The next morning Alexa woke up with Taehyung curled around her again.  She still wasn’t used to the weight of him, but she couldn’t deny it was nice to be cuddled, the warmth of him was nice and protective.  She tried to move out of his hold carefully, twisting without moving a lot to disturb him. 

‘No,’ he mumbled, tightening his grip around her waist as he pulled her closer into his chest.  ‘No, don’t go.’ His soft moan tickled into her ears, pressing his face into her neck she could feel his lips brush her skin and his hot breath sending a shiver down her. 

‘Mmmmm,’ he moaned as he stretched with her still in his arms.  She turned to look at his face, his eyes were still closed, but his skin was so clear, his features were so pretty, like the way his eyelid sloped.  Suddenly his eyes opened, darting around her face, a sleepy grin forming on his lips.  ‘Good morning.’

‘Good morning.’ She mumbled back.  His sleepy grin widened with his stretch.

‘Hmmm, are you hungry?  Let’s eat breakfast and then go out for our date.’  He said heavily pulling himself up and rubbing his eyes. 

He made pancakes again, she didn’t know why, maybe he just really liked them.  She wasn’t sure what she should wear, she didn’t want to wear all of the nice clothes Hoobi had left, dressing herself in the same jeans and sneakers and shirt from the day before with one of the simpler shirts from the choices available. 

‘You look nice.’ He complimented her with his boxy smile, as she climbed up on the stool to the stack of pancakes, he still was giving her far too much. 

Taehyung didn’t have to remind her to eat this time, she picked up the fork before he had even said so, though she was worried he was going to stop her.  Giving him a scared look half way through her first bite, he grinned at her eating, watching at her with what someone might have thought was love. 

‘So, what should we do today?’ He asked her over their breakfast. 

Still not answering, she wasn’t sure yet if she should answer these kinds of questions yet, if he really wanted to know her opinion. 

‘Hm, how about we go to the mall, we could watch a movie, get lunch, go shopping.  Did you find a style you liked?  We could get you some more clothes.’  Taehyung ran away with more ideas of different things they could do at the mall. 

 ‘We’ll take it slow, we’ll go and see a movie first.  It’s Tuesday, so there won’t be a lot of people there.’  He reassured her. 

Taehyung drove them to the mall.  It didn’t seem to be far though it was the first time she had really been outside.  The world seemed to be pretty much the same as it was before she went to prison. 

‘What are you thinking about?’  He asked her, squeezing her knee and letting it rest there as he drove.

‘Um, nothing.’ She mumbled quietly, which was not strictly true.  He sighed, though he didn’t press her to give another answer. 

He parked in the underground car park and lead her through the back entrance to the cinema at the far end of the shopping mall. 

She stayed close behind him, allowing his size to hide her from most people, he kept tight hold of her hand as he lead them both.  She trembled with fear even though he was right, there wasn’t that many people around, regardless she still jumped at the slightest noise.  He stopped them just outside the entrance to the cinema, turning and looking down at her, he pulled a cap out from his jacket and placed it on her head.

‘Better?’ He asked, down her face, taking her hand again and leading her through to the ticket counter.

‘Which movie?’  The girl behind the counter asked.  Alexa kept herself hidden behind Taehyung, pressing herself into his back as much as possible. 

‘Oh hey, you’re Kim Taehyung, right?  The chief of police’s son.’  She asked him before he had chance to answer her original question.

‘Oh no, sorry I think you have the wrong person.’  He answered the girl calmly. 

‘No way you look just like him, I saw him at the ceremony.’  She told him.

‘Ah, yeah I’ve been told I look like him before.’  Taehyung answered, ‘Two tickets for –‘ he finished answering her about the movie, ignoring her comments.

‘It’s such a shame about him and his soulmate.’  The girl commented as she took the money from him and began printing the tickets.

‘Why?’  He asked her.

‘Well she’s a criminal.  Isn’t she?’  She told him. 

‘What’s her crime?’ he asked.

‘Criminal bloodline.’ The girl answered easily. 

Taehyung chuckled as Alexa began to shake even more.  ‘That means she didn’t actually commit a crime.  Someone in her family did, she’s innocent.  How would you feel if you were that poor girl?’  Taehyung took the tickets from the girl whose jaw had dropped open at his words, as he placed his arm around Alexa and pulled her towards the theatre. 

‘Are you ok?’  He asked her quietly after he had directed them to their seats.  She was shaking, that was clear, she wouldn’t look at him either, the words of the girl repeated in her mind over and over again; ‘She’s a criminal.’ Alexa couldn’t hear him, nor did she hear his response to the girl.  She shut down as soon as the girl had uttered those words ‘criminal.’ 

‘I won’t let anything happen to you.’  Taehyung insisted, rubbing her arms from her shoulders.  ‘It’s ok, you’re with me, you’re safe with me.’

Without warning he leaned into her and placed his lips on top of hers.  Taehyung’s hand gently cupped her face as he moved his lips, capturing her bottom lip between his.  The feeling instantly calmed her down.  Somehow it was like an electric current running through her body, pure bliss.  Her eyes stayed wide open in shock as she let him kiss her. 

‘I’m going to look after you.’ He said pulling away from her keeping his arm around her.  He smiled shyly, pecking her lips one more time. 

‘I’ll go and get some snacks, don’t worry I don’t think many more people will come in here.  Just wait here for me, I’ll be back soon.’ He told her as he got up and walked out of the theatre. 

She touched her lips where he had kissed her after he left.  The whole action had been so sudden, so shocking, but it was so very nice.  Dangerously, she felt like she wanted to do it again, she wanted to kiss him, but the whole idea scared her to her core. 

Within minutes he had returned with popcorn and drinks, moving the armrest up and placing the snacks between them, he threw his arm around the back of her seat protectively as the movie started.  With his kiss still on her mind she turned shyly to look up at his profile in the dark theatre.  He really was the most beautiful man in the world, at least the most beautiful man she had ever laid her eyes on.  His profile was perfect, the way his face softly curved, ending at his well-defined jawline.  He picked at the popcorn, feeling her eyes on him he gave her a side glance, along with a smile, forcing her to look away from him, embarrassed from being caught. 

After the movie had finished, Taehyung suggested they go and get lunch, directing her into a small pizza shop in the corner of the mall.  Taehyung acted like he always did, talking a lot, as if the kiss hadn’t never happened, but Alexa kept quiet, puzzled by everything from the pizza in front of her to the feeling of his lips still in her mind. 

‘How’s the pizza?’ he asked her, taking another slice for himself, stuffing it in his mouth.  ‘Do you like this kind?  We can get another one if you want to try something different?’

‘It’s good.’ She whispered at him, still nibbling on her first slice.  It was amazing to her how good food tasted in the real world. 

He smiled widely, looking like a proud puppy at her words as he shoved more food in his mouth. 

‘I think we’ll should go and get some ice cream after this and go to the river.’ He told her as he took a sip of his drink.  ‘It might be too much to go shopping too.’ He finished looking around the mall with a weird frown hanging around his lips. 

She was relived.  She didn’t particularly want to go into more places with more people who might recognise her or say mean things about her.  It was too scary, people were evil. 

After the pizza, Taehyung stood up and slipped his hand around hers, guiding them both back to his car.  ‘I like holding your hand,’ he hummed easily, his t