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...

Taehyung grabbed her shoulders and bent down, pressing his lips against hers, his large hand caressing the back of her neck. For a moment he felt a buzz, but it was quickly broken when he stumbled back a step as the girl pushed him. He flinched slightly when her palm struck his cheek. It didn't hurt at all, but he understood what she meant. Crap.

"What is wrong with you?" she hissed, looking around in case anyone had seen what happened. "How could you just jump on me like that? We don't even know each other!"

Taehyung kept his eyes lowered. "I'm sor-"

"Forget it." she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You seemed so nice when we talked at your fruit store, but I see you're one of those types who think a woman will fall for him if he just pounces on her, is that right? I'm seriously disappointed. You're so handsome and you were fun to talk to and you seemed kind enough. No. It was also my fault for judging you wrongly. I shouldn't have assumed you were nicer than you are. I'm sorry, too. Good night."

Before he could say anything more, the girl her heel and marched away, leaving Taehyung standing under the street light. He was normally a very confident guy, where had all of that gone when she was scolding him? Why did he just turn into himself, unable even to look at her? Why didn't he defend himself? She wouldn't even hear him out, though, he didn't have a whole lot to say. He could already tell she wouldn't be the kind of girl who would respond well to that kind of forward behaviour, so why did he go ahead? What was wrong with him? If he didn't do that he could at least have approached her as usual when she would pass by the store...

Seriously, Taehyung.

"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. She really was disappointed that the fruit shop guy turned out to be like others she had encountered. He didn't seem like a creep, though. She just hated when guys pounced on her out of nowhere, not even a little flirting beforehand, no warning about what was incoming. She didn't necessarily want him to ask her permission, but to at least have a bit more of an atmosphere before trying. He just launched in and she wasn't into it at all.

His lips were very soft, though, that was always a plus.

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, too. How could she walk past his shop now? 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 hadn't 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?

"You're overreacting." she told herself. "It was just a kiss from a tipsy boy... shouldn't have slapped him, that was unnecessary."

She knew herself well enough to know that she was too proud to apologise. But he was wrong, too!

Taehyung chugged a bottle of water as he sat in the closed fruit shop, a harsh yellow light shining down on him. He cursed himself for not being more of a gentleman, but he never expected that she would have been that repulsed by what he did. Before, with other girls, they wouldn't react like that if they didn't like what he did. He frowned. Why was he so concerned about her? She was just the girl from the street, how he feel such a strong pull towards her? How could a mere stranger with a smile evoke that much of a reaction? Why did he feel so euphoric after seeing her, or talking with her?

But she wasn't as he thought either. She looked much more innocent and meek than she really was, but then, as she had rightly yet irritatingly pointed out that they didn't know the other person. They had no clue about the actual personality the other had and both of them were judging entirely based on the very limited interactions they had with each other. She wasn't wrong at all there. But did she have to slap him? Even if it didn't hurt at all, he was slightly affronted by that. That was definitely going too far, though when he thought back to that moment, she actually didn't use much force - she wasn't trying to hurt him, just to make her point. But still, it wasn't okay to just hit someone like that.

He leaned back in the plastic chair, grabbing a peach and biting into it, letting out a dramatic sigh as he chewed ungraciously, wiping the juices away from his mouth with the back of his hand. He was frustrated with 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 let out a laugh, they didn't even know each other's names and here he was going dizzy over her.

*     *     *

"Are you sure you're okay to go by yourself?" Jennie's aunt asked as she prepared to leave for work the following morning.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for having me, Momo." she smiled, lingering by her bedroom door as she watched her aunt get ready.

"You know I love having you here, you're absolutely welcome to stay for as long as you need. Job hunting isn't easy these days, I hear. Come back whenever you want if you feel like moving here, I'll help you until you get settled down with your own job and place."

"Thanks." she smiled, waving goodbye to her.

Returning to her bedroom, Jennie had packed up most of her stuff, but left non-essentials in case she chose to come back later. She really liked being in Seoul, but it was time to go back to Daegu. She missed her mom and her cat, a fluffy white munchkin called Floof. She had been in Seoul for just over two months. She never expected to get and break up with a boyfriend in that time, but that's how things went for her. She never even told her aunt about that . She thought for a moment as she sat on the edge of her bed.

She never intended to walk down the street that day when the fruit shop guy started calling to her.

She was just trying a different route and found a chipper and dapper guy. He really was a total dreamboat to look at, that she couldn't deny. If only his personality was as sweet as his looks. She didn't want him to be like other guys, whatever that meant. More respectful, maybe. In her head she had, for some reason, built him up and imagined him as a handsome prince. It wasn't reasonable at all, but that was how she had viewed this stunning fruit vendor and he had ruined it by proving himself to be utterly normal.

Jennie caught her reflection in the mirror.

"Because you're the most special and interesting person in the entire world, right? You must be to have that expectation of men." she accused herself bitterly. "Forget about him. Forget it. You literally only met three times over the course of two weeks. He has absolutely no influence in your life. You can't just stay in Seoul because of a stranger. Pull yourself together, girl."

Later in the morning, Jennie wheeled her suitcase behind her and waited by the traffic lights. It suddenly dawned on her that she had taken this road without thinking. Her eyed darted over to the fruit shop on the other side, but the guy wasn't anywhere to be seen, just the other male worker. She let out a sigh of relief and crossed the road as the lights turned green, her suitcase rolling loudly along after her.

"Bananas! Melons! Apples!" the guy shouted as she approached the shop and she decided to go over. Might as well buy some fruit for the journey back home, it was a good two hours away by KTX.

Leaving her suitcase on the street, Jennie stepped up and grabbed a bag, heading for the peaches, her favourite fruit. She chose the palest ones with the pinkest blushes of colour and carefully put them inside the plastic, handing over the bag to the male employee.

"Let's have a look here now!" he smiled, setting the fruits on the scale. "That looks to be around ten thousand won."

Jennie dug out her purse from her bag and fished around for her card.

"Seems you have a suitcase with yourself there, are you off somewhere?" the employee asked. Jennie got the feeling he was the owner, given how comfortable he was with chatting casually with customers.

"Going to the subway station and then Seoul station and then home." she replied.

"And where is home?" he asked, taking the pink card from her before swiping it.

"Dae-"

"Card error!" the machine interrupted.

Jennie frowned. There had never been an error with that card before.

"That's odd." the guy said, taking the card out and inspecting it. "It looks new."

"There's more than enough money on it. Gosh, I'm sorry I don't have any cash right now. I'll have to put these back, I'm sorry."

"No problem at all. It's a shame, they taste really good!"

Without a word, a green note was handed over to the owner. The blonde haired fruit shop guy stood silently as his boss gave him a look, but cashed the money anyway. Jennie met his gaze and held it for what felt like a long moment. Neither of them said anything until Jennie silently thanked them for the peaches and made her way out of the shop. Taehyung watched as she slung the black bag around her elbow and pulled the handle of her suitcase, using her foot to kick it on to the wheels. It took some effort to pull, it seemed.

Jennie flinched as a hand landed on hers, pushing it off the suitcase handle. The fruit shop guy. He said nothing as he started pulling the heavy case along the road. Jennie also had no idea what to say, and so she followed him along, neither of them able to muster up the courage to say what it was they were really thinking. An apology for overreacting. An apology for being too forward. That's all they wanted to hear. Jennie had a churning feeling in her stomach, as though she might just stay should this guy apologise to her.

How ridiculous she was being.

Her heart sank as the subway was clearly in sight.

Wasn't that even more ridiculous?

Taehyung stopped at the entrance beside the escalator and stood the suitcase up, hoisting it up on to the step above so Jennie could take it. Hesitantly, she took the handle.

"Thanks." she said.

"Have a safe journey." he replied, not unkindly, meeting her eyes for a split second before he sauntered off back down the street, disappearing into the crowd.

Jennie watched as he went, losing him in the sea of people. The desire to call after him was almost overwhelming, but she forced herself to turn around and lug the suitcase onto the escalator where she joined the hundreds of other people on their way home.