You laugh suddenly, surprising him. His thumb is tracing over the veins at the back of your hand. You're pulling at the cuticle of your index finger with the nail of your thumb. He watches silently.

The eerie silence has to be filled with something. Anything.

"What- I uh what- do you mean?" You stammer.

His thumb has stopped stroking your hand and he's now looking at the cruel pulls of skin your thumb nail is working into.

His eyes almost willing your nails away from your skin because of the insistent pulling.

"You're suffering from severe PTSD." He comments and you know it. Of course, that's exactly why you're here. To cure yourself of just not your anxiety, but also of your PTSD. Your trauma.

You want to move on.

And not just from the death of your mother. But, also from the break up you went through with Jeon Jungkook.

How, he was the one who asked you out. Got possessive over you, overly protective. Excessively jealous over nothing only for you to find out he had been secretly seeing someone else.

How it broke your heart, because he was there when your mother died, and he outrightly refused to help you.
He knew what you suffered through and took advantage of your broken state and emotionally exploited you.

Took you out on a few good dates and made you fall in love, but spent the rest of the months making you feel absolutely trashy.

And when you found out he was seeing someone else, it costed every ounce of dignity left in you to muster it and break up with him.

But, what broke your heart was that he didn't even protest?

He didn't give an explanation. He didn't ask you to give him another chance, or to relax. Didn't care what you were going through.

All he said was, "Okay. Good luck with your life." And left you there on the library seat alone with your books.

After that, he never even cared to spare you a glance in college. Or on the street. Even after he moved in in the apartment complex same as you, he avoided you like a plague.

Your mind snapped back to the present as tears rapidly fell down your cheeks into your lap. Your skin moistened by the rough past and how you had refused to break down.

Every tear was a witness of how much you had to fight yourself to remain alive. Fight those inner demons that suggested you to take your life.

But, again, what really had you fall in love with Jeon Jungkook..

..Was that he had rushed into the fire and pulled you and your brother out.

He had saved your life.

So now, no matter how much you hated him for cheating on you.. you still owed him your life.

You didn't want to live and you were surely angry at him for meddling in your affairs. What was there to live for? Now that your mom was dead, your father's story unknown. Your brother lost his mind and you were closer to the brink of self-destruction every passing second, what gave him the right to make decisions on whether you live or die? He should have let you and your brother burn out and get reduced to ashes to rejoin your mother.

"Y/n." Taehyung called. There was a click of a pen and you blinked. You didn't blink.

You were woken up.

You didn't realize, that all of this..

You had spoken out aloud.

"No matter what happens in life, we never should entertain thoughts that ask of us to take our lives." He preached and you rolled your eyes.

"I know."

You fell silent.
What did he know? How could he claim to understand when your life experience was the worst out of all the people you knew?

"You're a strong girl." He took both of your hands and gently squeezed. "And Jeon Jungkook.." he locked eyes with you,

"..is a jerk."

A giggle broke out. You had never had someone bitch over him for you. Not even your best friend-cum-roommate had known much about your breakup. So it felt odd to hear someone put Jungkook down for you.

"I'll butcher that guy if I find him." He says through gritted teeth and you laugh again.

"Stop!" You laugh. He blinks. "What?"

"You don't know him to say that."

He stares.

"You want me to butcher him and I will."

"How would you know I want that at all?" You challenged, your lips tugging upwards on one side into a smile.

"My job, y/n, requires for me to read my clients. And you, have been the easiest book of all."

"I don't think I want you to butcher him."

"You want someone to say they will butcher him. You want someone to throw eggs at him. To key his car-"

"He doesn't own a car." You think back.

"His cycle then." He shrugs and you burst out laughing.

Taehyung shows no smile of humour.

"Your father.. where is he?"

The sudden unrelated question makes you crumple your eyebrows together for a fraction of a second before you quickly compose yourself.

"I don't know." You lie.

"Can you tell me what happened that night?" His one hand leaves yours, even then the other stays, to flip the page of his notebook and write in bold letters.

Morons in her life.

He underlines it and turns to you. All the while, he has maintained an unsmiling composure. But, the little scribble makes you snort.

He nods as if that was his intention.

He's strange. But kinda cute.

"You have a delightful smile, you should smile more often." You're yourself surprised that these words came outta your mouth.

What are you even thinking?

What's wrong in that? I haven't said anything wrong.

You argue with yourself in your head while he regards you with a scanning gaze and then suddenly smiles one of his rare smiles. His cold composure momentarily fading as he asks, "Would that cure your anxiety?"

"Huh?" You feel disarmed.

His shoulders do the half-shrug as the corners of his lips tug down into a 'thought so' action.

He clears his throat importantly.

"So tell me, what part of your history should we dissect first?" He rubs his palms together and you realize his hands left yours. The sudden lonely feeling that your hands are hit with make you feel suddenly on edge.

"I don't think that's my expertise."

"What is?"

"Nothing is." You laugh coldly. You both just stare at each other for a long moment, and there is this weird tension in the room that demands for you to shrug off your overcoat. You didn't realize how hot it is until now.

"Is it the weather?" You muse.

"No, it's you." He answers your thought. Damn.

"Do you read minds?"

He chuckles.

"I read my clients."

You're grinning for some reason now as you lean forward interestedly.

"Tell me more." You find yourself very intrigued and pulled into the depth of his brown pretty eyes. Into an endless abyss of dark beauty that you're afraid to explore but, your adamant character does not allow you to give up.

"You're my client, not the other way around." He pats his notepad for your attention.

"I-" Suddenly there's a knock on the door and you stop yourself.

"Who is it?" He asks, a hint of irritation in his tone that you don't fathom. You twist in your chair as the door opens.

"Sir." The peon enters and you're feeling very uncomfortable with how the flow of the conversation has been broken. "Yes?" Taehyung asks, his eyebrows knitting together into a mild frown.
"There are a few clients waiting in the lobby. It's been an hour."

"Right." The eyebrows fix themselves back into his regular calm and cool composure.
"Miss Y/n." He clears his throat as he gets up from his seat and pulls out a paper. "I know you have a business card. But, me handing you one is a totally different thing." He says as he slides it over the table to you. You blush furiously as you take it and silently thank him. But, you're yet to understand why he would hand it to you. Again.

"And-" he breaks into your train of thought, "it is a small exercise you must do before you go to bed. For me. You cannot come to my office if you don't do it." You don't know what he's talking about, but you nod.

"How much will you charge for today's session?

There's silence in the room and you feel his eyes trailing from your eyes to your lips.

His voice comes back deep as freshly processed honey dripping from the hive mixed with warm frothy cream. Smooth and velvety.

"I think, I'm gonna take something else as payment."

Wait a minut- WHAT

THE WHAT

gulp

You clear your throat uncomfortably, "Sir-"

"It will change from time to time-"

"I don't think I get y-" you didn't know he could get perverted. You're almost regretting every life decision right now.

You tear your eyes away from his and look down at the card. Your heart freezes. This isn't his business card.

It's got three words scribbled on it.

Willingness. Trust. Unwind.

"What would you want me to pay you with for now? Today's session?"

"Do you know.." he says as he gestures for you to rise from your seat along with him, he jams his hands in his trouser pockets. "Those steps.." he beckons at the little card in your hand, "..they can be exercised for anything in life."

And for a fraction of a second, your mind flashes an image of you and Kim Taehyung doing things you don't think is appropriate between a client and any other service provider.

"May it be a roller coaster ride, eating at a new restaurant, doing something for the first time in life," you sigh as realization hits you, he's not really what you thin-

"..marriage.. sex."

You instantly shut your mouth as he finishes his sentence and you quickly look up at him. He changed your mind in literally a second.

"Everything." He breathes. His pupils are so dilated that his eyes look like two miniature black holes. Sucking everything in. Your breath however is caught in your throat. You blink hard and smile.

"Well, that was enlightening. Guru." You tease light-heartedly to make up for the tension that has suddenly built up in the air.

You're edging towards the door and you know he's following close behind.

You remember suddenly that you didn't really pay him this time either. You wheel around to realise you're netted between him and the door and your chest goes tight with your overexcited pounding heart.

He's so close to you, looking down at you. You can smell the unearthly scent of his drift to you in such a sweet mist that you're almost intoxicated.

"Nice perfume." You manage to say.

Except that you sound like a wheezy toy duck that has been run over by a wheel chair.

Suddenly, he smiles an enigmatic smile. His lips parting, slightly, to reveal a set of perfect pearly teeth. You're so close that you can notice every tiny detail of his ethereal, devastatingly beautiful face.

"You're yet to pay me." He responds and you feel your ears heat up.

I didn't intend to run away with the money anyway.

He leans over and opens the door, his chin slightly touching the back of your head and you clutch the note and the card in your hands tightly, trying to calm yourself down.

You're just single and lonely and deeply HORNY

Not to forget, maybe you're even PMSing.

As you are about to leave the office, Taehyung pats your shoulder. You turn to face him and are taken by surprise as he takes your hand and kisses your knuckle.

"You're an inspiration." He breathes against your hand and lets go.

~~~

You're practically crawling home as it gets darker. You're absolutely weirded out with the last gesture he gave before you left.

What even did he mean by that? Words and actions both?!

You roll your eyes to yourself and decide to try and be a real strong lady.

This anxiety. Man how you wish it was a person you could punch in the guts.

You're gonna kick them asses.

You're not gonna break down.

No matter what.

"Hey, y/n."

Huh.

You're almost inserting your key in the door lock when that familiar voice has you totally frozen on the spot.

You don't even turn then, you're just frozen.

"Y/n." Damn, what does he want?

He hasn't contacted you in the last 3 months since you broke up, what would suddenly change his mind?

You're finally defrosting and you twist to look at his face.

"Yes?"

"Here." He hands you the tiny bottle of yoghurt. Wordlessly, you by default hold out your hand and let him hand it to you.

"Wh-"

"Just come with me." He beckons you over and you don't even know why, but you're following him like the rats in the trance behind the pied Piper.

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