"Hey, hey! Look at us! We're going to set off the fireworks now." Haruki shouts, looking towards taehyung and natsuki.

Their attention is drawn towards the sky now. The atmosphere is cooler than the daytime, the ocean waves also help in relaxing the mind and body.

They gaze at the sky together as the others finally light the fireworks and they go off, above in the sky full of stars.

The colours emitting from the fireworks shine on their faces, different shades decorate their skin and the joyous smile is cherry on the top.

The sounds that fireworks create is also satisfying while looking at the fireworks emerging, spreading colours and then slowly disappearing into the air. The cycle repeats itself as the sky gets filled with different fireworks.

"I lived in Seoul, the sky was never this big for me." Taehyung suddenly says, his lips slowly curving up in a smile. "I never knew stars could be so beautiful and that I could fall in love with a moment." He says in a small voice.

"You sound like a poet." Natsuki chuckles at him. "But, that's adorable." She mutters with a smile.

"Huh?" Taehyung looks at her.

"Huh? Oh, your sparkler... do you want a new one?" She desperately tries to avoid talking about what she said. "Which colour this time?" Listening to her rambling, Taehyung chuckles, looking back at the sky.

Fumiya comes running to them, panting for air and the other two follows him.

"Is it over already?" Natsuki asks, low-key disappointed.

"Of course. What do you expect?" Jimin laughs. "It's getting late now, we should head home." He says looking around.

"Okay! Have a good night." Taehyung says, getting up as he looks at natsuki. "Let's go?" He asks.

"Oh, yeah, okay." She stutters. "Bye, everyone." She waves at them and they walk further away from the ocean, the sound fading away gradually. They part their ways.

"Did you have fun?" Natsuki asks taehyung as they walk down the street. Their house was just around the corner so it wasn't a problem.

"Yes. You're friends are all nice. Thank you for letting me tag along." He says offering her his famous square smile.

"Ah! So blinding!" She whispers under her breath, looking down and then looks up again, "Mention not. We don't mind adding another friend in our group." She says.

"So, I'm officially friends with you, right?" He ask happily and stops as they arrive in front of his house.

"Um..." She trails off, making taehyung furrow his eyebrows. "You can say that." She laughs, waving her hand and takes a run towards her house.

"Why do you always keep running?" He mumbles, shaking his head and gets inside after he hears natsuki shutting the sliding door close.

•~•~•

"Kei!! Don't ever try to run away. It's a bad habit, understand?" Natsuki has kei bundled up in a towel after she bathed him in the morning. She talks to him like explaining to a child, sitting on the porch.

But, maybe kei actually can understand her?

"Aren't you the one running away all the time though?" She suddenly hears a voice from behind.

She screams, almost falling down as she turns around to take a look, "what are you doing here, yukio?" Her voice jumps an octave or two higher as she clutches kei near her chest.

"I was getting bored at home." He confesses, shrugging and sits down on the porch. Natsuki puts kei down, still wrapped up in towel.

"So my place was the only thing you could think of?" She asks the most obvious question.

"You don't want me here? I can go-" He tries to stand up but natsuki grabs him by his wrist, stopping him.

He sits back down, a smile present on his lips. "I knew you were a softie inside." He chuckles.

"Nonsense!" She breathes. Taehyung picks kei up, putting him on his lap as he starts to dry him. Kei obediently sits down, wiggling his tail.

"Every living thing seems to like you, yukio. How lucky!" Natsuki snickers.

"You think so?" He looks down at kei, his smile getting bigger. "I don't think I'm that lucky." He looks back at her.

"When I was in Korea, people used to befriend me just because... I was good looking? It was like, they weren't genuine from the start. Some of them became real friends afterwards but that friendship wasn't based on genuine feelings. I hated it." He sighs, looking down again.

Natauki nods in understanding. She realises that no person can be judged by only their appearance. If we need to know the person, we need to listen to their stories as well.

"It must be tough!" She mutters.

"Yeah, so coming here was actually a happy news for me. Thankfully I found some good friends right after coming here." He smiles brightly. His smiles makes natsuki smile too and she doesn't realise it until she feels her ears getting warmer.

She looks away, suddenly alerted.

"But, hey! How did you come inside, yukio?" She remembers all of a sudden.

"The door was open so..." he points towards the main door.

Natsuki gasps. "Oh my god! I forgot to close it again?!" She clinches her eyes close tilting her head in guilt.

"It's okay." Taehyung says.

"Still, how could you enter just like that? It's okay because we know each other or else you would have charged for barging in. Can you enter anywhere just like that in your hometown?" She asks, horror evident in her eyes.

"What? Of course no!" He laughs but natsuki sighs in relief.

"Your mom isn't home?" He asks, looking around.

"She went to aunt kimura's house for something... I don't really know." She shrugs.

"Oh!" He nods. "And... what about your dad?" He asks hesitantly.

"Ah yes, I never told you." She claps her hands, "he is in the navy, so he is barely home." She smiles. Taehyung nods again.

"Kei was his gift for me, you know?" She smiles, patting kei on the neck. Taehyung smiles too.

"That's sweet." He comments.

"Some day, I want to join the navy too, if possible." She looks outside, her eyes travel far in the distance where the ocean is.

"That's amazing! I hope you can fulfil your dream one day." Taehyung says, his hand unknowingly raising up, gently patting natsuki's head twice.

She flinches a little, looking at him, in a shock.

Taehyung retrieves his hand back, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I got carried away." He apologies quickly.

"Um, no." She shakes her head. "It's okay, I don't mind." She breathes deeply, the sweet scent of osmanthus filling her lungs.

Her heart seems to be delighted. There is something that makes her feel good after what taehyung did. She doesn't wanna ponder over it.

The air feels awkward now. She fiddles on her spot, trying to find a new topic to talk about. Taehyung's attention is on kei.

"Hey, yukio!" Suddenly her mom's voice can be heard. She enters the lawn.

"Good afternoon auntie." Taehyung greets her.

"Good afternoon. How come you're here?" She asks.

"I just wanted to hang out with natsuki and... kei. I was bored at home, too." He says, rubbing his nape.

"Oh, sure! You're welcome anytime. Make yourself at home. I'll go and prepare some snacks for you two." She smiles and walks inside the house.

"Suki, can you help me water the flowers and plants?" Her mom yells from the kitchen.

"Okay, mom." Natsuki yells back.

"Yukio, you can play with kei. I'll go and fetch the water pipe." She stands up and goes to fetch the water pipe from the backyard.

When she comes back, she sees taehyung is still playing with kei in his lap but what she doesn't expect is, yeontan running inside towards taehyung with his tongue out, wiggling his tail.

She throws the pipe on the ground, running towards taehyung as she picks kei up.

"What happened?" He is so surprised that he starts to look around.

Natauki points at the back.

"Tannie? What are you doing here?" Taehyung stands up and walks to yeontan who is standing like a statue.

"Don't worry, I won't let him harm kei again." He turns to natsuki and assures her. She thinks for a moment and puts kei down.

"If you say so!" She shrugs and goes to connect the pipe with the water tap.

■□■□

Can kei and yeontan really stay together without making trouble? Let's see...
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