Snow and Ice || 태국

Gift

Taehyung wanted to ignore Jungkook but he was unable to shake him off. He followed by his side with slow, leisurely steps. Though he did not say a single word, his domineering presence was impossible to overlook.

When they were out of the stadium, Taehyung headed to the bicycle parking lots. Trailing one step behind him, Jungkook suddenly spoke, "The club requested it."

Taehyung paused his step, turned, and look at him. "What?"

Jungkook said, "The club requested me to give my signature to the fans."

"Oh." Taehyung tossed his head, unmoved as he continued walking. "Not like that's my business."

Jungkook did not expose Taehyung's pretense. His lips quirked as he followed behind him. "Just take it that I'm showing off."

Taehyung was extremely annoyed with how gleeful he was. "It's so common to have some fans these days. What are you going on about it for?"

After he found his bicycle, he put his bag into the basket and was about to unlock it when Jungkook suddenly grabbed his wrist. When he did so, Taehyung felt his heart give a sudden quiver.

He tried to pull his hand back but Jungkook tightened his grip. He said, "Follow me."

"Why should I?"

"Come."

Taehyung has pulled away bewilderedly like this. Jungkook pulled him to a street light by the public square. 

Then, he fished out something from his pocket and held it out to him.

Taehyung lowered his head and looked at it. That object was round and wrapped in colorful wrapping paper. The excess paper was tied at the top like how Christmas apples were wrapped. However, it was smaller than an apple.

Puzzled, he asked, "Is it sweet?"

"No."

"Chocolate?"

"No."

"Century egg?"

"No..."

Jungkook did not dare to let Taehyung continue guessing. He pulled his hand over, stuffed the gift into it, and explained, "I was tidying up a few days ago and found a leftover souvenir from Poland that hasn't been given out."

Taehyung's lips curved as he started unwrapping the gift. He thought that the souvenir was most likely a trinket like a badge or a small toy. When he finally tore the paper open excitedly, he was stunned.

It was a piece of amber slightly smaller than an egg. Smooth to touch and with a clear, translucent amber color, it came in the shape of a slightly misshapen heart.

As Taehyung looked at the amber, his heartbeat wildly. Afraid of letting Jungkook sense how affected he was, he gripped the amber between his thumb and index finger and examined it closely.

Inside the amber were some tiny leaf fragments. The placement and shape of the fragments preserved the way that they were initially trapped in the resin, and felt like they were going to swirl away at any moment. Taehyung raised the amber towards the light. Under the light, the fragments were surrounded by a pale golden glow. The golden glow shifted and changed as he turned the amber around. It looked as if there were countless tiny golden petals caught in a dance, looking beautiful beyond words.

"It's really pretty..." Taehyung could not help sighing in admiration.

Jungkook's lips quirked. "As long as you like it."

Cough.

That was a common phrase but when Taehyung heard it, he felt a wave of sweetness. He calmed himself down and asked, "This... should have been quite expensive?"

Jungkook shook his head. "Nope. You can find amber for sale everywhere in Poland."

"...Really?" Taehyung did not quite believe him.

"Mm." Jungkook nodded. "The locals all drive their excavators to mine for amber."

Taehyung raised his leg and pretended that he was going to kick him. "Jungkook! Do you think I'm an idiot?"

Jungkook dodged with a laugh. When Taehyung put his leg down, Jungkook drew back next to him and asked softly, "Not angry anymore?"

Nope, nope, not only was he no longer angry, he even felt like hopping up and kissing him.

"No, no, no. I can't be so weak-willed..." Taehyung shook his head and muttered to himself.

——

When Jungkook returned to his dorm at night, he logged into his main Weibo account, cleared all his notifications, and posted an advertisement arranged by the club. After completing all these, he switched to his side account.

For his Weibo side account, he had a total of 21 followers. 20 were fake followers assigned to him by the system and the only actual person following him was Yoongi. Yoongi once said, "I'm the only man in the world who knows Jungkook's side account. In short, I'm Jungkook's, only man."

Ever since he became Jungkook's 'only man', the way Yoongi looked at Jungkook was a little weird. Amidst the respect he had was a trace of fear and amidst the fear was a tinge of sympathy. In turn, amidst the sympathy was a touch of concern.

This was because Jungkook's Weibo side account had completely captured the love-obsessed idiot that he was. It was a sight hard to bear and made worse by how girly his account ID was.

—Rock Sugar And Pear Stew!

Look at this, look at this, does it even sound like something that a guy would use?

Though Yoongi scoffed at this name for a good while, he did not dare to share it with anyone. 

......

That day, Jungkook logged into his side account and posted a status to record his feelings.

Rock Sugar And Pear Stew: You ate vinegar while I ate sweets.

When Yoongi saw this Weibo status, his teeth soured. Despite despising Jungkook, he could not resist giving him a 'like' fawningly.

My feelings polarize too much, he thought.