Hey peoples, chapter 2 is here. I'm still working on finishing the story so I'm afraid that for now, I'll release a chapter on each weekend. Once I finish it though, I'll post it more frequently. I hope you can bear with me until that time and I hope you enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: Many of the characters aside from BTS are made up and BTS themselves are not BTS in this story. And, of course, I don't know the BTS boys personally so their personalities are probably mostly fictional.
Character thoughts are in { }.
I'm self-editing, so please forgive me for any mistakes and let me know if you would like to be tagged or untagged. Please enjoy!
Next: Chapter 3Word Count: 2715
Warnings: May contain mild language
Narrator POV
Along the way to the car, Jiyoung was able to gather back her strength. She still held onto Hoseok’s and Jin’s arms, but she no longer needed to use them for support. When they noticed the change, both of the guys smiled at her and she smiled back. Those damn butterflies in her stomach made an appearance again. {It’s probably because I had almost no contact with other people. Especially males. Especially good-looking males...}
When they finally arrived at the cars, Jiyoung let go of the two males’ arms. Even though they lived together, because there were seven of them, they had taken two separate cars. Jin asked her which one she wanted to go in. Jin and Namjoon were the sober drivers for the group. Jiyoung grasped onto the sleeve of Jin’s jacket. Then she turned and touched Hoseok’s arm. For her last person, she grabbed onto the strap of her backpack that Jimin was still carrying and pulled, accidentally causing him to stumble a little bit.
They all laughed and Taehyung piped up saying, “I knew I should’ve grabbed the backpack.” And they all laughed again. It was amazing that only minutes after her terrifying ordeal, Jiyoung was already laughing. It almost felt like it hadn’t even happened to her. She decided that it must be the effect of being able to converse freely with other people. As much as she felt safe around them, she had to be careful to not let her guard down too much. But she could already tell that that was going to be hard.
Everyone piled into their respective cars. Jin turned on the car and loud music suddenly started blaring causing Jiyoung to jump. Jin scrambled to turn the radio off.
“I’m so sorry,” he said turning around to look at her. “I completely forgot how loud it was when we left.”
“That’s okay, it just startled me for a second. You don’t have to turn it off, maybe just down a bit,” she chuckled. Jin smiled and turned back to the front.
Hoseok fiddled with the radio. “What would you like to listen to?”
Jiyoung shrugged her shoulders a bit embarrassed. “I don’t know.”
“Is there a genre you’d like me to play then?”
She shrugged again. “I don’t know the genres. Actually, I don’t really know much about music...I just listened to whatever I heard from Hyunjung’s—my sister’s—room.”
“You don’t like music?” Jimin asked her. He was surprised at the thought of meeting someone who didn’t like music.
“No. I like it...” The guys sensed that Jiyoung was becoming uncomfortable with the questions. There was a lot about herself that Jiyoung was ashamed of. She knew she was lacking in far too many ways.
“Okay. Then I’ll just put something on, okay? Tell me if you don’t like it,” Hoseok broke the tension. Jiyoung made a sound of agreement. Jin put the car in drive and headed to the house, Namjoon’s car following behind them. Jiyoung didn’t realize how tired she was until she felt her eyelids becoming heavy. Before she knew it, her head lolled to the side and she was already out. Jimin quickly shook her shoulder to wake her up. Jiyoung jerked awake.
“Huh? What?” she asked confused.
“Sorry. I can see that you need your rest, but I didn’t want you to wake up when we got to the house and not know how you got there. I thought that might make you nervous.” Jiyoung flashed Jimin a grateful smile. Everything the guys were doing for her only served to make her trust their intentions even more. Jimin smiled back.
“How long till we’re there?”
“About another 15 minutes,” he answered. Jiyoung nodded in understanding and turned to stare out the window. She saw in the reflection that Jimin was still staring at her with a sweet smile on his face. When she first saw him, she had to admit that he looked like what the girls back in junior high called a ‘playboy’. But with his actions, he just seemed like a sweet guy. Jimin turned to face the front and Jiyoung resumed her survey of the scenery. She watched as the older-style neighborhood slowly changed to upper middle-class then upper class then to a roomier (front and backyards) upper class layout. She could tell by the guys’ clothes that they were rich (they wore things that were worn in the magazines her ‘mother’ liked to read), but she was beginning to understand just how rich they were. Almost at the end of the neighborhood, they turned into a paved driveway. A large gate opened and the cars drove in. Jiyoung marveled at the size of the house in front of her. It wasn’t flashy, but it was very big and two stories.
“This...is where you guys live?”
“Yep. Home sweet home,” Hoseok said, turning around to face her. He laughed at the look of awe on her face.
“Well, there’s eight of us, so it has to be big,” Jin added. “We actually technically have two guest bedrooms but we made them our studies so they’re full of paperwork and such. Sorry.”
“No, that’s...that’s fine...I’m just grateful for your offer at all...” Jiyoung kept staring at the house.
Jimin put his hand under her chin and helped her close her mouth. “You’ll catch flies like that,” he laughed. Jiyoung flushed in embarrassment.
“Sorry. I’ve just never seen such a big house.”
“That’s okay. Just wait till you see the inside.”
Jin parked the car in front of the house and Namjoon’s car parked just behind them. They all got out of the car and Taehyung immediately rushed over. Grabbing her hands, Taehyung started jumping up and down. “Can I show you? I wanna be the one to show you.” Jiyoung just stared at him, her head following his movements.
“How are you so hyper this late? You’re like a kid.”
“This is only one side of him,” Jungkook laughed and pulled Taehyung, who started to pout, away. “He’s like this usually, but at the club, he’s a real ladies’ man.”
“Liar,” Jiyoung teased. Like a switch had been flipped, Taehyung’s demeanor changed exactly as Jungkook described. Taehyung seemed to glide as he approached Jiyoung.
“There’s more to me than meets the eye,” he said as he brought his face close to hers. Jiyoung blushed fiercely. At her reaction, Taehyung burst into a wide, boxy, grin. “But I’m not like that to nice girls.” All of them laughed, including Jiyoung whose face was still flushed.
“Yeah, don’t worry,” Namjoon assured her, “we don’t do that to people we actually like. We won’t play you, so don’t worry.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Jiyoung replied. “You guys are nice guys. Every person has at least two sides to them. What matters is which side is the real you and which side is the mask. And which side you show to who.”
“Wow, Namjoon. Looks like you have some competition.” Yoongi clapped Namjoon on the back. At Jiyoung’s puzzled expression, he elaborated. “Namjoon is well-known for being our in-house philosopher. You sounded just like him. Plus, what you said...it’s very kind of you. A lot of people like to judge us in the few moments they meet us. It’s nice to see you’re not like that.”
“Well then, if Yoongi-hyung approves, I guess there’s nothing more to be said,” Hoseok added. “He’s usually the most standoffish about new people.”
“Maybe it’s because you saved my life,” Jiyoung said, “but I was able to see a certain side of you. One that showed that you guys truly care. You heard my screams and you chose to run after it instead of ignoring it. You don’t know what kind of trouble you could’ve walked into. Then you confronted him even though he had a knife and could’ve seriously hurt one of you. You covered me instead of gawking at me and you offered me help. Then you offered me a place in your home. All of this for a stranger. I’ve haven’t felt kindness like that...in a very long time...” Tears started prickling at her eyes again. Taehyung pulled her into a hug and Jiyoung hugged him back. {I remember this feeling. This is what family feels like...}
“Here. Let’s bring you inside. Then you can decide if you want to stay or not.” {How can I not when it already feels more like home than ‘home’ does?} With Taehyung’s arm still wrapped around her, Jiyoung went in. Taehyung was more than a little worried about how bony Jiyoung felt, like she was almost nothing but skin and bones.
“Mouth again,” Jimin teased. Jiyoung quickly shut her mouth and blushed. She wondered if she could make it any more obvious how she had grown up.
“You guys just get here?” A female voice called from the second floor. Jiyoung looked up to see a pretty girl, maybe late-teens to early 20s, descending the staircase. The girl looked like she’d just woken up minutes ago. “And you must Jiyoung,” the girl said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. “I’m JiEun.” The girl gave a slight bow with a warm, but tired, smile on her face.
Jiyoung bowed back. “I’m sorry. You were just sleeping weren’t you?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m up all times of the night usually. Besides, you look like you need sleep more than me.” Both of the girls chuckled.
“I probably look like a mess, don’t I?” The guys watched as the two girls hit it off.
After a few minutes of chatting JiEun said, “We should probably get you to bed, huh? Follow me. I’ve got everything set up already.”
Jiyoung turned back to the guys who were still standing in the same spot. She politely bowed at them. “Thank you again for saving me. And thank you for giving me a place to sleep.” Then she turned and followed JiEun.
“Sleep well,” the guys called out. They laughed at each other and then went to the kitchen to get glasses of water before bed.
Up the stairs and down a hallway to the right, lay a stretch of rooms. As they passed by, JiEun pointed out each room. First door on the right was Yoongi’s, first door on the left was Hoseok’s. The second door on the right was one of the guest rooms that had been converted into a study. The second door on the left was a personal gym, JiEun said there was another one down the left hallway and a larger one downstairs. She said that with the number of guys in the house, they needed multiple ones. The third, and last, door on the right, was JiEun’s room and across from it was Jin’s.
JiEun also told her that the other hallway was basically a mirror image of this hallway except that it also contained a small library instead of a dead end. She said that there was a larger one downstairs but that many of the guys needed to do a lot of research for their family businesses and the library upstairs was stocked with books specifically related to their research.
“Isn’t it noisy having the gyms next to the rooms?” Jiyoung asked still marveling at everything.
“All the rooms are sound proof. There’s the gyms, the guys coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and sometimes they have ‘friends’ over.”
Jiyoung stared at her with a confused expression. “’Friends’?” she asked imitating the airquotes.
“Girls. Y’know?”
“Ah. Sure.” JiEun laughed at Jiyoung’s innocence and then ushered her into the bedroom. “Oh my gosh...this is your room? This is half the size of my house. Or what was my house.” JiEun frowned in worry. The other girl didn’t seem to notice the unusual things she kept saying since they met.
“Did something happen to your house?” JiEun asked her. “Is that why you were wandering around so late?”
Jiyoung paused as she tried to figure out what she should say. “No... I just left it...and I’m not going back. So it’s not my house anymore.”
“Oh, okay.” JiEun could tell that Jiyoung didn’t want to talk about whatever the problem was. “Well, you can make yourself at home here. The bed’s yours.”
“Where are you going to sleep?” Jiyoung questioned worriedly.
“The couch over there. I already set it up like a bed.”
“No. No, I can’t kick you out of your bed. Especially when you’re doing so much for me. I’ll take the couch. The bed’s too big anyway. The couch is smaller. I think it’d be easier for me to sleep there.”
“I can tell by your face that you’re not gonna have a problem sleeping anywhere. Besides, you’re a guest. I can’t let you sleep on the couch. My conscience wouldn’t allow it.” Jiyoung looked like she wanted to argue but she was hesitant to argue with her hostess. “The only other option would be for us to share the bed. If you’re okay with that.”
Jiyoung looked to the bed. It was a king-size so space wouldn’t be a problem. “I’ve never...done that before.”
“Well, now you can try it. I think we fit well together. We can be friends, if that’s okay with you. And it’ll be just like a sleepover, just like best friends, right?”
“I...I don’t know...how to be friends. I haven’t had a friend in... 10 years? Is that what friends do?” JiEun looked at her is shock. {How can a nice, friendly girl like her not have friends? Did she live in a cave?}
“You don’t have friends?...” JiEun watched at Jiyoung shifted uncomfortably. “That’s fine then. I’ll be your friend. And we can be best friends.” JiEun beamed her brightest smile at Jiyoung and Jiyoung mirrored it.
“Really? I’d...like that...”
JiEun pulled her into a hug. “Then it’s settled. Please speak comfortably to me, unnie. Now, let’s get to bed before you drop, yeah?”
“Sounds good.” Jiyoung was giddy with the thought of having a friend. The guys were friendly, but they didn’t say anything about being friends. Of course, she heard that with guys it was different, but she didn’t really know. After JiEun asked if Jiyoung had anything to sleep in and the other girl responded in the negative, JiEun gave her some pajamas. The girls were about the same size so it fit her well. Then JiEun showed Jiyoung everything in the bathroom so that she could get washed up for bed and gave her some band-aids for the broken blisters she had on her heels from walking in her shoes all night.
While that was going on, JiEun rearranged the bed so that both of them could sleep on it. Jiyoung was quick to finish and the two girls went to the bed. The bed was four poster style with the head against the wall but with both sides open to the room. It was almost in the corner of the room with one side only a couple feet from the wall and the other side had easy access to the rest of the room. Jiyoung asked to sleep on the side closest to the wall and JiEun said that was fine.
Just as JiEun was about to turn the last light off, Jiyoung asked, “Is there a small light we can leave on? But if lights bother you, don’t worry about it.”
“No, it’s fine.” JiEun turned on a small reading lamp across the room. “Is that okay?” Jiyoung nodded. “Are you scared of the dark?” JiEun asked as she walked back to the bed.
“No...I’m scared of what comes with the dark.” JiEun had no idea what that could possibly mean. But she didn’t want to pry. Even with the declaration of them being friends, they had only met not even an hour ago. “Thank you for letting me sleep here.” Jiyoung said softly as she started to drift towards sleep.
“Of course, it’s no problem at all.” But JiEun doubted that the other girl had even heard her. Judging by her breathing, she was already asleep. JiEun laughed to herself and snuggled further into the covers. She let sleep overtake her for the second time that night.
Alright, well, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I apologize again that I have to space the chapters out so much until I finish. Hopefully it won't be too much longer, work has just been really hectic. I'll do my best to finish up as quickly as I can.
Thanks again to @Mavis2478 for the story line.
Please feel welcome to leave comments, including constructive criticism. Thank you to those reading, liking, clipping, and commenting. It's very encouraging. And please let me know if you would like to be tagged or untagged.
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