RIGID || TaeJin ☑️

Part 26

Seokjin

Doing our usual routine, Chanri and I are having conversations before sleep time. She is still in a hangover over her educational trip. I think I already memorized the animals and the names of her classmates as she keeps on mentioning them several times already.

"Promise me you will come there with me and father." Chanri once again, asked.

"Yes baby. I promise. Your father, oppa and princess will go to the zoo soon. And I think I already made that promise five times. So I think that's enough promise okay?" I smiled as I fix her blanket.

"But father was angry at you. I heard him mentioning the name of your friend. The one I met at the restaurant? Is he the reason why father is angry?" Chanri remembers him.

"No princess. Your father is not angry at me."

"But he yelled at you. He never yells if he's not angry."

The Taehyung that I know is always angry. I smiled to myself.

"Princess, I can assure you that your father is not angry at oppa okay? So stop worrying and go to sleep now." I fix the pillow on her head. It took us 10 minutes before Chanri finally fell asleep. I turn her night light into dim and walks out of the bedroom only to meet Taehyung at the hallway.

"Is she hard to put to sleep?" Taehyung asked.

I shook my head and smiled. "No but she's extra talkative when sleepy. And Tae, please don't yell at me if she's around. She thought you're angry." I said. It surprises me on how I am starting to feel comfortable speaking my mind to Tae.

"I'm sorry about it." But it surprises me more that he's starting to say sorry whenever he's wrong.

"It's okay and I'm sorry too if I pissed you  earlier. Anyway, I'll sleep now, it's been a long day." I said, my eyes droopy, body still sore, and too lazy to even walk. I turn my back at him.

"Jin can we talk?"

I look at him, yawning. I can't even open my eyes. "Can we do it tomorrow morning? I'm really sorry Tae but i'm super sleepy. I think I can doze off right now, right here." Pointing on the floor. I can feel my shoulders draping. So before he can even protest, I walk towards my bedroom.

"Can I take you out for a dinner tomorrow Jin? And maybe a movie after?"

And just like the speed of lightning, drowsiness left my body. The great Kim Taehyung asking me for a date? I stood in the hallway in thunderstruck silence for several moments.

"Jin?" He called.

I turn to look at him. Still stunned. "I'd love to." And was that an admission that I like him too?

Taehyung flashes a smile. A box smile. A smile I haven't seen before. Like rays of sunshine flooded his soul. "Great!" And he rushes towards me to give me a kiss on my forehead before pulling me into a tight embrace. "Thank you Jin!"

Lying down in bed, everything seems surreal. A lot of things happened in a span of 12 hours and everything elevated my mood.

One thing I discovered today, Taehyung is a sweet person. That side of him I never knew exists. That sweet side of him that he typically hides to everyone.

Before, he always do and say the wrong things, degrading me, insulting me, shaming me in front of others. He made several mistakes before but I can see that he learned from it. He apologized, he acknowledged his mistakes and I can see that he's trying his best to make everything right.

And one more thing I realized about him. A lot of people considered him to be a heartless and expressionless human being to ever exist. People say that he is a rigid person. He refused to bend in to others. His words are orders. Your opposing opinion is wrong not different. He will reject people who disagree with him. He is arrogant, demeaning, controlling, narrow minded and self-centered.

I remember how he poke my head one time just for being late. But he never ask for the reason why. No feelings of concern whatsoever. Never accepting reasons or explanations. Just him being always right. He speaks truth. No arguments.

Being rigid is being extra stiff but being stiff may have the chance to eventually break. Just like Taehyung. He is strong from the outside, showing everyone he is a tough guy that can scare the shit out of you or send you into a panic attack. But deep inside, he is hiding his true sensitive self. Full of sadness and fears. His rigid self is his make up to his true fragile self.

Somehow, he is showing his world to me now. What it's like to be in his world. What he really is before he shut it down from others. That world that he closed for five long years. And I am thrilled that he allowed me to open that world again for him. A plausible reason for me to believe that he trusts me enough to let me all the way in.