Chapter 32 – New Year

Namjoon and I had argued for about 30 minutes before deciding to watch the countdown on MBC Gayo Daejejun. I wanted to see the boys perform, but then felt like a douche, thinking maybe he’d be sad not being there; but then he felt like an for preventing me from watching it, since I’d never seen it before… and we argued back and forth in annoying politeness, until by the time we finally turned the TV on, we’d missed the boys’ performance, and only managed to catch the countdown, and tiny snippets of our idiots jumping up and down cutely as the new year was rung in on national television. Though maybe that was for the best.

After the confetti exploded and everyone screamed, we just sat there watching the TV without talking. I turned towards Namjoon who was staring at the screen with a wistful sort of smile on his face. I didn’t want him to turn all sad and emo on me, so I unearthed a tiny round cushion from behind my back an threw it at his face, making his head snap right up to gape at me in offense.

“Happy New Year, Namjoon!” I grinned at him, and he just stared for a moment, not sure if I deserved revenge or not, before his lippy smile reappeared and he finally replied, “Happy New Year, Emma.”

It was awkward for a bit; everyone on the television screen was either hugging or shaking hands… slapping each other’s backs or bowing… it didn’t seem like we should be doing any of those things, so finally he said. “So… what do you do in your country on New Year’s eve?”

“I’ve lived in Japan for 6 years.” I replied flatly, “I’ve spent those last couple of ones either sleeping through it, or in a club with friends.”

He rolled his eyes at me, “You know what I mean…”

“Well…” I started, racking my brain for the last time I’d spent New Year’s Eve back home, “Usually, after midnight, everyone just hugs and kisses each other…” I saw his eyes widen in worry and quickly added “on the cheek!!” before continuing on, “and wishes each other a happy new year and all the best things they wish that person for the year.”

Namjoon hummed, rubbing his bottom lips thoughtfully.

“Usually everyone’s drunk too, so aunts and uncles you haven’t seen in a while tend to get a bit emotional on you, telling you how much they love you.” I chuckled a little.

“So should we do that?” he asked, finally.

“Minus the drunken emo part?” I suggested, thinking he was joking.

He nodded, slapping both hands on his thighs and stood up. “Ok, how do we do this?”

He sounded so serious and up for it that it both surprised and cracked me up. I got up slowly and stood in front of him awkwardly, wiping my hands on my pants. “God, you’re making it so awkward,” I muttered, “and why are you so damn tall?”

He laughed and squatted a bit, so as to be eye level with me. I shook my head, stifling my laughter, and went in to give him a short, friendly hug, followed by two quick kisses on each cheeks, which was the French-Canadian tradition. “Happy New year, Namjoon.” I said solemnly as he raised himself back to his full height. “After that people usually wish each other success in work, health, love, and life… you know that sort of thing…” I shook my head a bit, indicating how I thought it was a bit pointless, but he refused to let me go and said, “So do that.”

“Huh?”

“I’m curious to see what kind of wishes you have for me,” he went on with a flirty smile and I almost slapped him. Instead, I stopped to think for a moment, and looked back up in his eyes, which were looking back into mine rather intently.

“Dear Namjoonie,” I started, making him smirk, “for the new year, I wish that you please stop injuring yourself.” I said, staring at his casted arm and he chuckled, “I also pray that you and Bangtan become even bigger than you already are, and that you get success in everything you set your heart to. I hope that you’ll get the recognition that you deserve, as a rapper, as a performer and as a person. I hope that you make lots and lots of money, that you release another mixtape, that you get a girlfriend, and that you stop dressing like a grandpa.”

“Hey!” he stopped smiling at the last one and his expression alone made me burst out laughing, though he’d seemed generally pleased with the rest.

He looked back at me, a little smile creeping back at the corners of his mouth, arms still hanging loosely around my shoulders and asked, “So that’s how it goes?”

“Pretty much.” I shrugged.

“Ok then,” he nodded and took a deep breath. “Emma-noona,” he started, solemnly and I couldn’t stop myself from cracking up, which earned me a stern look and a I tried to steele my face into a neutral expression, “I wish for you all the happiness in the world.” he started, making me smile, “I’m really happy that you entered my little brother’s life, and when I see how happy you make him, I’m honestly really jealous.” he said, shaking his head a little, “I know that moving to Korea for him, it’s a huge step, but good things will happen to you – to both of you – I can feel it. So just like, hang in there, because 2016 is gonna be amazing.” he finished with a smile.

“How’d I do?” he asked after a few seconds, since I wasn’t saying anything back.

“Great.” I said, giving him the thumbs up and trying to hide the fact that I was really, very touched, “You did great.”

Shortly afterwards, we received a phone call from the boys, screeching happily at us with too much energy, and saying it would be at least another hour before they’d get home; or at least, that’s what’s Namjoon translated to me once the call ended. I got a minute with Taehyung too, but what with the extreme noisiness of the background, coupled with what I suspect was Jungkook and Hobi making kissy noises behind him, we couldn’t get much of a conversation going. All I got was that he wanted me to keep waiting for him at their dorm – which I already knew – so that’s what I did.

*

We were about halfway through one of the newer James Bond movies when the door to the apartment opened suddenly, startling both of us. A gaggle of boys poured in, plastic bags from the convenience store in hands, cheerfully shouting greetings that were totally foreign to me, and just generally creating a ruckus. Namjoon only had time to hit pause on the remote before Kookie threw himself on him (like, physically, he actually jumped over the couch, on the older boy, with his whole body. I had to quickly back away from the sofa we shared to avoid getting hit by flaying body parts), shouting “Happy new year, hyung!!” in Korean, showing his bunny teeth in a smile that went as wide as I’d ever seen it, and throwing his arm around his roommate while the pink-haired boy protested weakly.

In the meantime, the rest of them approached and dropped their bags on the coffee table, which contained a rather ridiculous amount of Korean spirits and snacks. Suga smirked at me as he caught my eyes widening and said, in choppy English, “In Korea, new year, we drink!” and pulled a green bottle high up in the air, as if to prove his point.

I barely had time to reply when I felt a pair of arms slip around me and forcefully – but still gently – turn me around to face their owner. “Ann-nyeong!” he grinned, his nose almost touching mine, before closing his eyes and enveloping my lips with his own. The kiss was short, and sweet, and as cute as his little greeting had been. It was only a moment before he pulled back again, smiling like a 4y.o. at Christmas and my cheek gently as he whispered “Happy New year.”

“Oooooooooohhhooooooo” J-Hope’s childishly teasing voice came from behind, making me twist my head around, but before I could even say anything back, Jimin was joining in, and Tae started pulling his tongue at them noisily, so I abandoned the fight, directing my gaze at the floor, in shame, as they laughed.

The rest of them were all sat around the coffee table already, and somehow all the bottles seemed to have magically opened themselves. Jin got up from the floor and walked over to me with two paper cups in his hands. He gave me one and said, “Come on, Emma,” giving me a meaningful look with these giant eyes of his, smirking, tipping his cup to mine, and chugging his own back in one gulp. I looked around and saw all eyes were on me so I did the only thing I could do: I took the tiny cup and poured it down my throat. I’m rather proud that I only made a little bit of a face coming back up, and I was rewarded by a wave of raucous cheers.

Suga looked at me and patted the empty space on the floor next to him, indicating for me to come over and sit. He poured another glass for me and I turned to Tae with a weary expression, but he just smiled and shrugged, pushing me forward; so I went to sit next to the green-haired boy. Of course, I knew there had to be a reason my big jealous baby of a boyfriend had allowed me to go sit over there without comment. As soon as I was settled, he came to sit right behind me, eventually pulling me back right between his legs, so that my back, fit comfortably against his chest. I rolled my eyes inwardly – Yoongi, quite visibly – and smiled as he poured me another drink and raised it up in a pretty clear sign: drink!

I’m not sure until how late we drank, but I know I passed out in Taehyung’s lap sometime after 3am. And I won’t say who but someone else managed to fall asleep in a fetal position in a corner waaaaay before I did…

All in all, it was a pretty memorable night. I think at some point I may have started to grasp a bit of Korean, and Yoongi became amazing at English, but alas, our powers disappeared as soon as we sobered up the next morning.

Speaking of which, I woke up unpleasantly early, with the sun shining on my face and only an empty – and rather messy – living room for company. I didn’t know if it was morning or the afternoon, but either way, my head obviously did not want to be awake at that moment.

After visiting the bathroom and splashing vast amounts of water over my face in attempts to wake up, I came back to the aftermath of our little party and whistled as I looked over at the state of things. There were bottles of beer, soju and maccoli everywhere; paper cups playing hide-and-seek among them, crumpled and strewn all over; plastic bags, some filled with trash; bags of chips and boxes of snacks, some half-eaten and some whose contents were spilled all over the floor… it was – I can say it – a right mess.

It was no wonder it took me a while to spot Namjoon’s note.

Hey, Emma,

Boss wanted to take us for a

New Year meal so we had

to go leave quickly. Don’t

worry about the mess and stay

as long as you want, ‘kay?

you can leave whenever cuz
the door will lock on its own.

Thanks for playing nurse to

me these last couple of days ^_-

Don’t tell Tae I said that.

• RM

I smiled, reading it, and it reminded me that if Rapmon had thought to leave me something, maybe Tae had too; and indeed, there were several kissy-face emojis, along with a message to call him when I woke up, on my phone, so I clicked on the little phone icon and did just that. It was a short phone call, in which I wondered if my baby boy might possibly have been still drunk; what with the amount of times he told me that he loved me and that he was happy I came… apparently their boss had taken them to some fancy private retreat for a day and night, and now they were going to something like an onsen after having received a massage. I died of jealousy for a moment, til what remained of my fangirl brain realized that it probably meant that all of Bangtan were in there together……………….

Anyways, I was pulled out of my naughty thoughts by Jimin’s voice yelling at him, and he told me he had to go. Before he did though, I asked if it was ok for me to take a shower and he just replied, “Of course.” before hanging up.

I stared at the phone a bit bewildered, but then shrugged, tossing it on the couch and shedding my clothes on the spot before heading into the bathroom. It was a pretty nice bathroom for Korean standards, though it still didn’t have an actual bath tub. It was pretty large and had nearly one third of the room partitioned off with foggy transparent glass, and that’s where the showerhead and floor drain was. The rest had a large counter with two sinks, a giant mirror and lots of shelves filled with random bottles and pots of beauty products. I fought the urge the snoop around, but I couldn’t help wondering who was using the whole range of rose-scented products in pink, feminine little bottles in the left corner.

I didn’t have to look around very long to discover a cupboard full of fluffy white and yellow towels, so I pulled one out before heading into the shower.

Once I was clean, I felt much better. I stole some of the rose-scented stuff for my face and strolled back into the living room, where I looked down at my beer stained jeans and stinky shirt from the night before and wrinkled my nose at them in disgust. I sighed, resigning myself to throwing the dirty clothes back on anyways, but then, a genius idea popped into my head, and I padded over to my boyfriend’s room.

I’d been in there once before, and even if I hadn’t known, it was easy to figure out that the messier side of the room belonged to Taehyungie. I poked around his dresser and finally settled on a pair of sweatpants, a white t-shirt, over which I threw a fluffy red sweatshirt that was several sizes too big. I looked at myself in the mirror once I was done and giggled a bit, before nodding in satisfaction. After all, what was the point of having a boyfriend if you couldn’t even steal his comfy clothes?

After that, I returned to the living room and sighed. The place was a pigsty. And if there was one thing I hated in the world, (after perhaps working out, or studying…) it was cleaning. But I really felt like it really would be wrong for me to just leave like this, so I pulled my sleeves back and got down to business.

I won’t say it was sparkling when I was done, but at least it didn’t look like a tornado had gone through there, so I nodded in satisfaction and grabbed my bag, giving the room one last once-over. Before I left, I pocketed Rapmon’s note and left my own in its stead.

Dear Everyone,

Thank you so much for

sharing your New Year’s

night with me, I had a

blast. Thanks for everything

and I’ll see you all soon.

(the tall, noisy one possibly

sooner than the rest… ^_-)

• xxx Emma