boomerang

Chapter 11

Chaeyoung froze when she realized Jungkook was about to follow her into the baby section.

"What are you doing?" When he looked at her with confused brows, she turned away. "Go somewhere else," she said awkwardly.

"Why? Aren't we going to buy gifts?"

"We?" Her brows were drawn together. "I'm buying gifts for my cousin. You... you don't have to."

Jungkook scoffed and ignored her request as he placed a hand on the small of her back. "Who do you think I am?" he asked without looking at her as he gently pushed her so she continued walking. "Am I not your fiancé? We're buying the gifts together."

Chaeyoung pushed his arm away with her elbow, putting a space between them. He really didn't need to. Wasn't he supposed to just show up at the event together with her?

"This is really unnecessary," she muttered and noticed him pausing in his steps from the corner of her eye.

"Can you stop saying that already?" he grunted beside her.

"Why? It really is unnecessary, don't you think? You're not even a gift person," she said as she mindlessly checked out the baby clothes.

"Who said I'm not a gift person?" Jungkook asked, dissatisfied as if he really had been slandered.

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes at him after mocking the way he asked her that question. She heard that big sigh coming out of him as she turned on her heel when she saw some adorable baby shoes. Her steps faltered when Jungkook caught up to her, walking closely just right on her side.

"Why are you still here, Mr. Gift-Is-Unnecessary?"

"Look, I am sorry, okay? I didn't mean to say your gift was unnecessary. I—"

"Oh, whatever. Save your explanation, Mr. Jeon. Don't be a nuisance here and go away." She waved her hand to shoo him away and blinked in surprise when he caught her hand.

Jungkook seemed as though he had a lot more to say, probably an explanation as thick as a dictionary as he looked into her eyes. Then, instead of shooting her with more explanation like what she expected him to do, he softly sighed and said, "Thank you for the belated birthday gift."

She didn't know for how many seconds she stood there frozen, their eyes locked onto each other with her hand in his. Both only moved when another customer cleared her throat, asking for some space since they were blocking her path. Chaeyoung quickly retracted her hand in embarrassment, stepping away in haste before she decided to get back to the baby clothes area quickly, not bothering if Jungkook was following her or not.

She ignored the stupid way her heart had missed a beat earlier. She convinced herself that it happened because she was just surprised, that it matched a jumpscare scene in horror movies and not for other reasons. There was no other reason. There should not be.

When she felt the presence of Jungkook near her, she thought of running away to somewhere else so they would be far apart but she saw the time and if she spent more time avoiding him than finding gifts for her cousin, they'd be late. Chaeyoung forced herself not to react when he'd simply stood beside her, his arm brushing against hers very slightly.

After going back and forth between baby clothes and baby shoes, Chaeyoung eventually decided on both. Jungkook was a step ahead of her, already waiting for her at the cash register and Chaeyoung frowned when he took out his card. She immediately snatched it out from his hand when he was handing it to the cashier, surprising both the cashier and him.

Chaeyoung put his card into his breast pocket, patting it with a fake smile. "I can pay for these myself."

She took her hand off after realizing that Jungkook's eyes were locked on where her hand lingered on his left chest. "I know you can," he said after a while, "but let me pay for you."