Kindred Spirits – Chapter 10: Ousting the Ogling Owl

“What do you think?  Do you like the chocolate cheesecake?” Jungkook quizzed her a moment later.

She nodded.  Not as much as I’m enjoying you.  

Then she squinted as she considered her answer.  “But I think, I like the regular cheesecake better.”

Jungkook popped a piece of the chocolate cheesecake into his mouth.  He chewed.  He closed his eyes for a moment.  Then he drank some water before taking another bite of the vanilla cheesecake.  Finally, he nodded.

“Yep.  I agree with you.  The New York cheesecake is better.”  He grinned before taking another bite of it.  “Good thing I bought two of that kind.”

“For sure.  Because I certainly wouldn’t have had enough sweets to eat if I had to share the vanilla cheesecake with you!” Daniela snickered.

Jungkook grinned.  “Is that sarcasm that I just detected?  Look, I can eat all the cheesecake if you need me to!”  His raven brows flew skyward as he opened his eyes into two innocent circles.

“No!” she laughed.  “It’s just…look at this mammoth pile of sugar you bought us!”  Then she beamed up at him.  “It was really nice of you, Jungkook, to treat me to all of this.  You are really a very kind person.  Thank you.  I’m really enjoying just hanging out with you.”  She glanced down at the vanilla cheesecake before taking another bite.  “And I am really enjoying this cheesecake too!”

He returned her smile.  “Me too.  I’m enjoying the sweets.  And I’m enjoying you too.”  

There he went again.  His eyes were smiling at her.  She felt a wave of heat wash over her.  She blushed and looked down at the owl.  It was eyeballing her.  Why was that stupid, little cream puff making her feel self-conscious?  Like something was witnessing her date with Jungkook.

She reached out and turned it until it faced him.  He glanced down at it.  Then his eyes caught hers.

“What are you doing?”

“It was looking at me,” she responded petulantly.

“What?” he guffawed.  “That’s a new one.  The cream puff owl was ogling you?”

“Exactly!” she exclaimed.  “It was making me feel…uncomfortable.”

“Well, we can’t have that!  Never fear, my dear.  I will come to your rescue.  I shall relieve it of its eyeballs!”  

Jungkook proceeded to take a gargantuan bite out of the owl staring at him.  He liberated its eyes and beak from its face as he thoroughly enjoyed the combination of sweet cream and browned egg bread.  He set the now ordinary cream puff back down on the plate.  

“There you go.  You are now free from an audience,” he replied to her.

“Thank you, kind sir.  I can now enjoy our date in peace.”  Then a moment later, she realized what she had said, and a deep blush stained her cheeks.  She stared down at the table.  “I, uh, I didn’t mean a date.  I meant, uh, I meant…”. She finally gave up.  She didn’t know what she meant.

Jungkook grinned at her.  “You didn’t?”

There was a teasing tone to his voice that drew her eyes up to meet his own.  As her eyes collided with his, he smiled sweetly at her.  “thought it was a date.”

She stared at him.  “Oh.”  Then she smiled.  “Okay.  It’s a date then.”

They both grinned at each other before eating another bite of their treats.

“Hey, did you want to try the chocolate cake?” he asked.

She nodded.  Yes, she did!

Once again, he helped himself to the cake and held his fork out to her.  Jungkook was feeding her again!  She almost felt like she was his girlfriend.  Which was absurd!  But still, that’s the feeling she got as she opened her mouth and allowed him to shovel the decadent cake between her lips.  Rich chocolate overwhelmed her taste buds.  A delighted smile stretched across her face as she savored the bite before swallowing it. 

“Wow.  That is really good.”  She frowned as she furrowed her brow.  “I’m not sure which I like better.  That or the cheesecake.  It’s a hard choice.”

Jungkook nodded his head vociferously.  “I know.  Right?!”  He took a bite of the cake.  Then a moment later, he ate some of the cheesecake.  He shook his head.  “I can’t decide.  I know only one thing for certain.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m going to have to go run three miles tonight to burn some of this off.”

She laughed, and a puff of air escaped her nose.

He glanced up at her.  “But this afternoon was totally worth it.  Small price to pay for this time with you.”

 

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