↳ ❝🍓 [chapter 04] ¡! ❞🚬

EVA WAS VERY wary of the park for reasons more obvious than a crackhead walking down the street. Whenever she would walk to work, she was sure to go the long way, even when she saw the kids playing on the playgrounds, other people walking along the path that ran through the entire part, connecting each entrance.

She knew the rules. After sunset, you better not find yourself in the park unless you wanted to risk getting shot. The gunshots still rung in her ears like a distant memory when there was nothing but silence and her mind wanted to fill that empty spacing in her senses.

So on Sunday, when the center was closed and Eva was off of work, she decided it would be in her best interest to take a pleasant stroll through the park. Notably in broad daylight. Maybe that would get rid of some of that internal fear that haunted her like a stain in her memory. Her fear was far from irrational, but it was the darkness she had to fear. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a walk. The sky was a crystal clear blue with cotton candy clouds floating though. It felt warm outside and she felt that it was the most ideal time to take her first steps into the park, a fawn taking it's first wobbly steps.

So Eva went through her extensive morning routine with a shower longer than any person's should be, creams and serums for her face, lotion, light make up, and a cute outfit consisting of a pretty, light blue crop top with little dark blue flowers dotting the whole fabric and lose pants rolled up to her ankles with the top fastened around her waist with a black belt.

Eva took her time laying down her edges against her foreheads and pulling a few of her braids in a front back into a little ponytail behind her head. She always dressed to impress and always did it carefully, making sure she never missed a step. Eva slipped on her shoes and went to grab her phone, handbag, and lotion to put into a small bag for her to carry around.

And with that, she was ready to head out into this scary world, hoping to make herself feel a little better and gaslight herself into a false sense of security.

Eva skipped down the street, watching as the sidewalk passed her by as she pushed forward. She childishly missed all the cracks on the sidewalk purposefully and there are a lot. Most of the time she walked on her toes to avoid them. Wouldn't want to break her mother's back.

Eva grew a little tense as she approached the east entrance of the park. She was gonna walk through the whole thing, right along the path she was the other night and she was gonna do it fearlessly.

Watching the little kids run in, ready to play and live their best lives gave Eva a little more hope and just the courage she needed to go on. She began to walk into the park, under the large, rusting sign onto park property.

Eva kept to herself, admiring the scenery, the way the sun streamed through the leaves of the trees as they tossed in the soft breeze. The grass was so green that it looked almost fake, like the grass of a football field, placed in to always look perfect.

There were teenagers playing basketball on the concrete court, kids running through the open field playing tag. It was like they had no idea what was happening here at night, how gangs roam and lurk with the intent to shoot on sight.

Even in the day, the park wasn't completely safe. There were still sketchy figures roaming with shifty gazes and even shiftier people. Their interactions are brief, an exchange and then they leave. It's unsettling.

Eva quickly diverts her attention and instead focus on things that probably won't kill her if she watches too closely.

Some of the trees lining the path were cherry blossoms, very beautiful cherry blossoms. Eva admired them as some pulled off the branches and floated with the breeze before fluttering to the ground in front of her.

Beautiful.

Out of the west entrance of the part, Eva spotted the unmistakable white hair of Yoongi on the corner across the street. He was just coming out of a corner store with Hoseok. A pack of cigarettes in hand as well as what looked like an Everfresh juice which he handed to his brunette friend.

She chose not to bother him, quickly continuing along her way so he wouldn't spot her and berate her for coming back to the park. Eva tried to go completely unnoticed. Key word in the sentence was "tried". She was walking with a spotlight on her.

"Aye," Hoseok nudged Yoongi slightly with his elbow as he took a cigarette and placed it between his lips, leaving it unlit. "Isn't that lil' mama?" He asked, pointing out Eva's dainty figure dressed up in sorrowful blue.

Yoongi's eyes flickered up from his lighter. He watched as she walked down the path, looking around like she was in some kind of wonderland. "Okay? Why does this affect me?" He shrugged. She looked like she was living her best life and she didn't need him to come interfere with her alone time.

Hoseok looked at him with a raised brow. "You aren't gonna at least say hi to your girlfriend? That's rude." He teased, calling Eva his girlfriend just to get on Yoongi's nerves.

"I will kill you." He threatens, pointing the end of his cigarette at his pain in the ass of a friend. Hoseok only grins in response. "Go say hi to her. She fed you." He forced Yoongi up to his feet and pushed him forward, sending the man on his way over to her.

"Go before she gets too far away." Hoseok shooed at him. Yoongi rolled his eyes and sighed, the thick smoke trapped inside his mouth blowing away as he did so.

With no other choice, Yoongi walked forward and made his way over her Eva. He's just come by, explain to her that Hoseok had forced him to come over and then leave. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her...but he didn't. Not because there was anything wrong with her, he just thought that the less time she spent with him, the less danger she was in.

Yoongi approached Eva from behind and cleared his throat loudly. The woman jumped, yelping with fear. She was a jumpy little thing, he could tell.

She whips around with widened eyes that come to relax when she sees the white-haired man. "Oh, Yoongi...it's you." Her smiles is like the sun, bright, warm, probably going to give him a sunburn or burn out his retinas if he looks at it directly. She's happy to see him which is a first for Yoongi. No one was ever happy to see him.

"Yeah- it's me." His voice makes Eva feel all the safer. She associates the depth of it with security, nothing bad would happen with him around. "Hoseok forced me over here for whatever reason." Yoongi took a drag of his cigarette and let the smoke fall from his lips. "Now that it looks like I've had a conversation with you, I'm gonna go." He turned, ready to walk away and never speak to her again. Unlikely really, fate just keeps pushing them together.

Eva wouldn't let him go. She had this hopeful, wishful thinking that she could somehow make friends with Yoongi. How naïve really, for her to think that someone like him and someone like her could ever be friends.

Yet, she still tried. He could keep her safe.

"Can you walk with me please?" Eva asked the pale, tattooed man in hopes that he'd agree.

Yoongi turned back around to look at her. He had a raised brow, hidden under the fluffy curtains of his hair. "Why would you want that?" It was a genuine question. Why would she want him to walk with her? She seems to be doing just fine on her own. But he doesn't know how she's having a meltdown, fearing that even stepping outside will spell death for her. Deep down, she remembers that night and how he protected her from getting shot. She just feels a little safer with him around.

"Well- that night in the park, when you saved me from getting shot." She looked down at her shoes. "I...just feel safer with you around."

Of all the things to feel around a gangster, she felt safe because she knew he would try to protect her if he could.

Yoongi thought she was either crazy or stupid to feel safe around him. She was just asking for someone to target her.

Eva glanced up at him. "So can you please walk with me?" She asked again, her voice all soft and fluffier than the clouds in the sky. Yoongi looked at her, the slight need in her voice and the desperation sparkling in her eyes of melted chocolate, and felt obligated to do so.

He sighed, closing his eyes as he told himself that he was such a fucking idiot and then said, "fine," like a dumbass.

Eva didn't actually expect it to work. Asking was a long shot but his actually complying wasn't what she had expected. After a moment of blinking and staring, staring and blinking, her sweet smile returned to her glossy lips. "Come on then," eagerly motioning for Yoongi to follow her.

So there he was, walking by her side like some glorified guard dog.

Silence was no stranger to them. It sat over them like a blanket of comforting weight on their shoulders. There was nothing uncomfortable about their silence. It was the purest form of nothing.

Yoongi continued taking drags of his cigarettes and with each one, Eva was counting down how many years he would have left to his life. 10? 5? Depends on how long he's been smoking for. The thought makes Eva shift with the first sign of discomfort.

"Can you put that out please?" Eva finally asked after withholding it for so long. Yoongi looked at her with a narrowed gaze. "Asking for a lot for a girl who asked me to go on a walk with her."

Eva pursed her lips and put her head down. She was asking for a lot, wasn't she? Maybe she should just shut up.

"Sorry."

Of course, Yoongi felt bad now. He made the angel upset. She looks like she just saw a dog get kicked. He'd just smoke another when he was away from her. He took the cigarette from his lips and flicked it to the ground. "There, now stop being all pouty." He wouldn't tell her she looked prettier when she smiled because she looked pretty regardless, he simply preferred her not looking like she was about to cry.

Long lashes covered Eva's eyes as she looked up at her pale knight walking alongside her. There was something so uniquely attractive about him. Fuzzy, white cotton candy hair that clash with dark tattoos and the scars they attempt to hide. His features are oddly delicate for him being so firm.

Yoongi was handsome. Not in the whole stereotypical tall, defined, chiseled jaw, golden hair and blue eyes way. No, there was something so undeniably attractive about him in his own, unique, individual way. Eva liked that far better. Why think that only one type of person was attractive? What was the point of everyone who was beautiful to look the same?

Eva looked out at the cherry blossoms falling from the trees like pink rain. She watched as a few fluttered and landed in Yoongi's hair, caught by the snow until they we're picked up again by the wind. He didn't seem to notice and Eva decided not to tell him either.

He looked cute that way.

*.✧ Kᴀʏs Eɴᴅɪɴɢ Nᴏᴛᴇs

This chapter originally wasn't here. The next chapter was originally supposed to be the 4th chapter. I wanted them to have more interactions with each other first.

Thank you all for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed and I wish you all an amazing day/night

사랑해

~Kay ┐('(エ)｀)┌