[edited]

Tae woke up bright, early in the morning, or so is what he thought.

He casually stretched, sauntering to the bathroom lazily.

After he did he morning routine, he went downstairs to have breakfast.

But reaching downstairs, he realised that no one was home.

Upon looking at the wall clock,
he realised it was 12 noon already.

He cursed under his breath and ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready for his plans for the day.

After getting ready, he made way downstairs, drank a tiny bottle of strawberry milk, grabbed a granola bar from the fridge, and headed out.

By this time, it one and a half hours past noon already.

He waited for Sooyan for a good half hour but, there was no sign of him.
Fed up of waiting, Taehyung finally punched in his friend's digits in the keypad, calling him.

"Hello, Tae? I am so sorry, but I can't come today. I forget that me and my family had to attend the funeral of a close relative." Sooyan explained, somewhat nervous in his tone.

Tae sighed.

"It is really ok, Sooyan. Don't worry, okay. That is way more important, alright, so go ahead, I understand." Tae said.

"Oh, thanks bro, I really wasted your time and day, right?" Sooyan felt guilty.

"Oh no Sooyan, you did not. Really. Okay, so...later dude?" Tae said.

"Yeah, bye bro." Sooyan said and hung up.

Tae sighed, entering the house back again.

He went to the kitchen to have cold water, but noticed a note on the fridge, which he did not earlier in his haste.

———————————————

Dear Tae,

I will be out for the day to a friend's. I did not want to bother you so I dropped off your brother at a babysitter'. Jun is in care of Eunbin, the neighbor who lives in the opposite house to ours. When you are back, pick up upon please?
Enjoy your day!

Love,
Your Aunty.ꨄ︎

———————————————

Tae groaned.

But now that he wasn't going anywhere today, he could just play with Jun.

So, to bring back Jun, he stepped out, yet again, decidedly.

He left the house again, but stopped when he saw Eunbin and Jun leaving her house, too.

Like the child he was at heart, he decided to spy on them.

He followed them to a park, where he hid himself behind the bushes.

Forming a pair of binoculars with his slender fingers in front of his eyes, saw Eunbin sitting on a side bench, while Jun happily skipped towards a swing.

But as soon as he got there he came into the notice of the park bullies, all of them hardly 8 years old.

They marched towards the 5 year old boy, but froze in their path as soon as a girl, Eunbin herself, blocked thier path.

Her glare alone scared them to the bones. She intimidatingly took a step forward, brows knitting.

And a single word, "Bounce.", with a little stress on the 'B', and they were seen running for lives.

Taehyung was surprised to see how without even a proper whole sentence or anything, she managed to scare those bullies off, running away like chickens.

As soon as her work was done she went back to her seat, all calm and expressionless, and to her phone again, a grinning Jun swinging contentedly in her vision.

Tae, highly impressed of the act pulled off by the girl, decided to join her too, acting as if he was just visiting the park.

"Oh Eunbin! I didn't expect you to be here with Jun." He said, playing dumb, and joining her on the bench.

Eunbin lifted her eyes to Taehyung and after a second, moved them back to her phone.

Tae was actually confused as to why a girl wouldn't want to talk to him. After all, he was used to the opposite of this.

"Hey, I was just starting a convo, won't you reply? Um, let's start over again, I am Kim Taehyung, and you?"

Eunbin sighed. After a moment of debating in her mind, she hesitantly replied.

"Hi, I'm Lee Eunbin." She said, straight  faced, staring at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Uh, you know, you can smile a bit, right?" he said.

But it seemed like she had difficulty in not only speaking, but smiling too.

Tae sighed. Too clear up the awkward air that had settled in, he suggested,
"Hey, can we play that 'Roses are red...' game?"

Eunbin was clearly surprised, not expecting someone to actually converse with her for this long, and thought for a while.

"Oh, come on! Please~" he whined and showed his puppy eyes.

Eunbin nodded hesitantly, putting her phone away.

At that, Taehyung grinned widely.

"Ok, my turn first. Umm...

'Roses are red,
violets are blue,
I can totally be your friend,
how 'bout you ?' ". He ended with a smile.

"Uhh, okay, s-so...

'Roses are red,
violets are blue...
I don't know what to say,
please help me, would you ?' "
She ended nervously.

"Ha ha cute. Hey loosen up, you did good." He smiled at her, patting her shoulder encouragingly.

Eunbin didn't know why, but she blushed for the first time in her life, feeling an unusual warmth rise up her neck to her cheeks and ears uncontrollably.

"Okay, my turn. This one's a joke okay? So—

'Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Can't help but tell you the truth,
With the apes, your face belongs in the zoo.' " He finished with a proud grin.

Eunbin chuckled uncontrollably, eyes crinkled cutely.

Watching her laugh, he joined in too.

"You are fun, you should hang out with people more." Tae suggested.

And the next hour was all talking to each other. Well, Taehyung doing most of the talking, and Eunbin answering in small words and nods.

While talking, Tae came to know that this girl had a problem of connecting with people. A condition, the social anxiety disorder, where you become to overconcious of what people'll think about you, thereby  you choosing not to talk to them, or in other words, avoiding them instead.

Meanwhile, Eunbin felt a sparks, whenever their eyes would meet. Maybe, a result of being able to talk to a person without feeling self conscious for the first time.

Both of them decided that it was getting late, watching the sun set together beautifully. So they, along with Jun walked back home, bidding each other byes.

That night, Eunbin lay in her bed, now thinking of what the boy had actually thought about her, whether to trust Tae or not.

Meanwhile, Tae shared his achievement with his hyungs ( and Jungkook), and slept well.