The supermarket was a bit crowded on a Sunday afternoon when Taehyung and his brother Jin decided to buy a few things they need.

"Do you want pasta for dinner?"

His brother asked as Taehyung silently pushed the cart and followed him.

"Anything's fine." He responded, scanning the items on the rack as they passed by the snacks section.

"Okay. We'll have that, then." Jin roamed his eyes around and caught sight of the meat section.

"We should probably have steak too." Jin enthusiastically said, immediately heading to the direction with Taehyung still silently following behind.

This has always been the scenario whenever Jin and him would go buy some groceries.

It will take them a long time going around, here and there, because his brother isn't fond of making grocery list and would just think of the things to buy on the spot.

"I'll make salad too." Jin muttered before pointing out the meat parts he'd like to purchase.

"Is there an occasion, hyung?" Taehyung asked, noticing how his brother was spending more than the usual.

Jin just smiled before taking his purchase and placing it on the separate basket in their cart.

"My publisher will be visiting later for dinner." Jin finally answered.

"The one I've met before?" Taehyung questioned.

"Uh-huh." His brother briefly responded, still continuously placing a lot of things on their cart.

"The one with dimples?" Taehyung wanted to confirm.

"Uh-huh." Jin answered, spotting the drinks he's been eyeing since they arrived.

"Your boyfriend?" Taehyung asked once more.

"Uh-huh." Jin mindlessly responded.

It took him a long while to realize Taehyung's question before his eyes turned wide, cheeks becoming bright pink in color as he panicked.

"Taetae!" Jin blurted out, feeling so embarrassed. He looked at his brother who still has a blank face.

This made Jin sigh as he fanned his face with his hands. He looked anywhere but Taehyung which made him see the line at the cashier now getting a bit long.

"You go ahead and wait for me in one of those lines. I'll just get a few more things then I'll join you there." Jin diverted the topic and instructed him instead which made Taehyung nod.

He pushed the half-filled cart toward the big cart section as he silently waited in line.

He hasn't been standing there for a long while when he heard a familiar voice.

"Taehyung?"

At the call of his name, he turned to look and saw the owner.

"It's really you. This must be my lucky day." the man grinned as he approached closer, immediately placing his arm over Taehyung's shoulder, pulling him close as if they're that kind of friends.

"Hyun Jae." Taehyung acknowledged.

"Are you alone?" Jae asked to which Taehyung just shakes his head.

"Too bad. I thought maybe I could accompany you if you're alone." He added in a suggestive tone, but Taehyung couldn't discern that.

He glanced at the guy's hand now gliding over his right arm.

Taehyung immediately thought of Jimin and his reminder to not let Jae go near him nor touch him when they cross paths.

"Do you have free time after this? We could go somewhere... my treat." Jae whispered near his ear.

Taehyung didn't respond as he casually removed Jae's arm resting on his shoulders.

"I'm not interested." Taehyung responded with a blank face. He looked ahead, totally ignoring the guy who just snorted.

"Playing the hard to get card, aren't you?" Jae snickered before maliciously slapping Taehyung's butt that almost made the latter lose his balance, not expecting what he did.

Taehyung turned his head to look at the guy who has an expression that he couldn't read, but he knew it wasn't a pleasant one.

"You shouldn't be doing something like that, Jae." Taehyung stated in monotone that only earned a restrained laugh from the other.

Jae was careful not to make a scene as he leaned forward and whispered.

"Why? Are you going to cry?" He teased.

"Oh hell no. You don't even know how to cry." He laughed even more, taunting Taehyung who just stared at him.

He wanted to say something but nothing really came to mind.

Good thing, his brother's voice suddenly interrupted from his back.

"What's going on here?" Jin asked, darting his eyes from his brother to the man next to him.

Jae was quick to change the expression on his face as he smiled sweetly.

"Hello, sir. I'm one of Taehyung's schoolmates." Jae bowed a little but Jin just nodded his head.

"Do you need anything?" Jin asked, raking his eyes up and down the guy.

"Nothing, sir. I just happened to be here with a few friends of mine." Jae answered, roaming his eyes around to look for his friends.

"I'll probably go now and join them." He said, gazing at Taehyung who didn't look his way.

Jin simply nodded his head before placing down the remaining items in his hands on their cart.

"See you next time, Taehyung." Jae finally excused himself and was quick to vanish from their sight.

Taehyung didn't say anything and just shrugged his shoulders before pushing the cart forward.

"I don't like that guy's face, Taetae." Jin suddenly commented as he stood next to Taehyung.

"Is he a friend?" He asked afterwards.

"No. Jimin won't be happy if he hears you ask that question, hyung." Taehyung responded.

"He has a bad personality, right? I could tell from his face." Jin stated as it's their turn to finally get their items punched out.

Taehyung didn't answer and remained silent until the both of them decided to go home after hours of roaming around the mall.

On their way to the parking lot where they headed for their rented car, Taehyung, in his peripheral vision, caught a familiar figure of a man who entered one of the cars parked a few blocks from theirs.

He didn't get to see the man's face, so he could just be mistaken.

"Taetae, let's go." Jin called out which caught Taehyung's attention.

He nodded his head, quickly closing the gap between them, finally disregarding what he had seen.

---------

"Could you fix this document for me, Taehyung?" Jacqueline, Taehyung's supervisor asked as she forwarded the file to his computer.

"Okay, Ma'am." He answered, immediately checking out the sent file.

He was busy checking for mistakes when his phone buzzed, showing a chat from Jimin.

Jimin sent an attachment.

Taehyung clicked the attachment and was lead to their university's page.

It didn't take him a minute to see the header in bold face.

"Bangtan University mourns for the death of Hyun Jae, a BSBM student."

Taehyung just blankly stared at the article, reading a few lines or so to get the gist of what happened.

However, not much details were mentioned on the page to give respect to the family and in accordance with police protocols.

His phone suddenly buzzed once more, revealing more chats from Jimin.

Jimin: OMG Taehyung! He's dead!

Jimin: WTF! HYUN JAE IS DEAD!

Jimin: SHIT!

Jimin: IDK if I should be happy or not. Like WTF!

Taehyung just shrugged and didn't reply. He closed his phone and went back to work as if nothing happened.

As if the death of the person whom he had seen just a few days ago is nothing but a normal incident.

---------

Love you 💜