Chapter 98

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A/N:  Before we dive into this chapter just a really quick note.  This chapter is partially my way of speeding time up a bit.  I'm the kind of person that always hates not knowing what happens in those in between moments in stories, movies, and television shows so because of that it makes it hard for me to not write about those in between moments.  (It's probably my biggest flaw honestly.)  I mostly just wanted to write this note because the format is different for this chapter than any chapter previous, but also because the way it is formatted and separated isn't seamless or perfect.  I hope you all can kind of forgive that imperfection.

I grumble in annoyance when I first wake up the following morning. Sleep is my friend and since I missed out lounging and relaxing on day two I feel like it's my right to make up for missing out on that time. A heavy arm curled around my waist pulling me closer has me sighing in relief as I get spooned close to his body. But then his raspy baritone whispers in my ear. "Angel, I understand why you want to stay in bed, but you are going to miss out on telling everyone goodbye their very first day back to work."

I groan in mild annoyance. But hell he's right. I would regret it if I didn't at least say goodbye to them. To tell them to have a good day and to be safe. Even if it is a somewhat superstitious practice I definitely want it to be routine.

Once they are gone though I head back upstairs to cocoon myself in the luxurious warmth of my bed. Unsurprisingly Tae comes back up with me after he has let Tannie out. Tae picks up Tannie and sets him behind his head, then pulls me close again. We wrap around each other and hide away in our own little safe haven until about lunch time.

Byeol wakes us both up when she knocks on the door. Tae groans but gets up to answer it. "I'm sorry to wake you both up, but mom said that lunch is ready."

I barely hear Tae softly say. "That's okay. I need to take Tannie out again anyway." Then he is back beside me. "Well, you heard her, Angel. It's time to get up."

I begrudgingly trudge down the stairs after Tae. When I make it to the kitchen a delicious aroma entices me to take my seat at the table. "I made a chicken vegetable porridge for you. Namjoon-ssi sent me a text letting me know you needed comfort food today." Then she winks at me. The wink tells me that Joon not only asked her to make me comfort food, but he also must have told her the reason for said comfort food. I was definitely thankful for the first; I was undecided about the second.

Tae and I both thank her profusely for the porridge once both of our bowls are empty. "Well, Angel, what were you wanting to do now?" I pause for a second thinking. I already feel exceptionally bad that we have spent the entire day thus far hiding in my room, but I would be lying if I didn't admit to myself that I almost want to go back up there and continue simply relaxing. Tae seems to cue into my thoughts. "We can go back up if that's what you really want to do. But, I do have a suggestion first." He points out the glass door. "We could instead soak out in the hot tub."

Okay, I'm totally on board with that suggestion.

Tannie of course joins us outside, but he is more content to stay underneath the shady overhang than sit in the sun beside us. I smile over at his cute puppy face before Tae pulls me into his lap and lets me lean fully on his body as if he were my own personal recliner.

I wish I could say the rest of the day was more productive. But the only other thing we did was go back up to my room and watch some classic romances. I fell back asleep sometime in the middle of the first one.


Monday night I fell asleep alone. Well, sort of alone that is. Both Tae and I decided to sleep in our own beds, but we each left our doors open that way Tannie could decide for himself who he wanted to spend the night with.

He had started the night out with me, but this morning as I woke up it wasn't a cute, cuddly canine in my bed. But I didn't wake up alone either. Judging by the large presence behind me one of my other soulmates must have climbed in bed with me after I had already fallen asleep.

I turn over to see Joon sleeping soundly beside me. Because of how hard he works I decided to leave him there while I got ready for the day and put something together for everyone for breakfast.

The fourth day isn't all that bad usually for me. But that didn't mean I wanted to go to too much trouble. So I decided to do salads and fruit bowls for breakfast. I even cut up some excess fruit for lunch later on today since Dasom wouldn't be here to make lunch herself.

Yoongi and Jin unsurprisingly were the first ones downstairs. Without a word they immediately caught on to what I had planned for breakfast and started an assembly line. I smiled to myself. There was something special about simply being able to read each other, and sort of know what each other was thinking without saying a word.

Now that didn't mean that things between Jin and I were completely settled yet. I understood where he was coming from, and it made me a lot happier knowing his thoughts about the subject. But I still felt a little raw and broken about how everything was initially addressed. I guess that made it easy to understand what Jin might have felt like in the beginning of our relationship though. It had to be at least a somewhat similar feeling.

Hobi ends up being the next one downstairs. He pulls me backward so he can completely wrap both his arms around my waist and pull me into his warm body. I mentally sigh when I notice immediately that another part of his anatomy was stirring awake and starting to take notice. But neither of us addressed it. He kissed the crown of my head. "How are you feeling, Petal?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It doesn't seem to be too bad of a day."

Tannie preludes the two 95s as they trudge downstairs. Tae huffs out something I am unable to understand audibly, but immediately I am able to define when he heads to the side door that leads outside.

Jimin sits at the stool across from me. His puffy sleepy face is utterly adorable, but I am not about to say that out loud. He rubs his face, in some kind of visual effort to get alive then addresses me. "Are you doing okay, Love?"

I nod. "I'm fine."

Then he catches sight of what I am making and lets out an aggravated sigh. But whatever complaint was about to pop out of his mouth he reconsiders and instead thanks me for the breakfast.

Just before it's time to say goodbye is when Joon makes his appearance. He grabs the remaining bowls of salad and fruit and takes the remaining vacant seat. "You could have woke me up, Baby."

I shake my head. "No. You could use the extra rest. You work so hard after all." I guess he has no further argument because he doesn't offer any sort of rebuttal. He simply refocuses on his breakfast in front of him.

The others quickly go upstairs to get dressed and once they are back at the front doors I quickly tell each of them goodbye. Then I make my way back over to Joon. Placing myself in one of the vacant seats beside him. He looks between the sink and his dirty bowls on the table. "I guess the first thing I am doing today is the dishes."

"I can always help you." I offer.

He shakes his head. "No, you cooked. Besides, there isn't really that many to clean. Instead, why don't you take a shower and put on something you don't mind potentially getting destroyed."

I arch an eyebrow at him in confusion. "I'm sorry. What?"

"I have a project I thought we could work on together." He offers. Of course that statement only confuses me more, but I know he won't elaborate so instead of continuously scratching my head in confusion I do as he asks.

When I come back downstairs I find myself alone. But something in the room has changed. Leaning against the wall of the main hallway is a large canvas. Beside it is a selection of paint brushes and acrylic paints in a wide array of colors. I mean there weren't 96. (That was the number of the most crayons in a Crayola box I had seen the last time I considered purchasing one.)

Joon joins my side and smiles down at me. "Joon, what is all this?"

"I thought perhaps we could try our hand at painting a picture together." He picks up two of the brushes. "But I thought we would make it a bit challenging and paint something with the technique Pointillism in mind."

Truthfully I have never really studied much about Pointillism. I vaguely knew the point of the particular style was for the painting to be composed of multiple dots in varying colors and those dots would naturally swirl together to form the blending colors of the painting. I also knew that Georges Seurat was probably the most famous Pointillism artist. If he wasn't he was definitely the one I knew of the best.

"These paintbrushes are actually a bit big for a traditional Pointillism painting. But if we did one with the smallest brush possible it would take us weeks to finish it. Especially since this will probably be the only day I have off outside of weekends."

"Do you think we can finish one today?" I ask hesitantly.

"Maybe not finish, but get a majority of it done probably. Perhaps we can finish on the Saturdays we have all together."

I nod. "Okay, so what are we painting?"

"I thought we could attempt to keep it simple." He pulls up a landscape photo that doesn't look remotely simple, but at least the colors are pretty uniform.

Neither of us are very proficient at drawing but Joon does his best to section off the canvas into different geometric sections. Each section represents a different part of the landscape, with different planned colors to focus on. We consider first starting at the bottom and working our way up but change our mind and decide to start from the top and work our way down. "After all the part of the painting at the bottom would be what is closest to us, and that way each layer would build on top of it. It would be easiest to cover up any mistakes with the next layer." I offer by way of explanation.

It feels like we have only been working on the painting for minutes, but when both of our stomachs begin to growl in sync with each other we both pull away. "I think it's time to stop for a little bit and work on something for lunch."

I nod. "What should we make?"

"How about just some sandwiches? There is no point in going all in for just the two of us." He suggests.

"We can also eat the extra fruit I cut up earlier."

"Sounds perfect."

After we eat lunch we both decide we should do some stretches since we have been prone in the same position for hours. Then we simply cuddle up and relax for another half an hour before returning to the painting.

After another hour or so I turn to ask him. "Should I make my spaghetti for supper tonight?"

The expression on his face can be described as nothing but interest. "Do you have all the ingredients you need?"

I chuckle lightly. "I premade a jar of sauce and put it in the refrigerator at the end of last week. It won't be as good as it would be fresh, but it will do in a pinch."

"Well, I'm definitely interested."

So we continue painting until about a half an hour before the rest should be getting out of the building. It will still take them an hour to get home or so, but we both wanted to get cleaned up before preparing supper.


Joon had spent the night again with me last night. He had tried to coerce me into more than just sleep, but honestly I was still on my period. I knew that it wouldn't have been a problem since it had dwindled down quite a bit and was rather light. That didn't mean I was comfortable with the idea though. I did tell him I might consider it in the future. But my answer for now was no. He was a perfect gentleman and readily accepted that answer with complete understanding. He even tried to coerce me into forgiving him for even asking. But honestly I didn't feel like there was anything to forgive.

My alarm was set to go off half an hour before Joon's so when it made the obnoxious sound before we were ready we both groaned in annoyance. I shifted out of his tight grip to retrieve my phone and silence the unpleasant cacophony coming from the speaker.

I turned and kissed Joon on the cheek. "Go ahead and take the extra half an hour. You deserve it. I'm going to head down and help Jin with breakfast." He replied with a grunt before he turned away toward the other side of the bed. I chuckled to myself before I left his side.

Jin was going to be doing a majority of the cooking this morning. It was his way of trying to soften the blow of the news he gave me a couple days ago. Turns out that he won't be spending as much time with me today as I would have liked. He had an errand pop up that he had to take care of. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but I am least glad he communicated it with me ahead of time and is trying to make some amends regarding it. That doesn't keep me from being mildly upset by it though, and realizing that we haven't completely talked everything out yet.

He looks concerned for a second. "Did I do something wrong again?"

After he asks the sound of footsteps on the stairs has me turning that direction. I give him a look that I am hoping conveys that I just want to talk to him. Hoping that look will tell him it isn't as bad as it seems at least.

Breakfast moves rather rapidly, and after the others are ready to leave for work I quickly go through telling them all goodbye. Then I turn back to Jin. We both decide to clean up the dishes and take the chance to talk while we are doing them.

"I thought we cleared everything up the other day. Did I do something wrong again?" He asks, and I am immediately torn up by the worry in his eyes.

"Jin, I'm not upset exactly. But there was one thing left unsaid that I didn't really acknowledge until now. I think the lack of time with you today made me realize it should be discussed also."

"Okay, what's that?"

"Jin, regarding the night of our date. I respect your decision to wait and set up something special for us. But just because I was inviting you inside didn't mean it had to be for that reason. We could have just hung out, and you could have simply slept beside me. You have spent one night in my bed, Jin, and it was one that I don't even remember."

He clears his throat. I look up at him and notice a blush climbing up his neck and already tainting his ears pink. "Not only did I not consider that. But I was more turning away from the situation because I didn't want to be tempted. You are far too alluring for your own good, and it was a wonderful night. There was a part of me that did want to make love to you. But I want to make it special for you." He shakes his head. "No scratch that. I want to make it special for us even more."

I nod at him. I feel a huge weight release from my chest, that I honestly hadn't completely been aware was there, and let out a sigh of relief. We had unintentionally dawdled over dishes with our talk. Just as he finishes drying the last one is when the staff arrives. We welcome them before we go sit down by the television.

I glance at the time. "How much time do you have left?" I ask him.

"At most an hour." He points at his pajamas. "But, I do still have to get cleaned up and dressed."

I nod at him. I hear the clicking on claws across the floor and I smile at Tannie as he rushes over to my side. "Why don't you go ahead and get ready?" At least I had Tannie to keep me company today.

After he left I went to my own room to officially get ready for the day. There I found another letter from Jimin. But, I honestly wasn't quite in the mood to read it yet. So I sat it aside before taking a shower and getting dressed. Once that was accomplished I glanced over the letter.

Daisy, my dearest love, my heart,

I feel like I have

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