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He was supposed to be happy, that’s what everybody told him.
But Taehyung didn’t feel it.
He was stressed, and the fights with Dae were getting worse every day.
He told his friends about that and all of them told him the same “It’s just the jitters before the big day” “Once you say I do, everything will be fine” “Weddings can be stressful”
And hell they were.
He was afraid to arrive home, because he knew another fight would happen. Maybe it was something silly like the way he left his shoes on the rack or why Dae didn’t put his favourite bowl in the cabinet. But there was always something. And the worst of it, there was never a reconciliation.
He remembered when they started dating. Everything was so perfect, and even when they got mad, they could find their way back to each other. Flowers, romantic dinners under the candle lights, little gifts hidden under the clothes, heated kisses on the corners of the streets. But that was before, now… there was only silence.
Silence and fights. Fights for the cake, fights for the sitting distribution, fights for the flower arrangements. And Taehyung was tired, very tired.
So when his bachelor weekend arrived, he bolted.
He told his friends that they were having a last minute romantic trip with his fiancé so he could make it. Truth was he was tired, stressed and needed a break from the wedding and everything.
He rented a car and drove with no destination. If he felt like continuing on the highway, he did it. If he felt like going out on the first exit, it was fine too. He just wanted to escape.
So he drove for hours until the car’s gas tank was almost empty. He didn’t even know where he was. Some small village in the middle of nowhere.
He parked the car at the gas station, and a young man appeared from inside the shop.
“What can I do for you, sir?” He looked at the worker. He was definitely young, but not much younger than him.
“Diesel premium, full tank” He told the boy while opening the gas tank. The other took the hose and plugged it in. “Do you have a restroom?” he asked and the employee nodded.
“Behind the building, wait, you’ll need the key” He pulled a big keychain from his back pocket and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” The other nodded and he went to the toilet.
He took a little longer than expected. Not because he had any stomach emergency, but because he took some time checking his phone, calling Dae and keeping his charade with his friends.
When he returned, the car was alone. He looked around and saw the young boy inside the shop, he was stocking some shelves.
The door tingled when he opened it, and the boy turned “You’re back, I thought you just left the car there and disappeared.” He stood up and moved behind the counter.
“Why would I do that? It’s my car?” He asked in confusion, and the other just shrugged.
“I don’t know, people do crazy things sometimes.” He tipped something in the machine “It’s sixty seven thousand won.” he looked at Taehyung. “Do you need something else?”
“Maybe a new life?” He answered without thinking while looking for his wallet.
“If I had those, I would get one for myself.” the worker joked, and he laughed."Here.” He gave him a chocolate candy. “This one’s on the house, you look like you need it.” Taehyung looked at the candy,
“I would expect something like whiskey or beer, but chocolate…that’s new.” He handed him his credit card.
“I don’t drink and you’re going to drive now, so alcohol is not a very good idea.” He took the card and swiped it through the machine to fulfil the payment “There you go, sir.” he handed it back to Taehyung.
“Don’t call me sir, it makes me feel old.” Taehyung complained and Jungkook looked puzzled.
“Old? Nah, you don’t look a day older than fifty.” he joked and moved around the counter.
Taehyung made a shocked face and they both laughed. “Let me walk you back to your car.” he showed the cap of the gas tank. “I need to put this back.”
Taehyung raised a brow. “Just a safety precaution. Sometimes people try to leave without paying, but this suckers are expensive as fuck, so if I they try to play me, I play them.” he shrugged, walked to Taehyung’s car and placed the cap back in place. “Now you’re ready to leave, sir.” he joked one last time and Taehyung glanced at him trying to hide a smile.
“Do you know any place to sleep around here? I’m kinda tired and the town seems friendly enough to spend the night.” he asked looking around, and something caught his eye. “Wow, that’s beautiful.” He couldn’t help but move towards the black motorbike parked on the side of the station.
“Like what you see?” the employee walked next to him with his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t really know about bikes, but I can recognize something beautiful when I see it.” he couldn’t keep his eyes off the vehicle.
“It’s a Kawasaki Ninja H2.” the worker explained “It’s a 998 cc inline-4, four-valve, dual overhead cam design with a two-speed, centrifugal supercharger.” Taehyung looked at him with open eyes and mouth agape.
“That was supposed to mean something?” If he had to describe the bike, he would probably say a black bike with green details. The employee laughed.
“Yeah, it means that it’s really fast and really powerful, it can reach up to 300 km/h. But I could never get that fast.” Taehyung nodded.
“It’s very fast. I think the fastest I’ve gone is 160 km/h or maybe less. I was too excited and scared to check the speedometer.” He laughed and the other did the same.
“Do you want to go for a ride?” he asked all of a sudden.
“What?”
“A ride, on the bike… I’m already closing, my shift is over, and you said you were staying here for the night, so…do you want to go?” He asked again.
Taehyung squinted, checking the bike and the young boy in front of him.
“Why would you do that? I mean, we don’t know each other. Are you some kind of serial killer who takes their victims on bike rides and then kills them in the middle of the desert?” The younger bursted out laughing.
“I’ve never been accused to be a serial killer, maybe too bold and forward, but not a killer. I just saw you really excited with the bike and I was gonna take it anyways, so that’s why I thought.” He stepped away from the vehicle “But I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He smiled shyly. “Oh, and there’s a hotel at the end of the street. It’s not a five star, but it’s decent.”
Taehyung saw the other turning around, he was going to leave.
“Wait.” he begged. “I didn’t mean to come off as rude or anything, it's just that, I’m not used to people being nice just because. Usually there’s a hidden agenda behind a nice gesture. But if you’re still up to it, I would love to go on that ride. I… actually I’ve neve been on a bike before.” He admitted, embarrassed.
“We’ll have to change that.” He smiled “Wait, I’m gonna close the shop and I’ll be back in no time. You can park the car on the side of the station, nobody will touch it there.” And he disappeared inside the low building.
Taehyung did as he was told and parked the car on the side. Then he moved back next to the bike. It was indeed beautiful.
His phone buzzed and for a moment, he had the urge to ignore it, but the caller id showed that it was Dae. His thumb was over the green icon when a whistle caught his attention.
“Hey pretty boy, take this.” And something flew straight to him. Luckily he caught the helmet on the air and then raised his head, “Nice catch.”
He saw the worker walking towards him. But now he was dressed in all black, from head to toe. Biker’s boots, pants and jacket. Visibly padded on the most vulnerable parts of the body. He was breathtaking.
“I almost dropped my phone.” Taehyung complained puting the device in his pocket.
“Maybe you should have done it, you were looking at it like it was burning or something.” he joked, putting on his own helmet. It was tight, making his cheeks puff up. “I’m Jungkook, by the way.” He pulled a leg over the bike and removed the kickstand.
“I’m Taehyung.” He introduced himself. It was strange that they had been talking for a while and didn’t know their names.
“Okay Taehyung, you have to put your right foot here.” He pointed to some metal pegs. “And then pull the other leg over the bike. Don’t worry if it moves, I’ve got it.” He did as Jungkook instructed him and in no time, he was sitting on the back of the bike. “Now it’s very important, you have to hold onto me, okay?”
Taehyung put his hands on the driver’s shoulders and Jungkook took his hands and moved them to his waist, pulling them till both his hands touched each other. “Hold me here, like this.” he said, looking back.
“Hold on tight, okay?” Taehyung nodded. “I’m gonna go slow first, so you can get used to the feeling. Ready?” He nodded again and Jungkook started the bike, turned on the accelerator and drove off.
It was amazing. Scary as fuck but amazing.
Jungkook wasn’t going really fast. He knew it, but he still held onto his waist like his life depended on it. His helmet resting on the driver’s padded back and head turned to the side. It was so freeing that he couldn’t help but close his eyes, all his problems disappearing with the sound of the engine and the flashing lights passing at full speed next to them.
At some point, Jungkook slowed the speed and Taehyung could hear some voices over the sound of the bike. He looked around and saw that there were a lot of people around them. Some of them were dressed like Jungkook.
They stopped and Jungkook killed the engine, he turned his head back.
“To go down, do the same as you did before.” And Taehyung did it, dismounting the bike.
His legs felt like jelly, the vibration of the vehicle still present on his limbs. He removed the helmet and looked at Jungkook who was doing the same.
“Are you okay?” Jungkook asked worriedly “Are you crying?”
Taehyung ran his hand through his face and felt it wet.
“Oh, this.” he smiled “I’m fine, I just made the mistake of leaving the visor open.” He cleaned the tears and his runny nose. “But I’m fine, I promise. It was amazing.” Jungkook seemed a little relieved and started looking around. “Where are we?” He asked.
“It’s a racing circuit.” he left the helmet on the bike and moved closer to a group of people. Taehyung ran next to him and spoke in a low voice.
“But that’s illegal…” he looked around, scared.
“Of course it is, and it also moves a lot of money. How do you think I could afford my baby? Not with my salary in the gas station, of course.” He looked at Taehyung. “But don’t worry, pretty boy, the police never come. And besides you’re not running, I am. So,you’re safe.” He smiled again, winking and turned to talk to someone, leaving him alone and speechless.
It was the second time he called him pretty boy and Taehyung didn't know how to feel about that. He should feel… different, he was going to marry in less than a month, he wasn't supposed to be accepting compliments from an extremely handsome stranger. But it felt good, it made his tummy feel funny.
Someone whistled and everybody turned to the man standing in the middle of the road.
"Okay, rules are like always. The first to cross the finish line wins. Dirty tactics won't be tolerated. So if we catch someone cheating, they will be automatically disqualified and banned from racing here again. Did I make myself clear?" Everybody nodded and some yeahs could be heard.
Jungkook came back next to Taehyung. Apparently it was race time, and he was doing it. He didn't know what to say: don't do it? Good luck? Break a leg?
"See you on the finish line." He ended up saying. And the racer looked at him.
"I'll be the first one crossing it." He winked again and shoved his helmet over his head.
Taehyung moved aside while the bike roared and speeded away. He didn't know where to go so he looked around checking what everybody was doing. They were gathering around the racers. He did the same, eyes glued on the black and green bike and its driver.
The same man stood again in the middle of the street. He raised a flag, counted from three to one and dropped the flag.
After that, the noise was deafening. Engines were roaring all over the street, there were at least fifteen bikes racing at the same time, and they speeded down the road, one second there, the next one almost disappearing down the road.
People started moving around and he did the same, he had no idea where he was going, he couldn’t see the bikes or hear them, but it looked like people around him knew exactly what was going to happen, and eventually everybody stopped around another spot on the road. They waited on the sides of the road until the first engine was audible.
He couldn’t recognize the bike from far away, it was dark and some of the bikes were also black. Someone cheered next to him, and he did the same. He didn’t know to whom he was cheering, but excitement was palpable in the air.
When the bike crossed the finish line he could finally see it. The green details from the sides, and the nape’s hair from the driver poking out of his helmet.
He yelled even louder than before, he had won! Jungkook had won the race, and he was happy for him.
The racer did a wheelie on the road for a few seconds before making a stoppie on his front wheel. He drove back to where the people were and finally killed the engine.
He removed his helmet leaving it on the handle of the bike and looked around smiling. People gathered around him, shaking his hands and congratulating him on his win. Taehyung stood a few meters behind the mob of people, not sure if he was supposed to go too.
But he didn’t have to think much, because it was Jungkook who moved towards him.
“So?” He asked and Taehyung frowned
“So… ” Taehyung repeated.
“I told you I’d be the first one crossing the line.” And he smiled.
“Showoff.” Taehyung snickered back “But it was an amazing race, or at least I think, I couldn’t see much of it because you were like super fast and super far.” they both chuckled
“Next time, you can ride with me” he moved closer to speak to him. Too close that he could feel Junkook’s breath on his skin, and it gave him goosebumps. Someone called Jungkook and it broke the spell “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.” He smiled and disappeared again between the people.
After ten minutes that felt like ten hours, Jungkook came back.
"Come on, let's go celebrate."
Taehyung didn't have time to reply, because Jungkook was already putting his helmet on, and swinging his leg over the bike. He started the engine and Taehyung reacted, rushing his helmet on, and jumping, less gracely onto the motorbike.
They drove for a while, until Jungkook stopped at a service station. There they bought something to drink and continued their drive.
Taehyung had no idea where they were heading, but at some point, Jungkook stopped the vehicle. They climbed off the bike and finally he could see the surroundings.
The curve of the road had created some kind of lookout point. Jungkook sat on the railway that prevented vehicles from falling down the cliff and he did the same.
"I love it here, it's… quiet." Jungkook spoke, opening his bottle of kombucha.
"It's beautiful," Taehyung added and Jungkook agreed. Jungkook wasn't looking at the sparkling lights down the city, or the dense forest around it. But Taehyung didn't see that.
"So, what are you running from?" he asked Taehyung, and the other looked at him surprised "Your car's a rental, you ran out of gas, and you didn't have a place to sleep. Besides you've been looking at your cellphone like it's the spawn of the devil since I met you."
He wasn't expecting that. Was he that easy to read?
"My wedding." he admitted.
"I beg your pardon?" Jungkook sounded baffled, and he felt a little guilty.
"Yeah…" he pulled his legs up the rail, hugging his knees. "I'm getting married in one month." Why was he so sad about it? So apathetic.
"Shit, good to know. You saved me from a ton of embarrassment." He chuckled, drinking a bit more. "And why are you running from it? Isn't it supposed to be the best day of someone's life and all that yara, yara, yara." He gestured with his hands.
"I don't know. I know I'm supposed to be happy, and I am. Don’t get me wrong, but everything is too much.” He looked at Jungkook.
“My fiancé is too much, my family is too much, my friends are too much.” he sighed. “I just want it to be over.” He spoke in a low voice “Today is the first day I enjoyed in a long long time.” He looked at Jungkook. “Am I a bad person?”
Junkook bit his lip and breathed a few times before answering.
“I don’t think you’re a bad person, I mean, I’ve known you for like 5 hours.” he smiled. “but I consider myself a good judge of character and I liked you, so no, I don’t think you’re bad for being stressed for your wedding.”
Taehyung looked without saying anything, did he just say that he liked him? “But there’s definitely something there that is bugging you.” He left the bottle on the floor. “Okay, let’s do one thing. How does your fiancé make you feel?”
Taehyung frowned, raising a brow, but Jungkook insisted.
“I don’t know, fine I guess. I love my fiancé.” he clarified
“Yeah, yeah I’m sure you do. But that’s not what I asked. I asked how your fiancé makes you feel, now. Imagine you’re home, and… “ He gestured towards Taehyung
“Dae,” he answered.
“Ok, you’re home and Dae arrives, how does that make you feel?” Taehyung thought about it for a moment.
“Happy, I’m always happy whenever I see Dae.” He smiled
“Good, and now tell me one thing you like about Dae.” He continued asking and making Taehyung think.
“I like…” He closed his eyes “When we started dating, Dae used to wake me up with silly messages and we always made sure to kiss each goodbye before going to work, or going to sleep.”
He could feel a smile plastered on his face. “It was the small details.” he opened his eyes.
“Now… we can spend a whole day not talking to each other, but that’s normal, right? That’s what happens when you fall into the monotony of a relationship, right? Sometimes it’s hard, but you do it because you love the other person.” Jungkook shrugged.
“Well I don’t know about relationships, because clearly I have the worst luck in men ever.” He joked. “But I think about my bike.” He looked back. “Riding her is something I love, I can spend all the time in the world with her. So although we’ve been together for years, I can’t spend a day without her and for sure I’ll never want to escape from her.” He smiled. “And by any means I’m trying to compare a relationship with a human with a relationship with a motorcycle, but it’s the closest I can relate to.”
Definitely that comparison wasn’t close to reality, a relationship was more than fixing a bike. But he had a point. It wasn’t supposed to be that hard.
And like being summoned by the Gods, in that moment his cellphone rang. He jumped scared of the sudden sound. He checked the caller id, and DAE could be seen written in front of a beautiful picture of said person.
Taehyung sighted again and silenced the phone, letting the call unanswered. Jungkook looked at him with a brow raised.
"I told you I'm not an expert, but what you just did…that speaks volumes." He was right. Taehyung knew what he did was not okay, but he couldn't deal with Dae right now.
"I bet right now you're regretting asking me to come with you." He joked and the younger laughed.
"Not the way I hoped the night would turn out, but I won't complain. At least it's a beautiful night." This time he joked and Taehyung responded by elbowing him gently on the ribs.
"Wow wow, what's with the touching, mister? I'm engaged . I don't want to be the cause of breaking up any relationship." He said raising his arms in a surrender gesture. Taehyung looked agape and bursted out laughing. He could feel his ears hot.
"You've got some self confidence there huh…" He gained another elbow on the ribs.
"What do you want me to say? I know how I look, and I know how people look at me" This time, Taehyung froze.
“I’m sorry, I didn't mean to mislead you.” He apologised. “Maybe if things were different.”
“Nah, don’t continue.” Jungkook cut him. “Let’s not think about ifs, this is what it is, and that’s it.” He smiled nonchalantly. "But I must add that I'm having a good time too. This is nice." He took the bottle from the floor and drank a little more.
They spent all night there, talking and sharing stories. Turns out they had more in common that they thought. They both loved photography and they both played Overwatch till sinful hours in the morning. They also learned some other things, Jungkook loved coffee while Taehyung hated it, he preferred a hot cocoa. Taehyung liked strawberry milkshakes and Jungkook was a banana milk guy. They liked music and spent more than an hour karaoke singing pop and trot songs with their phone. It was a good night, a great night.
When the sun finally rose, they felt silent. It was beautiful. Words weren't needed after all these hours spent together, and it was a comfortable silence.
After a while. Jungkook finally spoke.
"We should get going." He stood up, cracking his back and stretching his arms. "I have to start my shift at 12, and I should get some sleep." He started walking and Taehyung stood up too.
"Shit sorry, I didn't know you had to work today.” He rushed next to the other boy.
“Nah, don’t sweat it. Won’t be the first time I pull an all-nighter.” He picked his helmet and handed Taehyung the other one.
Taehyung left his visor open again. This time he wanted to feel the air on his face, and the sun warming his cold skin. He held Jungkook’s waist, arms holding tight around the other’s torso, and face resting on the driver’s back. There were so many layers between them and so many others things keeping them apart, but Taehyung felt that was enough.
When they finally arrived at the gas station Jungkook parked the bike, and after Taehyung dismounted, he did the same.
“I guess I should go.” Taehyung handed the helmet to Jungkook
“The hotel I told you about is right there, you have to cross the street.” Jungkook started explaining, pointing towards the place but Taehyung held his hands mid-air.
“It’s fine, I think I will go back home. I have a lot of explaining to do.” He half smiled, looked at their hands tangled and let them go. “Thanks for today? Tonight? Yesterday?” He joked confused and both laughed. “I really needed this.”
“Yeah, it was good.” He nodded. “Well Tae, I should get going. Good luck with your…” He gestured towards him. “With everything.” He ended adding up with a little chuckle, he put his helmet back on and left the gas station and Taehyung.
Taehyung went back to his car. Finally alone after this crazy day. He hadn’t done anything bad, but somehow he felt guilty. Maybe because he wanted to do it, maybe because inside he didn’t want to go back home to Dae.
He sighted starting the car and drove back home.
Dae was waiting for him when he returned. He knew he had probably ruined his fiancé’s weekend, and that wasn’t his intention.
They fought for a while. They cried, they slept and in the end, they talked.
Neither Taehyung nor Dae had to be fortune tellers to know what was going to happen next. With heavy hearts, they decided to cancel the wedding.
At first, it was something temporary. They decided to take a break from the relationship, Taehyung moved out and rented a small studio for himself. He needed to see things with perspective.
And perspective gave him the clarity he needed, although not the one him or Dae wanted.
He realised that, at some point, he just felt out of love. It was not that he didn’t love Dae, he did, with all his heart. But he wasn’t in love with Dae anymore.
They sold their apartment and he stayed in the same studio. It was small, but he was alone now, he didn’t need much.
His relationship with his family and friends was complicated for a while. Nobody understood the reasons behind the breakup. They blamed the weekend escape, some of them even accused him of cheating.
But he knew he didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t break up with Dae because he had fallen in love with some gas station employee. Yeah, Jungkook had a big part in the development of the story, but by any means he wasn't the main reason.
It wasn’t until four months after break up that he had the nerves to go back to the gas station.
He parked his car on the same spot he had left it months ago, and went into the shop.
To his surprise, behind the counter was a girl, not much older than Jungkook: Round glasses perched on her nose and a book on her hands.
“Can I help you, sir?” She asked, setting the book aside, and Taehyung couldn’t help but smile remembering when Jungkook called him sir and he got angry.
“I’m looking for Jungkook. Does he still work here?” He moved closer to the girl.
“Kookie? Yeah, he works here, but he left early today.” She answered.
“Do you know where I can find him?” She shrugged.
“I don’t know, probably at home. He said something about tonight and having to fix something for his bike.” Taehyung didn’t know where Jungkook lived. He didn’t even know Jungkook’s phone. But he knew where he was going to be tonight, or at least he hoped he was right.
It wasn’t that easy to find the spot where the race was taking place. The only time he went there, Jungkook was the one driving.
So after getting lost a few times, and finally caving in and asking people for the place where they have illegal motorcycle races. He found it.
He could hear the roar of the engines from afar. That meant the race had already started. He parked the car and walked to the place where everybody was gathering. And his theory was confirmed, the bikes were long gone, only mere spots of light in the distance.
People started moving to the finish line and he followed them.
The first motorcycle could be seen at the end of the road, and Taehyung’s heart sped up like the vehicle. Was he Jungkook? Was he gonna win tonight again?
And then it hit him, what was he gonna tell him?
He didn't have time to think about it, because the vehicle moved really fast towards them, with another bike tailing it really close.
At that moment Taehyung saw the first bike, it was red and white. And a few feet away, there was a black and green motorcycle trying to gain those few feet separating them from the finish line.
But the red and white bike arrived first, and everybody gathered around the vehicle cheering and congratulating the winner. Leaving the second place forgotten on the side.
Taehyung wasn’t interested in the winner, he walked towards the black and green bike, looking at the driver removing his helmet. And to his surprise the driver was blonde. He doubted for a minute, maybe it wasn’t his bike. But then the driver looked back and their eyes met, he saw it. It was him.
If Jungkook was surprised, he didn’t show it. He rested his helmet on the tank of the bike and swung his leg, stepping down. Taehyung walked closer.
“Hey…” It was all he could think of to say at that point.
“Hey.” The other answered, moving his head. And Taehyung laughed.
“I thought you were supposed to be the first one crossing the finish line.” Taehyung teased.
“If I had known a pretty boy was watching me, I would have driven faster.” He teased back.
“I think we should celebrate.” Taehyung added and the other looked at him. “The night is beautiful, and I know a place…” He walked closer. “Well I actually don’t know,a very handsome guy took me there once.” He stopped a few feet from the racer.
“Are you flirting with me?” Jungkook raised a brow. “Not that I mind, I just don’t want to misread anything, again.” Taehyung chuckled.
“You’re not misreading anything this time. And yeah, I’m flirting with you. Is it working?” It was his time to raise a brow.
“Oh, it is definitely working.” He nodded. “But what about..” He didn’t have to finish the sentence, Taehyung knew.
“We broke up, so the wedding never happened. See.” He showed his empty fingers. “No ring on it.” He joked, paraphrasing a famous song. He saw the doubt in the other’s eyes. “And no, you had nothing to do with that decision, don’t worry. You made me think, yeah. But I did what I had to do for me.” He moved in the same spot, changing his weight from his feet.
“I’m glad you figured it out.” He put his hands in his pockets and looked around, stepping closer to Taehyung like he did the first time, sending goosebumps to Taehyung's body. “So, does that mean I will be able to kiss you later?”
He had to take a few breaths before speaking, but ended up looking at the other man straight in the face.
“And why should you wait till later?” He raised a brow, smirking.
Jungkook didn’t waste any more minutes, he moved, crashing their lips together, pulling him closer by the waist, linking their bodies in a tight embrace.
When they separated, Jungkook looked at him.
“Maybe this is too forward but, do you want to come to my place?” Taehyung smiled, getting redder.
“Someone’s confident huh…” he pinched Jungkook’s side.
“Not really. Luck isn’t on my side today,” he shrugged and Taehyung pinched him again, making him jolt.
“Then we should change that. Let’s go to your place.” He smiled, kissing him again.
He didn’t know where this was going, but Taehyung knew he was happy now, and he was gonna cherish it while it lasted.