Kazimir was eight hundred and sixty-two words in with her typing, the tap-tap sound of the keyboard keys giving her her daily dose of high she craved all the time. She was free-writing about a topic she picked from the newspaper laying in front of her on her study table and her tea was long cold and forgotten.

Her eyes moved again and again from left to right over the screen, briefly skimming over the words before jotting down the next words.

Her gaze moved quickly down to the word count and back up to the sentence she was writing, her inner child urging her to compete against herself and get to one thousand words within the next five minutes. Her eyes moved down again to steal a glance at the time on the lower left side of the screen and it read 8:30 p.m making her little competition against herself easier for her to follow through.

Her typing gained momentum as she ignored the obvious spelling and the grammar mistakes and just went for it, jotting words upon words, glad that the topic was one she felt strongly about.

She glanced down again to check the word count and the time. Two minutes and one hundred more words to go. Her fingertips slowed just the slightest bit because she was confident she would make it.

Fifty words to go and still one whole minute was left and she was already smiling, proud at herself for winning this little game.

But maybe her celebration was a bit too early because just when she was at nine hundred and seventy-two words, mere thirty words short of her win, her elbow hit the teacup making it tumble over and fall on her lap.

She yelped and jumped up forgetting that the liquid was no longer hot but she wished it was because feeling the freezing cold sticky fluid slipping into her pajama bottoms and running down her leg was a far worse sensation.

She pinched the trousers with the tips of her fingers and pulled them away from her thighs looking down at the mess of a light brown stain along the length of one leg and down on the floor making the littlest puddle around one foot.

She sighed loudly in defeat and looked at her laptop screen, the word count still at 972 but the clock had run to 8:36 leaving her behind.

She leaned forward and saved the document without adding the last thirty words and left the sentence hanging without even a full-stop. She lost the enthusiasm and whatever point she was trying to make in those last few lines had already evaporated from her mind.

She made her way to the bathroom to wash up and change and that's when something else hit her. She had no clean clothes to change into. At least not any decent ones. Everything left in her closet was either decaying with neglect or lacking in length according to Minho.

She looked at her hamper overflowing with clothes and made a quick survey of what could she salvage out of it which could pass as clean for a few hours until she was done with laundry. But nothing struck her as fitting.

There was no way around the laundry today. She sighed and started opening and closing her bedside drawers looking for a rubber hair band to tame her hair with and she spotted one peeking from under the bed. She grabbed it and started pulling her fingers through her hair smoothing out the knots and ignoring the fact it was literally calling out for help.

She hadn't showered in five days because an inflamed joint and steam behind a closed-door was never a good mixture for her health. Being her, even taking a shower required much-needed scheduling and calculating around the chaos of her health.

One shower at a bad timing and she could find herself on her bed for days.

The stickiness of the tea on her leg made her make a quick decision and she grabbed the hamper and made her way to the laundry room, ready to start a load of laundry. Right after she would shower and wear whatever dried first.

As soon as she walked into the laundry room, she was hit with a wave of scented fabric softener and wondered who had done laundry that day. Everyone was out by that time except her and Taehyung and when she looked at the neatly folded piles of clothes on the ironing board, it turned out the answer was Taehyung.

She got to work immediately but she had piled up too much laundry over the course of the recent while because whenever she wanted to do it, one thing or another was wrong with her body.

Today was a rare day where she woke up with only a slightly achy ankle joint but it was bearable and when it was bearable, it was ignorable.

Once the first load was running, she looked at Taehyung's clean clothes, the waft of cleanliness and dryness luring her forward.

He wouldn't mind, she thought but just before her fingers touched the fabrics, something pulled her back.

Don't be stupid Kaz, another voice shouted at her.

She rolled her eyes at the voice but it was right. There was a lot of tension between them these days whether they denied it or ignored it. If she thought it would be okay for her to walk around in a pair of his trousers, then it might as well be okay for her to willingly go and start sleeping in his bed.

She ditched the mission and decided to go and make a smoothie for herself. Minho had been stocking up the fridge with fresh fruits for Naomi's pregnancy cravings and Kazimir wasn't one to hold her hands back even when swallowing only one strawberry was enough to make her feel like she was bursting.

When she rounded the corner to the kitchen, she saw Taehyung standing all dressed up in the living room looking down at his phone and texting away

"Hey." She said passing him by and he just hummed in response, lost from the present world.

"Do you want a smoothie?" She asked opening and closing cabinets gathering glasses and the ingredients.

Taehyung looked up to reply and his eyes went wide at the sight in front of him. Kazimir didn't understand why he was looking at her as if she killed baby pandas for a living and looked down at herself as well.

Nothing was wrong except the tea-stained pajama bottoms.

"What's wrong?" She asked looking back up at him.

"Mir! Why aren't you ready yet?" He exclaimed gesturing at her with his flailing arms.

"Ready for what?" She asked dumbfounded, trying to remember what was she forgetting. Nothing clicked in her mind. It was their off day from their college and as far as she remembered, she hadn't made any plans.

"What do you mean ready for what? We're going to meet that..." Taehyung's words got lost when it hit him that he never even told her about the little meetup with that author.

"Meet what?" Kazimir asked amused at Taehyung's strange change in demeanor.

Taehyung opened and closed his mouth like a fish, wondering if he should tell her or keep it a surprise till the last minute.

After giving it a few more seconds of thought, he finally settled on the second option.

"I forgot to tell you but I want to take you to meet someone. Get ready as fast as you can because I don't want us to be late. And oh, dress up nicely." He added at the end just for good measure.

Kazimir was amused beyond believe at his request seeing as she had yet to shower to get rid of five days worth of gunk from her hair and she had little to no clean clothes yet.

"Who are we meeting?" She asked with no intention to actually following along with his request of hurrying up.

"We are not meeting anyone, you are. It's a surprise so please can you not be a sloth for this one day?"

That hit her. Taehyung wasn't one to just wake up and wisk her away on adventures like that so being asked in that man er gave her a sense of urgency. Not to mention a sense of curiosity.

"Okay but all of my clothes are in the washing machine and I have to get washed up," she said gesturing with her eyes to the obvious dried tea stain on her pajama bottoms.

"Just pick anything from your closet," he said but then stopped and added, "but it has to be nice."

"But there-"

"Okay just get in the shower. I'll pick something. Hurry!" he ordered running to her room.

Kazimir saw him run and tried really hard to ignore the little feeling that was starting to bubble up inside her of how they were already like a married couple in some ways.

She put her hands on her stomach to let the feeling diminish and made her way to the shower.

Once she was done, she found herself face to face with the assortment of garments laid neatly on her dressing table.

True enough, the skirt was one from her closet, a nice dark navy blue one with the thinnest white stripes running along its length and the shirt was a cream-colored button-up shirt that wasn't hers but Taehyung's.

She picked up the oversized shirt and examined it for a second. So now we're randomly okay with exchanging wardrobes?

But before she could allow that thought to veer her off the tangent, she started getting dressed and when she was finished, she walked out of her room to find Taehyung waiting for her.

"Isn't that supposed to be a bit lower?" He asked pointing to her skirt and she looked down at the hem of it snuggly hugging her mid-thighs.

"It's a high-waisted skirt and besides, you're the one who chose it." Kazimir defended trying to button the left cuff of her shirt.

"It was literally the only clothing item in your closet that looked wearable. Honestly Mir, you need more clothes." He said grabbing her cuff and buttoning it up for her.

"You know how many girls would die to hear that from a guy?" Kazimir chuckled walking out of her room completely but Taehyung stretched his arm and blocked her way.

"Aren't you going to do something with your face and hair?" He asked.

Kazimir looked him up and down and crossed her arms over her chest pinning him in a stare.

"Okay, now I am intrigued. Who are we meeting?" She demanded.

"Let's say it's kind of a business-casual type of a meeting so you need to look well put-together like someone who knows their right from their left, not someone who hadn't tasted sleep in eternity." He explained but now there was an air of strain to his tone.

"Fine," Kazimir conceded and walked walk into her room.

After ten minutes they were at the door and Taehyung took one last look at her and gave her a satisfied smile.

Her shirt was tucked nicely into the waistband of her skirt while the rest of the oversized excess fabric formed a little loose baggy tent around her torso making her look tiny. Though Taehyung preferred her writing persona be accompanied by her laptop too but he let it slide.

He was too caught up seeing her at her best-composed self after a very long time and he thought that was enough for him. Kazimir never put effort into looking like she did that day and Taehyung knew most of the time it was because her health knocked away all the energy out of her for any type of effort. She would look like a million dollars if someone once in a blue moon told her to do it properly just like Taehyung did that day. Otherwise, she thought her inherited looks were enough.

But were they enough? Taehyung thought for a second. Maybe they were but not in his dictionary. He saw beautiful people all the time but he only ever noticed the ones who's aura screamed effort rather than I was born this way.

And right then, even though Kazimir's little concealer and blush and her hair didn't scream effort, at least they whispered I tried and that was enough for him.

"Oh wow look, you have bangs. Who would have thought?" He mocked eyeing her hair as they started walking.

Kazimir rarely styled her hair to let her loose bangs fall gracefully on her forehead because it always reminded her of the time she had mercilessly chopped off most of her hair in a state of absolute low mental coherence. But because they went well with her look for the day, she decided to let them free.

"Let's not let Minho know about this, okay?" Taehyung asked pointing to her skirt, "And also about the meeting as well. Cool?"

"I'll decide when I see what's up. Cool?"

Taehyung gave her a knowing smile and they started walking into the night towards the coffee shop.

"Is it far?" Kazimir asked for the sake of her ankle and Taehyung shook his head.

"It's close to that bakery you were hired at. Remember that little coffee shop you think is cute? It's there." He said looking down at his phone and texting away.

Kazimir became a mixture of feelings all the way to their destination, wondering why he was so persistent about this surprise and wondering what he was up to.

Previously she had the ability to read him quite easily but since the change in their status, he had started to show her another side of him and she wasn't sure about who he was anymore.

And quite frankly, this new meeting was giving her strange vibes.

After a while, Taehyung stopped abruptly and his texting intensified, his face contorted in anger and tension like he was about to snatch the other person out of the phone.

Two seconds and his phone started ringing and he put it to his ear and his typing rage turned to vocal rage as he went batshit at whoever it was. Kazimir stood still and waited for him to finish and when he did, he did not look in any surprise giving form.

"Mir, I am sorry but I have to run for a minute. These idiots messed up my whole presentation for my final and I just- Look, there's the coffee shop. Just walk in and they will recognize you themselves, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can. Okay?"

He was off even before Kazimir was done nodding and a heavy feeling settled in her stomach.

She did as he said and walked into the shop which was buzzing with life and crowded to the brim. Even though it was nighttime, the smell of coffee was strong in the air.

She made her way to the general sitting area and looked around to see who would stand up at her sight and quite frankly, a lot of people stopped for a second and stared.

She was used to the staring but it nevertheless made her feel awkward, her blood rushing up to her cheeks type of awkward.

She looked at everyone and tried seeking out anyone who was seated alone, or maybe they were more than one person, and her eyes went back and took another look.

One person stood up finally looking at her, a sweet smile making his eyes disappear and Kazimir recognized him as someone she had seen before.

Who are you? She wondered as she started walking towards him but two steps and her feet froze.

Shit, she thought, the nice outfit, the put-together attire, the look-presentable aura, the possibly Korean guy and a coffee shop meeting, this Taehyung bitch had set me up for a freaking blind date.

She really was losing grip on who this new Taehyung was anymore and she cursed him all the way to her date.

"Hey," The guy greeted her with another one of his smiles, "I am Park Jimin." He said and extended his hand.

Kazimir looked down at his hand hanging in midair and she wanted to grab it and dislodge it and hit the living life out of Taehyung with it but since her mind wasn't clouded by pain and her rational side was still functioning, she gave up and shook his hand.

"Kazimir." She provided.

"Sorry?" Jimin asked at the odd syllables that left her mouth.

"Ka-zee-meer, Kazimir Lee, nice to meet you." She said and sat down and Jimin did the same but he still looked lost.

"Isn't that a boy's name in Czech? If you don't mind me asking," he inquired.

"I don't mind actually but that's not the case right now. I will get straight to the point, Jimin. Whatever we are here for, it's not going to happen." She said cutting to the chase.

She was fuming at Taehyung and his little games and couldn't wait to get out of there and confront him head-on.

Surprise he had said and Kazimir was boiling with rage.

Jimin's face fell instantly and his eyes clouded over with uncertainty making him jittery and he subtly started to play with the napkin on the table with his fingertips.

"Is there a problem? I thought you said yes previously-"

"I didn't know, I was kind of forced to you can say but it's not happening. You seem like a nice gentleman and I am sorry to disappoint you, but it can't work out." Kazimir tried to explain by being as civil as she could but Jimin looked like he was close to tears.

He looked from left to right and back at her. His body language changed from tense to antsy and he leaned back against the chair but then moved forward again.

"Let's say you were forced to," he began cautiously, "But now that we are face to face, I am sure we can discuss it and look into the details, and maybe you would be interested."

Wow, where did even Taehyung find him, Kazimir wondered looking at his lips struggling to stay put and not fall into a frown.