TAEKOOK / TIGER LILY

21.

Bomsori is knee deep in water, her long shorts folded up, sagging around her thighs and exposing her pale knees, stamped with purple-ish hexes. She kicks at it fervently and suds of cerulean spritz around her in beats of crystal-like scatterings. As usual, the sun is beating down on them, but it's interposed amidst the sodden grey where clumps of clouds colonise the majority of the sky. It's a cool summer, with the air still and humid, threatened by the imminent force of rain, being more tempted to fall down upon them with every passing second.

"Fuck, I could've sworn I saw one." She clicks her tongue, and her eyes reflect the waters they skim through, all puddles of liquid, scintillating with an interweaving of juniper and cobalt.

Taehyung sits on the bank, legs spread out before him in his baggy jeans and oversized shirt, Seokjin's floppy hat shading his eyes somewhat. He blinks, and narrowly attempts to make out what's beneath the water. It's so clear today, and he can see Bomsori's violet toenails curled against the myriad of grey-black pebbles lining the lake floor. He can't see anything other than that — still life.

They'd spent around an hour sat by the lake, after the girl had scooped him away from his uncles, who were still busily trying to structure their gazebo, and he'd all but leapt into her arms. Now, they sit in awe of the transparent waters, with small, silver fish dashing in and out of view. The current must be vast beneath the surface, but, from Taehyung's position, everything is inert, resting in a dreamy sleep, with the cool, pale waters pooling around them.

"What do you want with a newt anyway?" He inquired flatly, as he leans back on his palms, watching as the girl glides through the water in a desperate attempt to capture the creature.

She ignores him for a mere moment, and the birds chirp behind her back, as she squirms across the world, dispersing interspersions of ultramarine all around her. Finally, she tells him, with the strain of physical effort in her voice, "my nana said there were some here. She said she's always wanted to see one."

Taehyung nods, and slowly inquires, "she's never seen a newt before?"

Bomsori nods back, but her eyes daren't move from their incessant scouring of the waters below her. "Have you?" She asks, making small splashing noises as she hikes her cream shorts up higher and plunges through the lake.

"I don't think so." He responds lightly, as he can't quite recollect it — he doubts it, there wasn't exactly an abundance of those types of creatures in his city. "But, I can't say it's ever been a big dream of mine to see one."

She tuts at him, a wry smile on her face. "You need to get better dreams then."

He offers her a soft, flowing sort of chuckle in return, amused by the ease in which he falls into conversations with the girl. Over the past two weeks, he's not had much contact with her; he'd secluded himself in the cellophane suffocation of Jungkook's world, and though he can't say he regrets it, he doesn't exactly find it healthy either. It's been nice to talk to someone else for a change, even when her line of questioning turns to a deranged sort of topic.

"There!" She screeches, espying her prized newt and lurching for it — Taehyung watches in fascination as she dives toward an obscured object and soaks the bottoms of her shorts as she falls to her knees. "Fuck!" She hisses, and Taehyung sees something scatter across the water, and stands to attention immediately, laughing hysterically as the girl starts to tail it. She's mighty good at it, following the snappy blighter, as it jerks it's little body around, trying to escape her. "Hey, help me!" She calls, seeing the boy sat around, laughing at her.

"What am I meant to do?" He cackles back at her, and she grunts, dashing down the lake, and Taehyung watches the undercurrent pull against her feet.

"Anything!" She calls, getting a little further away, and Taehyung can just about make out her grin, as she seems to have trapped the poor creature, and she's just about to grab it, when another pale hand snatches it up from the water instead.