[Rosemary and Thyme]

[ 12 ]

   It wasn't so weird to be carrying around a fox plush for comfort, right? No, it was very weird. Lotus was once again second-guessing herself as she trudged after Jin, squeezing the life out of the fox plush she called Tofu. 

     The poor thing was her main. She would cry into it, scream into it, rant to it, cry into it more, suffocate it in her sleep, cry more into it, and squeeze it to death like she was doing now. It must've been relieved when she cried to Bloo that one day. But now, once again, she was back to using it as emotional support. 

     "What turn were we supposed to take?" Jin asked her as they came upon an intersection. 

     "Um...I don't remember. I think the turn is on the next one." Lotus answered, finally catching up with him once he stopped. 

     He huffed, ruffling his hair. "Dammit, this sucks." He complained, "Where even are we now?!"

     "We're—" Lotus tried to tell him but he cut her off by continuing his whining, "—Man, this is the last thing I wanted to do after school! Why couldn't she just get this stuff herself?!"

     "Text her and ask her for the directions again!" He ordered. 

     "Wait!" She chirped and turned on her phone after fishing it from her bag, "What was the name of the place, I can just look it up and get directions myself!"

     "Uh..." Jin trailed off before shrugging, "I dunno. Don't you remember it?"

     "No..." She answered and opened the conversation between her and her mom. She quickly scrolled through the recent text to find any mention of the place, but no, there wasn't one hint. Their mom only told them by mouth, but it was better safe than sorry. Even if her search efforts failed.

     As she began to type a text to their mother, Jin began to move side-to-side in annoyance. Neither of them wanted to do this but Lotus couldn't deny doing something for their mom and he was the only one in the house at the time to go with her. Jeongsoo was out and Chance was who knows where! 

     "Okay, I sent it!" Lotus exclaimed, beginning to get antsy herself as a few other people began to cross the road. 

     It would look weird if they kept standing there each time they were allowed to cross, wouldn't it? Maybe they should walk further, but slower than before! But Jin seemed like he wouldn't walk further if they didn't know where they were going. It wasn't like they didn't know how to navigate Yeongdeungpo (though Jin was complaining about where they were just to complain), they always ran the streets of the district! They just didn't know where the shop their mom wanted them to visit was nor the name of it. 

     "Did she answer yet?!" Jin asked after a minute of standing there. 

     "Let me check!" Lotus said and pressed the power button. Maybe she had missed the vibration of her phone alerting her to a notification!

     Any second now the screen would turn on...any second now. When it remained blank, she pressed it again only to see the battery symbol with 0% under it. 

     She paled and slowly looking up at him. "...Do you have your phone?" She meekly asked. 

     "Nah, it died in science class." He answered before pausing and furrowing his brows, "Wait, why are you asking?!"

     "It's...It's dead." She answered and showed him the screen, repeatedly pressing the power button, "And I didn't bring my charger! I didn't think I needed it."

     Jin sighed heavily, "Man, I knew I should've charged my phone before we left!"

     Lotus looked to the side and hummed in thought. Next time she would have to check her battery life before leaving. Right now, they needed to at least attempt to find their destination. But they need to make a decision: turn to the left or to the right of the intersection.