11th March

The wine festival, the hill festival, the festival of lights and new beginnings, the festival to mark the beginning of spring. It went by many names and didn't quite have any history on why it ever started. But as years went by, it became a tradition for the people of the hill. It was the time of the year to celebrate new beginnings, to share the liveliness amongst themselves by laughing, dancing and singing together. Because the celebrations lasted all evening until dinner, it earned the cute little title 'Sweet Night' amongst the locals.

Now Jungkook did not know about 'Sweet Night'. He had been to the event once, with Ethan's family, back in tenth grade, but it wasn't as though he remembered most of it. His attention was elsewhere when it should have been on the festivities. He regretted not paying attention back then, he had to learn everything from scratch because he did not want to disappoint Taehyung.

So there he was, researching, wracking his brain, taking notes to make sure everything would be flawless. And if the internet wasn't enough, he reached out to the man who was born and raised in the hills, the one who probably had been to almost every 'Sweet Night' from his time.

"Wait, there's a dance?"

"Oh, yes, there is!" Jungkook's father exclaimed, talking to his son on the phone. "It's quite special for the hill folk."

"Please don't tell me that I have to as well." Jungkook groaned out. He wasn't a fan of dancing.

"Of course you have to!" his father laughed. "You know, that was how your mother and I met! She and I were coincidental dance partners and-"

"And she fell for you and wouldn't stop trying to talk to you for the rest of the night. Yes, I know, dad." Jungkook smiled warmly. "You've told this story at the dining table about fifty times, not including the times you mentioned it when I was still in middle school."

"Well, I'm just saying. But I'm warning you, you'll be dragged to dance no matter what happens, so there isn't any way out of it. The hill folk don't leave anyone out."

"Okay, let's forget about that. I'll come up with something." he hummed a little, tapping his pen on a small notepad where he was taking notes. "Anything else I must know?"

"Nothing that strikes me at the moment- oh wait! The flowers!"

"The flowers?"

"You see, Kookie, families give each other flowers on this occasion. It's a tradition to show your gratitude and happiness. Though, no one knows why it started."

"Okay...." Jungkook nodded his head slowly as he sunk back into his bed's mattress. "And you're trying to tell me that-"

"That you can bring the flowers tomorrow!"

"Wait wait..." he sat up straight and stared at his sheets."You want me to get flowers, dad?"

"Well, yes!" his father replied. "The Kims invited us, so it only makes sense that we get the flowers in return for Taehyung's kind invitation. Also, it's not every year we get to go to Sweet Night."

"We never go, dad."

"Yes, except that one time with the Davis family back then-"

"Yeah, dad...I-I know." he cut him off on purpose. "Anyway, flowers. Why can't you get them?"

"Well, you live in the city and us, here, in the village."

"But Mom's here too, right? For the restaurants? She's way better at picking flowers than me! Besides, won't you get fresher and cheaper flowers at the village local stores?"

"About that, Kookie." his tone lowered a bit. "Your mummy won't be able to make it. With the season change, bigger tasks burden the restaurants. She's got a lot of work on her shoulders."

Jungkook fell back on the pillow in disappointment with a small pout on his face. "That's bad. I was looking forward to seeing everyone together! Are you sure she can't come?"

"I'm afraid she can not. Anyway, no, I am not buying flowers from the local stores here, they're probably sold out already! Besides, you have Daejung with you in the city, no? Who'd know flowers any better than him?"

"But, dad-"

"Kookie." he said back to him sweetly. "It's for Taehyung's family. I'm sure he'd like whatever you get. Just remember, orange and yellow are the occasional colours for tomorrow."

"And how can you be so sure, dad?" Jungkook chuckled. "You couldn't possibly know how he feels."

"Maybe not, but you do realise that being invited to these celebrations is a huge deal, hmm? People don't just invite someone just because they are friends. This festival is about the bonds between families, the bond between individuals. There is much more to it than just wine tasting and dancing and singing."

As Jungkook's father said, it wasn't common for people from the hill to invite just about anyone to join them with their celebrations. Taehyung had made an exception with Jungkook, he knew all too well why, and it wasn't entirely because Yeontan missed him.

With their progression as friends, Taehyung had drawn himself towards Jungkook quite a bit. But it wasn't just because he found him to be a good friend. To Taehyung, Jungkook was someone he related to, someone he laughed with, wholeheartedly, after a very long time. He was an oddball, that man, but that was probably why Taehyung seemed interested in Jungkook. He made Taehyung want share his thoughts and feelings with him, to open up a bit more. In turn, it urged Taehyung to share his experiences with Jungkook, his feelings and the things that made him the  happiest.

It wasn't unlike Taehyung, he had always been the type to share, but he didn't do it with just about everyone he knew. He had his limits and bounds, and it was as though Jungkook broke those bounds, without actually forcing himself in. Jungkook just merged into Taehyung's world, without any hindrance or any extra effort. Above all that, Jungkook had an amazing job, and it only motivated Taehyung to do more himself. With Jungkook, they could talk for hours or spend the entire day together, and Taehyung wouldn't notice it.

After Jungkook revealed his sexuality to Taehyung, he just seemed to get more interesting to him. Taehyung found it fascinating that his family had accepted him so easily. He wasn't sure if it would have been the same at his place, though he didn't even know whether he was gay or not, it wasn't something he had put his mind to.

Inviting Jungkook to Sweet Night was Taehyung's way of saying that he wanted to spend more time with him, just for the sake of spending more time with him. Before his project, the two hung out a lot, but as Taehyung got busier, he started to miss their talks. It wasn't as though they hadn't met in recent times, they had, Taehyung even took Jungkook to his secret spot, but he wanted more. And Taehyung wasn't actually mentally aware that he did.

12th March

Like every other morning, Jungkook's alarm went off at six. He was asleep on his belly and his face was pressed against his pillow as the piercing sound made him stretch out of his sleep.

"Isn't it a Sunday?" he yawned out and aimlessly reached out for his phone on the side table, trying to switch off the alarm. "Wait- it's Sunday." he said to himself, a bit more alert this time. He got up and turned the annoying alarm off.

Jungkook stared at the floor for a while and then smiled to himself.

'It's the day of the festival!' his sleepy expression changed to a gleefully bubbly one.

All that was going on in his head was how he'd spend his time with Taehyung.

It was an entire evening with Taehyung, not for work, but for a celebration, a special occasion. Nevertheless, it was exciting and Jungkook couldn't wait until that evening.

He wasn't sure what to expect from the festival, because the last time he went with Ethan, it wasn't pretty. Ethan being his crush didn't quite help with matters. Jungkook just hoped he'd be more mature this time.

Because it was still quite early, he decided to work out in the morning that day, instead of when he usually did in the evening. He had breakfast after, freshened up and waited. Because it was his day off, he didn't have much to do at all. He made himself a smoothie around noon and paced around his apartment, barefoot, in an oversized tank top and shorts, his everyday home attire.

To kill time, he played a few video games and after he got bored with that, he went to his in-built photography room. For a while, he just stood at the door, leaning against the door frame, sipping on the straw of his smoothie tumbler. Then, he pushed himself off of the frame, connected his music to the Bluetooth speakers and strutted in.

The in-built photography room was a treasure chest of memories, full of little gold nuggets, some good, and some bad. Well, maybe not necessarily bad, most of them were good, happy and loving ones from his past.

Before he started work at R&B, his albums consisted of photographs he took as an amateur. Though, he was still quite proud of those pictures. He would look at them now and chuckle, thinking of a much better approach he could have taken when he took the photo. To him, it was all part of his hard work, the progress and about the new things he had learnt on the way.

He even had a picture of himself from when he used a camera for the very first time. In fact, the memory was so precious and touching, Jungkook had it up on the wall, alongside a bunch of other polaroids.

He had piled up files and folders of pictures of various models, landscapes and various other photographs from all his competitive or personal projects. Having hard copies was just something he liked doing, it was a way of maintaining all that he had worked on.

Jungkook stood in front of the neatly stacked albums on the shelves. With one hand on his hip, tapping at the music's beat, and the other holding his tumbler.

On rare days such as these, when he had nothing to do, his favourite pastime besides video games, was rearranging his albums and files.

Singing along to the music, he sat down on the wooden floor, happily emptying the lowermost shelf. Slowly he made his way up, to the much newer folders and found negatives and some printed pictures from Namjoon and Jin's wedding.

Jungkook flipped through the photos and chuckled when he came across a shot of them kissing and then grinning at each other like little kids.

'Those two lovebirds must be having one hell of a honeymoon.' he thought, giggling to himself.

In the picture, the two looked so captivated and absorbed in the other, it was a moment of pure endearment and love. What fascinated Jungkook was the way Namjoon's smile deepened his dimples, when he was with Jin, the way Jin's eyes wouldn't, even for a second, leave Namjoon's. The two had so much overflowing love for each other, it was like a small fairy-tale, which entirely fit Jungkook's ideal fantasy. But he wasn't naive, he knew nothing can be perfect.

After a bunch of other lovey-dovey photos of the couple dancing and whispering into each other's ears, he came by the end of the album, to a picture of puffy deep red roses, a strawberry shortcake and a coffee dessert.

His eyes lit when he remembered the moment when he took the picture.

'This picture was supposed to be Taehyung's back.' he laughed at himself, throwing his head back and covering his face with the album in embarrassment. He caught his breath and looked at the picture. 'I'm glad I didn't take that, or I would have felt like a stalker.' his face dropped a bit when he thought that. He remembered how that was what had happened with Ethan, but Jungkook never meant to make him feel like he was stalking him. Jungkook merely took his pictures because he liked doing so, he wasn't a pervert with a distinctive fetish.

As he sat there, lost in his thoughts, he realised what stopped him from taking Taehyung's picture the day he met him for the first time. He didn't because it would make him feel like how Ethan had made him feel when he found his photographs, Jungkook didn't want to go through that again.

He looked at the flowers again. "Oh, wait." he looked at his phone, it was 4:34. "Oh, shit, flowers!" he quickly shut the album and set it back in its place. "I have to get Taehyung some flowers! Well-" he frowned a bit to himself and ran to his room to change. "Well, not just him, it's for his family, Jungkook! The Kim Familia!" he sighed. 

The temperatures had risen quite a bit ever since the previous week, so Jungkook decided to wear something that wasn't too heavy or suffocating. He chose a pair of jeans and a baggy high-necked blue sweater. Jungkook picked his camera case, his phone, wallet and the car keys, and headed out.

At Daejung's flower shop, Jungkook saw him outside, showing a lady a few potted plants. He noticed Jungkook right away and nodded his head in greeting. "Welcome, Jungkook."

"Good evening, Daejung." Jungkook bowed a little.

"Just give me a moment-" he held up some plants to the lady. "-I'll be right inside."

"Yeah, sure." he nodded and walked inside the store.

'Oranges and yellows only.' he remembered what his father had told him. 'Oranges and yellows. Orange-' all of a sudden, his eyes fell on a rather peculiar yet beautiful orange bloom. He walked up to it and read the tag. It was a Tiger Lily.

The lily was a significant pumpkin orange, with dark spots on its petals. Some in the tall bunch were still buds, they looked like little chillies, ranging from light green to a fading orange.

'1st September birth flower.

Meaning-To be loved.' the tag said.

Jungkook smiled a bit as he read the tag. The Tiger Lily was his birth flower and he even had it tattooed on his forearm. He found it fortunate to have a birth flower he could relate to.

"Hey there." Jungkook felt a pat on his shoulder. It was Daejung. "What brings you to the flower shop today?" he stood behind the counter, grabbing a few fresh flowers to clip their stems and put them in a vase.

Jungkook walked up to him and rested his elbows on the counter. "Oh, I don't know, to get flowers, maybe?" he asked sarcastically.

Daejung huffed a little. "What's the occasion today?" he asked softly.

"Hmmm-" Jungkook looked around a bit, nodding his head. "Well, my father told me to get some for the hill festival."

Daejung looked up. "The hill festival?" he resumed cutting his flower stems. "You're going?"

"Yeah." Jungkook tapped the glass top. "My dad said orange and yellow flowers only."

"Oh, I see. It's for the family flower ritual, right?"

"Yeah. So, well, could you choose some out for me? You know I'm hopeless with flowers."

"My pleasure." Daejung went to the display of flowers to select a few varieties for Jungkook to choose from. Just then, another man entered the shop, he had a small black and brown furry dog with him.

He stood at the door with his hands in his pockets, looking around the flower packed shop.

"Welcome!" Daejung greeted him, with a few Tiger Lilies in his hands. "How may I help you?"

His dog sniffed at Daejung's shoes and almost bit on them. "Yeontan!" his voice had a rather unexpected deep tone to it. "I'm so sorry about him."

Daejung shook his head with a small smile. "It's alright. He's cute."

The man gave a small chuckle. "Quite feisty actually. Anyway, do you happen to have any orange Chrysanthemums and yellow Tulips?"

"Yes, of course. The Chrysanthemums are there-" he pointed to the entrance of the shop. "-and the Tulips are just by the corner."

The man's eyes followed Daejung's finger.

"Is it for a bouquet, sir?" Daejung asked.

The man looked back. "Ah, yes." he answered. "Is it okay to pick the flowers by myself, though? If that's okay."

"Yes, sure. I'll be right by the counter, you can get the flowers there and I'll make it into a bouquet for you."

"Thank you." the man smiled and headed to the flowers.

After Daejung picked out a couple of more choices of flowers, he came over to Jungkook, who had engrossed himself in his phone.

Daejung lay out the flowers on the counter. "Alright, we have Marigolds, Dahlias, Daisies-"

"The Tiger Lilies," Jungkook said, picking up one of the tall flowers and admiring it.

The florist smiled. "I knew that." he gathered the rest. "I'll go and keep these."

"Wait, where are the yellow ones?"

"I got the Frangipani for that." Daejung pointed at a bunch of white flowers with yellow centres.

"Fra- what?" Jungkook sniggered. "What a unique name." he smelled the white blossoms. "Oh wow. Why haven't I seen these before?"

Daejung just nodded warmly. "By the way, by the looks of it, it seems like another person is shopping for the hill festival."

"Another person?" Jungkook asked. Daejung just raised his eyebrow and pointed at the man picking Chrysanthemums.

Jungkook turned around and saw the stranger. The man wore a grey sweater, a white shirt underneath and a pair of olive-brown pants. He even had a Pomeranian in one arm. 

The cozy sun shining on them eminently. His soft dark hair was shining in the warm gold light, forming a faint halo and his skin glowed like oozing raw honey. The pair looked like a painting from the renaissance.

With a gasp of shock and rapid heartbeats, Jungkook turned to Daejung in a flash and held onto his arm. "That is Taehyung, Daejung!" he whispered to him.

"Oh, so that is the guy that stole your heart, hmm?" he questioned in a stoic tone.

"Don't say it like that!" Jungkook whimpered, embarrassed out of his mind. "Anyway, could you please hurry up before he comes here?"

"Why are you in a rush? You're around him most of the time because he's your model, isn't he? Why shy out right now?"

"It- I- it's just that, I'm getting flowers here and-" he stopped and sighed. "Never mind."

"Wait a second." a small smirk appeared on Daejung's face. "He's the one who invited you to the festival, isn't he?"

Jungkook let go of Daejung's arm and let his head droop in fluster. "Yeah." he nodded his head slightly.

"So, that means this bouquet is for him, isn't it?"

"Yes." another small nod. "Well-" he looked up and gave a dry smile. "-for his family."

"Which includes him."

Jungkook gave in and cracked a shy grin. "Yeah. And well, I don't know- I just thought it'd be awkward if we -"

"Jungkook?" a heavy voice asked from behind. "Is that you?"

The owner of the voice came up beside him. "Oh! It is you!" Taehyung smiled out wide in glee when he saw Jungkook. "What a coincidence! I was here to buy flowers for your family! I never thought I'd run into you here!"

Jungkook just smiled.

Yeontan reached his paws out to him and barked in joy.

Jungkook laughed and took him in his arms, playing with him like a small kid, while Taehyung just admired the cute interactions, giggling every time Jungkook bopped his nose against Yeontan's.

Daejung gave the two space and went over to get more Lilies for Jungkook's bouquet.

When he started arranging the flowers together, he noticed that Jungkook's crush had put an unmatched single into the bunch of oranges and yellows. It was a red rose. Daejung frowned for a second and then looked up at Taehyung as he talked to Jungkook.

"Excuse me, sir." Daejung called out to him. "Do you want this in the bouquet?"

Taehyung looked at the rose Daejung held. "Yes, I do."

Daejung looked at the rose again and frowned.

"Is something the matter, Daejung?" Jungkook asked cautiously.

Daejung calmed his expression down, looked at Jungkook and then at Taehyung again. "No, not at all." he blinked a bit and shook his head. "My thoughts just went afar for a second."

Once the bouquets were done and paid for, Taehyung and Jungkook started to head out, but Daejung held back Jungkook for a bit.

"What's the matter?" Taehyung turned back and asked Jungkook.

"Oh, it's nothing!" he replied and handed Yeontan to him. "How about you wait for me? I'll be right there."

Taehyung gave a cute little thumbs up and went out of the shop.

"What's the matter?" Jungkook asked. "Something you forgot to tell me?"

Daejung gave out a loud sigh and then folded his arms. "You do know that being invited to Sweet Night is kind of a big deal, right?"

"Yeah, my father said that too!" he said. "But why do you make it sound like I'm joining a rowdy street gang that manages all the guns and drugs in the country, and I got the lucky hit."

Daejung didn't have the slightest reaction to that.

Jungkook cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"Look, all I'm saying is that it's not every time friends are invited to the festival. To the hill folk, it's an occasion of the time they have spent together, everyone knows everyone. They celebrate everything together."

"And you are telling me because?" Jungkook raised an eyebrow.

"Just thought I should let you know."

Jungkook smiled. "Thank you. I'll get going now."

Daejung bid him goodbye and went back to tending his flowers.

He still couldn't help but think of what an interesting persona Taehyung radiated. Most of all he couldn't help but think of the red flower he chose for the bouquet. After all, it was pretty uncommon to stuff in a flower that would stand out amongst the oranges and yellows.

When Jungkook went back to the cars, Taehyung offered to drive them to the village. Jungkook turned it down politely because he didn't want to trouble him, but Taehyung insisted that it was okay and that he shouldn't worry about that.

"It's fine, Jungkook." he smiled. "Besides, it only makes sense when our destination is the same place, right?" Taehyung opened his car's backseat door to let Yeontan in and to keep his bouquet there as well.

Jungkook scowled with a small smile. "The same place?"

"Yeah, my house."

"Your house? But I thought we decided that I would go to my place, pick up my family and then meet up at yours."

"Well-" Taehyung smirked as he headed for the driver's seat. "-change of plans. I asked your father to directly meet us over at my place. Because then it'd be easier and faster to the festival." he pouted for a second, like he was thinking. "Well, actually, it was his idea."

Jungkook rolled his eyes in slight frustration. "And he never told me about it."

"Actually-" Taehyung gave a nervous laugh. "That is on me. I was supposed to tell you, and I completely forgot about it. I'm sorry."

Jungkook looked at Taehyung, standing by the car's open door, giving him the most adorable puppy eyes in apology.

"Ah-it's okay, it's okay!" Jungkook awkwardly shook his hand in the air, holding back his nervous shyness. "Are you going to drive then?"

"Do you want to instead?" Taehyung sat inside and patted the dashboard. "This baby could be all yours for the day." he rolled his tongue teasingly on his lips.

Jungkook bit down on his lower lip. "I don't mind if you drive."

Taehyung shut the door and slid the window down. "Hop on then, what are you waiting for?"

"I'll just go get my camera from my car." Jungkook replied as he started to walk to his vehicle.

"You don't ever leave without it do you?" he teased.

Jungkook spun around, still walking. "How could I ever?"

Taehyung was radiating with joy after he met Jungkook at the flower shop. He noticed how Jungkook was wearing his earrings again, like what he saw in that picture of his when Taehyung first searched his name. And it wasn't as though there were just two or three piercings, there was a whole bunch. Taehyung had even counted them when Jungkook wasn't paying attention.

Taehyung had always wanted to get his ears pierced, but he was a wee bit too conscious about a needle poking his skin.

As he drove, Taehyung asked Jungkook how it was getting his earlobes pierced, and that meant story-time by Jungkook.

Jungkook had gotten them done right around the time when he got his tattoos, that was when he was around twenty years old. He told Taehyung how his hands were trembling even before the sharp object could touch him, but when it happened, it was swift and quick, all he felt was a small prick. Although, the two he got on the helix of his ear, hurt more than he anticipated.

One topic in the conversation led to another and they were soon talking about the various names Jungkook had given his sheep as a five-year-old, and how Taehyung hid a baby chick from the coop in his room when he was young, because he wanted to secretly raise a chicken in his room and get an egg everyday. Taehyung was five years old then.

At nearly six o'clock, when the sky decided to lose its blues, they were right outside Taehyung's house. Yeontan, who had started jumping around the back seat, five minutes to Taehyung's, hopped onto Jungkook's lap and ran out as soon as he opened the door.

"Whoa, whoa!" Jungkook laughed out as Yeontan ran inside the house through the door's dog flap. "He's really excited!"

"That little rascal wouldn't even come home before." Taehyung came out of the car. "Look at him now."

At first glance, Taehyung's house looked like a big two-storied English cottage. It was surrounded by mini bushes, an array of small yellow LED lights on the plants, and a pretty little yellow and orange wreath on the dark chocolate coloured door. It radiated warm welcoming vibes.

Though the air smelled of wet grass and mud, which usually calmed Jungkook down, his hands were gripped around tightly at the girth of the bouquet uneasily. He was nervous, really nervous. He was finally going to meet Taehyung's parents.

'Should I say Sir? Ma'am? Mr. And Mrs.Kim?' he was unnecessarily confused as well. 'Wait, what do-'

"Jungkook? You coming?" Taehyung called out to him as he stood next to the door with his big orange and yellow bouquet. He looked like he was inviting Jungkook to a romantic dinner date.

Jungkook hesitantly walked up to him.

"Are you nervous?" Taehyung asked.

"A bit. I'm scared about your cousin sister you told me about." that was a lie. Jungkook was just nervous to meet his family, he did not want to make a bad first impression.

"Don't worry! She's only like that with me! Also, she's a mother now. She's a bit sweeter."

Taehyung rang the doorbell.

On the other side, Jungkook heard a bunch of footsteps and a loud chatter, followed by distant baby-crying.

Taehyung looked at Jungkook blankly. "Welcome to my house."

The door opened to the faces of a happy couple, a scent of warm vanilla and an enticing after smell of delicious pie of some sort.

Taehyung introduced the couple to Jungkook as his sister's twin babies cried in the background. The couple, who were Taehyung's uncle and aunt, who took the two inside to the living space. There, it was complete chaos.

A lady carrying a small baby dressed in a bodysuit came up to Jungkook and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry." she said. "I'll meet you later! But thank you for coming!" she cradled her wailing baby and turned to her husband. "Peaches! Are you coming or not?"

The man at the other end of the room had the other twin in his hands. "I'm coming, cheesecake!" he told his wife. "I just need to get Bambi's blanket!"

Once the husband found it, the couple took their children upstairs, and slowly, the noise settled down. That left Jungkook and Taehyung with Jungkook's grandparents and father, and Taehyung's mother, uncle and aunt.

Mr. Jeon was having a hefty conversation with Mrs. Kim, something about wine and restaurants. The Jeon family grandparents were helping out Taehyung's uncle and aunt in the kitchen.

Slowly, Jungkook was introduced to everyone in the family and then the flower ceremony took place. It wasn't anything extraordinary, just the youngest of one family handing the bouquet to the eldest of the other family, while the rest sang a song. 

The ceremony stood as a symbol of bonds and respect in the relationships between the two families. For Jungkook, he had to hand the flowers to Taehyung's mother, which was a bit awkward considering the fact Mrs. Kim was eyeing Jungkook quite keenly.

Taehyung had to present the flowers to Jungkook's grandmother, who even teased him a bit jokingly.

Even though it was the first time Jungkook's folks had met Taehyung's family, the two sides seemed to have a bright connection, which made Jungkook feel relieved on many different levels.

After that, every single person helped out in the kitchen with containers of strawberry and apple pie and some amazing vanilla pudding. Mrs. Kim took out a couple of bottles of wine as well for the toast at the festival.

"Is dad still busy?" Taehyung asked his mother as the two of them collected a few bottles in boxes, in the small storage room.

"Well, you know about the Europe collaboration." his mother replied, shutting the box and lifting it, while Taehyung picked another.

"He hasn't been home for the last six months."

"I know, Tae." she sighed. "This will be over in the next couple of months. I promise."

"I hope it is. You both are barely ever home."

His mother sighed as the two walked out of the small room. "Anyway, I heard about your modelling job. How's that going?"

"Mom, I told you, it's not a job. At least not yet."

"Okay." she nodded her head. "So, it's- umm..."

"It's a small training seminar, sis. He'll get the job after that." Taehyung's aunt said to her when Taehyung and his mother got the boxes to the living room. "I told you about it on call!"

"Oh, right." Taehyung's mother had been disconnected with her son, but he wouldn't blame her, his parents had a business to run, and he understood that.

With that conversation coming to an awkward end, Taehyung's uncle called the family to the door, ready with all their items. Taehyung's sister, her husband and their children did not come along, because the noises from the celebration would be too loud for the little ones to handle.

"This feels like a mission." Jungkook said to Taehyung as the two stood in line after the adults, holding the casseroles of pie in their hands.

"We do this every year." Taehyung replied. "And trust me, it's no less than a mission."

Their goal was to walk to the top of the hill, where at a spot, the entire hill's people would be celebrating the occasion. Their entire path was lit by small street lights, leading the way to their destination. On the way, they were joined by other families, carrying lanterns and food from their houses.

The small crowd around Jungkook soon turned into a march of people. Each member of every family carried something or the other as their own offering and contribution to the celebration. The idea of the festival made Jungkook realise that it was nothing but a large gathering of the biggest family ever.

Walking alongside other families, smelling the smells of their delicious meals, seeing the bright smiles on their faces made the moment so beautiful and overwhelming, Jungkook wanted to take a picture, but the pie in his hands prevented him from doing so. So, he just wept internally to hide his sorrowful pain.

The walk was a wondrous, aesthetic setting of about ten or so minutes because when they reached the top, Jungkook found himself in another world.

It wasn't his first time there, but it felt like it was.

The top was bright, colourful and full of nothing but a buzz of happiness. To one side was an aisle of game stalls, bustling with not only young little bodies but adults as well, running around, getting their faces painted or competing over a prize. On the other side, it was a bit more composed and serene, in a good way. There were long tables arranged, and people were placing their dishes on them.

"THE KIMS!" a man shouted from the tables. "THE KIMS ARE HERE!" he waved his hand and called us over to his side.

Taehyung guided Jungkook through the way and had their desserts set down. Taehyung didn't bother to give any prior warning, but he just dragged Jungkook along with him. Of course, Jungkook didn't resist, how could he?

The two stood in front of the darts stall, while Taehyung insisted he play against him. Every time one lost, the other would paint something on their face.

"Taehyung, I'm a terrible shot."

"No one said that." Taehyung quickly asked for ten darts and handed Jungkook five from the bunch.

"Taehyung." Jungkook pouted. "Do I really-"

"Jungkook." he smiled at him. "Yes, you do. Just one game! I would love to paint your face!"

"OH!" Jungkook raised an eyebrow. "So, you've already decided that I'm going to lose, huh? The game's on now!"

Taehyung brightened up to see Jungkook in fighting spirit. "Bring it on!"

They did six rounds of darts and Jungkook ended up with five hearts on his face because he wouldn't let Taehyung draw a moustache, and Taehyung got a small little smiley on his cheek, for losing just once.

"See, I told you I was a bad shot." Jungkook sighed out.

"Your hearts look good though." he snickered at the uneven hearts he had painted.

"Why, thank you."

"You should keep them on all the time."

"Taehyung-" even though Jungkook was annoyed, he couldn't help but smile when he looked at Taehyung's childish little grin as he teased him. "Please shut up."

"Okay, okay!" he put his hands up in surrender, still trying his best to hold his laughter. "You should really keep them though-"

"Taehyung!"

And that was how Jungkook ended up chasing Taehyung, like they were two little kids, while the actual little ones stared at the two grown men chasing each other for no reason.

They ended up playing a bunch of more games, applying the same rule of marking the loser with paint on their face, exclusively done by the winner. So, that was how Jungkook became ten hearts richer and Taehyung managed to slide off with just a small star.

"It's not fair." Jungkook sulked. "You've been doing this for years! You have way more experienced than me!"

"Not really!" he confessed. "This is the first time I've bothered to play so much! But look at the bright side-" he pointed at the smiley and star on his cheek. "You won twice!"

"Uh huh, and I have fifteen hearts on just one side of my face. Guess I'm the lucky one." he said sarcastically.

"You surely are." Taehyung mumbled to himself.

"Hm?"

"Nothing."

At the last planned game, they spotted Yoongi and Jimin by the stall.

Jimin was a resident of the hill as well, but no one knew Yoongi was coming too.

"Oh, wow." Jungkook pressed his lips together, suppressing his smile. "Yoongi, your face-"

Yoongi's face had whiskers and a small cat nose. He was also victimised like Jungkook was. Being partnered with the people of the hill wasn't doing the two of them any good.

"Do not say a word." Yoongi shook his head. "Not one single word."

"Right."

"Somebody has been showering you with hearts." Yoongi said, looking at Jungkook's face. "How many losses is that?" he chuckled.

"That's fifteen losses." Taehyung joined the conversation. "And he's getting his sixteenth one now."

"I'm not losing this time." Jungkook challenged him.

"Oh, yeah? Fine." he folded his arms. "If you win, you can draw anything on my face."

"Anything? Even a unicorn?"

"Um.." Taehyung hesitated for a bit, but the fiery determination in Jungkook's eyes let him off. "Yeah, even a unicorn."

"Okay-" Jimin interrupted them. "-you both have your rainbow-ness here and draw your unicorns all you want, while I urge Yoongi to sing." he gave a mischievous smile.

"What?" Yoongi turned to his boyfriend like he'd just betrayed him. "No, Jiminie. I am not singing."

"Yes, he is." Jimin confirmed and took him away.

"So....." Taehyung watched the couple leave. "The unicorn?" he looked back at Jungkook from the corner of his eye.

"I'm definitely going to paint a rainbow unicorn on that smug face of yours."

Taehyung smirked. "I'm not going to go easy on you."

"I don't expect you to."

Their last game was a mere play of tossing rings on empty cola bottles. Despite its simplicity, it was regarded as one of the 'hardest-to-nail' games of the night.

When the clinking sounds of the rings spread, everyone gathered around to watch the mini-competition.

"TAEHYUNG! TAEHYUNG!" the chants crowded the two.

The children and even the adults were on his side, but Jungkook couldn't blame them, no one knew him, but he was only concentrating on the offer to draw a unicorn on Taehyung's face.

He took in a deep breath, circling the little hoops around his fingers, concentrating at the bottles a few feet in front of him. Another deep breath in and he tossed. The small red ring bounced off of Jungkook's target bottle and neatly placed itself on another one's neck.

"HAH!" Jungkook looked at Taehyung with a content smile.

Taehyung licked his lips. "Beginner's luck." he posed ready for his shot. "I'll show you."

He wasted no time in taking a proper aim, and like a pro, he took his chance and his ring landed seamlessly on its mark.

The crowd gave out a low hoot and Taehyung looked at Jungkook modestly. "See?"

"OH-" Jungkook jiggled the hoops. "I'm not backing down that easy."

As the game progressed, Jungkook managed to stay head to head with Taehyung's score. At one point, part of the crowd started to cheer for Jungkook as well, and he gained a lead by two points.

As the cheers for Jungkook grew, so did his confidence, and so did his shots. He finally managed to defeat Taehyung and was satisfied when he painted the pretty little unicorn head on his right cheek.

"Do I look good?" Taehyung posed for Jungkook with his hands on his hips and gave a big wide smile.

"You look the prettiest." Jungkook flirted in a deep voice

Taehyung laughed. "Are you happy with your creation?"

"More than happy." he giggled back.

Just then, drums boomed in the distance, it was coming from the other side.

Jungkook perked his head up and scouted around. "W-what's happening?"

Taehyung followed the beats of the drums on his thighs and excitedly bobbed his head to the music. "It's begun!" he exclaimed.

"What has?" Jungkook was still looking around like a confused Meerkat.

Taehyung grabbed his wrist and gave him an assured eye. 'Just come with me.' they seemed to say.

He pulled Jungkook, running through the crowd, dodging all the people, eagerly headed towards the sound of the drums. But soon, the drums weren't the only things attracting the people. The drums were joined in by some strings and even a tambourine.

Taehyung led Jungkook to an area right near the tables where they set their desserts earlier. There, to one side, there was a live band with drums, violins, even a cello. it was a mini orchestral performance

In front of them, Jungkook saw people dancing in pairs, forming a giant circle around a bonfire. The one thing unique about the dance was that one of the partner's had some sort of scarf they used to exaggerate and glorify their movements to the other, while they attempted to steal it.

"What is this?" Jungkook asked innocently, staring at the bizarre arrangement in front of him.

When he turned to Taehyung, he saw him tying a bandanna.

"Are you going to dance?" Jungkook asked him.

"Yes, of course!" he handed him a scarf. "You are too!"

"No!" Jungkook pushed his hand back. "I don't even know the moves!"

"So?" Taehyung frowned cutely. "It's just dance, Jungkook! All you have to do is steal this from me, while I try to woo you-" he fluttered the red and yellow patterned scarf in his hands. "-and take the lead! It's as simple as that!"

"Wait- woo me?"

"Well, it's just what we call it here. It means that I will try to attract you to be my dance partner, if I fail, you can switch partners as the beat changes."

Jungkook stared at him in utter confusion. 'Taehyung, you're going to try and get my attention? Geez, do you realise that you have all my eyes on you?'

"Is that okay?" Taehyung asked him. "Did you get the general idea?"

"Taehyung, the fact that I don't know how to dance remains."

Taehyung clicked his tongue. "Dance is just the movement of the body!"

"I'll pass-"

But before Jungkook could say anymore, Taehyung's aunt came out of nowhere and swept him away into the dancing crowd.

Jungkook just gave out a tired smile as he admired the various shades of scarfs dancing vibrantly in the brightly lit night. He got out his camera and searched for Taehyung.

As he took pictures, he noticed his grandmother scoot up beside him.

"Why aren't you dancing?" she asked.

Jungkook put his camera back. "You know, grandma."

"Do I?"

Jungkook tilted his head to her innocently.

"Don't give me that face, Jungkookie!" she gently placed her hand on his back, took his camera bag from him. "You should go and have some fun!

"Grandma, why are you taking my camera?"

"Go!" she pushed him into the crowd.

"Grandma!"

But Jungkook couldn't back out now, he was caught in the wave. He tried to get out, but someone bumped into him.

"I'm so sorry!" he bowed a little and apologised to the person.

"Jungkook?" a familiar voice said.

Jungkook looked up with scrunched eyebrows. "Dad?"

"Are you here to dance?"

"No- but you're-"

"Oh, come on!" he pulled him into the dance with him.

"Dad, I don't even know how to do this!"

"Just follow me!" he smirked as he got a closer look at Jungkook's face. "By the way, I love the hearts."

His father helped him for a while, waving his scarf around Jungkook. Slowly, he got the hang of it and had started to enjoy it. He was laughing and giggling in the warm colours, tapping his feet, swaying his hands and twirling to the beat in sheer delight.

"Hurry up and decide!" his father shouted over to Jungkook on top of the loud music. "Are you going to stay as my partner?"

"Huh?" Jungkook's cheeky smile faded a bit. But before he could react or make any other random decision, the beat of the music changed, and there was chaos around him for a bit.

Jungkook just stood there in confusion, doing nothing. When he looked for his father, he didn't see him in front of him, instead, it was an unknown woman with a scarf in front of him. That was when he realised that there was a partner-switch, the one Taehyung had talked about.

Slowly, he kept at it and realised that the dance wasn't exactly flirtatious in any way. When Taehyung said that the one with the scarf would 'attract' the other, he didn't literally mean it.

Jungkook was in the moment, caught in the flow, that he didn't even realise when a person's hands came by his waist on the next partner-switch.

"Hello." Taehyung's deep soft voice greeted him. "I thought you weren't coming?" he wrapped his scarf around Jungkook's thin waist and swayed him side to side.

Jungkook's face went hot, but he kept dancing, avoiding his eyes and hoping Taehyung wouldn't notice his heated-up face.

Taehyung purposely tried to get him to look up, but when he realised Jungkook looked a bit off, he let go and offered him his hand.

"Shall we?" he asked with a soft smile.

Jungkook smiled, he felt less panicked at that comfortable distance from Taehyung, so he nodded his head, and the two were off.

Jungkook took every chance he could to steal the bright scarf, but he would only end up seeing a teasing Taehyung notoriously smile at him every time he missed. They both skipped several partner-switches because neither wanted to leave each other's side.

In the end, Jungkook finally got Taehyung's scarf because he managed to distract him with the unicorn on his face.

"You are sneaky." Taehyung panted as the dance came to an end.

Jungkook swayed the scarf he had stolen, smiling to himself and thinking about all the fun he had. Never had he ever thought that he would be able to look into Taehyung's eyes, carefree of his pounding heart and teasingly distract him, all for a scarf, that too, while dancing.

"What can I say-" Jungkook said. "-I really like how that unicorn turned out. You look fabulous."

Taehyung snickered, shaking his head shyly.

Everyone made their way to the tables when the music died down. It was time for dinner. The tables were set with rows of food, you could sit anywhere, and you had everything you wanted to eat.

Taehyung and Jungkook chose a spot right next to their families.

Once everyone was seated, they all sang a short song of gratitude and then helped themselves to the food.

"Where's the wine?" someone said from Jungkook's side.

Taehyung looked around, but there wasn't a single bottle of wine on their table. He leaned back on his chair and spotted his mother.

He patted Jungkook on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey, I'll be right back with some bottles."

Jungkook got ready to get up and go with him. "Do you need any help? I could come with you."

Taehyung gently pressed on his shoulder. "Nah, it's okay! I'll be right back."

"O-okay." Jungkook nodded his head.

Taehyung got up to leave. "Just save my seat!"

"Alright!"

Jungkook patiently waited. He filled up his plate and a glass of water for Taehyung.

"Um..excuse me-" a husky voice came from behind Jungkook. The stranger's hand rested on Taehyung's seat. "-is this seat taken?"

Jungkook's hand quickly held the chair down, his hand flew onto the seat by pure instinct. "Uh- no, I mean yes! Yes, it is ta-" he looked up at the man and his voice coaxed down.

The man had bright smiling eyes, a very structured face and soft short hair. He looked almost like-

"Oh!" Taehyung's voice came into the scene. He held three bottles of wine and walked next to the stranger whose hands were on Taehyung's seat. "Looks like you guys have met!"

Jungkook blankly stared simultaneously at the unknown guy and then back at Taehyung.

Taehyung set the bottles on the table. "Let me introduce the two of you to each other." he said happily. "He's Jungkook-" he told the man. "And Jungkook, this is Ethan."

>The chapters just seem to get longer every time. Maybe I should trim them a bit? 

>Ethan is back. 

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