Chapter 18: Cautious Exchanges

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"He's not answering." Taehyung mutters as he hangs up after hearing Hoseok's call direct him to voicemail. The actor was a little worried since he knew it was his more-than-friends-but-less-than-boyfriend labelled "friend" had his day off and currently he should be able to answer the phone. At the moment, he was waiting for the elevator to stop on the floor of his flat.

Waiting in silence had him recalling the events of the previous night where Hoseok and him had a rather exotic shower and then hugged each other to sleep. He knew that for the moment, his secret lover wouldn't label their relationship to more than it already was, he had said it multiple times but last night sadly couldn't give it closure to the actor. But he needed to leave the problem under the rug becaude he couldn't suppory to have another fight with the man he loves.

"Hoseok?" Taehyung asked as soon as he entered his apartment. The lights were off and there were two bottles of Soju on the counter top. "Yeontan?" He called out to his dog but the Pomeranian was nowhere in sight. He sighed after slipping out of his shoes and warming them up with his red house slippers. The living room was empty, the kitchen was empty, the guest's bathroom was empty, the guest room was empty, all that were left were his bedroom and bathroom. After throwing out one of the empty Soju bottles, he heard a grunt coming from his room. "Hobi?" He dropped his briefcase in the chair of the dinning table and rushed to his bedroom.

When he turned the doorknob around and pushd the door open, he was met with the sight of a shirless Jung Hoseok hugging Yeontan on the bed. "I'm here." The brunette said with reddened cheeks.

"Are you drunk?" Taehyung began unbuttoning his coat as he walked to his closet. "I'm more sober now but still tipsy." The male on the bed answered still feeling like his head was doing 360's faster than Earth's rotation cycle. "Come here Tae~ I desperately need your neck." The brunette continued as he eyed Taehyung's figure begin undressing his work clothes. "Let me dress up in more comfortable clothes hyung."

"Hear that Tannie? Your appa is joining us!" Hoseok squealed. Scratch what the man had said, he was still drunk.

"...Appa" He repeated, feeling his eyes water for the nth time this day. "Oh no Hobi hyung, don't cry. I'm here." Taehyung said as he knelt on the bed with changed clothes, an oversized shirt and baggy sweatpants. The drunk male sniffed and let the other engulf him in a hug while the dog still rested in between their arms.

"Am I enough for you Tae?" After minutes of silence, Hoseok asked against the neck of the male. The actor now assumed his friend was drunk because of him and he felt guilty; guilty because he was the one who brought on the conversation. But in reality, Hoseok was the one at fault for letting everything in the dark.

"You're enough for me. You'll always be enough for me. I'm sorry for asking you." Taehyung answered biting back his lips to help stop the glimmer of his eyes from leaking anything. "I love you Hoseok, don't forget that." He added, tightening his hold on the drunken male, being careful not to squeeze his dog too much.

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As he drove away from the university in his white Range Rover 2018, Seokjin jammed along to a song thinking he was inside a karaoke booth. "Mamaaaaaa~ Oohhh~ Didn't mean to make you cry~" He sang with an English accent, his pronunciation of the words closely resembled his hangul's. The heater was on yet he still felt cold from the outside temperature so from time to time he checked to see if it was going to snow as he held the wheel with both hands; and he ignored his scarf in the backseat. Driving while jamming to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Seokjin's eyes drifted to a figure standing outside on a bus stop. "Isn't that?" He stopped singing and changed lanes after flashing the right signal, lowering the volume of the car's speakers in the process.

He stopped the car in front of the bus stop and with his left hand he pressed on the button that lowered the passenger's window. "Namjoon?" He asked lowering his head to see the face of the figure, his voice loud enough to be heard outside the car; the coldness of the afternoon entered the car making a shiver run down the professor's spine.

"Professor Kim?" Namjoon's startled voice followed by a puff of white smoke entered Seokjin's vision, followed by the student brushing his hands against his lips for warmth.

"At what time does your bus get here?" The elder asked with a worried expression.

"In half-an-hour." Namjoon answered, nose pink and runny because of the low temperature. "Get in, I'll drive you." The professor answered without hesitation and unlocked the car's doors. "Okay." Of course the student was going to comply, not just because his favorite professor offered him a ride, but also because he was fucking freezing. He opened the door and hopped in without second thought and closed the door. His hands were trembling and his heart chrome glasses pressing against his nose weren't helping the runniness of the liquid flowing down. First, he thought it was embarrassing and second, he didn't have a-

"Tissue?" Seokjin offered him his pink pack of kleenex tissues as the window beside the student rolled up. "Thank you." Namjoon grabbed one tissue for the pack and cleaned himself.

"You're welcome." The elder replied shifting his gaze back to the road as he stepped on the gas pedal. "Where do you live?" He asked once back in the road. "It's a fifteen minute ride, are you sure?" Namjoon's voice was a bit nasal because of his runny nose. He wanted to be sure the professor wouldn't change his mind about driving him. "I asked where do you live, Namjoon." Seokjin repeated himself trying to avoid as much as contact as possible with the student because ever since the morning's sudden extra session, he's been very umm... cautious about their exchanges.

"Take a right here." Namjoon answered. He wanted to be with the professor as long as possible so he decided on being his GPS with a very important reason behind it: to take the longest route and have the professor all to himself in the mean time. "You're not going to tell me are you?" Seokjin rolled his eyes, an evident smile was forced back. "Nope. I'm going to guide you." Namjoon had the nerve to chuckle in his situation even if his hands were still freezing.

"Neo-" Feeling his straight heart skip a beat, Seokjin turned the wheel to the right with the signal and held his breath for a few seconds. "Stay on the middle lane." Namjoon began brushing his hands together for warmth followed by hovering them above the ac's window. "Still cold?" The elder asked him after a few minutes and he nodded.

"I have a scarf in the backseat, take it." At the professor's words, the younger turned his head around and eyed the backseats of the Range Rover in search for scarf. There were a few documents in the right seat beside a brown briefcase and a pink scarf kneatly folded in the middle seat. He reached out for it and then wrapped it all around his neck and buried his lips against the warm pink scarf without second thoughts.

Smells like fresh... Diptyque Philosykos.

"Do you use Diptyque Philosykos for perfume?" Namjoon asked, lowering the pink scarf a little so his voice wouldn't be muffled. "Yes." After the affrimative answer, he sneakily inhaled the scent as much as he could wanting to burn in his memory.

"Make a left here."

Almost twenty minutes had passed and Namjoon still felt the cold dig into his fingers so he kept brushing them almost in a begging plead. Seokjin noticed it and felt pity on the younger. Knowing he couldn't do anything more for the student, he began driving with his left hand and lowered his right to rest it. There wasn't any music playing anymore but the silent was welcomed by them, it was calming. Namjoon noticed the action of his professor and saw how his palms were facing up as if he wanted him to hold his hand for warmth.

"Hold it, I don't mind." Seokjin suddenly said never taking his eyes off the road for one, to avoid an accident, two for avoiding eye contact with Namjoon and three for not letting his heart continue beating in a different way. Namjoon looked up at him through his heart chrome heart glasses, his eyes sparkled and his heart really did skip a beat. Slowly, he reached out his left hand and placed it above his professor's. It was warm, even through the coldness of the night and the cold he felt earlier, Seokjin's hands were warm in Namjoon's.

This action wasn't expected, when Namjoon's cold hand was slowly placed on top of his, Seokjin's legs stiffed for a split second but then, he couldn't control what he did next. He intertwined their fingers instead of having their hands touch each other for warmth.

Mission at seduction 2, a success. He's so cute, I swear this wasn't planned at all.

Namjoon's dimple smile was hidden because of the scarf but his cheeks were still exposed and pink as well as the driver whose cheeks were also pink without his knowing.

This evening, Seokjin let Namjoon keep the pink scarf.

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Upon finishing eating the delicious Galbi Jjim, Jimin began washing the dishes. Jungkook was silent during the whole dinner, he only complimented the dish after finishing his plate but other than that, he was silent. The actor had calmed down after filling his stomach but he still felt betrayed by Jimin and by the part of him that he wouldn't admit to. He eyed the writer's back from where he stood, Jimin was silent too; everything felt a little awkward.

Jungkook couldn't handle it anymore, he grabbed the bottle of Whipped Cream and walked over to Jimin. As the apron only covered the writer's exposed front, his whole back was left exposed to the dominant while he finished washing the dishes. "You're forgiven." The actor whispered against his earlobe.

Now up close to his boyfriend, Jungkook opened the bottle of Whipped Cream and opened his mouth to spread some onto his tongue. "Let me finish washing the dishes Jungkook."

"Jungkook-ssi." The dominant corrected his submissive with lips full of whipped cream.

"Jeonggu-Mmng" The actor interrupted Jimin's words by kissing his parted precious plump lips and joining his Whipped Cream filled tongue against his boyfriend's. The sponge on the elder's hand dropped along with the plate, thankfully not breaking and the water running washed away the dish soap from his hands.

The dominant brushed his tongue against Jimin's to let him taste the sweet addictive whipped cream. Then, he slid against it to cover it with the sweet cream. He hollowed his cheeks a little and moved his lips against the elder's to suck against Jimin's bottom lip one time before separating them. "Tasty" Jungkook said before letting his left hand undo the first knot of Jimin's apron, the one of the waist. "Jungkook-ssi." Jimin gulped the cream inside his mouth and then pressed the tip of his tongue around his lips to lick any remnants of the sweet addicting cream.