Chapter 40

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As we get closer and closer to the Rainforest exhibit a realization slowly begins to hit me. I hadn't completely thought this through. At the zoo closest to my hometown it's not a problem. The reptiles that made me shake in fear are separated from all the others in that zoo. But, what if they aren't in this Rainforest pavilion? I literally stop in the middle of the sidewalk. The others have all been forming a circle around me so the two at my back, Joon and Hobi, are the ones that point out the fact that I have frozen like a block of ice or statue.

"Daisy, what's wrong?" Jin asks when he realizes how scared I must look.

Jimin wraps his arm around my shoulders, and Tae crouches in front of me holding my cheeks in his hands to try to encourage me to try to look fully at him. I grasp his hands in my own before pulling him back up from his prone position. I sigh and take a moment to push past my fear and glance at them all. The concern swimming in each of their eyes has me fully pulling out of the trance I sort of put myself in. "Uh, sorry. I just realized that I might have some issues in that particular exhibit. Um."

"What kind of issues, Daisy?" Yoongi asks. I really am not sure how much time has passed between my announcement and his question, but it feels like we have been standing here for awhile.

"I'm sort of... Kind of... terrified of snakes." I reveal.

"I don't like snakes either." Hobi admits. I turn to look at him. His expression is more one of disgust than fear though.

"I am sure if there are snakes in the exhibit that they won't be anywhere close enough to bother the patrons." Joon points out, somewhat helpfully.

When we finally enter the exhibit I am immediately stricken in amazement. It is almost like we were transported to the rainforest. The roof of the building is completely covered by the canopy created by the many amounts of indigenous trees. We are on a stone pathway leading to a wooden bridge that overlooks the habitat below us. There are monkeys and birds above us. I even see the blue fluttering wings of a morpho butterfly, which I only know the name of because I found them to be the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen. (I had to know the name of them simply because of that fact alone.)

The cry of a macaw just behind me has me turning my head to look at him directly. His vibrant colors immediately making me smile. I'm so overtaken by the sights and sounds that I nearly forget about my guys. I look over at them. They too are in awe of their surroundings. "I think I need to get something to commemorate all the animals in this habitat. I doubt I could name them all."

Jungkook makes an excited noise. "There's a black jaguar down there!"

"Black jaguar?" I look down where he is pointing. "Isn't that a panther?"

Yoongi pulls up something on his phone and passes it to me. I'm shocked to discover that panthers aren't really a thing. They don't really exist. Panthers are merely black jaguars, or melanistic as this site refers to them as, which I can only imagine is the more scientific term for their coloring. "Well, you learn something new everyday I suppose."

We continue walking down the bridge, and once we have crossed the entire length we come to another landing, near an exit. There is also a small alcove leading to another exhibit that I immediately nope out of. "Well, that answers where the snakes are I suppose." Jin remarks.

"Time for the petting zoo?" I ask encouragingly.

I'm not surprised that the maknae line became overly enthusiastic at this suggestion. I can't help but join them in their enthusiasm. Jk squats down in front me encouraging me to climb on his back. I don't hesitate to do so, and only a few moments later I am growing to regret my decisions. He takes it upon himself to decide that suddenly it's a race, and he's bound and determined to get us there before everyone else. I'm too shocked to utter any kind of discouragement to get him to stop. Once we get to the area marked on the map he lets me down and I playfully swat at him. "You could have warned me, Bunny!"

If he's surprised by my actions he doesn't show it. He just laughs me off. It's when one of the security guards jogs off further in the direction we came that I grow immediately concerned. He's chasing someone down, and that has me realizing that we must have just got photographed by the young woman running away. I sigh remembering that the staff signed papers stating they wouldn't take any photos, and if they did they would get in a lot of legal trouble for doing so.

One of the older looking staff approaches the member of security, halting him from his chase, and the conversation they are having doesn't look promising. When Joon joins us and sees the commotion he doesn't hesitate to signal to Han-bin and the two walk over to join the security guard already there. There are way too many security guards. I honestly can't keep their names straight. Joon comes back looking tense and somewhat defeated. "I'm not going to be able to join you at the petting zoo, Daisy." He apologizes and kisses me on the forehead. "Sejin, Han-bin, Youngmi, and I need to resolve this security issue that has arisen." He pauses for a second. "I think we should strongly consider doing that Vlive tonight."

I frown but nod. I'm honestly worried about what kind of photo that fan caught. Because if she caught the moment I think she did it is going to be greatly detrimental to Army's view of me.

Then he looks at the others. "Please take a lot of pictures for me!" Asking them before taking off.

Yoongi looks at Joon's trailing back, then at me. "I think I am going to join him." He pulls me into the shelter of his arms and without concern for the others' presence softly pecks my lips. "We'll be back soon."

I nod again before he releases me and jogs to catch up with the others.

"Let's forget that for now." Jin ushers us within the fence of the exhibit. Unlike the others this one is completely open air and outside. I'm exceptionally thankful we had the foresight to apply sunblock after eating lunch.

The first fenced in corral we come to has me 'awwing' instantaneously and practically jumping the fence before the attendant even opens the gate. The lambs are just so adorable I want to squish and love on them immediately. I don't hesitate to do just that once we are escorted in. I giggle when I see Jk and Jimin doing the same. There are only three babies so the others break off to join someone else. Jin comes over to give more lovins to the one I am already holding. Tae gives more lovins to the one Jk is holding. Jk holding said baby a few more minutes before passing him off to Tae. Hobi loves on the lamb Jimin is holding. I'm not surprised that unlike Jk, Jimin is not about to let go of the precious soft bundle in his arms.

Jin takes a moment to take several shots with his cell phone. Tae even hands the lamb back to Jk so he can get some shots with the lamb too.

After several more minutes we head over to another corral. I grin at the actively rambunctious baby goats. The actions in this corral are pretty much the same. Although Jin and Hobi seem slightly scared that the kids may bite them. Which I honestly kind of understand, they are definitely less reserved with their personalities compared to the little lambs.

When we get to the next corral I immediately sprint over. The others quickly jogging to catch up with me. What can I say? I saw the hutch before I could see them in the pen. This time I don't even wait for the attendant. I literally climb over the fence and sit amongst the fluffle of cuteness overload. The bunnies begin climbing all over me, and I am helpless to keep the happy coo from being uttered.

The others finally join me and Hobi laughs at the site. "I guess you like bunnies huh?"

I am sure my eyes are the size of saucers. "They are only my most favoritest animal ever!" I pick up one of the little fluffs nearby. I hold it to my chest and look down at it when it cuddles into my warmth. It's one of those white ones that look like they have eyeliner around their eyes. Definitely one of my favorite visuals regarding bunnies, but I honestly love them all.

I look over at the others and notice not only are they all holding one and cuddling them each softly close to them. But, they have been more focused on me, and my reaction to the bunnies. Hobi offers to take a picture of Jin with his little ball of fluff before he releases said parcel of cuteness and begins taking pictures of the rest of us. I am sure there are more than a dozen of me. I am definitely going to need them all sent to my own phone in the near future.

All too soon the guys are reminding me that there are more animals yet to see. I frown but reluctantly put the bunnies down. I take a moment to brush the straw off of my legs and backside. When I feel another hand there I yelp. Hobi gives me a not so innocent look. "You missed a spot."

I blush but thank him before he laughs at me and pulls me into his arms. "I see a big building inside a fence and a larger fenced-in cage. What do you think the last two animals might be, Petal?"

"Hmm. Because of the size of the building I'm guessing maybe ponies or horses. In the large cage I can only guess that it is something they fear would get out, but I can't for the life of me figure out what that might be." I shrug.

We discover I'm right on both counts with the building. There are four ponies and two large horses. "We actually offer pony rides to the little ones for a small fee. The horses can also be ridden normally but since it was a small party today we decided after exercising them this morning we would take the opportunity to clean the corral we exercise in." She frowns.

Well that sucks. I've honestly never ridden before, but I always wanted to.

Tae sees my frown and comes over to me. Pulling me into one of those full body hugs that I will never get enough of. "I'll take you riding sometime."

"You ride?" I ask.

"I had to learn for 'Hwarang.'" He pauses and looks at the others. "But, we all have been horseback riding. We went during one of our Bon Voyage vacations."

"For you, I would do it again. I wasn't really happy about the idea the first time." Hobi frowns slightly.

I'm not really surprised to see the hesitancy lighting his face. He doesn't show his fears often really, at least not to me, but there is no denying them when they are in full effect.

My eyes are drawn to the last horse in the stall. She's a beautiful russet color. I head her way and whisper to her quietly some soothing nonsense. Petting her down the bridge of her equine nose.

When we get out of the barn Joon and Yoongi are just coming back into the petting zoo exhibit. We meet each other halfway and discuss what they learned. "We might have to get our lawyers involved. The fan in question, technically isn't an employee, which is why she had no problem taking our picture. She didn't know of any lawful repercussions. The zoo originally told all the volunteers not to come in today, and it's unclear why she came in despite that request. Because she was a volunteer they didn't bother with an NDA for her."

"I guess it's worth asking your lawyers about it. I don't think she would end up being the one to get in trouble though. I am sure it would be the zoo." I think aloud.

"Still, they made a legal promise, and whether unintentional or not. They broke it." Yoongi was doing a decent job of keeping his anger at the situation at bay, but I could definitely tell he was exceptionally troubled by the situation.

"We still have one more animal to see." I point out the cage. "Did we want to forgo it and go back to the house? Or did we want to go see it?"

We all agree that despite our unhappiness with the zoo that we were already here so we might as well enjoy ourselves while we could. We are all thrilled that we did too. Inside the cage were a couple of well trained Capuchin Monkeys. The attendant stood by while the two treated us as if we were their personal jungle gyms. They would chatter away as if we were having a conversation before scuttering off to the next nearby person, or climbing up higher in the tree that was in the center of the cage.

Not too long after we deem it's time to head back to the house. We decide to get food on the way back and set up for an impromptu Vlive after eating and cleaning up. I probably shouldn't do it, but I open up twitter on the ride back. I show the three riding with me (Jk, Yoongi, and Jin) the picture I came across. It's exactly as I feared. The volunteer shared the photo of me swatting at Jk playfully. Only the photo was caught right before his look became his silly bunny look. He looked shocked by my actions. Which made the photo look like I was abusing him.  

A/N:  I was torn between using that gif for Hobi or the one where a zoo attendant is actually draping a snake around his shoulders.  I chose that one simply because that's not what is happening in the moment.  (I was honestly having a discussion regarding my dislike for snakes yesterday, and Hobi's meme was mentioned.)

Regarding Panthers vs Jaguars.  I don't remember the book, but I honestly learned that from a romance novel where a man random is transformed into a Black Jaguar.  I just can't recall the name of it.  (It was quite awhile ago.)

***Edit I am pretty positive the book in question was a Katie MacAlister novella.  But I still don't recall the name.

When they are discussing horseback riding and how they all went once I would like to say that I do

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