Chapter 41 – Settling In

After Tae left, (he eventually had to… busy international idol, you know…) I spent the rest of the evening exploring my neighborhood and buying knick-knacks at a small flea-market-like shop I found nearby, and food at a local grocery store. I also noticed there was a decent-looking coffee shop only about 3 buildings away from mine. That would definitely come in handy in the future. I didn’t stay out very long though because in the end, I was just so tired I that I passed out on the tiny bed and slept like a log until the next morning.

The next day was spent being lazy and exploring my surroundings again. With a surprise visit from Tae in the evening as I was trying (and failing) to cook rice on the burner. He saved me by teaching me how to make ramyeon instead, and then proudly brandished a pack of Korean condoms at me, wriggling his eyebrows before attacking my neck, which he knew was my weak spot. (We’d had to stop our little adventures the night before because neither of us had any protection and I didn’t wanna chance anything). And so, the ramyeon also got burned and went to join the rice pan in the sink. 3 hours later, we ordered Jajangmyeon. And then he left in the middle of the night.

The next day, was just a slew of people coming in and out of my apartment. All the stuff that we’d ordered on the first day apparently came with within-2-days-delivery warranty, and they were true to their word. They all came at different times of the day too. Which .

First there was a guy who came to install some sort of water filtering device – since Korea’s tap water isn’t drinkable. Imagine the scene: 8:30 in the morning, I was roused out of bed after maybe 4 hours of sleep, the guy spoke no English and I had no idea what the thing was, even when he opened the box and started pointing at it frantically. In the end I just let him do his thing and walked to the café to get me a latte, to at least attempt to awaken myself. In my pajamas. I didn’t give a crap. It wasn’t even a block away.

I got back just in time to open the door for the guy who was delivering my sofa (the one that came with the house was tiny and hard), and then about an hour later, my microwave and washing machine came, and an hour after that, a bunch of build-it-yourself dressers, chairs, as well as other knick-knacks you don’t realize you really need until you don’t have them anymore.

I started opening boxes and taking stuff out, pulling things out of the way – taking out the blueprints and trying to figure them out – only to realize after a good 30 minutes that I actually didn’t own a hammer or screwdriver, or any other kind of tool that would enable me to build these pieces of furniture myself. Looking at the mess around me, I suddenly felt like an idiot and sighed.

I didn’t really wanna bother him, but since he was pretty much the only person I knew here (ok, the only MALE. And he had said he was bored…) I called Taehyung and explained about my little problem. Luckily, he was delighted by my call (a little too much…) and assured me “not to worry noona.”, hanging up 5 seconds after saying that, without even a goodbye – which of course made me worry.

He showed up less than 20 minutes later, with Yoongi in tow (whose hair was now a rather nondescript dark, greyish color) who was carrying a big, giant, red “dad” toolbox, excusing himself into my house and greeting me, before going straight for the plans on the floor, as Taehyung explained proudly that “Hyung is really good at building things.”, grinning like a big baby, while wrapping an arm around me.

“Thank you so much for doing this, Yoongi,” I said, feeling bad, “You really didn’t have to come all the way here.”

The dark-haired boy, at the mention of his name, looked up and gave me an embarrassed smile, saying (with the help of translator Tae) that he’d needed a break from the studio and he enjoyed doing this kind of stuff – it relaxed him.

They set to work and I ended up just watching them banter as they built my dressers, kitchen table and vanity, serving them cold water from my newly set up filtering system, and wishing I could understand what they were saying.

Eventually, it started getting dark and I started suggesting taking breaks, but Yoongi was so focused and kept saying “Not yet, not yet…”, even long after Taehyung gave up playing at being his helper. I think “ajig” is probably one of the first Korean words I learned in Korea because of him. It was only the smell of food that lured him away from the wooden contraptions; out of his work trance. Tae had ordered some kind of Korean takeaway and apparently it was one that Yoongi liked because he pretty quickly put his tools down and came when we called, to eat around my newly built coffee table.

We had a really nice meal, where Yoongi laughed and joked with Tae and I just kinda watched his enormous gummy smile transform his entire face, totally baffled, because it was a side of him that I’d never seen before. I’d seen the fanservice smile, and fake-aegyo smile, but not this, super relaxed, version of Min Yoongi. I could’ve fallen for him if I wasn’t already smitten with the idiot next to him. He tried really hard at speaking English with me too, which surprised me. I always thought Yoongi’s knowledge of the English language limited itself to “hello”, “thank you”, and “are you guys ready?!” (as well as various swear words…) But turns out he knew a lot more than I’d given him credit for. He was just shy to use it.

Once it got around 10pm, he started suggesting getting back to my kitchen chairs because he had to get back to the studio, but I flat out refused. If he needed to be working on his songs, he didn’t need to be wasting (any more) time building furniture for his friend’s girlfriend. He argued that there was only one chair left and I argued that it was all the more reason that I could build it myself; if he left me a screwdriver – which he did.

He and Tae left together, a couple of minutes later, and after I thanked him profusely for all he had done for me today (and he humbly told me not to mention it) and he suggested that I come visit them at the office since I wasn’t working yet.

“Is it ok?” I asked, not wanting to impose but totally intrigued by the inner workings of recording an album.

“No, no! It’s fine!” he retorted, in English , (which was totally cute) waving his hand at me as he smirked.

They explained that the album-making process was kinda long, sometimes boring, disjointed, and that the other boys would probably be happy to see me; “a welcome distraction”, he said. I doubted that, but thanked him nonetheless.

Tae and I shared a long kiss before he went, and spent a long moment plucking at invisible stray hairs on my head as if he didn’t want to leave, before finally running off after his hyung that had already walked off. After he left, I spent the rest of the evening building my chair, and finishing unpacking my suitcases, before hiding them in the closet and pulling the door shut with a sense of finality. My place was finally starting to look a little bit like a home.

*

The following day, after walking circles around my newly furnished apartment for 2 hours, I did like they suggested and went to visit them at the office. Even though I’d been there before, I managed to get lost, and then when I did find the building, the doorman wouldn’t let me in. (It was a different one than that time I’d been there, months ago.)

I was starting to get really frustrated, and trying to use all my gestures and best baby english, even Japanese, but I just managed getting myself actually, physically, shoved out of the building by a guard. I was dusting myself up when I saw silent-noona walk by with a giant bag of Starbucks, stop in her tracks when she saw me.

“Oh! Emma!” she exclaimed, recognizing me, followed by something in korean that I’m pretty sure meant “What are you doing here?”

I know she had no idea what I was saying but I was so angry, I couldn’t help lashing out in English about how the guard wouldn’t let me in and had unceremoniously thrown me out, probably thinking I was an overzealous fan. She shook her head as if the guy was the stupidest person on earth, and motioned for me to follow her in with a nod of her head.

I cautiously followed her back in and saw the guard get up from his desk when he saw me again, annoyance tinting his eyes, but stop in his tracks when Eun-jung approached him. there was a fast exchange with the receptionist, who nodded, and finally waved the guard away, handing me a guest badge and returning her attention to her phone, looking bored.

Near the elevator, silent-noona motioned towards the guard and whispered, “new” to me, as if that explained everything. I turned to look at him again, a young man in his early 20’s, standing to attention by the door as if someone else might try to sneak through at any moment and it was his sole duty in life to prevent it. His overzealousness came in stark contrast with the bored receptionist, but before I could continue my observation, the elevator doors pinged open and we walked in.

“I said, you are…” said my Korean savior, making another attempt at English, and pausing to gesture with her hand, as if it would make the word she was looking for come, “instructor.” she giggled, finally finding it. It was funny to see such a sulky-looking person giggle. “So now…” she took the badge from my hand and slapped it on my shoulder – after having written what I recognized as my name in hangul on it, “you are work”. I looked down at my chest and also smiled.

It was good that I’d run into her because she took me straight to the boys.

Rapmon was recording, which was pretty cool to watch, and also meant that Tae was not busy, so he jumped on me as soon as I entered the room. But first Eun-Jung distributed the coffees, which caused a halt in the whole process, that I was glad wasn’t really due to my appearance. She didn’t even introduce me, and though I did notice some side glances and a few eyerolls, the producers seemed too busy, or just not to care enough to introduce themselves to the blonde foreigner with an instructor tag attached to her shirt.

Namjoon waved at me from the other side of the glass, but stayed there, and after a moment, a guy said something into an intercom and he was back at rapping lyrics that I couldn’t understand, to a smooth, unfamiliar beat. It was really amazing to watch; he was so into it, it was kinda cute. Occasionally, they would stop and say something to him and he would go over a verse again. Or they would argue about something and he would do it again, slightly differently.

Suga was sitting with the producers, heads together, playing with the console, and I don’t even think he noticed I was there until I laughed a little bit too loud at something Tae had just whispered in my ear, and he turned around in annoyance, only to blink when he saw me sitting there on his Dongsaeng’s lap.

“Oh, Emma, hi.” he greeted me in surprise. And that was all he said before returning to work; his anger gone.

Jin and Jungkook weren’t there. “They’re at school” Tae told me, and Jimin and Hobi were nowhere to be seen, but then I was informed that he’d already recorded his part for this song, and was probably in the dance room, training for their hardest choreography yet.

“So why aren’t you there too then?” I asked, knowing that he wouldn’t show me the dance even if I begged. He always refused to tell me anything about their upcoming comebacks, so I had learned to stop asking. Even the fact that I was getting to hear what they were recording now was kind of a huge deal, but it was obviously not the title track, since it sounded more like a ballad.

“I didn’t go my part yet” he said, playing with my hair and pinching my ear, childishly, which made me playfully smack him. I enjoyed the attention but I knew this wasn’t really the place for it. Tae however didn’t seem to have any kind of filter when it came to me. He just saw Emma. It was one of the reasons why I loved him so much it hurt. Most of the time, I tried not to think about it. So I set off to watch Namjoon as he played with my hair and hummed his lyrics over and over, in preparation. He even asked me for the correct pronunciation of some English words, which was cute.

Eventually, Namjoon came out and went over to join the “producer boys” at their console to help with the mixing, but not before coming over and giving me a hug and a warm greeting, which I really appreciated.

“Was my English ok?” he asked, with a little smile that made his dimple pop.

“Of course it was. You know it.” I winked at him, giving him a little fist-bump.

Namjoon laughed as he returned it and ruffled my head, walking over to his boys at the front of the room, who marveled at his English skills while Tae sulked jealously.

“I speak English too…” he muttered, making me press my lips together so I wouldn’t laugh too hard at how cute he was.

“Yes, but Namjoon’s is still much better” I said, matter-of-factly, knowing it would piss him off.

“Namjoon is so much better” he mimicked, in a high pitched voice, making annoyed faces, which made me crack up. “you go date Namjoon then” he shoved me off his lap.

“hey!” I laughed, though I was a bit shocked, unsure if he was really offended or not.

I forcefully, retook my seat on his knees and he let me, which was good, but he had his head turned away and was still sulking as I said “You know you’re much more handsome than Namjoon.”

“of course,” he said, still not looking at me.

“and you sing much better than him,” I went on.

“duh…” he added, which was something I’d thought him, and it was pretty hard not to laugh at him using it accurately for the first time.

“and,” I said, forcefully turning his chin in my direction, so he would look at me, “I love you, not him.” I said, looking into his eyes, all laughter gone.

Tae looked back at me, transfixed.

“Tae, you’re up!” a voice called, but Taehyung was still busy staring at me. I knew that look. It usually came about 5 seconds before he grabbed my head in his and started kissing me as if he never could again.

“KIM TAEHYUNG!” someone snapped, quite harshly, making his head whip up. “de?”

Suga chuckled quietly and one of the producers, whose name I’d already forgotten shook his head while Tae got up and went into the booth. He placed the earphones over his head, one slighty askew, and showed them the thumbs up to indicate that he was ready. Then he glanced towards me and gave me his special Taehyungie smile, before focusing his attention on the mic in front of him.

His part wasn’t very long, and from what I gathered, part of the chorus, but they had him sing it several times, several different ways. Slower, faster, lower, higher. When he sang in his lower register, Tae’s voice was absolutely mesmerizing. I said so to Namjoon when he asked my opinion and he replied “really? You think so?” and rubbed his lips thoughtfully as I nodded vigorously.

Hoseok showed up a bit later, with a cup of coffee and sunglasses over his eyes, looking distinctively un-Hope-like and sat in a corner, staring at his phone until it was his turn. I don’t know if it was planned of if someone had texted him but he happened to come in about 10 minutes before Taehyung was done, and then just wordlessly took over his place in the recording booth.

“What’s up with him?” I whispered to Taehyung after a moment.

“Oh, don’t mind. Sometimes he like that.” I looked up, perplexed, but then Hoseok started rapping, and he sounded incredibly rough and cool, so maybe being in a bad mood did work for him in this situation.

Once everyone was done recording, they started playing with the mixing elements trying a bunch of different background beats and speeds for the song. Fast sounded weird. Slow sounded boring. They tried several mid-tempo variations before settling on one, and then had Namjoon go in again to re-record one of his parts, as well as Suga and Hobi. And then it was back to mixing, and fussing with details so tiny most of it was lost of me and it got incredibly boring. I liked listening to the finished product. Not hearing 45 different versions of the same song. Even when they asked my opinion, after over an hour, I was totally over it.

I stifled a yawn and Tae realized I was falling asleep and said I could go home. Though he obviously wasn’t part of the production team, he seemed very interested in what was going on, and was obviously very pleased whenever they asked his opinion about something. I felt proud like a mama hen, and hoped that one day, Taetae would be able to produce his own song, just as well as they did. In the meantime, I was still falling asleep.

“I take you home” he said, getting up and pulling me up gently along with him.

“thanks, but just walking me out is fine. You keep playing with your boys, you seem to enjoy it” I smiled at him sleepily.

“okay,” he grinned back, rubbing his thumb against my cheek.

Just as we stepped through the doorway, silent-noona appeared, once again out of nowhere. I swear that woman had baby monitors hidden all over the building to know when she was needed or something.

There was a quick exchange in korean, but I understood she was offering to take me back out and turned towards Tae to indicate that it was fine.

“komawo, noona” his eyes crinkled at her, and that seemed to make her happy.

I would’ve been jealous if she hadn’t had at least 30kg on me (that was a mean thought, I know, but I still thought it) and knew Taehyung didn’t feel anything for her. And to her benefit, she didn’t look upset in the slightest when Tae bent over to kiss my forehead, and my hair fondly, before walking back inside the studio. So I guess my jealousy was totally unfounded.

She brought me back down to the front desk, where I gave back my card, and even offered to walk me back to the station. I guess she was bored in there too.

We walked in silence for a little bit, before she suddenly showed me her phone as we were nearing the station, “this, you have?” she asked showing me the kakaotalk icon on her screen.

“yeah.” I smiled, showing her my phone.

She fiddled with hers for a bit and said “here,” showing me a QR code.

I knew what it meant of course, so I fiddled with mine, scanning it and adding her, as I gave her a heartfelt “thank you.”

“You need a thing, or TaeTae not there… you mail me.” she said, in her limited English, pointing at the phone again to make sure I’d understood.

It really meant a lot to me, so again I thanked her, as we reached the station. She said bye and turned to go back the other way. I stood there watching her for a moment, wondering if I hadn’t just made my very first korean friend. It wasn’t such a bad feeling.