XLIII. THE COLOR BROWN

It felt like they were kids again. It was as if they were sent to the principal's office for some reason.

The couple sat quietly on the two chairs in front of Bang Sihyuk's desk in his very spacious office on one of the highest floors of the building, watching as the producer stared at the empty space between them. It's been around two minutes already and he had not moved from that position ever since the two childhood friends told him about their relationship.

Fortunately for them, displeasure was not evident on his features, but if they were to tell the truth, Bang PD's face was blank. At least, in some way, a blank face was better than an angered expression.

"So," he started, clearing his throat and intertwining his fingers together as he placed them down on his paperwork. "How come it took you so long to get together?"

As cliché as it may sound, they let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Relieved and awkward smiles spread across their faces, turning to each other for a quick second just to get a boost of reassurance that they were there even though they knew of each other's presence in the room. Bang Sihyuk smiled warmly back at them, bringing their body language to a more relaxed state.

He nodded at them, "While I am happy for the two of you, there are still some things we need to consider. You do know what you're getting into, right?" The question was directed to Gyeoul. "That V LIVE with Kieran Park opened a lot of doors for dating rumors."

Nodding, she answered, "I'm fully aware of the negative consequences that will occur if by chance our relationship gets exposed. It's a matter that I've thought about before we got together, and a matter that's been the topic of many of our conversations. Although I never cared about the media's comments about me, to the best of my ability, I will keep our relationship away from the public's eyes."

"Have you told anyone yet?"

"I told my parents last week, but I haven't told any of my friends. I wanted to wait for your decision in case you wanted me to sign anything in regard to secrecy."

Taehyung raised his hand, "And I protest against that. Hyung, she's incredibly responsible and secretive with her private life on social media. If she's asked about us, her instant reaction would be to deny as much as she can and worm her way out of things. Kieran-nim's live was an exception since he didn't recognize the line he was making Gyeoul cross, and she answered sufficiently enough that the media didn't interpret it as something too negative."

Bang PD raised his eyebrows, patting his own chest as if he was offended, "Wait a minute, I haven't even said anything about signing NDAs and you're already zooming there. Let's calm down for a moment."

Sharing a look, the couple nodded back at Bang PD, staying silent.

"As you know, this relationship is risky, especially since Gyeoul is recognized worldwide because of her work as a choreographer," he paused, watching as they both nodded like children itching to get a teacher's permission to play in the playground. "I won't be making you sign an NDA as I once did with another member's significant other. I trust that you're both responsible enough to keep this relationship away from the public's eye — that is, if you wish to keep your relationship a secret."

Biting his bottom lip, Taehyung side-eyed his girlfriend, "We're allowed to reveal our relationship?"

The older man nodded, "As long as you two have an in-depth discussion beforehand. If you two decide to reveal your relationship, please inform the company so we can prepare to handle the media. I know you won't do anything reckless."

The air between them that was once nervous about telling the company became light.

Gyeoul smiled, "Thank you, sir."

After a few more reminders and important matters, Bang PD dismissed them. When he did, Gyeoul was quick to repeatedly thank her boss again before she turned her back. She didn't fail to notice the 'discreet' congratulatory fist bump shared by Taehyung and Bang PD when she opened the door to the office.

It would have been terrible if the small meeting didn't end on a good note, considering the two childhood friends were supposed to go on a date later that day.

Right outside the office was the dinosaur couple of BTS, looking outside the window in front of the office. Seokjin and Hayoon turned their heads the moment they heard the door open, relief flooding into their systems as they saw the smiles on the other couple's faces. Taehyung told Seokjin about telling the company and he immediately contacted Hayoon to ask if they could support the younger couple if things went south.

Hayoon raised her eyebrows inquisitively, showing a thumbs up to confirm if it all went well as they assumed. Gyeoul beamed back at her and proudly returned the hand gesture. The photographer let out an overjoyed laugh and slung an arm around the taller woman's shoulders, already talking about the coming May Issue of Mythos Magazine.

"Jin-hyung," Taehyung whispered, looking at his girlfriend's retreating figure with an evident pout on his face.

"What?"

"Go get your girl, I think she's stealing mine."

❆

The moon smiled down at them as the couple stayed in the dancer's car, caught up in meaningless conversation, completely forgetting that they were supposed to be inside a certain building for their date.

"I think a collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion is the best choice you can have if you want to make another version of Butter."

Taehyung laughed, brushing his hair back as he hugged his knees before leaning back against the car door. "That would be the most unexpected collaboration we could do."

"Unexpected yet iconic. Think of the possibilities, man. She's a really good artist and I think it'd bring a new flavor to your discography. You know, I met her once at a New Year's party in Manhattan and she's really fun to be around with."

"Holy shit," he gasped, "You were in New York around that time? I was in Times Square!" His mouth made an 'o' as if he made a world-changing discovery. "Imagine if we met sooner! What if we randomly saw each other on the street, then bam! we fall in love at first sight. Or even better, at the countdown, the moment the fireworks go off, we see each other and sparks fly."

Gyeoul bit her bottom lip, trying to contain her smile. Should she tell Taehyung that New York was densely populated and that the likelihood of them running into each other like that would be close to zero? Absolutely not. The starry look in his eyes as he told her his romantic scenarios will not allow her to do so.

If there was something Taehyung unknowingly did to her, it was making her strong at times she wanted to give up. But god did he make her weak.

She leaned back on the car door, smiling fondly as Taehyung continued to animatedly ramble about how they could have met. The dim electric blue lights outlined on the buttons of her car provided a source of light, accompanying the lights of the nearby buildings. No doubt, the area was dark. But even in the darkness, she somehow knew that she would see him.

The flame in his soul was there. She could hear it in the silence. She could see it with the lights out. She could feel it when they'd meet each other's eyes in a crowded room.

"Gyeoul, you look a little dazed. Did you hear what I said?"

I'm hanging on to every last word you're saying as if it's my lifeline.

"Loud and clear," she answered, smiling cheekily.

Taehyung adjusted his position on his seat, sitting down properly. Thinking that he was ready to step out of the car, Gyeoul also moved to put her feet down to put her shoes on. Before she could do so, he caught her hand.

"Come here."

He held her hand as he led her on top of him in his seat. Gyeoul straddled him, flicking his forehead as soon as she was face to face with him.

Sighing, he returned the action and weakly flicked her forehead. "What I would give to read your mind right now, Ahn Gyeoul."

"Just ask me what you want to know."

"What are you thinking about right now?"

"Food."

Taehyung snorted, "What about food?"

She hummed, reaching up for his hair and playing with it. "Well, since we're taking this date to my mother's gallery, I thought that we could eat at my father's restaurant and we'd cook our food there, or we can eat some of my mother's stock of ramyeon in her office."

He smirked, cupping her jaw and bringing her face closer to him, his lips ghosting over hers. "Why don't we have ramyeon at my place instead?"

Abruptly pulling away, Gyeoul looked away with flushed cheeks. "Taehyung, you shouldn't say things like that while we're in this position unless you want us to abandon this date and stay in the car for the next few hours."

Taehyung laughed, throwing his head back on the headrest. His hands traveled to her hips, massaging the area up to her waist where he started to wiggle his fingers.

Gyeoul's eyes widened, a few uncontrollable laughs pushing past her lips. She tried to squirm away from his tickles and accidentally hit her head on the roof of the car, eliciting an even louder evil cackle from her boyfriend.

"Asshole," she sneered with a small smile on her face. Smiling, he reached up and massaged the top of her head. "A nice asshole at least."

"Can I ask you something?"

She hummed, relaxing as she was sure that he wouldn't tickle her again. "Anything."

Tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, he asked, "It probably won't happen anytime soon, but what do you think about making our relationship public?"

"Well, it's alright with me. I think that it'd be better to reveal it on our own rather than have media companies expose them."

He pulled her closer to him and chased after her lips with his own, but she turned away at the last second just to make fun of him. He ended up kissing the corner of her mouth, making him let out an audible whine. Gyeoul only pressed a kiss on his forehead in return before moving from his lap and back to her place on the driver's seat to put on her shoes.

"Come on, I think you're going to like this."

Taehyung obliged, also putting his shoes on and following Gyeoul into the gallery.

All of the lights were closed and he reached to hold Gyeoul's hand even though he wasn't the slightest bit afraid. She tried to control the way her mind went haywire at the feeling of their intertwined fingers feeling like it was meant to hold each other. The way the warmth of his hand encased her cold one made her insides all fuzzy.

With their hands still linked, Gyeoul led Taehyung to the top floor of the gallery which was used mostly for storage and painting lessons. She opened a door and opened the lights, revealing a room with paint splatters everywhere on the white walls and the floor. There were large windows on the side of the room.

It was a shame that their dates would be mostly limited to nighttime activities where people would be gone, the whole room would have probably looked better with natural light filling every corner through the windows.

"This is actually a project that my mother wants us to do," Gyeoul introduced, pointing at the two large canvases on one side of the room. She jogged to the side, bringing out a box of paints and art supplies that she used personally whenever she spent time in that room. "She's giving us a space on the second floor to hang whatever we make. Free of charge."

Taehyung gaped at her, "You're serious?" She nodded. "You're trusting me around you with paint?"

"No, I'm not," she grinned. "You see, this is exactly why I told you to bring extra clothes."

For their art pieces, they decided to put their canvases right next to each other to make them into one big piece. Taehyung suggested that they used their fingers to paint instead. Gyeoul knew that there was some mischief underlying his intentions but agreed anyway. For the music, Gyeoul played Taehyung's jazz playlist on her Spotify with the bluetooth speaker she got from her mother's office.

Not ten minutes into their small painting session, Gyeoul felt something wet brush on her arm, assuring her that her distrust in him was valid. Looking down, she saw a streak of green against her skin. She kissed her teeth, looking at Taehyung with a playful glint in her eyes, she swiped her finger on his arm and went back to her painting as if nothing happened.

"What do you want to do for next time?" she asked, dipping her fingers in yellow paint and slowly backing away.

Doing the same action, Taehyun inched closer to Gyeoul with the same playful eyes. Slowly and tauntingly. "I don't know. We can take a pottery class, maybe we can go to a beach and stargaze all night, we can even rent out an arcade, we can go on a road trip, we can go see the cherry blossoms in Daegu, we can stay at home and have a candlelit dinner. There's a lot."

"Should we make a list?"

She smiled, her steps growing faster as Taehyung started to increase his walking speed.

"We should."

Then he ran.

Gyeoul squealed as he almost caught her, running away from him as fast as she could. She reached a wall and was about to turn around, but he caught her by her waist and swiped his hand on her jaw.

He pulled away immediately as if he had to reload his ammo, but Gyeoul snatched the back of his shirt, pulling him to her and wiping her fingers on his neck before running away from him again.

She spread paint all over her hands and approached him while he was still spreading paint on his hands.

"Taehyung, can I get a kiss?"

Even though he knew it would result in him getting covered in paint, he would never waste a chance to kiss her. He puckered his lips and closed his eyes, waiting for her to do it. Gyeoul chuckled and pressed her lips onto his, delicately cupping his cheeks.

He instantly reciprocated the kiss, leaning the side of his hands on her waist to deepen it, his palms facing outward so the paint wouldn't go to waste on her clothes. Gyeoul smiled slightly, pulling her hands away from his cheeks and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Once she pulled away, she threw her head back laughing. Pink colored his cheeks. Literally. Taehyung smiled, cupping her cheeks and pulling her in for another kiss. Gyeoul found herself struggling to kiss him back as she was unable to contain her smile. He pulled away and giggled at the large yellow handprints on either side of her face.

Adorable, he thought, scrunching his nose. With the remaining paint at the tips of his fingers, he gently slid his finger along the bridge to the tip of her nose.

"Don't think I'm not going to have my revenge after we finish this project, darling," she threatened, narrowing her eyes at him. "I'll finish what you started."

He smiled cheekily, "I can't wait."

And she did.

About an hour of working on their project (which was all a bunch of squiggly and messy colorful lines blurred together and somehow looked promising) later, Gyeoul and Taehyung ran after each other for a good thirty minutes. By the end of it, they were breathless and covered in different colors of paint.

They laid like starfishes on the floor, euphoric smiles on their faces, in silence. Gyeoul groaned, sitting up and squinting at their artwork.

"Huh," she breathed out. She tilted her head, "Well, what do you know? It actually looks like it was done by professionals."

Taehyung, still laying down on the floor, snorted, "It looks like Siwoo's greatest masterpiece."

"Siwoo's a pretty great artist, so be proud, we're as good as a talented three-year-old." She turned her head to look at him, moving to sit closer to Taehyung. Drumming her fingers on his abdomen, she asked, "Can I paint on you?"

"Should I take off my shirt?"

Gyeoul gave him a dry expression as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. "That's your strike two, Kim Tae." She moved to stand up to get some supplies, but paused, pursing her lips in thought. She turned back to him with a click of her tongue. "Next time."

He giggled childishly, sitting up and moving towards her so she wouldn't have to move all the way back to where they came from.

Placing her palette and a can filled with water on the floor, she sat down facing Taehyung's side. He instinctively rolled his sleeve up for her, eyeing the colors on her wooden palette, which had stains of dry paint on it, and trying to figure out what she was going to do.

"Don't you give up hope, don't you give up trying to bloom for the season is sure to change," she absentmindedly sang.

After winter, there was always spring. It popped into her mind as she recalled him suggesting that they see the cherry blossom trees. Whenever she hears the word 'spring,' her mind almost always goes to the image of the cherry blossom trees that she always missed when she stayed in the States.

Taehyung's ears tinged with pink as he heard the familiar song. It was the one she wrote for him, the one that she put in the record she gifted him last Christmas. As she started to paint on his skin with a thin brush, he looked away, hiding the uncontrollable smile that blossomed across his features.

But that smile slowly dropped, remembering one of the very few acknowledgments Gyeoul made regarding her song. The other week, he recalled her telling him about the color of the cover but not going through with it.

"Gyeoul."

Looking up from her piece, she answered, "Yes?"

"What does the color brown mean? You mentioned once that the color most present on the cover of that vinyl you gave me had something to do with your confession."

Gyeoul avoided his eyes, keeping on stroking thin crooked lines on Taehyung's arm with brown paint to replicate the branches of a cherry blossom tree. She could feel Taehyung's eyes burning into her skull as she concentrated on making her art pretty. A corner of her mouth twitched up, knowing that he didn't want to move in fear of messing up what she was working on.

"It's embarrassing," she admitted, putting her brush down and rolling up the sleeve of Taehyung's shirt since it started to go down. "A part of me is glad I never went through with it."

He groaned, "Now you really got me curious."

In an attempt to console him, she placed a soft kiss on his bicep before picking her brush back up to continue with what she was working on. Once she pulled back for a moment to blow on the paint, he wiggled his arm like a madman just to get her attention and annoy her into telling him what the certain color meant.

The dancer laughed, gently catching Taehyung's elbow to keep him from doing the action again before he could pull a muscle. "I'll tell you, but will you promise not to laugh?"

"If you tell me not to laugh, then the chances of me laughing increase by ten percent."

"Just don't laugh, okay?"

"Now it's twenty percent. Gyeoul, you're not helping your case here."

Dipping her brush into the water, she turned away from him. "It really is embarrassing. It's a cheap knock-off from the purple thing you thought of." She then tapped off the excess water and dipped it into pink paint. Turning back to him, she averted her eyes as she saw him staring back at her with wide curious eyes.

He hummed, encouraging her to continue.

"Well, you know that when you mix red, green, and purple, you get a sort of nutmeg color. Red is the first color of the rainbow, green is the fourth, and purple is the last," she paused, looking down as she laughed slightly to herself. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying not to melt under his gaze. "I thought the color brown represents you well because it means that you're my beginning, my middle, and hopefully, my end."

No response came from him after she explained her reason. Gyeoul inwardly sighed in relief that he didn't laugh at the ridiculously cheesy words, she would have buried herself under her covers for at least a year to get over her embarrassment. She continued to paint the cherry blossom petals with undivided focus, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips curled into a small satisfied smile.

As soon as she pulled away to dip her brush in the paint, Taehyung pulled it out of her grasp and placed it on the floor. Gyeoul was about to question why he did such a thing when he suddenly pressed his lips against hers, carefully cupping her jaw.

Her eyes were the color of love.

Albeit a little surprised, she immediately kissed back, taking hold of his elbow — careful not to touch her masterpiece — as he leaned forward.

"All of a sudden?" she chuckled as they pulled away for air. "What was that for?"

Taehyung grinned, connecting their foreheads and staying there. He panted slightly, tucking her hair behind her ear and tracing his finger from her jaw to her chin. He pulled away and kissed her nose. The way they smiled at each other after that created permanent smile lines on the sides of their mouths.

He hummed thoughtfully, "I think my new favorite color is brown."

NOTE

my favorite color is brown too (not the poop kind). the brown that we see when golden sunlight hits wooden floors, the color of hot chocolate when you put just the right amount of milk in it, etc. the color is really dreamy and very light academia (?) and i find it really pretty :)) 

and yes, i tried to think of something related to the rainbow like taehyung did before, and yes i know it felt very unoriginal. i wasn't supposed to use it when i was writing the previous chapters but i liked the idea of it and kept it.

+ i swear almost every aspect of romance in this fic is influenced by a ton of taylor swift songs

i hope you liked this one!

song(s) mentioned in this chapter — butter by bts | keep me warm by sam ock