Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
— 🐻 —
36. CHICKEN SKEWERS 鶏の串焼き
THE SIGHT OF a familiar broad back in a big beige t-shirt that showed subtle hints of a lean muscular build made lia's lips curve up. lifting her hands, she ran the short distance, launching herself at an unsuspecting jungkook. he stumbled forward at the impact, instinctively hooking his arms underneath her thighs as he glanced back.
she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, giggling softly. "surprise!" she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "i was so startled. we could've taken a bad nosedive." he told her in a mildly chastising tone, resuming his walk through the park. "but we didn't." she pointed out. "gill is right. you do give great piggyback rides."
"gillie told you about that?" jungkook asked in surprise, twisting his head around to get a glimpse of her. "no, toni did." lia answered. his face contorted in a confused frown. "your sister's best friend?"
"nope, not her. she's never even said a word in my presence." she shook her head. "then who's this toni?" he asked curiously. "someone neither of us should even know about." she glanced around suspiciously. "she can turn our world upside down with just a keyboard if she wants to." she lowered her voice drastically.
"turn our world upside down? is she a god?" he snorted in disbelief. "no, she just writes. let's stop talking about her before she gets suspicious." she replied seriously. he only laughed again. "okay, you weirdo."
"is namjoon here yet?" she changed the subject easily. "yeah. hodan too." his hair flopped over his eyes when he nodded. "why didn't the other girls come again?" he glanced up.
she lifted a hand to mindlessly play with his hair. "cat and apollo have a six month anniversary date. and kaleb already asked kash to 'help him out' at the bookstore. hopefully he doesn't drown her in horrible pickup lines this time." she chuckled. "and why did jimin bail on us?"
"once he heard kash and cat weren't coming, he changed his mind. apparently, it's too hot to be anyone's fifth wheel." he answered. "why would he be a fifth wheel though?" he muttered, sucking in a breath.
lia craned her neck to get a good glimpse of him, an incredulous look on her face. "you haven't noticed?" her tone was flat. "noticed what?" jungkook's brows shot up. "jesus. you are so hopeless." she pulled at his cheek. "haven't you seen the way namjoon acts around hodan? goddamn, even apollo knows."
"knows what?" he blinked up at her innocently. she dropped her head on his shoulder, letting out a sigh. "he likes her." lifting her head, she enunciated dramatically. "hm?" he hummed, his eyes appearing bigger with the confusion on his face.
"how do you even get by in life?" she sighed again, shaking her head. "hm, pretty well." he answered cheekily. "just take me to the food, peasant." she rolled her eyes at him playfully. "aye, aye, captain." he chirped, jogging the rest of the way.
hodan's left brow arched once she caught sight of the couple approaching them. "why are you hitching a ride on air jungkook? what happened to your legs?" she crossed her arms over her chest.
"nothing. i've just made him my servant." lia replied as jungkook carefully let her down onto the picnic blanket. "you mean your bitch?" namjoon laughed, dodging the bottle jungkook flung at him. "shut it, hyung." he said the same time hodan flicked namjoon's ear. "look who you left me with for ten minutes." she glared at jungkook.
"i'm sorry." the boy laughed, not really sounding sorry. "am i supposed to believe you're apologetic?" she pointed a finger at the smiling boy, head tilted and eyes narrowed. his smile only became wider. "hit him, lia!" hodan turned to her friend.
without a thought, lia lifted a hand and smacked jungkook on the arm. flinching, he yelped and namjoon sniggered. "ah! did you really just hit me because she told you to?" he shot his girlfriend an incredulous look, holding on to his stinging arm. looking at him with wide innocent eyes, she nodded.
namjoon let out another laugh, throwing his head back. "you idiot, you're going to fall over." hodan reached over and pushed him forward before he could tumble back into the grass.
"aren't you two cute?" jungkook leaned forward, cupping his cheeks in his hands. lia subtly pinched his arm, glaring at him pointedly. the boy hissed in reaction. "stop being obvious." she whispered. reaching for a slice of cheesecake, he grinned innocently, his eyes glinting in mischief.
"what do you mean?" hodan narrowed her eyes at him. jungkook snuck a glance at his friend who was shooting daggers out his eyes at him. lips pressing into a smile that showed more mischief than innocence, he shrugged. "just that. you're cute."
shutting her eyes, lia simply shook her head. "lia, what's your boyfriend on today?" namjoon glanced at her. "i don't even wanna know." she replied, more interested in picking out what she was going to eat first.
"why do i have to be on something?" jungkook dug a fork into his cheesecake. "because you're on a different level of annoying to them today." lia settled on a chicken skewer. "am i annoying you too?" he looked at her. "hm, nah. but if you do, i'll make you lick the grass." she answered, putting the bite sized piece in her mouth.
"make him do it now!" both namjoon and hodan yelled. they glanced at each other and smiled. jungkook gawked at them, taken aback. "wow, i can feel all the love for me oozing from you guys." he chirped sardonically.
lia reached over and pulled his cheek as he ate. he pouted at her like a child, making her chuckle. "we're here too." hodan remarked drily. "please, don't remind me of the reason jimin skipped out on this picnic." namjoon added.
both lia and jungkook stuck their tongues out at their friends. namjoon shook his head while hodan scrunched her nose. "wow," she drawled, "you two are just oversized children."
the couple sported similar childish grins. namjoon, still shaking his head in disbelief, pressed his lips together. he clicked his tongue at them. "meant to be. you two are meant to be."
☀️☀️☀️
we're so close 100k reads omfg wow i'm shook?? and i'm sorry if this chapter and the last feel like fillers. you might have to endure that vibe for the next couple of chapters too but i swear they all have little important things in them even if it doesn't seem like it.
