Acts of Hate | Taennie

21.

"Are you ready?" Jennie asked Taehyung who nodded as he stood properly from him stance against the wall.

"Yeah, let's go."

The pair were currently heading to a broadway show, Aladdin, as requested by their director.

If you could recall one of their initial meetings, you would also recall director Song making them promise to go on a date to combat the media backlash.

And so here they were, heading to the subways as they prepared to head to the New Amsterdam Theatre, home to the famous show and others.

"Are you sure taking the subway is a good, well, safe idea?" Taehyung asked as she nodded.

"Trust me, one thing I learnt about New York is that people won't pay you any attention unless you want them to. Pretend you're a normal person, they won't even realise who they're standing next to. Try and excessively hide, they'll notice." She said with a wink as she slipped nothing but a simple face mask on, seeing as there were some extremes she  still had to take, given that they just crossed one of her ads on their walk.

Deciding to follow her advice, he fell into step with her whilst wearing a mask himself.

"Besides, we need to be spotted in public. Yeah the dispatch reporters we hired will do it, but gossip that spreads though social media gains more attention than official media reports for some reason." She shrugged as she swiped her metro card.

A huge chunk of the drama staff, including the cast, had opted to buy metro cards due to their long stay in the city.

Taehyung followed behind as the two conversed and walked to the platform for their line.

"So, have you been to Aladdin before?" He asked, in reference to the Broadway production they were about to watch.

In response, she shook her head.

"I've been to The Lion King though. I have a feeling I'll like this better though, to be honest." Jennie replied.

Just before they spoke some more, the well known subway had approached them, and they swiftly got onto their coach with their experience with the Seoul Metro.

Before they knew it, the crowd grew larger and larger, forcing the two to be pressed up together near one side of the coach.

"Someone recognised us." Jennie whispered.

Due to the position they were standing in, she was able to relay the message straight to his ears, as he tilted his head back and saw the phone not so sneakily taking a picture of the two.

To make it more believable that it is them, he took her hand and placed it in his coat pocket, a move that is popular everywhere in South Korea.

"I didn't realise you grew to be such a playboy." Jennie chuckled as he shot her a look.

"Shut up." He whispered into her ear as well, as she laughed and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

"This is our stop. Get ready." She told him as she saw their line approaching their stop.

The doors opened as the pair filed out along with everyone else before they stepped up the stairs of the exit and found themselves at the theatre.

"Let's go in." Taehyung motioned as Jennie nodded, leading the way as they made it to the counter.

Not long after, they were comfortable seated with their masks off, seeing as it wasn't a charging crowd around them anymore.

"How is being an idol, finally?" Taehyung asked as the show was yet to begin and there wasn't much more to do. 

"It's, a lot. I mean... I can't remember when I was last on a break. But maybe that's because I don't want to be on one? It just feels weird having nothing to do, so I end up throwing myself into...practically everything. I mean which other idol do you know is an idol and a freaking UN ambassador!" She laughed at her own incredulous career choices. 

"But that's what makes you, well you right? I mean I've never seen you sitting still for even a day since we were kids." He reminisced as she nodded.

"I love it. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but..." She paused as she took a sip of her soda and sitting more comfortably.

"Sometimes it can a little overwhelming. I mean I have this and then the grammy's in two weeks. Jesus, I can't even imagine how hectic the schedule is going to be from now. And the amount of people I gotta perform in front of." Jennie tensed as she remembered the event coming up.

"Hey, you'll do great. I can bet most of those people are your fans. And you have a lot of those, huh?" He said as he turned to look at her and was puzzled at her serious expression, and after a moment, she continued.

"I mean I adore my fans, and that's what got me my popularity, but with that also comes hate and ridiculous media expectations. Sure, it may seem like I don't mind it with how I've broken tons of rules, but there's only so far that goes right? I mean, in the end of the day I'm not a robot. But you get that, Mr.I'm-never-gonna-be-a-celebrity-but-will-end-up-becoming-the-top-actor-in-South-Korea."  She ended with a teasing gleam of her eyes while he just rolled his eyes. 

"Oh shut the fuck up. It just happened, and I can't imagine doing something else now." He admitted as she shrugged.

"I dunno. I think you would look kinda hot doing business." Jennie said before realizing what exactly flew out of her mouth and turning red immediately. 

"Did you just admit that you think I'm hot?" He murmured as she tried to play it cool by munching on popcorn.

"Nooo, I clearly said' you would'." She fixated as he chuckled.

"Right right. Sure." Taehyung countered sarcastically as she shoved at his arm.

"Hey, I'm serious."  Jennie persuaded as the latter remained unconvinced.

"So what, you don't think I'm hot?" He teased as she sputtered for a moment.

"I didn't say th- But I'm not saying that you are..not that you aren't...I mean..Well if you consider the general opinion of the general publ-" she began to start her signature rant but was cut off when Taehyung pulled her into a kiss. 

She stilled for a moment, not able to grasp what had just happened but was soon pulled into the moment as his hand grasped the back of her neck more firmly, pulling her deeply into the kiss. 

Just for a moment, she lost sense of reality, and then, it was that fire again. The minute he pulled away to see if she was okay with this, she pulled him back in. 

His lips against hers, hers against his. 

It was as if the world slipped away and they were the only two left in that moment. Jennie felt a million emotions exploding within her as the new sensation took over. She couldn't help but imagine that the least dirtiest of kisses was the one that felt the most obscure.

After what felt like too little of a moment, they pulled apart for air, as she slowly opened her eyes, only to see him already looking, observing. 

"Holy shit." She muttered, not knowing what else to say after that.

"I know." The latter responded, feeling like his breath had been taken away. It felt as if she had sucked the life out of him and shoved it back in the mere span of a minute.

And the only difference from their first few kisses and this?

This wasn't acting.

Or at least it wasn't an act of hate.

It was an act of love.