Don't Dare, Don't You Even Go There:
Living up to it's name as a farmer village, Jennie wakes up the next morning to the sound of repeated and unrelenting crowing.
Like the rooster wants to make sure that every single soul in the village is awake - Jennie grunts and presses the home button of her phone - seven in the morning.
All in all, it wasn't a bad night.
Jennie must've fallen asleep somewhere around four, that means she managed to stay asleep for three whole hours, which is more than she could've hoped for in the previous weeks.
So maybe the change of scenery did help, but it was only the first night and Jennie knows better than getting her hopes up.
She gets out of bed to take a shower and brush her teeth before going downstairs to see what her grandma is up to. She knows from what her mom told her that her grandmother likes to wake up at six every morning to make the most out of every day.
But when she walks into the kitchen, she isn't there. She also isn't anywhere else in the house and Jennie frowns, grabbing her jacket to jog down the stairs and check if she's in the garden.
It's still so early and chilly that fog is hovering above the ground and the sun is hidden behind a thin sheet of clouds, turning the sky a milky shade of orange and pink.
Jennie shivers and stills when she hears- nothing.
Everything is so quiet. There are no cars engines disturbing the silence, no people rushing to work or some other sort of appointment they need to be at.
She can hear the faint tinkling of the bells that are attached to the cows in the village, birds chirping, a tractor driving down a road out of Jennie's sight.
It's just the peaceful scenery of wide, green fields, clusters of trees and small houses and the mountains in the background.
Kuma is running around in the garden, disappearing inside the sunflowers only to come running out again like something scared him. Jennie snickers and pets him when he runs up to her, playing around with him for a while until she hears some noises coming from the back.
"Grandma?" She shouts, her voice cracking, her eyes wanting to slip black closed, refusing to be awake (for once) at this time of day when she's supposed to be on vacation.
"Back here!" Comes her voice from behind the house.
Jennie yawns and puts on a pair of random slippers next to the door, making her way to the back of the house where her grandmother is-
Feeding chickens.
"We have chickens?" Jennie asks intelligently, watching her usher the animals out of their house.
She smiles and closes the gate to the house once all of them are out. "We sure do. You didn't know?"
"No." Jennie mumbles, scratching the back of her head and stumbling away when one of the chickens starts getting too close for comfort.
Kuma seems to be kind of scared, too, since he's currently hiding behind Jennie's legs, watching the animals move around warily.
"Well, now you do." She wipes her hands on her floral, breezy pants and straightens her back with a mildly pained expression. "Good morning, by the way."
"Oh! Sorry, good morning grandma," Jennie rushes out. "Can I help you with something?"
"No, no." She shakes her head and links their arms together to walk back to the front. "You're here on vacation. I'm not going to make you work."
"Hey, come on," Jennie says. "What am I supposed to do, then? Sit back and watch you work? No way. I'd be bored out of my mind, anyway."
She laughs, her cheeks rosy from the cold morning air outside. "We'll see. Let's have breakfast first, okay?"
Jennie hums and helps her back upstairs despite her protests. She's holding up well for her age, a lot better than most people would, and Jennie feels kind of proud in an odd way.
They eat breakfast in the living room, her grandma watching one of her health and lifestyle related morning shows on the TV where the woman tells the viewers about the benefits of ginger and tumeric while Jennie checks her social media next to her, her mouth stuffed to the brim and her stomach complaining for her to stop putting more food inside her body.
"So, do you have any plans for today?"
Jennie shrugs, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "Dunno. I feel weird just walking around on my own."
"Why?" She asks. "You can't get lost, and no one is going to bother you here. All our kids are very well mannered."
Jennie hums, scoffing internally after thinking about the group of peps that sent her those death glares yesterday. "I'm sure they are."
She takes a sip from her tea and gives her a long look. "Did you go outside last night?"
Jennie gulps and looks up at her innocently. "I'm sorry. I tried to be quiet."
"That's fine, Jennie." She shakes her head. "But what did you do outside so late? I was worried."
"Did mom not tell you?" Jennie asks after a moment of hesitation.
"Tell me what?"
Jennie has an inner conflict whether she should tell her or not. People tend to make a bigger deal out of it than it is and she definitely doesn't want to worry her when there isn't anything to worry about. "I've been having trouble sleeping, but it's nothing bad. I go out to run because it tires me out and helps me sleep."
As expected, a frown appears on her face. "That's not good, dear. How long has this been going on?"
Jennie chuckles and shrugs. "Half a year?"
She shakes her head. "Is that why you're taking a break from your studies? When I asked your mother she only said that you're currently not going to school but wouldn't tell me why."
"Yeah," Jennie mumbles, averting her eyes. "My doctor recommended me to take a semester off. Look, grandma, I swear it's already getting better. It's just stress-related."
She doesn't look convinced at all, the concern still apparent in her eyes. "I'll make you some tea to calm your nerves tonight. You'll sleep like a baby! Don't sneak out anymore, it's dangerous out here at night."
She chuckles and nods her head to humour her. She's tried everything there is under the sun, she doubts some organic tea will help much. "Yeah, okay."
Jennie helps her clean the table (and they nearly get into a physical fight over it because she's so adamant on not letting her work) and decides to just go out on her own and kill some time, taking Kuma with her to keep her company after checking with her grandmother.
She sees a lot of people guiding their cattle through the village, all of them shooting her smiles like they've known her their entire lives, and Jennie doesn't really know how to handle all the warmth and love people seem to be giving out in this village. People in the city are so busy and closed off they'd probably think you're crazy if you gave strangers a smile on the streets.
Everyone also seems to know Kuma since Jennie has to stop each time to let people pet him and smother him with love.
There are a few guys of her age that walk past her, carrying tool boxes and other utensils for work, and Jennie tries to ignore their rather dirty looks.
She can't help but feel bad since she's here on vacation while everyone else is obviously working, but what is she supposed to do? Just ask some random stranger if they need help at their job?
She's way too awkward and socially inept for that, so she'd rather come across like a lazy city-girl that can't be bothered to be a decent human being with manners, even if it hurts to think that people will see her that way when really, she's just way too fucking shy.
After a while, she sits down on the steps of the school Y/n showed her yesterday. Apparently, it's not being used as a school anymore. It's like the town hall of the village; it's where weddings and other celebrations are being held because of it's big garden and central location.
Jennie is busy scrolling through her instagram feed and carding her fingers through Kuma's fur with her other hand to notice someone opening the gate and approach her, at least until that someone whistles to gain her attention.
She looks up and notices that there are one girl and a guy walking towards her, one of them being the one from the bus station yesterday. he's really tall and Jennie's always felt threatened by tall people because she is only 5'4.
"Is that Kuma?" The guy asks once they're standing in front of her.
The dog perks up at hearing his name, his tail starting to wag excitedly.
Jennie puts her phone away and briefly wonders if this is going to end up in a fight. "Yes?"
It's two against one and Jennie usually doesn't get into arguments, mainly because she doesn't have a lot of friends and doesn't talk enough to get her into any sort of trouble. One of them doesn't look like he's very strong though.
"Why is he with you?" The guy wants to know.
"He's my grandma's dog." She says carefully.
The guy narrows his eyes. "Aunt Youngja is your grandma? Wait- You're Jennie?"
Jennie slowly nods her head.
The guy sighs and tilts his head to the side. "Why didn't you say so from the start? We were about to whoop your ass."
"... Why?"
"Because you're from the city." The guy shrugs, like that's a valid enough reason.
"But I didn't do anything to you guys."
The guy snorts. "Sorry but look how you're walking around. Brand clothes from head to toe. Are you trying to show off and mock us?"
Jennie looks down on herself and curses herself for not choosing something else to wear. Even her shoes are Vans. "Uh, sorry? I didn't mean to."
The guy glares at her for another moment before relaxing and reaching his hand out. "I'm Seokmin. I don't think we're related but your grandma treats me like a grandson , so might as well be."
"Nice to meet you," Jennie says, shaking Seokmin's hand.
"This is Nayeon." He points at the smaller, younger looking girl next to him who waves at Jennie.
"Hey." Jennie waves back.
"So, what do you do in the city? You're still in school, right?"
"Uh, yeah. Kinda taking a break right now but I'm studying public health."
"Public health?"
Jennie bites back a yawn. Shit, she's really tired. "Cancer prevention in my case, if that helps."
"Woah, not bad! Gonna save the world, city girl?" She nudges Jennie's arm with her elbow, waggling her eyebrows.
"Don't hold your breath." Jennie snickers, rubbing at her eyes.
"So, have you met anyone else yet?" Seokmin asks.
"Yeah, I met Y/n yesterday," Jennie says. "She showed me around a bit."
"What? Why she did not tell us anything?" Nayeon frowns and shakes her head.
"I'm kinda boring." Jennie snorts. "She probably didn't think it was worth mentioning."
"Girl, Y/n is the definition of boring. I don't think she's in a place to judge you." Seokmin laughs.
Jennie chuckles. She didn't find Y/n all that boring, to be honest. She kind of enjoyed her company since she didn't talk too much but still managed to make it not be too awkward between them.
"You should come hang out with us tonight!" Nayeon suddenly exclaims.
"Tonight?"
"We usually meet up in here." Nayeon points at the door of the school behind her. "Drink some beers and stuff."
"Beer?" Seokmin snorts and nudges Nayeon's head. "You mean we drink beer and you sip at your little can of coke-"
"Okay, I think we get it," Nayeon grumbles, making Jennie chuckle. "So, are you up for it, Jennie?"
"Sure," Jennie says. "Why not."
Seokmin's phone starts buzzing. "Hey, look. It's Y/n." He grins at Jennie and picks it up. "Hey girl, guess who I'm with right now. City girl! I mean Jennie, you idiot." Seokmin exchanges a few other words with her before hanging up. "Huh, weird."
"What did she say?" Chan asks.
"Usually nothing can get Y/n to drop her work, but she said she'll leave earlier today to hang out with us. She must like you." She wiggles her eyebrows and nudges Jennie with her elbow.
Jennie laughs awkwardly. She knows Seokmin meant it as a joke, which is what makes it even worse. The fact that the idea of a girl liking another girl is so absurd to them that it's actually nothing but a joke and it makes her stomach twist itself into knots.
They spend most of the afternoon just chatting about their lives. Jennie mostly just listens, because she's better at that than talking about herself. It's mostly just a form of self-protection. She's kind of learned the hard way that the more you talk about yourself, the more you're prone to slip up and share something you didn't actually mean to say out loud.
She learns that Seokmin is a junior at college and Nayeon is in her last year of high school. When Jennie asks why they're not at work like everyone else, Seokmin laughs.
"Why would we be working?"
"Why not?"
"We're here on vacation," Seokmin says.
"You guys don't live here?" Jennie asks.
"Oh, fuck no." Seokmin scoffs. "We live in Kyangju, come here almost every summer, though. Our grandparents live here, so we stay with them."
"What about Y/n?" Jennie asks without thinking.
"Ah, that's a bit complicated." Seokmin sighs heavily. "Her family does farming from spring to summer, so she lives here most of the time. They move back to Cheumsan during fall and winter. They have a car repair business down there."
Jennie nibbles on her lower lip and thinks about how Y/n told her that she didn't have time for school. It looks like she wasn't lying when she said that.
"Girl got a fucked up life," Seokmin mutters.
"Yeah, well, what can you when god gave her a father like that?" Nayeon suddenly scoffs, having silently listened to the conversation so far. "Fucking prick."
Jennie wonders what they're talking about, but she knows her place, and she knows better than to pry so she just stays silent and wills herself not to jump to any conclusions.
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Changed the chapters name to make it pretty?