Maya

After a few more minutes, our bodies begin to move in sync with the rise and fall of our chests; hearts literally beating calmly against each other's body.

Taehyung is sleeping peacefully, whereas I haven't slept; the thoughts wandering in my mind are making me sleepless, after which I decide to do something about the job for which he was rejected.

It is the best I could try and do to help him feel happier if that job is what he really wants at this point of time. Yet, I haven't given him any false hopes when I myself am unsure about exactly what it is that went wrong with the job.

Carefully wriggling out of his tight hold, I roll over and sit up at the edge of the bed and turn back to look at Taehyung.

His head has slumped where my chest was present all this while, and from where I'm seated, I can only see his thick mop of dark hair and his hands laying limp next to his head. The rest of his body is shrouded by the duvet.

I pull a pillow and do my best to use it as a replacement for me, without being too forceful while moving his head or arms. He looks a bit more comfortable now, after which I look around for something to wear, and the first thing that my eyes land on is Taehyung's discarded T-shirt that's on the floor.

Smiling to myself, I pick it up and inhale his scent deeply before pulling it over my head and inserting my arms into the sleeves. The T-shirt was big on him, and it is obviously huge on me, and it comfortably cloaks the shorts that I'm wearing.

Walking out into the living room, I look around for Taehyung's phone and spot it on the coffee table. I glance back to see if he's still asleep and proceed to pick up his phone and open up his email.

Luckily, he hasn't protected his phone with any kind of security locks, and so I have no trouble in locating the email which stated that he wasn't selected for this job. Without wasting any time in reading through the contents of the email, I quickly forward it to my email, and then I return his phone to its original place after clearing out the evidences of me having accessed his mailbox.

Just as I'm about to enter the bedroom, my stomach lets out an embarrassing rumble, indicating that the vicious midnight hunger pangs are getting into action.

Sighing, I decide to eat something before I get back into bed with Taehyung.

I turn around on my heels and proceed to the kitchen through the dark hallway, and I open up the refrigerator with my back to the kitchen doorway

"Are you hungry?" Sounds Taehyung's deep voice, cutting through the silence in the kitchen like a knife; the suddenness of his appearance making me jump.

"Yeah," I turn my head to look at him and give him a warm smile. "I thought you were sleeping deep," I add, pulling out the tub of chocolate ice-cream from the freezer and closing the door, leaving the entire kitchen in total darkness.

I turn on the small light hanging above the kitchen island and place the ice-cream tub on the counter.

"I was," he steps closer to me, looking dangerously attractive with just a pair of sweats sitting low on his body. "And then I couldn't feel you near me, I couldn't find my shirt as well," he laughs softly when he sees the smile on my face, his eyes slowly scanning my body clad in his clothing.

"Do you want to have ice-cream?" I check with him as I try to grab a bowl for myself.

"I'll do it," he gently holds my shoulders and turns me around, pushing me towards the island where I sit down on one of the bar stools, laughing softly.

Resting my jaw on my upturned palm, I sit there watching Taehyung grab a big bowl and scramble around the drawers hoping to find an ice-cream scooper. When he's unable to locate one, he gives up and scoops the ice-cream with the spoon instead and carefully places a few generous spoonfuls into the bowl.

He returns the tub to the freezer and walks up to me with the bowl of ice-cream in his hand, his eyes lazily shifting to look at me.

I smile and try to take the bowl from his hand when he suddenly pulls his hand back, shaking his head.

"Where are your manners, Maya?" He raises his eyebrows; the muted amber lighting perfectly highlighting every ripple of his muscles and accentuating his soft facial features.

"Ahh... thank you, Taehyung," I say, chuckling, and he turns his head to the side, tapping on his left cheek with his index finger.

Laughing softly, I lean forward to kiss his cheek when he abruptly turns his head, making my lips land on his lips instead, and the force was quite powerful since I originally intended to kiss his cheek.

"So naughty," I lean back laughing, playfully slapping his arm, and Taehyung laughs too, the sound of which flows through my ears like music.

"I've fantasized doing such things with you," he laughs naughtily as he hands me the bowl of ice-cream and drags a bar stool to sit close to me, facing me, our knees colliding.

Somehow, after we both opened up to each other about our hidden feelings from the past, we are quite comfortable being with each other and not feeling awkward or shy at all. And after letting it out a bit, Taehyung seems to be a little lighter too.

After feeding myself a couple of spoonfuls of ice-cream, I slightly turn the spoon in his direction.

"Do you want some?" I ask him, but I don't wait for him to answer that. Instead, I extend my hand, and he takes in the spoonful of ice-cream, his eyebrows lifting, and his eyes turning into the cute puppy eyes kind.

He releases the spoon from his mouth, licking it fully clean, and then I feed myself a spoonful.

"I was sleeping so well after so long," Taehyung places his hands on my knees, softly stroking them, his eyes watching the movements of his hands.

"Do you have trouble falling asleep?" I ask, holding out another spoonful of ice-cream for him, which he gladly eats.

"Mm," he gulps down the ice-cream, nodding a little. "I really can't sleep well," his fingers slightly move up the fabric of his T-shirt on my thigh, and his thumbs teasingly make soft circles on my skin, making it bristle with his touch.

"I'm not a heavy sleeper too. I wake up many times in between and find it really hard to get back to sleep. I guess it's an aging thing," I shrug a bit and feed him the last spoon of ice-cream.

"I'll get us some more," Taehyung takes the bowl from my hand and heads over to the fridge, refilling it with more ice-cream.

Plopping himself on the bar stool, he insists that he would do the feeding this time, and I let him do it.

"Don't you get lonely in this house? I mean, isn't it too big for just you?" He asks while taking a heap of ice-cream and shoving it into his mouth.

"I do get lonely," I nod a few times while letting my gaze drop to my lap before meeting his eyes once again. "One day, I wish to fill this house with a big family of my own, but for now, I'm kind of used to this loneliness," I smile a little when he extends a spoonful for me to eat.

We don't speak about anything after that, and the ice-cream bowl is emptied in a flash after which Taehyung insists that we take a few sips of hot water before heading to bed, and that's exactly what we do.

Getting back into bed, I lie down turned to one side, and he hugs me tightly from behind, pressing his knees to the back of my knees and curling up under the duvet.

"Goodnight, Taehyung. I hope you sleep well," I softly stroke his hand that's wrapped around my waist.

"Goodnight, Maya. I will, if you don't leave me alone," he presses his lips to the back of my neck in a tender kiss, making the fine hair on my forearm stand up.

His warmth is all that it takes for me to drift to sleep in a mere few minutes, and I'm pretty sure that he fell asleep before me going by how his breathing grows steady and calm soon after we said our good-nights.

***

Waking up after what seems like the most blissful slumber in many years, I find myself curled up against Taehyung's chest, our legs slightly tangled.

I raise my head and look at him sleeping peacefully.

He really must have had many nights of poor sleep. I wonder what keeps him up.

Softly caressing his chest, I return my head to rest against him as I begin wondering what he feels about me.

Right now, I definitely don't want to put a tag on whatever that is happening between the two of us.

The Maya from the past would have choked on air if I had told her that one night after fifteen years she would cuddle to sleep with her TaeTae.

Do we seek comfort in each other? Yes, definitely.

Are we crossing the limits? What limits exist between us, anyway? At least not when neither of us deem it inappropriate...

Do I like him? I mean, I do—now, since forever. But right now, I don't want to be the only one among us to feel things deeply and end up getting disappointed.

I can't allow myself to jump to any conclusions just because he cuddled with me half-naked one night. It could very well be because of the frustrating situation yesterday that made him desperately seek some comfort and company, and it probably means nothing more than that to him.

My mind goes back to last night, and how Taehyung was so close to ridding me of all my clothes, yet things took a sharp turn, and he was at his most vulnerable state, that kicked every other thought out of my mind and made me want to do nothing more than hug him tight and help him through his hard moments.

He did seem to calm down after letting out quite a bit, and I'm relieved that I was of some kind of help last night.

As my thoughts occupy my mind and keep me busy, Taehyung squirms a bit, moaning in sleep and exhaling sharply. Moving away a little, I rest my head on the pillow and look at him as he gradually squints his eyes open with great difficulty and blinks a few times.

"You're awake?" He croaks in his incredibly hot morning voice, and I smile, nodding, running my hand through his soft hair and ruffling it a bit.

"Did you sleep well?" My voice lowers, my fingers are now rubbing his scalp in gentle movements, and he hums in response to my question.

"I haven't had such a peaceful sleep in so many years. Did you sleep well?" He brings his hand to rest over my arm, and then he begins petting me by caressing my arm and hand with light, feather-soft movements.

"I did. I never once woke up until just a while ago," I scoot closer when he smoothly tugs me towards him and pecks my lips once.

"Thank you for last night," Taehyung's broad smile drips with genuine gratitude, melting my heart into a big puddle within my chest.

"You don't have to thank me, I'm always here," my gaze stays on his eyes for longer, and then I let out a long breath.

"Can I ask you something?" Taehyung's voice is still scratchy, yet husky and sexy.

"Anything," I confirm.

"Have you ever thought about getting married?" He asks, tenderly tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear and trailing his fingers down the side of my neck, his eyes following the path of his hand.

A few seconds of dead silence follows, which Taehyung doesn't bother about.

"Well, I was married," I keep my eyes glued to his eyes, and watch them as they slowly leave my arm and lock with my eyes, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

Did you see that coming?
🤔

Published on : 04/29/2022