time diplomat | kim taehyung ✔

| Making Memories |

"—Yeah! I nearly ran down some kid so, I switched left at the last second and slammed into a tree, like some fucking cartoon character." They were in Taehyung's car when he suddenly got an old, lost memory of his ski trip with his friends. Astra laughed along with him, only their voices playing the background music to their movie.

"I loved those snow-covered mountains even though they were always bad luck to us. Once, one of us sprained his ankle and the next time, another one got a concussion and next, Jimin hit his nose on a rock because he couldn't sit properly on his chair."

"I have zero ideas why you guys kept going there."

"Maybe . . . it was due to the memories that place gave us. We used to have so much fun there and I wish I could make more memories now they're not with me anymore." Taehyung sighed through his nose as Astra stopped scrolling through Instagram on his phone.

"Hey, I thought we both are making memories right now?"

"I guess we should make more . . . I—I know a place and if you don't mind . . ."

"Please go ahead, dude."

_ _ _ _ _

"Uh . . . Taehyung? Somebody's texting you. Very hard."

"Who?"

"Sarah. They want you to pick up their calls."

"Ignore her."

Astra paused as Taehyung continued walking down the path from the parking lot to the main entrance of 'Fantasia'. It was basically a huge amusement park-like structure with many more things inside—that's what the internet told her. 

"Taehyung, are you not telling me something?"

"No. I'm not. She's just—someone I want to forget. Please, Astra, let's not talk about her. I don't want her in my life ever again."

"Okay, okay. Cool with me."

They did a little jog towards the main gate with Taehyung's nervous hand holding onto Astra's wrist. He was tired of her getting lost—if that ever happened here, he was sure he'd cry. The bold, royal front gate of 'Fantasia' gave away that it was going to ask for a much more expensive entry fee but, Astra was prepared for the worst. 

She pulled out his phone which was now in her pocket and took a picture of the dramatically designed banner—not forgetting to include the entry fee's price in it. Opening Instagram, she uploaded it just to be flooded with the same messages.

SARAH:

tae tf r u at? pick my calls

"Ignore it and come on. We have a huge day in front of—"

"What if Sarah is in some trouble? What if she really needs your help, Tae? What if she's in danger?" Taehyung sighed, pulling Astra inside who paid the main desk and completed all the formalities. Once done, he had her comfortably sit on one of the benches with ice cream—so that he could start on with his story.

_ _ _ _ _

NO MOBILES OR WATCHES ARE ALLOWED INSIDE.

Astra's breathing turned shallow once they saw that board and a man sitting right next to it. Taehyung casually walked ahead first, handing the man his phone and his bag—taking out his hand camera which supposedly was allowed—for a quick check, and then, he was asked to walk through another machine that checked whether he carried any other unnecessary stuff along with him.

When it was her turn, she knew she'd have to hand her device over without any questions asked. There was no point in hiding it either. But, what if there's an emergency? What if Taehyun or Yeonjun contact? As the line behind her glared her forward, she removed it, turned the watch off, and walked in along the crowd.

* * * * *

"Okay, so . . . Taehyung? Where shall we go now?" Astra asked as she flipped through the pamphlet. Taehyung was busy trying to aim for a gift box at a little stall. He had already lost over 15 times and had spent an unnecessary amount of money too. By this time, the shop owner was tired. 

"AYO! I KNEW I COULD DO IT. TAKE THAT, OLD MAN." Taehyung punched his fists into the air, earning a sigh from both Astra and the man who seemed to be in his late twenties (basically his age)—the one whom he just called 'old'. He trodded to the box, pulled it out from the shelf, and handed it to Taehyung with a sigh. 

"If I knew I had to keep up with you cussing every second, I would have given it for free."

Astra laughed at that and with a playful salute, she pulled Taehyung from scowling at that man. "Check what's in that box."

"A Mario Kart Hat?"

"Oh, wow! Don't worry, Tae. I'll be the Luigi to your Mario. Just gotta get a hat . . ."

_ _ _ _ _

"You know, Taehyung. We have hot air balloon rides and 'swim with the shark' shows here too! I—I don't know where to start from."

"Wait, wait, wait. Go back. 'Swim with the sharks'? Is that someone people feel like they're missing out on?" Taehyung turned back to her, snatching and frowning at the pamphlet his eyes scanned. 

"Er . . . I guess it's safe. Maybe you would if the sharks don't bite, right?"

"No. I won't. I don't mess with big buddies like sharks." He fastly flipped through the pages and lastly gave up, firmly handing it back to Astra. She hummed and started looking into it again. "Okay. We have bungee jumping, horseback riding, uh . . . Windsurfing—"

"Karaoke rooms?" Taehyung chirped, pulling the pamphlet back from her like a child who just found what to get from a menu full of delicacies. "Let's do this, Astra! C'mon, c'mon. Don't be shy."

"When did I say I was shy? You don't know how much of a good singer I am." She placed her hands on her hip, tilting her head as he ran off to a staff and handed the pamphlet with the activity they had chosen. The lady nodded and ushered them both to follow her. Entering an office, they were handed a six-page-long waiver that mostly talked about being careful with the properties that remotely were more expensive than both their fortunes together.

Taehyung pretended to frown and read the entire thing while Astra straight away simply signed the papers. The rooms where they were later led to were much larger and more spacious than expected. There were woven mats all around on the walls and the floor had the softest carpet matching the room. In the middle was a large-screened TV and porcelain dolls decorated on the corner.

Again before entering, they had to sign—Taehyung's signature was messy. Astra could simply make up the first two letters and the rest were lost in the curves like that of a sales chart of a business—going up and down. In the other room, you could hear a man crying his lungs out and peeping into the other room, a couple was literally smooching each other on a love song.

"Uh . . . I don't even know any of these songs." Astra said as she took a look into the list of melodies they could sing—ranging from the old ones to the 'just released' ones, they all looked new to her. Taehyung paused his song, judging her with his eyebrows clashed.

"Yeah? Are you sure you belong here?"

"I guess . . ."