- - - - -

Taecyeon cruised along the road and turned around the corner coming to a complete stop at the side of the street. A tall gray lamp post with the sign “Bus stop for bus #100” stood in the air beside him. Yoona was sitting on a green bench deprived of its once fresh color. Once she noticed him she got up and opened the door getting in.

“Sorry for the sudden call,” she apologized. “Did you eat? I can probably treat you to a meal.”

“Why?” Taecyeon wondered starting off onto the road again. “Do you feel you owe me something again?”

Yoona didn’t quite reply but the aura of her silence told him so.

“Instead of feeding me with food lets go somewhere else.” he told.

“Where?” she wondered as they went pass a couple restaurants.

“Somewhere magical. Even an angry child would cheer up at the sight of it,” he said.

Yoona frowned slightly and watched as Taecyeon pulled into an amusement park.

“An angry child?” Yoona asked getting out.

“It was just a comparison,” Taecyeon clarified.

“Of course,” she replied following him toward the entrance.

“I’ll pay for our entrance fee,” Taecyeon suggested, “you can pay for the fun and the food inside.”

“Why, that sounds even more expensive,” Yoona joked.

Taecyeon laughed and they waited in line.

People and screams were located all over the park. A two story merry go round greeted them as they walked in. Food and game stalls randomly sat near resting areas where benches awaited aching legs and tired adults and children. Families and groups of friends hurried from one ride to the next eager to experience the thrill of the screams and heavy gravity during the rides.

“How about the Viking?” Taecyeon wondered standing in his spot.

“No, what about the Batman?” suggested Yoona. “I like challenges.”

“It doesn’t look like a challenge but more like going into the dark,” Taecyeon offered. “What about the Velocity?”

“Wow, you sure make it hard,” Yoona remarked. “Fine, lets go on a random ride then…should we get wet today?”

“Wet?” Taecyeon repeated almost clueless.

Screams escaped their mouths, their arms raised as the coaster sent them down the steep slopes throwing their hearts to the back of their throats. Thrill and fear filled them both as they landed roughly onto even surface then once again were sent down the steep slope once then two more times. By the time the ride ended they found themselves racing to another ride then another and another until hunger began killing their strength.

With nachos and hot dogs in hand they sat on a bench watching passersby. The warm sun shone down heavily with heat that was rarely present during the fall. They were quiet as they slowly relaxed themselves breathing fresh air and sipping at their sodas.

“It still kind of feels like I’m on the rides,” Taecyeon said after a moment.

“Same here.” she agreed then took down the rest of her hot dog. “That was fun. I didn’t realize so much time passed by.”

“Really?” Taecyeon checked the time on his cell phone.

It’d been almost three hours since they’d arrived at the park. He wondered for a slight moment of Victoria had cooked the meat for herself without burning down the kitchen.

“Ok Taecyeon,” Yoona started.

His attention floated back and he turned, “Just Taecyeon is fine, if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Sure,” she smiled, not a small smile but a normal one, “Taecyeon, about yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Taecyeon raised an eyebrow to think back then nodded. “Ah…the restaurant? Why?”

“I just wanted to say, sorry for ranting out,” Yoona finished. “I should’ve kept those things to myself. I apologize if I made you feel awkward.”

“Awkward?” he repeated then laughed slightly. “Uh…no, it’s quite alright. Honestly, it gave me a lot of thought while I was observing you. If you have things bothering you actually it’s better if you let someone know about it rather than keeping it bundled up.”

“You were observing me?” she sounded surprised if not taken aback.

“I observe people, I mean…I read them when I look at them,” Taecyeon explained hesitantly wondering if he sounded like a ert of some sort. “I mean…well to start off I used to get into a lot of fights during high school. I was mostly alone so I had to defend myself when I often got attacked. I taught myself to read people after my nose got broken and just since then when I look at people I try to read them.”

Yoona seemed exhilarated to hear his story but she didn’t show it.

Taecyeon let out an exasperated laugh and rubbed the back of his head to divert the attention off his face. “I sounded weird, sorry.”

“So you were alone majority of the time?” Yoona asked.

“Huh?” Taecyeon turned back to look at her after turning away for a second.

Yoona smiled, “I was alone, too. I didn’t hang in groups like the others did, so I spent time by myself too. I often did that.”

Taecyeon looked at her sullen face. The glistening laughter from before had quickly become dim.  

“Lets go,” Taecyeon got up. “Get some ice cream and finish all the rides before heading back.”

Yoona looked up and smiled.

“Ice cream?”

“It’s like medicine for a sore heart.” Taecyeon told hurrying down the walk. “This one’s on you, right?”

- - - - -

“Where’s this?” Victoria asked looking around.

They walked into the biggest mall in the city. Different shops were in different cubes around her and people walked by carrying shopping bags of all sizes. Victoria watched women in short dresses walk by and stared at their fancy hair as they disappeared around the hallway. She hadn’t stepped into the mall…ever. Well…excluding the time from before she’d been taken away.

She’d made trips to the mall often with her mother but that was when she was little. Always being guided by her mother, hand in hand.

Victoria turned around and glanced at the gold and silver in the glass cases at a jewelry store behind her. For a moment she wondered how high the price would be if someone had hired them to burglarize it. She felt a hand pull her arm back as she had unconsciously stepped forward. Turning around with her hair flailing over her shoulder she found Donghae looking at her.

“Where are you going?” he questioned. “This way.”

He started down the hall.

“To where? What are we doing?” she questioned.

He stopped again and looked at her. He always looked at her in a way as if he couldn’t get angry nor annoyed with her. There was always this interesting gaze in his eyes.

“There’s a banquet next week, remember?” he asked.

“Oh…yea…” she told. “But…”

“Lets find something nice to wear,” he suggested before looping her arm around his.

“What?” she asked pulling her arm back but he held it almost tightly.

“This is etiquette,” he explained.

“Eddy…what?”

“Etiquette,” he slowly pronounced. “A code of behavior. You were going to ask me what it was, right?”

Victoria stared at him blankly.

“You’re quite interesting but I’m already catching on,” he replied starting down the hall. “For the banquet we’re required to dress formal - special wear.”

“Special wear? Then why are we here?” she wondered letting herself go along with him.

“They have a good variety of selection here,” he explained, “and…” he turned to look at her with a smile, “I want to make you look the best.”

Victoria felt her head to the side as a big “What?” entered her mind.

Donghae walked into a store full of different suits for men hanging on the walls and on racks. He glanced through the racks, pulled some out, and tried them on while she waited outside. Glancing around Victoria glided her hands over the grey suit on the rack feeling its smooth texture along her fingers.

“Dad used to wear something like this,” she found herself saying quietly.

Finally looking more closely she glanced at the suits on the walls and the rest on the racks. In her mind she could picture her dad, without his face clear, walking along the tiny aisles glancing at the suit jackets with admiration. He would take one out and stare at it for a long time as if observing for any fault in it. Then he would turn to her mother and ask for an opinion.

The door from behind her opened and Victoria found herself spinning around. From where she stood about a feet away, Donghae stood decked in his handsome black outfit.

“It looks nice,” the words flowed from .

It would have been something her mother would have said to her dad. She wasn’t quite sure about the reason why she’d said that. Maybe she meant it or maybe she wanted to recollect the feel of her mother and father being with her.

A smile erupted on his face satisfied, “You think?”

Victoria remained silent. He turned to look at her curiously waiting and she smiled in return.

Moments later she found herself standing in a dress store surrounded by racks of colorful cloths hanging down of all different sizes. It reminded her of when Taecyeon had brought her to a shop to buy clothes. She felt trapped just the same. Where to start, she didn’t know. Without asking and without waiting on her like Taecyeon had, Donghae had begun looking through the racks as if nothing mattered.

“This one’s nice,” he held out a black dress.

Victoria looked at the dress then almost feared going into the fitting room. Cold isolation…

“Why?” she questioned.

“Huh?” he raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, why should you buy it for me?” Victoria asked for the first time after her brain began to process the current situation into her mind slowly. “I already received pants, a jacket, boots, and a scarf from you. So, why would you have to buy anything more?”

He glanced at her as if she had offended him.

Victoria glanced at the ground.

With life as a killer she could take and leave things as she wanted, however many times as she wished. But life as a normal person…whatever someone did, whatever they chose had to come from their own hands. Not to take things for granted, be shameful when you take something without effort - those were simple things she’d learned from her parents. Something she recalled after bringing them out of her mind.

“Do you feel bad? You don’t need to…” he started.

“It doesn’t make sense.” she interrupted ruthlessly. “For you to be doing things like this.”

“Who are you to me? We have no special relations, there’s no reason between us for you to be doing this,” she wanted to say that but those things were some things she didn’t say. Not the kind of words that would come from a person like her.

“Do I need a reason?” he asked surprising her a little with his comeback. “I just want to. Because I’m interested in you, I want to make you the best. Good enough?”

Victoria just stared at him with her mind fumbling.

“I told you I’m a straightforward person.” Donghae reminded.

- - - - -

Taecyeon and Yoona walked back to the car with their third helping of ice cream cones. The sun was beginning to hang low in the sky creating an evening glow of green lying underneath a faded blue. No stars were visible yet but just from looking at it they could tell that it was getting late.

The clock marked 7 into the evening.

“Ah…I’m drained.” Yoona commented as she sat in the passenger’s seat.

Taecyeon the heat to warm up the car. He glanced into the rearview mirror slowly feeling exhaustion creep into his muscles. It’d certainly been a long while since he’d gone out for so long.

“Oh…” Taecyeon said turning to her. “There’s a banquet next week at the business. We’re allowed to bring a guest with us, I was wondering if you wanted to join me.”

“Banquet?” Yoona repeated. “Ah…it must be the Board’s banquet, right?”

“Ah…yes.” he nodded quickly realizing, “Uh…if your fiancé’s going it’s also fine if you’re going with him. I was just wondering.”

“No,” Yoona said staring at the empty slot where a car should have been parked in front of them. “He hasn’t contacted me for any personal reasons. I haven’t contacted him either. It sounds good, ok. I’ll go with you.”

“Are you sure?” Taecyeon wondered. “He’ll be there for sure too.”

“Well, then maybe he should have asked me before you did.” Yoona remarked.

Taecyeon felt a smile climb onto his face immediately and he hoped that his face or his ears hadn’t turned red.

He dropped Yoona off at her house and drove slowly back home. The apartment was empty when he arrived.

Turning on the stove to cook the meat Victoria had left on the table he grabbed his phone to call her. After a few rings he was sent straight to voicemail. Had she deliberately hung up on him?

“Aish!” Taecyeon mumbled. “You’re getting it when you get back!”

A moment later a text came.

“Don’t bother me right now. Dinner is luxurious here!!! ^^”

Taecyeon felt his mouth drop open then he snorted. Immediately he sent a text back saying, “Jerk! Fine, stay out all night with your oppa. Also, Victoria, all your meat is mine now!!”