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     chapter twenty-seven      in this together.

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“That’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard,” Arang guffawed as she slapped her thigh repeatedly. The confident smile Taehyung had plastered on his face when he had asked her that audacious (and not to mention completely absurd) question slowly started to fade away. He had been listening to the girl laugh maniacally for the past five minutes now. It was the first time he had ever seen her do such a thing and although he should have been offended, he wasn’t.

Her genuine smile was actually kind of cute.

Taehyung wasn’t dumb; with that kind of reaction he realized that his assumption had to be way off. To save him from the humiliation he’d surely face if Arang were to find out that he had been serious, he decided to play along and pretended that everything he had said to her was an act. However, deep down he had the tiniest sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, he had caught something.

“Yeah I’m hilarious, I know. Can you put a cork in it though? You’re distracting me with that annoying laugh of yours.” He grumbled, his grip on the steering wheel tightening.

Arang toned it down a bit as she cleared and glanced at the driver. “You were the one who said it. What were you expecting? Did you think I’d stammer because you had guessed correctly? Or did you want to see my cheeks turn a crimson red as I shyly nodded my head, confirming your suspicions?” 

“Of course I wasn’t anticipating either one of those things! Just drop it, would you? We’ve already established that it was joke. Har har, now let’s build a bridge and get over it.” Taehyung huffed, irritated. What was he expecting? Did he think that Arang, the girl who couldn’t stand the sight of him, actually developed romantic feelings for him? That probably wouldn’t happen even if the apocalypse took place!

“Geez, what’s got your in a twist?” Arang muttered.

“What’s got my what?” Taehyung repeated; he was definitely confused.

“It’s an idiom.” She explained. “It means what’s wrong with you? Or another example would be who stuck that stick up your a—”

“Okay, okay. I get it. You don’t need to finish that sentence. I already know what you’re going to say.” He cut her off because truthfully speaking Taehyung wasn’t the biggest fan of cursing. He found it completely unattractive, especially if a girl were to do it.

“Fine, where are we going?” She looked out the window but failed to recognize where they were.

“What do you mean where are we going? I’m bringing you home. It’s been a long day.” He replied, making a left turn.

“But I don’t want to go home. At least not yet.” Arang stated as she stared down at her hands. “I don’t feel like talking to anyone right now. Knowing my parents they’d bombard me with questions as soon as I set foot inside the house. I don’t want to deal with that right now.”

“Is that why you didn’t reply to anyone on your phone?”

Her head snapped his direction. “You were watching me? Talk about being creepy.”

“I am not creepy! I just noticed your phone buzzing so much. It’s not that hard to put the pieces together.” He defended. He was worried about her but she called him creepy? Could she get any more unbelievable? That’ll be the last time he ever did anything like that for her ever again. “If you don’t want to go home, where do you want to go?”

Arang tapped her finger against her chin as she gave the idea some thought. Where did she want to go? Obviously they couldn’t go to crowded places because one of them might get recognized. “How about a park?” She offered.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that.” Taehyung tsked.

“Just find the nearest playground.” Arang instructed. “I want to go on the swings.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What are you? A five year old kindergartener?” He scoffed. Although he was teasing her about her choice, Taehyung did as she asked. He was familiar with the area and was able to locate the nearest playground. Fortunately for them it was empty. “Your heaven awaits you.” He joked after he had parked the car. Arang climbed out of the vehicle, leaving her purse inside. She rushed over to the swings; she was careful with her steps to avoid tripping and landing flat on her face.

How long has it been since she’s road on one of these things? Too long that was for sure. There were no parks near her new house which for Arang. She always liked going on the swings whenever she was stressed out, it was rare but it did happen from time to time. Straightening and bending her legs, she was able to get enough momentum to send herself flying into the air. Once she was high enough, she stopped moving and fluttered her eyes shut.

The warm breeze whipped against her skin as she allowed her body to relax. God did she love this feeling.

Taehyung watched the girl with much interest as he leaned against a nearby pole. He didn’t know she could be so… childish. He’s never met a girl her age who liked going to playgrounds just to go on the swings like a little kid. It was new but it was also sort of endearing. Taehyung wasn’t aware that this had been a habit of hers ever since she was ten years old.

Her parents couldn’t afford to buy her everything she wanted and of course she understood that. There were bills that needed to be paid and food that needed to be bought. They did the best they could for her and she appreciated everything they sacrificed for her and her siblings. Raising children was definitely expensive and took up a lot of time and energy. So if she ever wanted to have some fun without spending any money, Arang knew that she always had the park to go to. It was free and less than five minutes away from her house.

It couldn’t get any better than that. 

Taehyung failed to realize how much time had passed until droplets of rain began falling from the darkened sky hanging above their heads. He had done nothing but stare at Arang the entire time! What was he thinking? Had he lost his mind? “Yah! So Arang, I think it’s time for us to leave!” He hollered, snapping her out of her thoughts.

She could feel the water kissing her skin gently as she opened her eyes. She stuck her legs out and stopped herself. The sun had already set? How long had they been at the park? “Sorry about that,” she muttered when the two of them were in the car, protected from getting attacked by the rain.

“Do you feel better now?” Taehyung questioned as he started the car. She nodded. “Then there’s no need for you to apologize. As long as it helped revert you back to being your usual irritable self I’m cool with it. If it didn’t then it’d be a different story.” 

“You’re really something else. Did you know that, Kim Taehyung?” Arang flashed him a small smile and buckled her seatbelt.

Did she just smile at him? He cleared his throat and changed the gear to drive. “We should get going. Your parents are probably worried sick over you.” He pointed out.

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