“When, —when did you take this?”
Erin's voice rasped down his spine.

It was Erin in the photo, smiling adorably. He snapped it secretly when she received his gift from him. The way she visualised her satisfaction with the colour, and joyful nature of the present made him capture her behind the camera. If he confessed to telling the truth, it would be, 'no camera could take the picture of her, as his eyes do.' He held onto this for the memories, with no ill intentions, just a reminder of the past. He observed how she had a straight composite face. He bites his lips. His bottom lip disappeared behind his teeth as he contemplated his answer.

“Uh, I —you were very happy, so I captured that moment. I am extremely sorry I didn't have—”

She cut him in with a sudden burst of laughter. He watched her with a confused expression. She couldn't stop laughing as she approached him. Doubled over with laughter, she managed to say,

“You are so cute Taehyung. I loved that.”

Eventually, out of everything, she engulfed him in a hug. Taehyung's jaw hung open. His head jerked up. Shock scrawled all over his face. He scrambled to hug her back, his cheeks rosy for a whole other reason. Her scent was like an addiction to him that needed to be purged. A drug. This felt so right and so fabulous. He held her like a fragile petal she was. Only for him. Never in his life, had he imagined such a thing. Both emotions and sensations sizzled through them. That sudden hug was acquainted with warmth and tenderness. Her presence made his day better.

She extracted herself, and he purposefully laid his hands down. Even if it was for a minute, he loved this interaction.

“You are a great photographer.”

The appreciation did something for him. He blinked, then nodded slowly, expressing his gratitude. While he receives plenty of praise from others, there's something distinctly unique about receiving it from her.
“Your room is so freakin' good actually.”
“Thank you.”

After a few minutes of their chit-chat, they proceeded towards his mother in the hall.

“That was such a great meeting with you, Aunty.”
His mother quirked up a smile.

“Do consider this as your home dear.”

Erin nodded and waved her hands to them. It was so late already. Goodbye for today.
As soon as Taehyung closed the door, his mother said in between.

“She is amazing my boy. I did like her.”

The boy was overjoyed and immediately hugged his mother. Shortly after, the elderly lady discovered him in tears. Immediately, she brought his face in front of her and concaved his jaw with her dry hands. The concern occupied her pale face and asked him about his reason for weeping and all those tears. Just a minute before, he was happily smiling all the way long and now tearing up already. How ironic it was!

He finally let out a sob as he confessed what he had been keeping bottled up for so long.

“Eomma, I love her so much. Like so much. She means so precious to me. I can't leave her. But —I don't know if she feels the same.”

The final sentence left him with an even deeper sense of sorrow. His mother grasped his shoulders and told him about the beauty of love. About how he could apply more efforts to gain her, to term her as his love. She explicitly told him that even if she didn't love him, he should let her go. Ultimately, she will decide to stay in.

She gave a peck on his forehead and said,
“Tae, just do your best. I know, god will listen to you.”

He brightly grinned and hugged her more.

——————————————
Erin pulled the covers of her window. She confirmed all the locks of her house and went straight to her room. She was so tired, due to all the cleanliness she had to do after arriving. The joy she was filled with, was soon covered with a disappointed look. With all that tiredness, she had to clean her room to make it look more tidy. Now, after applying body lotion and doing her usual night routine, she dropped her body on the soft mattress with a sigh. She kept staring at her ceiling and jumbled the line of thinking for a consistent five minutes.

After a long ponder, she breathed out and grabbed her device.

No missed calls, no text.

Annoyingly, she threw her phone beside her. Despite her clear display of feelings, he didn't even bother to message her once.
Twin blankets of exasperation coated her face. She rolled on her stomach and thrust her face on the mattress.

Ting

She hurriedly raised her head and reached out for her phone. With decisiveness, she unlocked it and there it was, capturing her attention. His message for which she was waiting for. Her pout eventually transmuted into a smile.

[TAEHYUNG]
Heyy!

And she typed so fastly as ever.

[ERIN]
HELLO! What's up?

On the other side of the coin, Taehyung grinned like a Chesire cat as soon as he got the message.
When he read, (what's up?)
He deliberately gets such a dirty thought and contemplates flirting.
He typed,

Me above you.

But the time he read it again on his keyboard, he found it somewhere inappropriate to answer. Therefore, he deleted it and answered,

[TAEHYUNG]
I am fine. What are you doing?

[ERIN]
About to sleep, how about you?

[TAEHYUNG]
Same as you. Eomma liked your
Company!

[ERIN]
Really? That is so great!
Even I loved that.
I want to meet her again!

[TAEHYUNG]
As she said, it's your
home too, just come
whenever you want.

[ERIN]
For sure! <3
Taehyung, may I ask you something?

[TAEHYUNG]
Please proceed.

[ERIN]
Are you free this week?

[TAEHYUNG]
Yeah! On Sunday.
No College, no job.

[ERIN]
Sounds good!
Why don't you come over to my
place that day?

[TAEHYUNG]
I'm in!

[ERIN]
OK! I'll be ready. Now
go to sleep. We both
have college tomorrow.

[TAEHYUNG]
Yeah! Good night,
sweet dreams and
take careeeee<3

[ERIN]
Hahaha! Same to you (all of them)!

They both dropped their devices as such and were genuinely happy, especially our male lead. This Sunday, going to be one of the best days of the month. Now it's her turn, to make him feel the best of himself. For her, the time he would make his presence, this house would be termed as 'home'.

______________
Thank you
(1114 words)
-Hey there? What's up?
-JIYA