peach blossom; 桃花 || jung wheein x kim taehyung

petal; 花瓣

Fate had sent Kim Taehyung quite literally barreling into Wheein's life a little over a year ago, on an unassuming September day as the crippling summer heat melted away into a crisp, cool autumn.

"Fuck!" is the only thing she can yelp before the front door smacks straight into her face and knocks her a few steps back.

She hunches over and clutches at her face in pain, gingerly massaging the bridge of her nose as a panicked and unfamiliar voice filters in her ears. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I- I had no idea you were behind the door, are you alright?"

"I'll live," Wheein mutters begrudgingly, still rather miffed about the entire situation until she realizes that the speaker's voice is one she doesn't recognize. She finally stands up straight to see a tall stranger awkwardly lingering in the doorway, guilt painted across his dirt smudged face. Given his worse for wear state and nervous disposition, he doesn't appear to necessarily pose much of a threat at the moment, but one could never be too careful. Her eyes narrow in suspicion. "Who the hell are you?"

"I-I'm-" The man stammers, looking thoroughly intimidated by her mildly hostile tone and combative stance despite standing nearly a head taller than her. He turns back to silently address someone outside that she can't see just yet, a pleading look on his face.

"Wheein-ah, play nice," The previously hidden figure soon makes their entrance as Seokjin steps past the stranger in his typical carefree manner into their base with a large cardboard box full of canned food in his arms. Chaeyoung files in behind the older with two bags of rice and briefly flashes her a smile in greeting as they walk past Wheein to carry the provisions over to their pantry. They must have just returned from raiding another grocery store. "Found him hiding in the back of a storage room of wherever we were just at earlier all by himself and decided to bring him back with us. He's one of us now."

Wheein turns her sharp gaze back over towards the stranger still warily loitering in the doorway, almost as though too scared to even step into the house without her permission. Seokjin and Chaeyoung are no longer in the vicinity and it's now just the two of them. She purses her lips and lets out a soft sigh, doing her best to appear a little more welcoming than before as she steps in his direction and holds out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Wheein."

He stares at her hand for a moment, before shyly letting his gaze slowly travel up to look her in the face. He has pretty eyes, Wheein can't help but note to herself. They're bright and expressive, like the twinkle of stars amongst the dark of the night. And more importantly, they still shine full of hope. It's a sight that Wheein hasn't seen in the mirror for years.

She meets his stare in an unabashed manner. Perhaps if they had met under different circumstances, had bumped into one another and met gazes with one another on the street back when the world and society as they knew it was still intact, then maybe the old Wheein would have immediately looked away, a pink flush rising to her cheeks in embarrassment or surprise. But now she stares death in the eye every time she ventures outside the safety of their base, lives day to day not knowing when everything might come to an end. A little eye contact with a stranger is nothing to the present-day Wheein, no matter how good looking he may be.

The man is the first to look away and finally reaches out to take Wheein's hand in his to shake it. His gaze is now trained at their clasped hands, something akin to disbelief written across his face. Wheein doesn't blame him, doesn't know how many weeks or months he may have gone without human contact, but she can only imagine it wasn't easy for him to survive on his own as long as he had, to have seen the things he has up until now. His hand trembles ever so slightly in her grasp as he lips his cracked lips and finally speaks once again.