swollen, appear heavenly, but his gaze is contrastingly so powerful and magnetic. And way too familiar.

We don’t speak a word to each other as Taehyung’s warm and soft hands slowly crawl up to my shoulders, and to the sides of my neck, and then he holds my cheeks firmly in his large hands. My breaths turn shallow as his intense eyes search mine for an answer, for consent, for warmth, but I’m unable to bring a single word out of my mouth.

Taehyung lifts my face a little and leans closer while my hands stay on his chest, balled into fists out of the extreme tension and nervousness that’s caused by the wall of guard we built between us. The wall that I initially thought would be steeled with time, but it has only been getting weaker with each passing day. Yet now, I can feel that wall crumbling away into nothing, brick by brick as our necks crane and bodies arch into each other with our eyes trapped in an unbreakable hypnotic gaze tangle.

Our lips are a breath away from touching, and our breaths are heavy and pained, and I’m only looking at his lips right now, hoping that my silence is all the consent he needs. The world around us has turned into a blur, and this little interlude feels just like the tranquility and stability that usually precedes violent storms, and the fact is cemented when his lips messily collide on mine, completely stealing my breath away.

Although I knew this was coming, my body freezes for a moment, but the silken movements of Taehyung’s lips against mine drags me back to the reality of the moment. My lips respond to his impassioned kiss, reciprocating with equal zeal as I rise to my toes and wind my arms tight around his neck.

Taehyung dips his neck, his hands wrapping around my waist and his hold tightening as he slightly lifts me to match the height of his lanky frame and the ferocity of his lips. The movements of his lips are so passionate and spirited that, although I’m trying, I’m almost unable to keep pace with him.

It feels as if all his pent-up emotions are exploding through this kiss, and as if he is finally allowing himself to do something he has been desperately desiring to do for a long time. It doesn’t feel any different with me. But drunk men are honest men, after all, and Taehyung is ascertaining that fact.

Pushing his tongue against my lips, Taehyung invades my mouth, groaning into the kiss and squeezing our bodies together, practically knocking all the air out of my lungs as he replaces it with his own.

“Taehyung-ssi,” I gasp as I drop my heels to the floor and separate our lips a little after a few magical seconds, catching my breath frantically.

Taehyung holds me close, his lips lingering on mine and refusing to part as he presses our foreheads together with his eyes still closed, and his chest heaving at the same pace as mine.

“We’re still in public,” I whisper against his lips as my eyes wander to both sides and spot a few curious onlookers and bystanders in the court premises who seem a little too interested in what is going on between the two of us.

Taehyung tugs me closer, pressing every inch of our bodies together. His hand returns to caress my cheek while his eyelids flicker open, looking down at me with his hooded gaze.

“I don’t care, and I’m not done yet… I haven’t been hugged like this in years, and I don’t want to stop now,” Taehyung’s thumb ghosts over my lower lip as he speaks softly. “Do you mind if we stay like this a little longer?” The way he asked that while staring deep into my eyes does something unexplainable to my heart, making it flip over and over within my chest, and it feels as if my knees are about to buckle down.

Without saying another word, I hug him tight, placing my ear in the middle of his chest and melting in his hold.

Lifting my face off his chest, Taehyung crashes his lips on mine once again, pressing his palms to my cheeks and tilting our heads to opposite sides to lock our lips tighter.

My feet lose balance, but his hold on me is strong, and I grip on to his broad shoulders for support. His teeth softly trap my lower lip, bringing my eyebrows together and earning a low moan from me, which he swallows as his hand slowly slides to the back of my neck.

“We should leave now,” I stutter amidst my haphazard breathing bouts, and Taehyung reluctantly pulls away, keeping his eyes still closed for a few long seconds after our lips part.

“Okay,” he finally breathes out, fluttering his eyelids open to look at me with his alluring eyes.

⚜
Miss Kwon, no more.
💘

Also, *hands you popcorn*
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Published on : 02/19/2023