chapter nine
Of Bullets and Red Converse
Special Chapter
« starring Sonia Lee and Kim Taehyung »
The girl was restlessly waiting for the final bell to ring. The History teacher was such a drag and it took her a lot of willpower to restrain herself from throwing her shoe at the man. Finally when she was so close to bursting, the heavenly ring of the bell filled the entire school and without hesitation Sonia sprang up on her feet and ran to her locker. She stuffed everything that she didn’t need for her assignment into the metal cubicle and locked it with a hard slam. The students around her jumped at the loud sound, glaring at her as she hastily apologized to everyone. Oh no, I hope I don’t get too late for this. She had waved off at Yoomi and Sanju, which both of them whom already knew her little plan waved back and flashed double thumbs up for luck. Just as she was about to step out of the school gates, someone pulled her back with a hard tug of his wrist. She spun around and slammed right into Taehyung’s chest. Her cheeks flared as she pushed herself away from him, dusting invisible dusts off her cobalt blue blazer.
Taehyung leaned down towards her, matching their eye level. Damn, I hate being shorter than this weirdo. Sonia glared up at him but the sun had to get into her eyes which made her squint and it looked as if she was winking at the male. “And do, pray, tell me where such a fair maiden is heading to in such a hurry?” He purred in his teasingly low voice.
Sonia crossed her arms over her chest and tried to shield the sun of her face by blowing some of her hair into her eyes. “And why should I tell you?” But that was a wrong move, the hair part. Taehyung saw how the sun got to her eyes and reached out to brush her hair away from her vision, pulling out his cap that hooked on his bag and wore it over her head instead. It was a little big but they did shade her face from the glaring sun. He grinned, “Because I helped you just 2 seconds ago with the sun? C’mon, I’m anxious to know!”
Sonia was about to shoot back an excuse about why she should keep this away from him, she spotted Jimin walking past them. He had that silly grin on his face and… is that a skip I see in his walk? He was leaving fast and she just saw the limousine coming up around the corner to fetch him home. Taehyung followed the Chinese girl’s gaze and saw how she was staring at his new friend. A twinge of something pulled inside him which made him brought his fist up to his chest and hit it slightly against his chest. Sonia was bouncing on her feet as if ready to get away and follow the leaving limo. She looked back at Taehyung and squeaked an “Oh my god!” when she noticed how he was staring intensely at her. Stuttering, she raised both her hands slightly and backpedalled for the gates. “Look, I’d love to stay and chat or quarrel but I have some urgent matters to attend.” With that, Sonia dashed off and out the school grounds. The limo was far ahead but she knew Jimin would be heading home to meet up with Chaekyung.
So the whole thing started out when they ambushed Chaekyung’s house the last night. She was so engross in strapping Taehyung down to the chair from emptying her friend’s kitchen and Sanjana was going on and on about which movie to play with Hoseok since both were torn between some dance movie. That was when she heard Jimin whispering to Chaekyung about something and asked her to get ready. Yoomi heard it too and so they wanted to go stalk them on their little date, unfortunately the other had some things to settle which left only Sonia to deal with. It wasn’t that she wanted to interrupt them but all of them were really curious about the relationship between Jimin and Chaekyung. The two of them live under the same roof but they aren’t related. Chaekyung denies about being in a relationship with him but the boy is incredibly overprotective over her. She even had this theory of Jimin being a possible werewolf where his mate is Chaekyung and they have this Bond that she read about in books but that’s a little absurd to assume such fantasy. And so, she plans on following them a bit just to find out if they are what they say there are, being ONLY friends.
The girl had ran a good few minutes when suddenly she noticed someone keeping up with her pace just next to her. She threw a sideway glance and saw Taehyung, flashing that usual rectangular smile at her. She halted in her tracks and blinked at him. “What do you think you’re doing?” Taehyung stopped but he still jogging at the same spot. “I’m following you stalking your crush.” Calling Jimin Sonia’s crush was a little hard to utter by the boy but he still forced them and awaited for her reaction. To his surprise, Sonia started laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face. People by the sidewalks stared at her and thought she was some psychopath.
Sonia wiped the tears out the corner of her eyes, still not planning on stopping her laugh. “Dude! I have no such feelings for that friend of yours! What makes you think I would harbour such feelings for someone whom I barely know?”
“Well, you were staring at him and now you’re stalking him.” The latter shrugged at his simple excuse, earning a smack at the back of his head by the girl. She clucked her tongue and wagged a good finger in front of his face. “Sha gua. Just because of those little signs, you think I like him? Man, you don’t know anything about girls.” Taehyung frowned whilst still rubbing his sore spot. “What did you just call me? A melon? Wait, gua does mean melon in Mandarin right?”
Sonia messaged her temple and sighed in defeat. “Yes, but as a whole, sha gua means crazy fellow. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some serious stalking to do.”
Taehyung grabbed her hand, holding her back before she could leave again. His eyes stared into his with a pleading look. “Can I come with, please?” Sonia hesitated a little at his request. It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to tag along because he was a nuisance or she hated his company (in fact she loved the idea with having him around her) but then she was worried of him blowing their cover on their little mission. But judging by how he’s so eager to go, she just decided to let it pass and gave a quick nod of her head. The lad jumped with joy and raised his arms. “Oh thank you, Angels of Heaven! So, shall we go now? Wait… I’ll text Jimin and ask if he wants to hang out with us but he’ll say no since he’ll not be available so I’ll ask where he’s going. Don’t worry, I won’t blow this for you. But… you still haven’t told me why you’re planning on being Jimin’s little stalker girl.”
So Sonia decided to sit him down at a nearby coffee shop while she told him about what she overheard yesterday and her purpose of stalking them. Taehyung bobbed his head once as he processed everything in his head. “Oh. So you want to stalk them to see if they’re both dating each other?” “More and less something like that. Since Chaekyung avoids all topic concerning her and Jimin so me and the girls are just really curious. We don’t mean anything. Don’t tell me you and Hoseok aren’t curious of this yourself?” Sonia raised her cup to her lips and sipped on her mocha coffee, looking at him from the rim of her cup.
“Well, me and Hoseok did ask about that but then like Chaekyung, he gets rather shy and just brushes off the topic. He said they’re childhood friends.” Taehyung replied dryly, shrugging.
Sonia set down her cup and crossed her arms on the table. “Sometimes, denial means agreement.”
Taehyung froze when his eyes drifted to her lips. The foam from her drink made a little moustache just slightly above her lips and it was rather distracting since she looked around for a napkin but since there was none around, she chose to it off but her tongue couldn’t quite wipe the white foam off. She was starting to look like a gecko, sticking her tongue out and her lips in epic failure. He saw this type of scenes in movies a lot and all the time, the guys would stand and reach forward to kiss the girl on the lips. Suddenly, his insides felt a little weird. He took in a deep breath and stood from his seat. Sonia retracted her tongue and stared up at him blankly however, her expression made a 180 degree change when Taehyung leaned forward ever so suddenly till his face was just inches away from hers. She would have slapped him right across the face however what surprised her next was the feeling of him brushing his thumb across her lips. He brought up his thumb and wiggled it in her face. “You know… if you wanted me to kiss you, all you need to do is ask.” That grin his lips formed was a hit from reality because it bothered her so much to even look at him in the eye. She rubbed her lips against the back of her hand and stood up, grabbing a pen and a paper before she scribbled an address on the space.
“Don’t be late or I’ll leave without you.” Sonia slapped the paper onto the table and marched out of the shop as a faint blush crept onto her pale cheeks.
Sonia was just done tying her shoelace when her phone beeped, indicating an incoming message. I’m already waiting. Where are you? Should I be leaving without you instead? Sonia cursed light under her breath. “Why the hell does he have to arrive so early.” She jumped to her feet and said goodbye to her mom and kissed her pet kitten, Puffles, before heading out the door. She slung her MCM backpack over her shoulders and walked out to the sidewalks, eyes on her phone as she texted back a reply to Taehyung. Shut up, you’re the early one. She had her eyes glued to the phone the whole way that she almost passed their meeting point which was the bus stop a few metres from her house. She glanced around the stop and scanned the area but couldn’t see Taehyung anywhere. Frustrated, she texted back a ‘Where are you?” and an angry emoticon after. When he didn’t reply back and even seenzoned her, she stuffed her phone into her jeans pocket and was ready to leave.
A whistle stopped her in her tracks and when she looked at the direction where she thought she heard the sound coming from, she saw a boy with light purple hair leaning against the post and smiling at her. At first she thought he was just some weird kid who disturbs every girl who walks by but then that rectangular smile was too familiar to ignore. “T-Taehyung?” At the mention of his name, the said boy lit up like a brightly decorated Christmas tree. He bounced up in front of her and tilted his head, fluffing his hair with a hand and grinned like a silly puppy. “So, how’s the hair colour?”
Sonia reached out and tugged on a strand lightly, hearing him yelp at the pain when she was about to pull it off his scalp. “This is your hair? It isn’t a wig?” Taehyung shook his head and with proud, hung his head high up to show the world his new hair colour. “I decided to try out this colour and wanted to ask of your opinion. Don’t worry, it’s a washable one so I’ll just have to go home and shower it off to make it for school tomorrow.”
She hate to admit, the colour complimented Taehyung in so many ways. It showed how fun and wild Taehyung can be because people usually mistaken him to be the arrogant and cold kid whose parents own one of the largest technology industries in whole of Asia. He was frequently picked though because his size was a little smaller than the other guys and he usually went around with that goofy grin. She remembered when she first moved to Korea and got enrolled into Olympus International High School, she thought he was such a brat since rumours floated about saying he slacks off and just lives up to his parents’ fame and wealth. But after being partnered up for Chemistry, she got to know the real Kim Taehyung. The one that no one but himself knew. He was such a joyful and silly person that she sometimes wonder how he was actually about the same age as her. And his lavender hair made him look even more like an Anime character from those mangas that she enjoyed reading during her spare time. His already too-good-to-be-true looks were being highlighted even more now that he got a perfect hair colour. Even though in her head she was piling compliment after compliment, she just settled with one simple word. “Nice.”
Taehyung’s face fell. “Nice? Just nice? No “Oh my God, Taetae! You should get this colour permanently!” or something?” he spoke in a high-pitched voice, attempting to imitate his friend’s tone. Sonia gave him a look, somewhere between are-you-serious and I-am-so-done-right-now. “One, I do not and NEVER called you Taetae. Two, I already said it it’s nice. Thirdly, I do NOT sound that high. You sound as if you’re on helium or some sort.” Taehyung laughed and continued mocking her with his helium tone. She shoved him playfully with the glare in her eyes but her amused smile failed to hide itself from the world. They board the bus that arrived next and found that it was rather packed so they had to stand. However, before Sonia could get a proper grip of the bus handle, the driver had already stepped on the pedal and the bus sent her jerking backwards. She had almost waited for the hard collision between her and any possible standing passengers but an arm smoothly caught her and pulled her back to her feet. Her hands rested on firm shoulders and when she blinked, she saw strands of purple hair in her face and Taehyung intensely staring into her eyes.
“You’re so light I think the wind could blow you away.” He mumbled, maintaining his signature blank expression. The girl, already embarrassed from almost falling on the bus, blushed and pulled back from his hold, quickly gripping on the handle above her and kept her gaze straight. Taehyung chuckled lightly and let go of her waist but that didn’t stop him from remaining close to her in case he had to play knight in shining armour again.
They got off the bus after a long and awkward ride in front of an amusement park. Sonia looked up at the entrance and glanced around at the crowd that huddled to get into the place. It was so packed that it seemed rather impossible to track down her friend. “You better be sure of this. I’ll kill you if you just wanted to play here.” Taehyung grinned and nudged her a little by the shoulder. “C’mon, we’re at the amusement park. We should be playing too right?”
Sonia gave in into the little devil that whispered in her ear. A little smile formed on her lips as she bobbed her head slowly. “I guess… a little playing won’t bring any harm.” Without warning, Taehyung took her hand instantly and dragged her into the cramped entrance. He bought their wristbands and helped her wear it on. “Now, we’re ready to play!”
“Fine. But remember! Our sole purpose of coming here is to stalk. So keep your eyes peeled.” Sonia pointed at him, wearing her usual stern gaze that she used frequently on this hyperactive one. Taehyung saluted her playfully before once again, grabbing her hand and running to their first ride. As she tried to keep up with his pace, a thought too ran through her head. He took my hand so naturally. Of course, she tried to push away everything weird that flutter into her mind and ignored the tingling sensation that came from the warmth that radiated from his hand. By the time they stopped, they came to the Gyro Drop.
“What the—No way! I’m not going up there!” Sonia pulled her hand away, wrapping her arms around her body and shook her head, stepping backwards as Taehyung tried to hold her from running.
Taehyung tsked, rolling his eyes. “You can’t be afraid of this! Don’t be such a girl and let’s go!”
“But I AM a girl, you from-coconut-to-lavendar head!” She reached out to knock him with her knuckles but he caught her hand in mid-air, pulling her to the ride. The Chinese girl started screaming and speaking rapidly in Mandarin. She started hitting him with her fist but he managed to have her strapped to the seat. She tried lifting the harness but it wouldn’t budge.
“Kim Taehyung! I’ll kill you!” She screamed and side kicked him. Taehyung only laughed at her reaction, sticking his tongue out in a teasing manner. When the ride started going up, Sonia went rigid. Her toes curled and she felt her whole body going cold. The altitude seemed to have changed when they stopped at the highest peak. Taehyung was flailing around from his chair when he flickered his gaze to the girl next to him. She was dead quiet and her eyes weren’t blinking. It seemed that she was also holding her breath. He remembered that was his reaction on his first Gyro Drop. “Hey, Sonia?” She turned her head slowly and looked at him when he called.
A grin crafted on his perfect set of lips as he muttered, “Remember to scream the whole ride.”
As if in cue, the ride dropped in a terrifying scream. Sonia screamed and clutched on the harness as the ride dropped and turned and dropped again. Taehyung, on the other hand, was laughing as if the ride was child’s play. When the ride finally came to a stop, the girl pushed off her safety harness and hopped off the ride. It was the most horrifying ride she had ever ridden during her amusement park trips. She thought her heart had been replaced with a high speed motorboat when she hovered her hand just above the space on her chest where she expected to feel her heartbeat. Funny how the ride got her blood circulating and somehow adrenaline rushed through her veins. She felt so alive and that scared her. This seem fun… Taehyung ran up next to her. His lavender hair was in a mess after being tousled by the wind and the wind carried his 5-year-old like laughter. Sonia looked up at the male next to her and she felt her heart leapt at the sight of him. He always had this effect on her whenever he laughed. It was the most pleasant thing she ever heard. Slowly, Sonia straightened and ran her fingers through her hair to smoothen them out. “That was fun, wasn’t it? Come on… admit it already.” Taehyung bumped his hip against hers, a cheeky smile plastered on his face.
Before Sonia could answer, someone in the crowd caught her attention. It was hard to miss. Not too long after that, Chaekyung and Jimin appeared in the queue, waiting to board the ride. Quickly, Sonia pulled Taehyung and manoeuvred them around the crowd undetected by the couple. She pushed him behind a hairband stall and spied on the two as they went up the ride. Jimin looked as horrified as Sonia had when she boarded the ride, Taehyung thought. Chaekyung had a spark of excitement in her crystal blue eyes and it was hard to not attract a huge amount of attention when Jimin had to get dragged by the girl onto the ride. People whispered and commented about the two who seemed like such an adorable couple. A Korean boy and a Caucasian girl together. Sonia met Taehyung’s gaze and saw how he was snickering at his friend from afar.
“It’s not nice to laugh at him like that. I know how he feels like. He looks so pale from this far.” Sonia sighed.
Taehyung crossed his arms behind his head and walked out from the stall when the ride rose and they could hear Jimin’s high pitched scream for his life. “Well, I got to give it to you though. Your scream was way worse. You sound like a dolphin!” That earned him a hard slap across the arm of course. The boy whined, stomping his feet in frustration as he rubbed his forearm. “Why do you like to abuse me, woman?!” Sonia just walked up to the bench next to the stall and sat on it, crossing her arms over her chest and pouted.
If he isn’t teasing me, he isn’t Taehyung. Sonia huffed and crossed her right leg over her left one, staring at all whom pass her. Guilt hit the lad as he saw how she was sulking. She hardly sulk but when she does, it’s hard to coax her back to her joyful moodmaker self. His eyes then travelled to the stand he stood in front of and saw tons of animal hairbands on display. From Mickey Mouse ears to giraffe antlers, everything was there in different patterns and colours. The ahjussi that guarded the stall saw him and smiled. “Something I can help you with, handsome one?” Taehyung chewed on his lips and threw a short glance Sonia’s way. She was still sitting there, unmoved and had that hard glare in her eyes. She was starting to terrify the kids that passed her already which was not a good sign.
The ahjussi craned his head out and over the stall and followed his gaze to the girl. His mouth made an ‘O’ sign as his eyebrows wiggled. “So you’re trying to cheer your sulking girlfriend?” Taehyung blinked at how the ahjussi had labelled Sonia as but decided to just go with it since he had other agendas in mind. He did an irresistibly cute pout and nodded. “She’s mad at me because I screaming during the Gyro Drop. I want to cheer her up but then my kitty won’t even talk to me.”
At the sight of Taehyung’s pout, the ahjussi brought down two hairbands—a Mickey Mouse ears and a white kitten ears—from the hooks and handed them to him. “Here, handsome one. Get these for her. She’ll definitely crawl back into your arms after that.”
Taehyung’s eyes sparkled when the ahjussi showed him the bands but then he maintained the pout and shook his head slightly. “It’s alright, ahjussi. I don’t have the money to buy them. I’ll just persuade her with words, if she doesn’t shove her foot down my throat.” He slumped his head in a low sigh and kept his gaze on his black Nike. His fingers were crossed behind his back and prayed silently that the ahjussi would fall for his trap. He stepped back slowly and was counting the seconds away.
“Wait, wait. Kid! Here! It’s okay. You can have it. No charge! Your pretty girlfriend should be lucky to have such a handsome one by her side. Take good care of her, alright? A girl’s heart is sensitive but slight teasing would bring two souls much closer.” The ahjussi winked at him as he offered the boy the hairbands. Perfect plan for the perfect hairbands. Taehyung bowed multiple times to show how grateful he was and literally skipped off to Sonia. He squatted in front of her and gulped when she growled at him like an angry cat. He wrinkled his nose before breaking into his goofy smile. “You should really stop hanging around with Puffles that much because you’re starting to sound like her when she gets angry.” Sonia was so ready to wrap her fingers around his long neck and strangle the life out of him when he wore the hairband on her in a speed of light. She paused and with careful fingers, brushed against the furry cat eats that fit her head perfectly. Sonia saw he had his own pair of Mickey Mouse ears in his hands and pried them off his fingers. With a straight face, she helped him fit the hairband into his purple hair. She leaned back and gave him a good look. “Adorable. That colour is a keeper. Dye it during Christmas break, how about that?”
Taehyung’s back straighten with her compliment. In reply, he nodded and both of them shook hands on it. “I guess we’re okay now? You’re not mad anymore?” Taehyung raised his eyebrows which made the girl laugh. She punched him lightly in the chest and questioned back, “Have I ever stayed mad at you for long? You always do something to cheer me up again so it’s hard to stay mad when gifts are presented.” As the two of them continued laughing and talking, they saw a sick looking Jimin sitting on the bench just a few feet away from them and Chaekyung had went off to buy ice cream. After a while, they saw Jimin walking to the hairband stand. Taehyung and Sonia wiggled out of sight slowly and peeked from behind some balloons that the kids in front of them were holding up. He bought two hairbands and went back to Chaekyung, helping her wear hers on. Sonia sighed dreamily and propped her chin on his fist as she stared at the couple whom were now taking selfies. “They’re so cute together. Man, if they’re not dating now they will date eventually. I mean, you can literally see the love— Taehyung? What are you doing?”
The said boy had just successfully barter traded his untouched lollipop he had dug out from his bag with a kid for one of his balloons. He ruffled the kid’s hair and waved at him as the kid ran away happily with the lollipop in hand. He turned towards Sonia and handed her the balloon. She eyed it as if it were a foreign object. “What’s this for?”
“Just.” He took her hand and tied the balloon’s string to her index finger. Then, he fished out his phone and tapped on the camera icon. “Now, we shall take selfies!” And that’s how the two of them started posing for the camera. Derp shots, cute shots and also poker face shots. It was fun to take pictures with Taehyung since he wasn’t embarrassed to destroy his visuals. Sometimes, Sonia wished she could just take them from him by the rate of the way he was ‘taking care’ of it. Both of them laughed at the pictures they took after that. “This one is my favourite!” Taehyung pouted at the one they had did their y face in. Taehyung did his y one-eye-closed pose while Sonia had angled her face to show her jawline and her nose seemed to have brushed against the male’s cheek. Sonia swiped pass some and settled with her favourite which was the one they did their derp faces. “You look uglier than me here so I like this one!” She tapped on the screen and laughed when the picture enlarged to Taehyung’s nostrils. The boy frowned and headlocked her, turning her into a fit of fake chokes. He let her go after a while and when she met his brown dreamy eyes, he smiled. Ever so softly, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Sonia was instantly reminded of the scene back in the bus. He had stared at her with those eyes then. Her heart started to hammer against her ribcage.
“Even when people call me pretty, I still think you’re prettier.” His words were softly whispered into her ears and that was enough to set the alarms off her brain and the chills running down her spine. Goosebumps broke onto the surface of her skin and she quickly pulled back from his hold like she had just touched burning hot iron. If Taehyung was any close offended by her rejection, he didn’t show it of course. However, a growing ache grew in him and it clenched so hard he thought he was going to die. Sonia tossed a quick look over her shoulder, clearly trying to avoid from showing Taehyung how red her face was at that point. Chaekyung and Jimin were arm in arm, ready to leave for someone. “They’re leaving already,” she faced Taehyung once again and broke into a nervous smile. “I guess that’s our cue to leave too. Thank you for keeping me company all the way and also for the adorable hairband.” She was just about to stand up and leave when Taehyung rose with her.
“I’ll…walk you out. Come on.” Sonia felt his hand lightly pressing against her back as he walked both of them out of the amusement park. Somehow the noise had subsided and it seems that everyone was ready to leave. The girl looked around and grumbled when no available bus was going to her place. Taehyung snapped around the left and caught Chaekyung and Jimin entering a taxi. He tilted his head in confusion. Don’t they travel around with their limo? Why are they going by taxi? Sonia had said something to him before she called out to an empty taxi. As the girl slide into her seat, she felt someone pushing her in and sat next to her. Her eyebrows creased when Taehyung started ordering the taxi driver to follow the vehicle that just left in front of them. He leaned back into the seat and blinked at her before smiling again.
Sonia felt the car moving and realized they were indeed following the taxi in front of them in a steady pace. They were headed into a total different direction from Sonia’s house. “Excuse me but it’s late and I have to get home. It’s going to be dark and do you know what my parents would do if I get back late on a school night?”
Taehyung stretched his hand out and patted her on the head as if she were a puppy. “Don’t worry, Ms. Goody Two Shoes. I’ll get you back before you know it. We still have stalking to do. See? They’re headed somewhere.” Sonia massaged her temples and let out a long sigh. “Taehyung. I’m done with this. I mean, my whole motive was to see if they were both attracted to each other and they are so I guess trailing after their ride and stalking them further would be a bit rude.” Not to mention I’m getting a little jealous by their sweet interactions.
Taehyung bumped her shoulder with his and grinned. “You turned my stalker mode on. So you best deal with me or face the consequences.” Sonia matched his eyes with her cold gaze. “Yeah right, as if the consequences would do me any harm.” Before she could turn towards the window and ignore the boy completely, he cupped her face with both of his hands and pulled her close till their noses were inches away. It would only take her or him to pucker their lips for them to kiss. Taehyung’s fringe tickled her eyes and she fought the urge to brush it away instead matched his glistering brown eyes with her cold ones. Despite her cool image at that moment, her heart was thumping so hard that it pained her and she found it rather hard to breathe.
“If you kids are going to start making out at the backseat, please know that I can always change courses and head for the nearest hotel or something. I don’t wish to get my taxi dirty.” The driver’s voice made both of them jump away. Sonia flickered her gaze to the front and saw how the driver had his eyes staring at them through the rear mirror. Both of them wiggled into the farthest corners of the seat as possible. Taehyung cleared his throat awkwardly and mumbled, “That’s the consequences by the way. And as I see, it does do you harm.” Sonia scoffed and wrapped her arms around herself, curling into her corner and chose to push the statement out of her hearing range.
They stopped a few cars away from Chaekyung and Jimin’s taxi. As both of the teens stepped out of the taxi, they saw how they have ended up at Han River. Taehyung tossed the tip into the driver’s hands before approached Sonia who was oddly quiet all of a sudden. She stared at the place in front of her as memories flooded her mind. Fragments of her past relationship’s memories came to her and she could almost picture herself in the arms of her ex-boyfriend. The latter had held her hand in his warm ones, whispering empty promises into her ears. She felt stupid for believing those empty vows and sworn she would have strangled the life out of him when she had the chance the second he dumped her. He had migrated to the States, that fool, to live with his girlfriend. And what a coincidence, he had broken up with her here at Han River where they first confessed to each other.
“Hello? Earth to Sonia.”
The girl blinked away the flashback and saw Taehyung’s hand waving in front of her face. She looked up and met his gaze that swirled with concern. Taehyung bend down a little to match her eyelevel and fixed her hair that had been blown by the chilly evening breeze. “You were spacing out. Are you okay?” he asked. Sonia nodded solemnly before stuffing her hands into her jean pockets. Taehyung wasn’t buying it though so he wrapped an arm around her shoulder to pull her closer to his side.
“Come on… you can tell me anything. I’m your pal right?” He tried to use his comical aegyo on her but she wasn’t even cracking a smile and fidgeting under his hold. This time, he bend down a little till his forehead leaned against her temple light and started nuzzling against her hair. That triggered something in the girl because the next thing he knew, she shoved him hard and he landed on his to the ground.
“Oh my god! Taehyung!” She gasped, completely unaware of the force she used to push him and reached out to steady him on his feet. He winced in pain as he absently rubbed his sore bum. “See…you’re always abusing me.” He made a whining sound like one made by a puppy when in pain. Sonia gave him an apologetic smile before dusting his striped long sleeve shirt. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know what had me earlier.” She admitted before going quiet again as she walked up to an empty bench and sat on it. Taehyung’s lips formed a crooked smile as he came up behind the girl and wrapped his arms around her.
Startled, the girl whipped her head around and saw the boy smiling with his eyes closed, tightening his hold around her. He started swaying from side to side in a silent rhythm. “Whatever that’s bothering you, I hope it’ll go away now that you have me hugging you.” Sonia felt her heart leap at the skinship. She bit the insides of her cheek to stop herself from smiling like an idiot. She reached out to poke him on the cheek, “You’re being awfully clinging, monkey boy.”
As if it only had hit him, he opened his eyes and stepped away from her with his hands behind his back. What have I just done?! He searched his head for a possibly logical explanation but his mind went completely blank at the sight of the setting sun and the pretty girl that sat in front of him with a blank expression on her face. He took in her features one by one at that moment. Her hair looked like they were catching fire due to the rays of the sunset. Her skin seemed tanner than usual and there was a slight blush on her cheeks that made her look a lot cuter than she already was. Her eyes… Oh don’t get me started. They sparkle with interest every time she reads. It’s weird to have a guy stare at a girl as much as Taehyung does at Sonia. He noticed how she always had a new novel to read after a week or so with her previous one. She reads so fast and it amazed him how she usually could retell the stories so well with precise detail. He even read up some of her reviews on the student magazine, introducing new reads to the students. Man, Taehyung. You have got to quit staring at her like that. Hide the grin now! Taehyung’s Joker-like smile quickly morphed into a thin line before a ring from afar caught his ear. He turned to see a bicycle renting store.
“Hey Sonia, wanna go ride one of those?” Sonia followed his finger that he pointed out to the place and before he knew it, she rose to her feet and pulled him along to the renting store. Both of them picked out a bicycle and began to cycle away. Sonia felt the wind brushing against her cheeks as she cycled in constant speed. The breeze carried her laughter around before another laughter tinkled in the air. She turned around slightly and saw Taehyung catching up to her. She stuck out her tongue and went a little faster. Taehyung’s thighs burned from the amount of energy exerted but he still raced up till he came next to her. “Got you!” He sent a playful wink at her direction which made her laugh before something in front made her stop. She pressed on the handles and squinted her eyes to see clearly.
“Wait…that’s Chaekyung and Jimin right? On one bike.” She pointed straight at the bicycle a few distance away. Taehyung braked and looked closer. Sure enough, the two were sharing a bicycle and Chaekyung had her arms wrapped around Jimin’s waist tightly. They looked like a perfect jigsaw puzzle. What a sight. A thorn of jealousy poked through her chest and Sonia had to turn her focus somewhere else. Their happiness made her miss her old ones that she had shared with her ex. She was about to turn back when Taehyung stepped on his pedals. “The slowest would treat to bibimbap!” With that the male raced off, his lavender hair flying all around his face.
Sonia yelped and saw how he was slowly approaching the lovebirds. “Yah! Don’t ride so fast!” She called after him, carefully to avoid mentioning his name as she raced after him. Chaekyung had almost turned around but Taehyung and Sonia had zoomed past them in a speed of light. Sonia’s bike went a little out of control so after passing them, she decided to decelerate. Taehyung had slowed down too and soon, they both rode side to side. Taehyung chortled and with a funny face. “Slow poke! I won!”
Sonia stretched her hand out to smack him but he rode a little faster to avoid the hit, cracking into a mocking laugh. “You almost blew our cover, dumb purple head!” Sonia tried hitting him a couple of times but each time, she missed and swatted the air. They rode to the closeby restaurant and sad to say, Sonia paid for their meal. She even lost the chance to have Taehyung pay with a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It was frustrating to lose but seeing Taehyung eating ever so happily and his sauce-stained fingers just made up for it.
After that hearty meal, they decided to head back. Sonia’s wristwatch had pointed out 7.30pm and she knew she needed to have an extremely buyable excuse for her coming home late. The two walked to the nearest bus station to send Sonia off first. When the bus arrived, Sonia averted her gaze to Taehyung who silently watched the bus came to a halt. “You sure you won’t be coming with me? The bus will be passing your neighbourhood anyway.” However, Taehyung declined and ushered her off to board the bus without him. She chose the seat that had the view of the bus station. Taehyung looked up at her and smiled, but this one wasn’t the type that reached his ears. He looked rather…sad? Sonia frowned and took out her phone. She used her stylus to write a text to her on her Note before plastering it to the window.
‘Don’t look so sad. Call me when you reach home alright? Stay safe. :3’ Sonia waved at him with the stylus in hand as she felt the bus jerked into movement. The bus was a good few metres away already but then it had stopped at another bus stop around the corner. Something burned in him and before he knew it, his feet ran to the bus stop in notch speed to catch the bus before it drove off. Panting and hands on his knees, he boarded the bus. The bus driver eyed him weirdly. “You could have just boarded the bus earlier with your girlfriend.” Taehyung paid and bowed at the driver, smiling his childish smile before plopping into the seat next to a dumbfounded Sonia.
“What the hell, Tae? I thought you said you’d… Man, you could have save so much of energy—.”
Sonia’s words got stuck in at mid-sentence when she felt a weight on her right shoulder. She turned her head slightly to see the crown of Taehyung’s head resting on her shoulder, snuggling even deeper till he was comfortable. She tried moving away but Taehyung linked his arm around hers and kept her in place. His eyes were closed but he wasn’t sleeping. A faint smile curved on his lips as he inhaled her vanilla shampoo scent. “Tae… I like that nickname. Now, hush and let me rest a bit. All those running I did for you drained me. Wake me up at my stop alright?” Just like that, he had his head on her shoulder the whole way. Sonia gripped on her bag that sat on her lap tightly as she feared her heartbeat was loud enough for Taehyung to hear. It was weird how she felt like she was having a mini heart attack every time she was around him. Today would be the first time she actually spent so long with the guy. Somehow, the weight on her shoulder felt really nice and comforting.
Her eyes wandered to the window as the resting boy exhaled slowly. The night view was in fact a lot prettier than the morning. She remembered the time she and Heojun broke up, she thought the apocalypse had arrived upon her world and everyday was a dying day for her. Depression fought its way into her life but then that was when Taehyung came along. His cheekiness and monkey-like personality made her laugh genuinely again. For her, Taehyung was her hero and her cure. She thought at this rate with all the clinging Taehyung does and how he can depend on her a lot at times she’d fall for him. She did though, no matter how bad she tried to deny it she had developed feelings for him and day by day it gets stronger. Sadly, her trust issues and conscience gets in the way. To trust another guy who is this playful and unserious about matters most of the time can’t guarantee a happy ever after. Of course happy ever after might sound impossible but a lasting relationship would be hard to achieve with a guy like Taehyung. They came to a dark tunnel and everything went dark. The light from the bus allowed her to see their reflection in the glass window. Taehyung’s purple hair had covered most of his face but that perfect lip still could be seen. Sonia exhaled a sigh as she stared at the latter’s reflection.
I wish I could fall in love with you peacefully, Kim Taehyung. I really, really do.
my inspiration flushed out of me while i typed this so i apologize for the crappy and long chapter. I had planned on doing this special chapter because i feel like...idk because kim taehyung is so cute and i wonder if any of you readers wanted to read something more of him in it. i hope you enjoy this update! comment, subscribe and upvote as you please.~ Buingbuing!
A dorky Taehyung ft. y Jimin and idk Namjoon and there's Jungkook... sighs
Comments