Only in Baton Rouge | Kim Taehyung

Chapter 3

It's been three days since London has seen Taehyung. He's been calling and texting, but she wanted to see him again. Even if she felt like he would leave her with a broken heart. Luckily, to take her mind off of him, Jungkook called. He picked her up in his Mercedes and then drove to a bicycle shop. He had invited her to go biking through the arboretum. Since London didn't have any better plans for her Monday afternoon, she agreed.
"It's been a while since I biked, so don't be surprised if I'm a bit rusty," London says as she gets on.
"Will you be able to catch up?" Jungkook asks. London turned towards him and scoffed playfully.
"I'm not that slow."
Jungkook shrugged it off with a smile and led the way. London's only been to the city's arboretum twice. It was a beautiful walk with a lake in the middle. Two streams were connected to the lake, and the bridges over those streams were filled with locks with initials and notes written on them. Jungkook looks back to see how far London was. She waves to him, motioning for him to continue on. As they passed the lake, London spotted a bunch of ducks swimming by. There were a few ducklings that trailed behind. Jungkook stops and pulls out his phone. He records a video of the lake and the ducks, allowing London to catch up.
"I think we should've gotten the bike with two seats," Jungkook jokes.
"Okay no, that would be no fun," London replies as she stops next to Jungkook. He looks up ahead at their trail and turns to her with a devilish grin.
"Let's race?" Jungkook suggests. London looks at the trail and notices two different paths. She proudly holds her head up.
"Fine, winner picks the loser's punishment." Jungkook nods in agreement. He counted down from three, and they rode off in a hurry. London wasn't competitive, but she hated losing if it was something she knew she was good at. However, she's been bugging Jungkook about his eyebrows and even offered to pluck them for him. In his opinion, they were fine for a man. He didn't have many stray hairs, and they looked pretty clean. But that day wasn't coming any time soon. London frowned when she saw Jungkook waiting for her where the paths connected.
"What's my punishment, sir?" She says as she biked toward him. The words in her three seconds sentence had sent Jungkook's mind to his fantasies about her. London was probably too upset about her loss to even notice how bright red Jungkook's face got and how he was just frozen.
"U-um," he cleared his throat. "It would help my family get off my back if they knew I had a girlfriend."
Now London was the one who was turning red and frozen.
"B-b-but, I'm only inviting you and introducing you as my friend, which you are. Could you go to my stupid cousin's baby shower with me?"
London silently sighed in relief. "Sure, when is it?"
"This Saturday, if you don't want to, you don't have to." He says, feeling slightly hopeless.
"No no, I'll go. I'll be double the loser if I can't carry out my punishment."
London was now leading the way as they entered a very woodsy area. The trees were very bright green. As the sun shone through them, it emitted a soft green glow underneath. They biked slowly with ease. The area was too peaceful for them to be speeding through. Jungkook looked at London's hair from behind. The way it flowed from side to side so effortlessly underneath the soft sun's glow made her look so beautiful. Then he noticed how she struggled to bike comfortably as the rental bikes were a tad too big for her. It caused him to laugh quietly, seeing how adorable she looked. If they were not friends, Jungkook would've asked her out by now. Yet, how could you truly fall in love with them this way if you didn't know them like a friend. There was probably never a time in his past where he fell in love with a stranger. What was there to fall in love with? There were only a few situations where his crushes turned successfully into his girlfriend. For the most part, they rejected him and broke off the awkward friendship. He didn't want to lose London. It felt better loving her silently from the side than proposing his love only to lose her forever.
They soon enter a small playground with multiple wooden picnic tables scattered throughout. Jungkook pulls out a picnic blanket and spreads it right underneath a few light beams that shone through the trees. He then took out a few containers from his backpack and placed them down.
"I packed us some sandwiches in case we got hungry," he tells London. Truthfully, he spent a couple hours shopping and preparing the food for this moment.
"Oh, thank you," London said as she sat down across from him. Just then, her stomach growled. Jungkook chuckles and hands her a sandwich. She thanked him once more before she started eating. "Woah, the bread is extremely soft, and the cheese," she moaned. "It's so good, what is it?"
"The cheese is brie," Jungkook answers. He cleared his throat once more, feeling a bit hot and nervous now. It was normal for some people to moan when eating if it's good right? That's what he thought, and was trying to clear his head, until London moaned again after taking another bite. He chokes on his food and quickly downs it with some water. At least his sandwiches were good.
Taehyung called, and Jungkook saw from the corner of his eyes. It must be the same guy she and Autumn were gushing about last week. London silents her phone and continues to eat. Jungkook started second-guessing himself. If he couldn't fight for her, is she really the one? Does he even like her that much? Keyword, like. If he just likes her then he probably should just let her go. Clearly, she's with another guy. But then why didn't she pick up? Jungkook felt a bit hopeful again. Then he started thinking to himself, maybe he needs to just stop going for his friends.
After eating, Jungkook drops London off at her place. She waves to him as he leaves and walks to her building.