Fly V to the Moon - Ch. 17
“The one where he—finally!—asks her out”
FinALLY. Loved writing this. This is a longer chapter. If you like this please leave it a like. It really means more than you think!
Pairing: Taehyung x OFC
Genre: Fluff, Idol AU, Coffee Shop AU, Café Singer OFC, Slow Burn
Warnings: Light swearing, but it’s all for banter. Again, this is fluff.
Word count: 3.3k
Super short chapters, so there will be a lot of chapters (except for this one, which is not that short).
Recommended Songs: Afterglow — covered by Us the Duo; Blinding Lights (Jazz cover) — covered by James Farrelli and Sarah Menescal; L.O.V.E. — covered by Suhyun
Summary: She’s a foreign middle school teacher by day, a charming singer by night. Taehyung and company discover her at a small garden jazz café where she had a gig one night, only to find out from Jin that she was an arts teacher at a local school in Seoul — Jin's nephew and niece’s teacher, in fact. Taehyung finds himself on a surprise adventure to the moon.
Masterlist
✻ ✻ ✻
Fly V to the Moon — by Nightscape Persona
Chapter 17: “The one where he—finally!—asks her out”
After the five minute call, everything becomes a rush.
A rush of blood to your head.
A rush of feet to the stage.
A rush of adrenaline as the instruments are tuned.
A rush of voices as the audience greets the band.
A rush.
When Lia realized, the divider was rushed to the side.
When she realized, she was on the stage.
On their little stage on the terrace she was, her heart and head and temples beating, her bloodstream rushing, her eyes sieving the yellow sea of sun-lit heads, hoping to find him.
Junhae proceeded with the introductions.
She smiled when she heard her name.
A particularly zippy set of cheers came from a corner a little apart from the rest of the café.
She just knew that was him.
She smiled in that direction, and, rightfully so, she identified one head of black waves. But she couldn’t look at him. Not yet. Couldn’t risk making eye contact and forgetting her lines, forgetting to breathe, forgetting.
The guitarist spoke his “without further ado,” and above the clinking and chinking and tinkling of cups and cutlery and plates, the music started to play.
First, the wind chimes.
Then, a beat on the drums.
Following suit, a soft guitar and the piano and a hand-picked violin.
And just like this, the café came to life.
It was always like this when they played.
Before the performance the café was already buzzing and electrified, true, but as soon as they started to play, as if spellbound, the little place became another world.
That night they were floating on an ocean at dayfall, it seemed. Yellow light streamed from the terrace into the café. She’d seen the café a plentiful of times in the evening, when it was dark and the place softly lit. On afternoons like this, however, there hadn’t been many chances.
She imagined what it felt like to be seated in the café, as a diner. With soft sunlight gliding all around. The warmth of the crowd. The treats on their plates. The band on the stage. The band backlit against the garden, sunbeams oozing in between their bodies and their instruments and the foliage behind and above and beside them.
Was that how he was feeling too?
Was he looking at her too?
Though she could only imagine what the café looked like from the crowd —from where he stood—, it surely looked magical from her place in their little stage.
She gathered every bit of wonder she felt to pour it into her voice.
She breathed into the microphone.
And she sang.
“Stop the clock, it’s amazing.”
It was amazing, how dreamy the café looked from their stage.
“You should see the way the light dances off your hair.”
Heads of hair glinting in a million colors because of the sun.
“A million colors of hazel, golden and red.”
Leaves and ivies and fronds waving in the soft wind.
She hoped he heard it.
The wonder.
She hoped he heard it in her voice, and felt the wonder too.
“Saturday morning is fading.”
The yellow light had started to slowly turn orange as the sun prepared for early bed.
“The sun's reflected by the coffee in your hand.”
Her eyes hovered over that end of the café.
She couldn’t see his face.
Only a headful of wavy hair, of fading curls, gleaming orange with the sun.
She couldn’t see his eyes.
There were sun rays on the way.
But…
He moved his head.
“My eyes are caught in your gaze all over again.”
There.
His eyes.
Brown and beautiful and… intense.
His eyes fixed, serious.
Golden.
Sunlit.
Grave.
Focused on her.
A gaze.
An intense gaze.
Cat-like.
Scorching.
A type of gaze she had never seen on his eyes before, never in all the times that he had laid his eyes on her.
With this gaze, a hollow sank into her chest.
He moved his head back.
“Oh, I will hold on to the afterglow.”
Soon enough, the song was over.
The hollow in Lia’s stomach was not.
Her heartbeat played forte in her ears.
His gaze played ceaselessly on her brain.
Intense.
Scorching.
She didn’t dare look at his eyes again.
Her hollow grew heavier when she did.
The band continued to play, and Lia continued to sing.
Evening came, and the sea of sun-lit heads became a sea of soft-lit heads as the café grew dark and dimmed lights started to gleam.
Their melodies changed into jazzier tunes.
She could glimpse his head bopping around.
She caught his face at times.
He looked smiley now.
It was not intense now.
Good.
Her hollow grew less hollower as they played song after song.
As the crowd cheered, and bliss bubbled inside her.
Soon enough, they moved to another song.
Their last song.
The song.
The song that taunted Lia from the very first ding of the guitar.
An accidental innuendo.
Like a cosmic joke.
She’d never had trouble singing that song.
Maybe the floor would swallow her whole before they reached that letter.
“L,” she sang.
Or not.
“...is for the way you look at me.”
She would not look at that corner.
“O,”
She would not.
“...is for the only one I see.”
Her cheeks grew hot.
“V,”
She would not look at him, no…
“...is very, very extraordinary.”
Oh, but she’d hear him.
The peal of their laughter reached her from across the café.
Even above the noise of the place.
Not that she was peeling her ears to hear his reaction.
No.
The laughter just was that noticeable. It just drifted to the stage.
Butterflies, butterflies. Butterflies in her belly.
Shit.
Continue singing, Lia.
“E,”
She felt her bandmates’ eyes on her.
“...is even more than anyone that you adore can.”
They must have noticed too. The laughter.
Her cheeks were burning.
It’s just a song.
“Love…”
A cosmic joke.
“...was made for me and you.”
Just a song.
…A song with a line that had never made her sooo embarrassed.
And the song continued.
And soon they were there again.
It was just a song.
“V is very, very extraordinary.”
She expected to hear them once more, but there was no loud laughter this time.
Good.
For the sake of her nerves and noodle-brain and butterflied-stomach.
It was just a song.
But.
What if she dared look at his corner? What’s the worst that could happen?
Who knows, perhaps he’d be having fun.
So she took a peek.
A tiny peek.
And… yes.
He was, in fact, grooving.
Standing up, dancing.
Coat long forgotten on the chair, sleeves rolled up, and hair swaying side to side.
He looked...
Handsome.
Very handsome.
He caught Lia’s eyes.
Her stomach plummeted into a hollow once more.
He grinned at Lia.
A toothy grin.
A wide grin.
A beaming grin.
A warm grin.
Her chest felt like it could burst.
Of nerves, of butterflies.
What’s more, with his bubbling grin came waves of… elation.
That’s what she felt.
Elated.
A billowing breeze of air blowing through her chest and carrying her away.
She grinned back, chuckling into the song.
The violin started to rise in a rapid freestyle melody pushed forth by the cymbals.
He continued to dance and sway and clap along.
She started to sing a string of la-la-la’s and da-da-da’s.
Elated.
Free.
Easy.
Flowing with the song.
Falling.
She was pretty sure she was falling in love. Not that she knows him. At all. She doesn’t. They don’t. They don’t know each other. They’re barely past the point of strangers. Mere acquaintances.
But who knows... maybe it could become something.
She was taken aback by loud clapping.
Just like that, the song was over.
She grasped a glance of him clapping from their little corner.
And just like that, one of the most emotion-imbued gigs she’d had at that little café came to an end.
That’s what impromptu February shows are for.
To feel.
Sure, she’d felt embarrassed.
She’d felt bare under the intensity of his gaze.
She’d feel nervous, too.
But she’d also felt easy joy.
She bowed and waved to the audience.
Just like that, it was over.
Now, the rush.
The end of a gig is always a rush.
A rush of blood to the head.
A rush of feet off the stage.
A rush of adrenaline.
A rush of voices and clapping and cheering that then fades away as the crowd resumes their munching and drinking and merry-making.
The end of the show had arrived. Which meant—the divider was pulled across the terrace—he’d come say hi.
Suddenly, she felt as if she’d swallowed ten thousand sunflowers. Her throat dry, nervousness escalating. She turned to face the terrace and breathed in deep.
A pair of hands fell on her shoulders.
“You okay?”
Siyeon smiled at her sympathetically.
“I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”
“Why wouldn’t you be? I mean, your crush came to see you.”
What—She—Crush—Wh—Was she that evident?
Gayeon interrupted them, singing.
“Lia and Taehyung, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S—”
Lia jumped to cover Gayeon’s mouth, panicking.
“Shhh. He’ll be here at any moment!”
“I-N-G,” she continued, mumbling.
A brat indeed. A pink-haired brat.
“He’s coming!,” Siyeon yelped.
Shit.
“Let’s go.”
Before Lia could take in a proper breath once more, Gayeon was pulling her across the tiny terrace. No time to process shit.
She looked up and there he was, walking in from behind the divider.
Taehyung.
Jimin and J-Hope were with him this time.
He had put his coat back on.
A gray coat.
Her brain uttered an involuntary “Hot.”
Right at that moment, his eyes sought the back of the terrace, where she was. Like it was magnetic.
They found her.
Immediately, he smiled.
It struck Lia just how very handsome he was.
His small company went to greet the bandmates closer to their end of the terrace. They started making conversation.
They laughed at something Dohoon said.
Taehyung pulled his hair back.
Her brain let out another involuntary “Hot,” accompanied by an involuntary “Damn.”
He looked up at Lia.
His eyes squinted slightly into eye smiles.
She looked away, sheepish.
“Hello, Lia-ssi,” someone said, taking her by surprise.
She turned to find Jimin had approached her.
“Hello,” she bowed.
He smiled, kindly.
“First of all, that was beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Extraordinary, if I must. Very, very.”
He winked.
A bubble of laughter left her mouth.
“That was embarrassing to sing, you know.”
“Oh, really?,” his wiggled his brows. “Nah, it was amazing.”
“Glad you think that.”
Earth, swallow Lia, please.
“Ah, I believe there is something V wants to tell you,” Jimin gestured to Lia’s side. He turned on his heels, heading towards Gayeon.
Something V wants to—what?
Lia turned to her left… to Taehyung, who had slipped past the company and moved next to her.
Unexpectedly. Unexpectedly close, too.
When did he get so close?
She could see the specks and spots of his brown irises glinting under the lig—.
“Hello,” he said.
His voice was so low.
His eyes, so warm.
His eyes smiled to her. Again. She was taken aback. Her heart fluttered.
She was probably pink by now.
Talk, Lia.
“Hello.”
Her voice came out way higher than she wanted.
Recover, quick.
“Uhm… Thank you for coming to the gig,” she tried to smile. “How did you find the show?”
“Thank you for making the gig. I found it,” he threw Lia knowing eyes, “extraordinary.”
Shit.
Alert. Hot cheeks.
He changed the topic.
“Did you get the…?”
He eyed her expectantly.
“…the?”
The? The what? What did she get?
“The resources?,” he chuckled (at her confused face, yes).
The resources? The resou—.
Oh.
“Oh!”
She felt… quite idiotic. She ordered her brain to pull itself together.
“Oh, they are gone now!”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Told you. This band runs on ramyeon.”
He laughed. His laughter was low. What a beautiful sound, his laughter. Beautiful indee—focus. Had she thanked him already? Focus, Lia.
“Thank you. For the gift.”
“My pleasure.”
She glanced at her other bandmates, who were talking excitedly with the other two artists.
No one had come in their direction to speak to Taehyung. Or her.
Well, not that she’d expect them to.
Her nosy bandmates knew he’d spoken to her specifically about coming to the show, so they knew th—.
Taehyung cleared his throat.
“Uh, Lia,” Taehyung said, turning to the other side of the terrace, facing the garden.
He looked… nervous. Was he nervous? She was nervous.
“Yes?”
Lia turned slowly in the same direction, slyly taking a glance at the others.
Jimin continued to talk to the band, as did J-Hope. Junhae looked fleetingly in their direction. Jimin said something to him, and his eyes went back.
Were they… distracting her band?
They had arranged themselves as a circle, leaving Lia and Taehyung at the edge. J-Hope said something to Yoon, who was pulling Junhae with him. They continued to speak, animatedly.
She was not a fool. She knew when a web of distractions was being thread.
Her own band was probably making one right now. Were both bands making distractions right now? No, no, no, that’s ridiculous, Lia.
“I wanted to ask you about...”
Taehyung spoke to her gravely. Gravely, yet nervous. (Had she mentioned how his voice was so… low?)
“About going out in person.”
Her stomach twisted into knots.
What?
Shit.
Right.
Alert. Butterflies, butterflies.
He looked at her expectantly, like he wanted to say more but couldn’t.
“Yes?,” Lia said carefully.
“I was thinking—what if—would you—is it—?”
He stopped, and took a deep breath.
Lia took him in. He had looked so serious before, yet now he was so… cute? The same person who’d gazed at her and burned a hollow into her was now… blabbering? Mumbling? Fidgeting?
She smiled a small, pressed smile.
“Are you okay?”
“Perfectly. Extraordinarily, thank you.”
She laughed.
Nevermind that she herself was about to go into an internal meltdown. She just felt that saying what she was about to say was the right thing to say. To give him a little help.
“Are you asking me to go out in person?”
He looked at her for a whole second, stunned. A slight blush started covering the apples of his cheeks. And then... he laughed.
“Yes?,” he said.
She—. Yes. He was asking her to go out in person.
Okay.
Shit.
Okay.
Alert, alert. Butterflies. Bees. Butterflies. Bees.
“Would Friday be too soon?”
Friday? In two days? Yes. Too soon.
Lia entering meltdown.
Alert, alert.
“Because school is on holidays, and I thought it would be—you are on holidays, right?—that it would be the perfect time.”
Lia entering meltdown.
Alert, alert.
She looked at him, big-eyed.
He looked at her, big-eyed.
“But—but, if not, it’s okay!,” she sensed him panicking, “We can—we could go another da—.”
“Friday is perfect.”
She grinned at him.
He returned the grin.
They just... lingered.
They lingered, beaming at each other.
His face so warm.
So… dumbstruck?
Like hers.
Two dumb dumbs with a crush.
Hold up—was anybody looking?
She peeked at their bandmates. A few heads swiftly turned back.
Aha.
Shit.
Okay, focus, Lia. Pull yourself together.
Nothing is happening.
Continue talking. Normally.
“Did you have any place in mind?”
“I…”
He looked briskly to where Jimin was standing, looking elsewhere.
“I thought you’d like to visit a botanical garden, perhaps?”
A botanical garden?
Alert, alert.
She could die. She would die.
“Are you kidding? I’d love to!”
His eyes grew gigantic. (Jimin, who was spying, would later tell Taehyung that, oh, how she beamed when he proposed the idea.)
“Great! So it’s settled!”
“Great!”
The loud-ass giggle she had just let out.
But she had no time to become aware of herself. She simply could not care. Her crush had just asked her out and she was reveling in the thrill of it, way too gone to care.
She had just one concern.
“But what about you? If someone sees you, recognizes—?”
“Taehyungah,” Jimin interrupted, with a smile, putting his arm around him.
“They’re here for us.”
J-Hope appeared on the other side.
Taehyung sighed, dropping his shoulders.
“Okay.”
Lia must have showed a glint of disappointment as well, because Jimin turned sheepishly to her.
“Sorry.”
Was she that obvious?
Her cheeks felt hot—hotter.
She bowed tinily.
“Thank you for coming.”
He bowed tinily.
“Goodbye. Extraordinary show. Very”
This Jimin.
“Thank you.”
Could one blush any blusher?
“Goodbye, Lia,” J-Hope said. “Nice to meet you, by the way.”
He bowed.
“Same to you.”
“We’ll see you around.”
He winked at Lia.
Okay?
Something weird happened.
Jimin grinned at her, and, still grinning, looked at Taehyung, who was looking at the floor. Clapped him on the shoulder. Then, both him and J-Hope left. J-Hope who was also grinning. A lot.
Okay?
Taehyung shook his head, lips pursed trying to hold back a smile, it seemed.
An embarrassed smile, it seemed.
Okay?
She giggled.
He looked up.
The giggle stopped.
“It was lovely to see you,” he stated.
“As it was to see you.”
His eyes turned to smiles, squinting.
“Thank you for coming today.”
“Thank you for,“ he put out his hand, “thank you.”
His hand. Not cupped, not stretched.
Just open, inviting, asking for hers.
She chuckled, quite nervously if you will, and put out her hand towards his.
And then, they touched.
His hand...
His touch...
Their touch.
This time, it was not electric, but rather soft and warm.
It was not a handshake.
Handshakes are tough, quick, hard. Straight to the point. They are not loose. Not soft. Not gentle. Not lingering. Not fingers curving gently so he could hold her fingers on his own. Not holding her fingers for a couple of seconds more.
So it was not a handshake.
That’s not what a handshake looks like.
It was more like—like he was holding her hand.
You know at the end of a handshake when your hands start to pull apart? When the last thing you touch is the other’s fingers? A graceful lingering?
He… his own fingers held hers. Lingering.
He brushed them quickly with his thumb as they let go. Quickly yet lingering. Just for a millisecond longer than they ought to. But nonetheless. He held her fingers. Softly. Gently.
Have you ever felt heart palpitations? Lia has.
All took but a millisecond.
He smiled tinily. She smiled back. (Had they stopped smiling, though? Not really.)
“I’ll see you on Friday.”
He bowed to Lia, his brown curls covering his eyes.
“I’ll see you on Friday.”
“Don’t worry about me and people or anything.”
“Okay.”
He started turning towards the exit around the divider.
He briskly turned back.
“I almost forgot!”
“Yes?”
“The time!”
The time.
The time.
How could they forget about the time?
“How about the afternoon?”
“The afternoon is perfect.”
“Is two okay?”
“Two sounds perfect.”
He beamed. It looked as if he wanted to leave, but at the same time didn’t.
“Where?,” Lia asked.
“Huh?”
“Where will we meet?”
He pretended to think. Lia ordered her brain to hold back that giggle.
“What about here?”
Of course.
“Perfect.”
Then, he turned to actually leave, a small bow to Lia before going around the divider. A grin plastered on his face.
Her head reeled in giddiness, dizziness, ecstasy. The world was new and merry and wonderful as the café gyrated all around.
The foolishest grin must have been on her face.
“LIAAAAAA!”
She collected herself in a half-second.
“Okay, spill the beans,” Gayeon said. She was already giving her the eyes.
As were the other five.
Four. Junhae was nowhere to be found, his guitar already gone.
“There’s no beans to spill.”
“ThEre’S nO bEanS tO sPiIL.”
“Shh. Let’s split the ramyeon, okay?”
“Boo!”
…
The foolishest grin must have been on her face.
She glanced at her reflection on the glass of the terrace.
Why, yes, indeed.
The most foolishest grin.
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Fly V to the Moon - Ch. 19
“The one where he meets her with hotteok at the gates”
Hello again! I’m sorry that I’ve disappeared! In truth, I’ve been dealing with some unexpected and difficult personal matters. As much as writing this little world brings me life, the energy and motivation was just not here. Anyways... I’m back! Aaaaand... here is part 1 of the highly-anticipated date! Hope you enjoy! Leave a like if you enjoy it... it genuinely means a lot! :)
Pairing: Taehyung x OFC
Genre: Fluff, Idol AU, Coffee Shop AU, Café Singer OFC, Slow Burn
Warnings: Light swearing, but it’s all for banter. Again, this is fluff.
Word count: 1.6k (Super short chapters, so there will be a lot of chapters.)
Recommended Songs: Here Comes the Sun (Bossa Nova cover) — covered by Sarah Menescal; Golden — covered by Jamie Lancaster
Summary: She’s a foreign elementary school teacher by day, a charming singer by night. Taehyung and company discover her at a small garden jazz café where she had a gig one night, only to find out from Jin that she was an arts teacher at a local school in Seoul — Jin's nephew and niece’s teacher, in fact. Taehyung finds himself on a surprise adventure to the moon.
✻ ✻ ✻
Fly V to the Moon — by Nightscape Persona
Chapter 19: “The one where he meets her with hotteok at the gates”
Nothing prepared her for the view as soon as she got off the cab.
Standing right outside on the sidewalk, looking like a giant fluffy bearman was Taehyung. Brown, fuzzy earmuffs on. Long, posh brown coat on. Face tiny amid the drapes of his dark brown scarf. What made her heart jiggle, however, was that he was holding one brown wrapping of a mysterious snack in each hand, looking at her with a tiny smile under the sunlight.
“Hello,” he beamed, as she walked closer.
“Hello,” she beamed back, walking closer.
The morning sun bounced off the snow all around them. Not quite as resplancently as their foolish beaming faces, though. Faces of this-is-really-happening.
She eyed the brown packets clutched by his un-mittened hands (she found it absolutely adorable how his long fingers seemed so tiny as they poked through the gloves’ finger holes). They looked suspiciously like hotteok from the stands scattered all over the city.
Now that she was closer to the bear-like tall figure in the snowy sidewalk that was Taehyung, it definitely smelled like hotteok too.
Just. Mouthwatering.
The hotteok, of course.
She finally came front to front with him.
And… they stood there for a bit. Looking at each other. Quite awkwardly. Quite foolishly. Like bumbling bumblebees. If you will.
His eyes were so brown and sweet. Warm. Deep.
But they were making her nervous. So she gestured towards his hands.
“Are these…?”
He came into himself.
“Oh!”
He stretched out one brown package towards her, cheeks flushing.
“For you.”
Her heart fluttered.
“Thank you. You shouldn’t have.”
She grabbed it with her mittened hands.
“Nonsense. It’s—”
“—Hotteok!”
She hummed, and pretended to sniff it.
“Perfect for this cold.”
He smiled at her. Still conspicuously flushed.
“I whole-heartedly agree.”
He took a bite of his own.
“But it’s also getting cold, so. You should start eating.”
“Say no more.”
They giggled.
She noticed tiny gleams in his pupils.
Like stars.
A sudden honk interrupted their sheepish glance competition.
“Ah. That’s—,” his eyes drifted towards a green SUV on the curb, turning slightly red himself.
The window had been rolled down, and a man in lilac was smiling cheekily at them from the driver’s seat. A man that bore an uncanny resemblance to one… Park Jimin.
“Hello, you.”
Ah, shit.
How long had he been there?
“Do not mind me,” he lilted. “Just wanted to say hi.”
Lia waved back. A little flustered. Had he seen them acting dumb?
“Now, bye!,” he lilted again.
The window rolled back up.
She looked at Taehyung. He was quite focusedly inspecting the park gates. Visage absolutely red.
“Yeah,” he motioned to the car, “my bandma—.”
The window rolled down a pinch.
“I watched nothing! Promise!”
The window rolled back up.
Taehyung put his mitten to the bridge of his nose, hiding a flush of utter embarrassment. Which Lia thought was absolutely cute.
The window rolled back down a wee.
“Have fun, dummies.”
The window rolled back up.
The SUV finally drove away.
Taehyung, a beautiful shade of beetroot, turned to her apologetically, chuckling. The poor man seemed mortified.
“My apologies. That was… embarrassing.”
Yeah, no shit.
“None needed.”
She tried to smile at him as reassuringly as she could with her very own nerves to deal with.
“What are bandmates for if not to tease the hell out of you, huh?”
And that’s how they started of their date (“their DATE,” Lia’s brain screamed) with easy, easy laughter.
“We should…,” he gestured towards the glasshouse dome at the very back, what seemed like a few blocks away.
“Yeah.”
The sunlight shone bright and clear on the park of leafless, dormant trees all around the dome. They trod along the outer sidewalk side by side, making small talk about the park and its many points of interest (“Did you know it has a skybridge?” “What? Really?").
She couldn’t get enough of his smile and his eyes and his hair bouncing as he walked under the blue, blue, blue sky. Of his brown, brown eyes.
Of his cheeks flushing when their eyes met.
She felt her own chest falling into a trampoline every time they crossed a glance.
At least now she was grateful for the distraction of the hotteok. Munching on the little treat distracted her from Taehyung. Walking just inches away from her. Breathing just inches away from her. Just inches away. Actually talking to her. Breathing the same air as—okay, stop.
She eyed the park wearily, fearing someone might recognize him. Even if he was under layers of cozy winter attire. Even when he had reassured her plenty of times that she didn’t have to worry about that.
Soon they arrived at the main entrance of the building. It was already a quarter past two. To her surprise there was no line.
“Is this—? Is it not closed?”
“Nope.”
“But, there’s no one? I’ve heard it can take hours to get in even with a reservation. Even in February.”
“Ah, is that so?,” he said, something playful about his voice. “Should there be a line at the coldest, driest month of the year?”
“Well, people would want to visit a plant-friendly place in the winter, wouldn’t they?,” she tried to argue. “Especially in the coldest, driest, most plant-unfriendly month of the year.”
He was looking at her with somewhat of a… smug face. Almost mischievous. He turned to the front in a flash.
“Wait, wait, wait. Is it—?”
Had he? If he—no. He wouldn’t do such a thing. (“Why not, though?,” her brain provided. “He can.”)
“Taehyung-ssi?”
He turned to look at her. Definitely something smug about his face. Something intertwined with a little… bewilderment. Just a hint. But he recovered quickly. Back to smug. Playful.
“Yes?”
“You know something,” she accused him, narrowing her eyes.
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
He made a funny face (Lia doesn’t know the infamous Tata Mic face yet, folks) and turned around towards the gate.
“We should hurry, we’re stalling. And please,” he added, barely audible, “just Taehyung is okay.”
She didn’t have time to process that he just told her to drop all the formalities, because shit, her brain was in havoc thinking about… this, whatever he was playing.
Did he possibly book out the place? Cause that was not so far-fetched a possibility. The park outside the park was eerily, suspiciously uncrowded. And Taehyung suspiciously… bouncy. Suspiciously… smug.
Her heart fluttered, almost like it had jumped off a couple building floors.
Did he?
While her brain reeled around that possibility, he had reached the door, holding it open for Lia. He bowed as she walked in.
A man immediately approached them. A staff member in black, wearing the park’s logo. He smiled at both of them.
“Mr. Kim. And Mr. Kim’s companion,” he bowed. “Welcome.”
Companion. Yes. Mr. Kim’s companion.
Control your face, Lia, you cannot smile like an idiot in front of a stranger like this.
Taehyung bowed back. Lia almost forgot to.
“First and foremost, we deeply appreciate your booking the facilities for the afternoon.”
She looked at him agape. She had to refrain from uttering a gasp of shock.
He didn’t spare her a glance.
“I hope it was not an inconvenience.”
He—the little shi—he booked out the place. For them. For their date. (“For their DATE,” her brain screamed.) The butterflies tripled in her belly.
“Not at all.”
Of course.
That shit must be expensive.
But of course. Not at all.
“We hope that you enjoy the garden and all it has to offer. It will remain confidential, as per request.”
Confidential. Of course.
He booked out the place. Confidentially. Of course.
(“For their CONFIDENTIAL DATE,” her brain screamed.)
“Thank you. We would like to go to the conservatory directly, if that is possible.”
“Of course.”
Of course.
They could skip the tour and have the garden to themselves.
For their date.
(“For their CONFIDENTIAL BOTANICAL GARDEN DATE,” her brain screamed.)
Of course.
When the staff member turned around to lead them towards the entrance of the glasshouse, Taehyung finally turned to look at Lia.
With a smile.
And they looked.
She looked at him.
In disbelief.
While he just flashed her the cheekiest smile.
“Surprise?”
A smile that made her belly butterflies flutter and something melt in her chest. Though whether she was melting because of the smile or the grand gesture, she did not kn—bullshit. Of course she knew. Both. Definitely both.
He beckoned her to follow the staff, with a little exaggerated bow.
“After you.”
Oh, she was in for a day.
They made it down a long corridor, his warm presence alongside her, through compelling banners and vivid holos about the leafy garden’s inhabitants that they wouldn’t get to read. They arrived at a pair of glass doors. Green and green and green and a high glass dome peeked out from behind the door panes.
“Here. Welcome to the conservatory. Shall you require any further assistance, let us know.”
The staff member turned back around and left them alone.
Lia turned to Taehyung with what she hoped was a meaningful look. A look of un-fucking-believable.
He simply raised his eyebrows with a playful air.
He extended his arms and started to walk with his back to the garden.
“Shall we?”
He continued to pace backwards. With extended arms. And a raised brow. And a smirk. Like a shameless flirt.
What happened to the shy, nervous Taehyung of the convenience store?
Hello?
She had many words to say to this man. Many. All of which were stowed away at the back of her mind the minute the doors slid open as he walked through them, still facing her with a smirk and open arms, and the sounds of the rainforest escaped from the conservatory right into the corridor.
Do you know that moment when you know that this is it?
That was the moment she realized that this was it.
The warm-brown-eyed flirt who’d booked out a whole botanical garden in the middle of the winter for her, after greeting her with hotteok looking like a bear, currently smiling out to her irradiating nothing but goodness… that was it. If time and the future would prove her wrong, she did not care. She’d let him fly her to the moon.
She slowly trod through the glass doors after him.
✻ ✻ ✻
Masterlist
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All chapters: Chapter 1 — Chapter 2 — Chapter 3 — Chapter 4 — Chapter 5 — Chapter 6 — Chapter 7 — Chapter 8 — Chapter 9 — Chapter 10 — Chapter 11 — Chapter 12 — Chapter 13 — Chapter 14 — Chapter 15 — Chapter 16 — Chapter 17 — Chapter 18 — Chapter 19 — Chapter 20 — Chapter 21 — Chapter 22 — Chapter 23 — Chapter 24 — Chapter 25 — Chapter 26 — Chapter 27 — Update on Part 2 — Part 2 Preview
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