❝Chapter Twenty-One

Jae Hee and Taemin awkwardly walked side-by-side. Actually, it wasn't really 'side-by-side' since there was at least a five foot distance between them…

After they got some ice cream, they took a half-hour long bus ride to a park, since there wasn't one near their house.

Apparently, there was birthday party happening or something, since the park was packed with dozens of little kids and multiple parents.

Suddenly, a water ballooon flew right at Jae Hee.

The little girl gasped and ran over to Jae Hee, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She quickly bowed. She had meant to throw it at her older brother, but he had ducked, causing it to hit Jae Hee who was behind him.

"It's fine," Jae Hee laughed out of embarrassment, while Taemin just stared at her with his mouth opened. She looked at him and blinked, "What?"

"Errrr." Taemin suddenly looked away, his face absolutely red. 

"Ummmm." He quickly took his jacket off and handed it to her, and it was then she realized that her shirt was practically see-through now.

She gasped and hurriedly put the jacket on, her cheeks a bright pink. *Oh God, this is embarrassing!!!!* She accidentally squeaked but then bit on her bottom lip, "Uhhhh." Jae Hee awkwardly scratched her head. She side-eyed Taemin and saw that he was still pretending to be interested in a pile of dog poop on the grass.

"Um, let's go on the swings!" She awkwardly cheered and skipped off to the swingset, and he followed her there. They both sat down on a swing and started to push themselves. They didn't talk, too awkward with each other.

First of all, they kissed. Helllooooo, he kissed his brother's fiancée! How could it NOT be awkward after that? Now, he had almost started to drool over her chest that he saw through her wet shirt.

*Oh gosh, Taemin.* He wanted to just slap himself. *She's Kai's fiancée. She loves Kai. Kai loves her.* He felt a bit saddened by that fact. He was snapped back to reality when he heard a loud laughter beside him.

"What?" Taemin blinked at Jae Hee.

She laughed and shook her head, "It's nothing. It's just that those kids are so cute!" She squealed and watched as a group of kids started to messily eat their slices of cake.

"Do you like kids?" Taemin smiled and glanced over at the kids, too.

She laughed and nodded, "Not in a creepy way, though."

Even though she was really mean and short-tempered all the time, she really loved kids, especially her own little sister.

"Unnie!" The little girl suddenly ran over to them.

Jae Hee laughed and wiped some frosting off the little girl's cheek, "Yes, Sweetie?"

"Do you want cake, too?" the little girl beamed at her as she grabbed Jae Hee's hand and pulled her off the swing.

"What about me?" Taemin pouted at her.

The little girl looked at him and blushed. "Y-You, too…" she squeaked softly, and Taemin laughed as they all walked over to the table.

"Mrs. Park!" The little girl tugged on a woman's dress. The woman quickly turned around and blinked at the little girl, "Yes, Mi Young?"

"Mrs. Park!" Jae Hee blinked at the woman.

Mrs. Park looked up at her and gasped, "Oh! Jae Hee-yah!" she laughed and gave Jae Hee a hug, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just out with…" Jae Hee looked at Taemin. "…um, a friend."

Taemin bowed to Mrs. Park. "Annyeonghaseyo, Taemin-imnida."

Mrs. Park smiled warmly, "Well, it's nice to meet such a cute, young man!" she laughed.

Mrs. Park was Hana's mom, which explained how she and Jae Hee knew each other.

"Mrs. Park," Mi Young beamed at her, "Can they have some cake, too?"

"Oh, sure!" Mrs. Park looked at Taemin and Jae Hee before she smiled, "Here you go." She handed them both a plate with a very large slice of cake on it.

"Kamsahamnida!" Taemin thanked her formally, while Jae Hee didn't since Mrs. Park was practically like her second mother, before Mi Young suddenly dragged them away.

"Oh, wow!" one little boy gasped at Taemin and Jae Hee, "Big kids!" he giggled to the other little kids, who were also awestruck.

"Well." Taemin looked at Jae Hee. "She's not really a big kid."

She gawked at him, "Are you making fun of my size?!" She kicked his shin.

"OWWWWW!" he yelped and accidentally dropped his plate of cake as he hopped around, "I-I wasn't!" he managed to squeak, still in pain, "I was talking about the fact you ate messily like a kid!"

"Oh." She blinked and wiped some frosting off her face.

He sighed in relief as he rubbed his shin, "But now that you mention it-" He looked her up and down, brows raised. "-you are kinda the size of a little kid."

"Yah!" She kicked his other shin, and he yelped again as he slipped on the cake he had dropped and fell on his .

"AHAHAHAAA!" all the little kids started laughing and clapping, and Jae Hee eventually joined them.

Taemin pouted, embarrassed, before he stole a plate from a little boy and chucked it at Jae Hee's face. She gasped as the cake hit her face before he fell onto the ground.

"My cake!" the little boy squeaked and stared at the smooshed cake on the cement.

"Did you just…" Jae Hee clenched her teeth, "…throw that cake at me?"

"Revenge." Taemin stuck his tongue out at her before he stood back up and rubbed his sore shins. He was laughing…… until she shoved her plate of cake in his face.

"You guys are wasting all the cake!" Mi Young whined and stomped her foot.

After Jae Hee smeared the frosting all over Taemin's face, she took the cake part and stuffed it into his mouth. "He's eating it, so don't worry," she laughed evilly as she filled his mouth with cake.

He spit some cake out, his mouth too full to handle that large amount. She gasped and looked at her jacket, which was now covered in Taemin's spit and chewed-up cake.

"Ahahaa!" he laughed but accidentally choked on the cake in his mouth.

"You do know this is your jacket, right?" Jae Hee raised a brow at him. By the way his face fell, she could tell he had totally forgotten.

"Okay," she laughed at his expression, "Where's the restroom?" She took a chunk of cake off her cheek and threw it onto the ground.

After they both cleaned up the restroom, they headed back out.

"TAG, YOU'RE IT!" Some little girl lightly slapped Jae Hee's leg and ran off, giggling.

Jae Hee blinked, confused, before she hit Taemin. "You're it." She bolted off.

"Wait, what?" Taemin looked around and scoffed, "Seriously? I'm not a kid! I don't play stupid games like Tag."

All the kids stopped and looked at him in disbelief, even Jae Hee.

-five seconds later-

"TAG, YOU'RE IT!" Taemin tapped a little girl's head and ran off, laughing evilly.

The little girl squealed and started to chase him. When she caught up to him, he pulled Jae Hee in front of him and used her as a shield, so the little girl tagged Jae Hee instead of him.

"Whoops." She blinked. "You're it!" she giggled and ran away to her friends.

"Mwahahahaa!" Taemin laughed evilly again before he ran away.

"Yah!" Jae Hee frowned and chased after him.

After a long, exhausting game of tag, they all stopped and started to just play on the playground.

"Ready?" The little girl looked at both Taemin and Jae Hee, who nodded. "Go!" She karate-chopped the air.

On cue, Taemin and Jae Hee both raced towards the slide and started to run up it.

"HA, I WIN!" she cheered when she reached the top and saw how he had slipped and fallen back to the bottom.

"Yeah!" the little girls cheered, "Go, Unnie!"

"Come on, Hyung," some little boys groaned and rolled their eyes at Taemin, "You lost to a girl!"

Taemin pouted and felt his shoulders deflate, embarrassed and upset.

After a long, exhausting day playing with the kids, the sun finally began to set. All the parents cleaned up the park, as well as Jae Hee and Taemin, before they all bid their farewells to each other.

"Unnie." Mi Young tugged on Jae Hee's arm. Jae Hee looked down at her and smiled, "Yes, Sweetie?"

"When can I see you again?" She pouted at the elder.

Jae Hee softened and crouched down to her. "Don't worry!" she smiled, "If you miss me, you can just ask Mrs. Park to call me, okay?" She ruffled the little girl's hair.

"Okay," Mi Young pouted.

"Mi Young-ah!" her mother hollered, "It's time to go, Sweetie!"

"Bye, Unnie!" Mi Young kissed Jae Hee's cheek.

"What about me?" Taemin pouted, feeling like he's always been excluded.

"Oh." Mi Young blushed and nervously fidgeted with her fingers as Taemin crouched down so that he could get a kiss, too.

"Um…" Mi Young blushed even more. She gave him a very quick and light peck before she squealed, buried her face in her hands, and ran to her parents.

"I think she has a crush on you," Jae Hee laughed at the adorable scene.

"I could understand why," He chuckled and stood back.

She rolled her eyes at him. "When you say that, you sound like Kai."

They both quietly walked to the bus stop together. It wasn't an awkward silence, like it used to be, but a peaceful silence.

Once the bus arrived, they got on and scanned their cards. Though there wasn't much people, they chose to sit all the way in the back.

After a few minutes, Jae Hee's eyelids started to droop, exhausted by all the activities they played at the park. Before she even realized it, she was already deep asleep, her head hanging down and bobbing around.

Taemin glanced at her uncomfortable position but looked away. He couldn't just rest her head on his shoulder! I mean, that's what couples do and stuff, right? He definitely can't do that with his brother's fiancée! Big no, no.

His eyes suddenly found their way back to her. *Aish.* He frowned guiltily. *Her neck will hurt like that.* He shook his head. *No, don't do it!* He huffed and looked away, when a sudden weight was dropped onto his shoulder.

Surprised, he looked back over and saw her head on his shoulder. He raised his hand to gently push her head off but couldn't. *Friends do this, too… right?*

He thought of all the scenes in movies where a girl had rested her head on a guy's shoulder as she slept. Usually, one of them had romantic feelings for each other or, maybe, they both had romantic feelings for each other.

*No, it's okay, friends do this kind of stuff.* He folded his hands in his lap and nervously fidgeted with his fingers.

He knew it was wrong, but he liked it, the way she rested her head so comfortably on his shoulder. He bit his lip to fight back a smile but couldn't.