Des didn't try to stop Tae as he packed his bag and left the hotel room.

She sat on the edge of the bed in the scattered space, There was a dull emptiness, a sensation as if there were a gaping hole in her chest. This feeling was new. For the first time, she had given up.

Des was sick of constantly chasing Taehyung and trying to convince him that what they had was worth fighting for. 

A tear streamed from her eye before she drew her knees up to her chest and hid her face in her lap.

If he couldn't realise it, then she would stop trying so hard to make him see it. 

Desiree checked out of the hotel alone, asking reception to call her a taxi that would take her to the nearest bus station.

The young girls eyes glanced around feeling lost. Her fingers curled deftly around the handlebar of her duffle-bag, the weight of it bouncing against her bare legs.

She approached a run down ticket booth where staticky music buzzed quietly from a small radio inside. A gruff, be-speckled man roughly handed her a one-way ticket and grasped it with trembling fingers as he slid it under the glass partition. 

"Who's next?" the man shouted, jolting the girl from her daze. Des slunk away, blushing after realising that she'd been holding up the line.

'Des, you'll be fine.'

She thought about it. Honestly, how many years had she spent alone and single before she met Tae and life back then.... simple. She was happy.

She stared at the busses going by, a swirling feeling in the pit of her stomach made her feel as though she was going crazy.

'It's not that easy...to go back.'

She thought.

No, not when she'd gotten a taste of what love felt like. At least what she thought might've been love anyway. It didn't matter. It was over now. 

So quickly, and so easily. 

Her mind flashed back to the angry look on her boyfriend's face that morning and the swirling feeling grew worse.

Des felt betrayed. 

The bus that would start her journey back home to LongPalm ground its breaks to a halt right in front of where she stood.

She felt a small breeze on the humid air. It calmly feathered her curls against her face a bit before everything became a noisy rush and chaos again.

She glanced at a woman who brushed passed her, face heavily made up. There's silence, as the girl's heart drums in her chest and more people pile onto the bus ahead of her. A man in a suit brushes past as well, mounting the steps and talking to someone on a mobile phone at the same time. She could see the driver looking around in his massive rear-view mirror as if taking a head count and knew she had only seconds to get on or otherwise wait for the next bus in an hour.

An incredible amount of courage pushed her to make the first steps forward, then another. She handed the driver the ticket when suddenly, long fingers wrapped around her wrist from behind. 

Breathing heavily and sweat glistening on his forehead, Taehyung stood in the doorway of the bus, pale and trembling. 

"Des, you can't go!" He said in a rush, "I've changed my mind baby, I need you here."

Desiree looked quickly around the bus then back at her boyfriend anxiously.

"You can't go home," He says in horror, reaching for the ticket in her hand as if to grab it away but when the girl realises, snatches it protectively away from him.

"Tae, what do you think you're doing?" Her voice rose in disbelief. Tears were already in her eyes. Seeing him do this again, made Des feel weak. 

"You can't go," He repeats desperately.

At this point the driver looks back and forth between the them.

"Hey, you kids either show me your tickets and sit down, or get the hell off of my bus!"

  Taehyung could practically see the Desiree's brain working behind her startled eyes. When suddenly, Desiree's face changes expression. 

Did he really think she would forgive him so easily this time? Did her actually take her for a complete moron!

"I'm going home."

Seeming to have come to a decision, she shoves the ticket into the driver's hand and rushes for the nearest empty seat.

A few of the passengers exchange glances.

As the driver threatens to remove him, Taehyung jostled the depths of his pockets frantically, pulling out far too much and pushing it into the driver's hand.

He meandered down the isle to where the girl was sitting with her face turned and eyes now looking determinedly through the dusty glass window.

The bus rumbles off and after a few minutes, people have stopped glancing their way and quietly muttering annoyances about them.

Taehyung's puts his hand out meekly to touch hers and the girl deftly moves it away.

"Des, baby..." Taehyung begins to stutter, "I'm so truly sorry. Earlier today, I wasn't...I mean. I didn't..." He clears his throat, the feeling of sadness crumbling over him.

Desiree's lip quivers slightly as she keeps her head turned stiffly.

"Babygirl, can I just say how sorry I am....I really am so sorry for the way I acted and if I hurt you..."

"I'm sure you are," The girl says, swallowing her tears. Her face is blank and unreadable, her voice, dry as ever.

"Just, please get off this bus with me at the next stop and I promise," Taehyung pleaded desperately, "I promise, I'll explain everything."

"Explain what, Tae?" Des whispered heatedly, "That the minute everything doesn't go our way, you turn your back on me? Is that what you want to explain!"

Taehyung feels a spasm of dismay.

"No. You're right," he says, "I know that I let you down..." He stares at the floor for a few moments, then looks up. "Des, I know that you have to go home and go back to school but I don't want you to leave, not like this..."

"I...." Desiree shakes her head softly, tears running down her cheeks, "I don't know..."

The atmosphere has disintegrated. Taehyung feels cold, awful, horrible.

He opens his mouth to say something more to convince the girl but the words die in his throat. Taehyung wished he could put everything back the way it was 24 hours ago. 

"Babygirl, listen to me. I know you better than anyone else and this isn't you..."

Desiree turned sharply to stare back at him, feeling a breathless mixture of anger and exhileration.

"Tae, you don't know me better than anyone else." She relplies in the most scathing tone that she could manage, "You don't know me at all. Everything we have is fake, right? Since you can walk in and out of this relationship so easily...it must be a joke right?" 

She fold her arms tightly over her chest fuming.

"I can't do this anymore."

"This isn't a joke, Des." He says in sudden anguish, "What we have is real. I swear. It's just when I found out about the baby I...." 

Desiree keeps her eyes on the back of the headrest directly in front of her, not responding.

Awkwardly, he reaches for her hand again and Desiree limply lets him this time. He squeezes it gently, hoping that Des would meet his eyes and when she does, he sees a glimmer of her sweet, hopeful expression return. 

"Tae, maybe you were right that time when you said we should..." The girl swallows, shaking her head sadly, "Maybe its time I accepted that we just aren't right for each other?"

Taehyung slides from his seat, sinking down onto the ground in the small space between the seats, his face bewildered. "Don't say that..."

"Maybe it just...would never work out between us..."

"No!" He says sharply, "Of course it'll work out. I'll make sure of it.... I can find another job. I can work and find us a place to live once you're done with school..."

Desiree stares down at him, stunned.

"Tae I don't know what to...."

"I love you, Des. And I'm sorry for being such an asshole. I really mean that."

"I love you, too." The girl says, her throat tight. "But that doesn't change any...."

"No it does." Taehyung retorted bringing their hands together in her lap, "It changes everything. it means everything."

Des didn't want to leave either. She didn't want this to be the end.

Forty minutes later, they walked in silence through an empty parking lot. 

When they got to a bench, he hugged her, holding her tightly against him, an embrace that needed no words to help them tell everything to each other that their hearts wanted to say. When they broke apart, Desiree's face was flushed and her eyes shining.

"When you go, it might be another year before we can meet each other here again but we can try to make it work. Stay in contact. I mean, I'll call you everyday... and I'll come out to visit you and the baby. I just don't want you to give up on your dreams because of me. I should have been more careful."

Instead of answering, Desiree reaches for him, putting her small, warm hand on the back of his neck and lifting her lips to his. 

They kissed, first lightly, then more urgently, his tongue in her mouth, her hips tilted against his, her breasts against his chest, her whole body sending a message that was undeniable. 

"Tae, come with me."

"Where?"

"To Paris..."

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✨ BJF ✨