I watched lazily as the clock hand ticked over to 4:00pm, a light bell sound emanating from the speaker on the wall. The teacher glanced down at his watch to confirm the time and proceeded to dismiss us. I fumbled my belongings back into my bag and pulled out my phone to check if I had any messages.
A part of me hoped to see Namjoons name but to my surprise there was a message from Jimin instead so I swiped it open.
Jimin: Jiaaaa, did you get out of class yet?
I paused for a moment, wondering what he might want before replying.
Jia: yeah, just finished, what's up?
I slung my bag around my shoulder and started to walk slowly towards the door eyes still glued to the screen as another message popped up.
Jimin: Tae was supposed to have a drink with me but he cancelled last minute TT
Jimin: Got some time to spare? 😏
Jia: Yeaaa kk, send me the address, I'll come~
I clicked on the location link he sent. It opened up revealing a place I knew. Call it a coincidence but this was the place that Jin and I had first met. Kodama Café was the name. I walked out of the building and off campus. I felt a cool breeze blow past as I made my way down the street. The weather had definitely become more chilly throughout the day. As I reached the café I noticed that the vibe was a little different seeing as it wasn't quite dark yet. Inside wasn't busy which was good, the chances of running into Jin here were probably close to nothing .. he did say he was always busy so..
The door chimed lightly as I stepped in. Jimin looked over and noticed me from the small corner booth he was cosily tucked in. He gave a short wave as I walked over and slid into the seat across from him.
"That was quick" A small smile plastered on his face. He placed one of the two Iced coffee he had in front of me.
"Thanks, yeah, its so close to school so.. " I mentioned, taking a small sip before inquiring about our third wheel. "What happened with Tae anyway? Is he okay?"
"He's fine, just got called into our agency last minute to go over some singing rehearsals" Jimin sighed lightly, running his hands through his hair seemed to be a tantalising habit of his.
"He sings?" I perked up. I knew that they were probably Idols in training, but I never did get the chance to ask anything specific about it.
"We both do, we also dance. I studied contemporary dance, have been a dancer since I was young" Jimin perked up a bit, his words intrigued me. I couldn't help but to glance down at his chest and arms, previously noticing his muscle tone, and even now it was protruding through his shirt and it gave it away instantly. I kicked myself a little for not putting two and two together earlier.
"That does explains your physique" the comment tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop it.
"Hm? What's this? You've been checking me out this whole time?" Jimin said smoothly, the playful charm he had was unmatched. God I don't know if I hated this or loved it but it got to me every time.
"Ahh, I mean, it's not subtle if you know what I mean" I glanced between him and down at the table unable to keep eye contact. Jimin cracked an amused smile, licked his lips to keep himself from laughing.
"Jia, don't pretend to be all shy, If you're into me you'll feel a lot better after admitting it" he leaned over the table smile getting wider as though about to break into laughter. "Jimin omg please stop, I actually caaan't" fluster taking over I pushed on his chest and he plopped back in his seat. I comically fanned my face trying to disperse the heat in my cheeks causing him to break into a cute laughter.
"Ahh sorry, sorry, I really can't help it. You're just seriously so cute when you're flustered. It gets to you way too easily" he sighed in amusement to himself.
"Jimin.." I mumbled under my breath, I wanted to protest a bit but didn't really know what to say. His gaze lingered on me for a few seconds before his expression softened into one of innocents.
"I might tease you sometimes but, if you can, try to endure it cause, I want us to make a lot of fun memories together in the future" His words tumbled out somewhat shyly but for the first time ever he seemed to be revealing his genuine feelings. I didn't exactly know what to say so I nodded and smiled, feeling much more at ease. A few seconds past before an idea came to me, if he was serious about being friends then.. there was something we needed to do.
"You know what would be fun?" His head tilted at my sudden question. "Karaoke.." I then hummed after a moments pause. This seemed to be something he liked the sound of, his eyes lit up instantly.
"Yess~ Best idea ever. Me, you and Tae. Saturday night?" He proposed eagerly. I nodded as I sipped at the last of my drink. He seemed to take the suggestion very seriously which made me wonder if I would regret anything later. I wasn't a good singer and if Tae and Jimin were it might be kinda embarrassing on my part but oh well. We chatted for a little longer until Jimin had finished his drink. I felt a vibration from my pocket, noting the time was about 6pm and that I had a message from Namjoon.
RM: Heeey, how was class? Did you make it on time? 😅
Jia: It was alright! Luckily I did haha. What're you doing? 😊
RM: Actually, like, I know it's a bit sudden but, if you aren't busy tomorrow night wanna come chill? I was going to head over to studio if you're still interested
Jia: Yeah sounds good! Where should I meet you?
RM: It's the smaller brick building east of campus. Meet you out front at 7 😊
Jia: Got it! See u then ~
I clicked my phone shut and looked back up at Jimin who had been watching me curiously the entire time I'd been messaging.
"Who's the lucky guy?" He raised his eyebrow cheekily.
"It's not like that! I swear.. actually, when I was in the library earlier I saw some CDs! But I nearly fell over and, but, I didn't cause somethin- wait no, it was someone who caught me and, uhm" I stopped for a second realising my explication made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Jimin just burst into laughter, occasional squeak included. Falling into the wall seeing as it was the closest thing to him. I internally dead-panned at myself. "Okay, okay" Jimin then waved his hand in the air to stop me from continuing. "Forget I asked" he wiped the small tears of laughter from the corner of his eyes and straightened back up. "Well this has been fun but, I need to get going. Dance practice" The blonde reluctantly stood up and picked up his bag.
"Have fun.. Thanks for the coffee" I rested my head on my hand as I waved Jimin off. I watched as the door to the café snipped shut behind him and his figure disappeared down the street. I hadn't noticed until now that the sun had set leaving a clear night sky. I left the café and went back home.
The day had been an eventful one surprisingly, but it felt good to take some time to relax. Seeing as I had some free time I decided to work on some lyrics and get some study done and by midnight I was exhausted.
——————-
The next day went by quickly, just another ordinary day of classes. Nothing overly interesting happened. After classes had ended for the day I went home and changed into something cute seeing as I was meeting up with Namjoon. I didn't have any expectations to be honest but.. I also felt a little nervous but I pressed it down and got dressed.
Lastly, I fixed up my hair before heading back out. The campus at night was well lit by lamp posts that were scattered around. It made it easier to try and find the building he'd mentioned. After a couple minutes of roaming the east court I found the place. I spotted him quickly as he stood out like a sore thumb. He glanced around casually, he was wearing a long black hoodie with a white image print covered by an even longer sleek black raincoat. His tracksuit pants also black and baggy and a pair of Nike airs. Boy was swaged out to the max. As I came closer he took a few lazy strides in my direction.
"Heeey, hope you weren't waiting long" I jogged the last few steps to him and closed the gap between us.
"Nah, not at all, I got here not even a minute ago" he shrugged seeming more laid back than earlier which I found comfort in. "Let's get inside. Oh, I forgot to mention" Namjoon started to say as he propped the door open for me, allowing me to walk in first. "Two of my friends are in, we compose most of our stuff together cause we take the same classes. Hope that's alright with you" his voice was so smooth as he spoke.
"No! That's fine, I'm more worried about intruding, wouldn't want to bother you guys while you're trying to do your thing" I laughed shyly. "They won't mind, if anything, I have a feeling you'll pique their interest" Namjoon flashed a light smile from beside me as we walked down the corridor. I don't think his words were initially meant to make me feel as good as they did. I just bit down on my lip and kept walking beside him.
After another moment the tall dark blonde stopped at a brown wooden door, the number 28 labelled over it. He turned the handle and again, stepped to the side so that I could enter first. He was shaping up to be quite the gentleman. I gave him a small smile as I passed him, the view of the room giving me a lot to take in.
The room was well sized, couch against the back wall and another long ottoman mostly taking up the side wall but the most obvious thing was the large desk which ran along the entire front wall. It had big speakers and wide screen in front of it. It was such a comfortable and nicely set up studio. I heard Namjoon click the door shut behind us and my eyes dropped to the person who was seated at the desk.
He had turned around in his chair, eyes falling onto us, staring plainly for a moment before quickly averting his gaze to the side as though trying to avoid direct eye contact.
Before I could introduce myself another voice cut through the air, the person it belong to had sprung up off the couch he was perched on instantaneously.
"Ohhh! Joon, Who's your friend?" His surprised reaction startling me a little. He then went a bit wide-eyes as he glanced at me and then back to Namjoon.
"Hobi, chill, this is Jia" Namjoons' voice was close to my ear and from directly behind me. "We literally bumped in to each other earlier in the week, turns out she likes hip-hop so I thought I'd invite her over" he explained casually.
He nodded along, then flashed me a bright smile. "Jia? Cute name. I'm Hoseok. Hobi for short. Stage name, I'm your hope, your my hope, I'm J Hopeeeee. You catch my drift, right?" I couldn't hide my smile from his sheer charisma. Or for a better word, just outright swag.
"That's, actually so sweet" I may or may not have fan-girled slightly but he didn't seem to care. "Oh you think so?" He mused, starting to look pleased with himself.
The sound of a small cough cut through and I looked over towards the first guy who had caught my eye. "Suga, or Yoongi. Whichever you prefer" he offered before going on "so what kind of music are you into?" He asked, hints of interest in his surprisingly deep voice.
"I can listen to anything, but, hip-hop is where it's at" I answered. "Ahh, then you're in the right place" Hoseok chuckles. "Did you wanna take a seat?" Namjoon asked as he made his way over to the ottoman and patted the spot beside him so I took a seat beside him.
"You mention that you write lyrics, right?" Namjoon asked, sending a glance towards Yoongi. Before I could answer I was questioned again. "Oh really? Are you a K-Culture major?" Yoongi perked up slightly, shifting in his seat.
"I write a lot of different things. Lyrics mostly but, I decided to take Communication instead.. it might sounds a bit abstract but, I wanted to still be able to take subjects like philosophy and literature. Putting more behind lyrics then a couple of catchy words.. " I trailed off, realising I may have said too much but, I looked between the boys and they didn't seem to be judging me for my strange choices. On the contrary, there was a consensus of nods and 'Ahh, interesting'
"Hyung" Hoseok called over to Yoongi grinning "Why don't we show Jia what we've been working on". I felt the weight of the cushion dip slightly as Namjoon leaned back onto his hand, it served as a reminder that he was right next to me.
"Uhhhhh. Alright" Yoongi contemplated momentarily before swivelling around to find something on the computer. "How's your Satoori....?" Yoongi questioned as he scrolled through some tracks titles.
"Wha? Not the best but.. wait, How come?" His question was unexpected but as the beat started to play I realised why he'd asked. I bopped my head along as I listened carefully trying to catch their rap which was in Satoori. It threw me for a loop and I couldn't understand a lot of it but I was enjoying every moment of it.
Hobi rapped along to his part enthusiastically and Yoongi had now turned back around to face the rest of us. Namjoons part came on and his clear crisp voice on the track cut through my ears, I turned to him and bopped along casually which made him laugh. After another short moment the song finished and I let out a sigh.
"Ahhh, legit a whole vibe! Even though I couldn't keep up" I laughed awkwardly. A very small smirk curled across Yoongis lips. "That's fair, Satoori that isn't my own is hard so can relate" Hobi laughed as he fell back into the couch.
"Glad you enjoyed it" Namjoon chimes in, swaying gently and bumping his shoulder into mine playfully.
The four of us got into some light hearted discussion about our musical influences, it was so interesting and I felt like I could relate with all three of the boys on some level. Yoongi suggested that if I ever wanted to share my work that I could bring it to him, they were very open about sharing the passion of music. It was comforting. Initially I had also been weary at the fact that they were a year above me in age which made them my seniors, but, despite that, any previous worry I had was long gone and we even ended up exchanging Kakao so we could all hang out again. They joked around but were still quite mature and insightful. After a while I realised that it must have been getting late. I checked my phone as the others where still talking about something and I saw it was already 10pm.
"Hm? It's 10 already?" Namjoon commented as he noticed the time on my phone screen. "Yeah, feels like I've only been here for 20 minutes" I sighed, not really wanting to leave but it was getting late and I had to get home.
We all decided to call it a night, after the boys locked up the studio we headed out of the building together. Hoseok and Yoongi walked ahead of Namjoon and I until we got outside. They turned around, Yoongi crossed his arms and Hobis eyes fell onto me.
"Do you live far? How're you getting back to your place?" He asked.
"My apartments close by, only takes me about 5 minute to walk" I replied. I could feel Namjoon standing closely next to me before he shifted to look down at me, hesitating for a small moment.
"It's pretty late, did you want me to walk you home?" He sounded concerned. "Oh no, that's okay, I don't want to make you go out of your way...". But he was quick to dismiss my worries.
"I don't mind. To be honest, I'd feel a lot better if I knew you got home safely". Yoongi took that as his cue to speak up "Well, now that's decided, we'll get going" he then waved to us, taking a few steps back as he did. Hobi followed along, waving us off too. "Bye, catch you at home later Joon" he called out before they both turned around and left us.
We walked slowly together back towards my place. As we passed down the street there were a few rowdy drunks along the way, there were a lot of clubs and bars in the area which did make it questionable at this time of night and I secretly was glad that I didn't have to walk back alone. Namjoon and I exchanged an awkward 'good night' as we lingered out the front of my apartment. I felt like I wanted to say more, perhaps a 'Thankyou' or 'It was nice to hang out' but I didn't want to make the situation corny or more awkward..
He watched as I walked up the short path and through the apartment complex entrance, I waved back to him one last time. He waved too before turning around to go back home. As I laid in bed I thought about everything that had happened over the last couple days. Some of my thoughts started to sound note worthy in my head so I quickly got up and wrote a few things down before crawling back into bed and falling asleep.