"Let's go shopping."
"Really?" I ask in surprise as Jungkook grins at me.
"We can just go window shopping if you want." He says.
"No, no its fine," I quickly amend, mentally thanking Sooji for giving me her credit card. "Its just...won't you be recognized?"
"Oh, that?" Jungkook says easily, relaxing as he pulls out two really nice face masks from his bag.
"I never leave home without them. Here, you should wear one too," Jungkook says as he hands one over. "So if they recognize me, they won't know who you are."
"Thanks." I say softly as i slip the mask over my face.
The material was so soft, it felt like silk against my face; it had a nice cushion to it and it smelled like him.
I take in a deep breath as Jungkook checks his phone, marveling over the clean scent that had a hint of sweetness to it, like cotton candy.
"Sorry about that. We can go now." Jungkook says, slipping his phone into his back pocket.
"No, it's ok." I say quickly, turning red as i hope he didn't catch me sniffing his mask.
"Are you ok with walking? It's a couple blocks down." Jungkook asks as he slips his own face mask on.
"Yeah that's fine." I say.
"How did you get here anyway?" Jungkook asks as we begin to walk.
"A friend gave me a ride." I say a bit awkwardly.
If only he knew that friend was his sister.
Jungkook nods. "I walked; my hotel isn't too far from here so..."
The lie rolls so effortlessly off his lips. He didn't know I knew he was lying though. He also didn't know that I knew his house was no where near here. If he really walked here...that meant he was going through great lengths to keep this a secret.
We walk in silence after that but it wasn't awkward. It was slowly getting colder and colder as the day went on and the sky was overcast like it might begin snowing at any moment.
Jungkook suddenly nudges me, bringing me out my thoughts as he points out a little girl stopped outside a shop with her mom a few feet ahead of us. She had on a BTS backpack slightly too big for her with Jungkook 97 written clearly on the back, along with their logo.
"I'll be right back." Jungkook says.
He pulls down his face mask and bows to the mom as he approaches them before turning to the little girl. She hides shyly behind her mom's leg as Jungkook bends down to her eye level and speaks to her. Within no time though, she warms up to him and speaks back. Other people start to notice though as the mom snaps a quick picture of the two of them.
Jungkook turns to the group that has formed behind him as the pair walk away, talking idly with them as some approach him for pictures.
After a couple minutes, he glances at me and nudges his head slightly forward, gesturing for me to start walking again so I do.
As i pass them them, Jungkook is saying bye and asking them not to follow him. After I've gotten a couple feet away from them, I glance back to see if they actually listened to him and surprisingly, they did. They were still watching him and they still had their phones pointed in his direction, but they stayed put.
I wait until I turn the corner before I wait for Jungkook to catch up. When he turns the corner, his face mask secured over his face again.
"Sorry about that." He says.
"No its ok," I reply as we start walking again. "That was cute."
"That little girl was cute." Jungkook says, his eyes crinkling up in the corners, his smile hidden by the mask.
"I'm surprised all those people actually listened to you." I say alittle while later.
Jungkook smiles again at that, but this time there's a twinkle in his eye.
"Only a small portion of ARMY is like what you see in the videos. And even then, they only act that way because they love us. So I try not to let it bother me." Jungkook says after a moment.
"That's a nice way to look at it." I say.
"Well they've made us everything that we are. What other way can you look at it?" Jungkook replies.
I don't know what to say to that so I remain quiet.
We walk into a candy store and pick out a few items to snack on as we move along the strip.
"I'll get it." Jungkook says as he searches for his wallet. "Ok. Thanks." I say as I set my things on the counter, adding a water to the bunch as he pulls out wallet.
We watch as the worker scans each item and puts them in a bag. It startles me a bit when the worker scans a bag of cold brew caramel chews and adds it to the bag; Sooji was the only one I knew that liked those things.
"Oh- you like those too?" I ask lightly.
Jungkook shakes his head. "But I know someone who likes them."
I feel another pang of guilt as Jungkook pays the bill and we leave. It wass easy to agree to this when all I'd heard is stories about Jungkook but to actually talk to him and get to know him.....he honestly didn't seem like a bad guy.
"Do you want something?" Jungkook asks as he opens the bag and peeks at all the sweets inside.
"Can I see the strawberry milk candy?" I say.
Jungkook nods as he pulls out some peach gummies, holding a corner of the package in his mouth as he searches for the candy.
"Thanks," I say as he hands it to me. "Do you want some water?"
I move to hold the bottle out to him but stop abruptly when he shakes his head.
"I'm ok. Maybe later though." He says as he tears open his candy and eats some.
I open my own and unwrap a piece, sucking on it slowly as we contiune to walk. We walk idly in and out of numerous shops; one kicked us out as soon as we walked in for having food, leaving us a giggling mess as we continued on.
We were just about to leave when Jungkook noticed a camera shop and walked in to see what they had. We walked down a room of really nice digital cameras, Jungkook letting his hand run lightly over each one.
"You know, I've always been interested in photography but I've never done anything about it." Jungkook muses, almost to himself.
"Well, you won't know unless you try." I say lightly as i watch him pick up a nice silver one.
He turns to me with the camera, quickly snapping my picture before I can react.
"Hey- don't do that." I hiss quietly at him, mock hitting him when he only grins at me.
"I think I'll take this one." He says with a smile.