don't blame me ✧ taennie

acts of hate (or love?)

taehyung can feel a presence shadowing him as he strolls through the park after dinner, but the uncomfortable feeling crawling up his neck fades when he realizes that—although there are many people who could be tailing him—there's only one person who would follow him around so shamelessly.

he sighs, slowing down, and says, "at least be a little more subtle when you're stalking me."

the wind whooshes around him, piercingly cold in its autumn nature, but he doesn't make the effort to pull his jacket tighter around himself. he registers the movement on the side out of the corner of his eye, and when he blinks, jennie is already moving to stand beside him.

"i'm not stalking you," she says. "i was just waiting for you at the banpo bridge and you didn't show."

"and what about it? were you worried about me?"

taehyung didn't show because he was tired after attending (normal) job interviews the entire day. he took a nap, woke up in time to get dinner delivered, and now he's here—walking around the park without any purpose.

jennie lets out a hum, but taehyung can't tell if it's an affirmative answer or just a sound of acknowledgement. "you usually come. and i thought you'd like the rainbow fountain."

sending her a skeptical look, not understanding why jennie would care about whether taehyung liked the place where she would get stabbed, taehyung shrugs. "maybe i would," he says. "but i just didn't feel like hunting today."

"don't tell me you're losing interest in me."

jennie has her lower lip jutted out in a stupid pout when he looks over at her.

"my life doesn't revolve around chasing you around day and night," he says. "i have better things to do."

she gasps, pressing her palm against her heart dramatically. "that hurt," she says, nudging taehyung's shoulder with her own when he just shrugs. "but i personally think it does. you're obsessed with me."

taehyung feels a stupid, foolish, dumb grin tugging at his lips. lord, save him.

"says the person who's been following me ever since i left my house."

jennie doesn't even bother trying to argue. "i had to make sure you didn't get attacked," she says instead, "and when i saw you walking down the street. i thought that maybe you'd head for banpo bridge, so i followed you."

"i heard the tip, decided not to bother going, and it didn't cross my mind again," he tells her, turning left into the path that leads to the part with food stalls. "you keep overestimating how much time i spend thinking about you."

his mind instantly conjures the right facts: that he spends a vast majority of his time researching the originals (because of jennie) or specifically her, each day he wonders if he will be hearing about jennie's appearances throughout the city, and if they do meet, taehyung keeps going over it in his head once he gets back home, sometimes staring at his own reflection in the mirror as he cleans blood off of himself, sometimes in his bed, with lights out, when the only thing on his mind is the question of why he didn't kill jennie that day. (he never finds the answer.)