Music Lovers (Taennie Version)

5🎆

The Kim farm home sits at the end of a long drive line with mature trees. It's in a secluded part of town where there's little light to interrupt the sparkling blanket of night sky overhead or the masses of fireflies blinking in the shrubs. Inside the two-story colonial with white siding and freshly painted black shutters, Tae finds his elderly grandmother in her wheelchair in front of a modest-sized television. She looks like a woman who's spent her life outside, her olive skin permanently freckled, the sleeves of her denim shirt rolled up her dainty forearms.

"Halmeoni," Tae starts, crouching down to put an arm around the old woman's shoulder, "this is Jennie Kim. She works in my department at YG."

Jennie smiles and says hello, bowing respectfully. As the elder takes the younger's hand in both of her warm hands, clasping it like a sandwich, she says happily, "Oh, the one you told me about, Taehyung? It's nice to meet you!"

"Likewise. I'm here to taste your world famous strawberries," Jennie says kindly.

"You are pretty," the tiny woman says, making Jennie's cheeks pinken and Tae hang his head. "No ring," she adds, eyes sweeping over Jennie's fingers.

"Oh? Thinking about leaving halabeoji?" Tae jokes to his grandmother.

Still holding Jennie's hand, she comments, "You always liked girls who had interests in music. So she's perfect!"

"Isn't it getting late?" Tae's eyes dart toward a hallway where the elderly man from the music/book store appears. Introductions are made then "good nights" are said as the grandfather wheels his wife away after Tae gives her a kiss on the top of her head.

Then Tae gestures for Jennie to follow him into the kitchen which prompts her to ask for the direction of the bathroom first. After she's done, she makes her way back to the kitchen when a room on the right catches her eye. A wall of CDs and a bunk bed are visible though the cracked-open door. She steps inside curiously like a child meandering through a forbidden part of a museum.

The gray walls of Tae's childhood room carry so many stories portrayed in pictures, silly drawings, and artistic comics. Band posters, video games leaning against a console, and pinned up concert tickets add to his personality that Jennie hardly knew about.

"Jennie?" 

A voice spears through her thoughts of comprehending his childhood. Light spills in from the hallway and Tae stands in the doorway. 

"Wow, you're actually...normal," she manages to speak as she puts back some cute chubby childhood photos of him that she was staring at. The spark in her eyes form from the sweet boy in all those photos, paintings, and random objects he owns that show that her boss is just a human being after all.

"Come here," he says stepping inside, to which she obediently moves closer, looking up into his dark eyes. "Try this."

He holds a small plate of strawberry shortcake in one hand and offers a spoonful of the pound cake, fruit, and homemade whipped cream in the other. She parts her lips to allow him to feed her a bite of the cold dessert.

"Mmm...tastes sweet," she says, before she raises her thumb to swipe a bit of cream from her lip.

Taking a bite for himself, he feeds her again and again, watching how her pretty mouth devours the shortcake. Moving behind her to lean against a small desk under the window makes her spin around to face him and he's ready to pop a berry into her mouth.

She parts the seam of her lips to take a bite and immediately does a happy dance, bouncing her hips in place from the burst of fruity flavor. "Yummy!"

His lashes splay across his cheeks as his gaze drops to her hips then mouth. A serious shift in energy makes the room feels different. After setting the plate next to him on the desk, Tae pulls her toward him, cupping her jaw, thumbs moving in soothing strokes against her skin. "You know what I think?"