I'm too lazy to edit this right now so pardon any mistakes/inconsistencies.

Roosters were loud and obnoxious and no matter how many years Sooyun was woken up by the damn birds, she hated the sound.

Mornings were never her friend also, so maybe her hatred somewhat stemmed from that branch.

Given the fact she had to run a farm now didn’t give her much of a choice though.

While her grandmother was still wily and very much alive, she couldn’t do as much as she could twenty years back, so it was up to Sooyun to maintain their land and keep it to her grandmother’s high standards. Unfortunately for her that meant getting up at the crack of dawn otherwise sooner or later, her grandmother would come at her with a bucket of ice cold water—she learned that the hard way.

Though she had to admit when she walked out to the fields, her Shetland dog Nala following close behind her, the peaceful silence that settled over the hills was something that Sooyun loved. When the sun hadn’t even risen yet but gave off the beautiful hues that reflected in the sky, and the animals around the farm were still just waking up; it all brought a sense of serenity to Sooyun.

Of course it was ruined when Nala started to bark at the sleeping chickens that in turn clucked and squawked at the unexpected awakening. As if a switch was , everything on the farm suddenly became livelier.

Sooyun sighed but then headed for the well at the side of the house so she could collect some water and start on her daily round of tasks.

Her parents were back in the city working and after Sooyun’s grandfather had passed away, her mother thought it would be appropriate to send Sooyun to the farm during the summer. First it was to keep her grandmother company and secondly to be an extra helping hand.

Her grandmother abused the latter part of the deal however; forcing Sooyun to wake up incredibly early even though it was never needed and then made her start her morning chores before breakfast.

It became a habit, one that Sooyun didn’t necessarily like but was used to doing.

After she was done with everything she found herself entering the house once more opening the screen door with too much strength that it bounced off of the wall and swung towards her again.

“Gentle!” a voice shouted from the kitchen.

“Sorry!” Sooyun shouted back as she entered said kitchen and then gracelessly sat in one of the wooden chairs that were there.

Her grandmother whirled around from where she was frying eggs on the stove, putting her hand that wasn’t holding a spatula, on her hip as she sighed in distain.

“At least have some manners,” she said.

Sooyun pouted. “But I’m tired.”

“Poor baby. Now it up.”

“I missed when you used to actually coddle me and give me free money.”

“Well you’re an adult now. If you want money then get a job.”

Sooyun muttered something about her never having the time when she had to take care of the farm, and her grandmother just ignored her, instead she placed a plate of fried eggs accompanied with toast and sausages.

“You should be happy that I make you food.”

Sooyun scoffed. “That’s only because you never allow me near the stove.”

“You nearly burnt the kitchen down.”

“It was one time grandma!”

“Never again,” she answered. “Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold and soggy.”

Sooyun grumbled but listened.

*

*

*

On the odd days, Sooyun took naps on the couch that was placed on the porch.

She couldn’t help it with the breeze ruffling her hair and the way the darkness would settle gently over the hills as the air was still hot enough she never really got cold. It was relaxing and for someone like her who was probably part cat, she really loved it.

Sleep was her friend, which was why when she jolted out of her sleep because of Nala’s barking, she was pissed.

Not at her dog, but at whatever caused Nala to bark in the first place.

Probably one of the chickens, which as it turned out she was right when her vision adjusted and she stared off into the distance, except it wasn’t a scene she expected because one of their chickens was being carried away by a figure.

Instantly she grabbed the shotgun her grandmother made her keep with her whenever it got too dark outside. It was now a permanent fixation with her whenever she stayed out on the porch for her naps.

(“What am I going to shoot? A tumbleweed? No one even knows where you live.”

“Just humour me okay? There can be stranglers every once while.”

A sigh. “Fine.”

“Now trying aiming at those cans over by the fence.”

“No worries grandma, I got this. I play COD.”)

Sooyun the porch light and eyed the figure with distain.

As Sooyun cocked her rifle and held it up, she waited. Usually anyone who crossed over to their land saw the shape of her gun and would make a run for it before she would even try to shoot them. Apparently her grandmother was right; more often than not, there was someone who found it would convenient to use their land as a shortcut for whatever reason

This person however was different. First they weren’t simply entering their land without any prior authorization but they were actually trying to steal their chicken.

When Sooyun took off the safety, they didn’t even glance in her direction and she huffed in annoyance before she aimed.

They should have read her sign (she handwrote it so nicely too), they were after all trespassing.

It was a violation and she had every right to do what she was planning to.

She took a deep breath and pressed the trigger.

The kickback made her stumble, but as she glanced at her target she smiled.

Bullseye.

She squinted when she saw the figure fall down however and she gasped, lowering her gun in surprise.

She only meant to shoot the wood post near them to scare them off, not to shoot them!

*

*

*

Once she was close enough she realized her victim was a guy.

He was also cute up close despite the fact his face was scrunched up in pain, and he was emitting a sound similar to a dog whining which only made Nala (who had tagged along with her) to whine herself.

By then the chicken had jumped out of the guy’s hands already and Sooyun had secured the animal in her arms.

Notably, the guy was clutching the side of his left calf as he curled into a ball.

It took him a few seconds to realize that someone was standing over him, and he stopped whining enough to glance up in shock.

Finally she spoke, “Did you not see the sign?”

“It was dark,” he sputtered.

Sooyun must have squeezed her chicken tightly at the sound of his deep melodious voice, because it squawked and she snapped out of her temporary coma those three words caused.

“And the chicken?”

The male choked on air.

A third voice entered their conversation then.

“What have we got here?”

“Oh grandma!” Sooyung exclaimed, sort of panicky even though she shouldn’t be. She had no reason to be, but she was nervous as if she did something wrong.

Her feeling wasn’t off though when her grandmother stared at the young man with a raised eyebrow and then shot her a look right after.

“I didn’t mean to,” she said as she tried to defend herself.

Her grandmother nodded thoughtfully, and the chicken stealer just stared up at her with fear evident in his eyes.

“Well isn’t this a predicament,” her grandmother said drily with a smile.

*

*

*

Honestly Sooyun should have expected this from her grandmother especially since she would always complain that Sooyun never got out much, and wouldn’t bother to go experience life. That and the fact her grandmother was sweet, especially to people who were not her.

She stared at the boy, whose name she learned was Taehyung when her grandmother conducted a mini introduction just before they entered the house. Currently he lounged on the couch (in her spot no less!) as her grandmother wrapped his wound carefully with a bandage after applying some medicine.

Every once in while he winced and Sooyun tried hard to not scoff.

“Wimp,” she muttered.

“Sooyun,” her grandmother warned instantly and she was the one who winced this time. It was surprisingly scary that even though her grandmother wasn’t even looking at her, she had eyes and ears like a hawk.

Sooyun however didn’t show that she was intimidated; instead she crossed her arms and grumbled something incoherent back.

“Thank you for this,” Taehyung said after he was all wrapped up.

Sooyun’s grandmother just smiled. “It’s alright. It was my granddaughter’s fault to begin with!”

“Hey!” said granddaughter protested but she was instantly waved off.

“Since it’s already late right now and you won’t be going anywhere with that injury for a while, why don’t you stay over for the night? I’m sure you’d like to call your parents or someone since they must be worried.”

Taehyung nodded, and then her grandmother appointed him to the kitchen where they still had a landline to which he limped over to phone somebody.

After processing what just happened in those few seconds, Sooyun gasped in horror.

“Grandma why?”

Her grandmother didn’t respond, only giving her a smirk which sent shivers down Sooyun’s spine.

She groaned.

The chicken stealer was going to stay with them?

Really?

*

*

*

If Sooyun could shoot the sun, she would.

It was too bright, too happy and all around everything she didn’t want to be.

It wasn’t really the sun though that she was just annoyed at because when she went to the chicken coop to collect the eggs for the day, she saw that Taehyung was already there doing her job.

Now, she wouldn’t be complaining that someone was doing that for her since she hated her chores but because it was Taehyung, she didn’t like it one bit.

“What are you doing here?” she asked with accusation in her voice. Like she would forget he tried to steal one of their chickens.

Taehyung grinned at her, not even picking up on her tone. “I wanted to do something for Bora.”

Sooyun froze. “You call her Bora?”

“She insisted.”

Her eyes narrowed, her grandmother just couldn’t leave things alone.

That was the end of their conversation as Sooyun left right after that, not wanting to interact with him further. After all she had better things to do with her time.

Only it didn’t stop there, when Sooyun went ahead to the barn so she could feed and brush the horses, Taehyung was there. When she went to repaint the porch and plow the fields, he was there and every single time she asked he would give that stupid smile of his and answer the same thing.

She was growing tired of it even though her heart might have skipped a beat a couple of times from the way his boxy smile and sparkling eyes spoke to her silently.

He was cute and surprisingly helpful but seriously what the hell was he still doing there on her grandmother’s farm?

It was downright suspicious.

Granted Sooyun knew the benefit when she saw it since Taehyung was at the farm anyways and more than will