Age of Death (Taennie)

3

Kim Jennie, as it turned out, was persistent.

She came around the following Saturday, Kuma in tow, and rang our doorbell there quick times in succession right around noon. Given that it was Saturday and my dad was in his office, oblivious to the world around him, I was forced to stumble out of bed and zombie-walk my way downstairs to the front door.

It hadn't even occured to me that it'd be Jennie at the door, mostly because I was still half-asleep and hadn't really been doing any thinking at all. But as it was, I leaned forward to open the door, my hair a mess, my eyelids droopy, my body barely covered by shorts and a sleeveless shirt, and then found myself face to face with her on the other side.

Both of her eyebrows shot up at the sight of me, and I was suddenly wide awake. And beyond embarrassed. She looked really gorgeous and luxurious in her cyan Chanel cropped top paired with black pants and a Hermes Oran sandal. "What the hell? A Chanel and a Hermes? This girl is rich!"

"Omg" she said at last, speaking first. I could see her trying to fight off an amused grin. "Not a morning person?"

I blinked at her, silently hoping my cheeks didn't look as hot as they felt. "Hi. Can you give me like 20 minutes? I'll do a quick shower." I asked her.

"Sure."

"Okay. Thanks." I debated for a moment whether to invite her in or just leave her on my front porch, and, after an uncomfortable pause, I left the door open, gestured awkwardly to the living room, mumbled that she could come in, and then left, taking the stairs two at a time back to my bedroom.

I hasty strip myself and instantly went to take a shower. I tried my best to quickly clean myself up. Jennie probably didn't like guys like me who needs to work part-time job, and I had no intention of developing an interest in her, given the number on her left cheek.

A few minutes later, i was headed back downstairs with water dripping from my hair, an oversized T-shirt paired with a sweat pants and sneakers. Compared to Jennie I still looked like I belong under a bridge.

Jennie was in the living room. She'd shut the front door behind herself and was playing with kuma on our living room couch. When she heard me coming, she took him into her arms and tried in vain to get him to settle down. Once it was clear he couldn't calm himself, she sighed and set him on the ground. As she straightened up, her gaze shifted to me and she smiled.

"So, hey," she said.

"Hey," I said, and we stood in silence for a long, uncomfortable moment. I made myself focus on her face instead of her left cheek but it's hard not to look on those cute little cheeks of hers. I mean what the hell am i saying?

She cleared her throat before things could get too awkward, and then gestured to the front door. "We'll, I just thought that since it was the weekend and you don't have to work, you'd maybe wanna take a walk with me and Kuma? I don't really know the area. If you're offer still stands, I mean."

"Okay." I nodded, feeling flustered. It seemed like the longer I stood in her presence, the more nervous I became. It'd been a while since I'd had any sort of extensive social interaction with someone other than Dad or Haneul, let alone a pretty girl. "I'll just tell my dad I'm going out."

I left in a hurry, my cheeks mildly hot, and burst into my dad's office. It was starting to sink in that Jennie had shown up at my house spontaneously twice now, asking for my company. She really was set on spending time with me, which either meant that she was desperate to make a friend...or something more. I didn't have much of an ego, as i assumed the former, but both options were still terrifying.

"Dad! Give me an excuse to stay home. Please.." came bursting out of me before I could think about it. Dad spun around in his chair, an eyebrow already arched in questioning amusement. "I'm too nervous to do this."

"Is your friend back again?" He guessed.

"She's not my friend ."

"Well, it seems like she wants to be." I pursed my lips together, and his amusement only grew. He spun away from me, facing his computer again, and casually tossed out, "You're all dressed up. Have fun. Be back before dinner time."

"YAH! I'm not a kid. I don't need any curfew. And Dad! She could be a serial killer. Or the bait for a serial killer."

"Then i will miss you dearly. Goodbye, Taehyung."

I let out a sigh and turned around, marching out of his office. By the time i was back wig Jennie in the living room, I'd plastered a polite smile onto my face and the colour had drained from my cheeks. She was cooing at Kuma, distracted, and gave a small start at the sound of my voice.

"Dad says i have to be back before dinner time."

She recovered, reddening slightly, and smiled. "That's cute you have a curfew." She tease which made me groan.

______________

I took her around the neighborhood first. We talked quickly to keep up with Kuma, who pulled heavily at the leash in jennie's hand and refused to let her rein him in.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" She asked. "I bet there's a lot to keep you busy." I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't going to make the best your guide. "Oh, uh....I mostly just stay pretty local. There's a movie theater down the street, near where I work. And Haneul's got this place he really likes a couple miles away; it's basically a video game arcade with a while special section for laster tag. They aslo have really good pizza " I felt like a dumb as soon as I was done talking. Laser tag? Video games?

"Who's Haneul? Your friend?"

"He works with me; he's a cook at this fast food place where I work the register. He's a great guy nearly in his thirties."

"You should take me there when you have time"

"So what do you wanna know about Seoul? What are you into? Art? Music?" Glancing to kuma, I added, "Animals?"

"All of the above. And I've never tried laser tag, but I bet i could be into it. I just wanna se everything. I've wanted to live here for so long."

I remembered she'd said that on the day we'd met, too. "Why?"

She shrugged, but i could tell she was the one avoiding my question now. "It just always looked fun and sunny and free. I grew up watching a lot of series . I don't know."

"Ah." I nodded, feigning understanding. "I watched a lot of SpongeBob SquarePants as a kid. Must be why i have this strange urge to live in a pineapple under the sea."

She shot me a look, biting on her lip to hold back a smile, and I was momentarily pleased with myself. "Very funny. I just wanted to, okay?"

We reached the end of the street that led to the front of the neighborhood, and i glanced up and down at the street. "Hmm. If we take a left there, the movie theater's about a mile up the road. We can't take kuma inside, but we could grab, like, tiny 5,000 won ice cream cones form the concession stands inside. Or, alternatively, we could take a right and risk out lives when the sidewalk dead-ends in about five-hundred yards or so."

"So my options are death or viciously expensive ice cream?" She frowned.

"Alright. Ice cream it is. But only 'cause I brought money and you're handsome." My lips parted in surprise as she veered left and let kuma tug her along down the sidewalk. She glanced back at me and winked, then called back, "Are you coming, or do you have a girlfriend you should be with right now?"

She turned around and continued in without waiting on my response, and i glanced down to her left arm; the one not outstretched and gripping kuma's leash. It hung at her side, swinging with every step she took, and as my gaze reached her forearm, I saw what I'd missed when i first taken in her appearance at my front door, a thin handmade bracelet encircled her wrist, repeatedly bearing, in order, the six colours of the rainbow with of course a Vita Vede mini Titan two tone bracelet.

I blinked a few times and focus my gaze into the rainbow bracelet. Sure I was imagining things. And then, when I was finally down and the bracelet hadn't vanished, I swallowed hard.

This was going to be a long summer.