I'm confused.

Well...that would be understatement. I was way beyond confused with my stand with Taehyung; I honestly couldn't tell anymore if we were friends or not. Or strangers. Who knew?

Or something different.

No, that can't be the case!

Well, fine. I admit that I had been pushing it back, but no luck. I might or might not have been harboring feelings for Taehyung.

I might have been focusing on my own problems and the conflict between Taehyung and I that had always set the gap between us. And now that things were coming to a clear, this silly little feelings found the opportunity to emerge.

Feelings that I probably shouldn't have.

It took Taehyung and I a couple of days to return the usual atmosphere around us. Though we might still be plodding our way through it until now.

Aeri had helped the most to make it happen. And through those days, I had grown more conscious—too conscious that enlightened me to something else.

One wrong slip, and everything's bound to fall.

I didn't want to put Taehyung in an uncomfortable position, but being around him didn't help at all. And sometimes, when he kept doing the usual things we did before, now that we were back to our normal 'married' lives, I just couldn't help it.

Like everything was on the rim of a glass, either falling in or out—Unbeknownst to me which one was worse.

"Oh don't tell me you're just gonna stand there." Nari snapped her fingers in front of me, interrupting my thoughts.

I lifted my head up to see three pairs of eyes looking at me. "What? Have you bought the tickets already?"

"Here!" Nari cheered, handing the wristband to me. "We already put on ours while you were spacing out." She grinned.

Shrugging to myself, I put the wristband on and we all entered the ocean park.

Originally, it was supposed to be only me, Aeri, Taehyung, Somi and Minsun. Taehyung had thought about it as a breather from the saturnine weeks we had gone through.

How Nari was suddenly included in our outing, I had no idea. Her reason was simply that she wanted to see Aeri. As for Minji, she had not really planned on being with us today. However, her judgment convinced her she could not leave Nari alone.

"That girl probably needs parental guidance." Minji had said when she had made up her mind.

Minji pushed Aeri's buggy while Nari kept tilting her head left and right, walking backwards so she could see Aeri.

Minsun was already pointing at the large aquariums, and I could figure Somi-ajumma was telling him to stay close.

"You okay?"

I almost forgot Taehyung is actually here for a moment.

I nodded with an assuring smile.

Returning the gesture, Taehyung dropped his gaze and held my hand. My brows raised forthwith whilst I internally frowned.

Are the gods testing my emotions? It's definitely not funny.

"I have a feeling you'll get lost," he said after noticing my expression, "You zone out more than usual today."

"Sorry about that." I kept my head low, staring in front of me as we followed the others.

Our aimless walk had brought us to the underwater part where, instead of the sea creatures being caged in aquariums, they were in their natural habitat and we could see them through the transparent glasses separating us.

"Noona! Noona!" Minsun excitedly ran towards me. "Noona, did you know that sharks are the only fish that have eyelids?"

I blinked with interest, my lips curving upwards. "Really?"

"Mhmm! My teacher told me," he proudly said.

Taehyung reached for Minsun's head and gave it a pat. "We have a good student right here."

"Unlike someone here who's asking if fishes lie down on their sides when they sleep," stated Minji, throwing a sideways glance to the guilty Nari.

"I was just wondering." Nari pouted with her arms crossed on her chest. "Oh look! Baby Aeri's pointing at the stingrays."

The more we looked around, the more people there were. You'd hear mostly loud excited voices from chatters and squeaking shoes of children running around.

It had been a while since I had went out for any leisure aside from malls. I couldn't help but want to be drowned in the crowd with nothing to worry about. If that even makes sense.

Taehyung poked on the glass and the seahorse kind of followed where his finger would land. Cautiously, I stole a glance at him. He seemed to be enjoying himself. His close mouthed smile that stretched on both sides told me so.

At least everyone was enjoying their—

"Taehyung." I pulled on his shirt with my free hand to catch his attention. "Taehyung," I repeated.

He snapped his head to me.

"Taehyung, I think we lost them." I scanned the area in search for anyone of them. But I found none, unfortunately.

Taehyung slowly slid his hand around my wrist, dropping it carefully. Only then did I realize I was still tugging on his shirt. Feeling flustered, I hid my hand to my side.

With our other hand still intertwined, Taehyung spun me around to face him.

"Don't panic." He squeezed my hand. "We'll find them."

"But Aeri—"

"Shhh," interrupted Taehyung and leaned in closer, his eyes boring through mine. "Aeri is with Minji and Nari, and they're probably still with Somi-ajumma and Minsun. She's going to be fine."

I know. I wanted to tell him that but my voice failed me. Taking in his words, I let out a sigh.

"Besides, we have phones to contact them. Have you forgotten?" questioned Taehyung rather mockingly.

I snorted, squinting my eyes at him. "Of course I know that."

"You've been distracted the whole time. Is this still about what happened lately?"

Taehyung cupped both sides of my face and playfully pressed them together. My eyes wandered to everywhere except Taehyung's. Everybody was too busy with their own entertainment to notice the two of us in the middle of the crowd.

"No."

"Really...?"

"Mhmmm— Yah!" I backed away, covering my forehead defensively.

"Aren't you tired with it yet?"

"You flicking my forehead? Yes," I flatly responded.

Taehyung hissed. "Not that."

"Then what?" I questioned.

"Keeping things to yourself," he said with a knowing look.

I averted my attention. Actually, I couldn't really tell.

Have you ever experienced being in the dark, completely blinded and carefully trying to find your way with the help of nothing but your senses? You could only trust your instincts and hope for the best that they were right. Most often than not, you'd doubt them.

What do you do then? You stay where you are and wait until a path you are sure of comes up.

That was exactly how I felt.

"I don't like this anymore." I returned my gaze on Taehyung and saw the scowl on his face. "Let's make a promise."

"Promises scare me," I confessed.

Taehyung paused, a solemn look plastered on his face. "Then it's not a promise."

"What is it then?"

"Something like a promise," he remarked, "but not really a promise."

I chuckled. "You're not making sense."

"Never mind whatever it's called," he impatiently said. "Let's just make it clear between us."

Taehyung's hand left my cheeks and he reached out for my hands, lifting them up between us.

"We're going to start a clean slate from now on," he told me, and I nodded totally agreeing with him.

"Well at least that sounds like a really good idea."

"Because it is," he confidently pointed out. "But I'm not finished yet, don't interrupt me." He leered at me.

I shook my head with a small giggle. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry."

"Good," he mumbled. "From now on, every bad memory between us should be erased!"

"But bad memories are good to have too, you know," I reasoned.

Taehyung gave it a thought. "You're right." He nodded. "Then let's just not let those memories hinder a good relationship between us."

"Sounds better." I tilted my head with a pleased smile.

"One last thing," added Taehyung and I raised a brow at him. He bumped his forehead with mine.

"No more secrets."

The intensity in Taehyung's gaze made me gulp. I internally slapped myself for being intimidated with him at the moment. Both of his hands still hadn't left mine, so did his forehead.

I couldn't wait to turn away from him due to blood uncontrollably rushing to my face, like an explosion of red hues sprinkled all over. I had never felt this conscious around him.

Absentmindedly, I bit my lower lip, and a wave of embarrassment flooded my insides when Taehyung's gaze fell on them.

This guy better step back or I'm stepping forward to—

His grip on my hands tightened, almost making me jump, but every nerve on my body stiffened at the same time, leaving me helpless.

Taehyung tilted his head, and the lovestruck little me just had to close her eyes.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

His slow, uneven breathing inched closer, causing my heart to thump wildly in anticipation, and just as his lips brushed on—

"There they are!"

Whichever caused the jolt in my body that made me distance myself as far as I could from Taehyung, I wasn't sure. But I did know that it was Nari who caught our attention.

I pushed my hands to my back, clasping them together as I inhaled through gritted teeth, letting my ears cool down.

Nari strolled forward whilst carrying Aeri on her arms. Minji's expression obviously screamed that she knew what just happened, and Somi-ajumma kept distracting Minsun with the fishes.

Should I be thankful that they found us or not? One could never tell.

But this just proved a point. In this outing, there were four kids.

And well...you be the judge of who.