✧･ﾟ: * twenty-nine *:･ﾟ✧  

The next day while Madeline is sitting alone in the hospital room, her mother down getting an ct scan, she gets a FaceTime call from Taehyung. Instantly, she smiles, however, when she answers, it's not Taehyung's face she's met with.

It's an attractive face, undeniably so, with big eyes and plush lips, a brilliant smile on his face. Confused and slightly nervous, Madeline blushes.

"Um, hello," she says, uncertainly.

"Oh! Hello," the man responds, his voice incredibly friendly. "You are pretty!"

He says it like he's surprised, which only makes Madeline's blush deepen "Oh, uh, thanks? Is... is Taehyung around?"

"Oh, Taehyung, yeah, yeah. He is, uh, room."

Madeline finds herself grinning. "He's in the room?"

"Not this room."

Madeline opens her mouth to reply when she hears Taehyung's voice in the background, shouting in Korean. The mystery man looks over his shoulder, already laughing as Taehyung opens the door, still spouting things in his native tongue. It's amusing to watch, especially when the man holds the phone away from Taehyung, giggling like a five year old. She watches them fight over it for a minute or two before Taehyung manages to snatch his phone back.

He notices Madeline has been on the screen the whole time, and his lips part. "Maddie, I'm sorry," he says. "Jin-hyung took my phone."

She smiles. "It's okay. He was sweet."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm nice!" Jin yells. Then he says something in Korean that makes Taehyung blush. then spat more Korean, and Jin leaves still giggling.

Madeline doesn't realize how fondly she's looking at him until he blushes further, looking away. "I miss you," she says, another subconscious reaction to see his face. It's been awhile since their last video chat.

"I miss you too," he murmurs with a pout, falling onto a bed. His cheek squished against the pillow, sending butterflies through her. "You should come here."

"I wish..." She sighs, slouching in the chair. "I really can't now since my mom is sick."

"Is she better?"

"No... I think she's worse."

Taehyung frowns. "One minute." He holds up his index finger, then sets his phone down and disappears. When he comes back, there's suddenly a ball of fur in Madeline's face. "Yeontan, anja."

On command, the pup sits, staring up at Taehyung happily. He angles the phone so Madeline can see the pup completely, then goes through various commands, like stand, roll over, and even a high-five. Madeline is melting, her mother's dire situation momentarily forgotten as the weight lifts off her shoulders. The distraction was much needed.

"He's so cute," Madeline whines. "You should ship him to me."

Taehyung chuckles. "Or ship you here."

She sighs, knowing how badly he wants her to come but right now it's out of the question. He knows that; she wants to fly to him just as bad.

The door to the hospital room abruptly clicks open, startling her. She bites her lips, then dreadfully looks back to Taehyung. "I've gotta go, babe. I'll call you later?"

Taehyung, obviously upset she can't talk any longer, nods softly. In a quiet voice he murmurs, "I love you, jagiya."

Feeling guilty, she replies, "I love you too." It takes a great amount of effort for her to end the call, a knot in her stomach when his face vanishes.

She hates this feeling... this feeling that they're drifting apart.

Luckily, a nurse is wheeling her mother back inside, so it keeps her from focusing on her heartache too long. Her mother is awake, which is an accomplishment alone. Her mother hasn't been open to stay conscious too long because of the lack of oxygen she's getting. Madeline smiles at her, her mother sending a weak one in return.

The nurse situates her mother's IVs back, making sure everything is plugged in properly before she leaves. Madeline gets an idea then, taking out her phone.

"Mom, remember how I told you Taehyung is always asleep when we're awake?" she says, sitting on the edge of her mother's bed.

Her mother hasn't been able to meet Taehyung yet because of the time differences. Madeline always stays up super late to talk to him, but being in the hospital does funny things to sleep schedules.

"Do you want to meet him?" she asks, already pressing call on FaceTime.

"Oh, Maddie, like this?" her mother looks distressed. "I look horrible."

"He's not like that," Madeline promises. "He's been asking about you since you've been sick."

"He's just being nice. I don't think—"

Too late.

Taehyung answers, looking a bit panicked. "Are you okay?" is the first thing he says. Madeline realizes how odd it must've been when he saw her calling since she just said she had to go hardly ten minutes ago.

"Yeah," she says with a laugh. "I'm fine. Actually... do you want to meet my mom?"

Taehyung's eyes widen. "Right now?"

"Mhmm."

Taehyung looks nervous running his fingers down his hair. "I'm in pajamas, Maddie."

Her mom giggles and Madeline grins. "That's okay. She's in a hospital bed. It's the best unprepared meeting someone could ask for."

"What if she... unlike me?"

Madeline smirks "She won't dislike you. She's right next to me."

As realization dawns on him, he blushes. "I'm nervous," he whispers, as if her mother can't hear, but it only makes her giggle more.

Needless to say, her mother is obsessed with him. She couldn't stop saying "aww" and calling him adorable every four seconds. Taehyung apologized for his accent over and over, to which only made her mother melt even more. It really is impossible to dislike him.

After the call, Madeline is kicked out once visiting hours end. Sage is in the parking lot like she has been the past couple of weeks, their new routine. The two carpool to school, Madeline walks to the hospital, then Sage picks her up and they repeat the next day. Madeline hasn't been able to stay home on her own. She's tried to, twice, but each time she called Sage like a toddler that needs a nightlight.

It just feels too wrong to be in the house alone.

"Hurry up, woman!" Sage says, snapping her fingers when Madeline opens the passenger door. "BTS had another comeback stage and I just got the YouTube notification!"

Madeline chuckles, strapping herself in. "Calm down, it isn't going anywhere."

"Listen. Jimin has a tank top on in the thumbnail, all right, there is no 'calm down.'"

"I thought Hobi was your bias?"

"What even is a bias. There's seven of them, do I have to choose?"

Madeline laughs, shaking her head at her best friend. "As long as you—"

"Don't choose Tae, yeah, yeah, I got it. You're possessive over him."

"I am not," Madeline scoffs. Then she mutters, "But he's mine."

Sage smirks, then in a singsong voice says, "Possessive~"

Once they get home, Sage makes a break for the television, hooking up her phone to watch the comeback stage on the big screen. Madeline would be lying if she said she didn't want to see it, too.

"Would you like some dinner, Maddie?" Sage's mother asks, a kind woman who doesn't mind the extra mouth to feed.

"Yes ma'am, thank you." Madeline nudges Sage. "Could you wait two more minutes so I can pee?"

"It'll be on repeat all night, you won't miss anything."

Madeline rolls her eyes in amusement, then heads up the stairs.

When she's about to walk into the bathroom, the door swings open and she bumps right into Sage's brother, Darren. She's about to apologize, but as soon as he meets her gaze he cuts his eyes away. She huffs. He's always been very brief with her, barely able to hold her stare for more than a split second.

He walks off and she goes in, shaking her head. The two have probably exchanged two whole sentences since she's been staying every night. The only time she hears him speak is when he has something to argue out with Sage, which is practically a daily routine.

When she steps out of the bathroom, however, he's leaning in his bedroom doorway, which happens to be directly across from the bathroom. She's the first to look away this time, starting to walk off when suddenly he calls out to her.

"Madeline."

She frowns. None of them call her Madeline. She glances over her shoulder. "Yeah?"

He's looking down at his toes, his arms crossed against his chest. "You... aren't you good at math?"

"Um, aren't you in the highest math class the university has?" He's a couple years older than Sage, after all, so he's a senior in college.

"Yeah, but... I saw you helping Sage last night, and I'm stuck on this one problem."

She snorts. "Well, I doubt I'll be able to help but I can try."

He nods and spins on his heel to walk into his room. She follows him a bit awkwardly, waiting in the doorway. He glances over at him, scoffing. "I'm not diseased."

"Right," she mutters, following him to his desk. It feels so odd to be alone with him, probably since it feels like he's a complete stranger despite the fact that she sees him every day.

"See?" he says, pointing at it. "Right when I get to factoring, the number is negative which is impossible."

She ponders a moment. "Have you tried working backwards?"

"Yeah." He runs his fingers through his hair. "But sin being the square root of two isn't logical."

She's always been pretty good with numbers, but she's only recently gotten used to seeing them laid out on paper. Theories are easy to understand when you hear them but have no visible reference. It's just words. She can handle simple algebra like Sage had, but she's a bit lost right now. Still, she pulls some random explanation out of thin air, simply thinking out loud as she talks it through.

"Yeah," he murmurs. "That makes sense."

She goes to look at him in shock. She literally doesn't know what she's talking about, how does it make sense? But then she freezes; somehow he's closed to distance between them, their noses nearly brushing.

She pulls back, gaping at him. "What are you doing?"

Unphased by her clear disinterest, he hooks an arm around her waist. "Intelligence is sexy on you."

She pushes against his chest, but he holds her tight. "Darren, let go of me."

"Don't fight it," he says, lowering his face into her neck. "I see how you always try to catch glimpses of me. I was waiting for you to approach me, but you took too long."

"Maybe because I'm not interested," she snaps, pushing harder. "I have a boyfriend."

"The one that's been 'out of town' for months?" He snorts, rolling his eyes. "You don't have to lie, Madeline."

Right when he presses his lips against her skin, she yanks her knee up into his groin.

Instantly, he retracts, crumbling over. "What the fuck?" he yells, glaring at her.

"I told you I'm not interested," she says, quickly exiting the room.

"You bitch," he calls after her.

Sage is looking at the foot of the stairs in confusion when Madeline scurries down. "Hey. What's that dumbass yelling about?"

"You have a scumbag of a brother," Madeline grumbles, tugging on her boots. "I'm sorry, Sage. I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Wait, what? Maddie, what happened?"

"Nothing." Madeline smiles the best she can. "I just... I need to go. Send me pics of the comeback stage, okay?"

Sage pouts. "But I want you to watch it with me."

Madeline glances up the stairs, but Darren is nowhere to be seen. "I'm sorry," she repeats. "See you tomorrow."

She's never left a place faster in her life.

And it only gets worse.

She's barely halfway down the driveway when she gets a phone call...

From the hospital.

Her mother is gone.