It was 10 o'clock in the morning and Hyunjung was sprawled on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Her bedroom door was shut, blocking out any unnecessary noise that would divert her from her thoughts. She replayed in her mind the events that had happened yesterday. The recollection of it made her feel ecstatic, but it still seemed all too overwhelming for her; so much had occurred in that one afternoon. At least, not to what she was usually familiar with. Yesterday was fun, but now Hyunjung felt as if her mental energy had drained.

When she was around more people, she paid extra attention to how she behaved around them. That probably wasn't even a good thing, her uncle had even said to not worry about those kind of things and to just be herself. Thing is, when you meet someone new and you want to get close to them, you want to expose your good points and you want them to like you, so you behave in a certain way subconsciously. She suddenly thought of Taehyung and reflected on his attitude towards her and everyone else he talked to. On second thoughts, maybe there are a few people that are exceptions to this and just act however they want.

She lay in silence for a moment until she heard her uncle's muffled calls behind her door from the kitchen.

"Hyunjung!"

"Yes?"

Hearing no answer, she got up wearily from her bed and trudged to the kitchen. "You called?"

"Can you buy me these ingredients in the grocery store?" he asked, handing her over a list. Hyunjung took it and despairingly scanned her eyes over the scribbles of writing. "You know I don't like going out on my own," she groaned.

"You managed to walk on your own to the arcade yesterday."

"But that's different." I didn't walk on my own anyway.

Her uncle gave her some money from his wallet. "Just get it over and done with. I have to go to work today, so I can't."

"Alright," she said unwillingly, "but if I get kidnapped or something, you know whose fault it is."

"Stop exaggerating."

"Right, sorry."

She didn't argue any further and put her coat on. The sooner she goes, the sooner she'll get this done. "See you later uncle!" Wait a minute... She stopped dead in her tracks when she remembered something she had heard from the neighbours a few days ago. “Uncle?”

“Yes?”

She hesitated. “Haven’t there been... umm, suspicious men around here recently?”

“Hyunjung, I’m sure you’re not going to get kidnapped or stalked when you’re going to the store that’s only just around the corner.”

“But –“

“And if by chance you do happen to get kidnapped, just kick them.”

She sulked. “But I don’t want to kick anyone.”

“I thought you just said you didn’t want to get kidnapped.” Heaving a sigh, her uncle shooed her out of the door, “Get your out of here and just go to the store.”

“Or what?”

“You have to cook your own meals.”

She gaped. Either have a higher likelihood of getting kidnapped, or cook her own meals. She’d probably end up killing someone with food poisoning or setting fire to the house if she tried to cook. Well, definitely no competition there. 

“Fine.”

*  *  *  *  *  *

Hyunjung ambled through the automatic doors of the supermarket. She took the crumpled list out of her pocket and squinted; she could only just barely read her uncle's messy handwriting. As she walked along the aisles she recited the ingredients in her head. Milk, apples, onions, tomatoes...

Hyunjung sensed someone following her. This was one of the many reasons why she hated going out on her own.  She spun round, but all she saw were the shelves stacked with orderly jars, one behind the other. Am I simply being too skeptical? She shrugged it off, but she couldn't help but feel a squirm of discomfort.

Heavy footsteps approached not far from behind. Growing wary, she quickened her walking pace as the sound got closer. She halted. The sound of the footsteps also faltered and eventually grew hushed. Cautiously, slowly, she turned her head, but before she could catch sight of the person behind her, a pair of large hands swiftly covered her eyes.

"Stay still and don’t move."

From the pitch of the voice she could tell it was a man. Okay, now she was unquestionably alarmed.

"Ex-excuse me?" Hyunjung stammered apprehensively. Oh no, no, no, no, this can’t be happening, I don’t want to be kidnapped. She panicked. What was it that her uncle said if this kind of situation happened?

She gulped. 1...2...3... She kicked the person from behind, and his hands instantaneously left her eyes.

"Ow! Hyunjung! It's me!"

Suddenly realizing who she had just kicked, her eyes widened and she whipped her head back to the person who was now hunched over the floor.

"J-Jungkook? Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

Great. I try to protect myself and I end up kicking the guy that has been nothing but nice to me.

"I’m fine, it's my fault," he winced, straightening up. "Consider yourself lucky, I think that was the first time I've ever gotten kicked by a girl."

She looked at him apologetically. "Sorry."

Jungkook painfully put on a smile. "Just, remind me not to do that to you ever again."

"Okay... Jungkook, I'm sorry."

He laughed. "You don't need to apologize so much."  He regarded the shopping basket she clutched in her hand. "So, grocery shopping?"

Nodding, she showed him the rumpled piece of paper.

"Can I help?" he asked, taking a look at the shopping list.

"Sure."

He grinned and snatched the basket from her grip. She tried grabbing it back, but Jungkook didn't let her.

Hyunjung was briefly startled. “What -"

"Let me be a gentleman and hold it, okay?"

"Uh, okay?" she replied, still a little confused.

"Good."

*  *  *  *  *  *

The walk back to her house was a problematic one and the aftermath of the rain from yesterday certainly didn’t make it any easier. Jungkook refused to let her carry any of the shopping bags, regardless of her persistent protests.

“Jungkook, just let me carry one, please?”

“Hmmmm, let me think about it.” He shook his head, “Nope.”

Noticing her mope gloomily, he held one of the bags out to her. “Okay, but just one.”

She was on the point of taking it, before he held it back again.

“Just kidding,” he said in a sing song voice, a smile tugging on his lips, “I won’t let you.”

She narrowed her eyes. Why are people so difficult to figure out? First Taehyung and now him. Sighing in defeat, she finally gave up and just continued to plod alongside him. Guys will be guys.

They approached her house and she ran up to unlock the door with the spare key. They stepped inside and Jungkook placed the bags onto the table in the kitchen. He caught sight of the purple bunny from the arcade, which was sitting tidily on the table. “What’s its name?”

She looked at him oddly. “Its name?”

Out of all the things that were running through her head, naming her purple bunny was not one of them.

Jungkook looked at her expectantly, waiting for a response. Briskly roaming her eyes around the kitchen, her eyes landed on the assortment of alphabet magnets her uncle used to collect on the fridge door. The first letter she saw was-

“V.”

Jungkook creased his eyebrows in confusion. “V?” he repeated.

“V,” she confirmed.

“O—kay?” Jungkook picked the bunny up, “Hi V!” he said brightly.

She observed him amusedly. Jungkook placed the toy back to its original space and went over to Hyunjung. For a second, he looked like he was in thought. But that was a fleeting moment, as he snickered. He instantly pursed his lips together when he saw that Hyunjung was observing him judgingly.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

The corners of Jungkook’s lips were threatening to curve up. “It’s just, we’ve literally only just become friends and I’m already allowed in your house.”

“I still don’t get why that’s funny.”

“Never mind.”

On the kitchen counter, he noticed her uncle’s cook book lying open. He gestured Hyunjung over and pointed to the page.

“Is that a cookie recipe?”

She scanned her eyes over the page. “Yeah, I think so?”

His eyes lit up and he fervently picked up the book. “Hyunjung, can we bake cookies… please?”

“Um,” she looked up at Jungkook who was gazing at her with a hopeful expression, “I want to, but I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to cooking or baking, or whatever.”

 “That’s fine, we can work it out together.” Jungkook ruffled her hair. “Hey, maybe you can give some cookies to Taehyung tomorrow, as a thanks for getting you that bunny.”

“I guess, but I don’t think he’ll like them.”

“No harm in trying, right?”

She shrugged. “If you say so.”