HIDEOUT: LEE TAEYONG

32

soyoung

the greenhouse expectedly looked like it was murdered, ever since mark mentioned that they abandoned it i knew it would look as dead as the earth. entering felt like everything went black and white, or the color dark latte if that made sense. you wouldn't see anything but dead flowers and plants, it's just... a dead place. "not the biggest but we can work it out... right?!" mark asked with a positive tone, the hope in his face made me immediately nod my head.

we had decided to use the greenhouse they've never touched, the only ones who were plant-interested were jungwoo, mark, doyoung and taeyong. after doyoung heard that taeyong would be participating to help, he with no hesitation stepped back and refused the invitation right away. i swear those two!

"can we get em?" mark fluttered his eyes while gazing down at the seed packets i had on my hands. "of course mork~"

when i handed them out, mark frantically began to unpack them without even thinking if it really was the smart first step. "don't you think the first step is to get rid of all these dead plants and flowers?" i cocked an eyebrow, mark who seemed impatient sighed and began to look around at the messy greenhouse.

"cleaning up is the first step!" jungwoo clarified after sliding some elastic gloves on. "we have to make sure to keep everything clean, that way we don't have to worry about anything else." after his small speech, jungwoo began to clip of the stems with a shear and everyone in the greenhouse began to tidy up.

"ayee, uh huh! i would have a show like oprah, i will be the host of, everyday christmas give mark lee a wish list. i probably pull an angelina and brad pitt and adopt a bunch of babies that ain't never had shit~" hearing mark cutely rap under his breath cause my heart to flutter, my cheeks to burn and my lips to smile. since he was enjoying his privacy, i decided to join jungwoo instead who happen to quietly hum a song.

i avoided to wear gloves and began to cut off dead flowers with a shear, just like he did.

he had noticed my presence, that's why he had a smile on his lips. "i can't believe how many food you guys brought back, this was the first we've encountered to see so much!" the happiness in his tone never failed to make me grin gleefully.

"i forgot to mention, two members of stray kids were there too after i got in and they were supposed to get all... but this boy felix successfully convinced hyunjin to leave some for me." my explanation caused jungwoo to enlarge his pure eyes, the fear sat on his face as he briskly looked away and proceeded to do his work. i can tell he was scared of them, i didn't want to bring it up when he was like that so i was quick enough to change the topic.

"jungwoo?" i started, replying after hearing him hum. "when i first got here, how'd you know my name was soyoung?"

i expected a tensed look from him, since it kind of sounded like a secret... instead he chuckled cutely.

"ahh! that's a long story, i know you probably thought i was a stalker." he sheepishly said. "but taeyong hyung always joined me when i visit sopa to see lucas, of course it was all before the drama. so i asked him: hyung why do you always want to come with me to dwight? it's good though, we are spending more time together." he paused and the smile on his soft plump lips disappeared. "he explained how he didn't do it because of me, he told me he wanted to check up at a girl called soyoung... you. i asked him why, he told me he kind of liked you-"

"omo, did i say too much?" his hands immediately pasted on top of his lips, big eyes and blushy cheeks.

"kinda obvious before you even mentioned it, don't you think?" mark said with a giggle.

i hope he's not joking around, not because i was dissatisfied with what i heard. i'm not in the mood for foolish jokes. i feel weird, i must admit i do like lee taeyong and if he doesn't feel the same i might just have a small breakdown. why would he give me these butterflies, when he can't even get them himself when i am around?

"you're fooling around right?"

jungwoo didn't even get to say anything when another person entered the greenhouse. "oh hi taeyong!" mark waved his hand.

"hi mark." he briefly responded and gazed over to me and jungwoo. "soyoung, i need to talk to you alone in private about what happened earlier." since he was bringing up the scary situation i was in earlier, he gave me a smile to reassure that everything would be fine.

i nervously nodded my head and placed down the shear on the table, glancing at jungwoo who had a tensed expression after what he said earlier.