Chapter 7
Both Aiko and Taekjoo have left the hotel room and were now walking around in the city of Fukuoka, Aiko's eyes were glued to everything as they walked around, she kept on walking up to windows and looking at everything, Taekjoo was amazed at how excited someone could be when looking through a window.
"Taekjoo! What's this invisible thing here?" Aiko said, tilting her head to the side while looking at him.
Taekjoo walked up to the window with a small sway in his walk and simply said "It's a window, it's so things don't get inside but we can still see through it" it felt like he was talking to a five year old child.
"Woaaaaaaaah" Aiko mumbled, putting her face back against the window glancing around the shop.
"Wanna go in?" he asked her, already walking inside, she quickly nods and follows him inside, twirling around as she looks at everything, her blue hair swirling around with her as her blue and purple eyes glance around the shop, she walked up to different things and just looked at them, then soon moved on to another.
"Aiko you know there are more shops you can look at" he mumbled, she didn't actually hear him with how she was already at the back of the shop while he was near the front of the shop, still standing near the door, Aiko had returned to Taekjoo with a handful of items looking at her.
"You gonna pay for that?" Taekjoo then asks her, glancing at all the things in her arms.
"Pay? What's that?" she titles her head again looking at the clothes and Taekjoo.
"Money, and you pay people to give you things, that's how the world runs" Taekjoo mentioned already walking to the area where he needs to pay "also three things, pick three things out of the million you have there"
Aiko looks down and shifts through the mountain of clothes on her arm, placing three things in front of the counter for the person to scan them and for Taekjoo to pay.
Taekjoo pays and the cashier mentions him being Aiko's boyfriend, he shakes his head and corrects her that they are just friends, nothing else, nothing more.
They finally left to head to the beach as that's where Aiko wanted to go, Taekjoo in the end was the one who carried the bag of clothes and who was paying for everything, if this was going to continue he needed to get her a job, but before that he needed to teach her about the world… that's going to take forever.
They finally arrived at the beach, the soft sound of waves, the heat from the sun beating down on them, the soft scrunch of sand under his sneakers, he didn't like it, he was sweating and was uncomfortable, he didn't like how noisy the water was and how the sand stuck to his sneakers, he hated every part of it but Aiko loved it, she was dancing in the water, splashing around, getting her hair and clothes wet laughing and giggling, Taekjoo just sat down on the sand, staying far away from the water, he doesn't know why but he's scared of touching the water, like it'll do something to him, he knows nothing's going to happen but he just had a feeling that he'd be in trouble if he touched the water.
Aiko dropped to her knees and getting closer to the water and splashing around, she was having a lot of fun and Taekjoo felt like he was ruining it for her by being there, as he looks down he feels eyes on him, Aiko… it's Aiko she's looking at him, why? Suddenly a purple blush spread across her face, she looked away in embarrassment, he felt himself blush, he whipped his head away from Aiko's direction and looked at the others on the beach.
'Why do I like my target?I have a boyfriend… I can't… I… but' Taekjoo shakes his head and gets the thoughts out of his head, when he looked back up Aiko was looking down, her blue hair covering parts of her face and some strands behind her ear, Taekjoo couldn't help but look at her, she looked so angelic to him, the sun beaming down and brighten the color of her hair, the shine off the water hitting her face and sparkling on her scale like freckles.
This time when he looked away he just looked up at the sky, it was mostly clear maybe a small cloud here and there but it was clear, the sun beaming down on his face and hurting his eyes as he looked at it, seagulls around the place as well flying, eating and annoying everyone else at the beach, Aiko and Taekjoo were further away from all the other people, he liked it, it was quiet for once… calming almost, a rare small smile made its way to his face, then it quickly dropped as he heard footsteps coming closer.
Aiko who was all wet from being in the water was walking closer to him, sitting down next to him, she pulled her knees to her chest as she sat down and rested her chin on them and looking out into the sea, she looks upset almost, like she yawned for the sea, or to go back, he didn't know, nor did he understand her connection to the sea, he most likely never will with his phobia of the sea and large bodies of water, but that was a conversation for another time.
Aiko let out a small sigh next to him and he felt himself getting closer to Aiko, letting their hips touch every so slightly, she didn't move away, nor did it look like she cared much, maybe she wasn't focusing on that at all.
"Taekjoo" Aiko quietly mumbled, almost in a question type way but it wasn't a question.
"Yeah?" he asked her back, wondering why she was suddenly talking to him.
"Do you ever want to go back to the sea… or at least go into the water?" she asked him, now looking at him and resting her cheek on her knees instead of her chin.
"I'm terrified of the sea, I will never go into the sea… ever" he said, tilting his head as he spoke and leaning back onto his arms.
Aiko returned to her staring at the water, maybe thinking about something, Taekjoo has never been good at reading peoples expressions, he never will be either.
As day became night they soon returned to the damned hotel room.
"Aiko" Taekjoo called out to her, she twirled around and looked at him.
"Yes?" she titles her head as she speaks.
"Sleep in the bed closest to the… wait do you know what the bathroom is?" Taekjoo asked, no questioning and regretting all his life's choices.
"The room you first found me in?" she titles her head again and looks toward the bathroom, the room where Taekjoo first found her in, she points to it and looks back to him.
"Yeah.. yep sleep in the bed closest to the bathroom" he explains pointing to the bed he was referring to.
Aiko nods and sits down on it, laying back, her eyes sparkle when she lays down, releasing how comfortable it is, she curls her way up to be able to put her head on the pillow and just lays there, amazed by how comfortable it was.
Taekjoo was ever so slightly confused but he didn't question it, there were so many things that confused him about this woman and he didn't question any of it, he sat down on his own bed and started taking his shoes off, then his shirt then his pants putting some shirts and a loose tee on, he normally slept without a shirt but he was being a gentleman and put a shirt on. He laid back himself in the bed and glanced over at Aiko who had actually fallen asleep, she looked so peaceful. He slowly got up and quietly walked off, taking her own shoes off and putting the blanket over her, getting back into his own bed and falling asleep.
Morning came and went as the two slept in till noon, Aiko woke up first and she took it upon herself to explore the small room, there were only two beds, a tv mounted onto the wall, a small table in the corner with a big seat and a little seat, there was a bedside table in between the two beds, a mini fridge near the door and some storage which has Aiko's clothes from yesterday and Taekjoo's luggage that he brought with him, there was a window closest to Taekjoo's bed, which still had him in it, then the bathroom were she was first found, it was so very small, a rectangular shower on one end covering the whole wall and bits of the wall and then the sink which still had the gun on it, then the toilet next to the shower and some places to hang towels.
Aiko was starting to get bored, she slowly walked over to Taekjoo, leaning down and looking at his face. He was so very peaceful as he slept, Aiko simply just pocketed his nose, she did that for a little while then started saying his name over and over again.
A hand wrapped around her wrist and she was meted with a glare that could kill once again "what in the ever living fuck do you want woman" Taekjoo grumbled, sitting up and groaning about the fact he was being awoken "what the fuck is the time… wheres my phone?" he asked, knowing Aiko wouldn't know so he started whipping his head around to look for said phone, he soon found it on the floor… gods know how it got there but okay, he picked it up and saw the time 3:47pm.
"PM?!?" Taekjoo yelled, quickly getting up and getting dressed, then remembering Aiko was also in the room she had walked past him and had sat back down on the bed she slept in that night, staring up at Taekjoo.
"Wanna get food?" he asked her, already heading out whether she said no or not, he was just gonna leave her there if she said no, but she got up and followed him out, they reached the last level and went to the same ramen place he got his food from earlier in this mission, ordering him the same spicy ass ramen he likes and her something more toned down, almost not spicy at all, as they were eating, he saw Aiko was staring at something, or rather someone, Taekjoo glanced back and he saw a guy staring at them both, he looked similar to Aiko, the blue hair the purple eyes the scale like freckles, that was hundred percent her dad, Taekjoo positioned himself in front of Aiko's sight of him, blocking him off from her, she seemed to kinda calm down but she was obviously still panicking.
"Are you okay?" Taekjoo asked her, forgetting his food and now worrying about Aiko, she ever so slightly nods at him, now just playing with her food, he was determined to finish his food and get Aiko out of here, so he quickly eats putting his tray in the bin and getting Aiko up, holding her hand as they walked away, heading back to the hotel room, but he felt eyes on him all the way back to the hotel room.
"Okay Aiko what the fuck was that?! Why was your dad there?!" Taekjoo asked, his own panic growing.
"I-I don't know, I didn't th-think we would see him again! I'm sorry" Aiko's panic was growing and quickly, too much was happening right now.
"Aiko sit down" Taekjoo told her to do, she did, he also sat down "we just need to calm down and think yeah?" he placed a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it a little, he saw people do this with little kids who were upset in movies, so he wanted to see if it actually worked, he felt Aiko relax under his touch, her shoulders relaxing, her posture becoming slouched and her face showing a sense of calm as she let go a sigh of relief.
"Let's just not go out for the rest of the day, yeah? We'll stay within the hotel and just go to the cafe in the hotel on the third floor, I'll buy everything" Taekjoo suggested to her, rubbing his thumb on her shoulder.
They both get up, Taekjoo hands a keycard to Aiko so she can get into the room and he takes one himself, he also explains how the keycard works and she understood very quickly, they walk down to the cafe and take a seat near the windows, the sight was beautiful, both of them couldn't help but look out the window, Taekjoo took a picture of it with his phone and a small smile went across his face, nothing too big for anyone to notice, Aiko was just staring, her chin was rested on her hand as she looked.
Taekjoo got up and went to grab some food, grabbing two plates, placing one in front of Aiko for when shes ready and one for himself, Aiko stayed seated and looked out the window still while he went to grab food, there were only a few people also grabbing food at the time which was amazing with how anti social Taekjoo is, he was behind another person but something about this person felt familiar for some reason, he couldn't put his finger on why, he ignored it and just grabbed his food, when the person turned around he found out why this person was, it was his brother… Sangwoo, he quickly looked down and continued grabbing his food. He kept his head down as he returned to the table with Aiko. She looked so happy and carefree. He wasn't going to show it pissed him off his brother was there.
Aiko looked down at the plate then looked at Taekjoo's then looked around, seeing that she was meant to grab some food like he did, she hadn't noticed that he was panicking. But when she looked at some food she wanted she grumbled as someone was in front of it, she pushed her way past and grabbed the food, the person scoffing at how rude she was.
Taekjoo on the other hand was still panicked, he had watched Aiko push past Sangwoo and him scoff at her, walking off and sitting by himself.
Aiko sat back down, happily eating her array of foods on the small plate, Taekjoo had calmed down as he had focused more on the food then anything else.
They peacefully eat and head back to their hotel room, Taekjoo getting out his laptop and sitting down on the bed, while Aiko turned the TV on and watched some show she wanted, Taekjoo sat back and completely just pasted out, going into a sleep that was not so dreamless this time.
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It was a bright summers day, Taekjoo and Sangwoo were playing in a sand pit their father and mother had brought the day before, Taekjoo getting sand all in his hair as he rolls around, Sangwoo picking sand up and slowly letting it fall all over Taekjoo.
Hearing their parents laughter from across the garden, making sure they don't kill each other, Taekjoo looked up shaking the sand out his hair and look at Sangwoo, his face was all messed up, it had blood on it and was all disoriented for some reason, it scared him, he looked at his parents, his father had a stab wound in his side, then a cut along his neck, bleeding out, him and his mother were the only normal ones, but soon his mother started crying, but she was also laughing, they were all laughing with big stretched mouths that did in fact touch their ears.
Sangwoo and his fathers eyes were enlarged while his mothers were closed and her eye-brows were sadder and tears stained her face but they were all red, the sand underneath him was slowly pulling him in, he fell through the sand as he looked around he saw nothing but black but he also saw himself, suddenly his father and Sangwoo's faces popped out at him their voices all around him repeating his name over and over again, but their voices were demonic, but it was definitely their voices.
He felt cool water underneath his feet, as he looked down he didn't see his legs he saw a tail, it was orange and cut up, the fins having chunks taken out of then and small fish ate at it and for a second he swore he felt the pain but as quickly as it came it left as well and he felt nothing, he saw nothing, he felt nothing, he smelt nothing, he was surrounded by complete nothingness, it was both calming and scary.
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Taekjoo jumped up, gasping for breath as he pulled his knees to his chest and buried his head into his knees, hugging his legs to his chest, his hair was a mess, his breathing was fast and panicked and his senses all around him were messed up, he thought he heard noises but they weren't there, something was seriously wrong with him.
He looked over to Aiko who was still watching the show she had put on, his laptop had gone black as he was out for a while, but he just messed with the mouse and sat back up working on the mission more than anything.