better

chapter 4

The dark haired teenager sat on Hayi's counter at the store, tapping away on his phone and steadily conversating with the 5'1 brunette. It seemed all he wanted to do was spend his time there and hang about.

Taeyong jumped off of the counter and sauntered on over to Jennie's, who was finishing up ringing up a customer, and waved them goodbye.

"So, can we talk about Yuta the 'Osaka Prince' now?"

"Taeyong found out?" Hayi asked in surprise.

"Sadly, he did." She rubbed her temples.

"So," he started again, leaning over her counter in a teasing way. "Tell me all about your little crush on Yuta."

"That isn't any of your buisness."

"Why not? I could get you two together, one of my friends is close with him. You wouldn't need to do a single thing."

"No thanks, I'd rather be comfortable admiring from afar." She bitterly smiled, though the fantasy of that coming true and going well appealed to her a tiny bit.

"Oh come on, take risks in life, Jennie."

"I am not like you. I don't step out of my box."

The door to the backroom closed shut, and out appeared Jennie's father. Her dad had came back from a long buisness trip. He saw his daughter looking rather annoyed with a boy around her age being a little too close to her for his liking.

"Jennie, who is this?" He walked over to her counter. She turned in surprise.

"Hi, dad.. this is my classmate, Taeyong."

Taeyong leaned back on his side of the counter, already knowing her father's protective instinct was because of him.

"Hi, sir."

"What class do you share with Jennie?"

"Marriage 101, sir."

He seemed please with the respective titles, and tensed down, much to Taeyong's relief. "Oh, is this the same class you have the same partner with the whole year, Jennie?" He turned to his daughter, who nodded smally.

"You better do your best to give my daughter a good grade, Mr..."

"Lee, sir."

Jennie was amused at this different, mature side of Taeyong. She wanted to burst out laughing in response. She looked over to Hayi too, who had a small smile on her face as well. She wondered if she'd actually like, or tolerate, Taeyong if he was reserved and quiet.

"Good. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to need to know a lot of things about you, if you're going to spend so much time with Jennie."

Jennie's mom came out from the backroom. "Honey, stop pestering him. Don't you remember my friend, Solji? That's his son."

Puzzles being put together could probably be heard from his head. "Is that so? I haven't seen them in ages. How are you, Taeyong?"

"I'm well. Actually, I told my mom about you guys a while back and asked for me to invite you guys over for dinner whenever the two of you were both in town."

The parents looked at each other, mentally communicating if tonight was a good night. "That would be wonderful. What time?" Ms. Kim smiled.

"Around 7 would be fine. Now, I'm going to head home and help cook, since she's going to ask for it anyways. See you guys tonight." He waved, "and Jennie, don't forget the baby."

"The baby?" Was the last thing he heard before he left the store. He laughed to himself and continued on his way home.

Jennie held a dish of dip and a bag of chips to go along with it. The dish wasn't hot enough to burn her skin but it was enough to make it uncomfortable. Her mother held a wine bottle, and her father held a case of beers. Jennie thought it was a bit much since it wasn't even the weekend. Whatever floated their boat. Her dad rang the doorbell and stood waiting.