Taehyung's heart was beating faster than it had for a while. He wanted to kiss her so badly, but worried if that would be too forward. Maybe he should do the gentlemanly thing and bid her goodnight and go home? Her large eyes looking up at him, her cheeks flushing a little, innocent and shy expression, it took all of his self control not to pounce on her. No, he had better not - why ruin a fun thing? It would be better if he didn't do anything, regardless of what he thought she was trying to tell him with her eyes.

But then again...

"You should go inside. It's late." he said, voice low and gentle.

The girl smiled at him, though her heart sank.

"You should go, too. Thanks for walking with me." she replied.

"No problem at all. Goodnight!"

They hesitated for a moment before going separate ways and waving goodbye to each other. Both of them walked away, disappointment in the pit of their stomachs. Taehyung clenched his fist for a moment as he walked away, battling with himself over whether to say something or not. The girl shook her head and sped up, taking a brisk pace in her step. Taehyung relented. No. He couldn't miss this opportunity. Turning on his heel, he ran back towards where they had stood together and over to where he thought she had gone. He went to call her name, but realised he had never asked. He had no idea who she was.

"Jennie, is that you?" her aunt called as she came through the door.

"I'm back." she replied.

"Are you hungry at all?" her aunt asked, "There's leftovers from dinner if you are, rice in the cooker."

"I'm okay, Momo, thanks." she smiled weakly. "I'm so tired though I think I'll just wash up and go to sleep."

"Okay. There's clean towels in the bathroom so go ahead."

As the hot water hit her skin, Jennie wet her hair and waited for the room to steam up. No. It was dumb to wish she had stayed and done something. She had just broken up with her cheating boyfriend, wasn't she supposed to be more upset and getting over that? Apparently not, for she only had the blonde haired fruit shop guy with a sweet smile on her mind.

Then she felt really stupid.

He must not have been interested in her after all.

Otherwise, he would have said something to her, right? Or kissed her or given her his phone number or... anything? A flush of embarrassment swept through her as she reached for the bodywash, scrubbing her skin down with the rose scented soap, perhaps going a little harder than she should. Drying herself off, she got changed into her pyjamas and returned to her room.

She felt so dumb for even taking a liking to him. She couldn't believe that she had even considered staying a bit longer with her aunt just to see more of that guy. She was embarrassed. She still wanted to see him, but in reality there was no reason for her to continue staying with her aunt, she felt that returning home as scheduled was the better idea. Just stick it out for another day and then she'd be gone. She didn't even have to go outside. It suddenly dawned on her that she had barely given her ex-boyfriend a single thought, nor had he ever meant enough to her for her to have these kinds of feelings for him. How was it possible that the fruit shop guy could inspire more emotion in her than the guy she had dated?

How could she feel that way?

No. She would just go back to Daegu as planned. There wasn't anything there for her in Seoul anyway, only one or two friends. She figured it would be easier finding a job in her hometown since she knew more people and had more connections. Her mom would be happy to see her, too. She wanted to see her best friend and go out on the town. She missed watching the street performers in Daegu, the constant busking and occasionally big event. She missed eating food on the street right next to Goblin alley and drinking with her friends at night.

But still, she just couldn't shake the feeling from her gut that she should just go back to the fruit shop guy.

The fruit shop guy leaned back in his plastic chair, grabbing a peach and biting into it, throwing his head back and letting out a loud chuckle of laugher as he chewed ungraciously, wiping the juices away from his mouth with the back of his hand. He couldn't quite believe himself, if he was being honest. It wasn't normal to have such an infatuation with a complete stranger. Most people, he felt, would not be arrogant enough to assume the person they felt such a strong attraction to would absolutely return the attraction in kind. Kim Taehyung was not most people - her expression, the tension in the air was enough to tell him that the girl at least felt somewhat attracted to him.

The girl.

Taehyung laughed again, they didn't even know each other's names and here he was going dizzy over her.

His laughter died down and the uneasiness returned over his stomach. He should have done something more.

Well.

Next time!

*     *     *

Weeks had passed before Taehyung had given up on seeing her.

But with every passing day, it became clearer and clearer that she probably wasn't going to be coming his way any time soon. He was disheartened at first, coming up with many possibilities as to what could have happened. What if she was hurt? What if she was purposely avoiding him? What if she had moved to the other side of the world? It just seemed so sudden. But then it dawned on him that he was, in fact, being ridiculous. He had only met the girl three times. After he realised how unusual it was, and that it might even be borderline creepy (were handsome guys ever creepy, though? Maybe guys were only creepy if they were ugly), he quickly let go of the thought of the girl.

Life went on.

Autumn came and went, Christmas came and went and Taehyung soon found himself on a train with a huge box of fresh fruits his senior slash boss had told him he could take for his parents as a gift for New Year. He even let him customise it, which he thought was nice. It sat carefully on the storage shelf on the Mugunghwa train that trundled along at a snails pace, packed full of people and their own gifts. He stared outside as the winter day gradually got darker and darker. It was a four hour journey that he managed to get through without dying of boredom by loading up TV shows on his tablet, since the train didn't have wifi or a charging point at each seat, and by stuffing his bag with snacks. As they approached Daegu station, he queued up with what seemed like the entire train, to get off. Once he managed to get out of the sea of people and out into the cold but fresh air, he felt a sense of comfort once he laid eyes on the department stores right in front of him.

He was home.

*     *     *

"Get out of my house!"

Taehyung looked up blankly at his mother as she stood above him.

"You've been lying around on the sofa for the past week doing nothing, go out and get some fresh air!"

"It's one degree outside!" he protested as she snatched the remote control away.

"You have a coat and a credit card. You'll live." she tutted. "I met Yoongi's mom in Goblin alley the other day, she said you two ought to get together."

"I saw him just the other week!"

"Just put on clothes and get out of here for a while."

Taehyung yelped as his mom rolled him off the sofa and onto the floor.

Okay, fine.

Five minutes later, once he had located clean underwear and put on proper clothes, he washed his face and quickly combed his hair before venturing outside. The cold air hit him immediately, and he zipped up his coat all the way, shoving his hands into his pockets and scuttling off down the corridor, down the elevator and into the subway, taking four stops to Banwoldang and eventually emerging into the street, making his way through the smaller alleys and into the main downtown area of Daegu.

His mom was right to send him outside, he did feel refreshed and better for being out.

It was still damn cold, though.

He scuttled through the crowds who had gathered around the main stage area where buskers and celebrities performed when they came to the city and made his way towards the only branch of LOHB that seemed to carry his favourite bodywash and moisturiser before then continuing up to the park, deciding it was too cold to remain outside and dived into the nearest coffee shop - not realising it was an expensive artisinal place until it was already his turn to order.

How much could an Americano cost?

At least six-thousand won, apparently, and with so many kinds of coffee to choose from, different strengths, too, he simply ordered the one that caught his eye first. It seemed to take an unusually long time to prepare such a simple coffee, but Taehyung didn't mind. He was just happy to be inside and warm. Once his buzzer went off, he rose up and sauntered over to the counter, glued to his phone the whole time.

"Costa Rica Americano is ready!" the girls voice greeted him. "Please enj- oh!"

Taehyung glanced up.

And again, his eyes staying on her this time. How could they not? She was so beautiful!

"Aren't you the fruit shop guy in Seoul?" she smiled.

"How did you know?" he spluttered, one hand on his coffee cup handle.

The girl's smile collapsed.

"Jennie! Orders are through!" a coworker called and she reluctantly excused herself.

How the hell did that girl know what he did and where he worked? Taehyung contemplated this as he strolled down the street now warm from his coffee and waited at the crossroads as cars moved so slowly through the crowds of people, thinking more before he crossed. Why was fancy coffee always so bitter? But that staff girl Jennie... she was super pretty and exactly his type, but was she a stalker? Could pretty girls be stalkers? Probably, but he figured most guys wouldn't mind that. Well, he could hardly blame her, even he knew he was handsome... and a fruit shop guy... he laughed at the ridiculous-

Wait.

"Jesus!" he yelled, making an about turn and dashing back down the street.

He almost collided with some customers leaving the cafe as they came down the stairs, excusing himself multiple times while trying to squeeze himself past and hopped up the steps two at a time and ran to the counter, looking around.

"Can I help you?" the male staff member asked, bewildered.

 "The girl who was serving drinks!" Taehyung panted. "Is she still here?"

"Yes, but she's busy in the back." the barista replied, a suspicious look on his face.

"Can you tell me when she finishes?"

The guy sighed.

*     *     *

Jennie stretched her neck out as she trudged down the stairs, truly exhausted from hauling around bags of beans all day and filing them through the grinder for the next day. She threw a scarf over her neck and put on her hat before pressing the door button and stepping outside into the freezing cold evening.

"Jennie?" a voice called.

Jennie turned.

And smiled.

Fruit shop guy was waiting for her. He stood awkwardly in his puffy coat, holding a bouquet of dried flowers in his mitten-clad hands.

"Did you wait for me out here? Aren't you cold?" she asked, walking closer to him.

"Not at all!" he lied. "Uh..." 

He gingerly held out the dried flowers for her, still unsure if he was going overboard. God he felt so dumb this was way too much he hadn't even told her his name what was he doing?

Jennie gladly took the flowers from him and watched as he suddenly became shy in front of her. Where did that bold fruit shop guy go? What had she done to him to make him like that? She smiled widely trying not to laugh at how cute he was.

"Thank you!" she said, admiring their colours.

She didn't expect him to take a step closer and start adjusting her scarf for her, wrapping it around her neck properly. She felt herself blushing now, the heat in her cheeks a good defense against the cold.

"What's your name?" she asked, looking up at him as he towered over her.

"Kim Taehyung!" he declared proudly.

"Taehyung. Can I kiss you?" she asked boldly, taking him by surprise yet again.

"What?! Uh... sure!" he grinned, blushing himself and stumbling back as Jennie reached up and planted her lips on his.

It was exactly how they expected it would be. 

Butterflies were fluttering.

Cheeks were blushing.

Hearts were warmed.