AMIN

He is outside.

He's standing by the streetlight, and I tilt my head in confusion. He was standing so stiff— so unnatural.

"Tae? I'm here."

"Amin." He says, smiling. And I know something is wrong the moment he says my name like that.

And even more when he wraps an arm around my waist and kisses me on the cheek.

His hand is shaking against my back.

"I missed you." Taehyung says, and I catch on the moment his eyes flicker anxiously behind him— where it's dark.

"Me, too."

And I kiss him, softly on the mouth. His hand tightens on the curve of my waist in surprise, and I quickly shift my lips to his ear.

"Is there someone here?"

He swallows, and that's all the confirmation I need.

"It's so cold, Taehyung." I say, pretending to shiver in my cardigan as I pull at his sleeve. "Let's go inside. Come on."

I secure my hand into his.

And until I get him inside my apartment and lock the door, I don't say another word. He doesn't, either.

But the moment the door's locked shut, he pulls me into his chest.

"Thank you. Noona— thank you so much."

He's shaking uncontrollably now, so I wrap my arms around him and wait until he calms down.

"Was someone stalking you? Who was watching?"

He doesn't let go of me, even as he's talking.

"S-She used to work for me. After I fired her, she wouldn't stop coming."

"She keeps asking for me to be her girlfriend, so I told her that I already had one and— and she wanted proof."

He hugs me tighter.

"I'm sorry, Noona."

"Don't be." I say, almost cutting him off. My face is dark with anger.

"Taehyung, you need to shut her down completely. Why didn't you call the police? And your guards?"

"It's my fault."

He turns his face away. "Jungkook told me not to leave without him tonight, but I did anyways. I didn't think anything would happen."

"She just— she just hadn't come for the past three weeks, so I thought..."

"It's okay. Is that him? Jungkook?"

I point at his echoing phone, and he nods. I fix him a look.

"He's going to be mad. Answer it, Tae."

He hesitates for a second, before accepting the call. And immediately I hear angry shouts coming over from the other end.

"Kim @&&&@& Taehyung! Where the hell were you when I came out? I told you to wait a damn minute, and you can't even—"

The sentence cuts off into a furious sigh, and Taehyung winces.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't save you if something happens." Jungkook snaps, and I can't help but smile a little.

Damn.

"I'm going to you right now. Where are you?"

And it is kind of amusing, to see Taehyung panicking to come up with a good answer.

He doesn't end up finding one.

"My, uh, secretary's house."

"What the hell?! What in the world are you doing in the— are you talking about Song Amin?"

"Yeah."

My lips curving a little, I hold out my hand. And Taehyung blinks at me for a second before handing me his phone.

I put it to my ear.

"Jungkook-ssi."

The line goes silent, before flickering back to life.

"Miss Amin. Were you right next to him this entire time?"

"Yes." I say, and interrupt before he can say anything else.

"It's already twelve— Taehyung can stay here for tonight. I'm sure he won't mind either."

I look over, and see him already fixing a blanket over himself on the couch.

"Yes. He doesn't."

There's a slow sigh.

"....okay. If it's you I can trust— just make sure he doesn't stray off anywhere else."

Then he hangs up, and I turn back fast enough to see Taehyung looking at me before flicking his eyes away.

I hand him his phone.

"You're blushing."

"W-What did Jungkook say?" He cuts me off, the soft red turning deeper. "Did he say yes?"

I laugh.

"You act like a child getting permission for a sleepover." I say, touching the back of my hand to his cheek. It is warm.

He frowns, avoiding my hand.

"I'm not a child."

"Of course you aren't."

"Why did you kiss me?"

I look up at his firm tone. He sounds like he's trying to keep a shaking voice still, and a ghost of a smile passes by my lips.

"Is that why you're blushing?"

"Just answer the question, Noona." He breathes, fingers curling over his wrist. "You didn't have to do that, but you did it anyway."

I really shouldn't.

"Maybe it's because I wanted to."

His blush flames across his cheeks, up to the tips of his ears.

And when he looks up at me, his almond eyes are slightly wider than before.

__________________________

"There's another blank."

"Oh." He mumbles, quickly signing the last line. He would've skipped it if I hadn't given him reminders for the past half hour.

He was so distracted.

"You have a conference in three minutes." I say, genuinely worried. "Don't forget what I've told you."

"You're coming too... aren't you?"

I nod.

"But I won't be able to remind you like I'm doing now." I say, knowing exactly what was making him be like this.

The kiss, from last night. I wouldn't have done it if I'd known it would affect him this much.

"Just forget about it."

And he freezes.

"Right."

I flinch back a little in surprise when he stands up from his chair, expression tense.

"Tae—"

He sweeps out of the door without another word.

Dammit.

Gripping the file in my fingers, I go out after him. He's already disappeared down the corner, and I sigh heavily.

I shouldn't have said that.

Why did I say that.

_________________________

Taehyung doesn't give me a single look during his entire presentation.

He talks coldly, his voice so professional that it feels so unfamiliar. It wasn't like him, and I could tell that Jungkook had also noticed.

He keeps giving me curious looks.

And Shilla's standing right next to him, dressed in a guard uniform.

She blinks at me half the time, looking confused when she notices that something's wrong with me. I hadn't returned her playful looks the moment we'd seen each other.

"Thank you."

I watch him as he walks back.

He'd done everything so well— almost like a robot. And it was so unlike him, because I'd gotten used to being the one smiling at him when he looked in my direction for support.

"Kim Taehyung!"

When the meeting ends, I try to catch his sleeve. But he's gone so fast that I'm left behind.

"Amin."

Someone taps at my shoulder. It's Shilla, her brows furrowed.

"Is everything okay? You and Mr. Ki—"

"Watch where you're going."

Shilla yelps quietly when Jungkook pulls her back. She'd nearly slammed into the front of one of the participants just now.

He frowns at her.

"Do you want me to teach you how to walk without crashing into things all the time?"

She glares at him, and I give her an apologetic smile before rushing my pace.

I needed to find Taehyung first.