Chapter 11: The Zoo

Narrator’s POV

That morning everyone woke up to the wonderful scent of food, and happily ate at the table when Seohyun finally woke up from her deep sleep. “Do I smell eggs and bacon?” she mumbled, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

Andrew chuckled and gave her a nod. “Why, yes. Good morning sleeping beauty.”

Seohyun playfully scowled at him. “Morning werewolf.” 

To humor her, Andrew let out a howl. “Oh Seohyun, thank you for staying up with me last night. I made you a special breakfast! /puts a plate of freshly cut fruit and a bowl yogurt with a side of granola in front of her/.

Seohyun’s eyes widened with happiness. “Wow, thank you!”

Andrew smiled. “I remembered you telling me that you like to eat healthy food, so I was sure you wouldn’t really enjoy the bacon.”

The fact that he remembered something important about her made Seohyun blush like there was no tomorrow. In order to get her members to stop giving her the ‘get some’ look, Seohyun tried to change the subject. “So, what time are we going to the zoo?”

Jessica rolled her eyes playfully and looked at the clock. “Well it is currently 9:30 right now and we haven’t finished eating yet. How about we start to head over at about 11:00?”

Everyone looked at Andrew who at the time was stuffing his face full of bacon. He looked up from his food to see that everyone was looking at him for an answer, so he just nodded and went back to eating.

Jessica giggled. “Then it’s settled!”

Dishes were piled into the sink soon after. By then Andrew and Seohyun volunteered to do the dishes while the rest of the group prepared for the long day. By 10:50, everyone including Andrew and Seohyun were ready giving them 30minutes to arrive at the zoo.

There were so many of them going that they had to take three vans (each able to hold 6 people). In one van there was Taeyeon, Tiffany, Yuri, Yoona, Sooyoung, and Hyoyeon. The second van held Victoria, Amber, Luna, Sulli, and Sunny. The last van held Yunho, BoA, Jessica, Krystal, Andrew and Seohyun.

As soon as they arrived, Andrew dragged the group along in every direction. Since they didn’t want to ruin the day for him, they tried to look as incognito as possible. But throughout the day people recognized them and stopped them every once in a while to take pictures or sign autographs. Andrew didn’t really mind this part, but he wished they’d keep the comments about him to themselves. Due to the media headlines of SNSD’s Jessica and F(x)’s Krystal being involved in a custody battle with their parents, the fans who stopped them today could easily tell that he was the youngest Jung sibling; each one had different opinions about him. Some fans thought he was really cute and that Jessica was doing the right thing by taking their parents to court. Some thought that he was just no good and wasn’t worth a trial because he deserved what he got. Others thought that he should’ve just stayed in America and kept his mouth shut because now he would ruin his sister’s careers. And the rest were on the fence about how they felt about him, but thought he deserved a chance to show who he really was before they passed any judgment. Needless to say, by the end of the day, all of the comments were making him really annoyed and he wasn’t having that much fun. Though he tried to play it off, but Jessica and Krystal noticed his mood change right away and planned something special for him when they got to the tiger exhibit. Tigers were one of Andrew’s favorite animals of all time, so they arranged for him to be able to go in and play with them under the watchful eye of the zoo worker and watch from a distance.

Andrew’s POV

Quickly and quietly, I followed the zoo worker into the tiger’s pit. I can’t believe this is happening! This is going to be great! “Thank you for allowing me to do this ahjussi.”

He smiled kindly at me. “It’s really no problem. Now, remember to be extremely careful. These are still wild animals and must be treated with the upmost respect. Tigers are very territorial creatures, so try not to push your boundaries. If anything should go wrong do not panic because I’ll be right there. /I nodded/ Alright, let’s go play with some tigers!”

As we walked in I could feel not only the tiger’s eyes on me, but also the eyes of the people in the zoo. The attention made me feel uncomfortable, but I tried my hardest not to let it bother me. Then all of a sudden I felt something brush up against my leg. I looked down and saw a young tiger cub at my feet. Smiling down at it I bent down to pet it. At first, it sort of stiffened at my touch, but then it started to purr and before I knew it, he was on his back wanting me to rub his belly. “Awww… you’re a cute little fella! Where’s your momma?”

As soon as I asked that question I could feel something breathing down on my neck, I looked up and there was the cub’s mother. Trying not to be afraid I gave a small smile, “/gulp/, I guess that answers my question.”

I pulled my body back up slowly and extended my hand out to pet her. “Easy there momma, I’m not going to hurt your cub. I just want to play with him for a little bit and I can play with you too, if you let me.”

Still as a statue, I stood there waiting for her response, staring straight into her golden, brown eyes. To my surprise, she leaned her head into the palm of my hand and allowed me to pet her. Letting out a sigh of relief, I started to play with her and the cub.

From a distance I heard a guy scoff at me and by this point, I couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “Dude, what is your ing problem?!”

The guy cleared his throat and gave me this jerk-like smile. “Well, I was hoping she’d eat you, but you probably taste really bad!”

I stood up slowly from my crouched position; my feet rooted to the ground unable to move, with a facial expression colder than any of my sisters had ever seen. “I have no idea who the you are, but I suggest that you take back what you said.”   

The guy just continued to smirk. “And what if I don’t? What are you going to do from down there?”

Before I knew what was happening, I my feet started to move forward toward the wall. “Well the way I see it, I have two options. I could climb the wall or you could be a man and come down here.”

The boy deliberated for a few minutes, but in the end jumped down into the tiger pit. “Didn’t expect me to jump down, did you?”

At this point, the zoo worker was shouting at both of us to stop what we were doing at once, but we paid him no attention. I took a couple of steps closer to the guy and said, “Not really, but this proves nothing; I still think you’re a coward.”

“Oh really?” The boy said as glared at me, putting his face directly in front of mine.

Before I could even respond, the mother and baby tiger I had befriended came charging in growling at the boy in front of me. It didn’t take me very long to figure out what was happening. Though I’m a human, it seems like they sort of ‘adopted’ me and was fighting for my well being, like I was one of their own. Knowing that the mother tiger could really hurt this guy, I tried to call her off. “Down momma, I can handle him by myself. Back off, okay?”

After letting out a loud terrifying roar, she finally backed away from us taking the cub along with her. I let out a low dark chuckle and then turned my focus back to the jerk standing in front of me. Thinking that he will throw a punch, I pinned him by his arms to the wall; stepping on his shoes making sure he couldn’t move. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, I’m smaller than you and it wouldn’t be that hard to break free of my hold. Now you may be right, but I’m going to tell you something, /voice lowers darkly/ and you really need to hear this. In the end, you’re going to be the one on the floor and I’m going to be the one who walks away. So I’m going to do you a favor, /releases my grip on him, backing away slightly/ and let you get out of here without a scratch on you.”

The boy laughed in my face. “You actually think you can hurt me? I’d like to see that. Go ahead and punch me, I dare you.”

I slowly brought my fist up towards my face, looked at it then looked at the boy in front of me. He wasn’t worth getting into trouble for so, there was only one thing I could do. “I’m not going to fight you because you’re not worth it. But, if you don’t get out of here right now, I can always call momma tiger back here. I’m sure she would be happy to convince you to leave.”

As if she had understood me, the momma tiger walked up and sat behind me, daring him to take step forward. The boy glared at me. “Fine, have it your way.” With that he slowly climbed his way back up the wall.

As I watched him leave, I let out a sigh of relief and turned around to apologize to the ahjussi. “Ahjussi, I’m so sorry about what haaaaappppeeened…” Before I knew what was happening, the mother tiger picked me up by the back of my shirt, dragged me to where her cub was and proceeded to groom me. Not wanting to upset her, I just laughed and let it happen.

Jessica’s POV

Seeing Andrew the way he was just now with that guy in the Tiger pit gave me and everyone else chills down our spines. I was so used to the happy go lucky little baby Jung, not this kid who was more than capable of holding his own.

“In the end, you’re going to be the one on the floor and I’m going to be the one who walks away.” I shuddered as I remembered the words he said that stuck with me the most. Looking at him now, he seemed to be like his happy self again.

I rubbed the temples of my head and mumbled.  “Aish, this is going to be much harder than I thought.”

Krystal noticed I was in distress and came over to my side instantly. “Unnie, What’s wrong?”

I smiled a bit and pulled her in for a side hug. “Nothing is really wrong. I just have to get used to this new side of Andrew. That’s all.”

Krystal nodded, “I agree with you. This side of him was scary. I didn’t like seeing it. But was responsible enough to not go through with a pointless fight. That’s pretty cool.”

I let out a small giggle. “Yeah, that was pretty cool. /looks over to the tiger pit area again/ How about we all go over there get Andrew and apologize to the ahjussi before leaving for home. We’ll all need out rest for the trial tomorrow.”

Krystal smiled and hooked arms with me. “Sounds like a plan unnie! But let’s check out the zebras before we leave?”

“Araso, /laughs/ but let’s go get baby Jung first.” Jessica said as she dragged Krystal with her to the direction of the tiger pit.