'I think I will just come out and say it,' says So-Hee. 

'I'm not going to sleep with you tonight.' Taehyung chuckles.

 'Should I go back then?' 

So-Hee's face drops. 

Taehyung laughs and says, 'I wasn't looking for that.'

For the first time in forever Taehyung isn't concerned about the little sexual vibe between the two of them. He has taken it in his stride and he's enjoying the journey. The prospect of her not sleeping with him doesn't bother him, but the prospect of him having to leave the room disturbs him.

So-Hee makes the coffee in the hotel room's machine and it isn't half-bad.'I love hotel rooms,' says Taehyung.'I do, too,' beams So-Hee. 

'I just love how I can mess up the room and come back and the room is all cleaned up.'

Taehyung looks around. There's a pile of clothes, neatly folded, lying in a corner. 

'So this is what you left for the cleaning guy?'

'Yes, kind of. I'm a nightmare to the bellboys.'Taehyung wants to go and sit on the fluffy bed in front of him, where So-Hee's sitting, but not because of her, but the bed. Maybe a bit because of So-Hee as well.Taehyung drinks from the complimentary bottle of water.

 'I love room service.'

' Here.' 

So-Hee throws the receiver towards him. Taehyung orders a pizza, a one with a lot of toppings, an expensive one, thinking it must be paid for by the agency. It's only later that he comes to know that it comes out of So-Hee's allowance.

The pizza arrives and the bellboy keeps it next to the bed. Taehyung finally takes this as an opportunity to shift to the bed. So-Hee excuses herself.

'I just need to change,' she says and comes back a little later in loose, faded pink pajamas and an oversized T-shirt. She's carrying a room freshener in her hand.

' What's that for?'

'Umm. If we eat on the bed, it's going to smell like that all night and tomorrow morning.'

'Do you mean you don't eat on the bed? Then what do you eat on?' asks Taehyung, shocked, for all his life has been spent eating on beds with newspapers covering them. Lately, the only reason why the bedsheets of his apartment were being washed was that they had one too many stains on them.

So-Hee squeamishly looks at the table. 

'Fine,' Taehyung says and shifts the pizza back to the table.'It smells amazing!' they both say together and then laugh.

'You look nice,' Taehyung says as he cuts a slice that is floppy and dripping with cheese and toppings.

' Aren't you late with the comment? I just changed.'

'No, you look better now. I like your hair, ruffled and unkempt, also the loose T-shirt and the pajamas. It makes me feel like I'm on a holiday. And an expensive holiday at that,' says Taehyung and looks around the room.

Soon they find themselves on the bed, three feet of distance between them, yet sharing the same blanket, the remote lying midway between them. Taehyung's feet were on the blanket for a little over half an hour, and he was shivering yet not acting on it. So-Hee made him get inside the blanket and since then he has been a little awkward about the proximity of So-Hee's legs with his.

The movie isn't all that funny, but at the slightest joke Taehyung laughs and looks at So-Hee who looks back and they laugh together. 

Taehyung is frightfully aware of the distance between them. He doesn't want to get any closer. It's like doing that would spoil everything that had happened and everything that could happen. Yet the knowledge of her bare feet a few feet away from his toes tickles him and his heart beats harder. Even a little tug at the blanket makes his heart go aflutter.

 She looks beautiful. Her lips without the lipstick now are a faint pink, always a little parted, a hint of tiredness. Her skin now without the compact is marred with little marks, making it real and soft and human. She looks prettier tired and haggard than made-up and proper.

' You're beautiful,' says Taehyung.

' Hmm?' And then there is a knock at the door.

'Must be the bellboy to get the empty plates,' says So-Hee. Taehyung tells her that he will get it. He jumps down and heads towards the door. The door is knocked on again. This time more firmly. He fiddles with the lock opens the door, and a fist comes rushing to meet his face. It crashes right into his nose, he can hear the slow crunching sound it makes, and then he's on the ground.

'BASTARD. YOU FUCKING BASTARD.' Taehyung can hear someone shouting. Before he can get his hand up to his face, which is now bloodied and battered, he feels his jaw shatter against a knuckle. It's hard.

 'This is what Adamantium feels like,' Taehyung's thinking as he's passing out . . . I just got hit by the Wolverine, that's a cool way to die, he thinks.

'I will kill you! I will fucking kill you!' He hears a boy shout. And just before his eyes closed Taehyung sees the heavy boots of the boy hover over his face. He can hear faint noises of So-Hee screaming in the background.

'What the hell are you doing here?' she's screaming.

Taehyung turns and lies prostrate on his stomach now, too dazed to get up and start walking towards him. His nose is dripping with blood and the carpet is crusted now. Taehyung shakes his head and tries to make sense of what the two of them are talking about. This is his heroic moment, he thinks. He will find the dying shreds of life in him, stagger to his feet, and just when the boy would be about to hit her, he would smash his face with something . . . umm . .. with the iron that's lying face-down on the ironing board. 

Yes, perfect, he thinks. 

He tries getting up but falls back on the ground, his head spinning. So this is what a concussion feels like, he thinks.

'Who is he? You have been fucking other men behind my back, aren't you? I knew it! All models do that. All of you are sluts! Goddamn sluts!'

' shut up,' mutters So-Hee.

'WHAT! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?'

' Nothing.'

'Why did you do this to me?' thunders the boy. 

'I had everything. I gave you every damn thing! I will kill him. I will just kill him!'Taehyung hears the boy's feet thump on the carpet and inch towards him but they stop when So-Hee rams into him.

'Leave him! It's not him. It's me. I'm so sorry. It's my fault!' says So-Hee. The boy still walks towards Taehyung, grabs him by the collar, and rams him against the wall.

'Did you fuck her?'Taehyung tries to tell him that he only just met her but the boy thunders again, 'DID YOUFUCK HER?' Taehyung's face is all bloodied but he still says with a smile. 'I wish I had because you have beat me up anyway.'

So-Hee chuckles at that but stops.

 'Stop it, Jungkook.' 

She's wrestling with Jungkook's arm but it's a big arm and So-Hee is frightfully weak against it.

'DID YOU FUCK HER?' Jungkook's hand is wrapped firmly around Taehyung's neck and even though Taehyung is trying to talk he can't. He still mutters illegible. 

'You are asking the same questions twice.'

'TELL ME! You fucking, rotting piece of shit.'Jungkook tightens his grip around Taehyung's neck. Taehyung flaps around like a dying fish.

Jungkook shouts, 'You fucking bastard!'

' TELLME! DID YOU FUCK HER!?'

'YES. HE HAS,' shouts So-Hee. 

'Now let him go.'

And just like that, he lets Taehyung go, who slumps to the ground and mutters to himself, 'I have?'

' I'm sorry, Jungkook. But I think you need to go now. Whatever happened between is now over and you need to understand that,' says So-Hee. Jungkook is walking around in circles, holding his head, cursing, sometimes half-charging at So-Hee as if he's going to hit her but then he doesn't. 

So-Hee is looking straight at him, unfazed, unaffected. She's looking at Taehyung who's slumped on the ground, crawling towards the ironing board. 

'All my friends were right about you. You're just a fucking slut!'So-Hee wants to ask which friends is he referring to here, but that's not a discussion for now.

 Bitches, she thinks. 'I'm sorry, Jungkook,' says So-Hee. 

'But thank you for what you did to me.' 

She's looking at Taehyung who has the iron in his hand, but he's still on the ground, flapping, battered, and bruised.

'Thanks? You slept with him! YOU. SLEPT. WITH. HIM. LOOK AT HIM! He can't even bench press.'

'That he can't. But I didn't sleep with him.'

'You didn't? But you just said you did?'

' I'm just seeing him. If I had to sleep with anyone, I would have slept with you,' says So-Hee.

 'Look at your biceps. It's the only thing every girl wants. Your bench press is 210pounds and you can squat a baby elephant. You're every girl's dream.'

Oh.

 Now she has tears. Taehyung meets her eyes and she meets his. She's not smiling, but her eyes are. And while Jungkook paces around a little more, clenching his fists, So-Hee winks at Taehyung. So-Hee is surprisingly herself right now. She mentally pats her back and says, you go, girl! 

'Fuck, yes! I'm alright. It's you who's wrong,' grumbles Jungkook. He's in a war-like pose. He punches the wall. 

'I should have never started to date you. I was so happy with my girlfriend. I should have stayed with her. You're just a fucking slut. . .'So-Hee frowns. She fires her opening salvo.

 'You never told me you had a girlfriend!'

Suddenly, every instance of Jungkook shouting at her, abusing her, picking a fight with her whenever he used to doubt her loyalty comes rushing to her head.

'Oh yes, I did. I HAD A GIRLFRIEND. And I'm still dating her. And thank God I'm still dating her because you're a piece of shit!' shouts Jungkook. So-Hee's face clenches and she looks straight at Jungkook.

 'Get out.'

' What?' asks Jungkook. Even a dimwit like Jungkook knows now that he has overstepped limits.

'Get out, Jeon Jungkook! I don't want to hear a word now.'

'You will kick me out? I will go out myself, you slut.'

'You call me that once more, and I will call the police,' grumbles So-Hee. 

She takes a few steps towards Jungkook and she's not kidding. She's positively furious and is looking straight into Jungkook's eyes. 

He's quivering like a little puppy (on steroids).

'Han So-Hee.'

'Get out, Jeon Jungkook,' says So-Hee, who turns away from him and sits on the bed.

 She'sholding her head in her hands now. Jungkook takes a few steps ahead and keeps a hand on her shoulder. And almost instinctively, she brushes away the hand and slaps Jungkook and bellows, 'Go away, right now!'

 And then as if possessed by a foreign force she gets up and pushes a squealing, begging Jungkook out of the room. She slams the door on his face. 'FUCKYOU, JUNGKOOK. FUCK YOU! I HOPE YOU DIE, YOU ASSHOLE!'

She comes back to help Taehyung to the bed. He's still clutching the iron he meant to hit Jungkook with. 

'You didn't tell me you were dating Hulk Hogan's cousin.'

' It's the ex-boyfriend I have been trying to get rid of,' says So-Hee and whips out the first aid kit from the drawer of the washroom.

 'I'm sorry.'

' It's okay. I just like how it all feels like a movie. Though I feel like I might never be able to walk again without a wobble.'So-Hee chuckles.

 'It's not that bad.'

'Is it not? He was built like a Transformer. Though I think I would have been able to smash his face with the iron had I been able to get on my feet. I wish I could have helped you a little though.'

'You already did help me a lot. You just didn't notice,' she says and looks at him. 

'Okay. It is a little bad.' So-Hee wipes the blood off of Taehyung's face.

 'At least your nose isn't broken.'

' That's sort of the high point of my day. I'm so glad your Hulk boyfriend didn't break my nose for sleeping with you. Oh, wait! I didn't sleep with you!'

'Stop making me feel guilty!' protests So-Hee.

'Fine. Fine. I was just taking your case. But really, it hurts like a bitch,' grumbles Taehyung.

So-Hee asks him to hold the cotton to his nose so it stops bleeding. She bandages his head up.

'So it clearly showed you were never in love with him, but why did you turn so scary at the end? You were a bit like possessed,' asks Taehyung.

'I never really had the courage to do it before. I'm not sure how I got the courage today,' says So-Hee. 

'I think I'm a bit of a freak magnet.'

'I concur,' Taehyung tells her.

'Oh shut up, Taehyung. You are, too. I saw the picture of you and Seo Ji-Hye and she looks every bit a freak like Jungkook.'

'Umm . . . I never dated her.'

' Liar,' says So-Hee, a bit jealous.

'No, seriously. It was just something.'

'I don't want to know, but yet I want to know. Tell me the short version of the story,' says So-Hee.

'But I did get dumped recently and that led to Seo Ji-Hye'

'Not that short,' says So-Hee.

'The girl I loved went off with the rich guy. leaving me poking at my memories of her so that I could feel . . . I don't know . . . alive? She was all I was holding on to. He was everything I wasn't. To avenge that I started sleeping with Seo Ji-Hye.' 

So-Hee frowns.

 Taehyung continues, 'I had no idea why she was sleeping with me and did not ask. I had no inclination to know about her. I don't know why that happened. That, in short, is my story.'

' You're damaged, Taehyung.'

'So are you So-Hee,' says Taehyung. 'It's all hiding behind those layers of make-up and the pretty clothes you wear.'

' I'm not wearing any make-up.'

' That's why I can see the scars.'

Word Count;2423

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