Loved | Kim Taehyung

The most beautiful corner of the old museum was graced by the dreamlike sight of Ophelia, a rather well-known painting piece by Millais. It stood there like an ancient memory, displayed to those eyes that carried nothing but curiosity- and maybe a little bit of fear. As what was once called a dull picture now carried the breath of mystery, therefore, it was only natural for more and more people to approach it, just so they could get the glimpse of the poor maiden died singing the soft melodies.

The flowers that swam at the edge of Ophelia’s dress were named beauty and innocence by those pitied at the fate of the maiden. As those people believed such a tragic death did not deserve to be looked down and Ophelia was meant to be remembered by everything labelled as good. However, there were also people that knew there was nothing either good or bad, but thinking made it so.

“The symbolic of flowers is really important,” said the masculine voice softly as brown eyes focused their gaze on every single detail the painting offered. “If you look at there,” he added as he raised his hand to point the daisies with his index finger, “they mean innocence.”

“And roses mean youth, everyone knows it,” interrupted the feminine voice in a faint tone of annoyance in her words. Even her cheeks were flushed because of the frustration she tried to hide as it was not every day in her life that she met someone like him.

At first, she thought he was just an admirer of art and literature, therefore, she took it upon herself to tour him around the museum. He seemed like a stranger to the capital city or so his slight accent said, so she thought it would be a calm tour around, in which she would simply introduce the ancient pieces to him.

She started with modern art and then moved to Da Vinci and Van Gogh, who happened to be his favourite. Besides, it was only after she talked about the art of Gogh that they dropped the honorifics- she no longer called him Sir, but Taehyung as he requested. He, on the other hand, never really tasted her name on his own lips. It was his pair of brown eyes that silently asked for her attention and soft tone that made every word that slip off his tongue sound like a long forgotten tale.

However, apparently, not every tale had a happy ending and Taehyung happened to be someone that did not hesitate to remind it in every given chance. He talked about the darkness and forbidden without a hesitation and always had something to say, which was the exact reason that she began to feel frustrated.

As she soon noticed he was neither admirer nor a stranger, Kim Taehyung, himself was an art - maybe the darkest she ever heard of.

“True, everyone knows that,” he surprisingly admitted without an argument and managed to catch her off guard. Yet, he was once again soon to find the last words to say. “How about fritillaries?”

His question almost made her roll her eyes- almost. As he sounded like a child that stubbornly looked for something others did not know, anything that would make him clever one.

“Chagrin,” however, she still replied, maybe because deep down she was not so different than him.

“And pansy?” he still tried.

“Unrequited love,” she replied in a daring manner. She skillfully curved her brow up and wore such a gaze that questioned him if he had anything else to say. As even if it sounded arrogant, she was pleased to leave him speechless with her knowledge- or so she wished to believe.

“How about poppy?”

The silence was a crystal clear answer to his question. She did not know.

“It’s-” however, as she was rather stubborn to admit it aloud, she made a pathetic attempt to come up with anything, silently begged her memory to remember anything about the poppy. Anything.

“It means death.”

She had to guess- from the way the very corner of his lips curved up to the way his eyes brightened, she had to guess that it was what he waited for. To say something she did not know, prove that he was not as a stranger as she believed him to be.

“I had to guess,” she uttered under her breath and earned herself a brief - loud chuckle from the other. He did not even feel ashamed or tried to hold it back, instead, Taehyung allowed his laughter to ring around their surroundings despite the many judging looks he got from the others, the female beside him being no exception.

“Why do I get an impression that you’re a son of darkness?”

Her question did not mean to carry a piece of truth as it was more of a mock she tried to emphasise. Her childish attempt to display that deep down she desired to hear anything positive in his tone, even a reflection of light that could make her believe he was not lost on his unanswered questions.

However, Taehyung did not argue or even tried to act as she wished, he just tilted his head forward to look at the beautiful Ophelia once again. He stayed quiet and allowed the sound of his breathing to accompany the rumble of the crowd - only for a while.

“What do you think happened to her?” he asked after a while, just when she thought he would not talk again or at least with her. Therefore, it took a couple of seconds for her to shrug off the confusion and meet his eyes.

“I-” she paused, “what do you mean?”

Fortunately, he did not appear to be bothered by her request to repeat and explain himself. Instead, he wore his calm facade firmly and ran his gaze between her and the painting.

“What do you think happened to Ophelia after she died?” he asked once again as if he did not talk about a fictional character but someone he knew. As his eyes carried that bizarre sorrow behind them, which completely caught her off guard.

“Probably went to heaven- well, I hope she went to a better place,” she replied after a couple of seconds and for some bizarre reason, she immediately tilted her head to look at Taehyung, just so she could see his reaction. She just hoped it was something he would not argue about as everyone would like to a better place, would they not?

“Why do you think hell isn’t a good place for her?” however, he seemed rather determined to stick with his dark image.

“I don’t think she deserved to be burnt in hell,” she found herself uttering and selfishly felt proud when she caught the sight of a smirk that climbed at the corner of his lips.

“Ah,” he nodded his head and allowed his smirk to widen, “that’s a fair enough reason.”

He then turned and finally met her eyes once again, his smirk no longer a perfect reflection of mischief. It seemed ironically bitter.

“Do you think the thing that makes the hell worst is the fire?” he uttered like a child that had a lot to ask- then again, he did have a lot to ask and did not really hesitate to do so. Therefore, he probably did not even notice the many times he caught her off guard and speechless.

“I never really thought about afterlife much,” she confessed with a slight hope to change the topic of the conversation. As it was not a lie that she did not think much about it but also did not want to shut him completely.

However, it seemed like he did not believe in her as he just curved his brow up and sent such a look that demanded an answer. It seemed like Taehyung just had that bizarre talent to question people with his silent yet strong gaze.

“As a child, I thought heaven was made of candy floss and angels flew over them while singing Disney songs,” she added after brief second long silence and smirked at her own imagination in disbelief. “And I thought hell was a huge oven- therefore, I couldn’t approach my mother’s oven until I was seven.”

If she knew her childish imagination would make him laugh so loud, she would probably talk about it sooner. As it was probably the first time she saw him laugh not to mock her or over his victory in their argument, he just simply, sincerely laughed because he wanted to. And as obscure as it sounded, she could not help but wonder if angels ever envied the sound of his laughter.

“Now that’s the creative imagination,” he said between his laughter and even reached his hand to wipe the tears that appeared at the corner of his eyes.

She, on the other hand, just watched him as creepy and pathetic as it seemed. Her eyes just refused to look somewhere else even if her mind screamed at her to behave. He was a stranger after all.

“You’re interesting.”

She would tell a huge lie if she ever claimed his abstract compliment did not flatter her. However, thankfully, she managed to protect her posture and behaved as professional as possible- whereas deep down she already felt regret to tell him about herself, her childhood. It felt like with a simple statement she opened the innocence she kept somewhere behind her mind and now he was aware of that.

“Well,” and so she made a rather awkward attempt to respond him but did not know what to say. Instead, she just parted her lips a couple of times and thought about a way to save herself from the embarrassment that climbed to her neck and face in the form of a bright red blush.

However, she was not saved by herself but by a nearby sculpture that suddenly got Taehyung’s full attention. Such that he forgot about Gogh and Ophelia, did not even mentioned the flowers that surrounded the painting of the maiden. Instead, he just turned and stared.

“It’s a new piece of the museum, we put it on display just yesterday.”

For some reason that she could not explain, she had an urge to inform him about the sculpture and maybe hear a comment or two. She was just so used to hear him add anything to her statement during past an hour, such that his silence made her feel uncomfortable.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

It was not, she knew it well and believed he was aware of that as well. As it was a simple sculpture among many that were displayed in the museum- it was neither a Greek God nor a creature from tales. It was a simple human sculpture named after the sinful fallen.

“Lucifer,” said Taehyung finally as he broke his silence and that was all. He said nothing else and just looked at the engraved stone as if he could see the wings that once stood there.

He stared and stared...

She was not sure how long he stood there - seconds or minutes. But the moment he turned to meet her gaze once again, she was surprised to find a gentle smile at the corner of his lips.

“I guess it’s time for me to leave,” he said and she tried her best to appear unbothered. “Thank you so much for the tour-”

Taehyung suddenly paused as if he forgot something really important and only then noticed it.

“What was your name again?” he asked, a small frown over his features. And she did not even know if she had to feel bad that he forgot she already mentioned her name or laugh at his surprised expression and ‘maybe’ cuteness.

“One would think you’re so old that you can’t even remember one name,” she could not help but say in a playful tone whereas Taehyung just shook his head. Then, he locked his gaze with her once again and waited for an introduction, whereas she just extended her hand for a handshake. It was the same scene happened an hour ago when Taehyung first walked into the museum.

“It’s Ophelia,” she said with a small smile on her lips and watched the way Taehyung’s gaze moved to the painting before he looked at her once again, a glint of mischief in his dark eyes.

“Seriously?”

“I think so considering it has been the name I had been called all of my life,” she responded and almost pulled her hand back to her side as Taehyung did not make an attempt to shake it. That was until then.

As just before she pulled her hand, he placed his right beside her and gave her hand a gentle shake.

“Nice to meet you, Ophelia.”