Taste | Changbin

Chapter One-Hundred and Six

Lennon stared over Hyun-Joo's crib with a soft smile on her face. Hana's baby had grown a bit since she had last seen her. The midnight black hair, that had just started coming in when she was born, was a lot longer now. Long dark lashes stood out against her olive toned skin. Her nose was the same shape as Hana's. 

Dressed in a lilac onesie, the newborn looked content. Tiny fists closed tightly with her head tilted up as she slept soundly in her wooden crib. The nursery had been painted a bright white. Sage greens sprawled across the walls in the form of painted tree tops. 

Apparently, Hana and her husband loved animals. When they sat down to discuss the theme of their nursery, they had decided that animals were the way to go. A plethora of small plush stuffed animals sat on a shelf. Above the crib, a painted giraffe gazed down at the sleeping baby. 

Lions, tigers, bears, elephants, monkeys, and so on. Baby books sat on a bookshelf and a rocking chair sat towards a back corner with a blanket folded over the back of it. The outline of a variety of different animals had been sewn into the quilt. 

Hana gently pushed a strand of Hyun-Joo's hair out of her face. "Isn't she precious?" She whispered. "She's such a good baby. She rarely ever cries or fusses. I don't have a problem feeding her or anything." 

"She's adorable," Lennon whispered back.

"We should probably go before she wakes up." 

Hana started out of the room and Lennon followed her. The door was left open behind them. Quietly, the two made their way back down the stairs and into the living room. Hana fumbled with a baby monitor beside her and pressed a few buttons before setting it back down. 

Lennon flopped down on the couch. She placed the paper bag full of souvenirs on the floor carefully. Hana sat down beside her and rubbed her hands together excitedly. "What did you get?" 

Lennon chuckled and handed her the bag. "There's one thing for you, one for Hyun-Joo, and one for your husband. I'm not sure if he'll like what I got him, but I felt bad for getting you and Hyun-Joo something and not him." 

"Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll enjoy it." She opened the bag and pulled out the item on top of the pile. "Oh my god, it's adorable!" 

She had pulled out a chestnut colored bear that had on a white t-shirt. It read 'I <3 New York' with a bright red heart. 

"That's for Hyun-Joo. I know she might not be able to use it now because she's still young, but I thought that maybe one day. She can even take off the shirt if she wants to." 

"It's lovely, I'm going to put it in her nursery." 

Hana pulled out the second object that was covered in bubble wrap. "What is this?" She tilted her head in confusion. 

"There's actually something in that." 

"What? Oh." She dug her hand into the opening. "Why is it so small? Wait...tell me you didn't!" She placed the first wrapped item on the couch beside her and began unwrapping the thing she had. 

"Ta-dah!" Lennon exclaimed once she unwrapped the shot glass. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what to get you and Han said you liked shot glasses. He said you liked getting them yourself, but you never got one from New York and I-" 

"It's perfect! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She held the glass up towards the light and began looking at it. 

Small tiny painted buildings and taxis were wrapped around the glass. She gushed over it for a few more moments before grabbing the last item. "I suppose that means this one is for my husband?" 

"Yeah, I'm sorry if it's not the greatest thing." 

She unwrapped the bubble wrap and let out a gasp. A laugh soon followed, "this is perfect. He drinks coffee every morning. He doesn't have that many coffee cups, so this will be a perfect addition to his collection. You did amazing, thank you!" 

She placed the coffee cup down beside her shot glass. The detailing on the glass cup matched the shot glass. The only difference was that the shot glass had a clear background whereas the coffee cup was black.

"So moving on from that, I've heard there's trouble in paradise." 

"Is that why you invited me over?" 

"Honestly, yeah. What's going on? I saw that you and Changbin got exposed for dating, but he said the two of you broke up. I've been trying to text you and you haven't answered me." 

Lennon sighed, "I've been having a rough time with all of it. There's just so much going on and everything. I ran into some of the fans and they said some things and it was a nightmare. The whole thing is awful and I'm trying to fix it, but I'm terrified and I feel so overwhelmed." 

Hana opened her mouth and then shut it quickly afterwards. 

"What? Is something wrong? What?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "You can't just do that. Whatever it is, tell me." 

"How much time do you have?" 

"I'm basically free for the whole evening, why?" 

"How long have you been aware of Stray Kids?" 

"I didn't know anything about them until I got this job." 

"Let me go get some wine. There's something I want to tell you. It might take a while and I think you need the wine to loosen up." 

"Huh?" 

"Trust me." 

Before she could say anything else, Hana got up, and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.