Chapter 11: Tantrums

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The morning light peeked its way in through the curtains.

The house smelled like tea. Taehyung changed into clean clothes after his shower and checked his phone for any messages. There was nothing just as expected.

Looking at the time, he carefully made his way into the spare bedroom. 

There he saw a grumpy Ella sit sleepily on the bed. Her eyes were shut as she tried her best to fight against the horrible headache. She had drank way too much.

The painkillers weren't helping.

"Good morning."

Taehyung's voice seemed to wake Ella up as she looked at him with half closed eyes.

"How did I get here?" she mumbled groggily.

"You passed out at the pub last night."

Ella knew he hadn't told her the entire truth, but she wasn't sure whether she wanted to know. She couldn't remember a thing about last night. The whole week before that was a daze.

"I changed your clothes by the way. You seemed uncomfortable in your dress."

Ella looked down to see her clad in an over sized hoodie with some sweatpants. It must have been his clothes.

"Thanks."

The silence soon became overbearing. Ella's eyebrows remained scrunched in pain as she rested her throbbing head on the pillow.

Taehyung stood next to the door, waiting for her to spark up the conversation. He had so many questions to ask her.

"What happened to you?"

His question struck a nerve. Her mind drifted to that horrendous memory of last week, when she had to come face to face with the ugly truth.

Her tears had sprang up again. Her headache felt ten times worse.

"My relationship is over."

Taehyung's eyebrows rose in understanding. He should have known. The look on her face almost seemed to mask his.

"Where were you this whole time? I went looking for you everywhere."

Guilt appeared for a second, but disappeared soon. 

"I stayed in a hotel."

Taehyung wanted to question her, scold her for worrying him for the past week. But her short answers and the tone of her voice shut him up.

She was hurting. His doubt was the last thing on her mind.

"What are you going to do now?"

Taehyung almost slapped himself. His mind drifted to last night when she had asked the same question to herself.

"I don't know. I don't want to see him right now."

The man nodded.

"Then for the time being, why don't you stay here?"

Ella let his words sink in. She thought over it but ultimately shook her head.

"No. I couldn't do that."

"It's no big deal. I'm helping you out as a friend. You can stay here until you're ready to go out there alone. Plus you can't live in a hotel forever."

He made sense. The only place she could go from there was the building that she owned. But she needed something more than just a place to stay. She needed company. She needed help and support.

Maybe Taehyung could give her that.

"Fine. But what about my stuff? They're all back at his place."

"Then go and get it."

Ella looked at him like had grown two heads. She shook her head lightly, not wanting to trigger the pain in her head.

"I'm not ready to see him again."

"You still have your key, right? Just drop in when he's at work."

Ella sighed. It wasn't a bad idea.

"Fine."

****

With whatever energy left inside of her, Ella walked out the door to get her stuff.

She tried to stay calm by reminding herself that he would be at work. There was a very small percentage of her running into him. 

Her fingers still shook. Her eyes squinted and her head felt like it could split in half. She didn't bother to change out of Taehyung's clothes.

It's going to be okay.

Nothing could help her. Ella remained paranoid as she retraced her steps back to her apartment.

She hadn't been there for a week now. She hid herself from the world. The days after that incident provided no solace to her. She only grew angrier and angrier.

The one thing that could seriously trigger now was his face. She was somewhere in between ripping his head out of his body and having a meltdown on the floor. 

Ella never knew she could be this infuriated until now.

The sight of her former apartment set her heart ablaze. She should have brought Taehyung to help her.

She punched in the code and walked in. Her mind repeatedly went over the plan she had set for herself.

Get a suitcase. Dump some clothes. Don't look at anything. Get out in ten minutes.

She should be fine.

But her steps halted and her heart stood still as her gaze landed on the familiar silhouette.

He was here. Shit.

Ella began cursing furiously as she made eye contact with the man.

Jimin stood there with wide eyes. He didn't expect her to come back so fast. She noticed the bags under his eyes, his pale skin, the trashed room.

If she didn't know better, she would have pulled him into her arms. She resisted with all her might.

"Ella?" he whispered lowly. His eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks seemed rough. It was obvious that he had been through hell.

"I'm just here to get my stuff. So don't even try to say anything", she let out curtly. Her eyes tried to avoid his desperate ones as she made her way to their shared bedroom.

She immediately did as she was told, but her hands weren't picking up their pace. The loud thumping of her heart and her staggered breathing were getting in her way.

Soon enough, she grabbed her duffel bag and quickly walked to the main door to get out of the stuffy place.

But a hand grabbed her elbow.

"Ella, please. Hear me out."

Ella grit her teeth as she shut her eyes in annoyance.

"Let me go."

Jimin shook his head vigorously. A fresh set of tears ran down his face as he increased his grip.

"No. No, we need to talk about what happened. I have to expl-"

Ella cut him off.

"I'm telling you one last time to let me go."

Jimin was still persistent. "No! You need to hea-"

That did it for her.

"I don't need to do anything! I don't owe you anything, you moron."

Her outburst weakened his grip. Ella took her chance and slipped her hand out of his hold. 

But she was nowhere finished.

"You were the one who went behind my back. You made a fool out of me. I trusted you, I gave you everything but all you cared about was having a good time in bed."

Jimin soaked in every word of hers. His chest clenched as he began to believe everything that came out of her mouth.

"I swear I never meant to hurt you. It all happened in the heat of the moment!" he pleaded.

Ella stuck her palm up to shush him.

"The damage is already done. If you still have an ounce of resect for me, you will let me have my space. You ruined everything anyway."

With one last look at Jimin's devastated face, Ella rushed out of the building. She tried her best to ignore his anguished pleas. 

As soon as she made her way outdoors, she ran.

The confrontation left her in pieces. Her heart broke all the more and she didn't know whether it had to do with the fact that she was the reason behind Jimin's despair.

What should she do? Was this all her fault? Should she hate Jimin or should she hate herself?

Loud wails erupted from her mouth as forced her feet to move faster. Everything felt black. Everything seemed like a blur.

All the years she took to build a well balanced life came crashing to the ground. Now she was on the streets again.

Hungry and lonely. Just like the time when her father died.

Stop thinking. You're making it worse.

Ella ripped open the door to Taehyung's flat and looked for him impatiently. And when she did find him, she fell into his arms.

Taehyung wrapped his arms around her body comfortingly as Ella broke down for the millionth time since the traumatic incident.

Ella recognized the rush of feelings that coursed through her body.

Hopelessness. The constant questions of whether everything would ever be okay again.

Except in the past, everything had become okay. Everything did fall into place.

She wasn't so sure about it this time.

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A/N:

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Thanks for reading❤