Touch || Lee Jeno

twelve.

Ru had never been to a chinatown before, but this was exactly what she imagined it to be. 

Her nose was greeted with the rich scent of various street foods, an abundance of little stalls settled along the long stretch of road, some even in the middle of it. Ru hated the crowd— she always has— but the life and excitement around her was undeniable.

Every nook and corner of the place, there were people going about their day. A little boy running after his mom with a miniature traditional lion dance puppet, an old man in a battered old undershirt fanning the skewered meat on his open grill.

"Buy four, get one free! Buy four, get one free!" The man boomed, inviting nearby passers with his sonorous voice.

The new and invigorating atmosphere almost made her forget about why they were here in the first place. That was until Jeno leaned in from behind her and spoke up, "how are we gonna find the psychic?"

How were they supposed to find the store in the middle of all this? She started to fan herself, the heat of the place finally catching up to her. Maybe she shouldn't have worn such a wooly sweater.

She leaned back so that he could hear her. "I guess we'll just have to look around."

They pushed their way through the crowd, keeping their eyes peeled for some sort of psychic store. Ru didn't actually know what she was trying to spot. What would a psychic store even look like?

As her eyes scanned the vast area, she spotted an otherwise ordinary stand that displayed two words Ru didn't know she wanted, but definitely did now— Cold Smoothies. Suddenly, it felt like the heat around her increased two folds, her throat instantaneously dry.

"Jeno—" she tugged on his shirt, her excitement building— "let's get smoothies!"

"What?" He leaned down, their height difference apparent as he bent down to hear her better.

"Let's get those smoothies!" She spoke up, pointing at the stall; the poorly drawn cup was starting to look tempting.

It seemed the crowd was relentlessly loud, as Jeno gave her a confused look and again, asked, "what?"

She sighed in mild frustration. With her mind occupied with the smoothie, it didn't even register in her brain when she took his hand in her's, pulling him with all her weight across the mass of people.

This time, it was her hand tightly bound around his, her small fingers wrapped eagerly around the palm of his hand. He followed her helplessly, his arm tugged forward as he took large strides to keep up with her fast pace. She couldn't walk this fast before?

They finally reached the stall; she dropped his hand without a second thought, letting his hand fall down to his side. He stood quietly beside her as she scanned the small menu board taped to the front of the stall, trying his best not to think about the tingling feeling that lingered on the palm of his hand.

"Excuse me, sir, I'll have the peach smoothie, please—" she looked up at Jeno excitedly— "do you want anything?"

Jeno stepped forward and gave the man a polite smile. "I'll have the chocolate smoothie."

The man gave them a jovial smile before he started cutting up fruits and crushing blocks of ice. Jeno's eyes lingered on her. She stood patiently, waiting for the man, but he couldn't help notice her head slightly bobbing to the rhythm of the crowd, her eyes glued to every move the man made.

The man finally finished the smoothies, handing it to them as they paid for it. They were about to walk away when Ru suddenly stopped.

"Wait—" she turned around, taking the piece of paper with the address on it and presenting it to the vendor— "excuse me, but do you know where this place is?"