*Taehyung PoV*

As much as I loved living the way I was right now, with full freedom over what to do, where to go, and no worries about how much time I had, it was getting to me. I was bored during the day, since I was all alone while my friends were working, and doing any housework only took an hour or so.

Not to mention the insistence of the house helpers to come by at least every other day to help with the cleaning and garden- I had practically nothing to do and so was once again contemplating asking my dad if I could come back to work.

But if I started working again, would I return to my old schedule of early mornings and late nights, completely defeating the purpose of coming to live near friends to have more of a balance?

Shaking my head in annoyance, I walked over to fill myself some more water before going upstairs to my room to see if there was anything I could do.

Although it had been months since I came back here, I still felt like a ten year old every time I walked into this bedroom, so full of my childhood memories. From waking up in the middle of the night at age six to go to my mom after a nightmare to jumping out of my balcony to hang out with the boys in my backyard.

And the one time I had a girl in my room in high school- I broke out of the train of thought with a grin. There was a girl that Jimin really liked, so he convinced me to invite her and a friend of hers over. Then, in the ultimate wingman move, I volunteered to show the girl's friend around to give Jimin some time with her.

That was probably the most awkward day in my life. Neither of us quite knew what to say so we just sat in silence. I didn't even remember her name.

The first and last time I'd had a girl in here... until y/n came along, years later.

Shaking the thoughts away before they went back to their classic loop of 'you should make a move before it's too late', I looked around my room to see what could be done when my eyes landed upon my dissembled gaming console. 

The thing was hardly outdated, it was brand new when I bought it just before moving, but I'd hardly even used it. 

"Taehyung, I know what we're gonna do today," I muttered to myself with a smile.

***

*four days later*

"Yes yes yes!" I'd been playing games for more than an hour now, which was unusual for me, but I was enjoying myself so much, especially after already having made friends.

After joining a bunch of different gaming servers in the past few days, I'd talked to a lot of people already, especially hitting it off with one of the guys, 'jhhj1004'. His sense of humour was on point, his laugh contagious, a fun guy to play with, and he was around my age, which was great.

So since Monday I'd dedicated around an hour a day just to gaming and was thoroughly enjoying myself.

I'd been a little hesitant to start playing on the first day, but ever since I got talking with jhhj, it was like going somewhere new but at least having your best friend with you. We'd been talking to each other, both over text and voice chat quite a lot even outside of gaming, but were careful to avoid personal details at first.

For now though, I should probably stop playing, I thought to myself. The week had gone by a little less slowly thanks to my newfound joy in playing games, but still, it was a relief that it was finally friday, and I could meet some of my friends today.

I finished up and walked over to the kitchen, trying to ignore the temptation to just order lunch in from outside. 

My phone, which had been relatively silent today, was laying on the counter behind me when it buzzed twice. I ignored it, assuming that it was jhhj, and resolved that I would reply later, once I finished my food. I needed to stay away from a screen for a little while.

Upon plating my food in the most satisfactory way I could manage, I sat at the table to eat, staring out the window as I did do. There was a tiny squirrel that kept running up and down this one tree with so much purpose that it was so engaging to watch, and I was done in minutes.

After cleaning the place, which hardly took a couple more minutes, I grabbed my phone to check the time before reading the first notification, at which a grin spread across my face. It hadn't been jhhj that had texted me before, it was y/n.

Today, 2:44pm

Y/n: hey, you wanna come over today after work? I'm free after I get home :)

I quickly typed back, annoyed that I hadn't seen it earlier.

Today, 3:02 pm

Me: sure :)  

I'll be there by five thirty? 

Y/n: oh wait.

Sorry it's my turn to fix dinner today is six okay?

Me: yeah for sure, anything's okay

I can help you with dinner tbh 

Y/n: nah that's okay

It won't take long

Me: no problem 

Y/n: ok then I'll see you

Wait can you do me one favour though?

Me: yeah?  

Y/n: I'm almost out of salt at home, could you get some for me?

Me: lol sure 

Y/n: oh shoot I have to go my supervisor is here.

See you

Me: bye  

I put the phone away with a smile, and though I did end up reading for a while after that, I found myself wishing for every second of it that time would go faster and it would be time to go to her house.

***

"Hey!" The front door to y/n's apartment swung open, revealing a smiling y/n in faded blue jeans and a tshirt, her hair tied back.

"Hi y/n," I smiled, before taking off my shoes and walking in, handing her the salt I had bought on my way here.

"So, change of plans," she said, turning to me after putting it in place. "My brother is going to be out for dinner, so I don't have to cook him anything. That means we can go outside right now."

"What about you?" I asked. 

"I've already prepared myself dinner, and I'm gonna make myself scrambled egg to go with it once we get back, so we can leave right away." She turned to me. "Let's go then?"

"Sure, let's go."

She grabbed a jacket and shoved her feet into her sneakers before following me out the door, closing and locking it behind her.

To my surprise, she took my hand, leading me as we walked down out of the building in silence, only letting go once we exited the building. My palm tingled where hers had touched it before.

***

I didn't know what it was about spending time with y/n that just made time go by like nothing else. We'd already been outside for an hour and a half, just walking around the streets with no particular destination. 

At one point we stopped at a little stall to watch the guy make some food, later in the park she showed me a couple of different types of plants and told me random things about them that her mother had taught her.

 I loved watching her talk about the plants, because as much as she kept trying to convince me that she was terrible at keeping them alive at home, I could tell she really loved them and knew a ton about them.

Now, we were heading towards the 'market' streets, which were essentially the small streets only for pedestrians, lined by shops on both sides, open to the street and full of people. The place was brightly lit, and it took me a second to realise that almost all the people here were couples.

Biting the inside of my cheek to keep myself from smiling, I hurried forward to catch up to her once more as we walked into the little shops to look at the things they had. The first one was a plushie shop, where we simply walked around, pointing out to each other the nice ones we liked.

"Oh! Look at this one!" She pointed at a small pig one. "It's so soft-"

She was broken off as her phone started ringing loudly.

"Oh, um, sorry," she mumbled, scrambling to pick it up. Without looking at the caller id, she swiped to accept the call and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" She looked away, listening intently to the person on the other end of the line. A grin slowly spread over her face. "Oh my gosh, hi! It's been so long!"

I turned and pretended to look at more plushies so I wouldn't just be standing there awkwardly. 

"Yes, yes of course!" I could hear the grin in her voice, she sounded so genuinely happy and excited. "Uh, yeah, I'm free only later tonight, I'm currently out with someone," She looked towards me. 

No, it's fine, I mouthed back. I didn't want her to miss out on meeting someone else just because she was hanging out with me.

I nodded once more at her before turning back to the plushies. "Okay then, I'll come now only, but you owe me." She paused. "Yes, okay, that sounds great. It's actually really close to my new apartment. Yeah, I moved into a new place with my brother. Food there is good, in case you need a place to eat." She smiled once more. "I'll see you then. Bye."

Cutting the call she walked back to me.

"Taehyung?"

"Yeah?"

"Listen I'm really sorry but I have to go. A friend of mine is visiting really out of the blue, unplanned, and it's been a really long time and-"

"Sure, no problem, y/n."

"I'm really sorry," she mumbled, looking down. It flattered me to know she was apologetic about not being able to spend time with me, but she shouldn't have been feeling bad because of this.

"Hey hey hey it's totally okay," I smiled down at her. "Seriously."

She looked back up at me. "Will you come along? I don't think it'll be too long."

"I don't want to impose," I said. "If this is a friend you're meeting after a long time you should go."

"No, no you should come. It'll be nice if you guys meet as well, plus we can hang out after that if you come."

"Sure," I said. "Where are you guys meeting?"

"The new Japanese restaurant near my place- shit!" Her eyes widened as she glanced down at her phone to check the time.

"What?"

"It'll take us almost half an hour to walk back there, but the bus from here comes right about now. We have a minute, minute and a half tops."

"Well, come on, let's see if we can make it."

We ran out of the shop, and I followed her as she led the way towards the bus stop. From where we were, a little less than a hundred metres away, I could see the bus slide into the stop. We should be able to make it, I thought, before speeding up once more to keep up with y/n. 

We just barely made it, pulling ourselves in and paying up just as the bus started moving.

She moved over so I could sit down on the seat, and stood up, holding onto the bar. I didn't bother offering her the seat though, since I knew she wouldn't want it, seeing as the two men on either side of me kept staring at her and the other girl sitting towards the front of the bus, perhaps a college student.

I rolled my eyes in disgust.

At the next stop, one of the two men got off the bus, leaving the seat beside me empty. I was about to motion for her to take the seat when an elderly couple walked in, so I stood up to give the seats to them, standing right behind y/n and grabbing the handle overhead.

The bus was weirdly silent, not a single person talking to another, the only sound being that of the wheels accelerating every once in a while. Pretty dull for a friday evening.

I moved closer to y/n, seeing another guy eyeing her. It wasn't really in that sort of way, not like he was looking at her like an object, but more like a person of interest that he might have interest in, maybe try to get her number. Then, in a daring move, I wrapped my arm over her shoulder, allowing her to lean her body into mine. 

She did so, and smiled up at me, a light pink tinging her cheeks.

The guy looked away, down at his phone, and I smiled smugly. Mission accomplished, I thought to myself.

But was it really though? If my mission was only to keep other guys away from the girl I liked, I was a pretty terrible guy. To be halfway decent, I should at least try to make a move.

Okay, Taehyung. Here's what we are going to do. Today is friday. By the time the weekend is up, by Sunday night, you have to- absolutely HAVE to- tell her how you feel. 

It's not going to ruin your friendship. Because y/n is not the kind of person to stop talking to you simply for the reason that you like her.

But-

Shut up- you're going to tell her.

The voices in my head reached the final agreement, and it was with a newfound determination in my head that I stepped out of the bus with her, following her to the restaurant.

We sat down at a table for four, both of us on one side, the other side empty for her friend. 

Y/n's leg was bouncing up and down  as she stared at the door, waiting for her friend to arrive. I didn't even bother to make conversation, seeing how absorbed she was in this reunion, and I sat back, reading the menu as we waited, even though I wasn't planning on eating anything.

Every time the door opened, I would glance over the top of my menu to see who it was.

Eventually though, after about five or six minutes, I gave up on doing so , seeing as most of the people coming in were just coming to collect their takeaways and leaving.

Y/n whipped out her phone to text her friend, and then put it away, tapping on the table impatiently.

"Thanks for coming with me, by the way," she said to me with a smile. "It might have been awkward if I came by myself, like- I don't know."

"Oh, no problem. Who ar-"

Her eyes and smile widened suddenly as she stood up and shot towards the door like a bullet, engulfing the person who had just walked in in a huge bear hug.

I looked around awkwardly, but none of the other people in the restaurant seemed to care.

"It's so good to see you!" She exclaimed, pulling in for another hug.

"Good to see you too, y/n," I heard as my head snapped back to see the owner of that voice.

Standing there, one arm on her shoulder, the other hand resting on her face, as if just having caressed her cheek, was the person who could only be described as being sculpted by the angels themselves, if not an angel in itself. 

His perfectly chiseled cheekbones, infectious smile and overall aura were not entirely alien to me; I had spent my fair share of time brooding over how I could never be that good-looking.

"Oh, who is this?" He looked over to me with a smile that I almost returned.

"Uh, this is Taehyung. I'm not sure if you guys have met properly before." She gestured towards me with a smile, almost as bright as that she had given him. In my head that gave me the smallest spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, I could stand against the literal image of perfection that I was up against.

"Hi Taehyung, nice to meet you," he said with a confident smile, extending his arm out for a handshake. "I'm Jeonghan."

A/n: AHHHH I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long! I'm still not completely satisfied with Tae's gaming and stuff because tbh I don't know anything about that stuff and so Im just making it up as I go but I'm really excited for what's to come

Anyways, if you guys enjoyed what you read, please don't forget to vote and comment, I'd love to know what you think :)

Have a great day or night wherever you are loves! <3