"Tae?" I question under my breath. He pulls me up to my feet where i then get a very good look at his face. I thank the gods he didn't hear me.
"Sorry about that," he smiles. It doesn't appear as though he recognises me. I breathe out a sigh of relief. He smiles to Jae-Yeol then begins to walk away.
"Do you know him?" Jae-Yeol asks. I hold Jae-Yeol's hand again as we begin to walk down the street once more.
"Well the truth is," I say, Jae-Yeol clearly becoming suspicious. "He's an ex." He smiles. "Don't worry, I'm completely loyal to you now." I smile very genuinely.
"That's good," he smiles back before squeezing my hand to make sure I'm aware he's fine.
"To be honest, I forgot you'd been out with other people before, stupid I know."
"Yeah, two actually, both live here," I admit. "He was one of them and the other is dating I think."
"That's good," he smiles, squeezing my hand once again. "Now I don't have to worry about losing you."
After a few more minutes of walking along the dim, dark and dirty paths we come across a very familiar park. I look into it to see if it's changed however everything from the colour of the swings is the same. I quickly walk on by remembering Sam and Ru-Ri's warnings about going there.
We reach the house of my good friend and step inside. She greets us happily. When we get inside we see welcome home banners and cake and fairy lights scattered around the kitchen.
"Welcome home," Ru-Ri smiles. "I should have done this earlier but I had other things to think about." I jerk my head to the side in a questioning manner. "Well." She turns her head and smiles at Jin. He nods his head. They take each other's hands and look into each other's eyes with intent, whereas Jae-Yeol and I turn to each other cluelessly. We turn back to the smiling faces of my friends.
"We're getting married!" Jin and Ru-Ri say at the same time, filling the room with happiness. I hug Ru-Ri and we start jumping up and down like little girls. Jae-Yeol takes Jin's hand and shakes it.
"I know I only met you today," Jae-Yeol says shaking his hand securely. "But congratulations." Jin pulls him into a hug.
"Thanks, I'm sure we'll be great friends by the end of your trip," Jin smiles.
Ru-Ri and I stop jumping around like idiots and just smile.
"I'm so proud of you," I tell her. "I'm sure your mum would be too." She laughs.
"I'm sure too, mum always liked people like Jin," she says.
"Do you remember when we were kids and we have competitions about who would get married first?" I ask jokingly.
***
"Don't I look stunning?" Ru-Ri smiles wearing her mum's white dress. As a young child she looks ridiculous.
"Of course," I smile. She twirls around with a big grin on her face.
"I can't wait until I grow up and marry a handsome man," she laughs playing with the folds in her dress.
"I'll get there first," I challenge. "I will dress in beautiful white dress and walk down the isle gracefully."
"I'll be beautiful princess like in those Disney films," Ru-Ri laughs. "But let's promise each other that well walk down the isle together, as neither of us have a dad to do so." I nod my head in agreement.
***
I hold the magazine over my head as I lie down on Ru-Ri's bed. My music plays loudly, blasting songs like I am the best and Be Mine. I wiggle my foot along to the beat of the songs. Ru-Ri stands in my door frame watching me. She has her arms crossed over her stomach and is leaning on the frame itself. I signal to her with my hand. She walks in and takes the magazine out of my hand to see what I was looking at.
"Really? Infinite again?" She questions laughing.
"What? I like their dancing," I explain. She laughs a little.
"Sure," she giggles. "I'm sure you'll find a boyfriend soon." I scoff.
"Just because you have the boys bowing down to your feet," I snarl. She begins to chuckle.
"You just gave me a funny image in my head, thanks," Ru-Ri laughs. "I don't get why more boys don't like you though. I mean, you're so cute." I roll my eyes at her comment and sit up. I wiggle my legs off of the end of the bed as my toes can only just hit the floor.
"Thanks but guys aren't into that," I inform her. "They like sexy girls, like you."
"Really?" She questions. "But we're only 14, surely they aren't thinking like that." I shake my head.
"If only you knew what the boys say about you," I say.
"What do they say?" She asks.
"Oh just about how pretty you are and how they'd want to go further than just kissing," I tell her. She grimaces in disgust. "You asked." Of course I "forget" to mention how everyone would question why someone as pretty and clever as her, would hang out with a loser like me.
"Its fine, it just means I'll end up with someone who loves me for me not my body." I chuckle at her grumpy expression.
"I won't just marry anyone you know," she scoffs, turning her nose up and away from me. I get up and hug her from behind.
"I'm kidding," I say. "I'm sure you'll find someone amazing. And we'll still walk each other up the isle right?" She nods in agreement.
***
"Thanks for the meal Jin," I smile. He begins to clear up our plates, bowls and chopsticks.
"So what're you planning to do this evening?" Ru-Ri asks.
"I'm going to take Jae-Yeol out and we'll go on a walk," I explain. She nods her head looking slightly disappointed. "Don't worry Ru-Ri, I promise I'll spend time together tomorrow." She nods her head agreeing to the plan.
"We can shopping right?" She asks.
"Of course," I agree. I take Jae-Yeol's hand and we put our shoes on. "See you guys later. I say."
"Have you still got your key?" Ru-Ri asks. I nod before taking a keychain out of my pocket. She smiles as she notices a familiar object on it. The butterfly Jungkook gave me. "Okay, bye." We leave and immediately take each others hands.
"So where are we off to?" Jae-Yeol asks.
"Well you told me back at home that you'd like to see where I used to spend time over here," I explain. "So I thought I'd take you to the place I would go to be alone." We turn the corner into a park. I point towards a tall structure that my friends and I would always call "the bird's nest" after the things you can sit in. In the darkness, Jae-Yeol and I climb up the rope frame in the one of the nests. I decided to lie on top of his arm and squish up towards him.
"I've never asked before," Jae-Yeol says pointing towards the small tattoo of the dots. "Why did you get this?" I look at the dots and chuckle awkwardly.
"Because I thought I'd never be coming back here," I admit. "One for for each of my friends." I begin to point at then as I name the people. "Ru-Ri, Jin, Sam, Jimin, Jang-mi, Seulgi, Tae and Na-yu." I explain. He nods his head.
"What about the heart?" He questions. I pause for few seconds questioning whether or not I should tell him.
"It shows my connection to them," I lie. "They're all my friends you know." He nods his head although I can tell her not buying my bluff.
We continue to sit and chat as we watch the sunset over the trees. It's true that the first colour to disappear in a sunset is red, my eye catches it.
"Did you know that red is the first colour to disappear in a sunset because the light has the shortest fraction length?" I question. Jae-Yeol shakes his head tiredly. "Are you tired? We can go home if you want."
"It's okay, I'll stay here with you if you want," he replies.
"No we've had a busy day, we should catch up on our sleep," I say sitting up. I start to move my legs so get down.
"You don't have to," Jae-Yeol says, but I've already started to climb down. "Okay I'm coming." He begins to climb down after me.
I smile as a breeze brushes over my face. The wind is cold and relaxing. However the next gust is not so friendly, it carries a familiar scent, one that I was hoping to avoid. Instinctively I turn around when Jae-Yeol's hand takes mine but I turn around to what I expect. Someone very familiar to the scent of cigarettes.
(A/N: I've been having serious writer's block recently sorry if you can tell)
(A/N: 🚫WARNING🚫: the next chapter may be a little too.much for some readers. If you don't want to read it then skip after the first *** to the next ***)