case 143 // seungin

chapter 10 | ᴅᴏᴡɴᴛᴏᴡɴ

-ғʀɪᴅᴀʏ-
seungmin's pov
i still have no clue where we're headed.

there's a young boy who grabs my hand tightly, dragging me along the winding sidewalks of town as he runs. the wind catches his hair as it bounces up and down continuously, winter white strands flying in every direction. his face is flushed pink, an exhilarated look on his face.

jeongin's sudden burst of adrenaline has me curious what he has in mind; he usually didn’t do things spontaneously. our feet thump on the gray flagstones beneath us as i’m tugged forcefully forward; i am once again grateful for my long legs…

'jeongin-ah! where... are... we going?' i panted, my legs straining as my lungs were begging for more air.

'yah! just follow me... you'll see...' he took in a deep breath and continued quite breathlessly, 'for now, we gotta RUN.'

his stamina is worse than me... remind me to take him for my morning runs next time.

'uh huh, sure.'

jeongin tugged on my arm even harder in response, half turning to smirk at me as i let out a yelp.

'so you want to play like that, huh...' i muttered under my breath.

a thought crept into my mind, and without warning, i pulled jeongin's arm such that he stumbled backward and his back crashed into my chest as i held him steady, snaking my arms around his waist, playfully pulling his hoodie drawstrings.

i lowered my head, my lips close to the shell of his ear, lowering my voice as i whispered, 'this is payback for shoving that sandwich in my mouth. yang jeongin.'

i felt jeongin tense beneath my fingers, the beats of his heart rising faster and faster-

'stop playing!! we're nearly there!' jeongin twisted out of my grasp, still not facing me.

he ran forward, without holding my hand this time.

i called out, 'yahh! wait up, i-yen! i'm sorry!!'

'you should've thought twice before teasing me like that then!' jeongin's voice drifted into my ears, a distant hooded figure on the street now.

~~~

'ding!' the bell hanging at the top of the glass door rang out a single chime as jeongin walked into what seemed like a bookstore and café merged together.

then it struck me, jeongin talked about this 'book café' before, and he wanted to bring... me along?

lofi instrumentals were playing softly in the background, setting a relaxing ambience in the cafè. as i looked around, i saw its walls were a light shade of beige-brown, and there were vintage chairs and tables scattered around the baby blue tiles of the cafè.

on one of the walls, there were many polaroids stuck onto it. i peered at them, seeing a couple that repetitively appeared throughout the shots with many different people carrying mugs of drinks or a stack of books. they were all beaming at the camera.

'you're staring at the proud owners of this cafè. we're about to close, by the way.'

i spinned around, seeing the exact same couple stand right before me in the flesh, just slightly older than their past selves in the photos.

jeongin bowed at a 90 degree angle before greeting, 'aish, aunty odette, good afternoon, won't you just let me stay a bit longer? this is my friend, seungmin. it's his first time here, and i want to introduce to him this town's hidden greenstone.' jeongin clasped his hands together, 'pleasee, i will repay with helping with the chores.'